About 10 years ago, I crafted an eBook titled ‘green’. It was a collection of verses I had written over the past 50 years or so. Over the past 10 years technology and the tools available for crafting eBooks and printed books have greatly improved. And, my skill at using these tools has grown over time.
As a result, I am in the process of re-crafting ‘green’ into a work-in-progress titled: THE INTIMACY OF BEING. Some excerpts follow below. Click on any image to enlarge and view as a ‘slide show;.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of a method for genome editing in 2012.
“This year’s prize is about rewriting the code of life,” Goran K. Hansson, the secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said as he announced the names of the laureates.
Dr. Charpentier and Dr. Doudna discovered the Crispr-Cas 9 tool, a kind of genetic scissors that allows researchers to alter the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.The 2020 Nobel Prizes ›
Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said, “There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all. It has not only revolutionized basic science but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to groundbreaking new medical treatments.”
The COVID 19 pan-epidemic is approximately 3 months old, as I pinch myself to see if I am dreaming or not.
Concurrent to the pandemic outbreak, I moved with my son and his family to a new home more central to downtown Austin, and for the first time since moving to Austin, I began to feel like I was living in Austin. But on May 25th, three days after we moved in, the City of Austin issued a “Stay Home- Work Safe Order” and I have barely been out of the house since.
As I covet solitude, social distancing is welcome. Living in the loving presence of my two grandsons, ages 6 and 3, their parents and my wife is all the company I need. And, having been allotted the ground floor master bedroom (due to my bad knees), I have fashioned a retreat of my own in which to meditate, read, research, and write.
My main concern is that our daughter works on the ‘frontline’ of the pandemic as an emergency room nurse in Austin and Port Arthur, Texas. Austin is in Travis County, which has had nearly 2,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 58 deaths. Although she is where she wants to be and is totally dedicated to her vocation, I worry that she works too hard and sleeps too little. The need to maintain strict ‘social distancing’ means that we sometimes meet in the driveway to talk as a safe distance.
To my Superhero daughter, Stacy, and all her colleagues in Emergency Rooms and Intensive Care Units around the world, your dedication is admirable, your calling is noble and you are in our hearts and minds daily.
Philosopher, George Santayana, once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” From this, evolved the often quoted, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” SO LEARN, PEOPLE, LEARN!
LEARN! PEOPLE, LEARN! Please, people, learn from history and help all of us survive this thing.
Sibéal Ni Chasaide performs Mise Éire, a 1912 Irish language poem by the Republican revolutionary leader, Patrick Pearse set to music by Patrick Cassidy in 2016 for the score of the PBS documentary series 1916.
Mise Éire: Sine mé ná an Chailleach Bhéarra
Mór mo ghlóir: Mé a rug Cú Chulainn cróga.
Mór mo náir: Mo chlann féin a dhíol a máthair.
Mór mo phian: Bithnaimhde do mo shíorchiapadh.
Mór mo bhrón: D’éag an dream inar chuireas dóchas.
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for “its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011”.
The protests inspired similar actions throughout the Arab world, in a chain reaction which became known as the Arab Spring movement.
The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance that included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.
The protests were sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010. They led to the ousting of Ben Ali on 14 January 2011, when he officially resigned after fleeing to Saudi Arabia, ending his 23 years in power. Labor unions were an integral part of the protests.
