Category: History
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11. Acknowledging a Shared Humanity
A recent CNN interview did not pry any answers from the architect of Trump’s draconian deportation plan–– but it did reveal his character. Throughout the interview, Stephen Miller dodged questions, talked over the host and smirked. In response to Jake Tapper’s repeated queries about the impact of mass deportation on US agriculture––Miller claimed that the…
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9. What Grounding for Poetry?
GMJ, a Professor of Education whom I had the pleasure of knowing in the 1980s-1990s, was a gifted raconteur. An immigrant from Wales, he had a sonorous voice and a sharp wit. A couple of times over “pints” (he preferred Britishisms) at the university pub, I heard his tales of teaching high school English in…
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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (con’d)
I recall once hearing the theme from ‘Exodus’ in a dream from which I awoke in sobs. The version I had heard could have been either of the two that were popular in 1961. Most stirring was the instrumental–– with the dual pianos of Ferrante &Teicher. It was stunning in stereo. The other was a…
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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (intro.)
Introduction: In April 2022, on the final day of a guided tour of Jordan, my wife and I looked down over the Jordan Valley from Mount Nebo. In the bible, the area was referred to as the land of Moab. The 800-metre hill, just a few kilometers east of the present Israeli border, was believed…
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T. An Old Soldier’s Warp and Weft
Introduction: Norman McLean, author of the novella ‘A River Runs Through It‘ (better known for the celebrated 1992 film version), did not publish that memoir-based work until he was in his seventies. Presumably, it took the wisdom of that age for him to strike the right tone in writing about difficult memories. I was in…
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S. A Few Pinches of Native Soil (con’d)
A Kentucky-born friend and I have joked about the commonalities of our respective boyhood territories. In growing up, we both found ourselves at odds with ole timey religion, country music and conservative ‘values’… Outside of Acadia, the Canadian Maritimes–– like southern Appalachia–– retains a dominant Scots-English-Irish population. There is considerable evidence that rural Maritimers are…
Coprolites in Amber (etc.) 