political Archives - From the Write Side

November and Politics: Is it possible to do better?

November may be a dreary month, but I always feel energized by the essay opportunities it provides. After all, in the drabbest month, making a list of things to be grateful for lifts spirits. There is also the voting thing, which has become fraught with dissension and shows no sign of shifting back to the middle ground. And I serve as a poll worker, so training, which is now obligatory for volunteers in Ohio, demonstrates that even in a non-partisan environment, tension reveals itself. Several [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-11-02T01:17:57+00:00October 31st, 2022|Blog, Uncategorized|0 Comments

An Attempt to See Clearly in the Fog…

In May I had surgery on the muscles in my left eye to correct the strabismus that has dogged me since before and after my brain surgery on the torturous blood vessel rubbing against one of my cranial nerves. (Yes, that is the official wording on the MRI analysis...torturous!). I also had the cataract removed. In August, the surgeon completed the trifecta by implanting a new lens in the right eye. Wow! I can see to infinity and beyond...if infinity is the sky above the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-08-31T14:52:01+00:00August 31st, 2021|Essays|0 Comments

A Musing On Truth and Lies

Can you remember the first lie you ever told? I can't. What I do remember is the flush accompanying the misrepresentation, the internal conflict when the admonitions of parents and priests collided with the need to shift blame, to deny guilt. Even the slightest misdirection resulted in an agony of self-reproach. I was never a good liar. I do not have a poker face. So, in the frenzy of outright lies and daily distortions that have accompanied our current crises -- coronavirus, anti-violence protests, Black [...]

By irvinjgdm|2020-06-30T15:39:59+00:00June 30th, 2020|Essays|0 Comments

A Discourse On Loss

"No man is an island." John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions As 2017 closes out its run, I struggle through the immensity of unmooring that the year has brought. My bubble life of structure and belief in the common decency of man has suffered a knock-out punch. As a child of the sixties, I am no stranger to turmoil. However, the bouts of political insanity that rock the country strain my belief that goodness will triumph. A minority should never determine the course of the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-12-31T11:59:00+00:00December 31st, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, philosophical|0 Comments

A December Manifesto: 2017

One. I am only one, but I have a voice. As a human being, as a citizen, as a child of the Creator, I must use that voice to speak out for good. Evil cannot be ignored or excused. Not for political gain. Not for corporate greed. Not out of apathy. In this season of peace, when all religions share hope, I must nourish the flame of that hope. More alike than we are different, a cut bleeds red on all our skins. A light [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-12-03T17:26:03+00:00December 3rd, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, motivational, philosophical, seasonal|0 Comments