On February 15, 2003, the day after Valentines Day, peacemakers began a march that encompassed the world in an international protest against war! In almost 800 cities in 60 countries from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 people took to the streets with a collective purpose. At least one million marchers turned out in Britain, one million in […]
(click to enlarge. Stella and Verena were on neighboring farms, perhaps first grade age, when this card was made and delivered about 1920 or so.) Today is Valentine’s Day. I wish you a good day today. For us, life has other plans, and the dinner we’d planned to have at a local restaurant is replaced […]
The “filing cabinet” on the Minnesota Orchestra Lockout is here. Thursday, February 11, 2014 We attended the first post-Lock Out Concert at Orchestra Hall on February 8, 2014. This was an evening of immense emotional energy, with the Orchestra led by the father of Orchestra Hall, Maestro-Emeritus Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. The entire program, eight pages, is […]
This will probably be modified later today (it’s 10:30 AM CST). Comments are solicited. There are three photos, below, which may be of interest. Last night I watched a portion of the Opening Ceremonies at the Sochi Olympics. It was an impressive spectacle, as usual. I saw the Americans come in, and the Russians, and […]
The February 6, 2013, Minneapolis Tribune carried an interesting column in the Opinion section: “What we can learn from abortion decline”, by William Saletan. The subhead said that “with the [abortion] rate down 13 percent, both sides are right about some of the factors”, and in the second paragraph: “Pro-lifers are right that the decline […]
For more years than I can remember, February 1 has always been my unofficial first day of spring. Yes, I know: Punxsutawney Phil (and Grafton Pete) have not yet even predicted the end of Winter, but no matter. After January leaves the territory, while there will be bad weather ahead, it doesn’t last as long […]
The below, above the postnote, was written Tuesday, January 28, before the Presidents State of the Union. The public relations battle around the State of the Union of the U.S., by far the richest country on earth*, will likely be around, in one way or another, America’s middle class, the haves and the have nots, […]
NOTE: Icon folk song composer and singer Pete Seeger passed away Monday at 94. For a common persons selection of Pete Seeger on film, check YouTube here Your own personal recollections and Comments about Pete Seeger are solicited. Peter Barus writes from Vermont Jan. 28: Dick, Pete Seeger is gone. Here’s something I wrote when […]
Tonight President Obama presents his State of the Union message to Congress. I will watch it. Here’s a preview. Sunday night my favorite blogger, a retired guy in Los Angeles, Alan, succinctly described the history of the State of the Union in the first few paragraphs of his six-days-a-week blog, Just Above Sunset. You can […]
Too infrequently, good friend Peter Barus weighs in on issues from his home in Vermont. Agree or disagree, his postings always make sense. Here’s his latest, about how negotiations work, as he learned it in West Africa, and how it is in many places, but not so much in the U.S. Peter always has interesting […]