Tom Sheepandgoats returns

This is me in my best harness.
My wife has her arm around me.
She is looking at me with admiration.
Who wouldn’t? As for that grinning dope
on my right, I’ve no idea who that is.

Long time no see

By Tom Sheepandgoats

Three weeks ago I received an email from the editor of Moristotle & Co.:

Hey, Tom, you still there? I’m still here. I remember you with affection and respect.

Some possibilities of metaphor

From recent correspondence

Edited by Morris Dean

The photo shown in the NY Times article “Creations That Capture Our Imaginations” of the 1000-year old Chand Baori stepwell in Rajastan, India could be used to exemplify the well of knowledge in a text.

Assessments of Antonin Scalia’s Court

Ronald Dworkin, by David Shankbone
Own work., CC BY-SA 3.0

From recent correspondence

Edited by Morris Dean

[Yesterday’s article by James T. Carney, “Justice Antonin Scalia: A judicial activist?,” provoked several communications from our readers. We share them here.]

Ronald Dworkin (1931-2013), who was perhaps the most cited, brilliant legal scholar in both the US and Britain, preferred a moral interpretation of the constitution over the so-called “original intent” interpretation by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Dworkin wrote many enlightening articles for The New York Review of Books.

Justice Antonin Scalia

A judicial activist?

By James T. Carney

The essence of judicial conservatism is a recognition of the truth of Churchill’s aphorism: “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for any other which has been tried from time to time.” The U.S. Constitution is the foundation upon which our democracy rests. In interpreting the Constitution, one should discern and implement the intent of the founding fathers and one should apply the doctrine of stare decisis (i.e., once decided, always decided) – except under two circumstances.

Welcome Penelope Griffiths to our staff

From over the Pond

By Morris Dean

For the too-short time we have been privileged to know Penelope Griffiths, my wife and I have always enjoyed visits from our next-door neighbor’s mum from Wales. We look forward to her trips here “from over the Pond,” and we miss her after she flies back.

A Valentine’s Day bouquet

By Bob Boldt

I am obsessed with all the varieties of possible human experience; how two lives can see the same setting from such differing perspectives. I think it is necessary for one to not only be able to see the world through all the lenses of personal parallax, but also to understand our experiences from a state of transcendent, unconditioned Reality. My thoughts this Valentine’s Day drifted back to a small London park I visited nearly 45 years ago:

Me (a sonnet)

By Eric Meub
 




 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
It’s true, Lake Lagunitas sparkles like
the windows at Bulgari, but, as I’ve
remarked before, you idolize your hike,
why can’t I idolize Rodeo Drive?

Ancient guides for shopping, bathing, dining, and dealing with drunk relatives

Edited by Morris Dean

When researchers find more than one fragment of an ancient text, they know that it was popular in antiquity. We consulted “Ancient Greek manuscripts reveal life lessons from the Roman empire,” by Alison Flood, Guardian, February 10. Excerpt:

Growing Up in America

St. Paul’s and girls

By Rolf Dumke

[Links to previously published installments appear at the bottom.]

Notwithstanding environmental, social, and moral problems of life in and around our house in Linwood Avenue and E. 55th Street, I grew up attending a well-structured Lutheran school for the four years from 5th through 8th grades. St. Paul’s Lutheran Elementary School was located up on E. 55th, above Superior Avenue. I graduated with top grades and was awarded at our graduation ceremony the cherished blue letter P for top sportsman of the graduating class, making my parents proud.

Playboy puts on (some) clothes

Or it will in its March issue

By Morris Dean

A couple of posts we did on pornography and/or erotica late last year [“Why Christians aren’t celebrating Playboy’s PG-13 move,” October 29, and “Eroticism and its discontents,” November 5] made extensive references to Playboy Magazine.

El Camino de Santiago, Part III

Legends and reality

By Valeria Idakieva

[Part II, “On the road again,” was published on January 5.]

I left the little farming village of Azofra early in the morning to head for Santo Domingo de la Calzada, named after Saint Dominic. The legends that surrounded the town were attracting me like a magnet.

Tom Cruise no sorry Ted Cruz

By Penelope Griffiths

So the Trump lost in Iowa.
    But he didn’t really think he would triumph in Iowa. He isn’t a total idiot but a shrewd businessman, and he always knew that his brash, outspoken persona would not appeal to the masses. In the other corner waited Ted Cruz, who is not that well known over the Pond – other than that he was born in Canada but is a U.S. citizen. Oh, and also that he thinks the whole of America is doomed like a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah if they don’t follow his “God.”

Why do owls bob their heads?

Answer from the National Audubon Society

Edited by Morris Dean

[Link to audobon.org corrected.]

Ever wonder why owls bob their heads? Here’s a short video of an owl in action:

To dump or to trump

That is the question

By Penelope Griffiths

As I sit in my lounge watching my 55" HD, 3D TV, I could be on either side of the Pond but currently I am on the UK side with my jaw on the floor at the shenanigans of the U.S. presidential hopeless, Donald J. Trump.

An invitation to recount our dreams here

Dreamsourcing

By Bob Boldt

One of the ways many so-called primitive cultures strengthen their communal bonds is through the telling of dreams. I like to think of the diverse group of individuals involved in Moristotle & Co. as a kind of community, albeit a virtual one. Accordingly, it might be fun – and productive – for the members of this community to share some of their dreams. Consider this an invitation.