Is it 2022 yet? How to make sense of all this f***ed-up s*** going on?
(Given to me by one of my Latvian students, 2007) Or perhaps you’re better off burying your head in the sand and reading something else. At first, I wanted to provide an objective (as possible) take on current events. But I try to steer clear of politics on these pages. And, get your 2021 off to an introspective, contemplative start with a few philosophical yet practical articles that have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with politics or pandemics. Feel free to skip down to the reading list. Otherwise… My upbringing I grew up in democracies – Western Europe and the United States – during the Cold War era. I studied and learnt about various coups and insurrections in other parts of the world: the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe even…but North America? Not so much. I studied history and politics at university and graduate school. Again, much of the same, but in more depth. Over the years, my students have asked me various questions about history and politic...