Note: I wrote this post between the World Cup semifinals and the final. I was saddened when England lost in last week’s World Cup semifinals. It reminded me that I’m still an English patriot, even though my family and I left our home country when
Politics
If Courage Fails You
My childhood memoir, Courage Comes to You, has just been censored. No, not by a government, but by a publisher. Here in full is the explanation, which the publisher sent to my publicist: When reviewing the author's online posts, they are a little
Should We Let Government Use Ghosts to Search Our Homes?
Recent news reports raise the specter of federal law enforcement agencies assigning ghosts to search people’s homes. The news came in the wake of President Donald J. Trump’s social media announcement on February 19: "… I will be directing the
Trump Musings
Note: Transcription of the President’s musings aloud, as recorded on Susan Wiles’s iPhone when Mr. Trump, drifting off with his eyes closed, was unaware another person was in the Oval Office. It was the day before Ms. Wiles’s unexpected departure
All Quiet on the Ilium Front
Why don’t leaders battle out their differences and claims between themselves instead of taking their entire nations to war? This question is raised in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, (1929), which I re-read last week. It is
Then They Came For Me
Note: this is a two-part post. In the first, I depict a personal crisis from the Vietnam War protest era. In the second, I reflect on the source of moral courage. 1 In my Connecticut high school sophomore year, our English