history – The Watering Hole

Observance: “everyone receives what he deserves”

Sept 22 2025 In a society radically tilted towards authoritarianism, it’s good to revisit history. In a nation traumatized by gun violence, polarized by social inequality and burdened by hate speech, it’s good to revisit poetry. So, here’s one from the great Ernesto Cardenal, pastor and poet of the Sandanista revolution and of Latin AmericanContinue reading “Observance: “everyone receives what he deserves” “

My Father Was an Anti-Fascist Too

I might’ve been eight when I first asked my father if he’d ever killed anyone. “No,” was all he said. But I asked again, and again, in spare moments, and the more I asked, the more he didn’t say. It was the 1970’s and I had an obsession with WWII. I built model planes andContinue reading “My Father Was an Anti-Fascist Too”

Observance: Totalitarian regimes use words to mean their opposite

December 15, 2024 I have intended to use this space to make Observances, mostly in prose, about the intersections between my own personal, lived experience, close to home, and the politics of the moment as I see it. But with some really great sources that echo what I would have to say politically (and sayContinue reading “Observance: Totalitarian regimes use words to mean their opposite”

Observance: Letter to a MAGA Friend

22 November 2024 Since the Trump election, the zeitgeist in my media-sphere* — call it the liberal media if you have to – is all about taking-a-long-hard-look-at-ourselves-as-a-nation. There is the very real dread and the democratic soul-searching and the data-mining and poll-questioning, and the finger-pointing and the circular firing squads and the group therapy sessions,Continue reading “Observance: Letter to a MAGA Friend”

A Bronze Statue of My Ancestor: Reflections on Reparations

i. Twilight of the Idols In the town square of Salem, Massachusetts stands a bronze statue of my ancestor, Roger Conant. An imposing, imperious white man, Conant looks grimly out from beneath his tall pilgrim hat and his windblown cape. The monument itself offers only the briefest explanation of whoContinue reading “A Bronze Statue of My Ancestor: Reflections on Reparations”