That exchange between Sen. Gaetz (R- Florida) and General Mark Milley (United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) last Wednesday hit a nerve with people of various perspectives. Here I’d like to note that Milley’s response was made possible when Rep. Chrissy Houlahan D-Penn yielded her time. …

Israelis are celebrating, for the most part, a potential change in government today. Protestors, who’ve been active for over a year, are hopeful. Corruption, extremism, a sort of fraying of the secular aspects of the state have been cause for concern. There’s so much embedded in the conflicts within and…

Mad Sweeney Remembers. T’Challa Never Forgets. This piece is focused on a character who forgets who he is and on the episode in which he finally remembers. Chadwick Boseman made a career out of playing men who didn’t forget. Men who display a self-awareness and self-knowledge that keeps them whole…

Around the time just after my mother’s funeral, when daily habits provided a sense of continuity and comfort, things would occur to me all in a rush, in a swirling rapid of unexpected emotion, arriving complete, while I was making tea or running through the neighborhood. In a sudden swoop…

Civilisations airs on PBS and can also be streamed online. Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and Parts Unknown can be streamed on multiple outlets. Great great beauty has heft. It transcends the current limits of our thinking and expectations. Understanding it’s impact on people over time can upend stereo-types and mental…

Fifty years ago our country was in the throes of deep personal and political change. Earlier that year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. That act of violence was followed by riots throughout many America cities. Robert F Kennedy was campaigning in Indiana and addressed the crowd as soon as…

“I am not what I am.”— Iago, Othello, Act 1 Scene 1 I know it’s not exactly de rigueur to be candid about how larger situations in this country affect our personal decisions. Concern for things I saw in society lead me to take jobs and pursue roles where I…

This Mother’s Day, warm and full of bird song, I always wonder about the aspects of motherhood we all need. Individually, as a society. What children actually need and what they receive. This happens every year. And this year when I looked back at this piece, begun two years ago…