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Category Archives: Op/Ed Thoughts
Down to the Root
“I carry you within me, to the very root And though I may blossom,still you will be here.” Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical, Beauty, Childhood, Courage, Family, Home, Ideas, Knoxville, Music, Op/Ed Thoughts
Tagged Amanda Kloots, Covid, COVID-19, Harold Mays, Hasta La Raiz, Herb Cover, Knox County Commission, Knox County Health Department, Knoxville, Natalia Lafourcade, Nick Cordero, South High School;
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The Wisdom That Does Not Cry
Wisdom is not a monopoly held only by adults. There is so much we can learn from the deep wisdom of very young children. May we stoop from our greater height, bend our ear close, and listen. Continue reading
IndigoNation
Nothing compares with this dye’s ability to capture the blues of nature—a midnight sky, early dawn, or an impression of the sea. It can also define a mood—of melancholy, of mystery in the dark hues, or joy and vitality in lighter … Continue reading
Posted in Beauty, Courage, Creativity, Dance, Freedom, Happiness, Ideas, Op/Ed Thoughts, The Arts, Wonder
Tagged blue, Cher, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Duke Ellington, I Voted, I've Got You Babe, Indignation, indigo, Isaac Newton, Kadinsky, Mood Indigo, Philip Roth, Sonny Bono, the color blue, The Seattle Asian Art Museum, Wassily Kandinsky
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Collateral Damage
Throughout history humans have sought easy answers to complex issues. When things go wrong, how can we protect the most vulnerable: Women, older people, the poor, and our children? Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical, Backyard Nature, Childhood, Courage, Dementia, Family, Home, Ideas, Knoxville, Op/Ed Thoughts, Women
Tagged 1918 influenza outbreak, 1918 Mid-term Election, Alfred E. Smith, Covid, COVID-19, Democratic Party, George Maloney Home, Joe Biden, Kingsport, Knox County Commission, Knoxville, pellagra, pellagra psychosis, scapegoat, scapegoats, Spanish Flu, Tennessee, Texas, The New York Times, University of Alabama, World War I
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Safety Not Guaranteed
In this ever-changing, pandemic-frought world, the title of one of our favorites movies, Safety Not Guaranteed, could be the headline for our lives. Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical, Courage, Creativity, Ideas, Knoxville, Op/Ed Thoughts, Screen
Tagged Aubrey Plaza, coronavirus, Denmark, Mark DuPlass, Norway, Safety Not Guaranteed, Taiwan
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A Larger Canvas for Our Tiny Boats
When history takes charge, our stories are rewritten in a heartbeat. But history is not the only force of nature. Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical, Childhood, Courage, Happiness, Ideas, Love, Op/Ed Thoughts
Tagged A Tale of Two Cities, Band of Brothers, Caitlin Flanagan, Charles Dickens, COVID-19, Easy Company, George Bernard Shaw, Georgia, HBO, pandemic, Pearl Harbor, Tennessee, The Atlantic, World War II
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Found Wanting for His Moment in History
Yesterday I learned that Senator Lamar Alexander–one of two senators representing my home state of Tennessee in the U.S. Senate–voted not to call witnesses during the our current President’s impeachment trial in the Senate. I was not surprised, in fact, … Continue reading
Getting Older With Keanu Reeves and the Two-fifths Solution
Finding a way forward in strange times through the work and ideas of Keanu Reeves and Martin Luther King Jr. Continue reading
Posted in Courage, Happiness, Ideas, Love, Op/Ed Thoughts, Screen
Tagged Alexandra Grant, Carrie-Ann Moss, HBO, HBO First Look, John Wick 3: Parabellum, Keanu Reeves, Martin Luther King, The Matrix, The Wachowskis
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Coming Home to Myself
For the ones who had a notion,A notion deep inside,That it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive . . . Bruce Springsteen, “Badlands”, 1977 A few months before Bruce Springsteen wrote his elegaic anthem “Badlands”, I left my … Continue reading
Posted in Alzheimer's, Autobiographical, Bruce Springsteen, Childhood, Courage, Creativity, Dementia, Education, Family, Freedom, Happiness, Home, Ideas, Knoxville, Love, Music, Op/Ed Thoughts, Tribute, Women, Writing
Tagged Badlands, Bruce Springsteen, Carroll County, Darcas Nickaline Montgomery Allen, Dear Sister, Home, Kentucky, party line phone, Prestonsburg, Virginia
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The Day the Music Lived
Buddy Holly’s quintessentially American music could have died with him in a plane crash in 1959. But the power of his idiosyncratic genius lives on. Our music is what defines us and our music is what saves us. Continue reading
