Peace and Justice Files

From the trenches

Happy Merries, everyone! I would guess that you’re already familiar with the tale of the Christmas Truce, right? (If not, stop what you’re doing right now, go to YouTube, and listen to …

All I want for Christmas (2021 edition)

My wonderful and beloved wife has already started dropping some hints about what she’d like for Christmas. (A good book, geared for artists, on the anatomy of animals, for instance. Any …

Of the people, by the people, for the people

I figure it must have been a very hot day in the Athenian Agora, twenty-five hundred years ago or so. Guys in togas hanging out under some shade trees, trying to stay cool, and discussing the state …

Farewell to a gadfly

We got the news on a Sunday evening: Mort was gone. Dr. Mort Malkin—author, poet, physician, activist, and self-described “gadfly”—had been a fixture here in the …

A critique of critical criticism

“History is a pile of debris.” — Laurie Anderson Let’s face it: History is a big bleeping mess. Civilizations, cultures, battles, empires, peasants, generals, advances, …

USA 2.0: the preamble

Windows 10! iPhone 12! “NEW More Powerful You-Name-It, now with extra somethings!” We are getting updates all the time, it seems. Products are redesigned, rethought, improved, tweaked …