Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
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 10, 2026 – Blogger’s note: Because the server was down for upgrades late yesterday, publication of this post was delayed. Nearly nine years ago, Don Lewis, a pillar of the local legal community and with whom I’d worked long and hard on a project, invited me to lunch at the Atlas near our office …
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 …
FEBRUARY 4, 2026 – (Cont.) The fight over the civil rights plank of the Democratic platform at the 1948 convention was the capstone of Into the Bright Sunshine. The rest of this riveting book was divided into three parts: a detailed account of the shocking level of racism against the relatively small Black population of …
FEBRUARY 3, 2026 – (Cont.) The dramatic conclusion of Into the Bright Sunshine features the clash between advocates of civil rights and protectors of states’ rights at the 1948 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. In that era, party platforms carried far more weight than they do today, and the intra-party fight over the civil rights plank …
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 – On July 6, 2016 Philando Castile was shot and killed by a policeman during a routine traffic stop here in Minnesota. The shooting occurred less than half a mile from our quiet, leafy, liberal—and by way of our complacency, racist—town of Falcon Heights (pop. 5,200). Within a single news cycle, news …
JANUARY 28, 2026 – Last Sunday, in addressing abuses by ICE agents in Minnesota, Governor Walz compared ICE agents’ treatment of children in Minnesota to the experience of Ann Frank. His exact words: We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story …
JANUARY 20, 2026 – To get my mind off Trump’s War of Retribution and his insane designs on Greenland, not to mention the business in Venezuela (what’s going on there now?) and the DOJ’s suppression of the Epstein Files (remember those?), I check regularly the week’s weather forecast: Friday’s high of MINUS 14F. The reminder …
JANUARY 18, 2026 – Yesterday evening, we joined our friends Ann and Ravi at nearby Bolé, a gourmet Ethiopian restaurant. Parking was so bad that after letting Beth off at the entrance, I had to drive nearly halfway home to find a spot. The walk from the car back to the restaurant took time, given …
JANUARY 17, 2026 – If I asked you to identify the “most dangerous man in America—ever,” whom would you name? My choice would be five-star General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Southwest Pacific Area (his official title during WW II). No dummy, MacArthur graduated first in his class from West Point, though one could …
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 11, 2026 – Thursday evening I hosted a rump session of my book club. (Two of our five members were MIA, which might have been a referendum on the host’s book selection, The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Winchester (See my 8/20/25 post – https://writemakesmight.net/ub-and-the-man-who-loved-china/ ). As is so often the case with …
JANUARY 8, 2026 – When many of us pull one eye away from our newsfeeds, we ask, “How in the world did we get here?” The question is especially freighted with special urgency in the wake of recent ICE actions here in Minnesota. One response I’ve heard (from white libs, mostly) is, “It all started …
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 17, 2025 – I know it’s a mouthful—“MacArthurMAGAburger”—but a mere taste of it can provide sufficient perspective to work as an effective antacid. What am I talking about? The life and times of General Douglas MacArthur, nemesis of President Truman (and democracy), yet the MAGA darling of a bygone era. Much can be said …
DECEMBER 14, 2025 – When the most recent wintry fusion of deep freeze, cold wave, cold snap, polar vortex, and Alberta Clipper descended upon this region of the world, I thought I’d supplement my other reading by strapping on a pair of snowshoes and venturing into David Halberstam’s highly acclaimed, New York Times bestseller, The …
DECEMBER 7, 2025 – For fewer and fewer Americans, this date marks a singular day in our national history. As the irresistible current of time carries us farther downstream from “[the] date which will live in infamy,” as FDR described Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the people alive then and their personal memories are …
DECEMBER 1, 2025 – Outside the Chester, Connecticut public library is a sign marking America’s upcoming Semiquincentennial. I doubt the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will be called by its Latin derivative, which is half a dozen letters longer than “Bicentennial” (and two letters longer than my good friend Dr. Ravi(shankar)’s last name, …
NOVEMBER 19, 2025 – Today I raced to the last page of, November 1942 – An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II by the Swedish historian and journalist, Peter Englund. As the last words reverberated inside my head, I closed the book, rose out of my chair, and peered out the …
NOVEMBER 11, 2025 – China. The armchair tour continues, but I must confess that the more familiar I become with historic names, dynasties, and big sweeping epochs, the more of a stranger I feel as I wander up and down, back and forth inside that country. The view from the window of my figurative tour …
NOVEMBER 6, 2025 – Today Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that beginning Friday, commercial flights in the U.S. will be reduced by 5,000 a day each day until 10% of pre-reduction volume is achieved. The ultimate impetus for this action is the government shutdown. As I watched the 10-second clip of Mr. Duffy delivering his …
NOVEMBER 4, 2025 – Our day’s end stop Monday was at the Picchetti Winery in the rustic heights above Cupertino. The product of this +140-year-old establishment—now consisting of 9,000 cases of wine a year—is sold only through wine clubs across the country. Our tour guides, Russ and Kerri, have been members for decades and have …
OCTOBER 22, 2025 – I’ve always enjoyed the study of history, but inevitably my principal areas of inquiry—American, European, Russian, Mediterranean, and to some extent, Middle Eastern—have been rather narrow, not to mention shallow. Comparatively speaking, my knowledge of India, China and East Asia is rather abysmal. Several years ago I caught myself remarking to …
OCTOBER 7, 2025 – Over the years I’ve met numerous interesting people who live along my walking route to and from “Little Switzerland.”[1] With some of these folks I’ve enjoyed extensive conversations about a host of subjects. One standout is a fellow, Phillip, eight years my senior, whose house is on the “Matterhorn” overlooking the …