Walking Around Tucson

A local restaurant sponsors Monday evening walks and runs in downtown Tucson; so far Donna and I have been to five or six.  We quite enjoy the route, which winds through three picturesque parts of Tucson, the 1930-ish downtown section, the hippie-infested university district, and the historical Mexican Presidio (Tucson was part of Mexico until […]

Banned Book Review: Beloved

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a difficult read.  Difficult, at first, for mundane reasons.  Names you don’t know how to pronounce (Sethe, Halle).  Irritating, non-standard diction (whitepeople, blackpeople).  A narrative structure that jumps without transition from character to character, time to time, location to location, leaving you to catch up as best you can.  A general […]

The Military’s Heterosexual Problem

As of today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is implementing a military-wide modification to current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, pending congressional repeal of DADT.  Gay servicemen and women who have been outed by jilted partners or third parties will no longer be forcibly discharged, so long as they don’t out themselves. Since President Obama […]

Reforming Health Care Reform

I thought the fix was in, that Democrats in congress wouldn’t pass health care reform.  But they did.  Nancy Pelosi, you go!  Have you considered running for president some day? Toward the end, the Republican refrain was that passing HCR would hurt Democrats.  But you know what?  Everyone loves a winner, and right now congressional […]