Tammy Swofford

Prologue: In Homer, the mythical animal is merely identified as the hound of Haides: “When Herakles was sent down to Haides of the Gates, to hale back from Erebos (the Dark) the hound of the grisly death god (Haides Stygeros).” ‘Theogeny’, the epic poem by Hesiod, gives birth to a name: “Kerberos (Cerberus) the savage, […]

Those of us writing as opinion makers for Daily Times have a steady presence on these pages. Behind the scenes, we are part of a vibrant group who trade occasional opinions in our private e-mails. We also sustain careers and an academic presence outside the field of journalism. Our lives are busy and we write […]

Date of birth: At the appointed time. Place of birth: Bethlehem. Lineage: Luke 1:26-56. Birth announcement: Luke 2:8-15. Gifts of the Magi: “Gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). Witnesses present when the child was presented at the temple in Jerusalem: Prophetess Anna, daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asher. […]

Throughout the centuries, ‘big world, small heart’ stories have played out across the world. It is the tale of power that shrinks the heart, wealth that forgets the plight of the poor and arrogance that places the individual beyond the hand of the law. However, our laws are strong in the US. We know that […]

Your children fall ill. The neighbour’s children begin to experience the same symptoms. A physician has a diagnosis and a cure but he merely tells you to ‘watch’ for further signs of medical decline. No prescription is given. No words of caution. The man pats you on the back and smiles in benign manner. “Watch,” […]

It will be the first world war of its kind. It will be a war between Muslims states with disintegrating borders, a war between new confederacies with unlikely alliances. It will be called World War M. The incremental staging is already in place for this event, so let us move into droplet research. It is […]

Last week, the column ‘Guidelines for the reader’ (Daily Times, November 22, 2013) gave a few common sense rules for critical reading. Let us delve a bit deeper this week with practical application. A New York Times commentary gives wonderful opportunity to deconstruct the work of an alternative source journalist. Stories, which are vignette-driven as […]

In my three years of writing for Daily Times, I have provided two articles offering guidelines for journalists. The discipline of a weekly column keeps me on my toes. Not only do I have to constantly read commentary, there is also a need to bounce ideas off individuals who have expertise in various subjects. I […]

On November 13, 1974, police were called to a home situated on Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. The bodies of Ronald Defeo, Sr., his wife, and four of their five children were found inside the home. They had been shot execution-style. The survivor (Ronald Defeo, Jr.) was later charged and convicted for the murder […]

A reconstitution of the words of Martin Neimoller rolled around in my head as I lit a flame and prepared to burn my notes from the interview with Mohamed Elhassan. A yellow legal pad contained his thoughts. These thoughts were condensed for the piece on the page last week. I had already memorised a few […]