U.S. Grant and the Battle of Vicksburg
When the Civil War broke out, Grant rejoined the military. He may not have liked it, but it was what he was good at: fighting. The battle that cemented his reputation began 150 years ago yesterday.
When the Civil War broke out, Grant rejoined the military. He may not have liked it, but it was what he was good at: fighting. The battle that cemented his reputation began 150 years ago yesterday.
Democracy is our answer to perhaps our most difficult ethical problem: How do we ethically protect the social cooperation that makes our society strong, while respecting the rights of individuals to pursue vastly divergent visions of the good life and deeply conflicting moral and political beliefs?
Hegel may explain the trajectory of politics: A thesis breeds its antithesis. The dissonance between these polar opposites results in a new state of affairs called a synthesis. That synthesis becomes the new thesis as the process repeats itself. Thus does history travel its tangled paths.
When you start with a group's music, food, dance, or value system, you are looking at surface-level aspects of a culture. The push this week is to lean into the deeper aspects of a racial or ethnic group’s culture so you can begin to understand the group more fully.
The city may no longer distribute federal funds by ward. It must adopt a transparent citywide grant process open to everyone. Aldermen say they fear being cut out, but they can help bring groups and wards together.
The bottom line is that an irreplaceable building with the power to generate economic activity is about to be lost due to the city’s inability to innovate its way out of an ownership quagmire.
A weak sequel to Dostoyevsky’s original may be taking shape in the unfolding investigation into the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Evolving revelations there seem to validate the observation of Karl Marx that history repeats itself “the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.”
So many of the missives that come from the small town of Las Vegas lately have seemed to be about death -- and indeed, another funeral Mass and novena feature in this month's stories. But people are also healing, and going to the circus and celebrating the Feast of the Holy Cross.
We deal with many nations of less prominence whose cultures and history we do not fully comprehend. We may issue our warnings but leaders who view us as a paper tiger greet them with derision.
One goal for all is not likely to be an equitable system. We should push back against the Common Core imposition with teacher professional development, socio-culturally responsive curricula, and project-, performance-, and portfolio-based assessments work at the most local level.