In Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt delves extensively into propaganda and lying in totalitarian governments, writing that “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.” Seeing...
As most of you know, my mother died this past Sunday. I was able to be right by her side, day and night, during her last week. It was wonderful and terrible, sacred and ordinary. Those who have sat vigil for a dying loved one probably understand. But above all,...
As I watched Senator Cory Booker give his marathon speech, it made me think of another Senator speaking for hours. No, not Strom Thurmond. It was one of our own–Unitarian Universalist and Senator, Mike Gravel. Daniel Ellsberg had found documents in the Pentagon that showed the U.S. government was lying...
In last Sunday’s sermon, I talked about figuring out what each of us is willing to do in this time of … oh gee, what are we calling it now? Unrest? Attacks on Democracy? (Checks news, sees article about threats made by the president to … Canada?) I don’t know...
Emma Goldman famously wrote that she rejected the idea that commitment to a cause “should demand the denial of life and joy,” often misattributed as “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Live Oak, I think we need a party, and I know we...
“We had a whole plan,” my mother (age 94) told me. “I would pick up your brothers and sister from school and drive from New York to Arkansas, where your grandparents were living. Your father would catch up with us there.” It was October 1962. My parents lived in Rochester,...
Occasionally, I’ll get a question about the line between politics and religion, and what it means to our church and to Unitarian Universalism. I don’t believe it is possible at the present time to advocate for our UU values without addressing the actions being taken by government/political officials. I absolutely...
On Tuesday, overwhelmed by the blizzard of executive orders, news that Medicaid’s portal was down in all fifty states, and the repeated attacks on the rights of transgender people, I added five pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream into my cart. I don’t recommend this. I mean, if you...
And so we begin a new (well, old, a repeat) presidential administration. News stories warn of deportation raids ordered by the president. The Texas Legislature has already been seated, with several immigration-related bills in the works. Trans people have already been verbally attacked by an executive order attempting to limit...
After Sunday’s service, which addressed Martin Luther King’s argument that equating a person’s value with their financial means is an “unjust measurement of human worth,” Live Oak member Michael Van Slyke shared that he finds it frustrating when the news media describes someone as being “worth” their financial resources, e.g....