This and That. More or Less.

  O f all the places to see it, I was waiting in line to pay for groceries today and there was a notice on the isle divider that “due to our unprecedented times self-bagging would no longer be allowed.”  I thought to myself – yet again – that word.   Unprecedented.   While I’m shopping for groceries of all times!.        I don’t have to tell you that we hear and see it everywhere.     First, they started using it for climate change.   And soon after to describe the behavior and actions of President Trump.   And now, it’s a perfect trifecta with the advance of the Covid 19 pandemic.       Except for some extreme conservatives, the majority of Americans accept the impacts of climate change, such as temperatures rising in the air and in the water, ice melt from glaciers in Greenland and the disruption of many species of plants, insects, fish, animals, etc.    And with each passing year...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness Growing up as a gay man born in 1951 in America, being equal was never quite part of the deal.   Ignorance of homosexuality was fairly common across society.  I remember growing up reading Ann Landers, a widely popular advice columnist of her day.  She would get letters from parents asking what to do when they suspected their child was gay.  I don’t remember her responses but I do remember thinking to myself – just how do you know someone is gay?  Is there some sign that you could tell?   When the movie Boys in the Band, a gay-themed mainstream film came out. my mother took us to see the movie.  She lamented how sad life was for these men and how unfair it was for them.  I thought gee, not...