* * *
JL
* * *
The Problem with Chaucer
The following fictitious letter (I made it
up) was inspired by critic and writer Joan Acocella’s article (The Marrying
Kind) in the February 13/20 issue of the New Yorker magazine. It was
addressed to Governor Ed Sitnas at his office in the State House. Please remember that this letter is pure
fiction.
Dear Ed:
Excuse my
addressing you by your first name, but I feel entitled to because of my efforts
on my local school board to carry out your policies. Philosophically, we are kin. But getting to the point, my daughter,
Hildegarde, is a junior at the State University where she is an English Lit
major with a minor in Women’s’ Studies.
On a recent visit
home, I had occasion to see one of her assignments. She was studying the works
of the thirteenth-century writer, Geoffrey Chaucer, specifically his
‘Canterbury Tales,’ in one of her courses.
 |
| Chaucer |
The prologue to one
of the tales he recounted, that of the ‘Wife of Bath,’ was quoted in some
detail in the assignment, and it absolutely shocked me. This woman, apparently a creation of the
writer, in addition to mocking the institution of marriage, described her
lustful sexual appetite almost to the degree of it being pornographic,
something that should not be a part of my daughter’s, or anyone’s daughter’s,
education at a State-run college!
I urge you to see
what you can do to remove the works of this Chaucer fellow from the libraries
and coursework at our State colleges and universities.
Sincerely,
(Name withheld)
JL
* * * *
The Immigration Crisis - New York and Elsewhere
The immigration crisis is not just on the Southern
border. Florida and Texas are not the only places funding transportation to
move immigrants elsewhere. It may be out
of the headlines, but this problem has not gone away.
New York City is filling unoccupied hotel rooms
all over the city with thousands of immigrants with no other place to go. There are thousands of them so housed at
great expense to taxpayers. The capacity
for New York City to absorb immigrants has been far surpassed. And with the welcome mat pulled away in
Florida, too many immigrants set their sights on the Big Apple.
New York City is also providing bus transportation
to the Canadian border for immigrants who might be welcome on the other side,
not unlike the actions of Governors DeSantis and Abbott in Florida and Texas
who are not reluctant to send immigrants northward in that same manner!
Some doubt the newly-elected New York City Mayor’s
capacity to handle the problem. It might
be beyond the abilities of his new and inexperienced administration, even with
the massive infusion of federal funds I suggested back on January 7. Mayor Adams was elected with the support of
many minority groups who because of their composition, are sympathetic to
immigration, which adds to the challenges the city faces.
And meanwhile, the problem continues to fester on
our Southern border.
President Biden’s program of vetting a limited
number of potential immigrants beforehand from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and
Cuba, with applications to immigrate being made in advance by computer … before
they embark for the United States, works only for those with access to
computers and relatives already in the United States to sponsor them. And the fact that our consular presence in
some of those countries is non-existent or minimal does not help. Stacking immigrants up on the Mexican side of
the border is no solution.
We need something better than what amounts to a
program designed for the elite among immigrants. Really being personally in need of asylum from oppression and
danger should be the prime consideration, not one’s personal and family
resources.
Check out this blog’s postings of December 30, 2022 and
January 7, 2023 for my earlier thoughts on this problem. There is need for a no-nonsense, bi-partisan,
national, solution to be made by Congress.
Now!
We must take great care, as a nation composed of
immigrants, descendants of immigrants and of those brought here unwillingly, to
be very careful about how we dim the ‘Lamp besides the Golden Door,’ about
which Emma Lazarus wrote, but we must face
up to the necessity of doing it in some measure. With some exceptions, given the opportunity, most
people on this planet would rather live in the United States than wherever they
presently are, and sad as it might be, we cannot accommodate them all.
This is not a problem to be swept under the
rug. Executive orders suffice in emergencies, but
they should not become official policy.
Letting this problem simmer without a real
solution provides a tool for the racist and white supremacist parts of the today’s
anti-democratic forces in this country, which include those who have fought liberal
immigration policies since the beginning of the twentieth century. I repeat, we need a no-nonsense, bi-partisan,
national, solution to be made by Congress.
Now!
JL
* *
*
More on Equity
The struggle for EDI, (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion)
discussed in my previous posting, continues. (Go back and read it. I still feel our society can provides room for
those dependent on EDI to achieve equality, as well as for those who do not need such a
‘boost’ to attain it, without the former displacing or harming the latter.)
I note that at a rally in Tallahassee protesting the
Florida governor’s efforts to eliminate Afro-American history from State
college curriculums and College Board advanced placement courses, one speaker recommended
that Black athletes attending State schools (Univ. of Florida, FSU, Florida
A&M, UCF, USF, FAU, FIU, etc.) choose to enter the ‘transfer portal’ and
continue their education and sports activities at out-of-state institutions that respect democracy more than do Florida’s governor and legislators. This is a good suggestion, but one I suspect will
not be taken seriously unless those teams’ ‘star’ athletes start entering the
‘portal’ for that reason.
 |
| Florida State Football Players |
JL
* *
*
Another Reason for Stricter Gun Control Laws
Nary a day goes by on which you don’t read about (if you still read newspapers) someone being killed by a weapon carelessly left lying around a home somewhere. Today it was a three-year old tot who knew there was a gun in his parents’ night table, found it, and is now dead.
Another was found stashed atop the refrigerator in the kitchen by the police. The parents were out grocery shopping leaving their children in the care of their oldest, age 16. Oh, yes, the father is a Florida corrections officer. Draw your own conclusions. Mine is that fewer weapons in the hands of the public means less opportunity for their misuse when in the wrong hands.
JL
* *
*
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