Blog
Back in October Mr. Penfire and I were both pretty astounded by a segment on the NBC News entitled “Black Americans in ‘Cancer Alley’ Disproportionately Exposed to Toxic Pollution.”https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/black-americans-in-cancer-alley-disproportionately-exposed-to-toxic-pollution-94107205554 This story is all too familiar: A massive conglomerate is using its power and deep pockets to inflict severe damage on a poor community. The story…
I just sent away for another “Day-at-a-Glance” calendar. Don’t ask me why. I always start a new year with the best of intentions. I will keep a diary…of sorts. Why do I continue to entertain the delusion that I can…or should… or will…do this? Faithfully writing down what happened each day and my thoughts (which,…
Tuesday, I decided to think seriously about trolls. And trolling. It was an op-ed in the morning newspaper that inspired me: “How Russia trolls the 2020 U.S. vote.” What are the Russians up to? I’ve been wondering about this since all the brouhaha just prior to the 2016 election. To be honest I’ve been skeptical….
It has been a month since the death of George Floyd. Nearly two weeks since the death of Rayshard Brooks. Several months since the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. And the massive, widespread, worldwide demonstrations that were sparked immediately after Floyd’s death have continued unabated. Mobs of angry demonstrators are pulling down monuments,…
Even those of us who think we harbor no prejudices and claim to be color blind…are not. We note what people look like. We notice what the people we encounter…the people we meet…the people we know, whether slightly or very well…look like. Faces, first of all. Of course. But also height. weight, hair color, eye…
From all-white schools in an all-white suburb to the all-white Katharine Gibbs School to a job in an all-white law office on Boston’s State Street. It wasn’t until I changed jobs in my early twenties that I actually had daily interactions with black co-workers, some of whom came to be my friends. I was hired…
Each of us has come by our awareness of black history differently. And thus there are those who see this history as an obvious cause of the current crisis in America. Or “a poor excuse.” My own awareness of black history was a long time coming. I grew up in an all-white suburb of Boston….
Yesterday we watched, mouths agape, as the police apprehended a car thief in our neighbor’s front yard. It was quickly done. No shots were fired. The perpetrator was not roughed up or unnecessarily manhandled in any way. And when it was all over, the only thing I felt was sad. This is how the scene…
A week ago Sunday, April 26th, the Los Angeles Times ran an editorial entitled “The brutality of coronavirus triage.” This piece acknowledges a terrible reality—the incomprehensible dilemma that doctors face when emergency rooms are overwhelmed with more desperately sick people than they can possibly help. “The most harrowing instances have been in the northern Italian…
Why did I think this play was going to be funny? It’s not. Distressing would be more like it. But I’m not complaining. Sometimes it’s better to have painful truths sneak up on you. For if you knew they were going to confront you head on, you might decide to make take strategic turn before…