Video: A Bear Remembers
A local boy is trying to find the source of the mysterious sound that haunts his village. When he shares his footage with an old woman it sparks memories of an ancient bear spirit that roamed the hills during her childhood.
Sean Sexton: Elysium
I am ready, like Basho — to turn away
from beauty today as he once refused to
consider Mt Fuji, stark in the distance,
one more time — not to be bothered by
the ineluctable.
Michael Simms: Charities I Recommend
There are thousands of worthwhile charities in the United States, so sometimes it is difficult to choose only one or two to support.
Chana Bloch: Happiness Research
Scientists are closing in on
the crowded quarter of the brain
where happiness lives. They like to think
it’s hunkered down in the left prefrontal cortex.
Nan Levinson: Doin’-the-Right-Thing Rag
Who’s Responsible When a Military Order is Illegal? (Don’t Ask Donald Trump!)
Audio: Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
Adam Patric Miller: Passing Through The Intersection
It made no sense to see him. He wore the leather coat he used to wear, an 8-ball on the back. Maybe this happens when you don’t acknowledge death.
Catherine Anderson: Diana’s Arrow
Nearby, I saw oak leaves
had settled like a helmet of ash on a statue
of Diana—protector of children,
women, all living things—the deity
whose arrow never misses.
Chanelle Gallant & Shannon Perez-Darby: Sex Trafficking Prosecutions Won’t Stop the Next Epstein. Here’s What Will.
We can fight child sexual abuse using a block-and-build strategy rooted in economic, racial, and gender justice.
Richard Hoffman: If You See Something, Say Something
I like complaining but afterward I feel ashamed
as if I met a man who had no feet from a bomb
my country sold his enemy for export rights to
this season’s coolest sneakers.
Jimmy Pappas: Invitation to join Michael Simms on Zoom, Monday, Dec. 15, 7pm ET
Join us when Michael Simms presents DIRTY REALISM on Monday, December 15 at 7 PM ET.
Terry Blackhawk: Legacy of Flames
the battering, the desecration
of a body let dangle from its limb
then gouged, sliced, and still the mob
craved more.
Murray Silverstein: Dante in Auschwitz, Ulysses in Hell
The storm that swirls in God’s dark heart,
our poor boat tossed, and sank, my crew & I all lost.
Holocaust Encyclopedia: How Hitler Came to Power
Hitler transformed Germany by manipulating the democratic political system. Hitler and other Nazi leaders used existing laws to destroy German democracy and create a dictatorship.
