By: C. William Hanson Jr. The world is currently suffering from two major wars, wars causing widespread adversities ranging from inflation to starvation (to be further reported next month by our distinguished African correspondent, Emmanuel Chizaram), and needless deaths, wars criminally inflicted by three powerful individuals, namely Putin, Trump, and Mojtaba Khamenei. With that in…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. Last week I took a few days off to visit some of New England’s wonderful summer festivals, including Tanglewood, Jacob’s pillow, and Opera Maine.  Reflecting on these visits, I feel blessed that in the USA, despite sinister machinations in DC, we still enjoy much artistic freedom.  In a free society,…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. To begin by giving credit where credit is due, this July 1st issue of our publication draws its inspiration from Claire van den Broek, PhD.  It was my great fortune to be her student in my graduate studies in English literature, and I have never had a better teacher nor…

By: C. William Hanson Jr., Emmanuel Chizaram Having been on part-time leave from our gazette this month, I have been happy to welcome two new members of our team. They join our amazing stalwarts, Jack Hughes, who is our Associate Editor, and Tristan Palazzo, our Circulation Manager and Junior Editor-in-Chief,  who has been indispensable since…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. The evening of April 12th saw the city streets throughout Hungary thronging with happy people and flags waving to proclaim “Árad a TISZA” (In English “Let TISZA rise!” or more literally “The River Tisza is flowing”). Joy extended throughout Europe, and in Ukraine new hope arose, a hope to receive…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte “There are few things more dangerous than a mixture of power, arrogance and incompetence.” ~ Bob Herbert (former op-ed columnist for The New York Times, television personality, recipient of awards for distinguished journalism, and author of  …

By: C. William Hanson Jr. Were the Muses looking after me this weekend? Or was it just  the extraordinary kindness of the Turkish Air ticket agent, responding to my pleas for an aisle seat? I was preparing for my ten hour flight back from Istanbul to Boston. If I heard her correctly, she twice declined…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. Dear Readers, Christmas and the old year have come and gone, or have they?  Ethnocentrically yes, but in the coming months, the Chinese will celebrate a new (lunar) year on February, the Persians (including various Middle Eastern and Central Asian cultures) on March 20th and 21st, and the Thai, from…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. “Samarkand is a city of radiant beauty, where the silk of the ages is woven into the fabric of history.” -Kipling, Rudyard. The Collected Works of Rudyard Kipling. Edited by David G. McCullough, Wordsworth Editions, 1994, p. 267 “Bukhara, like a star, rose upon my view, with its domes, turquoise…

By: C. William Hanson Jr. Dear Readers, In the closing lines of last month’s edition, we wrote,  “When organizations prioritize conformity over creativity, the rich tapestry of cultural expression suffers. Next month we shall explore these issues further.”  In the case of Russia, the Putin regime’s restrictions of free expression, Western sanctions in response to…