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Truth or Twitter? Why Donald Trump Is No John Steinbeck

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Donald Trump has bragged that someone once called him “the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters.” There is no evidence that such a thing was ever said, though that is hardly the point.

Unfortunately for us, the new president possesses neither the courage nor the self-control of Hemingway, winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature for writing unforgettably about bravery under fire. As the problems created by Trump-tweets pile up, the source of Trump’s addiction to Twitter has become all too clear. Eugene Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist, described it in words worthy of John Steinbeck: “Trump’s Twitter tantrums are a message of weakness.”
  [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Rising Up

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Women
kiss icons in the church of Saint Lazarus
place devote hands
over a reliquary
containing the saint’s bones

Beneath the altar –
a crypt with an empty sarcophagus

My eyes christen the marble with tears
for a distant country
in need of resuscitation   [Read more…]

The Miracle

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The face in the mirror was astonishing!
Visibly aged from the face that stared back just this morning.
It was certainly still me,
with all of the familiar memories of my past sixty-five years.
But there were also memories of a past I had not yet lived.

That wrinkled reflection grinned with satisfaction,
like a old tomcat recalling the huge rat it once devoured.   [Read more…]

When Mexico Sends Its People, They’re Not Sending Their Best

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By Eloisa Amezcua / Literary Hub

WHEN MEXICO SENDS ITS PEOPLE, THEY’RE NOT SENDING THEIR BEST

I.

my father is not rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a drug trafficker or a criminal or a killer or a rapist
or a bad one   [Read more…]

Holocaust Survivor Ruth Sax and “Try to Remember — Never Forget”

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By Steven Goldkrantz / San Diego Jewish Journal

Upon meeting Ruth Sax, one finds a woman who is gentle and kind, with a powerful and positive outlook on life. She is very quiet at first but it’s clear that she can see everything, even your soul, before she says anything. In fact, it’s impossible to imagine all of the things her eyes have seen. Hers is a story told with humility and a sense of pride, in that she survived the great tragedy of our time. Ruth Sax is a notable Holocaust contributor to the South Bay community in San Diego, and now her story has been documented by her daughter, Sandra Scheller, in a book entitled, “Try to Remember – Never Forget.”   [Read more…]

Civil Rights Icon John Lewis at San Diego’s Oak Park Public Library: In This Place, the Beloved Community

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By Anna Daniels

Editor Note: Congressman John Lewis told Chuck Todd in a recent interview that he did not see Trump as a legitimate president and that he would not attend the inauguration. Congressman Lewis brings the voice of moral authority and courage to his decision. The following is an article from the SDFP archives published on March 2, 2014.

On Saturday March 1, Congressman John Lewis received the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) Peacemaker award for his outstanding work as a civil rights champion and inspiring congressional leader. The reception, dinner and award ceremony were held at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. I did not attend, but there is no doubt in my mind that the guests were moved by his powerful oratory as he embraced another opportunity at that event to promote non-violent action as the only democratic remedy and response to injustice in the world.

Earlier in the day, Congressman John Lewis entered the Oak Park Public Library and became Storyteller John Lewis. In the intimacy of this small library, Lewis was clearly in his element. The Oak Park Library has no meeting room. Over eighty people sat and stood in the heart of this library surrounded by computers and book stacks. We sang This Little Light of Mine, lead by Lisa Sanders followed by a brief, heartfelt introduction from 4th district Councilwoman Myrtle Cole, the first African American woman on the city council.

In this place, Congressman Lewis unhurriedly and deftly wove the personal details of his own life, about how he grew up in rural Alabama on a farm in the segregationist south. We were immediately drawn into the storyteller’s enchanted circle.
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Geo-Poetic Spaces: Political Mythology

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In the old world
a familiar story

The king constructs a labyrinth
because Minotaurs
must be fed

It requires a beast
to kick eyes into dust
and steal a crown   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Sunset

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Sun kneads into earth
fires up the clay oven
bakes tomorrow’s bread
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Off Limits: “Of Mice and Men” and the Death Penalty Today

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Seventy years after its publication John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men continues to stimulate debate, pro and con, about the death penalty. But justifying capital punishment was the last thing on the mind of the author, a liberal thinker who created the character of Lennie to increase our understanding of the mentally challenged and the American underclass.

As a defense attorney who admires Of Mice and Men for this very reason, I’m angry that Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Cathy Cochran used Lennie in a 2004 legal opinion about imposing the death penalty when mental capacity is at issue. The “Lennie standard” she proposed continues to have consequences in the courts, and in the lives of the condemned.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Resolution

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A respite
between waves
reflecting
the mandala of sun

Touch Apollo’s altar
and throw yourself
into light
before resolution
breaks
the sea’s mirror
  [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Next Christmas

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Next holiday season
bells will be ringing:

Tongues hammering
sunken cheeks

Hands
stripped to bones
peeling for handouts from thieves   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: People Stare at Me

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People stare at me

Six feet of blue eyes
looking out over a sea of black hair

People stare
at minority me   [Read more…]

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