By Joel Bowman, on March 16th, 2018% The title is based on the song about the “Big Muddy” written by Pete Seeger in 1967. See for a summary of the circumstances. The Vietnam War was in full swing. I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1969 and was able to hear him perform that song and others at that time. Not too long after that, I received my orders to head to what was then the current “Big Muddy” of Vietnam.
Once again we seem to be waist deep in the Big Muddy, in part because the world as . . . → Read More: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
By Joel Bowman, on January 6th, 2018% I have borrowed the title for this blog from a song by . . . → Read More: Another Brick in the Wall
By Joel Bowman, on January 1st, 2018% Last year, 2017, ended not with a bang, but a whimper. While how the current year, 2018, will end is still unknown, the world in general and the U.S. in particular, are not on a good trajectory. While some countries are doing reasonably well, most are not. Even in the States, the microcosm of individuals and places doing well, doesn’t change the macrocosm. I am not worried about the planet as a whole. Earth has survived mass extinctions in the past, and life has continued. The life forms, however, changed. It is as though the planet was saying, “Well that . . . → Read More: 2018 Ready or Not
By Joel Bowman, on November 12th, 2017% I haven’t been consistent with posting to my blog, primarily because I have been depressed about the current state of politics in the States. This morning it occurred to me that our current political situation is a little like going down the rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. We are currently expected to accept “alternative facts” as reality (and some actually do). Nothing is what it appears to be. As one who came of age in the 1960s, I well remember Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit:
The year was 1967. I was in the Army and, . . . → Read More: Farther Down the Rabbit Hole
By Joel Bowman, on August 27th, 2017% Shakespeare’s original use of what has become a common saying, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” was about differences between the families of Vietnam War protests. Even the Charlottsesville, Virginia illustrate just how crazy political life in the States has become.
The hostilities seem to have expanded, with election of Donald Trump seems to be proving my cousin right. One of the recent news stories says that the Vietnam War.
I was one of those caught up in both the Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights movement. Many of those I . . . → Read More: We Will All Go Down Together
By Joel Bowman, on July 22nd, 2017% You may know the old saying, the darkest hour is just before dawn. While the saying isn’t literally true, it serves metaphorical purpose. First Light precedes astronomical dawn and provides the first proof that night is coming to an end. “Political night” has descended in the States, leading many to wonder whether “first light” is right around the corner. Many are hopeful. I’m not so sure. I think we (all of us) need to gain some perspective based on history. The history of humanity has been primarily wars and exploitation.
War, of course, is not new. Tribes went . . . → Read More: Gaining Perspective
By Joel Bowman, on February 25th, 2017% The title of this blog comes from a Pete Seeger song:
The lyrics contain a number of metaphors that apply to the current political situation in the States: First, times and circumstances change. What was once safe doesn’t necessarily remain that way. Second, having a “big fool” set direction may not turn out well. Third (and one of my favorite quotations), “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” which was doubtless based on George Santayana’s original: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Remembering history by itself isn’t sufficient. . . . → Read More: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
By Joel Bowman, on July 11th, 2016% The impetus for this blog is the recent spate of race-based violence we have experienced following the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. The history of the US has, of course, a long record of race-based violence. How could it be otherwise when slavery was present from our earliest days. It is easy to forget, for example, that the White House was built by slave labor.
I am old enough to remember early TV news coverage of what were deemed “race riots” in the 1950s and ’60s. The principal minorities in the town where I grew up (Los . . . → Read More: What a Week
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