Dear Mr. William Lovett,

I am the attorney at the Quaker Oats Company responsible for trademark matters. As you probably know, our company manufactures numerous food products, the most famous of which is oatmeal. In addition to having used the Quaker Oats name as our company name for close to 100 years, we have registered the Quaker name as a trademark.

It was therefore quite a surprise to discover that you are operating a business under the name "Quaker Oats Christmas Tree Farm." Your use of our trademark is likely to mislead consumers into believing that your business is associated with the Quaker Oats Company. It is also likely to weaken our very strong trademark. In light of the foregoing, we hereby demand that you immediately stop all use of the "Quaker Oats" name.... While we would like to settle this matter amicably, we will take all steps which are necessary and appropriate to protect our name.

--Sincerely, Janet L. Silverberg, counsel.

While few may be prepared to present papers on the topic of justice, I know there are many interested in the subject these days. Of note is the proposed keynote speaker, Paul Woodruff who is Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities at the University of Texas and will speak on the topic "From Anger to Justice: the Well-Tempered Soul"

KickTime covered Woodruff's work on Reverence in this article. It will be a great pleasure to have him speaking in the area.

Of the classical virtues, justice is the most the basic for human flourishing and the most elusive to define and to realize in society.
from the Viterbo website

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a song by English singer-songwriter John Lennon with Yoko Ono. [. . .] The lyrics are based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." The cities included New York, Tokyo, Rome, Amsterdam, and London. At the time the United States was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War. The line "War is over/If you want it/War is over/Now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.

The record starts with a barely-audible whisper: Yoko whispers "Happy Christmas, Kyoko," then John whispers "Happy Christmas, Julian." Kyoko is Yoko's daughter (from her marriage to Anthony Cox), and Julian is John's son (from his marriage to Cynthia Lennon). Both children were 8 years old at the time the song was recorded in 1971.

Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980, the song was re-released in the UK on December 20 of that year.

Listen to the song via Crooks and Liars here.

One Holiday Season awhile ago
I went to a tavern, actually a bar,
But a holy bar, like a church,
A place of worship.
There I met Jesus, I think.

Click Full Story (for the whole Poem)

I used to be a contractor for Apple, working on a secret project. Unfortunately, the computer we were building never saw the light of day. The project was so plagued by politics and ego that when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead. In August 1993, the project was canceled. A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed.

I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up.

Click here for the whole story of how he subverted the power structure and in so doing the Universe showed up to help.

Picture from Christiane Engel's website

Albert Schweitzer's granddaughter, Christiane Engel, will be in LaCrosse with a performance entitled Reverence for Life that will include her performance of Mozart Piano Concertos  interleaved with a dramatization of her grandfather's words with the music of Bach.  This Sunday evening (6:30pm, $10/adult, $5.student) performance seems crafted to sow the seeds of reverence.  

Paul Woodruff offers the best writing on the subject of reverence and its relevance for today.  Below is an excerpt from his book Reverence:  Renewing a Forgotten Virtue.

Why Reverence?(from this_site)

Why write about reverence? Because we have forgotten what it means. Because reverence fosters leadership and education. Most important, because reverence kindles warmth in friendship and family life. And because without reverence, things fall apart. People do not know how to respect each other and themselves. An army cannot tell the difference between what it is and a gang of bandits. Without reverence, we cannot explain why we should treat the natural world with respect. Without reverence, a house is not a home, a boss is not a leader, an instructor is not a teacher. Without reverence, we would not even know how to learn reverence. To teach reverence, you must find the seeds of reverence in each person and help them grow.[...]

If you desire peace in the world, do not pray that everyone share your beliefs. Pray instead that all may be reverent.

Full story an extended quote from Paul Woodruff's book...

Jorge Luis Borges was born August 24, 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  He was a genius scholar, writer, critic, and an inspiration to many writers and artists.  "Borgesian" societies have emerged after his death that try to continue the convoluted, paradoxical sense that his writing evoked.  

A small essay entitled Borges_and_I  illustrates his twist of mind and ability to turn a phrase. His works are generally quite short and yet complete.  According to Borges:

The composition of vast books is a laborious and impoverishing extravagance. To go on for five hundred pages developing an idea whose perfect oral exposition is possible in a few minutes! A better course of procedure is to pretend that these books already exist, and then to offer a resume, a commentary . . . More reasonable, more inept, more indolent, I have preferred to write notes upon imaginary books.
-- 10 November 1941

Another resource on line that has good biographical information (provided the above quote)  and also pursues the "Borgesian" artistic future is the Garden_of_the_Forking_Path_website. Forking Path refers to the fascination and fear Borges had of labyrinths--the garden variety and the simple one created by positioning two mirrors at an angle. He invites the reader into these mazes, and from time to time points the way forward.