“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Martin Luther King, Jr. The arc of the moral universe does bend toward justice; however, its trajectory is not unerringly true. As I step ever so gently, perhaps timidly, into the new year, I feel a terrible vulnerability; my naiveté gone, replaced …
Note: This essay will appear this month in Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. Likely, you do not know a young Batavian by the name of Katrina Schlenker. You should. Katrina is one of the most talented high school runners in the State of Illinois and is currently a junior at Batavia High School (BHS). Samantha Poglitsch, …
“You’re on this earth for a reason. Life is not a right that comes bearing a right, which is the right of getting. Your life is a gift, and it came bearing a gift, which is the freedom and the art of giving. It is such a joyous way of being.” Is it just me, …
I am sad much of the time these days, and, as I reflect, it feels as though much of my sadness erupts from fear. I am frightened about a future rooted in an environment impregnated by discord, untruth, misconception. I fear we have become a body politic lacking the interest or will to seek wisdom, …
Note: I wrote the following piece for the Batavia Chamber of Commerce newsletter, but thought it might be of interest to the readers of my blog I’ve been accused of focusing too much on images of death, but bear with me, you just might find the questions I am about to ask confusing and irritating …
Judi and I recently visited Williamsburg, Virginia. I did not realize, until we experienced the extraordinary reenactments, the vital role the people of Virginia played in our journey from independent colonies to a united nation. Two events in particular connected me to the 18th century—in different ways. One afternoon, we found ourselves in a …
Today, as I begin the second year of my seventh decade—with kind and generous missives filling my microscopic corner of Cyberspace—I struggle to understand the clash of gratitude and sadness with which I sit. A few hours ago, Judi and I left “Charm City”, the place our daughter has taken up residence for two …
Note: This piece was recently submitted for publication in the May-June issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. Many years ago, I taught in a private high school on the outskirts of Princeton, New Jersey. As faculty advisor in the dorm, I began each day at breakfast with the students. One freshman would frequently catch me …
Note: The following is being published this week in the March issue of Batavia Business, the monthly publication of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce. When I began these words, I would have thought that being human and being inhuman were opposites and mutually exclusive. But now I wonder. The spectrum of words that define “inhuman” range …
At the end of a very successful, and completely redesigned, Chamber event, I turned to a member of the Board and told him I felt much of the success emanated from having turned many of the evening’s details over the young man who was emcee. “You should do that more often!” he suggested. The lightness …