This afternoon was held the first-ever meeting of “Occupy Decorah,” organized through the Northeast Iowa Peace and Justice Center. We gathered with signs reading everything from POWER TO THE PEACEFUL to IN GOD WE TRUSTED, IN WALL STREET WE BUSTED to REINSTATE GLASS-STEAGALL to I DON’T WANT TO BUY THE KOCHS A WORLD to WE […]
Read moreGardening in reality.
“A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge of a disappointed politician.” — Alexander Hamilton, 1802 (qtd. in NY Times, 9/15/11) As a society, we’ve got a reality problem. A know-nothing right-wing anarchism designed to starve government to death while enriching the anarchists’ own careers is being accorded a respectability and freedom of movement […]
Read moreLittle windows, into dark and light.
An ironic, forlorn voice, a twist on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s, floats through my head suddenly tonight: Oh my foes, and oh my friends, oh, I am so afraid. Fear is not a characteristic note for me, in anything I say or write — and not only because I try to keep the darkest things […]
Read moreSeptember 11, in my own backyard.
I can’t remember when this country has ever been so afraid, even more than it was in the days and months following 9/11. Except that what is clouding our hearts and our minds and our lives right now is not immediately recognizable as fear. Even as their average constituent swallows hard and keeps looking for […]
Read morePresident Obama in our town.
A pretty neat day… All politics aside, here’s what I learned today: 1) Meeting The President of the United States will take your breath away and make your heart skip a beat. I’m pretty sure this is universal with meeting any President. 2) The US’s current problems will not be fixed by a bunch of […]
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