February 01, 2013 / What is a “Place?”
A long time ago, on a game drive in Tanzania, I asked our guide, “How do the people find their way around? It all looks the same to me.” He replied, justifiably impatient (for I was so ignorant in those days), “They’ve lived here all their lives; they recognize… Read More
February 01, 2013 / The Inauguration: Being There
This is how it’s done. Some people decide they have the nerve and the competence and the gall to be President of the United States. They gather friends and family round them and give it a try. They fudge the truth a bit here and there, try to say what they mean and mean what they say, and… Read More
January 21, 2013 / To Behold It We Are Here
Joyfully, a patient lover, Mankind’s eager spirit strove To unravel and discover How creative Nature wove. It revealed that one eternal Essence permeated all, In the grains of shell and kernel, At the heart of great and small, Always changing, and yet holding Things together far and near.… Read More
January 20, 2013 / The Inauguration: Getting There
So, being dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, we went to the inauguration. Besides, I love public spectacle. Our train left very early. A rising sun poured deep yellow over the not-yet-stirring Sunday landscape. I drank my coffee and watched while the messy backs of businesses and houses gave… Read More
January 12, 2013 / You Should See the World You Live In
Many years ago, I read a short science fiction story, and I have never forgotten its images. Post-apocalypse, a man and his young son live with other survivors in the forests. The day comes when the boy is old enough to be shown the Domes, outside the forest. Father and son venture out into an… Read More
January 11, 2013 / A Short Trip on the Subway
I like to say that I don’t care where I travel, I just want to GO. I’ve been to 98 countries so far but I like going anywhere new. Or even a place that I’ve been thousands of times but can decide to look at as if it were new or even exotic. So I had a short trip on the subway… Read More
January 08, 2013 / The Volunteer Tree
There’s a volunteer tree on my deck. It lives in a large pot to which I transplanted it last year when it was starting to get pretty big. I call it a volunteer because that’s what my Mother used to call plants that found her garden and settled in it without asking. My tree is called… Read More
December 28, 2012 / Ground Time
“Our ground time here will be brief.” This is the admonitory title of a book of poetry by Maxine Kumin. Here is the poem for which the book is named: Our Ground Time Here Will Be Brief Blue landing lights make nail holes in the dark. A fine snow falls. We sit on the tarmac taking on… Read More
December 19, 2012 / Inching Towards the Light
My husband John is the astronomy expert in the family, I mean he understands astronomy stuff really well--far better than I. But that doesn’t stop me at all (nor would he ever discourage me) from appreciating the consequences of celestial machinery. Anybody can do that even if they have… Read More