Having retired from 30 years as high school and then college director, I spend most of my time writing (for children, a newspaper website, emails to friends around the world, grouchy comments on progressive blogs). I'm still the radical my father awakened during the Spanish Civil War, way to the left of most of my students in fact. What angers and frustrates me are the rantings of mendacious Republicans about Islam, terrorism, Democrats, progressives, liberals, Europeans, etc etc, and the pussyfooting, please don't rock my boat, of Democrats. I have no faith in the power or willingness of the human race to save itself from extinction in the next 50-100 years. I wish I could carpe diem until then but it's too painful to just watch what's happening to democracy in the western world. Well, I'll be gone before it happens anyway.