Blog

Members of the National Transportation Safety Board on the scene Saturday, Feb. 1, of the mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and a an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. *Courtesy NTSB.*

Losing my voice to find it in the Trump era

February 2, 2025

How are we to respond to the times in which we find ourselves? Should we retreat, understanding that they are beyond our control? Or should we, knowing they are beyond our control, respond Stoically — with courage and calm, understanding, in the words of Rev. Sydney Smith, that “it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing, because you could only do a little.”

As I pondered this over the Christmas break and into January — the so-called “wellness month” — I got very sick and lost my voice, an apt metaphor for losing the inner voice that has always been my North Star.

In the end, I concluded that reticence — even when you cannot physically “speak” — is a kind of cowardice, and that it is incumbent upon us all to speak out.

Anna Shcherbakova, newly minted Olympic women’s figure skating gold medalist, in happier times atop the podium of the 2021 Russian Figure Skating Championships. Photograph by Yuuliiya.

'Irreparable harm': twilight of the Olympic goddesses

February 18, 2022

In my last post, I wrote that short of a meltdown, embattled Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was a shoo-in for the gold medal in the women’s free skate Thursday, Feb. 17.

Later I thought the better of it and said to myself, “I bet she finishes fourth.”

Yeah.

Kaori Sakamoto, seen here at the 2018 Winter Olympics, was a surprising third place finisher after the women’s short program Tuesday, Feb. 15, in which embattled Kamila Valieva took first. Photograph by David W. Carmichael.

The Kamila chronicles continued

February 15, 2022

The Olympic doping saga continued Tuesday, Feb. 15, in Beijing as Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, was allowed to compete in the short program by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), pending a fuller investigation of the obvious. Despite finishing first in the short program, ahead of Russian Olympic Committee teammate Anna Shcherbakova and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, Valieva is in a lose-lose situation — sure to be asterisked if she wins and still facing possible disqualification.

Indeed, there are no winners among the skaters as no one will be awarded medals until the investigation is complete, and that could take months.

For others, however, there may be a “silver lining.”

Kamila Valieva demonstrates her superb extensions in the International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix Final in 2019. At the Olympics, she finds herself mired in another Russian doping scandal. Photograph by
Luu.

Iphigenia in Beijing: the inexorable politics of the Olympics

February 12, 2022

Held in a country known for its abuses of nature and human nature, attended by the president of a nation banned for doping but whose athletes are still allowed to compete, how could the Beijing Games not be a hot, hypocritical mess?

To watch or not to watch the Beijing Games

February 2, 2022

The Beijing Winter Games officially launch Friday, Feb. 4, with the opening ceremonies airing on NBC, and for many of us it will be something of a guilty pleasure.

Climate change. Human rights abuses. Restrictions on freedom of expression. Covid outbreaks. Critics charge that the Chinese do not have a great track record here and that a full boycott, such as the one the U.S. instituted in 1980 against the Moscow Summer Games when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, would’ve hit them in their prestige and their wallet.

Temple I at Tikal (in modern-day Guatemala), one of the most powerful cities of the Classic Maya period (250-900). It was a funerary temple in honor of King Jasaw Chan K’asill I.

The gang that couldn't shoot straight

February 4, 2020

The Iowa Caucuses debacle has had posters straining for sporting metaphors. The Democrats in disarray are down 10-1 to President Donald J. Trump and the Republicans in the first inning, some say. The Dems are the San Francisco 49ers down to the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, which has a nice Blue State-Red State ring to it since the Niners play in California and the Chiefs in Kan, er, Missouri. (Just thought everyone needed a musical break with the great band Kansas’ surprisingly fitting “Carry On Wayward Son.”)

I, however, have a more apt sports analogy. The Iowa Caucuses are like the figure skater billed as the next Peggy Fleming who after four years of Winter Olympics prep falls on the first jump in the short program.

I think that sums things up perfectly — the Iowa Caucuses, a triple toe loop away from unmitigated disaster.

Farewell (for now) to PyeongChang

February 26, 2018

Experts will tell you that the high-pressured setting of the Olympics’ global stage is like no other. It can make the favorites fall and rise again and the dark horses surge to the front of the finish line.

That was certainly the case of the magical two weeks in PyeongChang, whose motto might’ve been “Expect the unexpected.”

It was a time when America lost its record for most medals in the Winter Games (37, Vancouver) to Norway (brilliant with 39) while setting a new record for medaling in the greatest number of different events (11). So what Team USA sometimes lacked in depth, particularly in the glamour sports of alpine skiing and figure skating, it made up for in breadth ...

Greetings!
This site contains intelligent discourse with some mature themes. Engage and enjoy!