Chris Ware’s drawing for the cover of the July 4 edition of the New Yorker promotes a illusory view of our politics. However, the drawing’s title shows the truth–perhaps unwittingly. The drawing would have it that we are two tribes or subcultures, with our different slogans and clashing preferences in front-yard landscaping. This is illusion.… Continue reading Divides and Illusions
Love and Work
I picked up Zoe from her day camp. She could have walked, but I was feeling kind of parental after taking her to a doctor’s appointment this morning, and so when I dropped her off, I agreed I’d be there at the end of her day. On the way back home, she was showing me… Continue reading Love and Work
Nine Words in Warsaw
Biden, at the end of his speech in Warsaw: “For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” It was so transgressive. There are very good reasons to avoid calling for regime change in another country—reasons like respecting national sovereignty, like avoiding WWIII, like not stirring up recollections of how the U.S. habitually, over its… Continue reading Nine Words in Warsaw
There were eight men waiting for me
when I arrived at the construction site. They were standing in a small parking lot in front of what had been, some weeks ago, an expanse of four tennis courts. Now a smooth field of dirt was there, overlooking a private lake, in a country club, in the kind of suburb that is synonymous with… Continue reading There were eight men waiting for me
Democracy and Environment
Four months ago, this week, a host of elected officials showed up at a San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing to appeal to Board members regarding the forthcoming reissuance of their Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit. Water Board staff permit writers effectively create policies on which neighborhoods get trash abatement, what types of… Continue reading Democracy and Environment
Revelations
I’m ready to let 2021 go, with some sadness and some gratitude. It’s been a season of loss and a time of revelation. I’m thinking first of all of January 6, 2021, a date which now signifies the attempted coup against democracy that started well before that date and is continuing. The important revelation of… Continue reading Revelations
Beware of Darkness
It’s a long, cold, and rainy solstice night. It’s late, and I’ve got the blinds open in case some passerby might notice our Christmas tree in the window and be warmed by the sight. I love darkness. It is sacred and beautiful; it’s the fount of mystery and creativity and newness. And confusion. I’m thinking… Continue reading Beware of Darkness
February 5, 2003
So Colin Powell died, and among the inhabitants of our planet, for just a moment, there was one fewer cynical liars. Good. Powell’s famed UN speech led directly to the disastrous US invasion and occupation of Iraq–and the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Later, he lied about his lying, blaming it on… Continue reading February 5, 2003
Two Days of Hearings
The San Francisco Bay Water Board just wrapped up two days of hearings on the forthcoming reissuance of their Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit. The mayors of Concord, Orinda, San Ramon, and Antioch, the Vice Mayor of San Pablo, Contra Costa County Supervisor Diane Burgess, and councilmembers from Danville and Hillsborough addressed the Board, along with… Continue reading Two Days of Hearings
More on the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit
Last week’s post argued that municipal stormwater NPDES permits are social policy, not water quality policy. Because there is no reliable way to demonstrate that control measures are effective or ineffective, permit writers can and do select measures based on convention, consensus, and individual belief.Here are four examples where social values and beliefs play out… Continue reading More on the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit