Category Archives: Historical

Survivors

0
Posted by on in children, Community, Historical, impediments, Personal Values, Social

March 18, 2026- “No legacy is above accountability”- Nancy Pelosi. I have read, with disappointment and disgust, of the documented behaviour of the late Cesar Chavez, in the heyday of the United Farm Workers’ campaign to improve the lives of field hands in California, Arizona, Texas and Colorado, in the 1960s and ’70s.

To their credit, the economic justice and civil rights communities have denounced the assaults on Dolores Huerta and several young daughters of Chavez’s own close associates. Ms. Huerta stood as tall as Cesar Chavez, in those days, and now she stands ever taller. They both worked hard to improve the lives of agricultural workers, but he could not, or would not, transcend the deadly subculture of machismo, which measures a man’s worth by the number of sexual conquests he can claim.

“No legacy is above accountability”. We have, as an effect of deep research, come to re-assess the lives of every single heroic or admired figure in the past 500 years of American history. The legacies of everyone from Christopher Columbus to Cesar Chavez have now been examined, some tarnished beyond repair. There will be schools renamed, a state holiday (in Arizona) canceled and the lives of many hopefully given closure and some cleansing.

Some have chosen to waffle, in response to this news, There should be no daylight on this issue. Chavez died 32 years ago, but his reputation was shattered by the cancer of misogyny, the minute he violated the person of his first victim. It was buried in an unmarked grave, when he became emboldened to continue the lustful violence.

I can only say “Gracias, y lo siento profundamente” to every single woman who has carried this torment with her, all these years. “Me, too” must never become shopworn or rendered irrelevant, until every victim is given a path to justice and healing.

“No legacy is above accountability”.

Bloodlines

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, Historical, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 17, 2026- Today being St. Patrick’s Day, my thoughts go to the Irish heritage on both my mother’s and father’s sides. The Kusches, who hailed from Szcezcin, Poland, back when it was Stettin, Pomerania, ended up in St; Louis and Chicago, by the mid-19th Century. Papa Kusch journeyed east, as a young man, and became a shoemaker in Boston, and a small farmer in Saugus. Before they were Kusches, though, they were Cooks-in the area around Wexford, Ireland. Poverty, and the Hanseatic League’s allure, brought them to the Baltic shores. The family was proud of having been prosperous in Germany, and in the Midwest, and I heard little about our Irish roots, but I always felt a draw to the Emerald Isle. Mom had me pledge to look into her side of the family, when we talked of the genealogy that my Dad’s older brother had compiled. I thought that meant going to Pomerania, but last summer’s visit to Wexford, and nearby Rosslare, brief as it was, introduced me to a few people who looked strikingly like my mother and aunts. I later learned their family name was Cook. Part of me wants to go back and spend more time there, but that will need to wait.

My granddaughter will have far taller order, should she ever want to check out her roots. Half of her bloodline is Korean, and there are probably some Chinese ancestors. going way back. The other half is Heinz 57: German, English, Irish, French, Penobscot, Jewish, Lithuanian, Romanian, and Scottish. Her present and near term well-being, though, has me refocusing my energies. The journeys I undertake in the foreseeable future are all along the paths of introducing a little soul to the wider world.

That brings me to a separate point. There was once, at a Baha’i-sponsored conference in Florida, a zone set aside for protesters. Neo-Nazis and Black Separatists found themselves next to one another, in that small zone. There are, on both the Far Right and Far Left, those who today preach the credo of division. The truth about human relations is “whatever we say it is”, and any who call for reconciliation between ethnic groups or “racial” entities are accused of clinging to outmoded, discarded concepts. I beg to differ: It is the very divisions to which they cling that are outmoded, counterproductive and dangerous. Clothing them in academic jargon, or using tones of ridicule, do nothing to bring a longed-for peace. I have to wonder if peace is even what they want- or is conflict more alluring?

Regardless, as Hana and others of her generation show, bloodlines are no respecters of truly outmoded ideologies.

Centrifuge

0
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 2, 2026- Humanity seems like it is in a vessel that is spinning and separating people according to various qualities or elements. Those who took chemistry or physics in high school or college know full well that I am referring to a centrifuge. They can imagine, correctly, that the feeling is uncomfortable at best and shattering at worst.

Neoliberals argue that this “us against them” process is simply the way of the world- “just the way it is”, as the President of the United States said yesterday. Their whole premise is that the other side started it, and besides, the other side is “seeking to divide us against each other”-a centrifuge operating inside a centrifuge.

Depending on the historical record cited, this is indeed how it’s largely been for the past 6,000-10,000 years. It has been a slugfest, fueled by testosterone, territorialism and a scarcity mentality (zero sum game). “If you have power, I don’t”, however, no longer works well in a world that is more connected than that of Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Chingiz Khan or Napoleon Bonaparte. Hitler, cited by the ignorant who look wistfully at a past they barely comprehend, was in fact a poster child for the limits imposed by impulsivity coupled with simplistic blame-casting. His centrifuge tossed virtually everyone to the edges, leaving a sour cream of faux perfection to try and hold his fading Reich together.

The substrate of money plays a heavy role in the present exercise. Notice how those taking action against some countries, but not against others, seem to be acting mostly against those whose countries are rich in resources, and therefore a potential source of ever more revenue.

The centrifuge needs to be turned off. We are in a world that needs justice, far more than it needs to fuel ambition.

Our Better Nature

0
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual

February 12, 2026- Abraham Lincoln closed his first Inaugural Address with:
“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

He struck a conciliatory tone to the slaveholders of the Southern and Border states, in a last ditch effort to avoid the outbreak of hostilities. Some became emboldened, and it didn’t work. We are warned, in Scripture, not to encourage those who lie, steal or engage in selfish behaviour. Lincoln thought he could convince those he regarded as “friends and neighbours” to retreat from their threats of secession. He would have done best to have heeded Christ:

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” – Matthew 7:6

“Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.” – Titus 3:10

When I was a teenager, I was warned by elders who have since passed, but who I respect to this day, to not give in to bullies. I stood my ground a few times, enough so that the kids backed off and some eventually became friends. Had I not stood up for myself, it was clear that they would have become emboldened.

It is also clear that, in the days when confrontation, and going after “the low-hanging fruit” are practices being substituted for reasoned policy-making and public discourse, the angels of our better nature require standing ground by sticking to facts, orienting self and avoiding the temptation to fall back on self-propelled fantasy. They require listening, certainly, and they require discernment, in evaluating what one has heard.

All Matter

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, Family, Historical, impediments, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social

February 1, 2026-

There is an illusion afoot, across the higher ranks of the Federal government, that there are two classes of people: Those that matter and those that don’t.

This is the logical consequence of centuries of “othering” and compartmentalized thinking. As long as one can separate self from those near or far, there is a path for those who profit from separation, to obtain that person’s allegiance. This is not a Right thing or a Left thing- both extremes follow the same mantra.

It has yet to work and will not work in the future. The only answer is adhering to the idea that all matter- and not just saying that as a rejoinder to people who feel unheard and have reminded the rest of us of that fact.

These are my thoughts, as Black History Month begins. I personally think that all history should be openly taught, discussed and made into fodder for learning how to move forward. I will, in the years left me to be with my grandchild(ren), teach the open truth and critical thinking skills. Hana already shows that she is no fool. I would expect the same from any sibling she might have.

Inclusion

3
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 19, 2026-

We have come too far, as a nation and as a species, to go back to a world in which fever dreams of a “Master Race” or favoured status of one group over another can dictate policy or social coda.

I say this on a day when many people honour the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it is not a liberal or conservative matter. One of Dr. King’s lieutenants was Ralph Abernathy, a social conservative and sometime Republican, who also did not wish to be relegated to second-class status. Another was a noted progressive, Jesse Jackson, who has spearheaded the movement towards full inclusion.

Two years ago, when I was still in Prescott, for MLK Day, a presenter spoke of the concept that “All means all”. She said that conservatives are part of the mix. She also said that no one group should be allowed to limit any other.

That arrangement allows even extremists to speak freely, while putting a check on their ability to act against the rights of those they seek to dominate.

That, to me, is the basis for social inclusion.

Edith Renfrow Smith

0
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 10, 2026- She largely minded her own business, focusing on getting an education-even in the aftermath of Plessy vs.Ferguson, and then on educating others, for over forty years, and being vindicated by the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. Edith Renfrow Smith was a product of small town Iowa, and in fact was the only African-American at her school in Grinnell and the first at its highly-regarded college, which she graduated in 1937. Edith died yesterday, in her adopted home of Chicago. She was 111.

Mrs. Smith was a mentor to the great jazz pianist, Herbie Hancock, who was her neighbour in Chicago. She gently encouraged him to attend Grinnell College, which he did, turning a dual interest in engineering and music into a career of innovation in piano jazz. She also met several prominent Black-Americans, from Gwendolyn Brooks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during her years in Chicago.

I look at the lives of people like Mrs. Smith, who welcomed guests into her home, almost until the day she passed, as examples of how one can live life to the full, through a mix of civic engagement and maintaining a modicum of privacy. As the granddaughter of a runaway slave who himself built a new life in the free state of Iowa, she found a love for education and self-improvement were instilled in her. She passed those on to her two daughters and to her grandchildren. She also passed along the philosophy of greeting everyone with a smile. It was important to her that this small act was the basis for making the world a better place.

The balance set forth by Mrs. Smith is as fine a model to follow into advanced age, as any I have seen.

The Great Platinum Circle

2
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 20, 2025, Clarendon, TX- I spent last night at the marvelous SouthWest Motel, in Grants, NM and am this evening at the equally lovely Western Skies Motel, in this northern anchor of the Northwest Passage. In both places, the reception has been warm and I sense little way stations are already being established, as they were in southern California, western Nevada and across the U.S. and Canada, over the past fourteen years.

I mused, whilst driving, about the awesome ambiance that encompasses the entirety of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as significant parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Texas and a fair swath of northern Mexico. The commonality of these areas as that they lie within a Platinum Circle, of great natural majesty-the interplay of desert, mountains (Sky Islands, as well as the Rocky, Wasatch and Sierra Nevada ranges).

I have been greatly blessed to have spent so much of my adult life within this Circle and to have enjoyed so many of its wonders. So many visits: To the Grand Canyon, both North and South, as well as to the bottom of the Canyon, at Boat Beach and Supai; to the summit of Mount Humphreys, Arizona’s highest peak and up so many of the state’s other mountains- Camelback, Piestewa Peak, Mount Baldy, Harquehala Peak, Kendrick Peak, A1 Mountain, Mount Elden, Mount Union, Mingus, and Granite Mountain; to have been welcomed at Hopi, Navajo(Dineh) and Zuni ceremonies; to have floated out into Baia Cholla and made it back safely, to the raucous laughter, and inward relief, of onlooking Mexican fishermen; to have enjoyed so much heritage, mixed with natural beauty: Mesa Verde, Wupatki, Joshua Tree, Valley of Fire, Carlsbad Caverns, Aztec Ruins, Chimney Rock (both of them), virtually all of Sedona, Organ Pipe Cactus, Palo Duro Canyon, Black Canyon of the Gunnison (CO), Black Canyon National Recreation Trail (AZ), Santa Fe, Taos, San Diego Old Town, Tucson Old Pueblo, Pioche (NV), Ruby Mountains, Lake Lahontan, Great Salt Lake, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef, Natural Bridges, Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, the beaches from San Diego to Santa Barbara. I have only scratched the surface with this list. There are easily two dozen others.

Prescott, though, has been amazing, both as a jumping-off place for so much, but also as a comfortable, welcoming Home Base. I have left there twice and returned, this last time for fourteen beautiful years. I recovered my equilibrium there, and because of that, feel confident in this next, unfolding chapter of my life.

As the Prairie becomes my new Home Base, let it be a Circle in its own right. I can already see that there is much to admire here-as there is in the Southwest-and in the Northeast, my original Home Base.

The Essentials of 74; The Promise of 75

2
Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

November 28, 2025, Grapevine- The road to diamond ended where it began, in the company of my little family, here in Texas’ Christmas City. There was a sense that life would continue as ever, for the three of us, and in preparation for my third visit to the Philippines, I seriously contemplated moving there, being very strongly drawn to a lovely woman and having made several friends during my first two trips to that beautiful, struggling, supremely hospitable country.

I sojourned a lot this year-to the Philippines in February; back to the eastern U.S., in May and across a wide swath of Europe in September and October. In between, my commitment to Prescott continued unabated and many hours of service were recorded. These were the fruits of twelve years of building relationships and friendships, across sectarian and even ideological lines.

The finest thing about both travels and community service came in seeing people take the reins of empowerment to themselves. Filipinos rejuvenating a local Baha’i Center, building a pavilion for an elementary school, and women standing up and saying “Enough” to abusive significant others made my spirit soar. The initial phases of a Baha’i House of Worship, north of Manila were an added bonus.

Northern Arizona became a distinct Red Cross Chapter again this year. I had little to do with the actual achievement, but was able to establish ties between the organization and at least one rural community, east of Prescott. We also reached out to formerly isolated communities in the far northern reaches of the state-albeit as an outcome of a horrific fire that ravaged the magnificent North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Getting to spend time with friends in several European countries fulfilled an eleven year old promise. Visits to Sweden, Croatia, Ireland and the United Kingdom accomplished that goal. Paying homage to the victims of the Holocaust, at Auschwitz-Birkenau and to those massacred at Srebrenica, Bosnia & Hercegovina was the fulfillment of what I regard as a duty of a citizen of the world. In most places, my presence was evanescent, yet I felt at home, and would not be unwelcome if I returned.

I have reached my diamond jubilee. The day, and this Thanksgiving visit, have been focused on the coming move of my little family and I into a permanent home. Doing things like meeting the tradesmen who will help prepare the house, going over specs and pointing out things that need to be repaired/replaced, shopping for new furniture to replace items that are, in my case at least, nearly fourteen years old-have taken precedence. Once I get back in Prescott, in the middle of next week, the process of dismantling Home Base I begins in earnest. Furniture will need to be sold or given away, as will clothing, books and a variety of household items. Farewells will be said, at gatherings in the Prescott area, in southern California and in the Phoenix area. Farewell, though, is not an eternal goodbye.

Our little one will arrive, sometime in the second half of December. A new era thus starts, along with the beginning of my “fourth quarter”. Other than a visit to the Philippines, at the start of 2026, itself dependent on the baby’s healthy start and her mother’s health, my time at the new Home Base I, from March onward, will be primarily focused on my granddaughter’s care. Gradually, Plano will become my new community. It will not be Prescott-but then again, Prescott was not Jeddito, and Jeddito was not Jeju. Every Home Base has had its draws, its strengths and its undying memories.

The promise of 75 is the promise of guiding a new life, a new human being, who may very well be the embodiment of much that I have wanted to offer the world. The choice, though, will be up to her alone. All her parents and I can do is guide her with love.

The Road to Diamond, Day 336: The Bright Lights

0
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 29. 2025- The longest journey I have ever undertaken, across the largest number of countries, would be meaningless, but for the people I met along the way, who made Europe in general feel like a giant Home Base and certain places feel as homey as Prescott, Oley or Grapevine.

Above all the rest was my Nynashamn family: Sarah, Matias and their children. First Camp was my lodging, and it is salubrious, the perfect blend of forest and sea. My heart’s home, though, was that little apartment on a hill, Home Base #4.

Not far behind were Boris, in Split, with his hospitality and knowledge of the Dalmatian coast and its antiquity; Adis, in Sarajevo and Srebrenica, bringing the struggles of the Bosnian people into stark relief, without vilifying the present Serbian people who live among them; Lisa, Pupak and Alan, in Findhorn, giving me Home Base # 5, with the energy and spirit of the northeastern Scottish coast, mixed with a sense of mysticism; Sian, in Fishguard & Goodwick, going out of her way to make sure I felt welcome; Badi, in Reykjavik, taking time form his schedule to welcome me to the Icelandic Baha’i Center; Sasha, in Vienna, guiding me around the Baha’i National Center and the volunteers at the Baha’i House of Worship, Langenhain. My gratitude also to the Baha’i friends of Dublin, for including me in the Twin Holy Day celebrations and to Carmel, who came from Derry and met me in mid-town Dublin, albeit for a short while.

People I met randomly, along the way, also stay in my heart: The concierge at START Hostel, Keflavik, who did my laundry on short notice and summoned a taxi driver, to guide me around Thingvellir (Junction of two tectonic plates) and the geysers that are continuously spewing forth, not far from there; the driver himself, with his deep knowledge of the Reykjanes Peninsula; servers who made me feel like family, at Gray Cat, Bao Bites, Reykjavik Fish (Reykjavik) Take Off Bistro(Keflavik); Brod & Salt; Grain Cafe, Meno Male, Mahalo and La Solo (Stockholm); Espresso House, and Taco Bar(Nynashamn); Wisby Hof, Cafe Amalia and Visby Ost (Visby); The Rib House (Helsingor); Mr. Pho (Copenhagen); St. Christopher’s Cafe (Berlin);Pryztanek Pierogarnia (Krakow); Chata na Zaborskiej (Oswiecim); Konoba Fratelli (Split); Restaurant Sebilj (Sarajevo); Station Bar and Cafe (Ljubljana); Stadtalm Naturfreund Restaurant (Salzburg); Eden Hotel Restaurant (Munich); Joe Molese Burgers and Sandwiches (Heidelberg); Main Kai (Frankfurt am Main); Hotel Strasbourg Dining Room (Strasbourg); The Coffee Shop (Metz); JOST Hostel Italian Cafe (Le Havre); IBIS Hotel Breakfast Bar (Portsmouth, UK); Cote French Cafe (Salisbury, UK); Rose and Crown Inn Dining Room (Goodwick, UK); Coast Hotel Dining Room (Rosslare, Ireland); La Rendezvous and Ne Zha (Dublin); NUVA and Burgers & Beers (Edinburgh); The Captain’s Table (Findhorn); The Pheasant Inn and The Flying Egg (Harlington). There were also the homeless couple on the train from Newhaven to Portsmouth, the tourist office clerk in Budapest,the souvenir vendor in Heidelberg and the admission clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, who showed particular concern fro my well-being.

HI Loft (Reykjavik); First Camp (Nynashamn); Hotel Skandia (Helsingor); Generator Hostel (Copenhagen); St. Christopher’s Hostel (Berlin); Villa Centro (Oswiecim); Red Radisson (Vienna); Stadtalm Naturfreund (Salzburg); Alora Heart of Zagreb and Mickey Mouse Apartment (Zagreb); Hotel Pax (Split); Guest House Yildiz (Sarajevo); Lotte Backpackers Hostel (Heidelberg); Hotel Strasbourg Montagne Verte(Strasbourg); Hotel Escurial (Metz); Rose and Crown (Fishguard & Goodwick); Home from Home (Rosslare) and Argyle Backpackers Hostel (Edinburgh) were standout lodging facilities. While I had no substandard experience anywhere, those are places I would recommend to the adventurous soul.

There are seven weeks of gratitude, in a few long paragraphs. I have taken today off, pretty much, other than going through two boxes of mail and old newspapers (The delivery man and the front office at Gannett don’t seem to communicate much). Two months are left to me, at Home Base Prescott. More about what lies ahead in November, December and beyond, in the next post.