Featured Books
Veterans and the national anthem
The climactic scene of Ben Fountain's excellent novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk takes place in the middle of a Dallas Cowboys football game. Billy and the rest of his platoon, fresh from vicious combat in Iraq and being put on display around the country as war...
read moreAung San Suu Kyi and the Rohingya Muslims
Some years ago, during a time when Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was in self-imposed exile, an American friend asked me about her. He asked if I thought she could one day be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. I was shocked at the question....
read moreMusical Barbarians at the Gates
My previous Blue Ear Books blog recounted my travails presenting a group of distinguished Mexican musicians at a very small music festival in Seattle during the reign of the rabidly xenophobic (particularly when it comes to Mexico) Donald Trump. Among the responses to...
read moreHidden in Plain Sight
You’d like Lynn (not her real name). She’s friendly, fun, and bright – also a talented and accomplished leader, having worked her way up the ladder in the field of philanthropic fundraising. Her resume lists exactly the kinds of experience a recruiter wants to see,...
read moreThe Extended Brain Vacation
Every summer, I make a point of going on a long bike ride. Sometimes I go solo; other times I’ll go with someone else. But whenever I go, I make a point of being out on the road for several weeks at a time. I choose to travel by bike because you move at a pace—about...
read moreTrump Afghan Policy Risks Alienating Pakistan
On August 21 President Trump gave the first prime time address of his presidency, focusing on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan. He outlined a new approach to the conflict in that country, with the goal of finally winning the war that has tied down U.S. forces for the...
read moreTone is set from the Top
In June, I wrote a blog headlined "Hatred Destroys Everyone." There had been a spate of hate crimes in the preceding couple of months targeting various minorities, none of which had been denounced by the President of the United States or any senior members of his...
read moreHitting Homeland
My wife pointed out recently that, in practical terms, the blitzkrieg ascension of Donald Trump had yet to directly affect her daily life in any appreciable way. (Unsurprising disclosure: We both vehemently oppose Trump and his fellow travelers.) I stopped and thought...
read moreCycling with all the right people
I don’t necessarily enjoy cycling with other people. Introversion is my thing – being alone, the “company of one.” I do enjoy cycling with Sue, my wife, because we know each other so well that it’s like biking by myself. But every year, we ride in the Scenic Shore...
read moreListening to Each Other’s Deep Story
Book review by Cynthia Burrell While neighbors, friends, and family members have turned away from one another in disgust or distrust in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, Arlie Russell Hochschild’s book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on...
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