John Chapman was born on the 26th of September, 1774. He is believed to have died on this day in 1845. In between those events he became Johnny Appleseed. He was a wandering missionary for the New Church established to further the teachings of the mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. He had an intimate sense of the natural, and particularly attended to the rights of animals in ways reminiscent of St Francis. But, most of all its apples that we recall. Johnny... Read more

Alfred H. Peet was born on this day in 1920. He was born in the Netherlands where his father was ran a small coffee roaster. Alfred grew up to master the arts of both coffee and tea. But it is coffee that matters in this telling. He emigrated to America where he was appalled at the state of coffee in this country. And, of course, he was right. It was awful. Awful. Soon he’d started his own roaster in Berkeley,... Read more

For reasons that probably deserve several books we within our culture are gaga for pirates. While in fact its a nasty business, dirty, violent, often ending badly, there is something about the idea of, well, something, likely several somethings that pulls at our imaginations. And so, for all those complex reasons, usually scrubbed up a bit, we tell ourselves tales of pirates, and pirate romance with books, and movies, and songs. Lots of songs. And, so… It is generally believed... Read more

Yesterday Jan & I saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Tina Fey’s war comedy based on journalist Kim Barker’s memoir Taliban Shuffle. The short review is we liked it. A lot. The slightly longer review is a bit messier. The Rotten Tomatoes summary tells us “While WTF is far from FUBAR, Tina Fey and Martin Freeman are just barely enough to overcome the picture’s glib predictability and limited worldview.” Aggregating one hundred, fifteen professional reviews Rotten gives WTF (military slang for What... Read more

A LAWYER ASKED JESUS, WHO IS MY NEIGHOR? A Buddhist Meditation on A Christian Parable James Ishmael Ford 6 March 2016 Pacific Unitarian Church Rancho Palos Verdes, California Text A lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus told a story.“ Once there was a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who was set upon by thieves, who beat him severely, stripped him of his money and even his clothing, and left him lying in the road, half-dead.... Read more

In contemporary Chinese culture today is Lei Feng Day. Lei Feng appears to have been a real person, who following his premature death at twenty-one was selected by Chairman Mao and others to be the exemplar of selflessness, modesty, energy, and, well of course, devotion to Mao. And interestingly his cult seems to have survived throughout all the vicissitudes of Chinese political culture over the years. While he has suffered some in popularity, and it is hard to say how... Read more

I really would like to indulge in a little schadenfreude in the wake of last night’s Republican debate. There was Mr Trump in all his orange glory. The various non Trump candidates (the theocrat, the boy with the memorized speech, and the reactionary who only looks like a grown up while standing among that crowd) explained in gory detail why the businessman/reality television show character is unqualified to be president, fraud, con man, liar, among those reasons, and where among... Read more

Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was born on this day in 1923. He would have been ninety-three today. Certainly one of the great gifts to our culture… Read more

And so it happens. It was on this day in 1931, after years during which it had gradually wormed its way into American hearts, that President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional resolution proclaiming the Star Spangled Banner the national anthem. Read more

As it happens it was on this day in 1933 that the film King Kong opened in New York City at the Radio City Music Hall. It would provide a veritable cornucopia of cultural references… Read more