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This is where I post new topics and information items that relate to themes in Parallels, my new book

My First Blog, 4/28/26:

The final part of my home page features “The Portrait of Juan de Pareja,” and offers the history of this significant painting. It’s unique because 1) it’s the first European portrait of an African and 2) the subject (Pareja) was a slave throughout his life, although he was passed among several masters as an “indentured servant.” That term implies a finite period of servitude, but in Pareja’s case, lasted until his death in 1670. My book Parallels discusses several such cases where wordplay masks slavery, including child labor; “serfdom”; raw military recruits sent to their deaths in frontal attacks; etc. The book is available at amazon.com/books, in both paperback and ebook forms. On the Amazon Books page, enter Parallels by Paul A. Denk in the Search field. (Don’t worry, there’s plenty of positive stuff in the book to satisfy every optimist!)

New Post, 4/29/26

“The haves and have-nots can often be traced to the dids and did-nots.” This idea is attributed to David Ramsey, a modern finance guru who authored a series of self-help guides on personal finance. However, the first use of the terms “haves and have-nots”, etc., dates from 1742 in Miguel Cervantes’ book Don Quixote.

Ramsey gives practical suggestions for managing ones personal spending and saving habits — good recommendations for remaining solvent and staying out of debt. Good advice! However, people don’t all start life with the same resources, options, and likely futures.

Dr, Paul Leggett, a retired Presbyterian minister, once gave a sermon on the old adage “God helps those who help themselves.” He pointed out that the expression isn’t found in the Bible, as many people imagine. In fact, Leggett explains that the phrase contradicts basic biblical tenets like “Love thy neighbor as thyself ” and stories like that of the Good Samaritan. For more on misused religious and philosophical ideas, see the chapter on Trump and Christian Evangelists in my new book Parallels, available for sampling or purchasing on amazon,com/books and barnesandnoble.com. Search for “Parallels by Paul A. Denk.”

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