Over the past several months, hundreds of reporters, pundits, and celebrities from around the world have put in their respective two cents on what they thought of Donald Trump—both as person and as political player. While there have been any number of witty or even insightful assessments offered, I haven’t yet found the one that has me declare “Voila!” as if to announce the perspective that finally relieves the collective fascination and disbelief. So I might as well throw my hat into the ring. I don’t want to get personal about Trump as I would much prefer to understand the vacuum that drew him in, or the social context that favors someone of his posture and demeanor. It occurred to me in trying to deconstruct

Shadows, Holes and Silence by William Hecht   THERE ARE some situations that can only be described by what is missing or absent, some things that are best explained by what they are not. Shadows, for instance, are regions marked by a quantum lack of illumination. Or take holes, spaces amid surrounding matter that imply a vacancy of a specific kind. Then there is silence, so often given physical characteristics for its ability to demonstrate what is not taking place. Other examples abound; Hell is a place of no hope, Heaven, one of no fear. My favorite is apathy, the state of not feeling. Apathy, not hate, someone said, is the opposite of Love. But the point of this expose’ is to convey my experience.

As I contemplate the Oscar winners, I find myself confronting a modern irony. The nature of today’s politics is more like entertainment, and today’s entertainment has become political. Donald Trump is now the star of the largest reality TV show ever, and Hollywood (along with TV content) is being driven by race and gender issues of equal representation and compensation. Heaven forbid that the politics and entertainment are converging and we will soon be unable to distinguish between them. But the more likely truth may be that we are too easily bored today, and need to be entertained while we consume our politics, and are willing to digest some political cod-liver oil with our entertainment. And so back to the Academy Awards. . . Some

While most would dismiss the view that the US today is governed as a theocracy, it is not an entirely cynical viewpoint . I do not refer to the resurgence of evangelical Christianity; I suggest that the US believes in and is governed by its unshakeable faith in Capital. To borrow the language of the bible, it is all about Mammon. One proof that free-market capitalism is practiced and preached is the offerings given to share buybacks last year by corporate America: it was an obscene one trillion dollars. When you consider that most of those shares are below their average price for last year, you could say the capital was at least grossly misallocated. Unfortunately, the incentives are perfect for them: buybacks offer high

One of the themes I drum on is the gift that comes with a broad range of experiences, learning, or interests. If you’re lucky enough to have any of these and you are paying attention to current events and trends, you see how today more than ever we have a dynamic existence; all aspects of society connect and affect each other: it is like a mobile where you see the strings connecting the hanging pieces, but the relationships are not always linear. Yesterday I saw an article about how social moods are disrupting the election prospects with Trump and Sanders emerging as non-traditional players, the uncertainty around which is disrupting the stock market. Politics and economics are two sides of the same coin, of course.

About 30 months ago, I left Arizona after having lived there more than half my life. I had grown up in Racine, Wisconsin, and when I left for Arizona to go to graduate school, I had just turned 26.  A marriage, a divorce, and a couple careers later I was 55; my work-life was changing and my father’s health was failing. The decision to move back to Racine was made easier through a series of ever-longer visits back “home,” to the same house I grew up in, the nearby Great Lake, the change of seasons, the mix of industry and farming, and the community that somehow still knew me. Twenty years ago, in conversation with  Karen P______, an AA friend, I heard some words that

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the latest in a series of seven Star Wars films. If you mention your interest in it, enough of the people you talk to who are not afraid to hurt your feelings will dismiss it as popular culture and unsophisticated pablum. I do not come from that group and while I can be snobby enough about other tastes, I waited in line for this one. Star Wars is not simply popular culture and part of a passing fad; it is a narrative ark that safeguards important modern myths and prepares several generations for a new era of humanity. The saga began nearly four decades ago: in social terms, a long time ago and a place that seems far, far

With new shootings in the news every week, and after months of headlines delivering the latest samples of hatespeech from presidential candidates, the concerned citizen should be asking “where did all the animosity, the anger, the hate come from?” –I have some ideas that could serve as a starting point for an answer–as well as a simple suggestion for those who wish to reduce the negative energy in their lives. The first idea is that since 1987, the FCC stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, then eliminated it in 2011. This policy was designed to preserve “honest, equitable and balanced” use of the airwaves—which belong to the public. It seems no coincidence that within a few years, talk radio became increasingly provocative and outrageous. The TV