It is hard to comprehend how it is that you write these brilliant letters day in and day out, and that you have been doing so for two years just boggles the mind. I am among the thousands upon thousands of readers of your letters who are frankly awed by your ability to illuminate the disturbing times that we have been living through over these past two years. I am profoundly grateful for your letters, for your persistence and endurance, for your knowledge and wisdom, for the energy, the heart and the soul that you pour into this correspondence with America. I feel very lucky to be in your good company, and to be in the community that has developed around you and your work. Thank you!!
A writer of non-fiction, fiction, verse, then came blogs and Facebook, I can imagine Heather's Muse running very strong in her. Or, if you wish, God running very strong in her. Or, if you wish, her conscience and soul running very strong in her. At least, that's my experience. I write because I have to write, it's part of me, it's like breathing - when the Muse is running. When it's not running, I do something else, and that's a kind of agony, something really important seems to be missing.
In my 79th year, I see just about everything very differently from when I was a boy, then in college, then in business, and then practicing law. It looks to me that America came unhinged and split in half by three things: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Feminist Revolution. Where America is today flowed from there. I think America is in very deep doo doo of its own making, internally and internationally. It's much more popular to duke it out with foreign devils, than to duke it out with domestic devils, external and inside each American. Finger pointing is so much more fun than taking fearless searching personal inventory dealing with the beams in our own eyes.
Anyway, Heather keeps painting the American landscape, which ain't terribly glorious, while things in America seem to be getting more and more fragile. I don't expect I will live to see where that all leads, but my children and grandchildren will. I voted, reluctantly, for Joe Biden, after sitting on the sidelines or voting third party for years, because Biden and his followers did not cause me to fear for the physical safety of my children and their families, and because Biden at least was talking about trying to save the planet from humanity.
I'm a Birmingham, Alabama native. I'm live again where I started out, after living elsewhere much of my latter adult life. I have seen things and been places in and outside America, which most Americans cannot fathom. Now, I'm watching Alabama hospitals unable to treat heart attack patients, because the ERs and ICUs are glutted with Covid-19 infected unvaccinated adults, whom I say should not have been admitted. They tempted fate, God, whatever, and they lost. Let them enjoy the full fruits of their proclaimed Constitutional Right not to be vaccinated.
In that regard, excerpts from a letter written by a physician to a good friend of mine just the other day, after my friend had heard this doctor tell another doctor that unvaccinated adults with Covid-19 are Typhoid Marys and should not be allowed into hospitals. According to my friend, the doctor had it out with the hospital medical board and resigned and quickly got a job in a setting where he would be far more appreciated.
"Dear M:
I enjoyed having you as a patient, it can be so very depressing how very little people use their ability to think to analyze situations and come to the most rational and safe decision. I am not a lawyer, and clearly I cannot give legal advice or interpret the law. However, I try to be an informed citizen. I took the Board of Directors to task, even reminding them that a 1905 Supreme Court judgment regarding compulsory vaccination declared that prudent measures undertaken to protect the public were a legitimate exercise of the state police powers. I was called a liar until I produced a recent news article. I cannot remember the publication but I had copy and pasted the following text:
In regards to compulsory vaccination: Jacobson vs. Massachusetts in 1905. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state law requiring compulsory vaccinations against smallpox. The court declared, “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.”
You said you have a friend who does a news blog. I think he ought to know about this if he doesn't already. I have left out my name such that you can scan this into a Word document and send it out if you like.
I have a wife, an 11 year old daughter, and an 8 year old son. I fear for their safety, and I think you are right to feel for yours. I think that the Supreme Court ruling above should be applied to ANY INSTITUTION THAT ACCEPTS FEDERAL FUNDING OF ANY KIND."
Thanks Sloan for your post. We are in a broken America and putting the pieces back together is going to be a long road---if we and our descendants can do that. Thanks for the perspective from Birmingham. I have a very good friend who just moved back there (his hometown) from NYC. Keep writing here and in your wider life!! Peace and Courage to all.
Thanks, Sloan. I'm like you: something feels "off" when I'm not writing, and frankly, I've been a little "off" since 2016, but especially in the last year. I have enough (virtual) balls of crumpled paper to build a small house.
We each have our own sense of what "broke" America, meaning, what were the most significant contributing factors to where we are now. Yours are slightly different from mine, but both our understandings are limited to the last 79 years of history (less for me). One of the things I've enjoyed so much about Heather's commentary is the deeper historical perspective that takes us back to at least the early 1800's.
I think all three of the things you mention -- as well as all of the ones I'd list, and perhaps even Heather's list -- are cases of the question of entitlement. "Entitlement" means -- literally -- possessing a "title," which few people have these days, but more generally, "entitlement" speaks to political agency: the permission to act publicly in a significant way. More pithily, it differentiates those who can do as they please, from those who must do as they are told. The core issue in Vietnam was the idea of our young being indiscriminately drafted and forced to do (and die) as they were told. Civil rights were about the "traditional" role of blacks as the class (or caste) that must do as it is told. The feminist movement was about the "traditional" role of women to shut up, do as they are told, and make themselves sexually available on demand.
There are two ways of looking at any expansion of agency, or entitlement. One is the view that a "free" society -- one in which all its citizens have significant agency, or are entitled to act with significance -- is more peaceful, stable, prosperous, and satisfying, and is overall a win-win (non-zero-sum) game. The other is that entitlement is a fixed quantity in a zero-sum game, and that when I gain agency, you lose agency. People who take the former approach are willing to give up some of their entitlement "for the greater good." People who take the latter approach will, at best, do whatever they can to hold on to every bit of personal entitlement they possess, and at worst, will try to take entitlement from others to gain more for themselves.
The sociophiles versus the sociopaths.
Our extreme form of sociopathic capitalism in the US (with its roots in European feudalism overlaid with chattel slavery), equates entitlement/agency with wealth, or in our time, money. If you have money, you can do what you want. If you don't have money, you must do as you are told. If you get more money, you have more agency. If you lose money, you lose agency.
Money is inherently zero-sum. In barter, I may want your chicken more than I want my goat, and you may want my goat more than you want your chicken. We trade, and we both win. With money, it's an exchange of fungible (interchangeable) tokens that have zero inherent value. At the end of any trade, mediated by money, if either of us benefits (gains money, hence agency) the other loses it.
This is one of the foundations of the "Who will pay for it?" argument with government-run social programs. It would be one thing if we are actually talking about overspending our resources. But that is never the argument. It isn't "How can we afford this?" but "Who will pay for it?" Whoever pays for it, loses entitlement. Unless, of course, they can turn a profit from it.
A lot of conservatives are dedicated capitalists, and they've mostly bought into the zero-sum nature of social programs. When you talk to them -- whether it's a rich person, or a self-employed carpenter -- and bring up "social programs," the first thing they do is make a face and reject the very concept of "government giveaways for lazy people." The whole model of zero-sum entitlement makes the idea of "worthless people" inevitable. Four centuries ago, they called them "waste people." A half-century ago, they were "white trash." Today, they are "the homeless."
"They don't deserved to be saved. They need to save themselves."
This is a very American disease, rooted in a human weakness.
I'm from a prominent wealthy family, and know well of what you speak. After many "lifetimes", I ran out of money, was unable to make living wage, lived on the street, in shelters, other people's spare rooms, cars. I know of that such people as that speak. The entitle have been around for ages and that's not going to change. Buddha was entitled, left it, became enlightened, finally, it is said, went back to where he had started. As did I, but I'm not Buddha. However, I did die to this world, but still lived in it. That cannot be remotely imagined until it is experienced. So, I come at just about everything from a different perspective.
I, too, really appreciate Heather weaving history into current affairs, which often provides excruciating context for today's currents and cross currents. When I address something, I go to the most off the road less traveled by place, against the grain. I have given up expecting any change to result from my efforts. I wish it were different, but it's not. Heather is writing her guts, heart and soul out. I do truly hope America is made a better place for it. Regardless, her God assignment is to write her guts, heart and soul out, regardless. Heather is an icon for any and all Americans to try to match in his or her own unique way, or not. I think when Heather writes, Angels sing.
I have said and written many times that it will take angels invading people and stopping them in their tracks and waking them up for real and redirecting and schooling and correcting and guiding them, for any real change to occur in America, and in humanity. That, too, is something that cannot begin to be imagined, that kind of Intervention, until it is experienced.
Understand, I am not a church person. I don't carry a Bible. I grew up in that tradition, then I was taken somewhere else, but those roots were crucial for the transition to occur. When people sometimes ask me if I attend church, I say, "I don't know when I'm ever not in church? We are in church now, aren't we?"
I would add the white January 6 mob and their leader, Donald Trump, represent what never was resolved by the American Civil War - White Supremacy. Trump gave them new hope. He resuscitated them. When they claim the 2021 election was stolen, they mean blacks stole it. They don't say that, because that would force the Republican Party to disavow them and Trump, or be vilified in Eternity. The Republican Party knows this, also, and by keeping silent, by ignoring January 6, they stand just as guilty of the attempted White Supremacy coup as the white mob and Trump and every person who claims the 2021 election was stolen, including black Republicans, who who in olden times were called Uncle Toms. The Republican Party today is the White Supremacist Party, and Republicans who say they abhor White Supremacy, the KKK, Nazis, but do not act like it, do not bolt that party, or splinter from it a new Republican Party, are White Supremacists, too. The law is very clear about aiding and abetting, and that's what they are doing by not rebelling and calling for the heads of the January 6 white mob and Donald Trump. As in, they all should be hanged. Every last one of them. For attempting a coup of the National Government, in the National Capitol, on National Television.
I agree this was well written reply. I am heartened by Her determination and effort. Heather what you do is phenomenal. However even more is the attention and comments of your readership. I’m glad you Heather can do it with hopefully no negative effect on the rest of your life. Speaks volumes for you and regarding your readership those who care about our country and form of government.
You have written a thank you to your readers. It is we, your readers who owe you a much bigger thank you. As a retired academic (and Mainer by birth!), I, for one, have no idea how you manage to write you informative and insightful "Letters from an American" nearly every day... on top of the manifold "day jobs" of professors, their teaching, scholarship, mentoring of students, and service to their universities. I don't know how you do it, but I am glad that you do. -- THANK YOU!
I share this sentiment with a good chunk of your wide readership: your letters are the main reason I’ve retained even a modicum of sanity or any faith humanity these past couple of years. More than anything, your letters inspired hope when things seemed so bleak.
I do not exaggerate when I say your letters have carried me through a time when I have never felt more personally unsafe. Reading your sane, soothing analyses, I have learned so much and feel more hopeful. Thank you for everything you do.
I share your experience of both support from these letters and this community and feeling as unsafe individually as I ever have. A part of that is the threat to our democracy, and getting the Professor's historical context has been a godsend.
I've posted these sentiments before and I'm posting them again in response to this beautiful letter from you, a "great" American in my view, who continues to stand up for democracy in the face of a fascist assault unprecedented in American history. I think if you ran for president as a third-party candidate, you'd win, provided of course, all the people were able to vote and exercise that precious unalienable right you so eloquently champion. Anyway, as I said in a recent post, the legacy of the lone, self-sufficient individual (A sorry-ass Reagan Republican) riding off into the sunset drags on as does what Lewis Mumford called the predatory capitalist corporate "Megamachine," the industrial regimen that's destroying the planet. Both of these forces diminish the aspirations of every civic-minded citizen yearning to participate in the process of governing this nation, which is what "democracy" is all about. The forces against us, i.e., We, the people, are the same ones that once aligned around the Republican Party in its class war against FDR's New Deal and the rise of democracy during that era. In this current era of what I call Bozo Republicanism, your voice is the voice of Democracy for thousands of people like me who read your blog, because yours is the voice of the People articulated in the context of historical fact and erudition. When I read in a recent Financial Times profile that you considered giving up this beautiful thing that you do, I was horrified at the thought of not have Letters from an American in my inbox to get my motor running first thing in the morning. It seems to me that you write on the same frequency as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Chris Hedges, and numerous other inspired American luminaries who have stood up for Democracy and the rule of law. Chris Hedges one said a person really has only two choices when push comes to shove: you can either serve money and power or truth or justice. Your choice is clearly the latter and that's why your readers have such a high regard for your work. You relentlessly tell the truth in support of a just, democratic society that thrives for everyone, not just a cabal of wealthy elites. So today, the gratitude flows both ways, Heather, but mostly from the hearts of those of us who read your work, right back to you, the writer who articulates our deepest yearnings for truth, justice and a society that works for all the people!
This! Telling the truth in support of a democratic society. Supposedly the job of the media. Who fail at it. Catastrophically. Every day. Thanks for your insights, Stewart.
Thanks for the reply SL, and thanks to Sheila, Joan and Denise for all the kind words. Also appreciate the slew of others who posted likes. In my circle of influence, Heather is affectionally know as The Goddess of Democracy, so writing about her came from the heart and in the passion of the moment I failed to heed a few elements of style, such as short paragraphs and text without typos!
As a writer and student of history, I have a lot to learn, but fortunately there are great educators out there like Heather who make the process fulfilling. Albert Einstein famously said "A student is not a container you have to fill, but a torch you have to light up." It seems to me that as an educator, that's what Heather is up to--"lighting torches." In her case, the torches are in the hands of the Athenian DEMOS, the People united together, yearning for Democracy. Heather's writing has been lighting torches in my neck of the woods ever since she started her blog, reviving the spirit of democracy in the minds of old and young alike. In my case (old), she inspired what I call my "citizen's website" wherein I've drawn on her insights and quoted her numerous times in order to support the ideals of freedom and democracy. If anyone is interested check it out: shootingatrandom.com
And thanks again, Heather, for lighting our torches!
Unfortunately, all too many people never read Einstein’s admonition, ignore it or don’t understand it! As a high school math teacher, I was taken to task for challenging students to think. I would ask a student ‘How do you know your answer is correct?’ This was frustrating to them because prior instructors taught in the manner ‘ this what you do!’ Tragically, Math is most often understood as a set of facts to be memorized, rather than ‘the science of patterns!’
A bipartisan group of Governors founded the Core Curriculum movement, not Obama! You can look it up, as they say in the sports world. However, when the right wing zealots won the governorship in the red states, attacking the curriculum ‘roadmap’ became a rallying cry of the future cult members!
The intent of the curriculum was to create students who would become critical thinkers as a basis for life long learning!
Bravo Einstein! And the author of ‘teach me to fish’!
Louis Kudos! I am reminded on the slogan THINK or Swim.At age 58, I became a history professor. I didn’t like how history (and economics’ was being taught, so I sought to devise a methodology that would accommodate my style and what students should learn. I decided to start every class with a THINK essay in which students we required to discuss what they thought rather than parrot facts. At times I was reading over 160 THINk essays weekly and then putting them into student portfolios. Similarities and differences between early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Economics from feudalism to present day; Societal discrimination from patriarchy to present day; Why did the Cold War start and why/how did it end? I believe, over 23 years, that my students and I enhanced our THINKING skills, which are imperative in this turbulent world. I applaud Heather for pulling us along in this THINKING process.
Back at ya’! After serving on a Supposed ‘5 year plan’ committee whose proposals were ignored after the first year, I came to the conclusion that each secondary school should have at least 3 ‘curriculum houses’! One house would focus on students who had ‘non traditional’ learning styles and needs; a second house would focus on students whose parents wanted them to ‘get’ good grades; and the third house would focus on students who wanted to become creative thinkers!
Sadly, the some parents in the ‘second house’ will demand their child be placed in a ‘third house class’ leading to the dumbing down of the course because that child was not ‘getting’ A’s!
Long live the idealistic teacher who yearns to teach and inspire !
Louis I feel that you and I are joined at the hip. I would add another to your three houses; the fourth house is for students who clearly don’t care and reject all efforts to infuse zest or curiosity in them. I am reminded of the totally negative assessment made of Winston Churchill in 6th grade. Perhaps Winston reflected the late bloomer. I still recall with great fondness and admiration several college professors who believed in me before I fully believed in myself. I am certain some of your students remember you similarly. I have had this experience with a number of my students long after they left the pseudo-ivy-covered halls.
I second the importance of paragraphs in making reading easier. I have to read a lot of academic papers, which often have excessively long paragraphs. I usually copy 'em and break 'em up into more paragraphs
Yep...I wholeheartedly agree with this statement you made: "It seems to me that you write on the same frequency as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Chris Hedges, and numerous other inspired American luminaries who have stood up for Democracy and the rule of law. " Yep! Yep! Well said there!
Excellent Stewart. You put it so much better than I could - and I too read and worried about that interview in the Financial Times. Let is hope that Heather runs for a whole lot longer!
I was thinking about you and these letters earlier today. You have educated me, illuminated the past in ways that have intrigued and fascinated me, and your letters have helped me keep panic at bay in my most anxious times. There have been days when I have just played your chats in the background to hear your voice and its reminder that I am not alone in my grief, fascination, and hope for this nation. And to my companions here and on Dr. Richardson's chats, you cheer me with your intelligence, commitment, and even your rage. Thank you, Dr. Richardson, from a colleague in literature who has come to love history. And thank you to this wide audience as we accompany each other on the way to what I hope is a better, more justice-filled future.
A luminous lift, Linda! It’s true all of it, for me as well. I have giddily glided down rabbit holes of history of which my education had left me bereft. It’s been two years of pain, struggle against hopelessness and — truly — an eternal gift.
Tonight on the Lawrence O'Donnell show, when Governor Hochul of New York offered the women of Texas the services and support of the state of New York I saw the America I know and love. He followed that interview with Senator Klobuchar on the Freedom to Vote act and then a state representative from New Hampshire explained why he had just left the Republican Party. It was an amazing hour that made me feel that the wind is finally changing and a breath of fresh air and hope is evident. Governor Hochul showed us why we need more women in politics; Senator Klobuchar strengthened that view; the representative along with the California recall results felt like the hold of the former guy was finally breaking. Maybe I'll sleep well tonight and imagine a majority majority government -- women being that majority.
Thank you, Cathy. “It’s either Newsom or Trump.” It’s either x,y,z or Trump. This message galvanized my distracted Boomer vote squad to contact family in ÇA and to think about what to do for 2022 races. They had been unplugged and trying to enjoy life, or weary and recovering from covid. Now, they’re back. Thanks in large part to CA recall threat making them think the monster might come back. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Thank you, CA voters. Next up VA. ❤️🤍💙
Morning, Deborah!! Thanks for the heads-up for VA. Early voting starts tomorrow, September 17!! (I will be voting early) Mail-In ballot requests were sent several weeks ago. Election day is November 2nd. Here is the list of candidates. And check out my District 33 to root for Paul Siker running as our Democratic candidate. https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/candidate-list/candidate-list-2nov2021/
Yes Thank You CA Voters! Deborah I read your statement "to think about what to do for 2022 races" as 2 thousand and twenty-two individual races! So many! Silly - but wait: 435 House of Reps, plus US Senators, plus governors, plus state legislators, plus mayors andcounty commissioners plus school boards...We easily have 20 thousand races in 2022. We have much work to do
I thoroughly enjoyed that O'Donnell program and am immensely impressed by Governor Hochul. I loved her response when he asked about how she felt about taking on that job. Her reply was that she realized she had been preparing for that throughout her career and, now in the Governor's seat, fully confident that she has all the capability she will need. As always, I also enjoyed hearing from Amy Klobuchar.
Lawrence O'Donnell is a must-see for me. Governor Hochul is going to be a firecracker, and I was so happy to hear her give contact information for women in Texas who are currently being barred from abortion - not just referrals to a friendly state, but provision for or help with transportation. I have loved Amy Klobuchar ever since her questioning Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearings. When he was so snarky and hostile to her, she came right back at him - calmly and authoritatively. I hope my gut feeling is on target that the Repugs have overplayed their hand, and the tide is turning against them.
I am always grateful for your insightful comments Cathy, and always and forever grateful to have Amy Klobuchar as the senior Senator from my home state. She truly represents this American very well -her integrity and focus on equality and the rule of law gives me hope. Add in Governor Hochul and many others and there seems to be some light shining. (And a majority majority government sounds heavenly. Let’s make it happen!)
Sheila, You are indeed very fortunately to have Senator Klobuchar. With majority majority I'm talking not only women as a majority but also that the minority populations are now the majority. So majority majority means our elected representatives are as diverse as the population. My thought last night was "Insanity is re-electing the same representatives and expecting a better result!" It is time to give some priority to diversity in our representation. Women, minorities and veterans get extra points when I figuring out who to vote for. That they play well with others is also essential which is why the veterans and women get points from me. Veterans fought for America not one of the extreme parties we have now. Men in general are competing with each other for one up/one down "or" positions. Women in general are the harmonizers with the "and" position that we can find solutions that are for all of us when we listen to all perspectives. For a sports analogy, it is the team that has the best teamwork that win games.
I think this is the best show I seen Lawrence O'Donnell do. I have been getting more and more impressed with him and the caliber of the guests he has on.
LO is low key. His show generally has excellent guests. Sometimes after RMaddow, O’Donnell’s lowkey-ness is a balm. Tonight, his show was the STAR of the MSNBC lineup. Bang, bang, bang - he and his guests were a complete uplift. ⭐️
I start my day with a mug of coffee and your newsletter. Thanks for your clear headed analysis and historical perspective. You provide a clearer path through the fog of media noise that has divided our nation.
Each morning since I first learned of your letters I begin my day reading them. They not only summarize the key events of the previous day, they provide me with context and historical perspective. Most days the news and your perspective calm me down — I come away thinking “that was bad, but we’ve been through worse; we can get through this and be stronger for it.” On those rare other days, even though your letter doesn’t cheer me up, I come away thinking more clearly about history in the making. Through your letters, Facebook chats, and books I’ve come to realize that history is so much more than dates and events. That education alone is far more valuable than anything I learned in the history classes I took in school. Thank you sharing your insights and for starting my days off in the proper direction. Peace.
Fran, I also began reading the day I was first introduced to these letters. It is the historical context that keeps me from sinking into despair. Our country, flawed as it is, will keep moving toward our best self. Even in fits and starts.
Cathy, Things were moving too fast weren't they? Couldn't keep track, Couldn't make sense, Couldn't trust anything or anyone to make sense of it for us.
My daughter sent me the link to 'HCR.' I read one Letter. Two letters. You know the rest.
Dr. Richardson is now my Benchmark, by which (whom) I judge every talking head, every 'expert.' HCR's logo should be 'Clarity you can Trust.'
Then I get to listen as all of you expand and share, and we become the Collective.
There aren't enough thank you's or praise for your research, interpretation, patient explanations and the overall wisdom in your writings. I am sure this work takes a personal toll many days and hope you take enough time to care for your own well being as you have helped us all maintain ours. I don't know how I would have endured these dark days without your teachings. Bless you and be well Heather!
I found your letters on Facebook near the beginning of the Ukraine scandal and have read every one since. Even if I read it at bedtime, I read it with my morning coffee.
My mother was 17 when Hitler took her country. She entered the US in 1946 as a displaced person. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were like a second Bible to her and we were raised according. I admire her courage in those trying times. When I want to crawl in a hole today, I try to copy her will to keep going. Your letters have helped me to maintain my sanity and infuse me with needed hope and courage. I would welcome my mother’s advice, but am grateful that she passed in 1985. These past few years would break her heart.
I am grateful for the knowledge and history you share and also for the knowledge and perspective this community also share community
I've learned so much from you. I struggle to express just how much your letters have meant as we navigate these perilous times. A simple thank you will have to suffice. THANK YOU!
Brava, dear Prof. HCR! You, my hero, are thanking us? You are and have been a beacon of hope and enlightenment for thousand of us over the past two years. You brought this exquisite group of followers together because of who you are -- you, the loving, compassionate, knowledgeable patriot and brilliant scholar who understands that education is the singular path to unity, democracy, peace, and community.
For your dedication, brilliance and humanity, I salute you, dear Heather!
You are a gift to me especially on this cloudy Yom Kippur morning on Little Deer Isle - the only Jewish person for miles- feeling connected to what’s good in humanity through your “letters”. So- Thank You 🙏
I feel your sense of onlyness. I too am the only Jewish person in a town where cows out number people. There might be an other Jewish person in the next town. Buts it's only speculation.
I think many in big towns (Denver) are feeling a sense of loneliness with limited, or no, holiday gatherings due to COVID. I can imagine how your singularity is more evident this time of year. I too feel connected and grounded every morning reading Heather and all who comment. Shana Tova.
Curiously, the isolation of the pandemic has made it easier to attend services remotely (either Zoom or live streaming). Our moderate-sized congregation now had people attending services from many time zones in the US and even a few from outside the US. -- Just like these LFAA, community is not limited to places or people you can easily be with locally.Wishing you all a good fast (if you do) and a sweet New Year.
A fitting post of an Erev Yom Kippur. The holiest night in the Jewish lunar year. We begin by seeking compassion for ourselves and we endeavor to extend compassion to all. We live, many of us, separated. From our children, our parents, our past, our planet. We live separated from the millions who've died alone in the past 20 months and the millions who died over the past 500 years while this notion of State strains against the bonds of its own sins for which we've not been known to atone.
Perhaps, the voices of justice and solidarity like yours, Dr. Richardson, may yet be heard in the chambers of the powerful. Perhaps before it is too late for our dear ones, our State and our planet.
May you and your family be inscribed for a better 5782 than 5781.
Yes, Gary, I was going to express similar thoughts on this Yom Kippur year. Tikkun olam is where we give of ourselves, to the world, in which we try and repair it. We fight against social injustices and we must continue to do so.
Heather, your letters are the lights that shine to get us through the day and even the night. We learn so very much through your writings and what you have created is a wonderful forum for all of us to freely express ourselves. I thank you so very much for that. I can honestly say that I have made quite a few friends here. What a joy!
Yom Kippur marks the culmination of the 10 Days of Awe. According to tradition, God judges all creatures during the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
On the second night of Rosh Hashanah it is customary to eat a new fruit, a symbol of newness.
After the final Yom Kippur service, many people return home for a festive meal. Boy, are you hungry!
I believe you could be absolutely correct, Ronald. Dr HCR IS so instrumental in helping save our republic -- not the least because of the caliber and intensity of the readers and loyalists she attracts. Amazing idea.
It is hard to comprehend how it is that you write these brilliant letters day in and day out, and that you have been doing so for two years just boggles the mind. I am among the thousands upon thousands of readers of your letters who are frankly awed by your ability to illuminate the disturbing times that we have been living through over these past two years. I am profoundly grateful for your letters, for your persistence and endurance, for your knowledge and wisdom, for the energy, the heart and the soul that you pour into this correspondence with America. I feel very lucky to be in your good company, and to be in the community that has developed around you and your work. Thank you!!
A writer of non-fiction, fiction, verse, then came blogs and Facebook, I can imagine Heather's Muse running very strong in her. Or, if you wish, God running very strong in her. Or, if you wish, her conscience and soul running very strong in her. At least, that's my experience. I write because I have to write, it's part of me, it's like breathing - when the Muse is running. When it's not running, I do something else, and that's a kind of agony, something really important seems to be missing.
In my 79th year, I see just about everything very differently from when I was a boy, then in college, then in business, and then practicing law. It looks to me that America came unhinged and split in half by three things: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Feminist Revolution. Where America is today flowed from there. I think America is in very deep doo doo of its own making, internally and internationally. It's much more popular to duke it out with foreign devils, than to duke it out with domestic devils, external and inside each American. Finger pointing is so much more fun than taking fearless searching personal inventory dealing with the beams in our own eyes.
Anyway, Heather keeps painting the American landscape, which ain't terribly glorious, while things in America seem to be getting more and more fragile. I don't expect I will live to see where that all leads, but my children and grandchildren will. I voted, reluctantly, for Joe Biden, after sitting on the sidelines or voting third party for years, because Biden and his followers did not cause me to fear for the physical safety of my children and their families, and because Biden at least was talking about trying to save the planet from humanity.
I'm a Birmingham, Alabama native. I'm live again where I started out, after living elsewhere much of my latter adult life. I have seen things and been places in and outside America, which most Americans cannot fathom. Now, I'm watching Alabama hospitals unable to treat heart attack patients, because the ERs and ICUs are glutted with Covid-19 infected unvaccinated adults, whom I say should not have been admitted. They tempted fate, God, whatever, and they lost. Let them enjoy the full fruits of their proclaimed Constitutional Right not to be vaccinated.
In that regard, excerpts from a letter written by a physician to a good friend of mine just the other day, after my friend had heard this doctor tell another doctor that unvaccinated adults with Covid-19 are Typhoid Marys and should not be allowed into hospitals. According to my friend, the doctor had it out with the hospital medical board and resigned and quickly got a job in a setting where he would be far more appreciated.
"Dear M:
I enjoyed having you as a patient, it can be so very depressing how very little people use their ability to think to analyze situations and come to the most rational and safe decision. I am not a lawyer, and clearly I cannot give legal advice or interpret the law. However, I try to be an informed citizen. I took the Board of Directors to task, even reminding them that a 1905 Supreme Court judgment regarding compulsory vaccination declared that prudent measures undertaken to protect the public were a legitimate exercise of the state police powers. I was called a liar until I produced a recent news article. I cannot remember the publication but I had copy and pasted the following text:
In regards to compulsory vaccination: Jacobson vs. Massachusetts in 1905. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state law requiring compulsory vaccinations against smallpox. The court declared, “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.”
You said you have a friend who does a news blog. I think he ought to know about this if he doesn't already. I have left out my name such that you can scan this into a Word document and send it out if you like.
I have a wife, an 11 year old daughter, and an 8 year old son. I fear for their safety, and I think you are right to feel for yours. I think that the Supreme Court ruling above should be applied to ANY INSTITUTION THAT ACCEPTS FEDERAL FUNDING OF ANY KIND."
Thanks Sloan for your post. We are in a broken America and putting the pieces back together is going to be a long road---if we and our descendants can do that. Thanks for the perspective from Birmingham. I have a very good friend who just moved back there (his hometown) from NYC. Keep writing here and in your wider life!! Peace and Courage to all.
Thanks, am headed back to the Mother Ship for a bit, then …
Thanks, Sloan. I'm like you: something feels "off" when I'm not writing, and frankly, I've been a little "off" since 2016, but especially in the last year. I have enough (virtual) balls of crumpled paper to build a small house.
We each have our own sense of what "broke" America, meaning, what were the most significant contributing factors to where we are now. Yours are slightly different from mine, but both our understandings are limited to the last 79 years of history (less for me). One of the things I've enjoyed so much about Heather's commentary is the deeper historical perspective that takes us back to at least the early 1800's.
I think all three of the things you mention -- as well as all of the ones I'd list, and perhaps even Heather's list -- are cases of the question of entitlement. "Entitlement" means -- literally -- possessing a "title," which few people have these days, but more generally, "entitlement" speaks to political agency: the permission to act publicly in a significant way. More pithily, it differentiates those who can do as they please, from those who must do as they are told. The core issue in Vietnam was the idea of our young being indiscriminately drafted and forced to do (and die) as they were told. Civil rights were about the "traditional" role of blacks as the class (or caste) that must do as it is told. The feminist movement was about the "traditional" role of women to shut up, do as they are told, and make themselves sexually available on demand.
There are two ways of looking at any expansion of agency, or entitlement. One is the view that a "free" society -- one in which all its citizens have significant agency, or are entitled to act with significance -- is more peaceful, stable, prosperous, and satisfying, and is overall a win-win (non-zero-sum) game. The other is that entitlement is a fixed quantity in a zero-sum game, and that when I gain agency, you lose agency. People who take the former approach are willing to give up some of their entitlement "for the greater good." People who take the latter approach will, at best, do whatever they can to hold on to every bit of personal entitlement they possess, and at worst, will try to take entitlement from others to gain more for themselves.
The sociophiles versus the sociopaths.
Our extreme form of sociopathic capitalism in the US (with its roots in European feudalism overlaid with chattel slavery), equates entitlement/agency with wealth, or in our time, money. If you have money, you can do what you want. If you don't have money, you must do as you are told. If you get more money, you have more agency. If you lose money, you lose agency.
Money is inherently zero-sum. In barter, I may want your chicken more than I want my goat, and you may want my goat more than you want your chicken. We trade, and we both win. With money, it's an exchange of fungible (interchangeable) tokens that have zero inherent value. At the end of any trade, mediated by money, if either of us benefits (gains money, hence agency) the other loses it.
This is one of the foundations of the "Who will pay for it?" argument with government-run social programs. It would be one thing if we are actually talking about overspending our resources. But that is never the argument. It isn't "How can we afford this?" but "Who will pay for it?" Whoever pays for it, loses entitlement. Unless, of course, they can turn a profit from it.
A lot of conservatives are dedicated capitalists, and they've mostly bought into the zero-sum nature of social programs. When you talk to them -- whether it's a rich person, or a self-employed carpenter -- and bring up "social programs," the first thing they do is make a face and reject the very concept of "government giveaways for lazy people." The whole model of zero-sum entitlement makes the idea of "worthless people" inevitable. Four centuries ago, they called them "waste people." A half-century ago, they were "white trash." Today, they are "the homeless."
"They don't deserved to be saved. They need to save themselves."
This is a very American disease, rooted in a human weakness.
I'm from a prominent wealthy family, and know well of what you speak. After many "lifetimes", I ran out of money, was unable to make living wage, lived on the street, in shelters, other people's spare rooms, cars. I know of that such people as that speak. The entitle have been around for ages and that's not going to change. Buddha was entitled, left it, became enlightened, finally, it is said, went back to where he had started. As did I, but I'm not Buddha. However, I did die to this world, but still lived in it. That cannot be remotely imagined until it is experienced. So, I come at just about everything from a different perspective.
I, too, really appreciate Heather weaving history into current affairs, which often provides excruciating context for today's currents and cross currents. When I address something, I go to the most off the road less traveled by place, against the grain. I have given up expecting any change to result from my efforts. I wish it were different, but it's not. Heather is writing her guts, heart and soul out. I do truly hope America is made a better place for it. Regardless, her God assignment is to write her guts, heart and soul out, regardless. Heather is an icon for any and all Americans to try to match in his or her own unique way, or not. I think when Heather writes, Angels sing.
I have said and written many times that it will take angels invading people and stopping them in their tracks and waking them up for real and redirecting and schooling and correcting and guiding them, for any real change to occur in America, and in humanity. That, too, is something that cannot begin to be imagined, that kind of Intervention, until it is experienced.
Understand, I am not a church person. I don't carry a Bible. I grew up in that tradition, then I was taken somewhere else, but those roots were crucial for the transition to occur. When people sometimes ask me if I attend church, I say, "I don't know when I'm ever not in church? We are in church now, aren't we?"
I would add the white January 6 mob and their leader, Donald Trump, represent what never was resolved by the American Civil War - White Supremacy. Trump gave them new hope. He resuscitated them. When they claim the 2021 election was stolen, they mean blacks stole it. They don't say that, because that would force the Republican Party to disavow them and Trump, or be vilified in Eternity. The Republican Party knows this, also, and by keeping silent, by ignoring January 6, they stand just as guilty of the attempted White Supremacy coup as the white mob and Trump and every person who claims the 2021 election was stolen, including black Republicans, who who in olden times were called Uncle Toms. The Republican Party today is the White Supremacist Party, and Republicans who say they abhor White Supremacy, the KKK, Nazis, but do not act like it, do not bolt that party, or splinter from it a new Republican Party, are White Supremacists, too. The law is very clear about aiding and abetting, and that's what they are doing by not rebelling and calling for the heads of the January 6 white mob and Donald Trump. As in, they all should be hanged. Every last one of them. For attempting a coup of the National Government, in the National Capitol, on National Television.
Thank you. And thank you for sharing the letter. I would like to share it as well.
Please do
I agree this was well written reply. I am heartened by Her determination and effort. Heather what you do is phenomenal. However even more is the attention and comments of your readership. I’m glad you Heather can do it with hopefully no negative effect on the rest of your life. Speaks volumes for you and regarding your readership those who care about our country and form of government.
Beautiful, caring and thoughtful reply that I'm sure all of us agree with.
I share your "awe". Very well said.
Agree 1000%!!
Terrifically well said. My sentiments exactly. Thank you.
Grateful for beautifully expressing what are my thoughts too!
Yes!
You have written a thank you to your readers. It is we, your readers who owe you a much bigger thank you. As a retired academic (and Mainer by birth!), I, for one, have no idea how you manage to write you informative and insightful "Letters from an American" nearly every day... on top of the manifold "day jobs" of professors, their teaching, scholarship, mentoring of students, and service to their universities. I don't know how you do it, but I am glad that you do. -- THANK YOU!
Another retired academic here, who agrees completely!
Thank you Steve. And A HUGE THANK YOU to You, Heather!!💖💖💖💖
Hear! Hear!!
Exactly!
I share this sentiment with a good chunk of your wide readership: your letters are the main reason I’ve retained even a modicum of sanity or any faith humanity these past couple of years. More than anything, your letters inspired hope when things seemed so bleak.
Me too Maya. I can't even imagine how I would have managed without this sanity in the gloom.
I do not exaggerate when I say your letters have carried me through a time when I have never felt more personally unsafe. Reading your sane, soothing analyses, I have learned so much and feel more hopeful. Thank you for everything you do.
I share your experience of both support from these letters and this community and feeling as unsafe individually as I ever have. A part of that is the threat to our democracy, and getting the Professor's historical context has been a godsend.
I've posted these sentiments before and I'm posting them again in response to this beautiful letter from you, a "great" American in my view, who continues to stand up for democracy in the face of a fascist assault unprecedented in American history. I think if you ran for president as a third-party candidate, you'd win, provided of course, all the people were able to vote and exercise that precious unalienable right you so eloquently champion. Anyway, as I said in a recent post, the legacy of the lone, self-sufficient individual (A sorry-ass Reagan Republican) riding off into the sunset drags on as does what Lewis Mumford called the predatory capitalist corporate "Megamachine," the industrial regimen that's destroying the planet. Both of these forces diminish the aspirations of every civic-minded citizen yearning to participate in the process of governing this nation, which is what "democracy" is all about. The forces against us, i.e., We, the people, are the same ones that once aligned around the Republican Party in its class war against FDR's New Deal and the rise of democracy during that era. In this current era of what I call Bozo Republicanism, your voice is the voice of Democracy for thousands of people like me who read your blog, because yours is the voice of the People articulated in the context of historical fact and erudition. When I read in a recent Financial Times profile that you considered giving up this beautiful thing that you do, I was horrified at the thought of not have Letters from an American in my inbox to get my motor running first thing in the morning. It seems to me that you write on the same frequency as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Chris Hedges, and numerous other inspired American luminaries who have stood up for Democracy and the rule of law. Chris Hedges one said a person really has only two choices when push comes to shove: you can either serve money and power or truth or justice. Your choice is clearly the latter and that's why your readers have such a high regard for your work. You relentlessly tell the truth in support of a just, democratic society that thrives for everyone, not just a cabal of wealthy elites. So today, the gratitude flows both ways, Heather, but mostly from the hearts of those of us who read your work, right back to you, the writer who articulates our deepest yearnings for truth, justice and a society that works for all the people!
As Neil Young said, "Long may you run . . ."
This! Telling the truth in support of a democratic society. Supposedly the job of the media. Who fail at it. Catastrophically. Every day. Thanks for your insights, Stewart.
Nicely articulated, Stewart. Thanks for that.
And with a Neil Young kicker. Can't be beat.
One small request: Make paragraphs. Easier for my old eyes to negotiate.
Beautiful.
Thanks for the reply SL, and thanks to Sheila, Joan and Denise for all the kind words. Also appreciate the slew of others who posted likes. In my circle of influence, Heather is affectionally know as The Goddess of Democracy, so writing about her came from the heart and in the passion of the moment I failed to heed a few elements of style, such as short paragraphs and text without typos!
As a writer and student of history, I have a lot to learn, but fortunately there are great educators out there like Heather who make the process fulfilling. Albert Einstein famously said "A student is not a container you have to fill, but a torch you have to light up." It seems to me that as an educator, that's what Heather is up to--"lighting torches." In her case, the torches are in the hands of the Athenian DEMOS, the People united together, yearning for Democracy. Heather's writing has been lighting torches in my neck of the woods ever since she started her blog, reviving the spirit of democracy in the minds of old and young alike. In my case (old), she inspired what I call my "citizen's website" wherein I've drawn on her insights and quoted her numerous times in order to support the ideals of freedom and democracy. If anyone is interested check it out: shootingatrandom.com
And thanks again, Heather, for lighting our torches!
Power to the People!
Unfortunately, all too many people never read Einstein’s admonition, ignore it or don’t understand it! As a high school math teacher, I was taken to task for challenging students to think. I would ask a student ‘How do you know your answer is correct?’ This was frustrating to them because prior instructors taught in the manner ‘ this what you do!’ Tragically, Math is most often understood as a set of facts to be memorized, rather than ‘the science of patterns!’
A bipartisan group of Governors founded the Core Curriculum movement, not Obama! You can look it up, as they say in the sports world. However, when the right wing zealots won the governorship in the red states, attacking the curriculum ‘roadmap’ became a rallying cry of the future cult members!
The intent of the curriculum was to create students who would become critical thinkers as a basis for life long learning!
Bravo Einstein! And the author of ‘teach me to fish’!
Louis Kudos! I am reminded on the slogan THINK or Swim.At age 58, I became a history professor. I didn’t like how history (and economics’ was being taught, so I sought to devise a methodology that would accommodate my style and what students should learn. I decided to start every class with a THINK essay in which students we required to discuss what they thought rather than parrot facts. At times I was reading over 160 THINk essays weekly and then putting them into student portfolios. Similarities and differences between early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Economics from feudalism to present day; Societal discrimination from patriarchy to present day; Why did the Cold War start and why/how did it end? I believe, over 23 years, that my students and I enhanced our THINKING skills, which are imperative in this turbulent world. I applaud Heather for pulling us along in this THINKING process.
Back at ya’! After serving on a Supposed ‘5 year plan’ committee whose proposals were ignored after the first year, I came to the conclusion that each secondary school should have at least 3 ‘curriculum houses’! One house would focus on students who had ‘non traditional’ learning styles and needs; a second house would focus on students whose parents wanted them to ‘get’ good grades; and the third house would focus on students who wanted to become creative thinkers!
Sadly, the some parents in the ‘second house’ will demand their child be placed in a ‘third house class’ leading to the dumbing down of the course because that child was not ‘getting’ A’s!
Long live the idealistic teacher who yearns to teach and inspire !
Louis I feel that you and I are joined at the hip. I would add another to your three houses; the fourth house is for students who clearly don’t care and reject all efforts to infuse zest or curiosity in them. I am reminded of the totally negative assessment made of Winston Churchill in 6th grade. Perhaps Winston reflected the late bloomer. I still recall with great fondness and admiration several college professors who believed in me before I fully believed in myself. I am certain some of your students remember you similarly. I have had this experience with a number of my students long after they left the pseudo-ivy-covered halls.
Beautiful Einstein quote. Thank you very much!
I second the importance of paragraphs in making reading easier. I have to read a lot of academic papers, which often have excessively long paragraphs. I usually copy 'em and break 'em up into more paragraphs
Yep...I wholeheartedly agree with this statement you made: "It seems to me that you write on the same frequency as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Chris Hedges, and numerous other inspired American luminaries who have stood up for Democracy and the rule of law. " Yep! Yep! Well said there!
Very well said Stewart!
What Stewart said.
Wow Stewart. So well put. Thank you.
Excellent Stewart. You put it so much better than I could - and I too read and worried about that interview in the Financial Times. Let is hope that Heather runs for a whole lot longer!
Right on!
I was thinking about you and these letters earlier today. You have educated me, illuminated the past in ways that have intrigued and fascinated me, and your letters have helped me keep panic at bay in my most anxious times. There have been days when I have just played your chats in the background to hear your voice and its reminder that I am not alone in my grief, fascination, and hope for this nation. And to my companions here and on Dr. Richardson's chats, you cheer me with your intelligence, commitment, and even your rage. Thank you, Dr. Richardson, from a colleague in literature who has come to love history. And thank you to this wide audience as we accompany each other on the way to what I hope is a better, more justice-filled future.
A luminous lift, Linda! It’s true all of it, for me as well. I have giddily glided down rabbit holes of history of which my education had left me bereft. It’s been two years of pain, struggle against hopelessness and — truly — an eternal gift.
Tonight on the Lawrence O'Donnell show, when Governor Hochul of New York offered the women of Texas the services and support of the state of New York I saw the America I know and love. He followed that interview with Senator Klobuchar on the Freedom to Vote act and then a state representative from New Hampshire explained why he had just left the Republican Party. It was an amazing hour that made me feel that the wind is finally changing and a breath of fresh air and hope is evident. Governor Hochul showed us why we need more women in politics; Senator Klobuchar strengthened that view; the representative along with the California recall results felt like the hold of the former guy was finally breaking. Maybe I'll sleep well tonight and imagine a majority majority government -- women being that majority.
Thank you, Cathy. “It’s either Newsom or Trump.” It’s either x,y,z or Trump. This message galvanized my distracted Boomer vote squad to contact family in ÇA and to think about what to do for 2022 races. They had been unplugged and trying to enjoy life, or weary and recovering from covid. Now, they’re back. Thanks in large part to CA recall threat making them think the monster might come back. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Thank you, CA voters. Next up VA. ❤️🤍💙
Morning, Deborah!! Thanks for the heads-up for VA. Early voting starts tomorrow, September 17!! (I will be voting early) Mail-In ballot requests were sent several weeks ago. Election day is November 2nd. Here is the list of candidates. And check out my District 33 to root for Paul Siker running as our Democratic candidate. https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/candidate-list/candidate-list-2nov2021/
I love seeing so many women on this line up!!!
I’ve been “postcarding” for upcoming VA elections! Herders unite!
Yippee, thanks, Ashley!
Yes Thank You CA Voters! Deborah I read your statement "to think about what to do for 2022 races" as 2 thousand and twenty-two individual races! So many! Silly - but wait: 435 House of Reps, plus US Senators, plus governors, plus state legislators, plus mayors andcounty commissioners plus school boards...We easily have 20 thousand races in 2022. We have much work to do
I’m looking forward to watching Lawrence (via DVR) tomorrow.
I thoroughly enjoyed that O'Donnell program and am immensely impressed by Governor Hochul. I loved her response when he asked about how she felt about taking on that job. Her reply was that she realized she had been preparing for that throughout her career and, now in the Governor's seat, fully confident that she has all the capability she will need. As always, I also enjoyed hearing from Amy Klobuchar.
Lawrence O'Donnell is a must-see for me. Governor Hochul is going to be a firecracker, and I was so happy to hear her give contact information for women in Texas who are currently being barred from abortion - not just referrals to a friendly state, but provision for or help with transportation. I have loved Amy Klobuchar ever since her questioning Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearings. When he was so snarky and hostile to her, she came right back at him - calmly and authoritatively. I hope my gut feeling is on target that the Repugs have overplayed their hand, and the tide is turning against them.
I am always grateful for your insightful comments Cathy, and always and forever grateful to have Amy Klobuchar as the senior Senator from my home state. She truly represents this American very well -her integrity and focus on equality and the rule of law gives me hope. Add in Governor Hochul and many others and there seems to be some light shining. (And a majority majority government sounds heavenly. Let’s make it happen!)
Sheila, You are indeed very fortunately to have Senator Klobuchar. With majority majority I'm talking not only women as a majority but also that the minority populations are now the majority. So majority majority means our elected representatives are as diverse as the population. My thought last night was "Insanity is re-electing the same representatives and expecting a better result!" It is time to give some priority to diversity in our representation. Women, minorities and veterans get extra points when I figuring out who to vote for. That they play well with others is also essential which is why the veterans and women get points from me. Veterans fought for America not one of the extreme parties we have now. Men in general are competing with each other for one up/one down "or" positions. Women in general are the harmonizers with the "and" position that we can find solutions that are for all of us when we listen to all perspectives. For a sports analogy, it is the team that has the best teamwork that win games.
We The People - All of Us This Time
I, too, felt blessed by this newscast. 😊
I think this is the best show I seen Lawrence O'Donnell do. I have been getting more and more impressed with him and the caliber of the guests he has on.
LO is low key. His show generally has excellent guests. Sometimes after RMaddow, O’Donnell’s lowkey-ness is a balm. Tonight, his show was the STAR of the MSNBC lineup. Bang, bang, bang - he and his guests were a complete uplift. ⭐️
From your mouth(keyboard) to Gd’s ears!
Oh yes! Thank you Cathy!
Forgive my awful typos, trying to correct
Heather in the morning, Lawrence at night - make me believe that we just might make it through the storm.
I start my day with a mug of coffee and your newsletter. Thanks for your clear headed analysis and historical perspective. You provide a clearer path through the fog of media noise that has divided our nation.
Hey!!! I was gonna write that too! Guess I should get up earlier ✌️
Exactly what I do Bill Bradley and Dave Dalton! Drink my coffee and read Heather. 😃
As do I! A late start this morning (I slept in until 0530, a rarity) and am on cup #2 as I peruse the comments and engage with my community.
Me four...Morning, Ally!
Me three (tea). Morning all!
Tea Too!
Plenty of room for tea, MaryPat!
Tea is acceptable!
Each morning since I first learned of your letters I begin my day reading them. They not only summarize the key events of the previous day, they provide me with context and historical perspective. Most days the news and your perspective calm me down — I come away thinking “that was bad, but we’ve been through worse; we can get through this and be stronger for it.” On those rare other days, even though your letter doesn’t cheer me up, I come away thinking more clearly about history in the making. Through your letters, Facebook chats, and books I’ve come to realize that history is so much more than dates and events. That education alone is far more valuable than anything I learned in the history classes I took in school. Thank you sharing your insights and for starting my days off in the proper direction. Peace.
Fran, I also began reading the day I was first introduced to these letters. It is the historical context that keeps me from sinking into despair. Our country, flawed as it is, will keep moving toward our best self. Even in fits and starts.
Cathy, Things were moving too fast weren't they? Couldn't keep track, Couldn't make sense, Couldn't trust anything or anyone to make sense of it for us.
My daughter sent me the link to 'HCR.' I read one Letter. Two letters. You know the rest.
Dr. Richardson is now my Benchmark, by which (whom) I judge every talking head, every 'expert.' HCR's logo should be 'Clarity you can Trust.'
Then I get to listen as all of you expand and share, and we become the Collective.
I make my tea. Open my email. Search “Heather” and there it is. My day begins with FACTS. And then all is right - even when it’s not- in my world.
Kathy, you said it all: "There it is."
Same here... Every day... Exactly as you wrote.
**Thank you, Heather!!**
The same for me as well. How lucky we are to have Heather guide us through our history and our current perilous times.
Exactly my sentiments as well! 💖
There aren't enough thank you's or praise for your research, interpretation, patient explanations and the overall wisdom in your writings. I am sure this work takes a personal toll many days and hope you take enough time to care for your own well being as you have helped us all maintain ours. I don't know how I would have endured these dark days without your teachings. Bless you and be well Heather!
I found your letters on Facebook near the beginning of the Ukraine scandal and have read every one since. Even if I read it at bedtime, I read it with my morning coffee.
My mother was 17 when Hitler took her country. She entered the US in 1946 as a displaced person. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were like a second Bible to her and we were raised according. I admire her courage in those trying times. When I want to crawl in a hole today, I try to copy her will to keep going. Your letters have helped me to maintain my sanity and infuse me with needed hope and courage. I would welcome my mother’s advice, but am grateful that she passed in 1985. These past few years would break her heart.
I am grateful for the knowledge and history you share and also for the knowledge and perspective this community also share community
I've learned so much from you. I struggle to express just how much your letters have meant as we navigate these perilous times. A simple thank you will have to suffice. THANK YOU!
Beautiful Bev
Brava, dear Prof. HCR! You, my hero, are thanking us? You are and have been a beacon of hope and enlightenment for thousand of us over the past two years. You brought this exquisite group of followers together because of who you are -- you, the loving, compassionate, knowledgeable patriot and brilliant scholar who understands that education is the singular path to unity, democracy, peace, and community.
For your dedication, brilliance and humanity, I salute you, dear Heather!
THIS, Rowshan, THIS. Beautiful.
Thank you, SL! It comes from the heart.
You are a gift to me especially on this cloudy Yom Kippur morning on Little Deer Isle - the only Jewish person for miles- feeling connected to what’s good in humanity through your “letters”. So- Thank You 🙏
I feel your sense of onlyness. I too am the only Jewish person in a town where cows out number people. There might be an other Jewish person in the next town. Buts it's only speculation.
G’mar Hatimah Tova!
✡️🕎
Blessings to you on this holiest of days.
Shanah Tovah!
Shanah Tovah!
I think many in big towns (Denver) are feeling a sense of loneliness with limited, or no, holiday gatherings due to COVID. I can imagine how your singularity is more evident this time of year. I too feel connected and grounded every morning reading Heather and all who comment. Shana Tova.
Curiously, the isolation of the pandemic has made it easier to attend services remotely (either Zoom or live streaming). Our moderate-sized congregation now had people attending services from many time zones in the US and even a few from outside the US. -- Just like these LFAA, community is not limited to places or people you can easily be with locally.Wishing you all a good fast (if you do) and a sweet New Year.
Shana Tova (from the Bay Area... missing ME)
You’re not the only one in Little Deer…
A fitting post of an Erev Yom Kippur. The holiest night in the Jewish lunar year. We begin by seeking compassion for ourselves and we endeavor to extend compassion to all. We live, many of us, separated. From our children, our parents, our past, our planet. We live separated from the millions who've died alone in the past 20 months and the millions who died over the past 500 years while this notion of State strains against the bonds of its own sins for which we've not been known to atone.
Perhaps, the voices of justice and solidarity like yours, Dr. Richardson, may yet be heard in the chambers of the powerful. Perhaps before it is too late for our dear ones, our State and our planet.
May you and your family be inscribed for a better 5782 than 5781.
And may you and your family, and all of the Jewish members of this community have a blessed Yom Kippur.
Shalom!
Amen
Yes, Gary, I was going to express similar thoughts on this Yom Kippur year. Tikkun olam is where we give of ourselves, to the world, in which we try and repair it. We fight against social injustices and we must continue to do so.
Heather, your letters are the lights that shine to get us through the day and even the night. We learn so very much through your writings and what you have created is a wonderful forum for all of us to freely express ourselves. I thank you so very much for that. I can honestly say that I have made quite a few friends here. What a joy!
Yom Kippur marks the culmination of the 10 Days of Awe. According to tradition, God judges all creatures during the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
On the second night of Rosh Hashanah it is customary to eat a new fruit, a symbol of newness.
After the final Yom Kippur service, many people return home for a festive meal. Boy, are you hungry!
You will go down in history as one of many who have saved our republic. Thank you.
I believe you could be absolutely correct, Ronald. Dr HCR IS so instrumental in helping save our republic -- not the least because of the caliber and intensity of the readers and loyalists she attracts. Amazing idea.