HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER
Whenever one happened by our neighborhood grocery store all summer, parked there in the outlying area that employees use was a pickup truck decorated with stickers of the Confederate battle flag and captioned with the friendly reminder that “If this offends you, you need a history lesson”. Now, I’m not sure that the stickers offended me, exactly—“annoyed” seems the more appropriate verb—since, having earned somewhere north of 125 college credit hours in history, I’m certain that said stickers were not directed at me, as I’m sure the owner of the truck would agree if he were informed of the fact.
Read More
THE BOOK
Well, Hillary’s book is out, and the critics are all over it…hating the book, hating Hillary, telling Hillary to go away already. This critique was not leveled at Bernie Sanders when he wrote his book after losing the primary. It was not leveled at Al Gore after winning the votes but losing the election (in fact, Al Gore has made two movies since the 2000 debacle). Michelle and Barack Obama have both signed large contracts for books. Bill Clinton wrote a book about his experience in the presidency. While these books were not loved by all (but by some, of course), there was no almost unanimous outcry that these major players on the political scene should just sit down and shut up. What’s the difference? The difference is Hillary.
Read More
HOW MUCH DEMOCRACY?
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve watched or read some pundit or egghead tell me over the past two years that this time The Donald has gone too far and surely outraged the American people beyond their outmost limits, I’d be having two toppings on the pizza tonight and have enough left over to take the nephews for ice cream afterward. All this public outrage, of course, put him into the White House. And don’t let some spin doctor tell you that he’s become less popular whilst there—his favorability rating was 37% on election night, and, though it’s declined marginally at a couple of points, basically, there it still stands.
Read More
What were the Oughties? What are the Teens?
I suppose I should have seen it coming; each decade of my life became a little less distinct. The fifties were, of course, suburban conformity, though I didn’t spend them in a suburb and my parents were not the most pliant conformists. The sixties quickly got filed under ‘peace and love’ with a dollop of political activism—though some spoilsport was always ready to point out that more than half of those sixties took place in the seventies. As for the seventies, things got a bit hazier, but they seemed to be sort of like the sixties except that nobody thought that stuff was so great any more, and some of the activism was elbowed out by political scandal. Then the eighties, the ‘Greed is Good” decade, and it seemed like the pigeonholed decade was back to stay.
Read More
The Liberal Academy
In recent decades, Republicans have developed a strong distaste for higher education. They criticize it at every turn, complaining about the liberal bias of universities. And they do seem to have a point; study after study has pointed to a strong tendency for liberal arts programs to hire mostly liberal professors. This fact has generated barrels of ink on forests worth of paper, decrying the propagandizing of our youth, and the refusal to hire conservative thinkers. Many liberal pundits and journalists appear to agree with them, chastising their own for the terrible refusal to allow conservative thought to get a hearing. I would like to join my voice to the noisy throng.
Read More
Identity Politics
One of the common memes going around the punditry today is that the Democrats lost the election because of identity politics. This is meant to say that, because the Democrats are the party connected with Civil Rights for people of color and Equal Rights for women, they are making big mistakes and ignoring a group of hard-working, honest, tax-paying people - in short, white men. The commentary has routinely suggested that the Democrats should abandon this stance and start listening to the people variously termed "working class", "flyover country", "gun-owning, church-going patriots", or, in rare moments of honesty, "white men".
Read More
SIT DOWN
If you've gone to the theatre lately, you may have noticed a phenomenon never before experienced in theatre history - every single play, every one without fail, is a true masterpiece of writing, directing, and acting. Except...no.
Read More
Wha' Happen?
Every pundit out there is talking about the election. The why, the how, the wha' happen. Everyone has a reason, an explanation, a big finger to point, usually at liberals who are somehow more to blame than actual Trump voters. We've been condescending. We've forgotten Middle America. We have focused on the "special interest groups" and forgotten the hurt feelings of the white male, who is justifiably angry about being on the bottom of the heap. None of these actually work that well when you unpack the story.
Read More
I am SO Embarrassed
I've been made a fool of, and I'm pretty angry about it!
I was confident and happy until this. Now, I just want to crawl under a rock and never emerge.
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I found out. I'm just feeling very humiliated. When somebody tells you at 2:00 PM that your pants are unzipped, you're glad you know, so you can take action. Still, you have to wonder how long they were like that, and how many people saw it. It's like that, but a thousand times worse.
Read More
Just Keep Your Mouth Shut
When I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I carefully considered my options and decided to be an idiot. I talked it over with my late wife, pondered, meditated, prayed, and then settled on the stupidest possible course of action, short of bee sting therapy. (Yes, there are people who believe that allowing bees to sting you is an effective treatment for MS. - No, I'm not kidding.)
The actions I attempted to take might not have been foolish for somebody else. In fact, I know people for whom this plan works. It was dumb because it just isn't me.
Read More
