Author Archives: shmoover

There goes the neighborhood – Old joke (or not). The 1960s and 1970s: Three-fourths of the one million persons displaced from their homes by the Interstate Highway Program were black. A fifth of all African American housing in the nation was destroyed … Continue reading →

1930s: Franklin Roosevelt ‘s New Deal prohibited hiring discrimination in the Public Works Administration and the defense industry. And, as the Founding Fathers had done in 1776, it united northern liberals and southern conservatives. However, like them, Roosevelt had to … Continue reading →

1830s:  Historians consider “Jacksonian Democracy” the period when the government increased political freedoms. But it did so for only for white men, while removing those freedoms from Native Americans. Race, rather than civilized behavior or Christian belief (both held in abundance by the Cherokees, … Continue reading →

We need our vacations in chaos that might temporarily relieve the crushing burden of life under late capitalism. Even now (March 2020), as authorities ask millions of us to “social distance” or “shelter in place”, a “stay-cation” in chaos may … Continue reading →

It’s easy enough to criticize social trends and the self-defeating behaviors of other people. This also puts one into the familiar role of the grumpy old (white) guy complaining about how much better things used to be (and it’s uncomfortably … Continue reading →

So thousands, perhaps millions of us go to Vegas, Mexico, Amsterdam, Southern Spain, Spring Break, football games, Rolling Stones concerts and countless other places to get our “hit” (a term originally referring to drug use) of liminality or communitas. But … Continue reading →

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. – Andre Gide Slowly I would get to pen and paper, make my poems for others unseen and unborn. – Muriel Rukeyser I don’t like to say this, … Continue reading →