(I’m taking a lap victory by repeating my blog of November 2020, after Joe Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump.)                                      *** The 2020 election makes clear that neither political party will be setting the course for the country. Gr

“Ready on the right.  Ready on the left. Ready on the firing line.  Commence firing.” In my early teens, as an entrant to long-range shooting competitions, I heard these words many times while I stared down the barrel of my Remington 22, the sites adjusted for wind, gravity, and

The woman seated in the retirement center’s lounge was waiting for the box lunch she’d ordered. With nothing to entertain her, she studied the carpet beneath her feet as if to find a message in the pattern. For the last year, the pandemic has forced residents to live distant from

When he heard the cost of the computer repair, the old man at the opposite end of the telephone line wept. “I’m going to have a heart attack.  I feel sick.” The scammer who was listening remained silent but others in the boiler room operation broke into laughter. They were unaw

When I entered the second grade, my life fell apart.  World War 11 was raging.  My mother divorced my father and became a single parent–an immigrant with a modest command of  English and no job skills.  My father, angry, left us to fend for ourselves and that meant my mother

A man in his 50s admitted on Facebook he was depressed about the changes he saw barreling down on society like a runaway train. He doubted the alterations were for the better.  As he is a liberal thinker, I supposed he was suffering from Trump fatigue and wondering, as I do, when our

In my late 20’s, after returning to the west coast from Africa, I sought a temporary job before entering graduate school. The employment office sent me to apply for clerical work with a large advertising firm in Los Angeles.  I was excited. Advertising had always interested me. For

Recently, a friend sent me a quote ascribed to the American anthropologist, Margaret Mead. It was her answer to a question that asked what constituted the first signs of civilization in a culture.  She said it would be a broken thighbone that had healed properly. In the wild, the dis

“My bathrooms are for customers only.” The white proprietress of a knitting shop stood with her arms folded as she blocked an African-American woman from entering.  The intended customer felt humiliated but didn’t explain she’d been through a rough patch and wanted to take up

During the second impeachment hearing for Donald Trump, a woman with a sense of irony shared this line from George Orwell’s novel, 1984 on her Facebook page. The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.  The quote garn