Introduction to World Literature

I'm bored and disgusted with talk of war. I need to stop worrying about it and writing about it. I became intrigued with the description of an on-line class that I found on openculture.com…
An Introduction to World Literature.

David Damrosch is the advisor and coordinator of the course. He’s also the main commentator on the videos that make up the lessons. He teaches at Harvard. You can read more about him here. He is the author of two books I intend to purchase: (1) How to Read World Literature [2008] and (2) What is World Literature [2003].

The video course is a part of the Annenberg Learner series. You can find out more about it at… http://learner.org/courses/worldlit/

Though I’ve just begun, I’m pretty confident that I’ll work my way through the entire course and all 13 of the books that we’re to read…

The Epic of Gilgamesh

My Name is Red

The Odyssey

The Baccae

The Bhagavad Gita

The Tale of Genji

Journey to the West

Popul Vuh

Candide

Things Fall Apart

One Hundred Years of Solitude

The God of Small Things

The Thousand and One Nights

I’ve previously read a few of them. In a couple of cases it was a long, long time ago. I wouldn’t have dreamed that I’d ever return to The Odyssey again; or to Candide for that matter. It will be with great pleasure that I read again One Hundred Years of Solitude and the remarkable Things Fall Apart.

This assures you that, though I’m blogging less frequently in these very troublesome times in politics and statesmanship, I am keeping myself earnestly occupied.

I’m also very busy making notations – and sometimes writing essays – in my Daily Journal.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Does Anyone Ever Listen to the People?

   

Play the above song for peace!

Who will history judge as the instigator of the war that may come in Syria? There will be many versions to the answer.
by Charlie Leck

If America sends a number of missiles crashing down on Syria, will our nation be considered the instigator of a war? Or, did Syrian citizens begin the war when they revolted against the nation’s current leadership. Or was it Assad who began the war by so seriously mistreating his people? I can only imagine there will be different answers for different people.

I don’t want no war no more!
Honest to God, we’re a people tired – we Americans – of the price, the energy and the human life that is expended on war. We are tired! Exhausted!

Aren’t there other ways! Can’t brilliant and talented people find other ways to solve such problems?

Who is this Assad guy – this Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria? In an interview with Le Figaro yesterday, President Assad said this of President Obama: “For us, a strong man prevents rather than starts a war… Obama is weak because he is facing pressure from within the United States.”

Assad denies being responsible for the gassing of his own people. He declares that his fight is against al-Qaeda.

“We are fighting terrorists… They are not interested in reform or in politics. The only way to deal with them is to annihilate them.”

America talks now of sending new and advanced weapons to the rebels – the Free Syrian Army.

Where is the truth? The tired people want to know! Will we be arming al-Qaeda? Isn’t it permissible to ask? Does John McCain know the answer? Does President Obama? Does Francois Hollande?

Dump it in the lap of the United Nations and demand that they do something! Do something or disband as a fake! Where is the thinking of the Nonviolent Peace Force? Bring this organization in to sit down with rebels and the President of Syria for talks.

We – the people – we don’t want no war no more? Does anyone ever listen to the people?

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

What Every Child Should Learn

Elaine Bransford, an advanced placement literature teacher at the St. Croix Peparatory Academy, wrote a brilliant piece in this morning’s local paper: Learning Life from Pages (What every graduate can gain from their high school English classes!)
by Charlie Leck

My, it was wonderful. Ms. Bransford lists ten (10) things she’d like every student to learn. Though, I’ll only pass on to you two (2) of them here, I think you’d enjoy bringing the column up on-line and reading all ten. These are the kinds of things we’d like our children and grandchildren to learn as they mature.

(1)  “You should know that the world is wide, and while you are an important part of it, you are not the center of it.”

 (10) “You should understand that the relationship between happiness and fun is a complicated one.”

The remaining ones are as delightfully good and make a wonderful guide for a parent or teacher. I really hope you’ll read them all. This is a very, very wise column. I thank Ms. Bransford for writing it.

Geez, I hope many, many parents read this column this morning. Even old goats, like I, can learn some important things from it that we’ve probably forgotten along the way to here.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Radical Islam and Syria

The major enemies in Syria are Russia and religion; and you might add Iran and a relentless, secular government that is definitely not of the people.
by Charlie Leck

Our government is only half serious about solving the desperately cruel problem of murder and mayhem in Syria. It’s a tough one – this problem! I can’t imagine our Congress deciding what to do about it when it can’t decide what to do about fixing our own nation’s roads and bridges. Our Congress is broken. In our elections here, in 2014, the people must rise up against it.

Here’s why Syria frightens us so!

Our major hesitations have to do with religion and radical Islam.
What happens, we ask ourselves, if a religious government is put in place in Syria? What happens if it turns out to be a mean and nasty religious government (radical Islam) that has no patience or place for divisions of faith that don’t agree with its own? And then what happens if this religious order has a certain sympathy for world terrorists that want to attack secular nations. (America is a secular nation in spite of the beliefs of some that it is a Christian nation!)

No one in our government will admit to this concern because it borders on a matter of race relations as well.

Another of our concerns has to do with Russia.
Russia likes Syria. Russia uses Syria, through which it can ship weapons to the enemies of Israel. The Russian government still hates America, though it pretends not to. Russia raises bellicose threats against us regarding what we might do in Syria. “Hands off,” they say! “Leave it to be settled by the people.” This is only another way of allowing Assad, the Syrian dictator, to murder more and more people. More than 100,000 civilians have already been killed. There are more than one million refugees. It’s amazing how silent most of America’s international peace organizations are about all this. They are afraid of radical Islam also.

In the end, Russia really doesn’t scare us that much. Islamic terrorists do!

Then there is Iran!
What would Iran do if we instituted any kind of military attack against Syria? Probably nothing, but the thought causes us to hesitate. Iran is slowly changing and moving more and more toward secularism in its government. We like that and we are watching the development closely. We don’t want anything to upset the apple cart.

So, in the end
it is religion (radical Islam) that frightens us. We don’t need a new breeding place for terrorists. It is difficult, however, to talk about this subject. One doesn’t want to seem opposed to “freedom of religion and religious thought.” What if a people freely chooses to institute a religious government?

Religious Wars!
Nothing frightens me more than the thought of vast religious wars fought across the globe. A radical religion, which wants to convert everyone around the world to its own religion because it claims this is the wish of its God, really does scare the bejeebers out of me. I would be frightened of such a religion if it were Christian, Islamic or Wassmassso. The super religious “are irrational – that’s all there is to that. Their heads are full of cotton, hay and rags. They’re nothing but exasperating, irritating and infuriatingly mad!”

America will tread lightly!
An attack on the government of Syria is mighty dangerous. We are going to be damned if we do or if we don’t and that’s a guaranty.

Read this…
In order to understand the situation in Syria better, read this Washington Post article: Nine Questions You were too Embarrassed to Ask about Syria!

UPDATE...Also, read this…
Robert Reich writes brilliantly about why we should not attack Syria... just one more time, without real resolve or purpose! I urge you to read it here.

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

WMD

Here we go again! We’re takin’ the show on the road again! Getting’ our feet wet again! All for the ol’ WMD...  I’ll get serious. War rides upon the wind again!
by Charlie Leck

I want to believe Secretary of State John Kerry. I think I do believe him. He is an honest and honorable man. However, I believed Colin Powell as well. And, I remember the night that the planes flew over Bagdad, raining down terror and destruction, and began our horrible war against Iraq. In the coming months the air cleared and certainties became less certain and then less and less certain; and finally they became not only uncertain but untrue. Colin Powell did not lie. He is too good a man to do that. He was fed erroneous and misleading information, however.

It has turned out, in the eyes and minds of most reasonable people, that our invasion of Iraq was one of the most serious foreign policy mistakes ever made by our nation.

It now seems certain that America will take military action against Syria. The promise is that it will be very limited. We claim that it will be supported by our allies. Yet, the British parliament has denied permission for Prime Minister David Cameron to get involved. France is cool. Germany is silent. Russian is angry!

You are watching the news as intensely as I. There is no need for me to get analytical here. I write only to express my trepidations and fears.

Isn’t there some way to pressure the leaders of the government of Syria that would not require military actions? Must there always be violence? Why doesn’t the United Nations function more successfully? Must there always be madness? Why aren’t we involving the Nonviolent Peaceforce?

Secretary of State Kerry gave clear reasons for our coming attack. The Syrian government crossed a red line that had been drawn for it by our president. It was clear that Kerry was telling us that we, as a government, cannot let that happen. If we let it happen here, then we would be forced to let it happen anywhere.

Oh, my! The madness of it all!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

All Must Listen!

President Obama’s speech at the 50^th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King Jr’s brilliant oration during the historic march on Washington should be heard by every American – by red and blue and everything in between or outside of those colors of the political spectrum.
by Charlie Leck

We are an enormously strong and wealthy nation. We have the potential to make dreams come true – even the big, big dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr.. We’ve made progress. We’ve made some enormous gains, but the dream still lingers, waiting for real fulfillment.

Our president knew, as he rose to speak at the 50^th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington and one of the greatest speeches of all time, that he should not attempt to match the King. There could be no matching that speech. So the president went quietly through a speech that praised those who made their way to Washington fifty years ago and lauded what they began then. However, he pointed out that the march is not over, the journey is not complete and the goals have not been reached. There is still a ways to go.

But in this great, proud and wealthy nation, he said, it is possible to accomplish all that King dreamed of – if we really want to, and if men and women can open their hearts to King’s spirit and guidance.

In case you didn’t hear it, here’s how the President so powerfully concluded his words…

“America, I know the road will be long, but I know we can get there. Yes, we will stumble, but I know we'll get back up. That's how a movement happens. That's how history bends. That's how, when somebody is faint of heart, somebody else brings them along and says, come on, we're marching.

“There's a reason why so many who marched that day and in the days to come were young, for the young are unconstrained by habits of fear, unconstrained by the conventions of what is. They dared to dream different and to imagine something better. And I am convinced that same imagination, the same hunger of purpose serves in this generation.

“We might not face the same dangers as 1963, but the fierce urgency of now remains. We may never duplicate the swelling crowds and dazzling processions of that day so long ago, no one can match King's brilliance, but the same flames that lit the heart of all who are willing to take a first step for justice, I know that flame remains.

“That tireless teacher who gets to class early and stays late and dips into her own pocket to buy supplies because she believes that every child is her charge -- she's marching. That successful businessman who doesn't have to, but pays his workers a fair wage and then offers a shot to a man, maybe an ex-con, who's down on his luck -- he's marching.

“The mother who pours her love into her daughter so that she grows up with the confidence to walk through the same doors as anybody's son -- she's marching. The father who realizes the most important job he'll ever have is raising his boy right, even if he didn't have a father, especially if he didn't have a father at home -- he's marching. The battle-scarred veterans who devote themselves not only to helping their fellow warriors stand again and walk again and run again, but to keep serving their country when they come home -- they are marching. Everyone who realizes what those glorious patriots knew on that day, that change does not come from Washington but to Washington, that change has always been built on our willingness, we, the people, to take on the mantle of citizenship -- you are marching.

“And that's the lesson of our past, that's the promise of tomorrow, that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. And when millions of Americans of every race and every region, every faith and every station can join together in a spirit of brotherhood, then those mountains will be made low, and those rough places will be made plain, and those crooked places, they straighten out towards grace, and we will vindicate the faith of those who sacrificed so much and live up to the true meaning of our creed as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

It was a remarkable and wonderful day – a grand celebration – and it brought back so many memories of the time.

Republicans too busy to attend…
The Republican Party claims to be committed to winning bigger among minority groups in the future, yet, according to a report in the Washington Post, none of the invited Republican dignitaries could make the big celebration on the Mall yesterday. Though many were invited they declined because they were busy with other things or they were ill. Oh, my!

You can watch a video of President Obama's speech here!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Bachmann Tattle-Tale

A book about some of the naughty things Michele Bachmann is supposed to have done during her brief and failed presidential bid has hit the market.
by Charlie Leck

I just thought you ought to know about this e-book that outlines the nasty infighting going on among these evangelicals. I’m not recommending you buy it. I certainly won’t. However, if you have a Kindle book reader and an Amazon account, you can get it on-line.

It’s called Bachmannistan! Now, isn’t that a clever title. It’s written by the rightly reverend Peter Waldron with help from attorney John Gilmore.

Just remember that I told you Ms. Bachmann was a has-been long before she officially was. I could write a book!

Just picture this scene described in the book: On the advice of her psychologist husband, Ms. Bachmann is standing before a mirror saying, “I am the President of the United States!” I understand it is one of the more exciting sections in the book. Frightening, but exciting!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.