Magan
O Maestra! O Lovely Miranda in Forest Park! O 6 North Coffee habituée and conversationalist! “The path does not exist. The path, you make by treading on it. By walking, you make the path.” O…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Carpe Diem, U.S. Americans
You have a rich tradition of resistance. You need only read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States to remind yourself of this. Hundreds of thousands of you have survived the relentless propaganda…
Gospel Subversive
Even when they call us mad, When they call us subversives and communists And all the epithets they put on us, We know that we only preach The subversive witness of the Beatitudes, Which have…
The Price is Worth It*
For Brooke Adams Large nations do what they wish, while small nations accept what they must. –Thucydides Imperialism says it wants to make us happy! –Ernesto Cardenal One does not become revolutionary from science, but…
On Nervousness and Gnats
1. pros•e•cute (pròs¹î-ky¡t´) verb pros•e•cut•ed, pros•e•cut•ing, pros•e•cutes verb, transitive 1. Law. a. To initiate civil or criminal court action against. b. To seek to obtain or enforce by legal action. 2.a. To pursue (an undertaking,…
Jesuit Values
The Jesuits clearly influenced me with their strict organization, their discipline, and their values. [p. 118] I believe that Christ was a great revolutionary. That’s what I believe. His entire doctrine was devoted to the…
The Scholars by William Butler Yeats
Bald heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines That young men, tossing on their beds, Rhymed out in love’s despair To flatter beauty’s ignorant ear. All shuffle…
A Lifetime of Letters
The Letters of Allen Ginsberg, edited by Bill Morgan (Da Capo Press, 2008) I have a file titled “Noam Chomsky” that contains several letters from the linguist during the 1990s. I first began writing him…
Refuseniks
On Peretz Kidron, Refusenik! Israel’s Soldiers of Conscience (London and New York: Zed Books, 2004) 1. General, your tank is a powerful vehicle It tramples the forest, it crushes a hundred men. But it has one flaw:…
I Was Dreaming about Your Future
for Megan Heeney I was dreaming about your future: Later twenties, Manhattan, Union Theological Seminary, “What’s a nice Catholic senorita like you doing in a place like this?” It’s back to the books, But with…