Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 17, 2026 – I was a fourth-grader—our granddaughter’s age—when the famous St. Patrick’s Day Blizzard slammed Minnesota. School was canceled, mostly on account of the travel hazards facing school buses that ferried all the “farm kids” (whether they lived on actual farms or not) to and from schools in town. We who lived inside …
MARCH 16, 2026 – Whenever I think of the hallmark of our species—resilience—I think of the late Ruth Oppenheim, mother of my close college friend, Jeff. Ruth passed away late last week after a long, long life. As far as her family and wide circle of friends are concerned, however, her extraordinary life couldn’t possibly …
MARCH 15, 2026 – (Cont.) Think and say what you will about Harry S. Truman, but he was a George Washington next to what now passes for a president. Although I have yet to read David McCullough’s definitive biography of Truman, I know enough about our 33rd president to shape a reasonably well-informed opinion of …
MARCH 15, 2026 – Somewhere along the line of my secondary education John Hersey’s book, Hiroshima was required reading. As our nation’s foolhardy leader drags us into yet another war, Hersey’s account of six survivors of the blast that was “brighter than a thousand suns” should again be required reading. The “book” was an article …
MARCH 13, 2026 – This evening we enjoyed dinner out with our good friends Jim and Bonnie. Manitou, the popular spot in downtown White Bear Lake, was royally hopping in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day, just four days away. Just as we were finishing our meal, a Girl Scout in full regalia started making the …
MARCH 12, 2026 – This past Monday’s post was entitled, “Why I Went to College.” Today I learned “Why I went to high school,” or more precisely as regards the latter, “Why I went to a particular high school.” Long-time subscribers to this blog are familiar with my connection to the Green Mountain State; specifically, …
MARCH 11, 2026 – I remember watching/listening to portions of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee back in 2022. She gave a credible account of herself—erudite, respectful, genuine, articulate, and a methodical thinker. Based on her C.V. and on what I observed, I thought—Yes, she seems well qualified to …
MARCH 10, 2026 – I’m nearly laughing out loud—“LOL” in the vernacular of The Text. Earlier today I struggled mightily in my role as a remote writing mentor for a couple of high school students. In each case it was a classic matter of, “Where do I start?” I don’t mean to disparage my mentees. …
MARCH 9, 2026 – It’s a question with multiple answers—broad and narrow: “Why did I go to college?” As is the case with the same basic question in other contexts, the answers can be approached from either side of the subject experience. For example, “Why did I go to Paris?” The “pre-answer”: “To see the …
MARCH 8, 2026 – Much ado has been made online—wholly appropriately—of the Commander in Chief’s wearing a baseball cap during the ceremony at Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of the six dead American servicemen. I haven’t talked to any soldiers, sailors or airwomen/men or veterans about this, but of MAGA members among …
MARCH 7, 2026 – Lately I’ve been in what I’d describe as a “knowledge-informational funk.” Part of the problem appears to be the shortage of storage space inside my cranium. If part of my brain is a storage room with floor-to-ceiling shelving, all the available space is metaphorically crammed with exposure to issues acute in …
MARCH 6, 2026 – I read somewhere—I think it might’ve been in The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr—in which a study of London cabbies revealed overly developed memories in the region where navigational information is stored. Obviously, the study pre-dated Google Maps and other familiar GPS-based apps. Today …
MARCH 5, 2026 – I really feel as if I’m a passenger on one of those gargantuan cruise ships with 23 decks, 25 dining rooms, 18 swimming pools, and enough poker chips to sink the ship if they all slid off the poker tables at the same time. (Eh, eh. That’s a joke.) The cruise …
MARCH 4, 2026 – Yesterday in a regular chat with a close college friend, we talked politics—as usual. After venting our spleens over the latest outrage—war against Iran—my good friend asked me, “Where do you think America will be a year from now? What’s your prediction?” After answering his question, I asked him, in turn, …
MARCH 3, 2026 – Yesterday my iPhone went on the fritz for the second time in four days. All outgoing calls were a “fail,” and all incoming calls went straight to voicemail. On the first “fail,” I searched for online solutions and found one that worked: “Turn on airplane mode [sic] for 30 seconds, then …
MARCH 2, 2026 – Today I experienced a further lesson in the difficulty of reconciling my circumstances with our country’s ugly past. In this particular instance, I have in mind the treatment of Indigenous populations by the European settlers, colonizers, fortune-seekers, and religious zealots who preceded us, not to mention by us, as well, with …
MARCH 1, 2026 – By all appearances, we’re well into the post-democracy phase of American history. On the surface, this can be quite discomforting, especially for us who’ve been convinced that the sky has been falling since January 20 of last year. But from a broader perspective, the current crisis, if you will, is not …
FEBRUARY 28, 2026 – When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss. It featured an imaginary circus inside the imagination of a kid named Morris McGurk. Morris envisioned a Big Top Circus in place of a vacant lot within the confines of a tall, …
FEBRUARY 27, 2026 – (Cont.) At the Brushmill I’d been torn between the chicken pot pie and the red lentil soup to go with my half of the misticanza salad that Byron and I had ordered together. Ultimately, I’d gone with the soup, thinking it was the more healthful choice, but then again, as everyone …
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 – Yesterday was another day that saw the yo-yo crawl upandupandup and up and up and up and up and . . . then . . . back . . . down and down and down and downanddownagain. On the upswing—into the early afternoon—I felt as though my cold symptoms were officially …
FEBRUARY 25, 2026 – By the time I’d assembled myself for breakfast yesterday morning, I was feeling significantly better. Maybe not quite airworthy, but with two days to go before our postponed departure from southern New England, I was optimistic. In the afternoon, I actually got outside and did some light shoveling to help “widen …
FEBRUARY 22, 2026 – (Cont.) Naturally, Dio likes us to read I’m a Garbage Truck out loud to him. But here’s the rub and the DEI feature, which, if you’re a Republican and even if you’re a Democrat, you might well think I’m taking DEI way, way beyond any reasonable dimension. But note in advance …
FEBRUARY 21, 2026 – A hallmark of the Trump Era is the easy detection of truth in opposites. If Trump hates something such as wind power, for example, then I know I wind turbines are absolutely a good thing, no questions asked. If Trump’s Treasury Secretary Bessent tries to rationalize tariffs as a blunt instrument …
FEBRUARY 20, 2026 – Our son Byron and daughter-in-law Mylène have laid down some immutable rules in their household. One is that their kids—a toddler and a newborn—will have no unsupervised “screen time.” I think this is probably a good rule. Both kids have a hint of pink-eye and must have eyedrops administered twice daily. …
FEBRUARY 18, 2026 – As grandparents who are only semi-retired, what do they do while visiting their grandkids (and their parents) for 10 days on the young family’s home turf in Connecticut—especially when a heavy mist transforms the hills and vales into an interactive Chinese silk screen the grandparents would expect to find on display …