Aug

2016

An open letter to my dog

Dear Phoebe,
You’re just a dog, but I love you like a child, like the sister I never had. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have you in our family, but every day is precious.
You came to us by chance. Your first owner committed suicide; abandonment was a traumatic loss for you.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: letter, dog

28

Aug

2016

Courtrooms take forty years to catch up

Author: Jim Taylor

“The law,” declared Mr. Bumble, one of author Charles Dickens’ memorable characters in his novel Oliver Twist, “is an ass.” I wouldn’t go quite that far. But I would say that the law is almost always behind the times. Witness the American Bar Association’s recent ruling that lawyers are guilty of professional misconduct if they use sexist language in court. No, not about witnesses. Nor about accused criminals. But about their colleagues, other lawyers. The Bar Association’s resolution refers to “conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination,” which includes “sexual harassment and derogatory or demeaning verbal or physical comment.”

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: sexual harassment, professional misconduct

24

Aug

2016

The greatest story ever told

Author: Jim Taylor

With apologies to both Fulton Oursler’s novel and the movie based on it, for borrowing their title, that story is a single episode in the greater story of all of us. Maybe it’s time to revisit the biblical story of creation, movingit out of misplaced nostalgia for a golden past to a more realistic tale of growth and change.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: greatest story

21

Aug

2016

The age of lone wolf terrorism

Author: Jim Taylor

Donald Trump says he will make America safe again. I don’t think there is such a place anymore. Certainly not in America. In the last few weeks, we’ve had police shooting black men in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Miami. We’ve had black men killing cops in Dallas and Baton Rouge. America now averages a gun for every citizen. Forty states allow open carry. No major U.S. city can guarantee you won’t get shot by some guntotin’ goon. The cycle of violence seems to be escalating. It’s no safer internationally.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: lone wolf, terrorism

17

Aug

2016

Thunder and lightning and ruthless gods

Author: Jim Taylor

This has been a summer of thunderstorms. Out of a clear sky, a few fluffy clouds form. Some of them grow taller, heavier, darker. An anvil top mushrooms ominously. Thunder rolls; lightning flashes; rain falls in torrents.
For a period, the meteorologist’s weather maps showed recurring bands of thunderstorms hanging over the higher mountain ranges east of us.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: lightning, ruthless gods, thunder, gods

Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

An open letter to my dog

Courtrooms take forty years to catch up

The greatest story ever told

The age of lone wolf terrorism

Thunder and lightning and ruthless gods

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