Merry Christmas!

Morgan White, Jr., on WBZ Radio

My friend Morgan White, Jr., talk show host at WBZ-AM in Boston, will be sitting in, tonight and tomorrow night, for the station's overnight host, Bradley Jay. The program airs from midnight to 5.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/station/wbz-news-radio/

http://www.triviamorganwhitejr.com/

How the world can change

There are particular events, certainly, which cause the world to shift, in dramatic ways.  In America, one thinks of the JFK assassination--and how conversations about it continue, regularly, decades later. (Just a week ago, I began reading another book about what took place in Dallas.) There were the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. And, indeed, the catastrophes of Pearl Harbor, and September 11th. 

There has, most recently, been San Bernardino.  One is shaken by it--reading about it; watching, for hours, the television coverage of the aftermath of the killings; wondering what the tragedy could conceivably portend, for the country.

There are also, of course, positive moments of great significance, as well:  three months after JFK's death, for example, The Beatles appeared on American television.  It was thrilling, world-changing.

And then, years later--thirty-five years ago today--John Lennon was killed.  That night, you heard the news of what had happened, and in an instant, the world was not at all the same.  

Sunday evening

Am continuing to think, a great deal (as is true of so many others), about the terrible tragedy of San Bernardino--and the sickness, the cancer, that is terrorism.

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Tonight is also the first night of Chanukah--and my very best wishes to everyone who is observing the holiday.  

Chanukah is of course also known as the Festival of Lights.  In my own home, I would like to think that the lights of Chanukah, set on a table at the kitchen window, can--in addition to their traditional meanings--serve as at least one symbolic counterpoint to the darkness of terror.

Good news about the S.S. United States

New York Times story:  "Donations Help the S.S. United States Fend Off the Scrapyard."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/business/donations-help-a-rusting-oceanliner-fend-off-the-scrapyard.html
 

"(I)n recent weeks," the Times reports, "the ship’s existential crisis attracted donors from around the world who have contributed more than $600,000, buying time for the preservationist group, the S.S. United States Conservancy, to press ahead with a plan to redevelop the vessel.

"The donations — including an anonymous gift of $250,000 — will cover the cost of caring for the ship 'well into next year,' said Susan Gibbs, the conservancy’s executive director."

Paris

One's sadness, the mournfulness, continues (as does one's deep sense of solidarity), concerning Paris.

And the ongoing solidarity one feels:  the solidarity against the murderous sociopathy, the staggering cruelty, the evil, that is ISIS (and Al Qaeda, and other like-minded jihadist groups).

And solidarity, too, against those who may not take part, directly--but who support, justify, glorify such evil.

Update: S.S. United States

As a result of funds raised by the S.S. United States Conservancy, the ship has been given (at the very least) a temporary reprieve.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/11/ss_united_states_officals_donations_keep_ships_lif.html

https://www.facebook.com/SSUSC/?fref=ts