Posts

Showing posts from March, 2020

A pet peeve

http://s411101314.onlinehome.us/beyond-parochial-faith To be honest, the only connection between this writing and spirituality is that I'm confessing a feeling that roils me every time I hear people abuse language,  people who should know better — professional writers and speakers. They're the ones who commit this sin.  I have yet to meet “in terms of” in a sentence that needed it. I wish it had never entered the English language. In most cases, “terms of” is witlessly added to in and should simply be deleted. Almost always it signifies nothing but a lack of precision.  “This nation faces a crisis in terms of health care.” Cleaned of the meaningless words, it says, “This nation faces a crisis in health care.” “Where will they take the country in terms of foreign policy?” More pleasing, “Where will they take the country in foreign policy?”  Readers can easily clean up the following: “The government plays a part in terms of education. If it gives less money in te

The good of COVID 19

http://jeanetteblonigenclancy.com/   NOW is the MOMENT,   May 12, 2020 Now is   the moment to change the world , writes  Rutger Bregman   in  Time   magazine. He quotes Milton Friedman: Only a crisis . . . produces real change.   Bregman strengthens my hope that this crisis may be a catalyst for changes that help heal the planet and its inhabitants. The coronavirus pandemic is laying bare grotesque inequities, making a return to the “normal” before it unlikely. Like a forest fire letting sunlight reach the forest floor, it shows the rot of injustice and inequality preventing the whole of society from flourishing. It exposes the craziness of our economic system. In Bregman’s words, “the more vital your work, the less you are paid, the more insecure your employment and the more risk you are in the fight against the coronavirus.” I add that performers of the least vital work—hedge fund managers, multinational elites, Wall Street financiers—control the most wealth. Am

Sexploitation

March 8, International Women's Day and the whole month of March is Women's History Month. In celebration,  Time  magazine  devoted an issue to 100 women of the year with short summaries of each. Luminaries known are joined by women unknown to me that I feel I should have known about. Just one—Recy Taylor—helped to shape Rosa Parks, known for her courageous refusal to surrender her seat on a bus, thus sparking the civil rights movement. Years earlier, Recy Taylor was gang-raped by white men and refused to stay silent. Despite death threats and firebombing of her home, she insisted on prosecution. Rosa Parks was sent by the NAACP to investigate. Find the story in  Time 's stellar issue. Super Bowl Halftime Show — Sexploitation I never watch the Super Bowl, biased as I am against pro sports, which I hold responsible for many problems in our country. I still can’t say who won because I don’t remember names of teams. They mean nothing to me. But “everybody” was talking a