A 20/20 view of 9/11

A 20/20 view of 9/11

I don’t believe this country will ever forget the events of 9/11, the images of falling buildings and crashing airplanes, and the awful reality of watching nearly 3,000 human beings die in real time. The question, especially during this particularly challenging year, is whether we will remember its lessons. If you put a slash between [...]

Happy Labor Day to the bridge builders of American liberty

Happy Labor Day to the bridge builders of American liberty

This past Saturday, on a weather-perfect afternoon in Brooklyn, my son Charlie sat at an outdoor restaurant enjoying the view. "You can see three bridges and the Statue of Liberty from where I'm sitting right now," he texted us, along with the picture. Though he has lived in New York for nine years, Charlie still [...]

To him who in love nature holds

To him who in love nature holds

The last time I thought about William Cullen Bryant was in 1982 when most of my friends were wandering around the hallways at Xavier High School sort of glassy-eyed and mumbling the last stanza of Thanatopsis. “So live, that when thy summons comes to join   The innumerable caravan, which moves   To that mysterious realm, where [...]