The Divided States of America – Will We, as a Nation, Continue to Stand? by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

15036682_10154709860681591_8947505383481702342_nIf you are like me, you are still reeling from the election results in the United States – trying to make sense of it, while at the same time going through the steps of mourning.  As I write this, it is difficult to call our country United – because it is anything but.  In reality, we have become the Divided States of America – and worse, we have had friendships lost and detachments with relatives over this election.  And I guess I could say, what’s even worse – we learned about the bigotry and viewpoints of people we used to consider friends or even learned this about family members, even spouses.

When one mourns, it is to cope, heal, and to express the loss of love.  However, I think we should stop or never approach the final stage of acceptance; rather, I think we need to be vigilant.

Back in the early 1930s, there was a person considered to be powerful and charismatic, and much like Trump, beyond reproach.  Hungering for change, a promise was made to the disenfranchised for a better life and to make the country glorious (or great).  Even with losing about 2 million votes from the previous election in July 1932 (a number that ironically is the estimated spread of popular votes Hillary won over her opponent), a coalition with Conservatives was made in January 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor – head of the German Government – the proclaimed savior of a nation. Racism and authoritarian ideas, basic freedoms were abolished, forcing parties into goals, abolishing trade unions – the world saw the move from democracy to a dictatorship and the loss of privacy and use of terror used to achieve goals became the new norm.

Continue reading “The Divided States of America – Will We, as a Nation, Continue to Stand? by Michele Stopera Freyhauf”

Ways of Being in the World by Barbara Ardinger

I was in college in the sixties before The Sixties really set in. We talked a lot about existentialism in those innocent days, especially in my theater classes. Those were the days when the theater of the absurd was the big thing. We theater majors walked around asking each other, “How do I be in the world? What is the meaning of my existence?”

When I’m in One Of Those Moods, I have fun telling people I was in college while Shakespeare was still writing his plays. Then I watch their lips move as they try to figure out if I’m really 400 years old, and if I’m not that old, then what am I on?  Continue reading “Ways of Being in the World by Barbara Ardinger”

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