The table was set for 24 in a large square so that each guest could see the others.
My oldest son came from Washington.D.C.
My youngest son and daughter-in-law hosted and led the SEDER.
My granddaughter Emma, just completed a paper which compared a popular American author
with Greek philosophy, came from Bard College in New York.
My grandson Hoben, just helped to stage the 10th Annual Central Regional Audio Student Conference for Webster University, was there along with two friends.
My sons' step family from Baltimore, Maryland was there along with friends from Peru.
My grandchildren's fifth-grade teacher and her significant other, a war veteran who made a plea for greater understanding of the needs of returning war veterans, were there .
Former colleagues from Chicago, and the suburbs of St. Louis were there to participate in telling the story of Passover.
Some people had never attended a SEDER before, some people were of different faiths, and some
were not affiliated with any religion or belief.
All were aware of the tumultuous times we are in, regardless of politics and nationality.
We thought too, of the vast seas of migrants making their ways across the planet to find a better home than where they were.
The Passover ritual was recounted in song and readings, both serious and lively, sparkling with maraacas, drums and guitars.
People may have come to our SEDER as strangers but my hope is that we all left with the understanding that we need not fear each other, but we do need to take the opportunity to get to know each other better.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Saturday, April 9, 2016
EARTHDAY 2016
Nearly fifty years ago, a small group of people sat around a dining room table in a seaside
community. They were for the most part strangers who shared a single purpose, to understand how wetlands affected their lives.
Among them were men and women, influential and plain, credentialed and self-taught, merchant,
fisherman, sportsman, teacher, engineer, chemist and clergy.
They lived within 30 miles of each other. Even though they held different political views, they
were unskilled in the ways of political organizations. And so this small group became a part of
the national ecological movement.
They developed an outreach plan to recruit other people. They investigated the appropriateness
of regional land use plans. They toured sewerage plants and measured air and water
stream pollution. They spoke at schools, to the press, and testified before local and state
commissions and elected officials, and with Chambers of Commerce.
They worked in an office space contributed to them along with typewriters, ditto
machines and old metal filling cabinets. Other people anxious for information volunteered
to do "something" and formed a telephone squad to contact local and state elected officials.
As public interest grew for this small band of citizens, the group soon learned they
were up against powerful self-interests and so they learned to ask "tough"questions.
In retrospect, today this story seems innocently quixotic compared with
the global concerns we wrestle with today and the scientific and
technological tools we use to monitor information about our planet its atmosphere and the impact we have on it.
But it is worth noting that nearly 50 years ago a small band of citizens did in fact
helped gain passage of New Jersey's Wetlands Act of 1970, one of the first such
laws in the nation at a time few believed it could be done.
SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!
This blog was written before I learned of the death of Ruth Fisher Hamilton of
Cape May County, New Jersey. Ruth was an inspiration for me and all those with whom she had
contact. She worked tirelessly to alert all who knew her of the consequences of our actions toward
each other and to the species with whom we share our environment. I shall miss her and most
importantly so will the causes to which she dedicated her life.
community. They were for the most part strangers who shared a single purpose, to understand how wetlands affected their lives.
Among them were men and women, influential and plain, credentialed and self-taught, merchant,
fisherman, sportsman, teacher, engineer, chemist and clergy.
They lived within 30 miles of each other. Even though they held different political views, they
were unskilled in the ways of political organizations. And so this small group became a part of
the national ecological movement.
They developed an outreach plan to recruit other people. They investigated the appropriateness
of regional land use plans. They toured sewerage plants and measured air and water
stream pollution. They spoke at schools, to the press, and testified before local and state
commissions and elected officials, and with Chambers of Commerce.
They worked in an office space contributed to them along with typewriters, ditto
machines and old metal filling cabinets. Other people anxious for information volunteered
to do "something" and formed a telephone squad to contact local and state elected officials.
As public interest grew for this small band of citizens, the group soon learned they
were up against powerful self-interests and so they learned to ask "tough"questions.
In retrospect, today this story seems innocently quixotic compared with
the global concerns we wrestle with today and the scientific and
technological tools we use to monitor information about our planet its atmosphere and the impact we have on it.
But it is worth noting that nearly 50 years ago a small band of citizens did in fact
helped gain passage of New Jersey's Wetlands Act of 1970, one of the first such
laws in the nation at a time few believed it could be done.
SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!
This blog was written before I learned of the death of Ruth Fisher Hamilton of
Cape May County, New Jersey. Ruth was an inspiration for me and all those with whom she had
contact. She worked tirelessly to alert all who knew her of the consequences of our actions toward
each other and to the species with whom we share our environment. I shall miss her and most
importantly so will the causes to which she dedicated her life.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
"WHY TRUMP CAN'T BREAK THE G.O.P."*
According to Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson who wrote: "Why Trump Can't Break the
G.O.P American voters choose presidents, not kings (or queens)."*
Both writers are professors of political science, Hacker at Yale and Pierson at the University
of California, Berkley, and author of "American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led
Us to Forget What Made America Prosper."
They write of the complex system of interlocking parts in our government that allows
the "Republican Party to thrive even as its presidential candidates do not."
SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!
*New York Times, April 3, 2016
G.O.P American voters choose presidents, not kings (or queens)."*
Both writers are professors of political science, Hacker at Yale and Pierson at the University
of California, Berkley, and author of "American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led
Us to Forget What Made America Prosper."
They write of the complex system of interlocking parts in our government that allows
the "Republican Party to thrive even as its presidential candidates do not."
SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!
*New York Times, April 3, 2016
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