• Politics/Culture

    Touring Through the Minds of Trump Voters With Van Jones

    November 25, 2017 - By 

    What could possibly be in the minds of Trump voters? Not only those who cast a ballot for him in 2016, but also those who have stayed by him since then, given that everything Democrats and many-if-not-most establishment Republicans knew would happen under such an obviously unqualified, tempestuous and malformed character has come to pass. Broken promises, unrelenting self-aggrandizement, frayed international relations, bellicose nationalism, schoolyard taunting, tax cuts for the ruling class, disdain for the environment, chaos, vindictiveness and bullying as policy—all of this has indeed happened, and even been doubled down on through the president’s first 10 months in office. Wondering how Trump…

  • Odds & Ends - Photography

    Thanksgiving Eve, Sonoma Coast

    November 23, 2017 - By 

      *** *** *** ***   *** Check out this blog’s public page on Facebook for 1-minute snippets of wisdom and other musings from the world’s great thinkers and artists, accompanied by lovely photography. http://www.facebook.com/TraversingBlog Twitter: @AndrewHidas Thanks to the photographers! Unless otherwise stated, some rights reserved under Creative Commons licensing. Elizabeth Haslam, whose photos (except for the books) grace the rotating banner at the top of this page. See more at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizhaslam/ Library books photo by Larry Rose, all rights reserved, contact: larry@rosefoto.com Beach photos by Andrew Hidas, see more at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewhidas/ 

  • Odds & Ends - Personal Reflections

    In Defense of Gawkers and Looky-Loos

    November 18, 2017 - By 

    Local news reports here in Sonoma County tell us that many people who lost their homes to the October fires are upset that the fire tourist “looky-loos” now descending on the rubble of their streets are adding further insult to the grievous injury they have already suffered. This is an understandable response, and I feel for them. But it seems to me there is much more to this phenomenon than mere voyeurism, so I would like to offer another perspective. I do so as someone who did not lose his own home but, like most all residents of this area,…

  • Personal Reflections - Religion

    The Conundrum of God As “Father”

    November 12, 2017 - By 

    The names of God—the idea of the infinite reflected in a nearly infinite number of images and words— was the subject of the day in my church this morning. Following are some remarks delivered there by yours truly. *** I’ve been mulling the 99 or the 9 billion or however many names of God there might be. But I find myself coming back to what has historically been the most prominent of those names: Father. The male of the species. The mystics might speak of the alpha and omega, the unmoved mover and the fathomless void, but in everyday parlance…