Fifteen days in January: The nation faces insurrection, impeachment, and inauguration.
By Paul Rozycki In the early 1960s, at the height of the cold war, there was a best-selling novel, and a movie, that told a story of a potential military coup in the U.S. and possible nuclear conflict with Soviet Union. The book was “Seven Days in May” by Charles Bailey and Fletcher Knebel, and it described a week of Cold War tensions, governmental distrust, and political conspiracies of the time. “Seven Days in May” was a fictional...
Commentary: Biden wins — What does it all mean? Ten takeaways from the 2020 election
By Paul Rozycki In a year of pandemics, racial division, economic crisis, and the most divisive election in the last century, it’s a challenge to uncover the things that really matter in this year’s presidential election. In the last weeks, we’ve all had wall-to-wall coverage and analysis of this year’s presidential contest. It may be months, or years, before we fully unravel the full impact and the meaning of the Trump presidency and...
Commentary: Beyond Biden and Trump, who else and what else is there in Election 2020?
By Paul Rozycki Who’s your choice — Trump or Biden? Sometimes it seems like the only thing on the ballot this year is Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. It’s hard to turn on the TV without seeing an ad for either candidate. We’ve all felt the impact of the most divisive presidential contest in our lifetimes. With a month to go, it seems that this is the most important and critical presidential election in...
A comet, a COVID pandemic, and a summer of crisis. Is there any good news?
By Paul Rozycki This summer, astronomers have discovered a new presence among the stars, the Neowise comet, in the northern sky. It’s not a large comet, just visible under the Big Dipper. It has come closest to the earth in the middle of July, and has been observable for the last few weeks. Many ancient peoples often felt that comets were portents of doom and ruin. The Romans and the Greeks felt they were a sign of major events,...
Review: “Begin Again” blends James Baldwin’s urgent lessons and a call to face “the American Lie”
By Robert R. Thomas BEGIN AGAIN by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a clear example of a historical genre I call living history, i.e., history being written in real time by living historians. Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton, where he is also the chair of the Center for African American Studies and the chair of the Department of African American Studies. Glaude’s...
He changed my life: A remembrance of John Lewis
By Harold C. Ford “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something.” — John Lewis, December 2019 It was Sunday, March 7, 1965. I was an 18-year-old freshman student at Flint Community Junior College (FCJC). I still lived at my parents’ home with four younger siblings. The images on the family’s black and white television had riveted my attention. ...
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