In September 2011, I found myself unexpectedly wandering the streets of Istanbul. I say “unexpectedly” because there was revolution in Syria, a growing social uprising that would eventually ignite an all-consuming civil war. Security concerns had made going back to the city of Aleppo, which is where I had expected to be, impossible. Click to … Continue reading A song of melancholy and last-chance hope: Why I wrote “The Last Dice”
History
The ‘big push’ transforming the world’s energy systems
As I’m sure you have noticed, renewable energy is taking the world by storm, driven by rapidly falling prices. Ever wonder how that happened? In 2009, I authored a concept paper for the United Nations Secretariat, for circulation at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. COP15 became infamous because it was deemed a spectacular failure. Heads of … Continue reading The ‘big push’ transforming the world’s energy systems
Celebrating a victory for ethics and eloquence
For politically centrist, ethically minded people, who prefer serious debate to trolling and twitterstorms, these are challenging times. As Frank Bruni recently wrote in the New York Times (see link below), extremism and outrage is the order of the day. We need antidotes. Here's one: would you like to see (and hear) an example of … Continue reading Celebrating a victory for ethics and eloquence
An Open Letter to Future Generations
Dear Future Generations, I’m sure this is obvious to you — you can see things better than we can, in hindsight. But I want to report to you that we are living through a time of dramatic change. Historic change. The kind of moment where everything seems to be balanced on a knife edge, and … Continue reading An Open Letter to Future Generations
Inside Llewyn Davis: Not the Greenwich Village I Knew
You might expect that I should love the film “Inside Llewyn Davis,” about the folk scene of Greenwich Village in the 1960s, seen through the eyes of a young folk singer, who is a reinterpreted version of the young Dave van Ronk. Van Ronk was a legend by the time I hit that scene, as … Continue reading Inside Llewyn Davis: Not the Greenwich Village I Knew
Alan AtKisson 