The Bus Stops Here

By Eric Le Roy

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One of my students put this article under my nose yesterday during a class discussion. He is Swiss, and the original article was in German. So here is a translation of the gist of it:

Germany: In front of a nursing home for people with dementia in Duisburg, a fake bus stop has recently been installed. A fictitious timetable hangs on the typical bus Read the rest

The Hangman’s Children

By Eric Le Roy

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The universe was once a black hole so small that not even a microscope would have detected it. If my feeble grasp of science is right on this one, then it makes it all the more amazing when that cacophonous “Who Let the Dogs Out? moment occurred. All hell broke loose, literally and metaphorically. Night and nothingness made way for light and somethingness.

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And … Read the rest

Keys In Need Of The Distant Doors

By Eric Le Roy  

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In the 21st century, people eager to don the mantel of idealism are inclined toward harsh judgments of the past. Often they are right, for who among us would shout, “Bring back slavery!!” Or “Cancel Human Rights!”? It’s even getting harder all the time to talk someone into advocating for the return of capital punishment.

As for me, I would be uncomfortable in a place … Read the rest

Quebec To The Rescue

By Eric Le Roy

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        First, I support no ideology under this shining sun. You don’t have to be wrong for me to be right, and vice versa. All my life, I have involved myself in civil discourse with all comers. Often it has seemed modestly productive, although rare is the occasion when I’ve noticed any radical shifts of opinion. Most people, including me, walk away with our convictions … Read the rest

Weltschmerz

By Eric Le Roy

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‘We have fallen in the dreams the ever living

Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world

And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.”

(Yeats)

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My life at an advanced age vacillates between flashes of murderous rage and periods of unaccountable serenity. When I sense the futility of thinking that anything much is going to change during my ‘golden years’, I … Read the rest