Excellent analysis–and scarier even than Fox News.

Glad to have you back! I like Monday Mariner as a concept, but still think you should send the emails to whoever is on your list. I also like the shift of focus away from the swamp of partisan politics. Better to be on the high seas!

If writing the blog has been ‘fun and even invigorating at times’ then I hope the ancient mariner will come back to it. It has been fun and even invigorating to read at times, and who will stimulate the conversation without that inimitable voice? Who will speak for Chicken Little, Amos and Guru? Who will speak for the oldies? Or speak truth…[Read more]

That is a good way to think about snow. It is inconvenient and lasts too long, but it is not a natural disaster. It is a natural wonder! Thank you for a new perspective!

You had me at ‘for a moment.’ It is wonderful that the sun is shining and the mariner is full of goodwill toward mankind and his readers! All best wishes for 2019 to the mariner and all of us on this little blue planet. God bless us, every one!

Much to think about! Malls that supported the growth of suburbs are in decline. Public transportation has never served the suburbs very well. Many changes coming. Basic income would be a good one! I read recently that one way to do it is to give a stipend to boost minimum wage levels to a living wage.

Interesting, insightful and measured. Mariner doesn’t let any us off the hook of taking civic responsibility for the state of our nation. Information literacy needs to be taught along with civics. Perhaps this is a ‘Sputnik’ moment–when the U.S, rallied its schools to teach math and science so that we could keep up with the Russians in space.…[Read more]

Even back to the good old days of 2012 is a time warp. We have been travelling at warp speed since 2016–every day a new reason for angst. This essay is a wonderful tribute to the power of Neil Diamond’s music to transport us. Maybe what we all need is more music in our lives–and more poetry, more nature, and more friendship.

I’m so glad you cleared that up!

Law enforcement looks after its own??? Is that entirely fair–or legal? I know that is not the point of the essay, but that is another aspect of belonging. If you don’t belong, because you are not the right tribe (or color) it is hard to experience
that sense of oneness. But–I do not want to discourage mariner in his good feelings about…[Read more]

Happy talk–keep talking happy talk! (to steal lyrics from South Pacific…)

Can Mariner imagine another scenario for the future of mankind? We are in the stress of transition here, but it does not mean that things will necessarily devolve. Just as an exercise, I would like to read mariner’s version of a possible good future. The future is all in our imagination anyway. Might just as well be a happy place!

Your description of an ideal school environment is almost exactly what I learned in education classes 40 years ago. It describes the environment and philosophy of the first school where I was a media specialist (now called teacher librarians.) What happened along the way? I think it was Reaganomics, but I’m not sure. No Child Left Behind was…[Read more]

Mariner has a unique persona, indeed! AI affecting things like life insurance and health insurance is a scary thought. Even without AI, beginning in the 1980’s insurance has made decisions about health practices that only doctors used to make. It is too bad that the AMA was not able to make a stand at that time, but that was also a time when…[Read more]

This makes me think that the issues that loom so large to us now–Me, Too, Black Lives Matter, taking a knee, gun control, abortion, same sex marriage–issues that seem so important–are not going to matter when the apocalypse comes. Maybe we should practice looking at the truly large issues now–taking care of the earth and each other and figure…[Read more]

Jesus of Nazareth, John Wesley, Dr George LaMore, John Denver, Chris Bosley, Rachel Pedrick, Rev. Gerald Wert, Rev. Robert Crilley, Rev. Samuel Wells, Dr. Marcus Borg and others too numberous to mention (or remember!)

This issue could be a galvanizing issue for young voters–“who are these old people to make decisions about OUR future?” Are there enough young voters to make a difference? Are there enough young voters who are enlightened about the future they face? Is there a possibility of hope and change once again?

This is very interesting. I question the word meritocracy as it has overtones of elitism to me (because I would not rise very high in the ranks of a meritocracy!) I prefer equality of opportunity to a system that stratifies by ability. How does a meritocracy protect those with less merit but still have human needs? The bright and able will…[Read more]

I am so sorry that Trump has beaten us into the ground, aided and abetted by his base, and the Republican Party that goes along with his repugnant personality and policies in order to get whatever it is they want. Power, I guess. It is a long, strange time in this country. It is no wonder Mariner wants to secede. We used to take cookies to the…[Read more]

This is a very reasoned, thoughtful look at the way things have changed over the years, and will continue to change. I think we need older people–older even than 60–to have perspective and insight. I do not think the electorate can change the entrenched system, especially as the electorate does not speak with one voice. It may have to come…[Read more]