E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

A  poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.

This blog confesses to finding this a very challenging time in world history - a time of threatened democracies, threatened peoples and enclaves and nations, threatened ways of being human, threatened ecosystems and indeed the planet... it is perhaps the Age of Threats, best exemplified by the excesses of billionaire capitalism, big tech, and drone warfare. It is a tough time. So, when Liam Neeson releases a new movie, we watch it. Simply for escapism. For the idea that someone can solve some of these problems, with their skill set. Now, critical standards are important, when one is a critic, but less so when one is a consumer of an escapeway to another world. Liam Neeson's "violent dad" movies are not for everyone. His Taken films are admittedly the gold standard of the Neeson genre. But we love his always the same but different characters, wherever they appear, in warm or blizzard conditions, especially when they start somewhat isolated or sad, and suddenly have a job...

20 years ago, when blogging was a new past-time, and this blog had just recently begun, a major terrorist attack took place in London. This is what I posted that day, here, exactly 20 years ago: "The thing we feared most has happened: Madrid-style, multiple terrorist attacks on the London Underground and bus routes in the heart of London, timed with surgical cruelty after London's Olympic win and the start of the G8 summit. It is an unsettling time, and there have been many casualties. So far, over 33 fatalities have been reported. It is - weatherwise and ironically (as in New York in 2001) - a warm, sunny day now, with lovely blue skies. Tens of thousands of would-be commuters are slowly walking home early. With no underground system, some mainline services closed, and few buses in Zone 1, some will be walking for hours. The streets are eerily calm, punctuated by sirens. The people of London, accustomed to such things, are brave and will endure, but this is a sad day for all ...