Sam Smith - The other day I experienced a striking example of something that has been troubling me: how the growth of our society and the systems to support it are in many ways a step backwards. While artificial intelligence is a dramatic example, even the growth of institutions in place of community and the … Continue reading The downside of progress
Author: prorevwp
How Trump and DeSantis became so important
Sam Smith – Lacking in our obsession with people Like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis is much consideration of why they became so important. A major factor in this is a media that tends to ignore significant cultural changes in favor of covering power, individuals who benefit from it, and institutions rather than social change. … Continue reading How Trump and DeSantis became so important
Tales from the attic: My first murder
Sam Smith - My father had started an export-import business and had an interest in a lumbering operation high in the mountains halfway between Puerto Barrios and Guatemala City. His partner was an ex-Marine named Ward Stevens who wore an Australian bush hat and claimed to have killed Somoza's brother and was, for me, a … Continue reading Tales from the attic: My first murder
How the local can save us
Sam Smith – Depressing as the news is these days, it is worth noting that it almost entirely comes from places other than those where ordinary Americans spend much of their time such as in their towns, their neighborhoods and with their friends. News these days is almost entirely about power and those possessing it … Continue reading How the local can save us
A myth goes sour
Sam Smith: The current conflicts between Harry and William of the British monarchy is a reminder that even the best of myths can go sour. The British monarchy myth has been driven for decades by its treatment in the hands of Queen Elizabeth. Even I often went along with it since it was Queen Elizabeth’s … Continue reading A myth goes sour
Tales from the attic: Getting started in journalism
Sam Smith - My family newspaper came out at least 20 times during my 13th and 14th year. It underwent several name and layout changes, the earliest editions being handwritten and the later ones typed in red and black ink. They shared a taste for bad jokes, awkward emulation of adult journalistic styles, and evidence of … Continue reading Tales from the attic: Getting started in journalism
Tales from the attic: My first home
Sam Smith - Our house, in the middle of historic Georgetown, was new, built on the former site of a trash dump. My parents, launching my father’s entry as a mid level New Deal official, had considered buying an existing house, but balked at signing the ubiquitous restrictive covenants barring sale not only to blacks … Continue reading Tales from the attic: My first home
Tales from the attic: Becoming
Sam Smith - As I approached my teens we moved from DC to Philadelphia, where my parents had come from. I had learned from my older brother and sister that my parents' idiosyncrasies were immutable. I had been born into a dysfunctional upper class family with an excess of discipline and a deficit of affection, … Continue reading Tales from the attic: Becoming
Digital deficit disorder
Sam Smith, 2010 - Thanks to the work I do, I'm constantly looking at percentages and other such figures developed after much, and often expensive, research. And as I do so, the ghost of Alice Darnell repeatedly arises, reminding me - as she did teaching my 12th grade math class - that a result can … Continue reading Digital deficit disorder
There’s no business like show business – unless you have power
Sam Smith - Been thinking lately about two of the worst presidents of my lifetime - Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan - and realizing that the thing they really had in common was their experience in show business - the art of turning reality into whatever you want. It's not something we think a lot … Continue reading There’s no business like show business – unless you have power
Confessions of a vision impaired stakeholder with dubious management practices embarking on an ill-defined mission
Sam Smith, 2009 - Have pity on me. Say a prayer. Drop a penny in the pond on my behalf. In a few days I have to go to a non-profit's strategic planning meeting. It's a great organization that does great things, but - like so many non-profits - it periodically seeks to cleanse and … Continue reading Confessions of a vision impaired stakeholder with dubious management practices embarking on an ill-defined mission
Why community still matters
Sam Smith - Six billion. That's the number that's been lounging in my head in recent days, representing the current human population of the world and a figure that's slated to increase by a third in a few decades. To get some idea of what this number means, the population of the United States is … Continue reading Why community still matters
Where are the good folk?
Sam Smith – In trying to figure out all the things that are making me feel sad, angry and futile these days I have increasingly realized that it involves something much larger than getting rid of Trump, DeSantis and their groupies. Progress requires more than just hating and fighting the bad guys. It also involves … Continue reading Where are the good folk?
The third party that became the second one
Sam Smith - Just read in a Facebook note by David Schwartzman that the DC Statehood Green Party had come in second again this year. He wrote: "We won 2 out of 3 head to head races. Our total votes for all offices was 73,629 (6 races), while the Republican's total vote was 55,676 (also … Continue reading The third party that became the second one
Sam Smith's Essays 