Philip Kraske: I Hear RFK Jr. Is Running for President Down the back stretch of the election campaign, it's going to be RFK Jr. versus Trump, with Prez Joe panting far behind. |
John Hawkins: Dirge (poem) Microplastics, like love, are here to stay, fated to be part of who we are. Shiny plastic people, as REM used to sing. |
Thomas Farrell: Thomas J. Farrell on Drafting His Own Obituary This admittedly short article rounds off two of my earlier OEN articles: (1) "Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J." (dated November 7, 2023); and (2) "Thomas J. Farrell on Thomas J. Farrell" (dated November 17, 2023). The present article provides certain further information that was not included in either of those two previous OEN articles. 1 |
Katie Singer: Spiritual questions while living in the technosphere
When corporations eliminate landlines; build new mines and utility-scale solar, wind and battery-storage facilities on pristine ecosystems; market mobile devices for children; and record our voices to simulate them for AI--where can individuals and households find support? 3 |
John Hawkins: Humor: In Search of the Elusive Norm I was wondering the udder day what it would mean to be regarded as normal. Here's what some of I came up wiff. |
John Hawkins: Film Review: Writer's Black: The He-Be / We-Be Blues Here is a favorable review of the film, American Fiction. Here I compare to the book it's based on, Erasure by Percival Everett, who also helped write the screenplay. |
Gary Lindorff: One moment in a vast story followed by a reflection Misty rain / It is the dawn / Of some world's birthday |
Thomas Farrell: John Dear on the Questions of Jesus (REVIEW ESSAY) In my recent OEN article "John Dear on the Synoptic Gospels and Bottom-UP Nonviolence" (dated January 31, 2024), I commented on the prolific American diocesan priest and peace activist Father John Dear's new 2024 magnum opus commentary The Gospel of Peace (Orbis Books). I now want to comment of his thought-provoking earlier book of meditations titled The Questions of Jesus (Image Books/ Doubleday/ Random House, 2004) |
Irene Fowler: Chaos and Cruelty "The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America." - Adam Serwer |
Gary Lindorff: Capturing scraps of the Apocalypse: Abdicating my Plastic Crown followed by a reflection Some plastic turns brittle like eggshell / As if waiting for any kind of human contact to disintegrate. |
John Hawkins: A Black History Valentine (Poem) A Valentine's Day poem fo Black History month. Fatuous? Vanilla? I dunno. I think it;s okay. | |
Philip Kraske: The Middle East: the Delicate Art of Punishing without Provoking Punishing militias without provoking a war: like coochy without coo, cussing without swearing. |
Gary Lindorff: War, god and the silence of mountains followed by an explanation Five or so wars ago I almost lost you / To a great war, my father. / (That would be my soul talking) |
Gary Lindorff: Our house-sitters
Their dogs liked our cats / Albeit the like was not mutual / But they loved to garden |
John Hawkins: So Long, Good Night, John Pilger An appreciation of the work of John Pilger who died in London in December. |
Gary Lindorff: The right and left brain enjoying a rare moment of comradery (a prose poem) My right brain was tired./ My left brain said, / Let's go on an "outing". |
John Hawkins: Freed Verse: Why I Hate (Rerun) Hate can teach a lot of things (I'll write more on that later). Here's a poem about Malcolm and the other stuff, the loss of an innocence we never had, and the horror of realizing that. |
Thomas Farrell: John Dear on the Synoptic Gospels and Bottom-Up Nonviolence (REVIEW ESSAY) If you are not interested in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), then you should not be interested in the prolific activist Father John Dear's new 2024 book The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence (Orbis Books). But if you are interested in bottom-up imagery, then you should be interested in the author's claim that Jesus campaigned for bottom-up nonviolence. 2 |
Gary Lindorff: A love poem in time You looked to me tomorrow / Just as you will look to me before / Quoting my favorite dead person |
Katie Singer: How corporations can "take" endangered species"legally: a tutorial from environmental lawyer Will Falk In December 2023, when a federal judge ordered the Enel Corporation to remove 84 wind turbines from Osage Nation land, I asked environmental lawyer Will Falk about the case's relevance to Lithium Nevada Corporation's (LNC's) mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada. In 2020, Falk and Max Wilbert began trying to stop LNC from constructing a lithium mine at Thacker Pass. |
John Hawkins: Short Fiction: When The Don and Teddy Ballgame Thaw Out Fiction: Tale about what would happen to human consciousness if Ted Williams and Don Bradman were brought back to life? Humorous. I hope. |
Meryl Ann Butler: The Art of the Occult: A Mystical Journey into Imagery and Symbolism What is "occult art"? It is beautiful, mysterious, and can offer answers to the search for self. The book, "The Art of the Occult: A Visual Sourcebook for the Modern Mystic" includes stunning imagery. 3 |
Gary Lindorff: We are the seeds we plant
We organize our thoughts / And then
/ We have our day / And we get away with it |
Gary Lindorff: One time I saw a man
There were no cars on the road / .No cars coming or going / .Only he was coming. |
Katie Singer: If you could influence our society, what would you do?
When I moaned to a friend (who once believed in solar photo voltaics (PVs) and now questions them) about letters to my newspaper claiming that solar PVs emit no carbon and give "energy independence" while my county, state and federal government grant billions for more panels and more batteries, my friend asked, "If you could influence our society, what would you do?" |
Philip Kraske: The Terminal Stain that Grows in the West Between the leaders of governments and the media, the West is sinking. |
John Hawkins: Meditation (poem) Poetic meditation on love's endursance in the growing dark. Ho-hum, but some folks like it. |
John Hawkins: Series Review: True Detective: Dark Country Review of the 2024 HBO series True Detective: Dark Country, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. |
Thomas Farrell: Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., and Walter J. Ong, S.J., on Male Agonism (REVIEW ESSAY) In this wide-ranging 6,000-word review essay, I discuss the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian Walter J. Ong's studies of male agonism and the conservative American political philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield's views. |