Goines On: Holy days, holidays...all folly days?

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Looking for something old to fill the day’s posting slot, Goines discovered that exactly 14 years earlier he had railed against holidays, including both the secular ones like the Fourth of July and the holy ones (“holy” was in quotes). He had declared that about the only good thing to be said for holidays was that they excused us from going to the office.

    Had Goines been going through hard times at the office 14 years ago? He doubted they were hard times. They were midway through the tenure of UNC President Erskine Bowles, and Erskine was delightful, more outgoing than Molly Corbett Broad had been.

​Acting Citizen: ​My Name Should Be on the List

By James Knudsen

WHAT?!?! 
HOW MANY?!?! 
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!
    I am insulted. I am aggrieved. I am HURT.
    For seven years I have been taking shots at Donald J. Trump. Some of my best work has been devoted to mocking the Putrid Platinum Pompadour. I have dropped one-liners that served no purpose in advancing the column’s message. The only reason they were there was to take a well-earned jab at the Orange Menace. And several articles exist SOLELY to make fun of the twice impeached, one-term, former head of the executive branch. All this is not enough to warrant a place on Russia’s list of sanctioned individuals. Sad.

Reading Obama

The Cairo Speech

By Eric Meub

—Inspired by Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land, pp. 358-59, 365-66

To hear a U.S. president tell hard

But basic truths would catch them all off guard—

To recognize achievements, that’s a start:

Islamic math, its sciences, its art.

Seeking Credible Stories about the Future of Donald Trump

A challenge for storymakers

By Moristotle & Paul Clark (aka motomynd)

Moristotle to both budding and fully flowered storytellers in search of an idea: I challenge you to write a credible story for Moristotle & Co. about the future of Donald Trump – if he has a future – or about his end, if you imagine he does not. I even offer you a scenario to get started:

Acting Citizen: Hope eternally springs

By James Knudsen

2020, or is it Twenty-twenty? 20/20? Anyway, it’s been an absolute excrement-extravaganza. However, contrarian that I am, I would rather shine a light than hurl curses into the darkness. For all the tragedy, suffering, and pandering political advertising this year has brought, I want to believe that some positive things have emerged.
    I still can’t get my brain to work the way the brain of someone who still supports President Trump works, so the silver linings I identify apply to those on the left side of the political spectrum. And, given that these apply, for the most part, to people who identify as Democrats and, more specifically, the Democratic Party, I must acknowledge that any lessons learned will likely be forgotten after a few campaign cycles, and the nation will be trying, desperately, to vote President Glenn Beck out of office. Still, hope springs eternal—

One U.S. President conducts his life differently

Hail to Jimmy Carter!

By Moristotle

Former President Jimmy Carter has written 33 books since leaving office in 1981, according to this article in yesterday’s Washington Post: "The un-celebrity president Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly in his Georgia hometown" [Kevin Sullivan & Mary Jordan, photos by Matt McClain].

Off to see Bears Ears

Yvon Chouinard

The President is stealing your land

By Moristotle

Wilderness adventurer Chuck Smythe wrote me Friday that he and a hiking buddy “are shortly headed to Bears Ears, to see it once more before the criminals trash it.”

Correspondence: From the King James Bible, to Shakespeare, to composing behind the wheel

Edited by Moristotle

[Items of correspondence are not attributed; they remain anonymous. They have been chosen for their inherent interest as journalism, story, or provocative opinion, which may or may not be shared by the editor or other members of the staff of Moristotle & Co.]

Five Years Ago Today: 2012 highlights of Moristotle & Co.

When the United States had a President we could honor

By Moristotle

[Originally published on December 31, 2012, but with a different subtitle. It’s still my daughter’s birthday, but she’s more likely at home than on a boat.]

Yesterday I went through the blog's 2012 archive [accessible through the bottom section of the sidebar]. The blog began the year as "Moristotle: A sometimes ironic celebration of life on Earth" – or was it still "An ironic celebration of life, love, laughter, and learning" or "...of evolving life and learning on Earth"? However exactly it started out the year, you can see by the masthead how we think of it now.

In Your Dreams: Dream music

By Geoffrey Dean

Last week, a student in a music class I teach mentioned the music of the 2001 Japanese anime film Spirited Away. I remembered that as I woke up today, with the feeling that I must listen to the film’s song, “One Summer’s Day.” When I discovered this song while in Osaka five years ago, I fell in love with the unabashedly sentimental music of Joe Hisaishi and the pure, heartfelt singing of Ayaka Hirahara. I hear this song with a nostalgia for something unreachable, far away:

Life on Earth

From recent correspondence

Edited by Morris Dean

Today four Canada geese flew close overhead going northward honking to one another. My heart leapt up with joy to be a part of life on Earth that includes such creatures. I winced to remember that I am also a part of the race of creatures some of whom have spent thousands of hours interpreting something they call Scriptures in order to “prove” that the son of a god died to ensure that they could have everlasting life in some fantasyland beyond their fondest hopes. I had the feeling-thought that such animals as Canada geese are at least as noble as us humans, whose great intellects we use for foolishness as often as not.

Humanity and its discontents

From recent correspondence

Edited by Morris Dean

News of Stephen Greenblatt’s having been awarded the Holberg Prize warmed my heart. Good on him!
    I’m happy too for what the award signals to the public at large about the value of the Humanities — in this time when the Humanities are coming under attack for allegedly not preparing students for employment. “Stephen Greenblatt Wins Holberg Prize” [Jennifer Schuessler, NY Times, March 11] Excerpt:

Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Big Moments in Small Lives. Thanks to all of you, I got to talk to Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC on Saturday. I had the honor of being her Foot Soldier of the Week. You can read my full interview and watch my interview here: "Meet Madison Kimrey, 12-year-old voting rights activist."
    I'm still knocking on Pat McCrory's door. I'm also working on the goal of trying to get the ability for teens to pre-register to vote back before I turn 16. I realize I'm knocking on a very big door and my goal is a very big goal. This is why I'm so thankful for all your help.
    We are going to make a difference here in North Carolina and for our country no matter what. Forward together, not one step back.

Fish for Friday

For public-relations conscious football, it is, to say the least, a bad situation: three players knocked out of a game in the first quarter with concussions and two more out later from vicious hits, alleged bounties paid to players for knocking out the other team's stars, an entire coaching staff suspended for the rest of the season and all of next year.

Fish for Friday

When I read Walter Isaacson's book on Steve Jobs, the quote below struck me as a credo. It was written by Jobs as text for an ad in the "Think Different" campaign that never ran (his agency at the time didn't like it). I've attached the rough video that Jobs had made to demonstrate how it should look.

Fish for Friday

Click to enlarge

The last word? I was thinking the graphic's conclusion myself. [personal communication]

Fish for Friday

click to enlarge

This is too funny. Especially the RAF response. [personal communication; see item to right, which you can click to enlarge]

Fish for Friday

October surprise! All this week I've been fretting over "Romney creep" (as distinct from Romney the Creep). With each new day of polling data, he seemed to inch higher. Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin—all seemed to be slipping into his camp.

Fish for Friday

By now you've probably heard the infamous quote by Richard Mourdock, senatorial candidate from Indiana, that if a pregnancy results from a rape, "it is something that God intended." This made me wonder if believers think that any occurrence is an exception to God's plan. If some things are an expression of God's will and some are not, can we tell which fall in the latter group and, if so, how? Inquiring minds want to know. [personal communication]

Fish for Friday

Thanks to last night's debate, I have the gift of an image. It's the image of Romney damning Obama for taking his toy soldiers away and not letting him be King of the Hill. It's the face that Romney will wear on election night as he sees his dreams go poof. Till then, I'll keep it on my desktop. [personal communication]