Earlier this month, my wife and did the three and a half hour trek from Virginia Beach, Virginia to our nation’s capital to see the annual Cherry Blossom Festival (in case you haven’t noticed from her articles, she has a penchant for all things Japanese). While exiting the Smithsonian along Constitution Avenue, we got to see something we don’t normally see in our sleepy little town: an old-fashioned organized protest.… [Read more]
International Day of Action for Rivers
Did you know that this is “We Love Nature” month and that today is the International Day of Action for Rivers? As part of the month, today’s global activities will introduce many of us to nature and what we can do to actively protect the environment.
According to InternationalRivers.org: “Every year, thousands of people around the world lift their voices to celebrate the world’s rivers and those who struggle to protect them.… [Read more]
Hold On
This week’s “Say It In Song“ pick is “Hold On,” by Alabama Shakes:
You got to hold on You got to hold on
Yeah! You got to wait! Yeah! You got to wait! But, I don’t wanna wait I don’t wanna wait
Sometimes we have to be active to get what we need; we have to participate in order so that we can achieve the outcomes we want.… [Read more]
How it feels to be free…
This week’s “Say It In Song” pick was performed in 1976 by the inimitable singer and activist Nina Simone. In honour of Black History Month, we’d like you to have a listen:… [Read more]
“We can bomb the world to pieces, but…”
“We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can’t bomb it into peace.”… [Read more]
A Day to Give Back: National Day of Service
“Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 15th marked what would have been Dr.… [Read more]
We’ve Got the Power
You used your voice to speak up for what you believe in.
You exercised your power and your rights by voting on election day.
You’ve signed petitions that were delivered to local and national representatives in support of human rights, a clean environment, privacy laws, and even a system that protects consumers from predatory banks and corporations.… [Read more]
Tyranny in the Private Sphere
The large, tyrannical state has always been one of the greatest threats to freedom and liberty. And even in our current age, unchecked government power continues to stifle human progress and expression, not only abroad but in the United States as well. For, in even in our country, the state, both at the federal and local level, still punishes its citizens for indulging in the “wrong” types of narcotics—it still denies equal rights to those of a different sexual orientation, it still retains the unchecked, lethal authority of one person, the executive, to sentence death upon any citizen the president deems a “terrorist.”
Yet, although the illiberal actions of the state still need to be combated government is not the only source of tyranny—it is not the only enemy of freedom.… [Read more]
Communicating with the Animals – Interview with Bernie Siegel
Editing the coming issue of my journal Recovering the Self, which is themed “animals and healing”, I read the interesting and thought-provoking article by Bernie Siegel, M.D. In his article, called “Communicating with the Animals”, Bernie Siegel tells about the verbal as well as non-verbal communication between him and his pets and relates it to the process of healing.… [Read more]
Aimless in America
James Michael Haitchwai is back in black and ready to talk smack once again. I just spent the past few weeks slummin’ it down south and a little ways out west, partly to take my crappy music on tour but mostly just to cut myself a break from the inhospitably expensive and divisive confines of post-gentrification D.C.… [Read more]