At 11 a.m. on a pleasant spring Monday, May 4, 1970, 77 combat ready Ohio National Guardsmen with bayonetted rifles and gas masks assembled at the lower edge of the Kent State University campus. In front of them across a large grassy area known as the Commons were several hundred angry students awaiting a 12 o’clock anti-war rally that was going ahead despite having already … Continue reading Personal Reflections on the Kent State Tragedy
It was autumn in this pleasant Baltic Sea corner of northeastern Europe. I arrived at the Litinterp guesthouse in Klaipeda, Lithuania in September 2007 with one objective; to spend seven days in relative isolation and emerge with a draft of the book that despite best intentions had not come together over two preceding years. The venue was perfect. It was a long three-story house built in … Continue reading Lessons From a Writing Retreat
It is January 2019. I’m the sole guest in an elegant dining room where a dozen tables are set with starched napkins and crystal water goblets awaiting patrons who will never arrive. Floor length drapes are pulled back and neatly tied on windows that look out over a manicured garden. A portrait of young Queen Elizabeth in a white gown is displayed above mahogany wainscoting. … Continue reading Bulawayo’s Ghosts
WASHINGTON: The Peterson Institute for International Economics on April 10 said the US economy is currently contracting at an unprecedented 50% annual rate with unemployment likely to reach 18% by June. But if the virus is contained and the shutdown is lifted, the Washington-based think tank predicts an equally rapid snap-back with the economy growing at a 50% pace in the July to September quarter. In … Continue reading What Will a Recovery Look Like? Part II
WASHINGTON; April 9, 2020: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented global economic shutdown, the kind of black swan event or exogenous economic shock we’ve been warned about. It happened with frightening speed. In just six-weeks the US economy went from 50-year low unemployment to 17 million people out of work. Share prices, at a peak in mid-February, plunged over 20% into a bear market. We’re experiencing a global … Continue reading What Will a Recovery Look Like?
Barry D. Wood 