The many-petaled spiral of the English garden rose against the green of a mown lawn and the blue of a nearly cloudless sky brings feelings of wellbeing to our hearts and minds. It sparks a spring day with red, yellow or orange. It is lovely and
Morality and justice
Righting the Wrong Word
A few months ago, drafting my response to a questionnaire in advance of an upcoming interview in connection with Caroline, I wrote the phrase “fiction’s ghetto.” Here’s the question and my original answer: Q: Do you have a target reader? A:
Tribalism in Amber
1 I like to believe I have fought through most, even all, of the prejudices I’ve held in the past. However, prejudice can be like a virus that keeps adapting and renewing itself. 2 Ignorant of Ireland’s history, I arrived in America from England
Justice in a Time of Coronavirus
A friend of mine committed a crime and is now confined in a so-called "minimum security federal prison camp" that is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. My friend's crime was failing to file certain disclosure documents with the Securities and
Good Trouble
1 I've witnessed with anxiety the outpouring of emotions surrounding the protests after George Floyd's death and the re-arousal of the Black Lives Matter movement. I confess I've found myself thinking, why can't you put all that anger aside, however
The King and the Dutchman
In some eras, lies of omission and commission are matters of career and even personal survival: the Spanish inquisition, communist and fascist totalitarianism, America's McCarthy era, today's Iran or Saudi Arabia. And now today's America, where fear