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By ALLEN WOODS

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump again displayed his blissfully ignorant understanding of the modern world. At a fundraiser at the home of a billionaire in Palm Beach, Florida, he went off script (if there ever was a script) not only to complain about...

By ALLEN WOODS

A mob of angry men, many recently unemployed, gathered in front of an ornate, stately building, the largest in the area and a symbol of government power. Confident, because the government had taken little action after previous mob attacks, and...

By ALLEN WOODS

There’s true madness all around us: wars creating multiple military and humanitarian crimes; apocalyptic climate news daily; migrants fleeing deadly threats and facing more on their journey; our country so deeply divided that we may experience a...

By ALLEN WOODS

Here’s breaking political news — Americans are nearly unanimous in one central belief: Our society, for the lack of a better phrase, is “going to hell in a handbasket” (i.e., quickly and directly, with the phrase possibly relating to Dante’s trip to...

By ALLEN WOODS

The familiar words bring vivid memories of the 1960s video clips that opened ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”: “The thrill of victory” (a victorious boxer carried overhead by a jubilant crowd) “and the agony of defeat” (a ski jumper stumbles before...

By ALLEN WOODS

Occasionally, a random but striking event occurs that some people might describe as having a hidden meaning or suggest “was meant to be.” My problem is determining the hidden meaning, or who (or what) meant it to be and why.Recently, I was returning...

By ALLEN WOODS

Writing on our national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. and looking ahead to Black History Month in February, the disparity between our country’s professed love for King today and the facts surrounding his life and death are stark. During much of...

By ALLEN WOODS

“Red-baiting” — accusing someone of being “soft on communism” or having murky “connections” to communist groups or individuals — has been an effective tactic for Republicans for nearly a century. It’s a simple way to put opponents on the defensive,...

By ALLEN WOODS

It’s near the end of pandering season in my home state of Iowa — a political season rather than a meteorological one, also occurring in New Hampshire and other states every four years. Suddenly, for a short period, a few states are awash in...

By ALLEN WOODS

In trying to look at our world with the Christmas spirit this year, the continuing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine hover on the periphery of my vision, with horrific images of death and destruction just waiting to overwhelm me if my concentration...

By ALLEN WOODS

In the midst of a holiday season, when giving thanks and giving gifts focus our thoughts, how do we walk upright, maintaining a semblance of balance, through a decidedly broken world? It’s been a question for me ever since my personal world was broken...

By ALLEN WOODS

I admit to being a bit foggy when I woke up on Nov. 5. I had just returned from a trip out of state and airplane rides always throw my internal clock off a bit, even if they don’t involve different time zones.So, I looked at the clock and the...

By ALLEN WOODS

Veterans Day is, or should be, a solemn occasion rather than a celebration. Few soldiers who served in combat want to celebrate their actions in conditions no one would wish for: kill or be killed by anonymous enemies who have family and loved ones...

By ALLEN WOODS

Aeschylus wrote tragedies in Greece around 500 BCE, and fought as a soldier against the Persians in the famous battle at Marathon. As a participant in a battle in which 6,400 Persians and 192 Greeks were killed, we can give him some credence for...

By ALLEN WOODS

Although he was neither a mutant nor a ninja, and plagued with a pedestrian name, Bert the Turtle became well-known in the 1950s. He starred in a black-and-white cartoon/film, “Duck and Cover,” that instructed millions of schoolchildren in protecting...

By ALLEN WOODS

As I’ve written before, I began college as a math major, mesmerized by its straight-line simplicity (e.g., the total of all notations on one side of an equal sign had to be precisely the same as the other) and influenced by a couple of strong, male...

By ALLEN WOODS

Recently, I wrote a column praising the lifetime work of Garrison Keillor [“Remaining cheerful in a grim world,” Recorder, Aug. 19]. Because much of his written work (especially his most recent, “Cheerfulness”) tends towards the philosophical and...

By ALLEN WOODS

Here’s a gift — a weekend we generally consider the end of summer, and a paid day off (for some) from the workplace. Most of us will take a short trip, indulge in a hobby, or simply laze about without even considering the day’s original intent:...

By ALLEN WOODS

As I was stumbling and grousing through a seemingly endless series of rainy days recently, I happened upon the cover of a book titled “Cheerfulness.” It features a blue sky and a young woman with a cluster of multicolored balloons in the foreground.My...

By ALLEN WOODS

It is a vision intentionally imprinted in my brain several weeks ago, before wildfires polluted the air and invaded our lungs, before oceans of rain threatened to wash us away along with fledgling crops, essential infrastructure, and personal...

By ALLEN WOODS

A 1963 Broadway musical provided a catchy tune that could serve as an anthem for parents and elders today, and probably going back to those dwelling in caves: “Kids! . . . Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way?” Armed with hazy memories...