Amid the sirens and shouting of Black Lives Matter protests — or the braying of insurrectionist mobs, to give a more recent example — tiny, quiet actions of bravery capture our attention. During the night of the soon-to-be-former president’s strut to St Michael’s Episcopal Church, people fled from the tear-gas …
Seeing out 2020 was one thing. Getting through 2021 will be a whole ‘nother problem. Especially when there are people out there with more fuel and a new box of matches. And they’re standing next to the dumpster fire we hoped we had put out on New Year’s Day. Not …
A colleague recently warned me to avoid our state capitol campus this weekend. (Being that we’re many months from cherry-blossom season, this was no hardship.) The reason wasn’t hard to guess. State houses attract protesters like blossoms attract bees. The decision by the Supreme Court to decline the frivolous lawsuit …
I won a splendid palomino pony, with a flaxen tail and spindrift mane, soft brown eyes and an elegant stride. It’s the best pony ever! And it shall be mine… as soon as the lady who thinks she won it in the holiday White Elephant gift exchange hands it over …
This week, I watched, amazed, as one Gabriel Sterling, an elections official in Georgia, delivered an update that went beyond the mundane details of the recount. (Thank you, Georgia Public Broadcasting.) It was full of “cold, hard fury” (as one Twitter commenter described it). If you haven’t seen it, here …
Today — the 11th day of the 11th month — is honored as Armistice Day or Veterans Day or Remembrance Day. It was established to mark the end of the First World War, at the 11th hour of this day. It has evolved as a day to work towards peace, …
The last six months have produced all manner of reporting about what is problematic about the president. But beyond the White House, the Republican party and its adherents have displayed behaviors that are downright McCarthyite. I am distressed because I once thought American justice, American voting and American governmental norms …
The October surprise in California was the news that Republican “operatives” were setting out their own ballot drop boxes. On one hand, California does allow a person to collect and deposit ballots on behalf of others. But on the other… In the current climate of voter suppression and intimidation, do …
Have you seen the photographs and news footage of people standing in long lines — ridiculously, prohibitively, intimidatingly long lines — waiting to vote? I did, and found myself furious all over again. It is beyond absurd. At this point, there’s little we can do to remove state-imposed barriers to …
