Grief, praise and politics

Real Change
’Tis the season for zombie Siberian viruses, but not rail worker strikes

By Dr. Wes Browning | December 7, 2022

It’s too cold for me. I’m a quick-freeze Popsicle. I’m always ready to slip into hypothermia at a moment’s notice. I’m really fast. My record time was five minutes to clinically serious hypothermia in the water at Seward Park in September 1981. Even with the help of the hot water shower on the beach, it took me 20 minutes to stop shaking. That was a big wake-up call. I am never going to be a polar bear. I’m always going to be a naked, hairless, trembling Chihuahua. ...
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Chanukah is not Christmas

By Rabbi Olivier BenHaim | November 30, 2022

Jewish families are delighted that, for once, Chanukah falls on the start of winter break. We will kindle our first candle on Sunday night, Dec. 18. It is a rare treat that our kids can be off from school for the holiday. School is always out, of course, for Christian kids and their holidays, but for religious minorities that is seldom the case. In our family, as we light our candles each night to celebrate the miracle of the holiday, we will pray for the coming miracle where every religious minority will have sanctioned days off to celebrate their holidays. ...
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Bet you can’t read this column in less than 7.5 minutes

By Dr. Wes Browning | November 30, 2022

I just noticed this morning that the New York Times is telling me — in fine print — under titles of stories and features how many minutes it might take me to read them.

How long has this been going on?

What rate of reading is it calibrated to? If I read at 200 words per minute, but the NYT reading times assume someone who reads 300 words a minute, then shouldn’t I multiply all the times by 1.5? ...
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Democrats have a lot to do with their expanded majority: Here are a few ideas on where to start

By John Burbank | November 30, 2022

Democrats will control the U.S. Senate. Republicans will have a slim majority in the House. Now is the time to ask: what is the agenda? Too easily, it could be just defending the status quo. That won’t cut it with the majority of people who have seen their own economic security whittled away over the past decades, nor will it help with access to the ballot and voting rights. So let’s start with that. ...
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Is this column too geeky for public consumption?

By Dr. Wes Browning | November 23, 2022

I was excited this morning to discover NASA’s online tracking site for the Artemis moonshot. I’ll be able to sit at the old laptop in my living room and watch all the exciting moments of the (already outdated) robotic rocket’s flight to the moon. It’s as exciting as when I got my Jet Jackson Secret Squadron decoder kit in the mail when I was eight. It’s as exciting as every thrilling, asteroid-hopping episode of “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” as he battled space smugglers and asteroid belt pirates. ...
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Real Change
We should work to live, not live to work

By Cedar Bushue | November 23, 2022

Burnout is becoming more common among workers in the United States. It’s happening more and more because workers are completely exhausted. Workers are also becoming more resentful and less willing to take on new tasks and “bend over backwards” for their employers. Many employees are “quiet-quitting,” which in my mind is just doing your job and not going above what the company is paying you for. This makes sense, because when I worked at Home Depot, the company would try and make us go the extra mile. Management told us promotions and raises would be in our future if we did. ...
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A dangerous case

By Jill Mullins | November 16, 2022

On Nov. 9, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that may have disastrous impacts on Native American children, families and tribes. The case — Haaland v. Brackeen — threatens to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). While this case is about ICWA, it is actually a smokescreen for the overall destruction of tribal sovereignty. ...
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Real Change
How many bricks in a chimney and Dems in the Senate?

By Dr. Wes Browning | November 16, 2022

Before I get started: a big shout out to the spinning top, which — after more than 2,000 years —has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. I think the dreidel was a close runner-up. I don’t know if “spinning tops” include gyroscopes. If not, I want them to get in next year.

Meanwhile, a gruyere from Switzerland won Best Cheese of 2022. Good thing it didn’t have to wait 2,000 years.

I’ve been reminiscing lately about fundamental differences of opinions with teachers I had when growing up. ...
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Crisis postponed: Voters passed progressive electoral and wage reforms as red wave evaporated

By John Burbank | November 16, 2022

Underneath the amazing and encouraging results of last week’s election, we find some other unheralded, systemic and wonderful advances for democracy. They are the work of quiet progressives focusing on economic advances for working class and middle class Americans, on better ways to choose candidates and on systems to reflect actual votes in a democracy.

So, let’s get to the winning ballot issues, which we can build upon and replicate throughout our state and our country. ...
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Grief, praise and politics

By John Helmiere | November 9, 2022

I am submitting this column on the eve of the midterm elections. By the time this newspaper is published, millions of people will be disgusted and despondent, no matter who wins. Hearts will rage, poisonous words will flow, visions of doom will loom. There will be breast beating and garment rending. But amidst the gallimaufry of emotions, there will be precious little grieving. There will be grievances galore, but grievance is not grief. Grievance is a shallow and festering surface wound, a smoldering resentment that you have not received what you are owed. ...
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