For decades, a generation of students, often protected by their parents from information and views that might disturb them, arrived on college campuses demanding that administrators continue to protect them from feeling hurt by uncomfortable ideas or stressed by robust discussions of the harsh realities of a complex world. They called out microaggressions and insisted on trigger …
Continue reading Student embrace of Hamas – willfully ignorant and antiSemitic
Remember Entebbe? Look it up. It was the site of a 1976 Israeli operation to rescue 248 hostages from an Air France flight captured by Palestinian terrorists and given sanctuary by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The non-Israelis were quickly released, except for the Air France crew. The roughly100 hostages who were Israelis were hidden in …
Continue reading Wrestling with the complexities of the Israel-Hamas war
No matter how heavy the topic of the following books any one of them can be a temporary departure from the world around us, helping us better understand the seeds of today's chaos . Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler, longtime classical music critic of …
Continue reading Books for autumn reading, pt. 2 – non-fiction
My husband and I are no longer COVID virgins. A two-week bout with COVID, from which we're just emerging, left me feeling disinclined to write but very much inclined to seek comfort in reading. Fiction was the best of all because it distracted me from anxieties about two of our grandchildren studying at different schools …
In a recent surreal interview, ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy blamed the Democrats for the chaos in the House of Representatives. (He wasn't the only GOP official trying to sell that bill of goods.) The public isn't buying it. Let's be clear. McCarthy lost his Speakership because his transactional style of acquiring and maintaining power made …
Continue reading House mess Democrats’ fault? Give me a break!
Did W. B. Yeats have it right? "Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold." Such are one's fears today. The United States government is a two-legged stool. Israel is at war, and I haven't been able to reach either of my two …
It started with three sites. Now there are three dozen more places where auto workers have gone on strike, seeking a better contract. They follow by months the many writers and actors striking the entertainment industry for similar reasons. Changing technologies are putting all their jobs and futures at risk. Meanwhile, workers see the executives …
Continue reading Auto workers deserve more, not just in money
Facing 2024 elections, GOP strategists have come to understand the widespread anger spurred by their opposition to letting women control their own bodies. The issue is galvanizing voters, so Republicans want to seek a new name for the pro-life movement. Democrats, if they are wise, won't let them get away with it. A rose by …
Yes, it's past Labor Day, but it's still summer weather. And, while the calendar is getting more cluttered, it's still easy to cling to the image of long walks in the sunshine, leisurely reading and cold soups for dinner. Here are five works of fiction that will give also you pleasure. Tom Lake by Ann …
He wasn't there in person, but Donald Trump was the big winner at the GOP's 2024 primary debate. In a display of cowardice and moral corruption, six of the eight candidates said that they would vote for Trump even if the former President were convicted of the crimes for which he has been charged. Just …
Continue reading GOP debate: the elephant was in the room and outside too
Marjorie Arons-Barron 