A haiku[1] and a singing of the mantra of compassion[2] mark Winter Solstice 2010!  --  "The only gift is a portion of thyself." --Emerson.[3] ...

The American philosopher Richard Rorty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rorty) died on Jun. 8, 2007.  --  Some of his last thoughts were recorded in an essay published posthumously in the journal Poetry.[1]  --  Rorty's main point:  facing death, the only reading he'd done that he found was "of any use"  poetry.   --  Not philosophy, not religious texts, but poetry.  --  "I now wish that I had spent somewhat more of my life with verse.  This is not because I fear having missed out on truths that are incapable of statement in prose.  There are no such truths; there is nothing about death that Swinburne and Landor knew but Epicurus and Heidegger failed to grasp.  Rather, it is because I would have lived more fully if I had been able to rattle off more old chestnuts -- just as I would have if I had made more close friends."  --  NOTE:  Poetry has been published in Chicago since 1912....

In March 2009 Shashi Tharoor gave a wide-ranging lecture at the University of Southern California on Indian public diplomacy, followed by a Q&A period.[1]  --  Tharoor, 54, was under-secretary-general of the United Nations from 2001 to 2007, and is the author of The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century (2007).  --  He was a serious candidate for the post of secretary-general of the United Nations in 2006.  --  Shortly after giving this lecture, Tharoor won a seat in India's parliament and is now India's minister of state for external affairs....