Thanks - I know at Whole Foods in Pasadena, a grilled peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwich costs $3.00! Your article was interesting, helpful, informative; thanks for taking the time.

Oh yes, that was a wonderful book, i loved it too!!!!!

great couple; beautiful girl; wonderful stories; thanks

Be still my heart-O frabjous Day-Loved the Road less traveled.

sorry for the typos; am in La Quinta, CA library, hurrying, volunteer duty this week and next to take care of Sophie the Pug, recovering from hip surgery; i noted i said I love in a city; and it’s i live, but i love in a city is good too; because that describes my ambiance and i toodle and do things in both places. forgive the typos; have a good one everyone; back to the pug!

i think the pundits and also Hillary evidence a lot of unware racism, and the fabric of our nation is wrapped or intertwined with institutionalized racism. Pennsylvania has area where the Klu Klux Clan have pockets. We lived in western New York State for about 6 years, and racism was alive and well. I am white, and older, and not an elitist, in the sense i have a very small income. I feel lucky i can voice my thoughts and feelings about topics relatively freely. Institutionalized racism is rampant. Look at the billboards, the latest Target ads for that matter, the pundits on TV; some blacks now, but… we need to see with inner eyes - i love in a city which is both wealthy and poor, and the poor side is horrific. the quote “listen to the midnight sighing of the poor,” has terrific relevance. 60 Minutes interview Hillary and her pauses and innuendos were horrific. i lot of people have come to dislike her immensely because they feel she is pandering. She is a very intelligent and hardworking woman, and i realize i am discussing a personality rather than principles. What jobs would the pundits have, if all of a sudden, one couldn’t discuss a personality. The ordinary human I believe craves integrity and unity, and it is very adolescent to keep things at such a divisive level. For t hose whites who don’t think we are racist, read things on White Privilege; Read Andrew Hacker, better yet listen to his tape, read Black Boy, Manchild in a Promised Land, old but classics. Read a fellow by the name of Nat Rutstein, who has passed; Google Racial Healing Groups, Race Unity Workshops, and by this I don’t mean same or assimilation, but I believe the conditions of race are our most vital and challenging issue. If we can come together on that, we can solve everything. Walk around for a day, and notice ads, neighborhoods, food prices in poor neighborhood, schools. I’m sorry I’m going on; but the pundits are just expanded gossips for the most part. Journalism integrity left a while back!

Genetically altered worries me. First, though, i have two friends, scientists, one in Idaho, and the other in Minsk, and they both have studied cross fertilizing fruit and have done a great job. But as far as the average food in the market, what’s in it? Is the milk safe, the meat, the chickens. I eat lentils, and some chicken, and occasionally beef. Funny, I was just telling a friend who is becoming a master gardner about The Hopi Survival Kit, by Thomas E. Mails. We heard someone speak, about prophecy when we were in Seattle; someone from the Hopi nation. the problem is greed and distortion of facts and not trusting the FDA, etc. I do think there will be a time in the future when we all do subsistence farming; I might have said previously my friends in Russia, the older ones, grew food in tins on their windowsills. and of course so many Ukrainians, byeloRussians and Russians have small plots of land and grow stuff on these plots. When we were in Dnepropetrovsk, we would see hundreds of men and women with their shovels and all, hard working, take trains on Fridays and Saturdays to their plots. A friend in Kiev knew how to collect certain grasses and herbs and was an incredible cook. The extra land helped them survive!

Mugsy, have i said i lived in ukraine and belarus and was in moscow and sibera-years 1990-1993 kashmar! ches liva!

Gleanings - put two ‘ns” in previous post- sorry; Gone with the Wind as a kid, Poisonwood Bible a few years ago, Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning, Letters to a Young Poet,

All Things Made New, Ferraby Gleanngs from the Writings of Baha’u’llah Many more from that source Black Boy by Richard Wright Journal of a Solitude, May Sarton An Interrupted Life and Letters at Westerbork (2 books) by Etty Hillesum Not Every Sea Hath Pearls, Loulie Albee Mathews Portals to Freedom, Howard Colby Ives Purpose of Physical Reality, John Hatcher so many more….. a lot of memoir and nonfiction….

I loved it. I do not like the immature sexuality - it’s just cartoonish. But when the issues come up, it’s fabulous. I thought last week’s show and the one done a year or so ago on Texas the best. Texas - where Spader argues before the court re a man condemned to die was brilliant. I thought the government would close down the show. It was truly brilliant. It’s wonderful what fiction can do!

Yes, but infinitely giving also. We expect more authenticity from our friends, and yet we’ll overlook stuff too. I heard that if you are a mother of a daughter and a son, you can be harder on the daughter, because you know what it’s like to be a girl, and that often times women are ambivalent when raising girls, not sure - so I guess it’s true, but I love my women friends too. The thing is not to backbite, and once you remove that inclination from all of your relationships, you ease up on the judgment of others too. You see the good stuff. I had to learn to be friends with men. I was emotionally afraid of them, but have had lovely friendships, and my husband and I are like velcro strips as friendships go. We agree, disagree, but there’s a layer of acceptance I value!

Oh Mugsy, I’m so sad about your daughter. Hugs and love your article was good!

Language shapes a culture. We now have theatre of action, and stuff like that. It’s a relative viewpoint, “Why can’t I say what I want,” and well while authenticity is good, who is the I speaking. Isn’t maturity about seeing other’s points of view, inculding our own, and shaping our speech to communicate well? I think the word “boy” for African-American men, especially uttered by old white men, is horrific. there’s a great difference between dipolmatic language and language of obfuscation. I grew up raised on the critical lecture, and I feel a kindly tongue a far better tool for encouragement!

Nice article; I love the long-time friends aspect - women friends and guys too are terrific. They sustain us. Cheers and kudos to you all!