Take Your Pick/1

1. Rail against capitalism as you will, but recognize that since we are stuck with it, the test now is to make it work for the largest number of people. –William Schulz, executive director of…

Refusal (Muhammad Ali)

I came across the following when preparing tonight’s session of our reading circle of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States  (the chapters on the Black Freedom struggle and the Vietnam War). Why should…

Weekend Meditation

A recent conversation with Sharifa led me to look again at one of Said’s many penetrating studies… 1. In fact, there is no way that I know of apprehending the world from within American culture…

The Right of Jim Crow to Defend Itself

“We do not believe the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza,” [Hilary] Clinton told reporters at a news conference with the visiting foreign minister of the…

Palestinian Identity

Sharifa, Apropos of our conversation today, here begins the opening paragraph (and after) of chapter 1 of Rashid Khalidi’s Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness… The quintessential Palestinian experience, which  illustrates some of…

For Hedy/By Mev/Via Mark

Dianne and I drove Hedy to the Missouri Scholars Academy in Columbia at Mizzou on Sunday, where she spoke for the 17th straight year to 300+ gifted students from across the state. She shared her…

Continuation

I just finished reading the beautiful memoir of Sister Dang Nghiem, Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun.   Here is one passage… When we love someone, it’s not because we live next to the…