The Unclad Soul

You were once a proud country of people united around simple but durable truths: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You honored yourselves by championing freedom for all people, by advocating for diversity, civil rights, and human rights. You grew into a nation the world envied, admired, and wanted to live in. People across all lands and regions, from remote communities and desert places, came here in search of a better life for them and their families. Over the years millions have come here to flee tyranny, to escape the violent evil oppression of soulless dictators. They came to America to be safe, to raise their children without the threat of seeing them slaughtered in the streets by brutal military forces or carried off into vicious exploitation by drug lords and pimps. They came to participate in an economy that welcomed demanding work, ingenuity, and a chance to build something of their own for them and their families. And in the process, this nation gr...

I had an enjoyable conversation with my nephew, David, the other night. In the midst of talking about other things he mentioned a recent essay I posted here. He reads all of them and though he doesn’t always agree with them he makes a point to keep up with what I’m thinking about. That makes his uncle enormously grateful. He has mentioned before that he would like to see more positive pieces and less negative ones. What I wrote about The Handmaid’s Tale was especially dark for him. “Why write about such horrible stuff, Uncle Tim,” he asked. “I never see that side of you when I’m with you. Write about the good stuff,” he said. I took it to heart. I have admitted here before that I know I have a streak of cynicism that runs through me at times. I don’t want to be cynical, or negative. And yet, I don’t know how to hold in my feelings of alarm, fear, and often anger at the seemingly endless injustices in our nation. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, though a merci...

The Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a scalding, brutal, at times sickening portrayal of life in some future totalitarian and theocratic state in New England known as Gilead. The storylines are so reprehensible they leave one churning with rage and shattered with sorrow. They offer a glimpse into a horrifying future that may not be impossible to imagine. Gilead is growing childless. Those in charge have devised a way to repopulate the state. Women of childbearing age are simply taken off the streets or out of their homes and proclaimed handmaids for commanders, slick and morally compromised men who have wives unable to conceive. A handmaid is chosen for them, even if she is already married and has children of her own. They are permanently separated from her. She has no rights. Her only existence is to serve the elite couple she is assigned to. The lead character in this inhuman existence is June (Elizabeth Moss), whose name is changed to Offred. Once a month, in the mo...

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.” ~ Muhammad Ali