A child cries in a makeshift weighing scale at a UN refugee camp in Kenya, just across the Somali border. (Photo: Serene Assir/MSF) And this is the most palatable photograph I could find. If you watch news reports today, or for the last several days, you know the scenes are horrific. Most news broadcasts, even [...]

It’s hard to write about Nelson Mandela. All the superlatives go flat. He is one of the most important people to live during my life. He is one of the great defenders of humanity in the 20th and 21st centuries. His persistence makes the word “persistence” look weak. He is truly a rare man, one [...]

I don’t normally use my website to make appeals for help. But today, the situation has changed. Doctors Without Borders, a non-governmental organization providing emergency relief in regions of conflict is urgently asking for assistance in their efforts to relieve immediate hunger and malnutrition in Somalia and in Kenyan and Ethiopian refugee camps. Because of [...]

At a time when America’s growing inequality makes some of us wonder if “This land was made for you and me,” I thought it might be good to post Woody Guthrie’s moving lyrics. My mom used to sing this song to us on road trips– even when she washed dishes. She loved it. My dad, [...]

Independence reigns as a national virtue in American culture. At our country’s founding, we wanted to be on our own, disconnected from a demanding monarchy. We saw our destiny as a sovereign nation on our own. Over the years, American culture developed a powerful love for the fiercely independent person, one who stands alone, succeeding [...]