Financial Crisis and Cashmere Hats

“I don’t like to be in this position, asking for things and, you know, answering to the American taxpayer,” Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson informed the Senate banking committee yesterday.”  I Come to You, Cashmere Hat in Hand  Dana Milbank
Some of the blame for the financial crisis obviously lies with the cult of ”positive thinking”  which encouraged people to buy [...]

For All the Women Who Feel Trodden On

If a woman makes herself a worm she must not complain when she is trodden on. — Immanuel Kant, German Philosopher 
Of course I changed the gender. Kant may have been one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment but since he spoke during the Eighteenth Century I’m not sure he meant to include women.
As for myself, [...]

Back to the Present: What the River Really Left Behind

Love thy neighbor as yourself, but choose your neighborhood — Louise Beal, Silent Screen Actress (August 8, 1867 to November 18, 1952)
On Friday night vandals came out of their murky holes to roam the dark alleys where our empty houses sit and sigh for our return. After cutting the screen they broke the upper pane [...]

Back to the Future: The Grownup Club

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in – Deepak Chopra
When I was a child I thought grownups knew everything, they just weren’t telling. I also thought that when I grew up, I too would know everything. For that reason I looked forward to someday belonging to the [...]

One Month Later: the Cedar Rapids Flood

Once the city’s hold on building permits was released a few days ago for those of us living in the 500 year flood plain, I finally quit holding my breath (which is good as I was turning blue) and realized I had been up to my old tricks again, balking every time I heard the [...]

After the Cedar Rapids Flood: Making A New Choice

Last night we went to my daughter Cathy’s for a family gathering and a spaghetti dinner. In the living room she showed me my curio cabinet, cleaned up but empty since, after washing everything carefully, she had wrapped each treasured item and stored it for me–except for the beautiful clock her brother had brought me [...]

After the Flood: Grateful in Cedar Rapids

I recently experienced the one thing that would make me forget–and care even less about–the latest political claptrap. In fact, I haven’t watched Fox News or CNN for at least ten days. My focus has been captured by our local news in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
My new focus began the morning of June 11th when my sister-in-law [...]

Obama and Clinton: Dancing Around the Mulberry Bush

Does America owe Barack Obama the presidency because he’s black? This was the question that seemed to speak from the television screen as I watched the heartrending story on CNN of the murder, forty years ago, of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a man who spoke to all oppressed people everywhere.
Will electing a black president [...]

Astrology Musings for Election Day

Part Three out of Three:
I feel like a little mouse nibbling at a humongous cheese, one about the size of Earth. But I can’t help myself. I am a driven soul. I wake up in the morning determined to try to explain a subject perhaps beyond my ken but I will not give up.
For some [...]

Midlife Crisis: Retrieving Your Soul

The midlife crisis is no joke, although it may look that way, to people my age who find it endearing that young people over forty are horrified when they find a gray hair. I try to remember the time when I thought forty was old, but I must’ve changed as I now consider myself to be young [...]