Inappropriate Conversations

Questions can be valuable even when we don't answer them fully or at all. In a change of pace, here are a few questions that I've mulled over in the past. Some people may find this uncomfortable. I believe facing these types of considerations will lead us to think, or at least to ponder.  Stay tuned through the end for the title track of Craig Bevan's CD, "I Think We've Made It." Different Drummer: Terry Gilliam

Representative democracy has almost become a joke in the United States of America. The two-party system gives voters a false, and limited, sense of choice where the parties themselves join forces to keep other options out. Worse, it often seems like no one votes their conscience anymore. We complain about the "lesser of two evils" while so easily settling for just that. We will never get anything better until we stop trying to "pick the winner" and start demanding something better than a "race." Different Drummer: Ralph Nader

We miss huge opportunities to make meaningful connections with people and ideas when we separate science from daily living. Even culturally, we often fail to recognize the implications and possibilities that certain scientific theories present to us. With the laws of motion, for example, something more profound than physics is described in Isaac Newton's work. Different Drummer: Salvador Dali

The realm of "the arts" is most likely to present a healthy confrontation of sex, religion, politics and culture. At times in our history, this has been a safe haven for new ideas. At other times, it has been the last stronghold against totalitarian conformity. Few artists have demonstrated this better than this week's different drummer. He is a filmmaker who mercilessly skewered self-righteous religiosity and stood up against fascism as boldly as any soldier. Different Drummer: Luis Bunuel