
Before we were slaves in Egypt, we were Joseph's brothers and their wives, working at the right hand of a seemingly benevolent pharaoh. But as more modern freedom movements have reminded us over and over again, trust in institutions is a trust misplaced, for power shared unilaterally is power that can be withheld. 400 years and a dozen generations, and we find ourselves both enslaved and feared for our potential power as usurpers. And yet. Without Pharaoh's breeding program, we would not have become a people. Without the pressure of [...]
It's a useful language, is English. Got a huge vocabulary, words for pretty much everything you want. But that feeling you get when you return to a place that was once familiar, but has now changed beyond recognition? Nothing. I mean, it's not just that some of the buildings have changed, the people have too. They're walking the streets - your streets - and everything seems to mean something completely different to what it used to. There's no word for that. That's why Ralph Stanley sang the bluegrass classic Rank Stranger . [...]