Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Guest Columnist
Chuck Smythe

The angry river

In 1998, I became involved in a ragtag whitewater expedition to Southwestern China. Our goal was the first descent of the Nu Jaing, the “Angry River.” This is the river the Burmese call the Salween. We ran the roughly 200-mile stretch from the rim of the Tibetan Plateau, through an enormous canyon cut into the Himalayan foothills north of the Burma border, down to the lowland jungle.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Tom Lowe

I'm so bored with politics today

My father was a lifelong Republican. He learned his political values in the Progressive Era of the reformist Governor of California Hiram Johnson, and reflected that shade of Republicanism throughout his life. His letters to his college roommate, who was a member of the California Assembly, a New Deal Democrat, reflect the McCloud Lumber Company-owned, Northern California town’s establishment’s view of the New Deal programs—mildly critical but not hostile.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Guest Columnist
Jim Rix

What is the cause of Heart Disease?

First let’s be clear on just what “Heart Disease” is, because some people confuse it with its consequences (heart attack, stroke, etc.) and/or its risk factors (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.).

Trestina with Another Voice

Editor's Note: In a comment the other day on "Persimmons in sestina," I gently cajoled my contributing editors for their lack of enthusiasm for the trestina form of verse. I told Neophyte that until his kind comment came along—"You all have crafted a fine poem, a minimalistic tour de force"—I was amazed at the extent to which my efforts had fallen with a thud on Moristotle's readers and on the other members of its editorial staff.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Ken Marks

Reviewing the landscape

Now that the election is behind us, it's a good time to review the landscape, take a fresh look at what ails us, and decide what the remedies might be. To facilitate this task, I'd like to propose a question that never fails to arouse contention: "What is the main problem facing America today?" My hope is to arrive at a satisfying answer by offering up a number of popular answers and evaluating each one, according to my perceptions and biases.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
motomynd

When the minority take power through bullying and incivility: Why are the majority so over-understanding about it?

What do Joan of Arc, born 1412, a 14-year old girl in Pakistan in 2012, and at least half of modern-day Americans, all have in common? They are all victims of societies that for some mysterious and unexplainable reason choose to tolerate minority groups taking control through bullying and brutish behavior, instead of stopping it.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Tom Lowe

Of ghoulies and ghosties

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Guest Columnist
Jonathan Price

How is a major league pitcher like William Faulkner?

We are now in the postseason of baseball, and we, if we watch television, will see many games and many pitchers. Baseball is supposedly an American game, and one that can go on forever, and during this forever the watcher's mind tends to wander. Mine certainly does, into unchartered territories and strange metaphors and comparisons.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Ken Marks

Romney-Obama 2

It isn't often that we can turn on the TV and watch our future unfurl before our eyes. But that's the kind of rarity we'll witness tonight: a presidential debate in which the election hangs in the balance. How could the long campaign have reached a fateful moment like this? I think there are three parts to the explanation:

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
motomynd

So, what is a “wasted” vote?

This is the time of year we are pushed to vote either Democratic or Republican so we don’t “waste” our vote on someone with no chance of actually winning the race to be President of the United States. The logic of the “wasted” vote seems simple enough, but have you ever actually thought about it?

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Guest Columnist
Chuck Smythe

A musical conundrum in five voices

“Write what you know,” they tell us. Since retiring, many years ago, I have spent a lot of my time trying to know music. I hope to describe, here, my current battle to do justice to good music. I hope you’ll find it interesting, and I hope some of you will have insight to offer.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Ken Marks

A human-interest story

I want to share a human-interest story with you. It's not the kind you'll see in the last three minutes of the evening news. Not "Man Awakes From 10-Year Coma" or "Teenager Buys 4th House" or "Dachau Survivors Reunited." No, it's the kind you never see—one that disturbs rather than inspires. Yet I think there's some healthful food for thought in it.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Tom Lowe

Labor's history—lost, stolen, or strayed?

I've been thinking recently about something that has puzzled me for a long time. How America's working class got lost in the Twentieth Century. They lost their identity and history, letting themselves be screwed by their bosses, while being conned into taking the blame.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
motomynd

9/11: Would we be better off to have ignored it?

Even the bush people living an aboriginal hunter-gatherer lifestyle in Africa know what happened 11 years ago today. Planes flying into buildings did not directly affect their daily roaming search for food, but the U.S. response did. Africa is the emerging front of the war against terrorism, and life there, like so many other places in the world, has gotten more dangerous and challenging these past 11 years. Even for people at the very bottom of the Third World scale, who were already subsisting on what few roots, berries, and grubs they could find.

Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Ken Marks

The enablers

The last Thor's Day post evoked the terrible images of people born to indifference, abuse, and blighted circumstances. Through those gates, children proceed toward a destiny that we often call "hell on earth." Worse yet, as they move through adulthood they spread hell on earth as surely as a virus begets a plague. But there are other kinds of hell, ones with an atypical genesis that leave a much different mark on the rest of us. We all know of such a case, but it bears retelling if only for its cathartic effect.