April 28, 2024

This coming week, in the midst of all the news about noisy chaos on many American college campuses, I’m traveling to Philadelphia to listen to the silent call of the Liberty Bell.

Sometimes protests have beneficial results, such as those that led to the American Revolution and the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. And at other times, civil disobedience can lead to unintended consequences, as when the Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1964 – 65 created a backlash that helped elect Ronald Reagan as governor of California, and when the race riots and later the anti-war demonstrations and police violence at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968 assisted the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon that year.

With the Democratic convention once again in Chicago later this summer, will the pro-Palestine demonstrators attempt to disrupt that event as they have been doing on college campuses recently, thereby creating a law and order backlash that helps elect Donald Trump? Seems likely.

Although the left wing pro-Palestine groups have so far not been nearly as violent as the mob of right wing Trump supporters who tried to overthrow our democracy on January 6, 2021, there have been many incidents of intimidation of and threats against Jews by some of the more fanatical elements of that anti-Israel movement. One thing that seems to unite the far left and the far right is their demonization of Jews.

At least two of my Jewish friends have experienced antisemitic incidents in recent weeks, and others have been newly frightened by the rise of anti-Jewish hate that is becoming more prevalent in this country and around the world.

A couple of nights ago I attended a comedy show featuring a hilarious Jerry Seinfeld. While his impeccable timing, expressive body language, and humorous stories about the everyday foibles of human beings made his audience roar with laughter, I noticed that, in addition to the normal event security, he was protected by two armed sheriff’s deputies hidden in the wings. While many comedians have hired extra security staff after actor Will Smith assaulted comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars a couple years ago, I can’t help but wonder if Seinfeld or other Jewish comedians feel the need for extra protection due to the “Death to the Jews!” slogans sometimes heard at pro-Palestine rallies.

When our Founding Fathers enshrined free speech in our Constitution, they clearly did not intend for the total absence of restraint that often characterizes the behavior of far right and far left champions of hatred and intolerance. Freedom is not the same as anarchy, although some deluded individuals believe that their sense of freedom entitles them to engage in various forms of disrespect, threats, and even violence aimed at those with whom they disagree.

If we cannot behave with greater civility toward one another, we will get more chaos, followed by fascism.

But it is my hope that, even if we do lose our democracy for a while, the embers of freedom will stay alive in that winter of our discontent.

A good way to keep our democracy intact is to appreciate the tremendous sacrifices made by our Founding Fathers , the soldiers at Valley Forge and Gettysburg and elsewhere, and those Americans of goodwill who listen to what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”

So I’m off to Philly on Wednesday to commune with Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and the Liberty Bell. Gotta keep my standards high.

March 30, 2024

How many of our personal problems are caused by external social and economic conditions, and how many of them are caused by ourselves through our internal choices?

This was the main question that occurred to me last night as I watched the American Masters program “Moynihan” on PBS.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a poor Irish kid who grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City during the Great Depression. His unemployed father abandoned the family, so after school Moynihan had various jobs such as being a shoe shine boy on the streets of his neighborhood.

A bright kid, Moynihan did well in public schools, then worked as a longshoreman, joined the Navy in 1944, then went to college. He eventually worked as Assistant Secretary for Labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, became an advisor to President Nixon, and later in his career was a Harvard professor, the American ambassador to the United Nations, and a U.S. Senator from New York.

Having come from a broken family living in impoverished conditions, Moynihan understood from personal experience the challenges facing low income people. He was especially alarmed by the breakdown of black families, and in 1965 while working for Lyndon Johnson he wrote a report entitled “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” Commonly known as the Moynihan Report, it called for creating jobs and vocational training for black men, whose high unemployment rates caused them, like Moynihan’s father, to abandon their families to lives of poverty.

But the Moynihan Report became controversial because many black leaders resented his calling attention to the prevalence of single mothers having children without the financial and emotional support of the children’s fathers. Those civil rights leaders, then and now, prefer to blame the persistent dysfunction of black families and the resultant crime, addictions, and poverty on society at large, rather than on a lack of emphasis on strong nuclear families and the importance of education.

In 1965 I was 13 years old, and though I did not know about the Moynihan Report at that time, I was well aware of, and believed in, Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and his efforts on behalf of black civil rights. I believed that the federal government could play a constructive role in overcoming the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. And now, almost 60 years later, I still believe that – up to a point.

Yes, black people in this country are still at a disadvantage, although much progress has been made since 1965. But black people are at a disadvantage in every country in which they find themselves, whether in Haiti, Brazil, the African countries, or elsewhere. The question I asked myself last night as I watched the PBS program “Moynihan” was, how can we humans – all of us – overcome our challenges? Whether our obstacles are racial barriers, health problems, family pathologies, addictions, homelessness, or financial difficulties, are these troubles the result of social inequalities, or are they a deeper reflection of a poverty of spirit, a human ignorance of our minds or souls and our oftentimes unconscious roles as creators of our experience?

Last night, after watching the Moynihan program but before going to sleep, I read an excerpt from a Buddhist book that reminded me of a fundamental Buddhist teaching from the Dhammapada:

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind and trouble will follow you…Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you.

In other words, the mind is powerful. Intentions and focus are powerful. Our inner life determines our outer life.

Socially we can practice kindness and generosity to the less fortunate, but spiritually each person has to find his or her own way.

I don’t know how Daniel Patrick Moynihan managed to turn on his inner light. I respect his efforts to address the social problems of his day. And I also believe that, regardless of our external circumstances, each of us has the resilience and creativity to tap into our inner resources to choose a life of dignity and well being.

A true war on poverty succeeds through an awakening of the spirit.

February 22, 2024

George Washington was born too early to be a Star Wars fan. But the Force was with him.

I wasn’t quite sure how I’d feel about him as I recently read my first biography of the man on our one dollar bill. He seemed too dignified, too remote, a slave owner from another time and place. But in his book Washington: A Life, author Ron Chernow, whose biography of another Founding Father inspired the Broadway musical Hamilton, introduced me to one of the most complicated, contradictory, and extraordinary human beings to ever live on this continent.

And yes, it seems that Washington was chosen by a higher power, fated for a great role in establishing a government by the people and not by a monarch or strongman. Or at least that’s how he saw his destiny, and that’s how many of his contemporaries saw him as well.

As a colonial officer in the British army during the French and Indian war, “because of his height, he presented a gigantic target on horseback, but again he displayed unblinking courage and a miraculous immunity in battle…Washington’s derring-do even fostered a lasting mystique among the Indians…Fifteen years later he encountered an Indian chief who distinctly recalled seeing him at the battle by the Monongahela and told how he had ordered his warriors, without success, to fire directly at him. The chief had concluded that some great spirit would guide him to momentous things in the future.”

Later, in the Revolutionary War, General Washington “seemed blessed with a supernatural immunity to bullets…(He) construed favorable events in the war as reflections of Providence, transforming him from an actor in a human drama into a tool of heavenly purpose.”

“Providence” certainly chose a flawed human being as an instrument for the advancement of the human race. He was selfish, greedy, materialistic, a tight-fisted sharp-elbowed businessman, and at times a harsh slave owner. He was an aristocratic control freak with a terrible temper.

But his ambivalent views on slavery evolved over time, and he eventually freed his slaves upon his death. His tenacity and courage kept the Revolution alive during the misery of Valley Forge and eight years of defeats, deprivation, and lack of support from the Continental Congress. He was not corrupted by fame or power, and he shocked the Europeans by refusing to be made a king and by voluntarily giving up power after being a victorious general and then again after the “towering legacy” of his two highly successful and productive terms as president. He was honest, he ensured the survival of the Constitution, and “most of all he had shown a disbelieving world that a republican government could prosper without being spineless or disorderly or reverting to authoritarian rule.”

Was Washington really some sort of Jedi knight, guided and protected by a greater Force or higher consciousness in order to advance the cause of human democracy and liberty? After reading Chernow’s book, it sure seems like it. But whether it was Providence or just dumb luck, we could certainly use someone like Washington now.

Happy birthday, George. And thank you for your service.

January 19, 2024

Sometimes we just have to face our cynicism and despair.

A few days ago my friend Birgit and I drove down to San Francisco to explore the notorious neighborhood that author Gary Kamiya calls the Museum of Depravity:

In the universe of San Francisco, the Tenderloin is the black hole, the six-block-by-six-block area where the city’s urban matter is most intensely concentrated. It is the only part of San Francisco that remains untamed, its last human wilderness. Without the Tenderloin and its radioactive core of junkies, drunks, transvestites, dealers, thugs, madmen, hustlers, derelicts, prostitutes, and lowlifes, this overpriced, increasingly homogenous (city) would feel like one of those motel bathrooms that are “sani-sealed for your protection.” The Tenderloin is the creepy Mr. Hyde…to the rest of San Francisco’s respectable Dr. Jekyll…All of which is to say that the Tenderloin is a large turd – often a literal one – floating in the crystal punchbowl that is San Francisco. (Gary Kamiya, Cool Gray City of Love)

Compared to the “sin city” that is the Tenderloin, Las Vegas is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

But as we discovered, the Tenderloin is a horrible, wonderful, fascinating place.

We prepared for our journey through hell by first attending a Sunday service at Glide Memorial, a non-denominational church in that neighborhood famed for feeding the hungry and providing social services to the down and out. While the two ministers were black, as I expected, I was surprised that most of the gospel choir, musicians, and congregants were white and other ethnicities. I always thought of it as a predominantly black church, but it turns out that the church is multi racial, as is the neighborhood.

One of the ministers addressed the negative stereotype of the district by saying that the Tenderloin is more than a crime-infested, drug-using, homeless encampment – it’s a place where people love and help each other; it’s a community of hope. As Birgit and I were to learn, it’s an inspiring place in the midst of misery and sorrow.

After the relentlessly upbeat service, we joined a small, church-sponsored tour of the neighborhood. Our white, middle-aged tour guide, Dennis, was himself a homeless addict six months ago, but with the help of the church and other non-profit social service groups he’s now living in an SRO (single room occupancy) apartment in the Tenderloin.

Dennis took us to the clean, well maintained little Boeddeker Park that displays a huge mural of a giant tree with houses and apartments in its branches and the slogan “Everyone Deserves a Home.” The neighborhood is noted for its many outdoor murals and a growing community of artists and musicians. He showed us an impressive little art museum, Yemeni and Vietnamese restaurants, new affordable housing, St. Anthony’s Dining Room (free meals), the Golden Gate Theater (live performances), and the now historic site of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot where transgender women and gay men fought back against police harassment three years before the similar but better known Stonewall uprising in New York.

Everywhere we went we saw examples of people with big hearts devoting their lives to helping others. There are so many marvelous non-profits, such as Faithful Fools, practicing the kindness of Jesus and the Dalai Lama. Even so, I had to deal with my skepticism and pessimism about the efficacy of volunteerism and do-gooders.

In the summer of 1970, after high school but before college, I volunteered for Summer Happening Thing, a group I was misled to believe was a part of the reputable Youth For Service. Our purpose at Summer Happening Thing was to provide recreational opportunities and field trips for children in San Francisco housing projects. And we did that. But as the summer wore on, we were dismayed to learn that the lofty promises of direction and support that were made to us naive white teenagers were illusory; our inspirational black leader spent his time in bars rather than helping us help the kids. And while the girls in the projects were sweet and appreciative, the boys were little monsters who probably are now either in prison or dead.

So knowing that I can sometimes be mistrustful of idealism and judgmental about criminal behavior, I took a chance and went to the Tenderloin to see whether the volunteers there are the real deal or just another version of the leadership of Summer Happening Thing.

Everyone I met was sincere, compassionate, and open-hearted. In the words of the Faithful Fools mission statement: “We are called to a life of presence that acknowledges each human’s incredible worth. Aware of our judgments, we seek to meet people where they are, through the arts, education, advocacy, and accompaniment. We participate in shattering myths about those living in poverty, seeing the light, courage, intelligence, strength, and creativity of the people we encounter. We discover on the streets our common humanity through which celebration, community, and healing occur.”

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And not just because of its bridges, islands, ocean, bay, Golden Gate, and architecture. But also because of the lovely, generous spirit of the angels of the Tenderloin.

January 6, 2024

Dear Mr. Trump,

It has come to my attention (as everything in the universe comes to my attention) that a video on your website entitled “God Made Trump” has claimed that I have anointed you as my “shepherd to mankind.” While I am not offended by your false claim of an endorsement by me (actually, I’m not offended by anything), I would like to set the record straight.

I do not take sides in political campaigns or wars. I wish everyone well, even you. I created souls so that they may be co-creators with me, exploring the meaning and joy of life through their various incarnations. Part of that co-creation process is learning through trial and error. You, as a human being, are entitled to your share of mistakes.

I will forgive you for all of your errors in judgement. But in the meantime, it is my merciful intention that your soul will learn lessons via the strict law of cause and effect. What you sow, dear Donald, you will reap. And in this way, you will evolve. I do not punish my children; I encourage their growth through the exercise of their free will. There is no hell, except that of your own making.

So as the creator of your soul, which in turn created you, I will offer you some friendly advice.

Whether or not you succeed in your efforts to become an authoritarian leader such as those in Russia and China that you admire so much, do not forget the aforementioned law of karma (cause and effect). Your attempt three years ago, on January 6, 2021, to encourage the violent overthrow of your country’s democracy, and your subsequent attempts to overturn the election results, have sown great fear and turmoil in your nation. Your description of the violent riot at your Capitol building as “beautiful,” and your promise to pardon those who engaged in such hateful brutality, and your continual incitement of violence by your followers, reveals a delusional state of mind that will lead to great suffering for you and your cult underlings.

I will not gloat in your suffering. My consciousness is always here for you when you are ready to align with what your President Lincoln described as the “better angels of our nature.”

In the grand evolution of your planet and its human inhabitants, this time of chaos will eventually pass. For now, beloved little Donny, do your soul a favor and heed this non-partisan, spiritual advice: drop out of the race and vote for Joe Biden.

With love,

Your heavenly father and mother,

God/Goddess

December 9, 2023

Apparently I’m a bohemian weirdo.

I have a degree in English literature, and it seems that humanities departments and degrees are a vanishing breed at colleges and universities across the United States. Young people today are understandably wanting to get more practical education in technology and science, but in their pursuit of bigger paychecks they have less and less time and/or interest in subjects such as history, philosophy, sociology, art, and literature.

“We should hail the return of the arts and humanities to bohemian weirdos. [Those subjects] began as something for which there were no career opportunities or money to be made, and thence [they] will return.” So said Drew Lichtenberg, theater critic, quoted recently in the New York Times.

I can vouch for the accuracy of the notion that there is little money to be made from an English degree. I rarely used that degree professionally, and this month I’m retiring from my social science research job. As a Field Interviewer for the past 30 years, I never made much money, though I enjoyed the flexible hours, freedom to travel at will, and opportunity to use my Spanish language skills. My reading and writing skills have long been useful, but not compensated.

Yet in the view of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, now more than ever we need the wisdom and perspective of great writers such as William Shakespeare to help us understand the dangers of the lusts for power, fame, and money. And we need students and citizens alike to reflect on the lessons offered by historians and philosophers, in order to cope with the global rise of authoritarianism and current threats from social media and the potential menace of artificial intelligence.

Perhaps as an antidote to American political dysfunction, climate change, global wars, ad nauseum, I like to read literary classics that give me some insight into human nature and the nature of reality. The book I’m currently reading, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, has little or no humor – in the 14th century Italian of his time, “commedia” meant a story with a happy ending. In this long poem, Dante takes a journey to Hell, then Purgatory, and finally to Heaven – the happy ending. As Dante was a devout Catholic, I was amused that in his visit to Hell he found several popes, along with Mohammed. I don’t think he was trying to be funny.

Although I’m no longer a Catholic, I do share his belief or hope that the ultimate solution to human ignorance and suffering will be a spiritual one, whether it be through a belief in God or an awakening to some form of cosmic consciousness. Humanity needs a divine comedy, a happy ending.

For now I look forward to my imminent retirement, and my new calling as a full time bohemian weirdo. There may be zero pay in this offbeat vocation, but the benefits should be excellent.

November 6, 2023

I don’t usually think of the words beauty and politics in the same sentence. So in these self centered and polarized times, it was gratifying to be reminded yesterday that there are people who have used their skills of persuasion and negotiation in the service of something greater than themselves: the natural world and the common good.

Yesterday I was fortunate to attend a screening of a recent documentary about one such public servant. “Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty” is the story of the man who helped protect the Grand Canyon from hydroelectric dams, the man who helped create Point Reyes National Seashore, Redwood National Park, and Canyonlands National Park, among others, and the man who helped establish the Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act. And those achievements are just a fraction of the contributions that Udall made to America the beautiful.

I remember Stewart Udall as the Secretary of the Interior for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in the 1960’s. But I had forgotten that he was one of the towering figures of the American environmental movement, joining heroes such as John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, and David Brower.

And I did not know that he was an early advocate for treating black Americans and American Indians with respect. Nor did I know that he left the Mormon Church over its refusal to allow blacks in its priesthood.

Another thing I learned from the film is that “Udall called on all Americans to move away from our emphasis on economic growth and consumerism and toward quality of life, and a new politics centered on beauty, frugal living, appreciation of nature and the arts, and a recognition of Earth’s limits.”

Wow. How is it that I, and we, could have forgotten this wise defender of human dignity and planet Earth?

Yet in spite of his successful bipartisan work with people of both political parties to protect and preserve our natural environment, I’m no longer convinced that politics can bring about the shift in values and priorities that Udall advocated. Politics might be a way to implement Udall’s idealism, but politicians are usually followers, not leaders, of public opinion. Change has to start from the grass roots, from an alteration in human consciousness regarding what is important to people in their everyday lives. And for most people at this time, jobs and financial security are what they are most concerned about, not beauty, frugal living, appreciation of nature and the arts.

Climate change may alter our perception of our options and preferred outcomes. In the coming years we may be forced to simplify our lives and recognize Earth’s limits.

Damn – we may be compelled to have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the Earth.

But however we get there – willingly, or kicking and screaming – we will have pioneers of Earth consciousness such as Stewart Udall to thank for pointing us in the right direction.

October 7, 2023

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Power struggles. Money. Tribalism. Treachery. Resilience.

Yes, I’m talking about the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, much of which was filmed here in the medieval walled fortress city of Dubrovnik. But I’m also referring to the history of the Balkan region, including Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, as well as their neighbor Budapest, all of which I’ve been visiting over the last five weeks.

There is much physical beauty in this part of the world, both natural and human-made. From the sunny Greek islands to the mountainous Bay of Kotor in Montenegro; from the ancient Parthenon to the clifftop monasteries of Meteora to the spectacular Church of St Sava in Belgrade, much of this part of Europe is gorgeous.

But as a crossroads of civilizations, this area has seen more than its share of conquest and cruelty. The armies of Alexander the Great, the Roman legions, the Ottoman Turks, the Venetians, the Austro Hungarian empire, all imposed immense suffering and destruction upon the inhabitants of these mountains and coastlines. And then along came the Nazis and the communists and their torture, genocide, and repression.

Our tour group visited Tito’s Bunker, an underground command center built during the Cold War for Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and his military command. This secret complex of rooms and passageways under a mountain in Bosnia was intended to help Yugoslav leaders repel an invasion or survive a nuclear war. But a wall plaque in one of the rooms, placed there much later, summed up the real issue: “Behold a cathedral of fear, built within a mountain of power, but bigger than it.”

Fear, money, and power were behind the violence of the warring families in Game of Thrones, and the same forces were at work in the Balkan wars of the 1990’s. At that time, with the post communist breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia attempted to impose its will upon and seize territory from the other former Yugoslav republics, just as its friend Russia is doing today in Ukraine. The Serbs repeatedly bombed a hospital we visited in Vukovar, Croatia, and then captured its patients and staff and executed about 260 of them. Serb snipers targeted and killed 60 children in Sarajevo, along with killing and wounding large numbers of adults. And Serbian forces committed genocide in Srebenica, slaughtering about 8,000 Bosnian civilians. The Serbs weren’t the only guilty parties in that war; Croatia too committed atrocities, as did others. But the Serbs were by far the worst perpetrators of horror.

A few days ago, as our tour group crossed from Bosnia into Montenegro, we came within maybe 100 miles of the border of Kosovo, another former Yugoslav republic that Serbia still covets and claims as Serb territory, even though the vast majority of Kosovars want nothing to do with Serbia. In 1999 Serbia began ethnic cleansing and genocide in Kosovo, until NATO intervened and stopped the rampage. Serbs still feel victimized by NATO, as I found out when I visited their capital of Belgrade. The Serbs I met were friendly, but Serbs in general are often in denial about their past and present relationship with Kosovo.

Yet in spite of the bitter memories of many people in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and elsewhere, the younger generations have mostly moved on from the wartime memories of their parents and grandparents. Last night, at our farewell dinner for this part of my tour, our 30 something tour leader Frano expressed to us his heartfelt appreciation for our visit to his home country Croatia and its neighbors. In his emotional remarks he urged us to look past all the atrocities that we have been learning about in the Balkans, and instead to see that the different Balkan ethnic and religious groups are slowly healing their wounds and intermingling again. He’s optimistic about the future of Croatia.

Given the long history of war in this area, and the complexity of human nature, I’m not quite as sanguine as Frano about the prospects for long term peace. There has to be a massive shift in human consciousness for war to no longer be an option. I expect that throne games, power plays, nationalism, and tribalism will continue for the foreseeable future.

Tomorrow I’ll visit the Fort of St Lawrence, one of the Dubrovnik film locations of Game of Thrones, then join a new tour group as we head up the lovely Dalmatian Coast. After the impressive cities of Athens, Budapest, Belgrade, and tourist-mobbed Dubrovnik, I Iook forward to some downtime on the Croatian islands. And then in a week from now I go home, where I can leave behind the European infighting for the good old USA, where thankfully there is no political drama.

September 6, 2023

Athens

Never before have I seen so many naked young men in public. Everywhere I go in Greece there are handsome faces and beautifully shaped muscles, buttocks, and genitals. But none of them are alive – they’re outdoor statues and indoor museum pieces from Greece’s classic period.

I’ve been told by tour guides that the ancient Greeks considered the human body to be beautiful, so they sculpted and painted young men and women in their physical prime in order to portray idealized masculine and feminine figures. And because young male athletes were naked when they competed in the Olympics and other contests, and naked when they trained for those competitions, public nudity was socially acceptable for men. Not so for women, however.

How times have changed. Now, as I walk around Athens (and other cities and towns in the Western world), it is men who are covered up and women who show the most skin. The weather on this trip has been warm to hot, but I don’t think that’s why I’m seeing so much cleavage and so many butt cheeks peeking out from short shorts. Most women, especially young women, seem to enjoy flaunting their curves in public, and I enjoy the show in the same way that I appreciate the naked muscle studs from ancient times. Beauty is beauty.

Yet perhaps because of male insecurities around homosexuality, we no longer see the masculine form celebrated as the Greeks once did. And because of puritanical religious oppression, women’s bodies are concealed and controlled in many societies, especially in places such as Iran, and Afghanistan under the Taliban. And Texas.

I’m sitting at a rooftop cafe facing the stately Parliament building, and nearby are the graceful, elegant columns of the Parthenon. But not everything is lovely in Athens. It’s a clean city, but except for the giant slum known as São Paulo, I’ve never seen so much graffiti. I hate graffiti wherever I encounter it, because I find it ugly, and indicative of chaotic and negative energy and selfish egoism. I don’t understand why Athenians tolerate it, unless they just can’t afford the massive cleanup costs.

On a recent tour of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, also plagued by hideous desecrations of public and private spaces, I asked our guide about the nature and causes of these spray-painted scrawls. He said that some of it is considered art, but most of it is socio/political commentary by anarchists and other opinionated people, or else it is tagging (people, mostly young men, expressing their egos through symbols).

I suppose that beauty will always coexist with ugliness, so maybe I need to learn to tolerate a certain amount of disrespect toward the common good. Still, I wish that anarchists and egomaniacs would confine their negativity and destructive impulses to their private spaces and leave the rest of us alone.

For now I intend to focus on the inspiring architecture of ancient Greece. And I’ll continue being a voyeur and aficionado of gorgeous bare bodies.

So go ahead, boys and girls – let it all hang out.

July 17, 2023

Last night, in a magnificent redwood forest, someone stole nine of my forks.

The crime spree continued when my next door forest neighbor discovered that someone (the same person?) stole three of his water glasses.

These are but two of the countless mini dramas that occur every night at the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive private men’s club where I work as a food server for four weeks every summer. My next door neighbor Brian (our tables are adjacent) and I are two of about 250 food servers and bussers that wait on dozens of picnic tables in the outdoor Dining Circle under the stars.

It’s a beautiful setting (for a more detailed description of my experience at the Bohemian Grove, scroll down to my July 24 2022 post entitled The Whale in the Forest). But while it may appear serene on the surface, there are underlying tensions as hundreds of servers, bussers, kitchen staff, and managers jostle and scramble behind the scenes to quickly and efficiently serve an average of 1,000 dinner guests every night. While our interactions are mostly harmonious, low-key conflicts do arise, and the pressures of cheerful speedy service cause many of us to discreetly complain about each other.

The reason that Brian and I were offended by the theft of our forks and water glasses is that those items and all other parts of the table settings are readily available in the kitchen area. Our two tables were already elegantly set, so someone(s) decided to save themselves a short walk to the kitchen by taking items from our place settings behind our backs. While we eventually laughed about the pilfering, we were incredulous that anyone would be so lazy and inconsiderate as to remove our carefully placed utensils and glassware.

The problem with any kind of stealing, even the relatively benign “borrowing” that Brian and I experienced, is that it creates mistrust and ill will. I now feel a need to guard against other in-house restaurant predators and culinary scoundrels, silly as that seems. Other servers have told me that they too have to protect their tables from would-be snatchers. I now have a new appreciation for the eighth commandment, Thou Shalt Not Steal. How can co-workers, neighbors, or strangers get along in any society if some people feel it’s acceptable to take items from others without their knowledge or permission?

I wasn’t going to write about such a seemingly petty topic until I read an interesting article in today’s New York Times about a recent gathering of Roma (gypsies) and Travellers (Irish nomads) in England. These two groups, with different origins but similar cultures, are sometimes appreciated, defended, and romanticized. But they are mostly reviled, due to their high crime rates in general and penchant for thievery in particular. Both Roma and Travellers are found all over Europe and the United States.

I have seen the colorful traditional Traveller wagons in Ireland, and all over Europe I’ve been warned about Roma pickpockets. A former co-worker told me about how her elderly father was swindled by Roma con-men in San Francisco, where the police told her that they were well acquainted with the Roma community.

Many years ago I met a woman at a party here in Sonoma County who told me that she was a Gypsy. When I asked her if the stereotype of Gypsies being thieves was accurate, she said that yes, unfortunately, it was a deeply embedded part of their culture. I asked her what she thought might be a solution to that problem, and she said one word: education. She herself was a college graduate – as I remember she had a Masters degree – and while she loved her community, she admitted that they needed to learn that stealing not only harms the victims of the thefts, but it harms her Roma community as well by causing everyone else to shun them.

In the greater scheme of things, Roma, Travellers, and Bohemian Grove burglars are all human beings worthy of respect, in spite of their lack of understanding of the need for personal boundaries. I want to get along with all of them. So I have just one message for them.

Don’t touch my damn forks.