A comet, a COVID pandemic, and a summer of crisis. Is there any good news?
By Paul Rozycki This summer, astronomers have discovered a new presence among the stars, the Neowise comet, in the northern sky. It’s not a large comet, just visible under the Big Dipper. It has come closest to the earth in the middle of July, and has been observable for the last few weeks. Many ancient peoples often felt that comets were portents of doom and ruin. The Romans and the Greeks felt they were a sign of major events,...
Review: “Begin Again” blends James Baldwin’s urgent lessons and a call to face “the American Lie”
By Robert R. Thomas BEGIN AGAIN by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a clear example of a historical genre I call living history, i.e., history being written in real time by living historians. Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton, where he is also the chair of the Center for African American Studies and the chair of the Department of African American Studies. Glaude’s...
He changed my life: A remembrance of John Lewis
By Harold C. Ford “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something.” — John Lewis, December 2019 It was Sunday, March 7, 1965. I was an 18-year-old freshman student at Flint Community Junior College (FCJC). I still lived at my parents’ home with four younger siblings. The images on the family’s black and white television had riveted my attention. ...
Commentary: An August primary primer–how it’s different and why its important
By Paul Rozycki In a time of the COVID-19 virus, economic shutdowns, Black Lives Matter protests, and 500-year floods, it’s difficult to focus on something as routine as an August primary election. Even in “normal” times, the primary is often overshadowed by summer vacations, county fairs, and car cruises, and the turnout is usually low. But this August 4, voters will have opportunity to cast their ballots in what may be one of the...
Village Life: Of a big green chair, two bad haircuts and the Ministry of Silly Walks
By Jan Worth-Nelson I seem to have been sitting too long. Day after day of it. Day after day, for about 75 days now, obsessed with numbers, I’ve pretzeled myself into a big green chair too close to a glaring screen. The chair is sort of a comfort—it’s wide enough to accommodate the girth of me, widened by what I’ve come to call my “Trump Ten.” Okay, maybe it’s 15 by now. The chair is deep enough to make me feel safely ensconced, as...
Commentary: Vote by mail is an idea whose time has come
By Paul Rozycki How do you want to vote this year? No, I don’t mean whether you like Democrats, Republicans, Joe Biden, or Donald Trump. I mean, how do you actually want to cast your ballot? It seems simple, but there are a lot of choices. It’s been done many ways Voting: It’s the most basic ritual of our elections, and it’s at the heart of what we call the democratic process. At one time, voting was done by voice vote in public,...
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