Author Archives: Philip E Jenks

Port Chester, N.Y., May 23, 2018 – Note: I’ve written several times about my ambivalence toward military memorials and celebrations, and I’m reposting this essay, slightly edited,  from last year. As U.S. women and men in uniform serve on many … Continue reading →

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.  Shovel them under and let me work–  I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten … Continue reading →

I first became aware of the art of Robert Lentz when his small icons began appearing on my wife’s devotional shelf. Lentz, a Franciscan friar in New Mexico, has painted icons of hundreds of bona fide saints. But the Lentz … Continue reading →

Port Chester, February 21, 2018 – I never did buy the claim that Billy Graham became famous because William Randolph Hearst wanted to sell papers during his 1949 Los Angeles crusade and wired his editors to “Puff Graham.” Granted, even … Continue reading →

It was snowing steadily last night and I fell asleep thinking I would have to get up in a few hours to shovel the sidewalk. The meme above must have been the last thing I saw on Facebook before I … Continue reading →

Seventeen children and adults killed with a semi-automatic rifle in Florida by a 19-year-old with impulse control issues. The eighteenth time guns were discharged in a school so far in 2018. God damn it. Senators and representatives owned by the NRA, … Continue reading →

Who Loves a Parade? Certainly not the GI’s forced to march in one. The current commander-in-chief – Cadet Bone Spurs as he has been aptly dubbed by Senator Tammy Duckworth, a bona fide war hero – has no way of … Continue reading →