Dispatches from Vilnius

Nice to see a professor and a university standing up to DeSantis.  The Florida governor has gone out of his way to pitch a "colorblind society," eliminating courses from the AP curriculum that present race and gender identification.  At Florida Gulf Coast University, Ted Thornhill is being quite blunt about it, teaching a course called " White Racism ," in which he lays out the cold, hard facts as to how white Americans have created a system of racism that continues to this day.  He only has to point at his governor to prove it. His central argument is that many Whites believe they live in a post-racial society thanks to Civil Rights legislation and the election of Barack Obama as president.  Yet, there is still so much discrimination in society, much of it institutionalized, making it even more difficult for persons of color to get a fair shake.  Everyday we see examples of this, yet this notion of a "colorblind society" has permeated the cultural narrat...

The Oscar controversies trumped the New Hampshire primary this week.  People were more upset that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie got snubbed for Oscars than they were Trump winning another primary.  It wasn't like Barbie got shut out.  Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera both received supporting actor nominations, but the snubs were slaps in the face for a movie that pulled in nearly $1.5 billion worldwide. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion Trump would win the Granite State.  He was polling more than 20 percent ahead of his nearest challenger.  Yet, Nikki scored almost 45% of the vote. Of course this didn't stop him from  celebrating his "yuge" victory , urging his former UN ambassador to accept defeat before he trounces her in her home state of South Carolina.  He even had SC Senator Tim Scott behind him chanting USA! USA! USA!  As if he had won a gold medal in the Olympics. Meanwhile,  Biden won  without his name even being on the...

I always thought the Civil War was a pretty easy subject to tackle, especially if you regard yourself as an American citizen.  Apparently, it is more difficult for those who live in the South.  It seems they still haven't gotten over losing the war.  But, Nimarata"Nikki" Haley is different.  Her parents are both immigrant Sikhs from India.  You would think she would have no Southern identification, yet she grew up in South Carolina and seems to have absorbed the "Lost Cause" hook, line and sinker.  She got a big F at a rally when asked, What was the cause of the Civil War?   I grew up in the South too but I learned pretty quickly that the root cause of the war was slavery.  You'd hear these constant arguments about states' rights but the right they were talking about was to continue to have slaves while the rest of the country moved toward a free market economy.  The industrial revolution was in full bloom when the Civil War broke out in 1861...

I never realized how bulky plasma televisions were until I tried to move one. They're even heavier than the old tube televisions.  I had to get my son to help me move it out of his grandfather's house so that the handyman could finish painting the living room.  No wonder plasma TVs didn't make the cut.  They were discontinued in 2014.  Hard to believe it was more than ten years ago when Daina and I bought this television for her father and mother. At the time, these massive sets were considered the best of the best with a much higher picture quality than LED televisions.  However, things change.  LED sets have improved tremendously and Plasmas have been relegated to appliance recycle centers.  Although I'm tempted to hang onto this one and put it in our basement.  It still works just fine.   It's funny how technology has this period of experimentation with different prototypes before one dominates the market and pushes all the other prot...

Oddly, it is much nicer when the temperature is -10 C or even less.  The snow is powdery and light and easy to shovel.  The air crisp and clean.  There usually isn't much wind.  It is actually quite pleasant outside as long as I have decent gloves to protect my hands.  They get cold quickly due to poor circulation.  The best gloves are a pair of old fur-lined mittens that don't leave my fingertips numb after working outside. Still I see a lot of men wear no gloves at all.  I don't know if they have skin like a walrus or if this is some badge of honor.  That was the case when Daina and I went to check out the new windows for the Signatories House.  Out of respect, I took my gloves off to shake their hands but just as quickly put them back on. Bit by bit the state museum is restoring the Signatories House, which was used back in 1918 to sign the first act of independence from the Russian Empire.  That anniversary is coming up in March....