Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 16, 2025 – During last Monday’s lecture in Russian History from Peter the Great to the Present, Professor Stavrou again stressed the importance of reading literature. When he’d given the same pitch the previous Monday he’d remarked that he himself tried to read at least one novel a week. I’m not a big reader …
APRIL 15, 2025 – This morning when I woke to another day, I checked on the world beyond my immediate horizons. I was soon reminded that our country is looking like a dirigible engulfed in flames and fast losing altitude. Whether it turns into a bomb or swan remains to be seen, though the swan …
APRIL 14, 2025 – One can’t predict how data points will line up to spell, “Abracadabra, open sesame!” straight out of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. And just as occurs in fiction, the door to the cave of knowledge and understanding opens to reveal a vast stash of loot for the taking. I love …
APRIL 13, 2025 – I harbor the hope that the reader who is about my age or beyond it will understand the sentiments expressed below. If you are my junior, the likelihood exists that at best you’ll lay my two cents aside for possible future reference. If you’re in the latter camp, I wholly understand: …
APRIL 12, 2025 – (Cont.) Although Maine borders Canada, during my four years at Bowdoin, the closest I’d gotten to the country to the north was knowing two of its citizens, Mike R. and Bernie G.[1] Both were star players on our Division III championship hockey team in addition to being excellent students and all …
APRIL 11, 2025 – (Cont.) Yet another bash—my swan song—was what I dubbed, the “2001 Party”—anticipating the distant year of our 25th reunion. If in high school George Orwell’s book, 1984, applied to the distant future, in 1976, the year of my college class, the start of the next millennium seemed to be so far …
APRIL 10, 2025 – (Cont.) To draw as many people as possible to campus wide events, I developed party themes, gimmicks, and special attractions. The “Harvest Moon Dance,” for example, featured classmate Jerry Bryant and his Bowdoin Swing Orchestra. For the Halloween masquerade party, I retained another popular student band, Plateful of Food—and sponsored a …
APRIL 9, 2025 – (Cont.) When the cheering stopped, the serious job of governing began. I say that with tongue far in cheek, of course. As I explained in Part I, there wasn’t a whole lot to the lofty position of senior class president, and the main responsibility, if one could call it that, was …
APRIL 8, 2025 – (Cont.) The big day arrived, as big days are wont to do. The (single) polling place—the reception desk of the Moulton Union—opened at 8:00 a.m. and as I recall, closed 12 hours later. The logic of our campaign was that a heavy turnout would favor my candidacy, given the overwhelming (not …
APRIL 7, 2025 – (Cont.) Since we were the “Class of ’76,” Jeff and I figured we’d play on the Bicentennial theme. Conveniently, as I pointed out to Jeff, my first name was nicely embedded in “Am(Eric)a.” In short order, we adopted a four-pronged campaign, consisting of (a) a personal outreach to every single classmate, …
APRIL 6, 2025 – Blogger’s note: When I sat down to write this series, it didn’t start where I’d planned—nor will it end where I’d expected. Part analogous, part allegorical, part anticipatory, the story is as much about the present and future as it is about the past. But then again, as we’re reminded continually, …
APRIL 5, 2025 – Late this morning, Beth and I headed down to the state capitol, site of the local “Hands Off!” protest that was part of a coordinated nationwide effort to demonstrate opposition to King Musk and the Pyrite President. In the back of our vehicle was Beth’s “STOP” sign, which she’d hurriedly painted …
APRIL 4, 2025 – One morning earlier this week I finished reading Ivan Turgenev’s masterpiece, Fathers and Sons. It was a “slow race” to the finish, meaning I couldn’t resist pressing forward at the same time I wanted to hold back to savor every morsel. A few minutes before the end, I’d told my wife …
APRIL 3, 2025 – While the investor world along with major stock indices seemed to be in a free fall today, I happily stuck my head in the sand—figuratively speaking. After all, I was driving and wouldn’t have been able to travel far with sand in my eyes. My first stop was the Asian Foods …
APRIL 2, 2025 – If money in politics were mercury in a rectal thermometer tucked between Democrat and Republican cheeks, we’d be calling 9-1-1 to save the patient. The latest example of campaign money running at a high fever level is the nearly $100 million spent on the race for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court—a …
APRIL 1, 2025 – Our sons came up with the smart idea—well over 20 years ago on April Fools Day; or more precisely, late in the evening of March 31. It was a simple but effective prank. They slipped a thick rubber band over the trigger of the sprayer on the kitchen sink and aimed …
MARCH 31, 2025 – As long-time followers of this blog site are aware, I’m capable of “serial posts”—not to be confused with “Post cereals.” The longest on record featured my “inheritance”; the runner-up was an account of my “Grand Odyssey,” travels around the world now 44 years in the rearview mirror; taking the bronze medal …
MARCH 30, 2025 – Yesterday evening we attended the opening night performance of Secret Warriors at the History Theater in downtown St. Paul. Despite the hard rain and temperature of 35F, a crowd just shy of the 587-seat capacity turned out for the production. Judging by the appearance of the attendees, I guessed that my …
MARCH 29, 2025 – There I was, just minding my own business, when “ding!”—the familiar sound emitted by my iPhone announced the arrival of another email, albeit one in my “focused” folder, meaning one that I shouldn’t ignore. It was from my good friend Mike, whose signature trait is intellectual curiosity. He’d recently caught a …
MARCH 28, 2025 – Actually, as is the case with so many things we take as gospel, the old curse attributed to the Chinese—“May you live in interesting times”—is not necessarily all that old or Chinese. Several accounts of provenance lead back to England—only one of which kinda, sorta suggests a Chinese affiliation. The most …
MARCH 27, 2025 – Here’s the question that dogs me whenever I consider a major issue of public concern: Can I—never “Do I”—ever know what I’m talking about? Another way of presenting the question is, Can I ever grasp, synthesize, analyze and draw a reasonable conclusion from . . . drum roll, drum roll . …
MARCH 25, 2025 – We who are scandalized by the Diarchy’s hijacking of democracy struggle daily with the question, “How do we fight back?” The implicit adverb, of course, is “effectively.” None of us has a response beyond the lame utterance, “Wull, uh, we gotta do SOMETHING.” Except no one—least of all, Democratic leadership—has convincing …
MARCH 25, 2025 – I hadn’t intended for this to be an extension of yesterday’s post, but then again, I hadn’t planned on doing something terribly stupid either. If you’re joining the party late, you’ll need to back up a step and read yesterday’s entry before you proceed any further here . . . . …
MARCH 24, 2025 – I’m writing this with one eye. Correction (so to speak). I’m punching this out with 10 fingers equally divided between my two hands. It’s the vision part of the exercise that’s being managed by one eye—well, primarily one eye. The other eye is covered with a hard plastic protector to block …
MARCH 23, 2025 – This morning after breakfast (over which I continued ploughing through Howard Zinn’s flawed[1] but compelling A People’s History of the United States, I poured myself a small cup of coffee and repaired to another reading spot to explore Anna Reid’s Borderland, fine work on the history of Ukraine, which, in turn, …