Author Archives: Denise Donaldson

Usually, an equinox passes almost unnoticed, with little or no accompanying weather change; it’s just a man-made designation, signifying equal hours of light and darkness on a given day.  It’s an official watershed marking the slow slide into cold weather, but it’s nothing to particularly note in and of itself, as a rule, unless oneContinue reading “Seasonal Changes”

Running through all of U.S. foreign policy is one basic flaw:  a total lack of empathy for other nations and cultures.  I don’t mean by this statement that our government doesn’t calculate that if we do A, then the other country will react by doing B.  Obviously, diplomats, policy strategists, and the medal-laden occupants ofContinue reading “Empathy Is NOT Us”

As I commented on another forum, W. J. Astore’s powerful Bracing Views, the day the Twin Towers fell left me with memories of both horror and poignancy.  The horror part is self-explanatory.  The poignancy may seem surprising.  I was working in an office in downtown Cleveland on 9/11.  It happened to stand next to theContinue reading “Somebody Dial 911”

It’s a fact of the 21st century:  any news outlet will tell you that the United States is a country deeply divided, perhaps more so than ever before.  It seems as if reports are constantly full of “what the Republican base wants.”  Every diversionary or stalling tactic that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy put intoContinue reading “The Egg and the Chicken”

Economist Paul Krugman, who’s been pretty accurate in his predictions since the 2008 crash, wrote a column today weighing in on the benefits of extended unemployment payments.  There have been endless screeds on this subject, of course.  Predictably, conservatives are unequivocal in their conviction that people are not going back to work as soon asContinue reading “To Work or Not to Work”

…and neither does June.  The Cleavers have long since left the building.  Good, in a way, because their saccharine worldview bore little resemblance to reality, and any small similarity applied only to middle-class white citizens.  Bad, because their sheer innocence is gone, along with the peacefulness of their lives and their admiration of virtue.  InContinue reading “Ward Doesn’t Live Here Anymore…”

When we were camping at a state park two weeks ago, we had a pretty miserable time.  Unbeknownst to us, the site we’d reserved was adjacent to the cramped park’s little playground.  As in, our motorhome’s door was 30 feet from the slides and jungle gym.  Now, we go camping to get peace and quiet,Continue reading “No Country for Nice Guys”

Two entirely disparate stories in the news today caught my eye. In the first was a report of proposed efforts to compel COVID vaccinations in Europe.  The teaser reads:  “France is taking the lead in making life unpleasant for the unvaccinated, even requiring some people to get shots. Protesters see a soft dictatorship dawning.”  TheContinue reading ““Entitled” Is a Dirty Word”

Near the end of the Game of Thrones series, just before the battle to save humans from annihilation, there’s a strategy meeting among the leaders of the human forces.  It’s pointed out that the enemy’s objective is to bring about “endless night.”  To do that, he must destroy the all-seeing conservator of humans’ memories, aContinue reading “Erasing History”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, itContinue reading “Past vs. Present: All Relative?”