Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 5, 2026 – For the first time after days of meteorological dread, we in this part of the world awoke to bright sunshine with all its redemptive promise. By force of culture, tradition and upbringing, I thought of Easter—at least until I looked out the window of our reading room and saw a neighbor …
APRIL 2, 2026 – By the giddy chatter of TV reporters covering yesterday’s launch of Artemis II, viewers could’ve been excused for thinking that Neil Armstrong’s “One small step for [a] man . . .”[1] and the five subsequent manned lunar landings were figments of our collective imagination. “Historic,” “Never accomplished before,” and other “firsts” …
MARCH 31, 2026 – Yesterday our son Cory sent me a mid-day text seeking confirmation that I was planning to pick up our fourth-grader granddaughter from school. I replied immediately with a “thumbs up” emoji. At my stage of life, few things could give me greater delight than time with Illiana, starting with the 15-minute …
MARCH 22, 2026 – I’m not making up the name—Derward Badger. If I were writing a novel, however, set in the remote reaches of Vermont (admittedly redundant, given that the entire Green Mountain State is relatively isolated) featuring a seemingly odd and inscrutable character, a veritable old Vermonter whose appearances are minor and scattered but …
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 13, 2026 – Today a wholly clear smooth on-time uneventful two-hour and seven-minute Delta flight took us from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Hartford . . . to visit our two-and-a-half year old grandson, his new baby sister . . . and their parents. The 90 minutes in MSP terminal were a reminder that perhaps I …
FEBRUARY 8, 2026 – Whenever I pick up Illiana from school on a sunny day, to get the conversation rolling, I remind her that “As I’ve mentioned before . . . between the winter solstice back in December and the summer solstice in June, the north end of the earth’s axis is leaning more and …
FEBRUARY 6, 2026 – This morning I addressed one of the two certainties in life—the one that starts with “T”. One thing led to another, however, and soon I was off on numerous financial tangents. Two of these required busting through online security barriers. I’ve grown quite accustomed to these, but in the cases at …
JANUARY 15, 2026 – I’ve said before in a post what bears repeating: “By its very nature, the beast of war brings out the very worst and the very best of humanity.” This evening I watched yet another (superb) Norwegian film (see last Monday’s post)—Into the White—that captures this axiom about as well as any …
JANUARY 6, 2026 – At 12:46 a.m. today our time, we received a simple text from our younger son, Byron. “On our way to the hospital!” it read. We knew what that meant: the baby had better wait at least 40 minutes, since that was how long it would take to drive to the hospital. …
JANUARY 4, 2026 – Yesterday, our old-fashioned mail delivery service dropped into the mail slot of our old-fashioned house, an old-style letter envelope containing two ancient letters and two postcards of the same vintage as the two very old letters. On the face of one of the postcards was a Post-It Note bearing the handwriting …
JANUARY 1, 2026 – Unlike birthdays after a certain age, New Year’s Day brings a feeling of hope, renewal, and opportunity for more accommodating circumstances. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a person express resolve about much of anything when facing a birthday cake loaded with candles—or rather, impoverished of candles because it can’t …
DECEMBER 27, 2025 – I remember the time I accidentally crushed an ant on the sidewalk. It registered on my retinas but a nano-second too late for me to rotate my leather-soled dress shoe to avoid the mishap as I rose off the downtown park bench after having finished my Subway sandwich. On my way …
DECEMBER 26, 2025 – I’ve always been fascinated by dreams, probably because by way of my particular mix of brain chemistry, I’ve always experienced remarkably vivid and memorable dreams. If I had another 10 cracks at an undergraduate education, one of them would be in psychology, with a sub-focus on the sub-conscious and un-conscious states …
DECEMBER 23, 2025 – The regular reader knows by now that I’m a compulsive student of history. Just as some folks are obsessed with NFL football or college basketball (or as I used to be, with major league baseball), I’m zeroed in on “what happened and why” in previous chapters of civilization. What is the …
DECEMBER 12, 2025 – Life lately has been a blur of images—as is often the case during a period featured by the absence of “dull moments.” But when you feel the train wheels bouncing off the tracks, you stay with the train. You trust that gravity, die Bahn, der Zug, and a pinch of good …