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December 2001

What shall I pray for now? The triumph of good over evil? A better year for American business? Shall I pray to have more faith in George W. Bush than I did when he stole the election? I don’t want to be fighting a war against terrorism. I want everything to be the way it was before. Give me back the War on Poverty. Hell, give me back the War on Drugs.

Mercy

Serial killer Richard Speck, a free spot-weld, an Oreo cookie

Sunbeams

The dollar sign is the only sign in which the modern man appears to have any real faith.

Helen Rowland

My Politics

My personal life is particularly political. In fact, now that I ponder the subject, I see that I was one of the first personal-as-political activists.

Mockingbird

Sunbeams

May we remember, as we log on, that half the world’s people have never used a telephone, and recall, as we chatter, that most of those around us have no chance to speak or move as they choose. May we recall that more than half a million beings live without food, and that as many children live amidst poverty and war.

Pico Iyer

Alice Laughs Last

Alice doesn’t smile when she opens the door. She doesn’t have a lot to smile about, and, more than that, to smile would be to grant me points I have not yet earned. At this juncture, I am still a tentacle of authority, reaching out to invade the nominal sanctity of her home.

A Weakened World Cannot Forgive Us

An Interview With Kathleen Dean Moore

When the earth is whole, it is resilient. But when it is damaged too severely, its power to heal itself seeps away. If we continue to turn against the land, pour chemical fertilizers onto worn-out fields, sanitize wastewater with poisons, dam rivers, burn oil, and bear more children, then there may be no chance of healing. A weakened world cannot forgive us.

Down And Out

Going outside to blow bubbles; finding a note stuck to a barn wall with a knife; realizing grandfather wasn’t senile