This essay, the seventh in a series on the pandemic, includes, among other subjects, an analysis of the 2020 election and critique of the Trump Voter. It concludes with a William Stafford poem, "A Ritual to Read to Each Other."
Pandemic Mangle
Pandemic Shamble
Preface This is the second of three reflections on the coronavirus pandemic. The first, published a month ago, was named Pandemic Ramble. This one, more wistful, is named Pandemic Shamble. It addresses also the pandemic of racism. Since the future may be messy and confusing, I’ve tentatively chosen the name of Pandemic Scramble for the... Continue Reading →
Glimpses of Our Civil War Today
The Civil War is, for the American imagination, the great single event of our history. Without too much wrenching, it may, in fact, be said to be American history. Before the Civil War we had no history in the deepest and most inward sense. Robert Penn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War, 1961 Introduction... Continue Reading →
History as Therapeutic Diversion
Check out an experience of mine and discover whether you too find it delightfully therapeutic. Sit in for an hour on a Civil War history class with Dr. David Blight of Yale University. It’s free. All twenty-seven lectures of a course Blight taught on The Civil War and Reconstruction in 2008 are available on the... Continue Reading →
Lincoln: Pretense to States Rights
This is the second of two blog entries on Abraham Lincoln’s Message to Congress in Special Session on July 4,1861. The first, Lincoln’s American People, appeared in this blog two weeks ago. This entry examines Lincoln’s choice and use of the word “pretense” in an important paragraph framing the central concerns of his speech. Both essays... Continue Reading →
