This week marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop music, and many platforms, including National Public Radio and the New York Times, are celebrating the phenomenon. For those of us immersed in or more comfortable with Beethoven, the Beatles, Mahalia Jackson or Peter, Paul and Mary, the wonderment should not be underestimated. In fact, I …
Continue reading The birth of hip hop, and how it grew and grew and grew
Trump and his acolytes are whining across media platforms that Tuesday's grand jury indictment of Donald Trump is a violation of his First Amendment rights. The villains, they complain, are the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the criminalization of ordinary political speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. Before anyone joins the …
Continue reading Assigned reading for civics class: Trump Indictment
Reading books year-round is life-enhancing, but reading in summertime seems especially to be savored. Here are some non-fiction selections. The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty by Neal Thompson will fascinate anyone intrigued by the immigrant experience, Irish roots, old-time urban ward bosses and Boston politics in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. …
There's nothing like the distractions of summer to make one forget (almost) the news. And, however guilty I may feel about not persevering as the "eat your spinach" part of your weekly communications, I have no intention of writing about him who shall not be named.....at least not today......or about any of the other depressing …
On this 247th celebration of our country's birth, any American who believes in the progress of civilization must be rattling in the throes of PTSD. Over the last two years, the Supreme Court has managed to wipe out half a century of gains in achieving several foundational promises of our Constitution. We are shocked and …
Picnics, parades, fireworks, and concerts - all wonderfully traditional ways to celebrate the birth of our country and the values embraced in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. In an article published in today's highly respected Commonwealth Magazine, James H. Barron (name ring a bell?) argues that one particular aspect to July 4th celebrations …
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against GOP legislators in North Carolina, who had claimed that they should have unreviewable powers to set the rules for their state's federal elections. The six-to-three decision (with Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissenting) affirms our fundamental principle of checks and balances. This decision has implications far beyond …
How can someone be an ostrich, a worm, a sheep, a jackal and a dodo all at the same time? It's no zoological mystery. Trump supporters in Congress - the House particularly - do it every day, even those who criticize him privately. So too do most of the other Republican Presidential candidates, most of …
Continue reading GOP Trump defense: performative art or stupidity?
As my followers can tell, I do love reading, which served me well during my recovery. But this finishes my current reviews. Happily, I have returned to normal life, seeing friends, going to restaurants, trying to outwit the oversexed rabbits in my garden, salving wounds inflicted by the Bruins and Celtics, keeping hopes alive with …
Continue reading Books for late spring, pt. 4- fiction, the last tranche for now
Recently defenestrated Chris Licht is now the former CNN chair and CEO. He had been successful in his previous roles, including show-running the Stephen Colbert show, but he was in over his head - running one of the the three major cable news networks. Licht's initial goal was right on target: avoid the hyper-partisanship of …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 