Here are a few thoughts about free trade (when I’ve had time to reflect and research a bit more, I plan to publish a more high-brow version on The Thinking Pot; this post reflects primarily my first responses and gut reaction). Free and famous There is a lot in the …
I am suffering a bit from familiar foibles. You know what I mean: those foibles in other people and cultures – always easier to spot than one’s own. They make me grumpy – or, maybe I am already grumpy and therefore I notice how people in one country talk rather …
I have been traveling again, and noticing the individualism inherent in the US. It hits very hard after reading The Spirit Level by Wilkinson and Pickett, which shows over and over how societies (in different parts of the world) with greater inequality have greater public problems: from crime to obesity, poorer …
I haven’t posted in some time, even though my travels have continued (through northern Europe now). I haven’t really stopped, although I do know I will be settling in a new city, in a few months’ time. so, I am still traveling, but with a different feeling as I am …
Quakers are sometimes quite proud of our commitment to simplicity. And yet Quakers are often wealthy – not only in global terms but also locally. It is said that this happened in part by dint of being hard workers and known for integrity and honesty. Wealth makes it hard to …
Sometimes the Internet makes one’s work in delving through books much lighter than it would otherwise be. I was recently directed to this gem of a point of view from Martin Luther King, from a speech in 1967 in an address to the American Psychological Association: ”… I am sure …
I have another confession about something unusual about me. I seem to be one of few people in the world who doesn’t believe that putting an idea into words makes it real. The concept that many people accept words as the same as action may sound exaggerated, but for most …
In order to think more broadly about the issues of poverty and what people in the Global North can do, I have been making a point of speaking about these topics with as many different people as possible. I am fascinated by the influence of each person’s belief regarding society …
I have arrived in Managua and have had the luxury of time to get used to a new country and a new city. The hostel where I am staying has notices that it is safe to walk in the neighbourhood – and then gives the border streets for the area …
I am on the road again, travelling to take photos in the eastern part of Oregon state. It’s hard to be moving on every night. I am rounding off a few tasks before departing for Nicaragua in a week’s time, and carting boxes of things from a car to a …