Wittering On

As are many in these merry days, I am re-considering my relationship with the incessant yammering of the body politic. How to stay in proper balance with the information needed as a responsible citizen, of course, and how to stay somewhat shielded from the needlessly...

The Red Arrow Highway and the Fourth of July

I was today years old when I figured out that my grandparents had told me a story that is apparently not true.  In my slow summery childhood, I traveled with them on many Fridays out of suburban Chicago, past industrial Gary, Indiana, and up to Michigan. Before the...

Snollygoster

There are some had-been-going-moribund terms reappearing in our daily discourse over the last few years. Grifter. Shyster. Flim-flam man. There is wide public use; there are obvious public examples. Plural. Yet, somehow, these terms seem too small for the present...

Inspiration/Fantasy in a Political Season

For those paying attention, sometimes fevered attention, to the election this year, it can be hard to look away. It’s a kind of self-reinforcing ailment in which you think that if you are not looking, something bad may occur. Not FOMO, but perhaps Fear of Not Doing...

Sustenance in a Political Season

It’s a political season. We must take encouragement where we find it. Every murmured “I like your button”, every half-smile, every thumbs-up is a reminder that national bombast, whatever its volume, is not the only method of communication in the country we love. We...
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