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She will “always love” them: Meghan and Harry, the Duchess and Duke of Sussex at Sandringham for Christmas 2017, five months before they married. It was unusual for Queen Elizabeth II to invite someone who was not yet part of the royal family for Ch… — She will “always love” them: Meghan and Harry, the Duchess and Duke of Sussex at Sandringham for Christmas 2017, five months before they married. It was unusual for Queen Elizabeth II to invite someone who was not yet part of the royal family for Christmas, yet she made an exception for Meghan. You have to think those days are over. Photograph by Mark Jones.

A hard Megxit

January 22, 2020

Mike Bartlett’s 2017 play “King Charles III,” Queen Elizabeth II has died and Prince Charles succeeds her and immediately precipitates a constitutional crisis that has Prince William and wife Catherine looking to wrest the crown away from him. In the midst of rioting in the streets, Prince Harry falls in love with a black woman and decides to abandon royal life for her but in the end, acquiesces to remain in the fold and support the new king and queen.

Truth, of course, has a way of being stranger than fiction, for the real Prince Harry has gone further and farther than the fictional one ever does — all the way to Canada but stripped of His Royal Highness status and any state funding and required to repay the $3.1 million that British taxpayers shelled out to refurbish Frogmore Cottage, which was, is, his and wife Meghan’s home.

Georgette Gouveia’s new novel, set around 9/11, will be published by JMS Books Jan. 11.

A new novel, set in our 'Never forget' time

January 10, 2020

In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 next year comes a novel that considers that tragic, tumultuous, heroic time.

In “Seamless Sky” (JMS Books, Jan. 11), which takes its title from the crystalline weather of New York that day, longtime reporter Georgette Gouveia, who covered 9/11, offers a tale of dispossession and revenge, compassion and acceptance, set against the backdrop of a time that is a not-so-distant mirror of our own.

The ruins of the Gates of All Nations in Persepolis, Iran. As the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis was burned to the ground by the conquering Alexander the Great accidentally or as an act of revenge for the destruction of the Acr… — The ruins of the Gates of All Nations in Persepolis, Iran. As the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis was burned to the ground by the conquering Alexander the Great accidentally or as an act of revenge for the destruction of the Acropolis in Athens and/or the mutilation of Greek captives. Now President Donald J. Trump is threatening Iranian cultural sites like this one, which is illegal under international law.

Between Iraq and a hard place

January 7, 2020

So President Donald J. Trump, a man who’s always tilting at “cancer-causing” windmills, finally has something to rail against for real. From the beginning, he’s been against Iran and all Muslims and anything he imagined President Barack Obama espoused, whether he actually did (like the Iran nuclear deal) or not (the Muslim Brotherhood).

“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role. Photograph by Steve Juvetson.

The crucible of leadership in 'Hamilton' and 'The Two Popes'

December 31, 2019

I’ve been away in D.C. and then having a New York (post) Christmas, but the blog and my thoughts on leadership are never far from my mind. How can they be with angry impeachment tweets replacing holiday greetings? Plus, I saw two works that put the current political divide in perspective — Netflix’s “The Two Popes” and Broadway’s “Hamilton.”

Cartoonist Lalo Alcarez’s poignant statement about the Trump Administration’s treatment of children at the southern border sadly rings as true today as it did last Christmas. Copyright Lalo Alcarez.

Still no room at the inn -- for Baby Jesus or immigrants

December 23, 2019

Still trending this Christmas – caged Baby Jesus. You’ll remember last Christmas’ cartoon by Mexican-American cartoonist Lalo Alcarez of a wide-eyed Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes further constrained by a cage secured by a lock with an American flag on it. The theme, echoing children and families confined indefinitely at the southern border by the Trump Administration, continues with coast-to-coast Nativity displays of Jesus, Mary and Joseph either in separate cages or Baby Jesus set off alone.

Fresco of dancing Peucetian women from the Tomb of the Dancers in the Corso Cotugno necropolis of Ruvo di Puglia, end of the 5th or mid-4th century B.C. The ancient Greeks believed that charisma was the grace of the gods. But charisma has little gra… — Fresco of dancing Peucetian women from the Tomb of the Dancers in the Corso Cotugno necropolis of Ruvo di Puglia, end of the 5th or mid-4th century B.C. The ancient Greeks believed that charisma was the grace of the gods. But charisma has little grace in the modern age.

Boris, The Donald and charisma in the age of reality TV

December 23, 2019

Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party won big in the United Kingdom’s recent election, establishing a clear path — or more precisely, a clearer path — to Brexit Jan. 31. Amid all the questions of winners (the Tories) and losers (the Labour Party, its unpalatable former leader Jeremy Corbyn, and quite possibly the British worker, London as world financial capital, immigrants, globalism, Scotland, the Irish backstop), was the notion that the Conservatives succeeded because of Johnson’s Trumpian charisma, which he damped down for the occasion by corralling his usual hijinks.

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes’ “Alexander at the Tomb of Cyrus the Great” (1796).

Afghanistan and the failure of leadership

December 16, 2019

President Donald J. Trump has announced the withdrawal of 4,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan, with the intention of withdrawing all troops by the November election, thus bringing to a close America’s longest war, after 18 years. Or will it?.

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