A beautiful word has been hijacked
and what we are left with is just ugly:

Evangel, from the Greek euangelion: 
good news; the good tidings of the redemption 
of the world through Jesus Christ; 
the gospel; or simply, in any and all 
circumstances, good news or tidings. 

There is no good news in this hijack.

There is no good news in racism.
There is no good news in denying women
	equality in all respects and 
        control over their bodies.
There is no good news in an economic 	
        system and it’s attending tax policies 	
        that benefit the rich and punish the 	
        poor.
There is no good news in white supremacy.
There is no good news in a Nazi salute.
There is no good news in fascism. 
There is no good news in totalitarianism.
There is no good news in a federal budget
	that increases weapons of war at the 	
        expense of social programs which 	
        benefit the welfare of the people.
There is no good news in nativism.
There is no good news in jingoism.
There is no good news in xenophobia.
There is no good news in wrapping greed 	
        and hate and fear in the word 	
        evangelical and that’s what white, 	
        evangelical Christians have done.
It’s called taking the Lord’s name in vain,
        and it’s a GD shame!

All the colors are going away today
Or many of them anyway.
A Midwest winter is on the way.
The wind is blowing.
The rain is falling.
At least it isn’t snowing.
The leaves are swirling,
And sunny Arizona is calling
From two thousand miles away.

The man had a disturbing dream.
He finally recognized that his
two adversaries, obstructionists

to his progress were his own
parents. His father obstructed
by turning away and not being

helpful at all; his mother by
constantly interfering in a most
negative and obnoxious way.

His father disappeared and his
mother just sat obstinately in
a chair while the man shook her

vigorously. A woman in the
neighborhood liked the man’s
bicycle and wanted the buy it.

The man said no. The dream
moved down the street. The
man was following a group of

people from the neighborhood
and he was looking for one
person in particular, a woman

of mysterious identity who slid
off the road and entered a nether-
world. In the man’s pursuit of

the woman, he met an old friend
who, in life, had become a hermit
of sorts before his death. In

the dream, the old friend had
everything he had in life —
a TV, computer, a website and

a blog. Then the man saw in a
dark, dank, shadowy corner, three
emaciated men. One had been

flayed and he was recovering
from a blood-letting into a pot.
The second man was being strung

upside down by he third man who
began the blood-letting into the
pot by flaying the bound man.

The man heard the bound man say
he enjoyed giving blood and then
the man heard the screams as he

left the underworld and awoke
without ever encountering the
mysterious woman. The man

decided it was better to get up
rather than remain in bed sweating
and tossing and turning. The man

recalled having cut his thumb on
a cheese knife and having just
seen a biography of Edgar Allen

Poe. Ah, the man thought, —
all the sins of omission and
commission and lasting effects.

Some say that to save the environment, we must live “simply,”
but by whose definition?
For some, “simply” sounds like “Darling, you look simply
marvelous in that new dress by so and so.”
For others, “simply” could be a rustic, 300 sq. ft. cabin
in the woods with no electricity or plumbing and an outhouse
the contents of which would be treated with lye.
Some say, crowding together in urban environments, sharing
spaces and going up rather than out is the way to save the
environment.
For others, “simply” would be another word for “modest,”
which, of course, has the same number of interpretations
and meanings as “simply.”
Some say hybrid cars in a transition to electric.
Some say electric cars dirty the environment by plugging
into the grid powered by coal.
Some say “solar.”
Some say “hydropower.”
Some say “wind.”
Some say ride a bike.
Some say take the bus.
Some say take the train.
Some say walk.
Some say “recycle.”
Some say it is way beyond individual efforts and that governments
and industry and corporations need to work together on solutions
before the tipping point of no return on global warming.
Some say there is no such thing as global warming.
Some say there is but it is caused by normal evolutionary processes.
Some say there is no such thing as evolution.
Some say, “Do what you want, because God will save us from disaster.”
Some say, “Do what you want because it is over.”
Some say under their breath, “I do what the lobbyists tell me.”
Some say, “What? Me worry?”
Some say, “I make things happen.”
Some say, “I watch things happen.”
Some say, “What happened?”

How did I know south, north, west and east
growing up on flat Chicago streets?
I knew the sunrise over the big lake was east;
now in Michigan, the sunset over the big lake is west;
when I am out in the West, so wild and woolly,
mountains give the directions best.
Unless I’m on the coast far west,
where the ocean offers the direction west best.
And so, I am never lost, because, you see,
I now know south, north, west and east.
I know I know my directions best.
However, for Christmas, my wife still wants a GPS.

*Gratitude to Gayle Brandeis and her poem
“Feeling East” for the idea.

Some say —
he’s a shark in the sea
stalking his prey,
biting and holding with his razor
sharp, inward pointing incisor.
Some say —
he’s a pit bull, who fights
to the end ever holding his prey.
Some say —
he’s just seeking justice
in his, by the book, way.
The inhabitants of the swamp
are out of sight
and in utter fright.
The (p)resident of the swamp,
is in the fight
for his political
(and public?) life.
Want to take odds on the counsel,
or do you think the (p)resident
will stay?
No, my bet is on the righteous,
relentless, special counsel, not
his pitiful prey.