Monday, January 31, 2022
Red Poems
"Red" was a pretty vague, theme, I'll admit, but people did some good work with it!
We had this from (who else?) the Spanish Medievalist:
Red cape, black toro,
Predetermined outcome,
Deadly matador.
Predetermined outcome,
Deadly matador.
Christine had thoughts I can relate to:
As the sun rises
Natures brush stroke, sky ablaze
The day still to come.
Natures brush stroke, sky ablaze
The day still to come.
And I really loved Desiree's:
Apple’s best color?
There is a correct answer:
Definitely red.
There is a correct answer:
Definitely red.
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Sunday Reflection: The Next Threat
What's developing in Europe is scary. There are troubling things brewing.
First, some context.
Recently, the Russians have perfected a hypersonic missile. Basically, it is projectile that simply travels so fast-- nine times the speed of sound-- that it is incredibly destructive when it hits something. In short, it allows for something that can be incredibly destructive short of a nuclear weapon, and it impossible to intercept with current defensive systems.
The range for these weapons, for now, is about 620 miles. That means that it could reach some American bases currently in Europe-- and allow Russia a way to attack US assets from their own territory. That means that they have a way to escalate a conflict without going nuclear, undermining the relative stability that has allowed a balance between NATO and Russia and its allies.
That raises the stakes in Ukraine. If the US gets involved, Russia has a very lethal potential response. And then what does the US do?
So it might be a time for prayer-- and stable hands at the controls of America's military.
Saturday, January 29, 2022
January Football
I'm glad the Packers and their jerk of a quarterback are out of the NFL playoffs... but I do kind of miss the possibility of another January game in Green Bay, viewed from the comfort of my own living room.
Don't worry, though-- I will console myself with this video of snow-bowl classics!
Friday, January 28, 2022
Haiku Friday: Red
Red is all around us. I'm not putting limits on this-- let's just do it. Here, I will go first:
"Garnet" he told me
That was the color of that
Blood-red wine, the best.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!
Thursday, January 27, 2022
PMT: Justice Breyer is stepping down
Today, it is expected that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will appear with President Biden and announce that he is stepping down from the Supreme Court at the end of this term.
Appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994 to replace Harry Blackmun, Breyer had a pretty standard background for those appointed to the Supreme Court over the past few decades: Harvard JD, clerkship on the Supreme Court, various postings at the DOJ, some teaching, a Circuit Court stint. He also was a member of the US Sentencing Commission at its formative stage, serving from 1985-1989.
Now there is a veritable scrum to replace him. President Biden pledged to nominate a black woman, which is controversial in some quarters as it rules out, say, white men. However, it is worth noting that black women were barred from consideration for 200 years or so, so there's that. There are many black women who would serve admirably on the Court and who are very well qualified.
I think what bugs me is that "well-qualified" means pretty much that they have the same set of experiences as Justice Breyer: Harvard or Yale law, Supreme Court clerkship, miscellaneous postings at the DOJ, some teaching, and a role on an appellate court. I'm hoping that there is some impulse to break out of that mold... but I'd be surprised if we do.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Talking and talking...
There has been a lot of interest in the trial going on here of former Minneapolis Police Officers Thao, Kueng, and Lane, who are implicated in the murder of George Floyd. It's a fascinating case-- in some ways more interesting than the Derek Chauvin trial-- and I'm getting a lot of chances to talk about. There was the New York Times on Monday, NPR's Morning Edition on Monday and Tuesday, and some others. I'm very interested in the way this case is about what people did not do, rather than about what they did do. By going to a duty to intervene, it brings police culture front and center in a way we have not seen before.
On Sunday night, Shaquille Brewster from NBC wanted to talk about it via Zoom, which I was happy to do. I guess I didn't think through that this was maybe going to end up on television, which is how I showed up on MSNBC the next morning in my Wisconsin hoodie and looking pretty much like I had been awakened from a nap. But my dad's painting in the background looks really good!
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
The Razor Announces: Our People of the Year for 2007!
With the unfortunate death of Meat Loaf last week, I was reminded that Mr. Loaf was the Razor's 2006 Man of the Year, and also that I had forgot to name a person of the year every year since then. So, for the next several weeks, I'm going to be catching up, starting with 2007!
And it is with great pride that I announce that the winner of the 2007 Razor Person of the Year is....
The KMG's! You no doubt will remember them from this performance, which won them a 26th-place medal for Belgium at Eurovision 2007:
As you probably have guessed, KMG stands for "Krazy Mess Groovers," which is, I suppose, a thing in Belgium. (It's worth noting that our own President Biden did some crazy mess grooving yesterday). The KMG's faced a quandary at Eurovision: the rules of the competition said that only six people could be on stage at once, a problem for the ten Krazy Mess Groovers who made up the group. That meant that while Sexyfire, Mr. Scotch, Mr. French Kiss, Big Boss, Mr. Cream and Lady Soulfire are all featured in the video above, we were robbed of the visual stylings of Mr. Y, Captain Thunder, The Answer, and Mr. DeeBeeDeeBop, all of whom had to perform from offstage. (Also, they seem to be all-in on unusual names in Belgium).
So, where are the KMG's now? It's hard to tell. Their official website appears to have been taken over by... uh, someone else.
And if you have always wished we in the US could have something like this, you are in luck!
For now though, let's all take a moment to congratulate the 2007 Osler's Razor people of the year, the KMG's!
Also, please feel free to use the comments section to nominate contestants for the 2008 Razor Person of the Year, to be announced one week from today.
Monday, January 24, 2022
Stone Cold Poems
Wow-- good job on the poems, all.
We had this from my dad:
Legging, boot, gloves, cap
and down filled coat OK but
be home for dinner.
and down filled coat OK but
be home for dinner.
And a nice addition from Christine:
A dusting of snow
An icey gray sky coats the
Horizon; my mood.
An icey gray sky coats the
Horizon; my mood.
It's always good to have Tim Nelson join in:
At this time of year
It doesn't quite matter your
Temperature gauge.
It doesn't quite matter your
Temperature gauge.
And a good anonymous entry:
Bleak, cold, frozen, like
Voting rights legislation,
We need a thaw soon.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Sunday Reflection: In the cold
There was a terrible story here in Minnesota this week: a family of four from India, including a baby froze to death trying to cross over the northern border from Canada. Their bodies were found just ten yards from the border.
It's a haunting and tragic image: these people who had traveled halfway around the world not quite making it to their goal.
Part of the tragedy, of course, is that people who try to get into the US are taken advantage of by immigrant smugglers, and that is part of this story. It seems that when it comes to immigration there is a disconnect between our ideals and our reality. There must be a more humane way to allow people in.
It's a faith issue, of course: we are to welcome the stranger. But their are broader cultural and political points that seem to sway many self-identified Christians on this question, often focused on the idea that foreigners are "stealing our jobs." While it's true that foreign labor does tend to reduce pay in a general way (and a specific way in some industries), right now there is a labor shortage in this country that is dragging down the economy.
And this, too: is it really Christian to have a faith imperative on one hand and an economic interest on the other, and to pick the economic interest?
Saturday, January 22, 2022
R.I.P. to the Razor's 2006 Person of the Year, Meat Loaf
It's true: the now-deceased Mr. Loaf was actually our first (and, to date, only) person of the year. You can check it out from the archives here.
In response to Mr. Loaf's award, the mother of one of my students revealed her dating history with him, She also later revealed that in her younger days she entertained the artists responsible for the "Howard Huge" comic strip.
Somehow, it seems like life has become less interesting.
Friday, January 21, 2022
Haiku Friday: In the (bleak?) mid-winter
It's the heart of the season. Here in Minnesota, it gets below zero most days, and the snow on the ground has been there for weeks. For a surprising number of people, it is their favorite season, with bright clear days and (this week) a huge orange moon at night lighting up the snowscape.
How is your mid-winter going? Let's haiku about that this week. Here, I will go first:
There are no birds here
When the snow gets deep; They go
South for spring training.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!
Thursday, January 20, 2022
PMT: The Tragedy of Profit-Driven Healthcare
Yesterday, the New York Times posted this moving video about the nursing "shortage" in the United States, and I really urge you to watch it. The video allows nurses to describe the way that profit-driven hospitals short-staff their nurses to maximize profits, with a direct cost in death to patients. There is no shortage of nurses--there are more nurses in the US than ever before-- there is a shortage of staffing created by our health care model. The pandemic did not create this problem, but did make it worse.
As a nation, we are terrible at fixing things that work to the benefit of businesses that can pay for lobbyists and ad campaigns-- and no one has more money for that than pharma and other medical-related businesses.
The video urges legislation that mandates nurse-patient ratios in hospitals, but the problem is broader and deeper that that. We do need to re-think the way we provide health care in this country, because right now we are paying a lot for not-so-great outcomes. Data shows that "The U.S. spends more on health care as a share of the economy — nearly
twice as much as the average OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) country — yet has the lowest life
expectancy and highest suicide rates among the 11 nations." The 10 other countries studied were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
So we pay twice as much, and get the worst outcomes. We just are not doing this right.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
The Genius of Warroad
In the far north of Minnesota, less than ten miles from Canada, lies the small town of Warroad. Though it has fewer than 2,000 people, it is well-known in the rest of the state for their hockey culture; their high school produces state champions, and players from that little town were on the US gold-medal Olympic teams in 1960 and 1980 (for the men) and 2018 (for the women). TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals is one of several NHL players to come from the town.
In 2020, the pandemic hit little towns pretty hard. In Warroad, three neighbors hatched a plan to draw people outside: create a skate path on the river through town. Initially, they only planned to connect two hockey rinks, but those plans kept expanding. They explain here:
The path was extended this year to over five miles. And yes... a part of me wants to drive up there and skate it!
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
The Hirohito Question
Adolph Hitler is rightly looked at by most Americans as perhaps the most vile person in history. He earned it, too-- initiator of the Holocaust, populist promoter of ethnic superiority, warmonger-- there was a lot of awful in there.
It's odd, though, that Japan's leader during World War II, Emperor Hirohito, is rarely mentioned in the same way. Like Hitler, he believed in the ethnic superiority of his people, initiated horrible war crimes, and began wars-- including an unprovoked attack on the United States. While there was nothing directly analogous to the Holocaust, the victims of Japan's war and occupation in China, Korea, and other places suffered terribly. Hirohito personally authorized the use of poison gas, and made the decision to attack Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong and the Phillipines in December, 1941.
It might be surprising to some that Hirohito was not displaced as the 124th Emperor of Japan after the war, but in truth he remained as Emperor until 1989!
Why, do you think, he suffers barely a fraction of the judgment we (properly) give Hitler? I'm not sure I know the answer to that.
Monday, January 17, 2022
MLK Day
One of the best things about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was that he was ambitious. "Pretty good" was not what he was shooting for (and, at any rate, we did not get to "pretty good" in race relations in this nation).
It was that ambition, rooted in Christian principles, that most angered some people. They wanted this concession or that one to be enough, and it wasn't-- not now and not then.
It's something to aspire to.
Summer Dreaming...
Good work last week, everyone!
Jill Scoggins brought out a universal truth:
Asphalt smells. Din from
jackhammers assault the ears.
Summer: Construction.
jackhammers assault the ears.
Summer: Construction.
While Tim Nelson had a Minnesota truth:
Slip sliding away
Not down a powdery hill
But through a stop sign.
The Medievalist, who is a Spanish medievalist, had his own:
Sunshine in Castile,
Searching for a bit of shade,
Cold beer on mesa.
Searching for a bit of shade,
Cold beer on mesa.
And Christine had one I can relate to:
Lazy afternoon
A warm breeze kisses my face
Long Island Iced Tea.
A warm breeze kisses my face
Long Island Iced Tea.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Sunday Reflection: In the City
This week I had the chance to get out of the city-- to be out on a mountain ridge in the snow on nordic skis, looking down into the valley I had ascended from.
It was far from my usual haunts. I have always lived in cities; the smallest metro area I have lived in was Waco, and it has a population of over 250,000. Cities are fascinating organisms, which simultaneously solve and create the problems in our lives. We run into people who are very different than us, as we are all squeezed together, but we too rarely get to know them.
I'm fascinated by the way that Jesus and (later) the apostles of the early church moved in and out of cities, varying solitude with intense congregation. That matters, I think, even though we don't think about it often. Cities let us influence or learn from a large number of people all at once, but it can be overwhelming.
Sometimes I will be driving at night and see the light on in a house out in the country, and I always wonder what the people there are doing. The truth, of course, is that they are doing pretty much the same thing as I am: cleaning up after dinner, looking at messages, watching some TV. But somehow it seems so different.
The pandemic has taken away some of the allure of city living, it seems. People are isolate in a place where social interaction is supposed to be a part of the deal. Is this another way the deck is being re-shuffled?
Saturday, January 15, 2022
The genius of Betty White
Friday, January 14, 2022
Haiku Friday: Thoughts of Summer
It's the heart of winter. Here in Minnesota, it has been down to -20 already, with more on the way. Which means we dream of summer now and then-- who doesn't? (I suppose people in San Diego). Anyways, that juxtaposition is inevitable.
So let's haiku about that this week-- the images, memories, and hopes of summer. Or, if you'd rather, you can just speculate what my dad is up to in the photo above.
Here, I will go first:
I crouch to the ground
Shrubs full of fat blueberries
Graze here, happy bear.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula and have some fun!
Thursday, January 13, 2022
PMT: "On-Duty" Officer Deaths
A surprisingly high number of law enforcement officers died on duty in 2021: 502, according to some sources (though the numbers vary).
That number seems pretty high compared to historical norms, but it is deceiving: 341 of those deaths were from COVID, which must have been included because the officers may have contracted COVID at work.
62 died from gunfire, either from civilians or fellow officers. Meanwhile, over 800 people were killed by police in the same time period.
There's no doubt that police work is dangerous, and an important service. It isn't one of the most dangerous jobs, though. According to a study of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, with a fatality rate of 14 per 100,000 workers, law enforcement officers have the 22nd most dangerous job in the US. Here are the top 8:
1) Loggers, with 111 deaths per 100,000 workers
2) Pilots and flight engineers, with 53 deaths per 100,000 workers
3) Derrick operators, with 46 deaths per 100,000 workers
4) Roofers, with 41 deaths per 100,000 workers
5) Garbage collectors, with 34 deaths per 100,000 workers
6) Ironworkers, with 29 deaths per 100,000 workers
7) Delivery drivers, with 27 deaths per 100,000 workers
8) Farmers, with 26 deaths per 100,000 workers
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Me like chicken
Here in Minnesota, it is comfort-food season. And for me, the ultimate comfort food, the one that just seems perfect when the snow is swirling outside and I am warm and cozy inside, is a nice plate of roast chicken. Sides, yes please-- spinach and salad and bread, etc.-- but there is something that addresses my primal needs in that chicken.
I'm someone who thrives off the change of seasons-- this is a celebration of winter, not a complaint. People who choose to live in a place like Minnesota often love the winter here, and get grumpy if it is a warmer-than-usual year. I went to get new ski boots at a store near me (Hoigaard's), and it was full of happy winter sports enthusiasts getting ready for the heart of the season.
People in Texas, I know, view this with a great deal of skepticism. "Why would you live there?" they ask or "What is wrong with you?" But the truth is that if you are inclined to love it, there is nothing quite like a warm meal on a cold day.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Elite schools as a "price fixing cartel?"
That's the allegation in a lawsuit just filed in federal court in Chicago against 16 elite Universities: Brown, CalTech, Univ. of Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, Emory, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn, Rice, Vanderbilt and Yale. Those schools are part of a formal association called the "568 President's Group" that establishes a common method to evaluate need and award financial aid. The plaintiffs claim that over 170,000 students were shorted on the aid grants they should have received.
Part of the claim is particularly interesting: That the schools rigged the admissions game against students who would need aid by giving preferential treatment to the children of wealthy donors-- who of course can afford to pay full freight.
Section 568 of the Tax Code allows universities to set common metrics so long as admissions are "need blind"-- that is, so long as admissions decisions aren't influenced by a student's need for aid. The problem is that at least some of these schools seem to have strayed from the "need blind" model.
In a way, this kind of college is as much private club as educational institution. That restricts social mobility, limits the voices heard in our most important discussions (because these schools act too often as funnels to those discussions), and perpetuates wealth without accomplishment within families. Yeah, I have been a beneficiary of the "private club" aspect of Yale, but that is one reason I know what the problem is!
Monday, January 10, 2022
It's in the mail!
Good job on a weird topic ("what's in the mail")!
We had this from Desiree, who seems to be suffering from some supply chain issues:
Colorful wool dog
jacket, ordered for Christmas,
arrives in July.
jacket, ordered for Christmas,
arrives in July.
My Dad, meanwhile, is grateful for a letter-writer:
An old friend took time
to send a card this Christmas
meant a lot to me.
to send a card this Christmas
meant a lot to me.
As is his former neighbor, Christine:
Letters from old friends
Letterwriting, a lost art,
Are always welcome.
Letterwriting, a lost art,
Are always welcome.
While IPLawGuy has memories:
bootleg recordings
on vinyl and then CD
once came in the mail.
on vinyl and then CD
once came in the mail.
Sunday, January 09, 2022
Sunday Reflection: Disagreement
When we gather, my family often tends towards strongly-held opinions with questionable provenance. And I am about the worst offender. But we are good skeptics-- rarely disagreeable when we disagree.
I have had conversations with some friends recently about their own "deconstruction" of their faith-- a process that led away from their beliefs, without much to fill the gap created. I think in part this is a product of the pandemic, which has broken down the usual social contacts that reinforce belief (most importantly, church). But more significantly, I think it is in larger part because of the failure of churches large and small to engage deeply with the people who used to be in the pews. Often the story is the same: someone was told they were wrong about this or that, and then the thread pulled the sweater apart as they walked away.
Doubt? Yeah, I've had it. But my faith has never really been rooted in what other people think or believe-- that's why I would be a lousy Mormon or Catholic. People do tell me they think I am wrong about something, and I consider their view (sometimes I am wrong, after all). But the basic tenets of my faith (there is a God, and it is not me/we are called to love others) are strong, and ideas that conflict with those core tenets are like rain on Gor-Tex.
It is a long winter of the spirit for a lot of people, and we need to deal with all with kindness.
Saturday, January 08, 2022
Excellent advice from @Chadsu42
Friday, January 07, 2022
Haiku Friday: Things that come in the mail
Yesterday, I got a big box in my office-- copies of the second edition of my book from West Publishing. It's always kind of thrilling to see in print (and yes, that's what I was doing last summer). If you count the two editions separately, this is my fourth published book.
During these pandemic times, some people are pretty dependent on things that come in the mail (packages that can include medicine, Rice Krispies, etc.). But still there are surprises, and good ones (usually). Let's haiku about that this week!
Here, I will go first:
Leaning by my door
Against the wall, awaiting
My eager knife edge.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern, and have some fun!
Thursday, January 06, 2022
Capitol Mayhem Thursday: One year later
In 100 years, a lot of what we think is important will be forgotten. But I think one of the things that will remembered is the bizarre insurrection and attack on the US Capitol one year ago-- it was that significant of a singular historical event, like Watergate or the Hamilton-Burr duel. There has been, and hopefully will be, nothing like it.
Over at the Waco Trib, me and several others have written about the topic today--- you can read all of that here (and I hope that you will). My piece is titled "When Dan Quayle Saved Democracy," which are words I never thought I would write non-ironically. But... we live in strange times.
Wednesday, January 05, 2022
A Current Kerfuffle
Within the legal academy, there is a striking controversy over an article penned by an elderly faculty member at the University of San Diego's Law School named Larry Alexander. He had been invited to write an article for the Law Review at Emory, but his submitted piece was rejected by the editors. Conservatives are upset, seeing it as a breach to reverse the invitation simply because the content of the piece is unpalatable to many.
In short, the article recites many familiar and well-worn responses to assertions of systemic racism in the United States: that really the problem is black culture and liberal policies, that the slaveowners are dead, etc. etc. You can read the whole piece here. And, if you don't have time for that, here is an excerpt:
Had there been no slavery, the ancestors of today’s U.S. blacks would have remained in Africa, most often as the slaves of other African tribes. And even more basically, in the absence of slavery, today’s individual blacks would not exist. That is, although blacks might exist in the U.S.,the ones who actually exist here would not exist at all. For each of us is the product of a particular sperm and egg. Change the circumstances of conception ever so slightly, and a different individual is created. And slavery caused more than slight changes in the circumstances of conception that would have existed in its absence. Each of us in reality owes our very existence to past horrendous events, and that is as true of today’s blacks as it is of the rest of us. So, none today can say, but for slavery, I would have been better off.
People might be better off today had there been no slavery, but none of us, blacks included,
would be. So, the premise on which reparation for slavery is modeled is flawed. Reparations to victims’ descendants make sense only if those descendants existed at the time the wrong
was committed, such as the reparations paid by Germany after World War II.
would be. So, the premise on which reparation for slavery is modeled is flawed. Reparations to victims’ descendants make sense only if those descendants existed at the time the wrong
was committed, such as the reparations paid by Germany after World War II.
As readers here know, I disagree with all of this. I also am for publishing bad yet popular ideas, so they can be properly disparaged. (Note that I am not for publishing ALL bad takes, but just those ones that reflect a popular view and need rebuttal).
For people who deny that there is systemic racism in criminal law, I have a very simple response. It rests on three simple facts:
1) Some people in the United States carry within them implicit and explicit racism. Maybe it is just a small number-- say 10% (though I think it is much more than that).
2) The system of criminal justice leaves great and non-transparent discretion in the hands of police officers and prosecutors.
3) Because police officers and prosecutors are drawn from the larger society, some of them bring their implicit or explicit racism with them when they act within those areas of discretion. It is inherent within the system. Of a million people in criminal law, if 10% bear implicit or explicit racism, that is 100,000 actors making bad decisions.
Tuesday, January 04, 2022
The Conundrum Colleges Face
As Covid surges, colleges and universities are facing a difficult choice: whether or not to open for in-person classes as the Spring semester begins and COVID is surging. It's not an easy choice; many are still paying the costs of previous disruptions and debates over how to deal with the pandemic. Many instructors (including me) absolutely hate hybrid teaching, since it offers the worst of both in-person and online classes. Everyone is sick of wearing masks, certainly, and it appears that social distancing is not especially effective against the Omicron variant.
But... people are getting sick in record numbers, and that matters. It matters because that means some people's lives will be imperiled if we are reckless, and it matters because as members of the community get sick it will disrupt in-person classes.
A number of schools have already announced that they will start with remote learning for at least a few weeks, including the following:
Yale
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia
University of Chicago
Morehouse
Georgetown
A majority of the University of California schools
Michigan State
Colorado
Miami (FL)
Pittsburgh
LSU
DePaul
A second group intends to forge ahead with in-person classes, including these:
UC-Berkeley
Penn State
Northeastern
Princeton
Duke
Howard (with a one-week delay in starting classes)
Of course, a huge number of schools still haven't made a definitive decision (especially those which don't start classes until late January or even later).
What's the right answer? There probably is not one-- each offers trade-offs that will weigh differently to different people. And only time will tell what the virus has in store for us next...
Monday, January 03, 2022
Resolutions
There were thoughts, and I am so grateful for them. This, from Jill Scoggins:
01-01-22
I thought ‘19 was
bad. Twenty worse. Twenty-one
worst of all. Hurting
as ‘22 starts.
Even the weather today
is sad and dreary.
My optimism
is sparse. But it IS present.
Small light, flickering
just beyond where I
can touch it. But I see it.
Has to do for now.
I’m old enough to
know bad times pass. The sun
light will shine again.
I thought ‘19 was
bad. Twenty worse. Twenty-one
worst of all. Hurting
as ‘22 starts.
Even the weather today
is sad and dreary.
My optimism
is sparse. But it IS present.
Small light, flickering
just beyond where I
can touch it. But I see it.
Has to do for now.
I’m old enough to
know bad times pass. The sun
light will shine again.
And from Christine:
My words for the New
Year are: Gratitude, Selfcare,
Strength and Connection.
Year are: Gratitude, Selfcare,
Strength and Connection.
Finally, this anonymous poem seemed worthwhile:
I got COVID twice
In 2020 and now
I'll take next year off.
In 2020 and now
I'll take next year off.
Sunday, January 02, 2022
Sunday Reflection: 2022
For me, New Year's has always been an almost involuntary religious holiday. After all, we think about what is to come, our hopes and goals, and for me that takes me right to those deepest places.
I'm lucky. My work is a true vocation, a place where my faith and my work are very much aligned. I get to teach, and do it with open faith while talking about injustice, reconciliation and our system's inattention to human dignity (since I work at a Catholic school rather than a secular or Baptist one). I can have a slide in my powerpoint with this Van Gogh painting and talk about how the Good Samaritan story is about how to treat crime victims:
And, of course, in my clemency work with my students, I can visit those in prison and try to make mercy more relevant.
That's been frustrating lately, of course. The Biden administration has lived up to my fears rather than my hopes, and I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people who have waited for years why no decisions are being made. They aren't just failing to grant petitions for clemency-- they aren't denying any, either. They are just ignoring it as the petitions pile up. The number of pending petitions is now an all-time record of 18.367, with many having been sitting for four years or more.
But we need to keep pushing to make it work-- we always knew it would be a long fight, and there can be no doubt that it is the right thing to do.
Saturday, January 01, 2022
Here it is-- the New Year's celebration you have been waiting for!
