“Democracy cannot exist when men prefer ideas and opinions that are fabricated for them. The actions and statements of the citizen must not be mere automatic “reactions”-mere mechanical salutes, gesticulations signifying passive conformity with the dictates of those in power.

“To be truthful, we will have to admit that one cannot expect this to be realized in all the citizens of a democracy. But if it is not realized in a significant proportion of them, democracy ceases to be an objective fact and becomes nothing but an emotionally loaded word.

“What is the situation in the United States today?”

from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton

one should not be online first thing in the morning … a monday morning after a sunday at school … we had our open house yesterday and we each had a job … mine was to sit with our illustrious department chair at a table in the cafeteria … beneath a plastic sign … ENGLISH … a first for me …

to sit and speak with any who wandered past … with any who had questions … there were a few … and our illustrious d. c. handled them affably while i contributed around the edges … drank a little coffee … processed a few student papers … sampled some dessert … and chatted with our illustrious d. c. …

and now it’s monday morning … and rain prevents a walk …

classes today … AP will have finished reading Twelfth Night and composed a question about it … AmLit will have read a short passage from Moby Dick and finished their response (channeling me) to a “parent letter” complaining about Poe’s place in the curriculum … but what … then what … something …

still raining … rising from the south