This is the blog for the Bentari Project.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The first people [1] were not people, strictly speaking. The first people were almost modern humans. Scientists do classify these early folks as member of the genus Homo, but they were not quite members of our species, the modern humans. We named ourselves Homo sapiens , “the man who knows,” but even though Linnaeus described us scientifically in 1...
Read full postSaturday, July 04, 2015
Wouldn’t it be a great idea to upgrade the Magna Carta! [1] It’s been 800-years, after all. Let’s go to v. 2.0—a charter for the entire world to ensure human rights for all people. [2] From the poorest starving child in the world’s poorest nation to every hardworking laborer in every land, to every clerk and nurse practitioner and doctor, to every ...
Read full postThursday, July 02, 2015
John Gilbert Winant became a leader and a hero to the people of many nations. [1] During the Great Depression and throughout the years that led to and consumed World War II, people in America, England, France and Poland were heartened by the role he played—by his honest championship for them and their plights. He labored to improve their beleaguere...
Read full postMonday, June 29, 2015
So, here’s the news from Josh White’s immortal “Free and Equal Blues.” [1] "A molecule is a molecule son, And the damn thing has no race," said the doctor to the man who asked, “Was the donor dark or fair?” Wait a minute! If even the tiny molecule has no race, then what does have “races”? The answers vary: a track, a contest, people in a hurry, rat...
Read full postSaturday, June 20, 2015
On June 15th 800-years ago, the rebel barons forced bad King John to sign the Magna Carta (the Great Charter) on the fields at Runnymede with banners waving in the wind. 800-years ago this was a big deal. It was a giant step to diminish tyranny. With the stroke of his signature, bad King John began the slow descent of power that was up till then th...
Read full postMonday, May 25, 2015
My father is the captain, always at the helm. He steers the ship ‘cross all the seas, through storm and gale or calm. He guides us when he’s weak. He leads us when he’s hale— O’er many a swale, past all the wrecks, or through the gates of Hell. My father is the captain of our family’s long campaign. His seamanship is steadfast. His devotion never w...
Read full postSunday, May 10, 2015
Happy Mother’s Day, Darling Debra—my friend, my lover and my life! You are the honey in my tea, the wind in my sail and the dawn of all my horizons! Without you, I am bitter, becalmed and so very unbeknownst! Arm in arm with you, I am complete and we make a whale of a team. Thanks for being our children’s champion Mom! You’re the Best, Ducky! Love,...
Read full postThursday, April 30, 2015
Late in his too short life, haiku discovered Richard Wright. Here is one example. An apple blossom Trembling on a sunlit branch From the weight of bees. He wrote his haiku whenever a timeless notion wafted on a breeze nearby for him to hear the whisper. And he found a napkin or scrap of paper and jotted down the notion like a musical note. He wrote...
Read full postSaturday, April 25, 2015
“Wait quickly,” was the quote he gave his high school yearbook in 1964. The inscription by his photo tells us, “Bruce sang in the choir, and hopes to become a musician. He has a guitar. His pet peeves include phony people and advertising.” Bruce Cockburn [1] is a wildly and deservedly popular musician. If his name (pronounced Coburn ) doesn’t recal...
Read full postSaturday, March 07, 2015
From chapter 16, “The darkest, stillest part of the night” “With an acrobat’s agility, he gained momentum in two swift, swinging arcs downward from the top of an emergent silver oak. Then he catapulted himself high into the narrow space above the river. His descent brought him perfectly within the reach of an umbrella tree’s branches on the opposit...
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