I was reading this morning’s Washington Post about the difficulty Organizing for America, “the 13 million-strong grass-roots network built during (the Obama) presidential campaign” was having in having a legislative impact. It brought to mind the similar network of that didn’t come through for 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary contender Howard Dean and it also broughtRead… Read more »
The article in Monday’s New York Times about people no longer having the patience to listen to their voice mail was eerily similar to the “article” in the Onion a few days earlier about everything taking too long. So much to do, so little time. Even with “executive summaries” at the beginning of reports, colleaguesRead… Read more »
Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone” presented a haunting image when it was published in 2000. Although more Americans than ever were visiting bowling alleys, there was a decline in bowling league membership. Americans were losing their sense of community. We “sign fewer petitions, belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet withRead… Read more »
At my folk song meetup this past weekend I had to pause in the middle of the song Kilkelly, Ireland because I was so moved. The song was “compiled” in the 1980s by American composer Peter Jones from a batch of old letters he found in his attic. The letters were from his great greatRead… Read more »
Well, the weekend’s over and it’s time to get back to work. For me that means continuing Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute within the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, about five miles from the Department of State. I sought out this training and think that it is essential to my effectiveness inRead… Read more »
Sometimes it seems like we, the public, are the long-suffering spouse whose partner is sitting in a bar somewhere telling friends that we just don’t understand how complex life is and what they have to deal with every day. Maybe we don’t. Maybe we can’t. And maybe they should try opening up to us aRead… Read more »
I regularly receive emails from friends who are concerned because they had received an email informing them of a new type of crime, a grievous social injustice, a rampant computer virus, etc. Perhaps the more excited or agitated something makes us, the more we want to believe it and spread the word (a riff onRead… Read more »
The air felt a bit fresher yesterday. The wind in my hair was more invigorating. I felt more in touch with the sounds of the world around me. Had the weather really changed that much? Then I realized that I had forgotten to put on my bicycle helmet. Suddenly, the fog that was cool againstRead… Read more »
The spouse of a friend of mine was denied a visa yesterday. Knowing something of the visa system myself I had explained how the system worked and given reassurances about the professionalism of the consular officer. And, ultimately, while I have no doubt about the officer’s professionalism, it’s clear that the officer’s approach was differentRead… Read more »
When connected to the Internet, my computer screen gives me a Vista (copyright Microsoft) of a vast multi-lane information superhighway stretching out wherever I want to go, and I can go to my favorites and click on the appropriate link and go there lickety-split. Or I can type a key word or phrase in aRead… Read more »