In many ways our common practices, those things we do year in and year out, define us as a community or communities. In political stump speeches, national and local candidates ask rhetorical questions like, “What do we stand for as a nation?” and “Are we unified by greed and fear?” Then, depending on the candidate,…
Keep a circular breath flowing, Gary. Notice the freshest possible air coming in through your nose and, unobstructed, out through your mouth. Breathing in, breathing out. Breathing in, breathing out. There is only the air — freshest and sweetest possible. Only the air… Then I was gone. When I came back to the mat on…
In my week of writing about criticism, I took what for some might have seemed like a detour yesterday to write about voting and the disenfranchisement of my late husband by a system that disabled him. Let me explain. Paul had Type IV Multiple Sclerosis, a particularly pernicious form of the disease that was progressive…
My late husband, Paul Mandracchia, loved to vote and nothing could dissuade him from doing so. Those who knew Paul were aware that the last several years of his life it took him forever to get dressed. Often there were three of us in on that project. Usually Jose or Anneke or Leslie joined me…
During an interview on Fresh Air, Jacob Bernstein, the son of Nora Ephron, said when asked about his mother’s sharp criticism, “she had a razor in her mouth.” He was referring to her toughness as an editor, seemingly unafraid to urge writers – even her son – to cut, cut, cut. In the context of…
Usually I have very little trouble attending to a single topic or issue about which to write for five days each week. In the more than 175 posts I have written in this blog, I may have had two days when I approached the computer thinking, “I have nothing about which to write.” This week…
Yesterday I thrice commented on things I learned in two college courses in linguistics before I blurted to my friend and colleague Mischelle, “They may have been the most useful classes I ever took.” Together with Latin and English, these linguistics courses taught me ways of understanding the world through the use of language. My…
Aristotle coined the term political animal – politikon zoon – in his work Politics in which he puts forth his belief that citizens must actively participate in politics if we are to be happy. To Aristotle, we are creatures intended to live in community. He understood us to be social animals. Aristotle reasoned that humans…
One of the by-products of having been raised poor and later working class is my ongoing challenge stating what is politic. I am often in the position of saying what is deemed unwise, not judicious, or imprudent. For many more years than I care to estimate, I have been cautioned, marginalized, and – at times…
Creating Community for Everyone 