Eureka!

This is a picture of Granny, who used to take "the other side" in order to have debates whenever she came to our dining room table. I appreciate now that she was trying to encourage discussion of things that matter... civil discourse about difficult subjects -- at the dining room table -- not to play it safe, not to "go along" and not to be inflexible toward opposing points of view.

Civil discourse is necessary in a free society, and Granny wisely provoked us into it -- and often. In many ways, she is a pervading influence on this blog, which is my way of promoting thoughtful discussion. Nothing I post receives very much in the way of comments, but I am not to measure results or performance. Mine is simply "to PUT it" as I saw so vividly in the film Searching for Sugarman. And so I put it, whatever I get for the day, offering what I hope to be thought-provoking thoughts(!) on topics that matter. 

I created this blog to practice saying what I mean, meaning what I say, but not saying it mean. It's a practice I learned from Granny, and so I dedicate this blog, belatedly, to the only person I ever called by that name.

This is photograph of Granny, probably taken in 1960 and probably by me. How I loved my Granny.