Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
FEBRUARY 22, 2023 – Today, as any school kid of my generation could tell the teacher, is George Washington’s birthday. It wasn’t a hard thing to forget when in the first few years of grade school, February 22 featured some prominent reminder: cherry cupcakes for lunch; a story reading by the teacher; an art project …
FEBRUARY 18, 2023 – My mood took a hit today when I discovered that iced-over “Little Switzerland” remains a big fail for skiing. My attitude plunged further after I examined a Venn Diagram of three news items. The first was a one-year review of Putin’s War—a brutal, pointless outrage spawned by a dictator’s megalomania and …
JANUARY 21, 2021 – Recently, a college friend with academic credentials deeper than the seven layers of Troy uncovered a volunteer opportunity with the National Archives Citizen Archivist Project. The task involves transcribing old documents. As a PhD anthropological archeologist, he’s eminently qualified. In his email about it he wrote, “Transcribing some of these records …
JANUARY 16, 2023 – Of all our national shortcomings, the legacy of our Original Sin remains the most persistent contradiction of our basic stated operating principles; a contradiction with real, hard, extensive, corrosive consequences for all of us. The sine qua non of redemption is acknowledgment, yet many Americans still actively resist hearing, reading or …
DECEMBER 7, 2022 – Today in 1941 is the “day [that] will live in infamy,” so said President Roosevelt—the second Roosevelt, but I’ll come back to that later—in his speech to a joint session of Congress the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “In infamy,” as it turns out, doesn’t mean “in eternity.” …
DECEMBER 4, 2022 – Surely you’re acquainted with the right-wing “America First Party” with the motto, “Fighting for Faith, Freedom and the Constitution to Put America First.” Likewise, you’ve heard of Holocaust-denier, Nick Fuentes, Trump’s recent lunch guest and instigator of the annual America First Political Action Conference (“AFPAC”). But how many people who encounter …
NOVEMBER 8, 2022 – Today was a blustery fall day at the Red Cabin. A strong blow out of the southeast whipped the lake into a frenzy and made trees sway without relief. Until João and Joana called from Lisbon late in the morning, I could’ve forgotten it was Election Day (I’d voted early)—our Portuguese …
NOVEMBER 7, 2022 – This evening I ventured out to see the full moon emerge from its wanderings in the exotic East. Here at the Red Cabin, which faces the lake due south, deep woods obstruct the sky east and north. To catch the moonrise, I’d have to follow a woodland trail to a promontory …
OCTOBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) “Honest to God,” Eagleton said, “I spent—everyone in Congress spent—more time trying to raise money than we spent actually doing the jobs to which we’d been elected. Then early one morning I was shaving, looking at myself in the mirror. I stopped shaving and stared at my face. And I …
OCTOBER 27, 2022 – Back in politically ancient times, campaign finance reform was an issue. It even rose to sufficient prominence to invite serious political debate, followed by meaningful legislation, most notably BCRA (“Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002”) popularly known as the “Feingold – McCain Act”). In olden times, as in any era of …
OCTOBER 26, 2022 – No person on earth is watching November 8 more closely than a man from afar. He’s a heartless, soulless, evil, violent, megalomaniac, hellbent on reducing the largest nation in Europe to a pile of rubble and a land scorched with human misery. By moral and ethical standards of civilized society, his …
OCTOBER 25, 2022 -As we enter the home stretch before the mid-term elections, I shake my head and mutter—now write—“Seriously?” If sobering matters weren’t in play, I’d think that C students are running for student council, appealing for the votes of D and F students. The A and B students, meanwhile, race from class to …
OCTOBER 13, 2022 – Today I’d intended to watch the January 6 House Select Committee hearing in its entirety. Before Liz Cheney had completed her opening statement, however, I decided that to stay glued to the TV would be akin to watching The Godfather for the umpteenth time, except with key scenes screened in slow …
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 – When I was a corporate warrior, a fellow lieutenant remarked periodically that we were in trouble—again—because our corporate general believed his own (latest) “press release.” I think of that observation when I hear today’s circle of parrots—leaders of a major political party, personalities on a popular cable news channel, and followers/supporters …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 – After crossing a whitewater stream, today I reached the opposite, “30-day” shore. My feet are wet, but I’m now standing and admiring terra firma. In this achievement I find relief. The hiking path ahead follows the winding brook, yet I’m confident my course will remain on solid ground. I turn, then, …
AUGUST 26, 2022 – (Cont.) Nurse John greeted me cheerfully at my 7:30 appointment yesterday. His mask concealed his face below his eyes, but the eyes and voice revealed unmistakable kindness and intelligence. His calm, friendly demeanor put me at immediate ease. Though definitely a “people person,” he also loved talking science—specifically, the science of …
JULY 23, 2022 – Is “breaking news” making you crazy? Try consuming only “financial journalism.” First, if we were to follow only news reported by financial media—e.g. Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal—soon half the population would be snoring in la-la land. The calming effect on society would be transformative. Second, the remaining half …
JULY 22, 2022 – Last night I watched the Jan 6 Committee hearing, which lived up to its billing as a “barn-burner.” Outside the cult and the Kool-Aid exist two possible reactions to the proceedings. On the negative side, given the raw evidence of Trump’s depravity—and the fealty he still commands—a person can sink into …
JULY 21, 2022 – [Biden stands behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal; a forest fire blazes in the background] “Okay folks, here’s the deal. I don’t care if you call me old or call me slow. I don’t care if you call me Biden or call me Brandon. Like my dad used to tell …
JULY 20, 2022 – I’m finding that the James Webb telescope images of the edge of the universe have radically altered my view of life here on earth. Perhaps that changed perspective is the mission of all “space” exploration. If we earthlings, including the subspecies, homo americanus, get a lot of things “right” . . …
JULY 19, 2022 – Late yesterday morning I hiked to my make-believe scale model of “Europe’s Rooftop.” (Actually, it’s (still) a local, hilly, municipal golf course.) Switzerland was abandoned, which I figured was because of extreme heat. Rather than exercise good judgment, I pretended I was an alpinist. With ski poles I “scaled” the (60-foot-high) …
JULY 15, 2022 – If you’re like me—semi-normal—you’ve beheld in awe, the recently released images captured by the James Webb telescope. Perhaps you’ve explored the science behind those pictures, but again, if you’re like me, you haven’t—beyond a cursory narrative. Inside my personal universe the images prompt a feeling of déjà vu. Is NASA deploying …
JULY 14, 2022 – As a college freshman, I took a “gov” class. Elsewhere it was known as “political science,” but for reasons unclear to me then and now, “poli-sci” was “gov” at the Maine alma mater of such luminaries as Franklin Pierce, who, in case you forgot, became POTUS, and Melville Fuller, who was …
MAY 12, 2022 – (Cont. See 5/10/22 post) The public misbehavior of my two countrymen was unsettling. Throughout my formal education—and in life generally—I’d been no stranger to debate. But exactly how, I wondered, could two Americans aboard a Russian train become so locked in dispute as to lose all self-awareness—especially in the absence of alcohol? …
MAY 10, 2022 – (Cont.) “On board our train [from Moscow to Irkutsk],” I wrote home, “was a small group of British and American tourists headed for Irkutsk, Ulan-Bator (capital of Mongolia), Beijing, and Hong Kong. Among them was a bloke from North Dakota named Karl. Karl, about 22 years old, was tall and gangly, …