Questions about the War Dead
When the statisticians in the Armed Services Tally up the war dead- Most recently In Iraq and Afghanistan- Do they include The veterans who commit suicide In country or back at home? How long in…
What You Won’t Read in USA Today
Yesterday I noticed a headline from USA Today: “In Israel, staying alert for terror is a way of life” The article was one in a series On the Boston Marathon explosions Don’t expect anytime soon…
What Should Be Boldly Engraved in Stone at the New George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas
A Mighty Fortress Is Our Lie
Miss Lonely & Napoleon in Rags
Dear Shimmelstoy Whew! I’ve never done anything Like what we did tonight I can’t believe you actually just showed up (Do you go on excursions like this with everyone?) IT HAD NEVER OCCURRED TO ME…
After Last Night’s Bhagavad Gita Discussion
Daniel Berrigan once said to us About trying to lead a nonviolent life: “We do it because it’s the right thing to do Not because it’s going to get us anywhere” How deeply this cuts…
Right down to the Bone
They had to be college graduates Upwardly mobile If you’ve got a problem They’ll find the solution That’s their business Overcoming obstacles Given our implacable enemies There’s no lollygagging This is serious business A U.S….
Dorothee Sölle Collage
Why had I never noticed the number of sick people who appear in the Gospels? Who or what made them sick? It was not theologians who invented the cross, rather, the Roman Empire thought up…
The Better Guru
T.S. Eliot quoted Sanskrit in his famous poem “Om shanti shanti shanti” Meister Eckhart preached “Only the hand that erases can write the true thing” T.S. Eliot needed a better guru than Ezra Pound Someone…
Bella Levenshteyn Tells Me of Her Dream
Last night I walked the corridor Of a private Yad Vashem On one side of the hall Are the faces of the slaughtered Stripped of their outer layers Led to the fire Returning to dust…
Remembering Rosa Parks
That week Rosa Parks was lying in state in Washington, DC I asked the students what they knew of her There was the standard talk Her sitting down Her standing up How courageous she was…