Afghan refugee family crossing U.S. southern border Following America’s shameful, chaotic flight from Kabul in August 2021, I wrote to my senators and congressman in Washington and, in two blog posts (https://pen4rent.com/chaos-in-kabul and https://pen4rent.com/shameful-unforgiveable), to my friends and family. I said, in part, It is … reprehensible for the U.S. to be so callous in […]
King Charles III Yesterday’s coronation of King Charles III in Great Britain brings to mind a few thoughts. First, some seven-decade-old recollections and then a bit of provocative musing for which admirers of monarchy — not just fans of the British royal family — could be forgiven for thinking that I’m raining on the reigning […]
Teixeira under arrest A few years ago, I blogged about the time my then-seven-year-old son quick-wittedly did his best to keep a secret (about a surprise birthday party) from his grandpa. If you’ve been following the news this past week, you’re probably aware that the Pentagon has been learning that secrets can’t always be entrusted […]
Defunct railroad tunnel to Lebanon at Rosh Hanikra, on Israel’s northern border. (See below for the rest of the story.) Following up on my December post about traveling in Italy and Burma, today I’m presenting several memories from my travels in Israel. This was on the same adventure I had in Italy with my friend […]
My mom, Mollie Sekuler Daniel, roughly two years old, circa 1914 A month and a half ago, I started off the new year with a little century-old history of my dad’s family. Today I’m turning to my mom’s family. Like the photos of my dad with his family in January’s post, the wonderful photo of […]
Today, a first. But hopefully not the last. A guest blog (the only guest blog in this collection) from the love of my life, Sandra Kelley:* (Photo copyright © Sandra Kelley-Daniel 2023) Poem & Prose in the quiet, anticipatory dark coffee hiccups and sputters night’s tenure is almost over through the window wall I see a […]
Lena and Meyer Daniel, 1918-19, with children Ray, Sally and Nathan I’m starting off the new year with a bit of century-old history. While Sandra and I were visiting the East Coast a few months ago, my cousin Trude (see photo at the end of this post) showed me a couple of very old photos in […]
Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon, from my 1971 visit to Burma As anyone who has followed this blog is surely aware, I did a fair amount in international traveling in decades gone by. In this episode I’m presenting a few recollections from some of those travels. Today, an odd pairing of destinations: Italy and Myanmar (formerly known […]
I’ll respond to the headline with another question — “Are you just kidding yourself?” If you think your writing works as well as you imagine it does to boost your business or your favorite cause, then maybe you are kidding yourself. By the time we reach adulthood, with school and perhaps even a graduate degree […]
Benjamin Franklin At the conclusion of the final session of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a woman approached Ben Franklin and asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A republic — if you can keep it.” Prescient words. Arguably more so today than at any time in the […]
