Last week, I watched the Sunday service at the UU Fellowship of Montgomery, Alabama. Rev. Lynn Hopkins’ moving sermon expressed how the experiences of the past year have layered feelings of grief, rage, and despair. It was an “aha” moment for me, putting into words what I have increasingly felt: grief caused by rampant self-interest, h...

It's been relatively quiet since former president Trump's Twitter account was suspended, cutting off his endless stream of falsehoods and attacks. When Twitter made the move, the former president and many of his supporters condemned the decision, calling it an infringement of the free speech guaranteed by the Constitution. That's not t...

We had a new front door installed late last fall. As the weather was too cold for painting, we deferred that until spring. Now that the weather is warming, we need to decide on the colors for the outside and inside. We were happy with the exterior color of the old door, so we chose a color that is close to the old one. Easy. The inside...

Today the governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, let the mask mandate expire. It was implemented statewide on November 20 of last year, although mandates had been implemented earlier in the pandemic by towns and businesses. In a press release, the governor justified his decision by claiming ““a reduction in the state’s 7-day average ...

Growing up, from fourth grade through high school, I attended church with my mother most Sunday mornings, a Methodist church the first few years, American Baptist during high school. My mother was deeply religious, my father not at all, and they did not attend church. After divorcing my father, she resumed going to church and introduce...

The foundation of a representative democracy is the idea of the governed electing representatives to "govern" them, i.e., make and carry out laws and policies supporting those laws and, more broadly, act in the best long-term interests of their constituents. Also part of this democratic foundation is who falls in the category of the go...

I find it paradoxical that we can only live in this moment, yet we spend so much of these moments ruminating about the past or planning for — worse, worrying about — the future. Bouncing between the past and future, we lose touch with this moment, then look back at it when it's too late to be present in it. One of the intentions of my ...

March 24, 2021 The woman's voice on the voicemail message softly said she was calling on behalf of the family to tell me Kenny died this morning. I knew this was coming, just not when. Several weeks ago, a former colleague of ours had emailed me, advising Kenny was receiving hospice care. There was no more that could be done to stop th...

The Washington Post's Post Reports podcast did a comprehensive story about the filibuster on Friday, covering its origins, evolution, and current arguments about modifying or eliminating it. Very well done. For me, the takeaways are: 1 — The founding fathers did not implement the filibuster, nor support the idea. Adam Jentleson, author...

My last blog post contemplated happiness, and I quoted the Dalai Lama's expression that "the purpose of life is to find happiness." While meditating this morning, I found my thoughts pointing to a different answer: the purpose of life is to serve and, in some way, leave the world better for having lived. I've long held that belief, hav...

Each morning, the Chill app on my iPhone shares a spiritual quote. Today's was from American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864): “"Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may f...

The City of Minneapolis will pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd, the Black man who died after being handcuffed by police and held on the ground by officer Derek Chauvin, Chauvin's knee wedged in Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd was stopped by police because a convenience store clerk claimed he used a counterfe...

President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Thursday, making it law and releasing a flood of federal funding. The legislation passed solely with the votes of Democrats — no Republican support in either the House or Senate. Before being sworn in as president, Biden said he wanted the measure to be bipartisan, causin...

This morning, the rising sun caught an assortment of puffy clouds, illuminating their white against the light blue sky, a beautiful contrast to the neighbor's bare trees. You'll find the photo here, since I haven't figured out how to embed a photo in a HEY World post, assuming that is possible. Although breezy, the morning felt mild — ...

A year after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the day he signed the coronavirus relief bill into law, President Biden gave his first address to the nation, blending empathy, caution, and hope for the future. His tone was serious and largely soft spoken. Occasionally, he leaned on the podium to emphasize a ...

Inspired by the salt-and-pepper beard worn by Craig Foster in the film My Octopus Teacher, I haven't shaved in over a week. However many days so far in this experiment, I am trying to withstand the itchiness and scruffiness while learning to trim the beard, hoping to end up with a respectable facsimile of my goal.

Tuesday, March 9 After so many years, birthdays are routine annual events, just another day in the 365 days that fill the calendar. To write that exposes one of the paradoxes of living: life is normal, even boring, until it isn't. Only then we remember the miracle of each breath, each blade of grass, the sun that gives us daylight and ...

I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel. — Gloria Naylor What do I feel? Do I even know, since I grew up internalizing various messages about downplaying feelings: Men should be stoic, unperturbed by life's events. With constant happiness ...

As I approach another milestone birthday — aren't they all milestones? — I'm grateful to be at a stage in life where I don't feel I have to prove myself. My life has forged my values and brought self-confidence as I have navigated the challenges and achieved some successes, yielding a sense of security and an increasing fondness for th...

This week Governor Greg Abbott of Texas announced the state's mask mandate will end March 10, saying citizens "no longer need government running our lives." Yet, in a subsequent interview with KTRK TV in Houston, he said, "We are still urging people to continue to wear the mask." I've been surprised that masks became and remain such a ...

I received my second dose of the Moderna vaccine yesterday afternoon, 28 days after the first dose per Moderna's guidelines. Because of my age, I'm in the 1b group. After the shot, the rest of the day was normal, and I went to bed around 10:00. I awoke shortly after 2:00, and couldn't get back to sleep for a couple hours. Initially, I ...

While I doubt that an interest in writing can be encoded in the genes, for some other reason I have been captivated — I don't think that's too strong — by writing and publishing most of my life: • Helping my mother with the hand typed newsletter for her Soroptimist club. • Preparing the newscast from the AP news wire when I worked the ...