latest
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The Lopsided Friendship and The Other Side
She turned 30 a couple of months before we met. I turned 50 a few months before that. Consequently, ours was a lopsided friendship, kind of like riding a bike with a flat tire. She said things like, “I don’t want something to just get me through the night,” and I said things like, “I… Read more
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Veterans Day 2020
This Veterans Day, let’s remember that every soldier to join forces under the American flag was risking their life for democracy – the right of all our people to have their say in who governs them. This year’s election saw the greatest percentage of American citizens to vote since 1968. In the middle of the… Read more
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America, the Beautiful
One of the first things I thought of when I saw the spontaneous outpouring of emotion that followed the news that Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump was the importance of music to the celebration. The power of music – to express joy, to comfort sorrow, to inspire the best in us – is overwhelming… Read more
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Vote For Me
Two-Tone was a short-lived musical movement that came from the West Midlands of England, combining ska and punk in songs that are equal parts socially conscious and danceable. The two tones are black and white and the musical movement was virulently anti-racist, in sharp contrast to the skinhead punks, whose ranks included many white nationalists.… Read more
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Our President
The president, more than any other elected official, is America’s image of itself: the one who represents us on the world stage. It is the president’s job to embody our national character. The heart of that national character, borrowed from civilizations going back to ancient Greece, by way of the Enlightenment philosophers of France (although… Read more
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Love in the Time of Cholera
One thought kept returning to me while reading Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel García Márquez must have been a wonderful lover. I’m not talking about sex. I am talking about the spiritual side of love. Anyone who writes about love with the depth he does must have the capacity for an abundance of… Read more
Words & Music 