Recently Added URLs
The good, the bad; the new."Without haste, but without rest."
Johann Wolfgang Goethe
I have created this URL in response to readers demanding some sort of a reference point from where additions to my outrageously swollen website can be accessed. Well, there have not been that many demands, in truth. But the readers who have requested this index are the die-hards who check my site frequently and at length; and I am disposed to please such persons. Anyone who wants to get their weekly or monthly dose of Rich Geib can bookmark this page and surf on in occasionally to see if there is anything new. Most URLs I post to the World Wide Web nowadays are responses to reader e-mail and chances are slim any casual reader would stumble upon them, they being buried deep in the guts of my domain. Yet these personal communications are worth the read and (hopefully) add color and nuance to my website. The wee hours of the evening also find me invariably typing scribe-like into my computer original historical speeches and documents so that they may be available to all via the Internet; I post these original sources as soon as I can input and post them. Then of course my E-Mail Hall of Shame (aka "Gallery of Knuckleheads"), How Is Life Treating You? archive, and Frequently Answered Questions are updated nearly every other day.
last updated April 7, 2014
April 7, 2014
“But your demise is perhaps overstated, as an educator never knows where his influence might end.”
I write a eulogy for a friend who died suddenly and tragically.
February 19, 2014
“Alas, America! Alas, my daughters!”
The twentieth year of teaching prompts some reflecting on the past, as well as the present.
December 31, 2014
A new year and a fresh slate; my yearly tradition.
December 31, 2013
"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."
2013? I do think so! Gonna be a good year...
May 24, 2012
"The days are long with young children, but the months they fly by."
I write a letter to a "mother-to-be.
April 14, 2012
"Today you turn five years of age."
My first daughter turns five year old.
February 25, 2012
"Happy belated second birthday, daughter mine!"
My second daughter celebrates her second birthday.
December 31, 2012
The new year brings new resolutions.
December 31, 2011
The attempt to not be mortified at looking at whaty I might have done in 2012.
December 31, 2010
A fresh start that I always take somewhat seriously: the new year, and new opportunity.
December 31, 2009
A fresh start that I always take somewhat seriously: the new year, and new opportunity.
November 28, 2009
Computer upgrade is done.
November 25, 2009
Cormac McCarthy and "The Road."
November 15, 2009
Riding the Malibu Canyons again.
October 12, 2009
"Finally, I can call you by name! My second daughter, Elizabeth Anne Geib."
A third letter to my daughter.
September 7, 2009
"Oh, second child of mine! Three weeks until your mother and I can discover your sex."
A second letter to my daughter.
December 31, 2008
Opportunity knocks on December 31st as I write up my resolutions in the yearly ritual.
August 17, 2008
I would ask for just one more thing.....
July 26, 2008
"In Praise of Battlestar Galactica"
Science fiction for pimply teenagers and scifi for mature adults.
July 12, 2008
"On My Beloved Daughter, Crying in Her Crib"
Yet more nighttime crying prompts a father to think long and hard about what he is doing and why.
March 12, 2008
After a long, exhausting winter and spring, I re-emerge onto my webpage with an addition: a long time coming.
January 24, 2008
The federal government makes another brilliant decision.
January 5, 2008
"A Stereotype Come to Life: The Worried Father"
My baby daughter contracts penumonia and I fret and watch over her into the early hours of the morning. Happy New Year!
December 31, 2007
"Bread and Circuses: The Temptation"
Yet another offer for almost free cable access fosters some thought on "what if...?"
December 31, 2007
The yearly list of goals to be accomplished, with some luck and will power.
December 29, 2007
My daily diet of websites checked daily for updates, as constantly scanned by the Sage extension for the Firefox Web browser. Best thing since canned beer!
December 28, 2007
"The Maggie Interludes, 1992-1995"
A hitherto unknown video of my deceased mother where she makes pertinent and poignant comments in her last years: an emotional find for me.
December 27, 2007
An uneasy morning of violence and lassitude in a world that is far from well.
November 18, 2007
"The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A Rumination on the State of the Internet
Very ambivalent contemporary views on privacy and the Internet prompt me to reflect on the written word and candor, living the examined life, and the legacy of family.
October 28, 2007
If a person bikes long enough, strange this will happen to him. A Sunday bikeride through the fields of eastern Ventura results in a man versus insect collision.
October 27, 2007
"'We changed from a child-oriented society to a work-oriented society...'"
I read a quote which prompts me to question in its veracity, and then I am left with more questions than before.
October 21, 2007
"The Risk of Living in California"
The onslaught of wildfires in Southern California prompts me to pack up family and leave for a scheduled vacation two days early.
October 6, 2007
Fueled by rising oil prices, it seems wherever one can find crude coming out of the ground there one finds bad government.
October 6, 2007
I see a world-class pianist play Bach with my father down in Orange County and have a few words to say.
September 26, 2007
A night of baby crying and attempts at soothing by sleep-deprived parents doing the best they can do: a remembrance in words.
September 11, 2007
"How rare that article! How special! For me like water in the desert to a man dying of thirst!"
An essay long time in coming that is published on an ominous anniversary, I reflect at some length on civil liberties and the "War on Terror."
September 9, 2007
"How rare that article! How special! For me like water in the desert to a man dying of thirst!"
A newspaper article sparks a discussion within myself about the worth of reading the paper daily. Is it really worth the time?
September 8, 2007
"What kind of person breaks into and burglarizes a school?"
I arrive to school one morning to find an unpleasant surprise awaiting me in the classroom next to mine.
September 2, 2007
"Is this the best we Americans can do with our precious leisure time?"
A walk around Balboa Island moves me to think about the huge role sports and alcohol play in contemporary America.
August 25, 2007
"I had you for vizcom and now i own and run porn sites"
A former student gives me a dubious compliment: friends in high places indeed!
August 2, 2007
I look back on an artist that much influenced me when I was a young man and reflect on authenticity in art.
July 31, 2007
An English teacher, ironically I find it hard to engage children's literature. It just seems silly.
July 27, 2007
"I used to tell myself I was one of those relatively few people who loved their jobs."
A look back at my thirties with respect to work, and the view forward from there: I try to see where I was, how I got to be where I am, what that place looks like, and if I like it. Where I might want to go in the future will be the subject of a later essay.
July 25, 2007
A summer morning to remember forever for rookie parents and their new charge.
July 23, 2007
"Our President and His Polyps"
Some reflections on the candor of American public life after a routine but very intimate medical exam makes all the newspapers.
July 12, 2007
I reflect on family and happiness after a leisurely afternoon at the Santa Barbara Zoo with wife and daughter. It had been decades since I had last been to a zoo.
July 2, 2007
As the behest of my step-sister Kimberley, I come up with a few goals to achieve before I die. Kind of fun it was!
July 1, 2007
As the New iPhone arrives on the market, I wonder what is all the hype about. Do I really need to be more plugged into the online world?
June 21, 2007
A birthday party prompts some reflections on turning forty years of age.
June 2, 2007
They still have it in Great Britain, as is shown by a wonderful production of a wonderful book.
May 17, 2007
Yet another place in this sad world where semi-illiterate young men with no other prospects in life hold sway over entire populations.
April 16, 2007
Some worries and reflections about becoming a father to a daughter... what do I know about being a daughter? I think about what kind of a father I might be, and what kind of a daughter I might have.
April 11, 2007
"Kurt Vonnegut: An Evaluation"
A look back and the work of an iconic but overrated American writer.
March 1, 2007
"An important day in the life..."
On March 1st, 2007, exactly one week before her projected birth date, Julia Emerson Geib acquired her first e-mail address.
February 22, 2007
Some musings about my junior year high school English teacher and her influence on my life.
January 21, 2007
A plan to dwell more on "heavy" music.
February 16, 2007"...either a Bush or a Clinton will have occupied the White House for 28 straight years!"
I experience a sharp surprise in reading the morning newspaper after encountering a quote about the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
January 15, 2007"The fantasy, the dream – and then the reality."
Some reflection on the present and the past via popular music.
January 15, 2007The infamous Mr. Geib music challenge, as subsidiary link to a larger writing piece.
January 1, 2007The annual ritual of the New Year's Resolutions.
December 28, 2006
A conversation with a friend prompts some soul searching about work and its cost.
December 20, 2006
"But will Julia like classical music?"
Impending fatherhood evokes thoughts on music and generations and family and connection.
December 15, 2006Revenge is sweet: the rivalry.
November 1, 2006"Whoever that person is, America needs you."
Some pre-election reflections on bipartisanship and the lack thereof, as well as its affects on the polis generally, the family, and even personal friendships.
October 18, 2006A project several months in the making, I launch an experiment between my place of employment and the local newspaper. We shall see how it goes....!
October 17, 2006Some thoughts on the middle name of my unborn daughter and the thinking behind it.
October 12, 2006In the second ultrasound, Maria and I discover the sex of our firstborn.
October 2, 2006“To bring a child into this world to suffer as we humans do, why would anyone do that?”
Some thoughts on becoming a father for the first time.
September 28, 2006The farewell video after my mother's passing.
September 27, 2006Some insights into my mother's last life lesson to me.
August 24, 2006Welcome to the family! Our first ultrasound exam...
January 1, 2006
We jump into a new year with fresh potential and new goals with the annual New Year's Resolutions. I believe in this activity. Really.
December 18, 2005
"I look and look and look and I find next to nothing."
A posting long in creation finally finds its way onto the World Wide Web.
November 19, 2005
A new domain and a new era begins. Long overdue it is.
August 17, 2005
Some thoughts as I contemplate yet another year and another crop of students. Let us call it "pre-game" jitters.
August 1, 2005
Some thoughts at the terminal point for the summer of 2005 approaches.
April 4, 2005
"But everyone seems miserable, / Tortured, wounded,"
September 1, 2004
August 19, 2004
December 4, 2003
Slowly coming out of my cyber slumber, readers can gain a glimpse into where my head has been lately - as well as the intense class that has devoured the past few years of my life. A recently goal is to THINK less for work, to THINK more for my own enrichment; to grow my personal website MORE, my work website LESS. The tectonic shift is long overdue: balance is all.
November 1, 2003
January 30, 2002
"Speech after long silence..."
I break a long cyber-hiatus and talk about patience, faith, endurance, and perseverance in the context of what has happened to me and my country lately.
December 17, 2001
"The good at Milken was very good, the bad was not so bad, but the ugly could be plenty ugly."
A detailed account of my three years teaching at Milken Community High School of the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel Air, California.
December 7, 2000
February 22, 2000
- "sometimes i just think it is very, very unfair... can you give me some tips ???"
A "desperate" reader writes for advice, but what can you really say? I venture a few words.
February 12, 2000
- "As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate."
They say it is always darkest just before dawn, and I try to remind myself this when all looks hopeless. A short letter by E.B. White speaks of hope and perseverance.
February 12, 2000
- "Hold onto dreams / For if dreams die..."
A brief, poignant poem by Langston Hughes states the obvious beautifully.
February 3, 2000
- "Can a man perform no act so barbaric that he should be extirpated from human society?"
A Spaniard asks me about the death penalty and civilized society. He gets my opinion.
January 22, 2000
- "The extremist Serb nationalists have had quite a party over the past decade, but the hangover will be particularly sharp both now and long into the foreseeable future in Serbia."
A respondent disagrees with my summation of last year's war with Serbia. I am more convinced than ever, and I say as much.
January 1, 2000
- "Rich Geib's New Year's Resolutions for the Year 2000."
Goals and observations for a new year and a new millennium.
December 31, 1999
- "I ask to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the grey, stagnating, totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go."
Citing his shortcomings and underscoring certain sober realities about Russia's place in history after the fall of the communism, Russian President Boris Yeltsin's midnight resignation speech signals his voluntarily departure from office. After literally centuries of dictatorship, this fact is food to keep alive the hopes of ordinary Russians who desire to live in a "normal country" where people are free from oppressive government and extreme material need. There being so much obviously dysfunctional in contemporary Russia, Yeltsin's dramatic news is good news and perhaps puts events in perspective. A propitious sign on the cusp of the second millennium!
November 26, 1999
- "I mean, as a Latin American, I was feeling like jumping off my seat, almost a bit infuriated."
A few remarks about power in the world, and the view from inside and outside and what it means for me to be an American.
November 26, 1999
- "The irrationality of war is, I suppose, admitted by almost all men..."
A trenchant essay by James Boswell "On Well." More topical today than when originally written in 1777.
October 24, 1999
- "I am a 18th Street member. I was arrested 29 times last year. I am not proud of it but i am not of ashamed of it ether."
A gangster writes me a short e-mail. I respond.
October 17, 1999
- "Most people are subject to the whims of advertising executives, look at how pervasive it is in the cities... everywhere... It wouldn't be if it weren't so effective. It's inescapable."
A reader disagrees with me about the power of "consumerist society" over the individual. We exchange comments.
October 15, 1999
- "I know happiness is attainable, and I know living the right way is the best way to becoming happy."
I sort my thoughts and reflections after reading a disturbing novel of rage, anarchy, and nihilism.
October 3, 1999
- "My dad, once so strong, sounds so weak and tired. I'm really scared. Doesn't help that I've been working so many hours and I'm just plain exhausted. Rescue me."
I never know what too say when people write me asking for advice on how to watch a loved one die. But when a friend writes me, I say a few words.
September 25, 1999
- "It seems to me you are more to be pitied than laughed at---as for Eamonn Collins well he was just a fucking tout who betrayed his own people."
After some unknown soul (without my permission!) got a URL of mine listed at Yahoo! under the the Irish Republican Army directory, fanatics from both sides of that squalid struggle e-mail me regularly. I make my last statement on the issue.
September 5, 1999
- "Know that in some sense you are already dead."
A somber, philosophical poem by Jorge Luis Borges.
August 29, 1999
- "When he pressed his lips to my mouth / the knot fell open of itself."
One must never forget to read some good erotic poetry now and again.
August 16, 1999
- "Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind."
Every summer I read Thoreau's "Walden" slowly and attentively; for me, it serves as a sort of antidote to civilization. This year was no different as I traveled around California and Oregon; and I read Thoreau's chapter on "Reading" as if transfixed on a cliff in Santa Cruz overlooking the Pacific Ocean as the sun set one August afternoon. Gotta appreciate such moments in life!
June 28, 1999
- "If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; / If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, / But make allowance for their doubting too..."
Hardly a day goes by when I don't reflect on my favorite American, Abraham Lincoln, his unique mix of strength and gentleness, what he lived and died for, and how he conducted his life and affairs. "What would Abe think about this social problem or that new idea?" I ask myself. "What would he say to me right now? How would he answer all these questions I have?" I often converse thusly with those very few thinkers who reside closest to my heart and thoughts -- those whose wisdom and understanding of people are so singular. And so upon coming across a certain poem by Rudyard Kipling, I am immediately struck to the quick how the verse defines ol' Abe Lincoln perfectly.
June 25, 1999
- "Ay, in the very temple of Delight / Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine..."
Keats' beautiful poem on the majesty of melancholy, the tragic beauty in life.
June 17, 1999
- "I have a VERY different job than you, Richard, but I DO TEACH. I just teach different things, and in different ways."
A teacher takes issue with my comments on teaching in inner-city schools. I respond.
June 16, 1999
- "You'll probably find me immature--I'm sure every single teenager goes through one of these little 'crises'--a phase that gets blown out of proportion."
People forget how stressful and difficult is school. I make a few comments to a stressed out teenager.
June 10, 1999
- "Prayers and letters to the editor were not going to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo; hot steel and political willpower ended this war."
It is with no small sense of relief that I greet the end of hostilities in the war with Serbia. I reflect on the costs and what was gained.
May 2, 1999
- "The Inferno of God is not in need of the splendor of fire."
Poetry for sinners in the hands of an angry wrathful God.
May 1, 1999
- "Weep not, beloved Friends! nor let the air / For me with sighs be troubled."
A somber poem on pain, this world, and the release thereof.
April 6, 1999
- "If we fear so much a country the size of Ohio armed with antiquated Russian weaponry, then we deserve all the scorn and shame the Albanian Kosovars can heap on us for having involved ourselves in the region in the first place!"
After the first strikes in the war in Yugoslavia, I reflect ambivalently on what might come next. Despite my ambivalence, I come to certain conclusions.
April 5, 1999
- "It is hard to imagine that our Founding Fathers would have undercut their speech with any of the all too common fillers that plague conversation today -- those 'ums' and 'uhs' and 'likes' and especially that inanity of inanities: 'you know.' How silly it is, how useless, what pure deadwood."
Senator Byrd makes some mordant, highly pertinent remarks on "inanity" in public speaking today in America.
April 4, 1999
- "If you want to help students in urban Chicago, I suggest you become a gang or pregnancy prevention counselor instead of a teacher or researcher."
A young lady wants to know if she can do anything for the urban schools. I give some free advice, for whatever that is worth.
March 21, 1999
- "It is true that we didn't survive under our own yoke, / becoming for ourselves worse than foreign enemies?"
Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko bemoans his Mother Russia, wandering lost and dispirited in the post-Cold War wilderness.
March 19, 1999
- "When the loud day for men who sow and reap..."
Another bright light wastefully extinguished in the aristocratic Code Duello, Pushkin's somber poem takes on new dimensions in view of the demise of its author.
March 4, 1999
- "I hope thereby to render this swollen mass of relatively un-indexed URLs more amenable to your ability to seek out rather than merely stumble upon information."
I finally get a search engine up and running on my site.
February 25, 1999
- "But most important of all, the truth, that dangerous stuff, became beautiful and more precious."
John Steinbeck speaks to the heart of the matter with respect to school and learning and why we even bother.
February 17, 1999
- "When I think about her [my mom] it brings me pain, but the pain is bittersweet -- mixed with pleasure and even happiness."
Some remembrances of people and incidents past after a dismal Valentine's Day weekend.
February 15, 1999
- "This is thy hour O Soul... / Night, sleep, death and the stars."
This be bliss: to contemplate the evening stars and hold conversation with oneself.
January 27, 1999
- "Perhaps / Because of our irresistible sense of mission / We have no choice."
After I make a certain peace with my college political science professors, I dedicate a poem in their honor.
January 26, 1999
- "Are you sure that it's alright if I e-mail you at this address? I mean, I don't want to invade your privacy or personal life. (Unless I already have...)"
A student writes me a few thoughtful words.
January 21, 1999
- "I will not speak of the famous beauty of dead women:..."
Poet Archibald MacLeish's spin on the Bard's rendition of beauty made immortal through the written word.
January 9, 1999
- "Dress me in the clothes / I wore in the day's round. / Lay me in a wooden box. / Put the box in the ground."
I could not say it better how I would wish to be remembered after my passing.
January 9, 1999
- "Every year without knowing it I have passed the day..."
There is an important anniversary which too few of us honor as it should be honored.
January 6, 1999
- "Civilization be dinged! -- It is the mountains and the desert for me."
Ornery ol' Ambrose Bierce leaves this world in style.
January 6, 1999
- "The day we die the wind comes down to take away our footprints."
Wisdom and serenity comes from understanding and appreciating the immutable order of the world, sing the Southern Bushmen.
January 5, 1999
- "Lord let me suffer much / and then die."
- "...my life a patient willing descent into the grass."
Two poignant poems speak to human mortality and the acceptance of it.
January 4, 1999
- "Rich Geib's New Year's Resolutions for 1999."
Goals and observations for the new year.
January 3, 1999
- "In all that becomes a woman / Her words and her ways are beautiful."
An anniversary poem from the heart.
January 2, 1999
- "Remembrances of you litter my apartment here and there, and so I am loathe to clean -- and you linger still."
Some words of farewell to a special friend.
January 1, 1999
- "My child -- Star -- you gaze at the stars..."
To see the world in a frame of film; and then to capture the moment forever and never forget it.
YEAR OF 1998
December 19, 1998
- "As for the death sentence passed by the Ayatullah Khomeini (RA), as a Muslim I support it because it was in accordance with Islamic principles."
An respondent wants British author Salman Rushdie dead for "blaspheming" the Prophet Mohammad. I reply.
December 18, 1998
- "In the old days men had the rack. Now they have the press."
One should "not be ashamed" to stand up and tell the world to mind its own business, but it is rarely easy.
December 17, 1998
- "We who prayed and wept for liberty from kings..."
A poem goes to the heart of much of the sadness I see in my country today.
December 14, 1998
- "And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, / And binding with briars, my joys & desires."
A reader e-mail prompts me to post William Blake's "The Garden of Love."
December 14, 1998
- "I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief."
A chance hearing of a beautiful poem by Wendell Berry haunts me for weeks until I find it in a bookstore and add it to my webpage.
December 12, 1998
- "Happy the man, whose wish and care / A few paternal acres bound, / Content to breath his native air / In his own ground."
"Cedar Run" is the name of my family's new summer residence near Eugene, Oregon. I cannot imagine a place more suited to my father's sentiment; may he -- and his future grandchildren! -- spend many happy days there along the McKenzie River in the embrace of family.
December 6, 1998
- "A psychiatric ward is infinitely more interesting than a shopping mall."
An apocryphal letter from Fyodor Dostoevsky to the Minister of Tourism makes a poignant, relevant addition to my "Whither Russia?... webpage.
November 30, 1998
- "Out of respect for God and His Word, as well as out of respect for your mother, I would ask that you reconsider the posting of such material for all to read."
- "Do you really assume that all feminists are bitter, harsh, and rude? If so, this is truely sad. Especially sad for the memories of your own mom."
I have always wondered at the strange fellowship between fundamentalist Christians and radical feminists in being driven to distraction by pictures of naked women. I am asked by two such readers (almost at the same time!) to reconsider certain of my ideas and actions in (believe it or not!) the name of my mother. I explain myself and my motivations more fully.
October 17, 1998
- "Simply looking around a home that encompassed the joys and tastes and passions of two people, and then realizing that most of it has turned to dust puts possessions in their proper perspective. Everything is replaceable, except the departed loved one."
An aging man reflects back on what is important and unimportant in life.
October 16, 1998
- "At this moment Stalin could no longer contain himself. He took the teapot and hurled it at Mr. Toogood's head. The scalding liquid poured down his face, but he only said, 'There, there, Mr. Stalin, that is no argument.'"
Betrand Russell's "Josef Stalin's Nightmare" is a good chuckle and a delightful example of the effective literary use of satire.
October 10, 1998
- "We need to take into account that there are other factors that need to be dealt with. A simple lack of interest is not the bottom line. Finally, we need to keep kids in school, no give them a reason to quit."
Another entry into my discussion page on the L.A. public schools, I speak with a respondent about academic success, vocational instruction, and greater freedom for teenagers in their lives.
October 1, 1998
- "i feel so lonely all the time, and i cry a lot. im not happy, and im scared because i dont know if i ever will feel happy again."
Another despondent and desperate college student unloads. I say a few words.
September 29, 1998
- "Joyful Rushdie Steps Out From the Shadows"
Report of Iranian government distancing itself from the fatwa urging author Rushdie's assassination.
September 29, 1998
- "I do not know, nor do I care to. I am only writing this to purge my brain, hopefully to rinse the sour taste from my mouth, and get on with my day."
Hate e-mail initially shocked me to read. Now I often find it high entertainment and read such attacks on myself with mirth and much interest. Much of the e-mail I receive is formulaic and boring; this, while not terribly insightful, isn't boring.
September 19, 1998
- "Ahi te wacho, ese!"
A letter to a gangster prompts a discussion on Chicanos, moral relativism, multiculturalism, immigration, cultural identity, individual responsibility, and man the social animal.
September 18, 1998
- "Communism in and of itself is valuable in providing a counterpoint to our most cherished ideas of How The World Should Be."
A discussion on Communism, contemporary education, idealism, and realpolitik.
September 17, 1998
- "I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again."
Harry S. Truman defends his dropping of the atom bomb on Japan many years after the fact in a letter to a newspaper columnist.
September 13, 1998
- "Just wanted ask your opinion in the difference of Communism and Altruism, because it seems to me that you regard them both in the same; certainly, they are not."
A discussion about idealism, reality, Communism, and early Christianity.
September 11, 1998
- "I think it was the duty of the youth to rebel, to disobey orders. To burn flags, in short."
A few comments on flag burning as a form of political protest.
August 29, 1998
- "He who loves a woman, and brings her life to present realization in his, is able to look in the Thou of her eyes into a beam of the eternal Thou."
How does one relate to God? How does on relate to other people and to nature? I add some thoughts on these questions as seen by the great Jewish philosopher Martin Buber to my buddy John Barich's section of my website.
August 18, 1998
- "Thank you Lord, for the gift of this summer. I do not know what I have done to deserve this."
Meditations on life and happiness during a special summer merits a spot on my "Special Places on the Earth" gallery.
August 17, 1998
- "I find myself speechless, despondent, and sad that there are humans living in such conditions... not ravaged by the hand of disease or time, but the hand of man. My eyes are bankrupt."
Some mordant comments on webpage design, altruism, and materialism with a medical student moved to write to me through my "Leaving Los Angeles" section.
August 16, 1998
- "In the same sense that the sciences of arithmetic and geometry, that mind, that life itself, have reality; the Constitution has real existence, and does not the less exist in reality, because it both is, and exists as, an idea."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Idea of the Constitution" goes straight to the heart of the spirit of modern liberal democracy in Great Britain and the United States.
August 16, 1998
- "...what I have to recount is an act unparalleled in the history of either the Greeks or the barbarians, and as horrible to relate as it is incredible to hear?"
The historian Flavius Josephus recounts the horror of the Roman siege of Jerusalem.
August 16, 1998
- "...thin pamphlets, imported paper, hard lives, hopeless ambitions; ripped-out arms and legs..."
Randall Jarrell's scathing essay "Bad Poets" smacks of mean-spiritedness as much as it rings true.
August 13, 1998
- "We call on every Muslim who believes in God and wished to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it."
Two very different perspectives on the religion of Islam and its role in the modern world.
August 11, 1998
- "Tonight I just saw "Saving Private Ryan" and it blew me away. That movie is an absolute MUST SEE."
A friend and myself exchange comments on Steven Spielberg's visceral new WWII movie "Saving Private Ryan."
August 11, 1998
- "But being a white superior AMERICAN know it all moron,she must have thought otherwise!!!!!!"
A reader does not like the person of Amy Biehl nor that of her parents. I am not impressed with his argument and tell him so.
July 21, 1998
- "...vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate."
I cannot read Sir Francis Bacon's timeless essay "On Revenge" without thinking about the person of Richard Nixon.
July 21, 1998
- "Lincoln 'Failures' List"
Have you ever failed? I have many times, and always I find inspiration in seeing how many setbacks Lincoln suffered in his (in the view of posterity, at least) singularly important and hugely successful life.
July 15, 1998
- "Non schola sed vita decimos!"
A few comments on the mania surrounding grades and grading in the modern world.
July 15, 1998
- "The doctor finally returned with a handful of X-ray negatives, and before he could speak Moira reached over and grabbed her husband's hand."
The brainchild of a lazy afternoon, a bit I add to my "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" is a keeper.
July 13, 1998
- "There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all around me, and I felt a tremendous shock - no pain, only a violent shock, such as you get from an electric terminal; with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shriveled up to nothing."
Ever wonder what it feels like to be shot? George Orwell very skillfully and perceptively describes his being shot by a Fascist sniper during the Spanish Civil War.
July 13, 1998
- "You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out."
Cantankerous General Sherman's famous letter to Atlanta sends shivers down my back to read; indeed, I can find no more effective or direct way to elaborate on my War is Hell page.
July 12, 1998
- "Churchill, the master British statesman, stood alone against fascism and renewed the world's faith in the superiority of democracy."
I add this fine biography by military historian John Keegan to my Sir Winston Churchill page.
July 12, 1998
- "Death lies heavily on the man who, too well known to others, dies a stranger to himself."
I put down on paper my goal for the summer of 1998.
July 12, 1998
- "So I would tell her the plain truth: ..."
A long-awaited letter prompts me to jot down a few thoughts.
July 10, 1998
- "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!"
Music critic Paul Hume's negative review of Margaret Truman's singing prompts her father to jot off a typically cantankerous missive. It is a proud addition to my Harry S. Truman page, in honor of a man who did not suffer fools easily.
July 10, 1998
- "They were unimaginably young, exchanging high school for the horrors of war. These are the soldiers' stories."
An brief but excellent essay on regular American soldiers in Europe during WWII by Stephen Ambrose is appended to my Frank Draper page.
July 6, 1998
- "Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain, / It's ancient tale of being apart or together."
An adventitious stumbling on a certain webpage brings back a memory and prompts me to post an old beloved poem.
July 6, 1998
- "Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, / I am looped in the loops of her hair."
The poem "Brown Penny" by William Butler Yeats.
July 2, 1998
- "So, my best to you, old man, wherever you are ensconced, and may the muses embrace you."
Norman Mailer writes a letter of encouragement to Salman Rushdie.
July 2, 1998
- "The issue of Salman Rushdie is - no pun intended - dead."
A reader singles me out for supposedly singling out Iranian theocrats.
June 30, 1998
- "What has the author who wrote the remarks about Oliver North done lately besides positing his or her own left-wing ideals about how things 'should have been done?'"
A soldier takes umbrage at my opinion of Lt. Col. Oliver North's role in the Iran-Contra scandal back in the 1980s. I clarify.
June 15, 1998
- "I have a completely different interpretation of the below statements than you, and I thought you might review what you'd written."
A reader claims maybe I might review my "interpretation" of Jane Fonda's 1972 visit to North Vietnam. I stick by what I said -- and perhaps explain myself better.
June 10, 1998
- "Could sober men do this? Only intoxicated men could do such things."
A jeremiad against tobacco from "Why Do People Stupefy Themselves?" by the inimitable Count Leo Tolstoy. I don't necessarily agree with him, but it makes for good reading and raises important questions.
June 10, 1998
- "Gang member are just trying to stay alive in harsh inviermets. and its people like you that move in the hood and don't under stand shit biiiiitch."
Another e-mail exchange about the "crazy life" of the gangster subculture.
June 6, 1998
- "I'd like to suggest that you read some Ayn Rand."
I have always been more than a bit confused by the devoted cult-following of "objectivist" Ayn Rand and her books like "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" which sell so many millions of copies. I make a few comments.
June 5, 1998
- D-Day Minus One: U.S. Paratroopers Leave for France
D-Day, A German Private's View
These two eyewitness accounts highlight poignantly the first momentous hours of the D-Day invasion of France during World War II. They are a welcome addition to my memorial for Frank Draper, Jr.
June 4, 1998
- "My question to you is: Does everybody go through this stage of frustration and doubt or is it just me?"
A recent college graduate struggles to pay the bills and find fulfillment in the "real world."
June 4, 1998
- "That every molly-coddle, professional pacifist, and man who is "too proud to fight" when the nation's quarrel is just, should be exiled to those out of the way parts... where the spirit of manliness has not yet penetrated."
Partisan of the "strenuous life," Theodore Roosevelt's disparaging comments on pacifism sound particularly discordant in this weak piping time of "political correctness." I kind of like them!
May 28, 1998
- "You do not see the bright light at the end of the tunnel, my friend."
Another Iranian dislikes my take on the theocratic government in that country and is not shy about telling me so. We do not agree.
May 28, 1998
- "You Are Going to Teach God's Children."
Entertainer Bill Cosby's inspiring speech to students graduating from Columbia University's Teachers College fits in perfectly with my "The Child is The Father of the Man" page.
May 28, 1998
- "In practical truth, I favour 'benign dictatorship'. Damn right."
Yet another former soldier speaks his doubts about the democratic ethos.
May 26, 1998
- "Why do so many among us continue in words and deeds to ignore, insult and challenge the unforgettable words of Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration of Independence's promise to every man, woman and child -- the self-evident truth that all men are created equal?"
The recently deceased singer Frank Sinatra's heartfelt words about the American ethic make a welcome addition and counterweight to my Thomas Jefferson page.
May 14, 1998
- "Right now, Life is toying with me; dangling Death right in front of my nose, only to snatch it away when I reach out to grab it."
A young lady sends me an e-mail to break my heart ; I try to say something encouraging in return.
May 11, 1998
- "!VIVA CUBA! !ABAJO FIDEL, PERO VIVA LA REVOLUCION!"
Another Latin American fire-eater descants on Fidel Castro, Cuba and the great whore of la Revolución.
May 7, 1998
- "He [Oliver Stone] is an artist, and as an artist, he has the right to create films that express his ideas."
I add a response to another critic at the bottom of my I HATE OLIVER STONE! page.
May 6, 1998
- "Blasphemy is a criminal offence all over the world. Salman rushdie is charged of doing so and must be punished. Simple as that."
A gentleman from the United Arab Emirates tells me the simple truth about author Salman Rushdie's fate. I beg to differ. Obviously he and I are coming from two very different philosophical points of view.
May 5, 1998
- "He was a man killed by his art, and his life holds a lesson all intellectuals need to learn: that art is not enough."
Agnes von Kurowsky's letter jilting the young love sick Ernest Hemingway perhaps sheds light on the worldview of that man and his ethic that this world will break you.
May 4, 1998
- "Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms, / and... Look to my little babes, my dear remains."
Puritan Anne Bradstreet writes this touching poem of love and worry to her husband as the end of a pregnancy and dangers of childbirth approach.
May 3, 1998
- "First - if you are in love - that's a good thing - that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you."
John Steinbeck offers advice to his young son Thom about love fits perfectly into what I was trying to say in my First Love webpage.
May 3, 1998
- "...a man is not completely born until he be dead..."
Another tidbit of Benjamin Franklin's considerable wisdom in this eloquently elegant letter revolving around the theme of death and loss written to a relative .
May 2, 1998
- "Why don't you take a ride down here to Louisiana and see just what we deal with here. You people that live up North don't have the same type of people that we have."
A disturbing e-mail about a URL of mine about former Klu Klux Klan leader turned Republican David Duke prompts me to post a letter by William Faulkner about segregation and racism.
May 2, 1998
- "Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted..."
I post the beautiful Prayer at Compline from the Episcopal "Book of Common Prayer" to my mother's memorial page in the hope that it might support the afflicted who chance upon that URL.
April 27, 1998
- "I had to write and say if you can't support someone who Puts America first and the rights of unborn children before his own well-being, I wish you would move to Finland."
A Patrick Buchanan supporter puts me in my place.
April 25, 1998
- "O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children."
The timeless letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah just one week before he and 27 of his comrades and 4000 other Americans would die in the battle at "First Manassas" during the Civil War.
April 22, 1998
- "It will take a lot longer for the sun to burn out than for the last zealot with a sword to render the last infidel 'saved.'"
A respondent from my Amy Biehl page writes about "zealots" and "fanatics" and the "future of mankind."
April 21, 1998
- "The Mystic Who Lit the Fires of Hatred"
To my book burning and censorship site, I add two excellent pieces on perhaps the person I most dislike of this entire tragic century: the Ayatullah Khomeini of Iran, a sort of postmodern throwback to theocracy and inquisitors.
April 21, 1998
- "I would rather swallow my teeth!"
I am surprised and amused to receive from Executive Director Ira Glasser by snail mail an offer to join the American Civil Liberties Union! I think this makes an excellent accompaniment to my other missive to Jesse Helms.
April 19, 1998
- "...the author of mass terror and the first concentration camps ever built on the European Continent."
An essay on the Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. I find the founding father of the Soviet Union to be an important but grim 20th century heir to the single-minded and cold-blooded intellectual hatred Robespierre.
April 11, 1998
- "Sing... one verse, / For the heavy hearts of soldiers."
Walt Whitman's poem "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day" about the mourning of Union Army soldiers in response to Abraham Lincoln's assassination makes a fine addition to my Gettysburg Address page.
April 11, 1998
- "...I do not commiserate, I congratulate you."
I recently stumbled across this beautiful poem by Whitman which nearly took my breath away upon reading it. I most proudly add the poem "To One Shortly to Die" to my mother's memorial page in the hope that it can offer inspiration and solace to the many sick with cancer who visit that URL.
April 1, 1998
- "You are an American and... you do not use your brains. You do not read books."
I am chastised for my unlettered ignorance and lack of critical thinking by a Nepalese engineering student from the University of Cincinnati. I suggest she stick with the math and leave politics alone.
March 29, 1998
- United States Marines Land on Tarawa.
Execution of Allied Intelligence Officer by Japanese.
These two eyewitness accounts capture well the ferocity of the fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. They are a welcome addition to my homage to Takeo Tanimizu.
March 29, 1998
- Execution of Nazi War Criminals by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1946.
I read this account by Kingsbury Smith and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I just had to post this to the World Wide Web.
March 18, 1998
- "I have to tell you, with all due respect, that you are exactly the type of person that I want to get away from."
A soon-to-be-expatriate American desires to reside in a society "tolerant" of drugs and prostitution.
March 18, 1998
- "Our country [Iran] is suffering so it may soon find its rightful place in the world community and its just government. May the day come soon."
A diaspora Persian agrees with me that the ruling mullahs of Iran are little better than modern day inquisitors.
March 17, 1998
- Gustave Flaubert unburdens himself to friend Ivan Turgenev
"I have always tried to live in an ivory tower, but a tide of shit is beating at its walls, threatening to undermine it."
March 17, 1998
- Captain Alfredo Astiz: Kidnapper of Grandmothers
The comments of a criminal wearing a uniform need be exposed to the light of day.
March 13, 1998
- "Who was that primitive bastard defending destroying a human being?"
A "practicing Muslim" shares my outrage at the North African custom of female circumcision.
March 3, 1998
- "This is concerning Heinlein's Starship Troopers and the argument about its militaristic future."
An Air Force ROTC cadet finds me mistaken in censuring Heinlein. This trend of young military personnel writing to me like this is getting worrisome!
March 2, 1998
- "I am distressed by your comments on Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers."
A young soldier disagrees with my comments on Robert A. Heinlein's philosophical novel "Starship Troopers."
Feb. 8, 1998
- "Why should I listen to you?"
A college student wants to know why she should spend time listening to me and my opinions? Maybe she shouldn't!
Feb. 5, 1998
- Spanish Civil War, Violence, and Idealism
I exchange thoughts about political theory and praxis with a Spaniard.
Jan. 31, 1998
- "Can't be irresponsible and run away because problems do not obey distance, time or space."
I am taken to task for having left the difficult life of Pico-Union, Los Angeles.
Jan. 21, 1998
- "You are vastly ill-informed about direct political action."
A partisan of the Irish Republican Army tells the stupid American he knows nothing.
Jan. 12, 1998
- "Western democracy will not work in Russia with a very different history and culture."
Of peasants and potatoes and vodka in the chaos and instability of post-Soviet Russia.
Jan. 10, 1998
- "Then again, if I don't do this, who will? If not now, when?"
A young college graduate contemplates "Teaching for America" and her next step in life.
Jan. 6, 1998
- "My first reaction after reading your opinion paper was to write a scathing letter of disapproval with no expectation of a kind reply."
A Robert A. Heinlein fan rather unhappy with my review of the novella "Starship Troopers."
Jan. 3, 1998
- "You are the first person I have came across that somehow found out what a cholo thinks when someone walks on 'his sidewalk.'"
A mara salvatrucha gangster comments on his dreams, nightmares and regrets.
