Every morning, I check my bed and body for ticks.
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View Richard C. Kagan's profile
Every morning, I check my bed and body for ticks.
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TV is enjoyable when it provides for personable entertainment, reflection. and curiosity. Not when it stirs up meaningless fantasy. and fears.
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I confess: I am not much into mending fences--either making them or breaking them or fixing them.
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World War II murders and casualties overshadowed my childhood.
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In the 1950s high school swimming was neither competitive nor popular. For the macho man, the game was gymnastics on the bars, football on the field, and baseball on the diamonds. For women, it was cheerleading and theater. We did not have fancy or colorful uniforms. Swimmers had a minimal audience. Our uniforms scantily revealed…
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The silent sentry deceptively contrasts against the cold winter sky. A Minnesota winter is both a threat and a reward. “The beast is loose and kills tonight…” Two popular songs portray winter with contrary emotions. The Russian band, Krokus, leads into terror: Russian winter, broken hearts/Cold winds in the dark/The beast is loose and kills…
Read More
In the summer of 1978, I took a group of students to Taiwan for a work-study trip. Among them was an older female ROTC grad with the officer’s rank of Second Lieutenant. With me posing as her husband, we entered the American Military”s Officers Club. A hub for the social and political elite, its members…
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In 1972 my California driver’s license expired after decades of coverage. I had moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to prepare my Ph.D. thesis for publication. I needed to renew my license to commute to the library, shop in the markets, and tour Detroit. Just in the nick of time before the…
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One of the most remarkable discoveries of my dive into family history is the connection between my mother and a close friend with a secret (from me) history.
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My sympathy for women and gays began with my birth. My mother, Rose, was disappointed that she birthed a male child—as documented by my birth certificate. My first photograph showed me as a three-year-old child in the driveway dressed in a skirt.. Rose used terms of endearment that had a feminine flavor. Etymologically, the “ie”…
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The word “prejudice” derives from the Latin word “Praejudicim” which means “prior judgment”, or a preconceived opinion not based on actual experience. The following is an example of “post-judgment” based on actual experience.
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Karen, seeking a new life, had fled from her family and friends to Kyoto, Japan. She fell into equally bad relationships in the expat community. I have tried to explain her process of separating from me. She joined a potter’s commune on the island of Shikoku where she eventuality became a renowned potter. One day,…
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Hitch hiking has transformed from adventure to a warning about self preservation.
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Overture. The Middletown Ct. Police Station—Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion. Before beginning my job as a substitute teacher, I traveled to the police department for a fingerprint security check. The officer, a large friendly African American interviewed me. “Where will you be teaching?” “Middletown High School.” “Oh,” he warningly replied. “Do you know…
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The “Haven for Newlyweds” Art Park contained more than one hundred sculptures by Korean artists scattered throughout the lush park with its paths in rolling hills and forests.
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I have spent my retirement digging through the documents of my past, filing through my history. Here’s a poem I found in a box, long forgotten. Yoishyo—haiyo. Haiyo-yoishyo Watching the preparation of Omochitsuki (rice cakes for the New Year), Yearning to take hold of the kine (mallet) to pound into the usu (stamp mill), Swimming…
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Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe–I have tried it–my own feet have tried it well–be not
detain'd!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the
shelf unopen'd! Walt Whitman.
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Namekagon river, Wisconsin What could be more glorious than a weekend on the Namakagon River in Wisconsin? A group of female nurses, myself, my 12-year-old daughter and her friend, Emily, drove under a bright sky across rich agricultural land through the St. Croix river’s national forest finally stopping at a roadside rest over the river.…
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From my files: A Japanese ritual: emotion, laughter, love and union.
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With the discovery of Jewish art and culture my heritage became more significant.
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Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can’t Go Home Again. What are the frustrations if you try?
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Solitude liberated me from isolation and mediocrity. For me, isolation results from a feeling of imprisonment. I have felt physically isolated in a crowd, at a bar, in a faculty meeting or even in the exercise gym where I am the weakest and slowest. For me, solitude is self-chosen: a personal path to exploring…
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A snaky escape from forbidden sites in old Taipei.
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The summer of 1961, the place—the Federal Justice Building in Connecticut, the courtroom for hearings before the Selective Service hearing officer, me. By refusing to accept the legitimacy of the draft, I received a federal order to appear before a judge who would accept my refusal or punish me with a two-year prison sentence for…
Read More
One of my favorite walking activities involves shutting my eyes for as long as I can. I choose sidewalks with grass on both sides, or smooth trails that are straight with no stones or potholes. The experience of temporary blindness allows me to enter the environment with no focus, no distractions except for the wind…
Read More
This was the command from my mother when I was in elementary school. The assignment in class was to speak about our family background. The kids awkwardly told stories about the origins of their grandparents in Ohio or somewhere in California, and then moved to their home in North Hollywood. Their stories were antiseptic, hagiographic,…
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The struggle to teach traditionally vs. the struggle to teach with a different pedagogy
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In the summer of 1961, I left my job in Harlem where I was working with gang members as a community worker, for a student life at Yale that catapulted me from clamorous chaos to hushed academia.
Read More
From 1965-67, I studied Chinese in Taiwan, Republic of China. Although I was a dedicated student, I found myself more involved in human rights opposing martial law.
Read More
In Minnesota, winter is both a threat and a reward.
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Ticks!
Prompted By Fears and Phobias
/ Stories
Every morning, I check my bed and body for ticks.
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Through the screen: traveling to murder in comfort
Prompted By TV That Inspired Me
/ Stories
TV is enjoyable when it provides for personable entertainment, reflection. and curiosity. Not when it stirs up meaningless fantasy. and fears.
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Caroming not mending
Prompted By Mending Fences
/ Stories
I confess: I am not much into mending fences--either making them or breaking them or fixing them.
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A war’s victims and survivors are the result of humanity’s betrayal
Prompted By War
/ Stories
World War II murders and casualties overshadowed my childhood.
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Swimming Routine
Prompted By Swimming
/ Stories
In the 1950s high school swimming was neither competitive nor popular. For the macho man, the game was gymnastics on the bars, football on the field, and baseball on the diamonds. For women, it was cheerleading and theater. We did not have fancy or colorful uniforms. Swimmers had a minimal audience. Our uniforms scantily revealed…
Read More
With climate change and no snow in Mn., this may be my last drive in white
Prompted By Snow Day
/ Stories
The silent sentry deceptively contrasts against the cold winter sky. A Minnesota winter is both a threat and a reward. “The beast is loose and kills tonight…” Two popular songs portray winter with contrary emotions. The Russian band, Krokus, leads into terror: Russian winter, broken hearts/Cold winds in the dark/The beast is loose and kills…
Read More
I laughed until I fell on the floor crying! 😂😂😂
Prompted By Comedy
/ Stories
In the summer of 1978, I took a group of students to Taiwan for a work-study trip. Among them was an older female ROTC grad with the officer’s rank of Second Lieutenant. With me posing as her husband, we entered the American Military”s Officers Club. A hub for the social and political elite, its members…
Read More
Two Driver’s Tests: Having Fun!
Prompted By The DMV
/ Stories
In 1972 my California driver’s license expired after decades of coverage. I had moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to prepare my Ph.D. thesis for publication. I needed to renew my license to commute to the library, shop in the markets, and tour Detroit. Just in the nick of time before the…
Read More
Silence
Prompted By Is Where I’m From Who I Am?
/ Stories
One of the most remarkable discoveries of my dive into family history is the connection between my mother and a close friend with a secret (from me) history.
Read More
George Orwell’s 1984 begins with the clock striking 13
Prompted By Daydreaming
/ Stories
My sympathy for women and gays began with my birth. My mother, Rose, was disappointed that she birthed a male child—as documented by my birth certificate. My first photograph showed me as a three-year-old child in the driveway dressed in a skirt.. Rose used terms of endearment that had a feminine flavor. Etymologically, the “ie”…
Read More
When prejudice is so ordinary, it is unexpected
Prompted By Prejudice
/ Stories
The word “prejudice” derives from the Latin word “Praejudicim” which means “prior judgment”, or a preconceived opinion not based on actual experience. The following is an example of “post-judgment” based on actual experience.
Read More
The Potter’s Wheel
Prompted By Ex-Friends
/ Stories
Karen, seeking a new life, had fled from her family and friends to Kyoto, Japan. She fell into equally bad relationships in the expat community. I have tried to explain her process of separating from me. She joined a potter’s commune on the island of Shikoku where she eventuality became a renowned potter. One day,…
Read More
Strangers in the Car
Prompted By Talking to Strangers
/ Stories
Hitch hiking has transformed from adventure to a warning about self preservation.
Read More
The Cacophony for the Carceral State
Prompted By Prison
/ Stories
Overture. The Middletown Ct. Police Station—Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion. Before beginning my job as a substitute teacher, I traveled to the police department for a fingerprint security check. The officer, a large friendly African American interviewed me. “Where will you be teaching?” “Middletown High School.” “Oh,” he warningly replied. “Do you know…
Read More
Marriage
Prompted By Marriage
/ Stories
The “Haven for Newlyweds” Art Park contained more than one hundred sculptures by Korean artists scattered throughout the lush park with its paths in rolling hills and forests.
Read More
New Year’s Eve
Prompted By Retirement
/ Stories
I have spent my retirement digging through the documents of my past, filing through my history. Here’s a poem I found in a box, long forgotten. Yoishyo—haiyo. Haiyo-yoishyo Watching the preparation of Omochitsuki (rice cakes for the New Year), Yearning to take hold of the kine (mallet) to pound into the usu (stamp mill), Swimming…
Read More
A Study Abroad Created a Community
Prompted By Community
/ Stories
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe–I have tried it–my own feet have tried it well–be not
detain'd!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the
shelf unopen'd! Walt Whitman.
Read More
Canoeing vacation with an exciting intervening rain
Prompted By Rainy Days
/ Stories
Namekagon river, Wisconsin What could be more glorious than a weekend on the Namakagon River in Wisconsin? A group of female nurses, myself, my 12-year-old daughter and her friend, Emily, drove under a bright sky across rich agricultural land through the St. Croix river’s national forest finally stopping at a roadside rest over the river.…
Read More
New Year in Nara
/ Stories
From my files: A Japanese ritual: emotion, laughter, love and union.
Read More
The Identity Roundabout: The Long Way Home
Prompted By Art’s Impact
/ Stories
With the discovery of Jewish art and culture my heritage became more significant.
Read More
Doctors and patients: the body politic.
To Return
/ Stories
Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can’t Go Home Again. What are the frustrations if you try?
Read More
From Strangers to Friends
Prompted By Isolation and Solitude
/ Stories
Solitude liberated me from isolation and mediocrity. For me, isolation results from a feeling of imprisonment. I have felt physically isolated in a crowd, at a bar, in a faculty meeting or even in the exercise gym where I am the weakest and slowest. For me, solitude is self-chosen: a personal path to exploring…
Read More
Escape from Pimps
Prompted By Timing is Everything
/ Stories
A snaky escape from forbidden sites in old Taipei.
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One can either greet the dawn or dread it.
Free Spirits in Love
An antiwar recreant: from pacifism to militancy
Prompted By Question Authority
/ Stories
The summer of 1961, the place—the Federal Justice Building in Connecticut, the courtroom for hearings before the Selective Service hearing officer, me. By refusing to accept the legitimacy of the draft, I received a federal order to appear before a judge who would accept my refusal or punish me with a two-year prison sentence for…
Read More
My Out of Body Experience.
Prompted By Aging
/ Stories
One of my favorite walking activities involves shutting my eyes for as long as I can. I choose sidewalks with grass on both sides, or smooth trails that are straight with no stones or potholes. The experience of temporary blindness allows me to enter the environment with no focus, no distractions except for the wind…
Read More
Don’t talk about your family’s history. Don’t invite trouble.
Prompted By Mother’s Day
/ Stories
This was the command from my mother when I was in elementary school. The assignment in class was to speak about our family background. The kids awkwardly told stories about the origins of their grandparents in Ohio or somewhere in California, and then moved to their home in North Hollywood. Their stories were antiseptic, hagiographic,…
Read More
Blasphemous Minister of Education
Prompted By Struggling with Values
/ Stories
The struggle to teach traditionally vs. the struggle to teach with a different pedagogy
Read More
Yale: Studies, Romances, Escape
Prompted By Affairs of the Heart
/ Stories
In the summer of 1961, I left my job in Harlem where I was working with gang members as a community worker, for a student life at Yale that catapulted me from clamorous chaos to hushed academia.
Read More
Three-Dimensional Chess. Players: Taiwan’s Martial Law, United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Me
Prompted By Danger
/ Stories
From 1965-67, I studied Chinese in Taiwan, Republic of China. Although I was a dedicated student, I found myself more involved in human rights opposing martial law.
Read More
A Minnesota Winter Rapture
Prompted By Can You Go Home Again?
/ Stories
In Minnesota, winter is both a threat and a reward.
Read More