Sun is out, kids' voices out. What an Austin spring Friday afternoon. (With much much much suffering in our world, to be so fortunate at desk, yes, work does need to be done, no complaining allowed), but still afternoon sun and sound of kiddy laughter while at my desk. Just about the best. Getting writing … Continue reading Just About The Best

When I should be working sometimes I distract myself with Huffington Post. I do know I should not do that. But never for very long. Minor vice. This Sunday morning's distraction a slight piece at HuffPo on email sign-offs. (I've always got a whiff of phony from "Cheers" or "Ciao." Kind of creepy.) "Regards" seems, … Continue reading Best Fishes (And Found Tiny Rosetta Stone)

.One of my favorite journalists is Derek Thompson, of The Atlantic and NPR and probably elsewhere. He writes and speaks about things that often are off our own personal radar, but which do have substantial effect, big picture. (And then do trickle down, to our day-to-day.) He is so good also at words and numbers … Continue reading Turns Out I’m A Medieval Peasant

People are encountering harsh February, including my family in Illinois and Michigan and friends in Massachusetts and New York and Virginia and North Carolina. Unlike about a year ago, that big Austin freeze, this time my electricity, light, and water stayed on. Fingers crossed for this month. It's still chilly, I'm shivering, and there's frozen … Continue reading February 2022

Feeling a little Studs Terkel-y, obviously not as prolific as he, but with a common interest in human stories about people working, keeping things going. At the University of Texas, the best class I ever taught, called "Work in Popular Discourse", was an honors group of the most cool students, interpreting a variety of media … Continue reading Driving, Delivery, Assembly And The Caregivers

I read this in The Guardian. Turns out a group of researchers at Cardiff University found that people wearing masks are judged more attractive than people who do not wear masks. The researchers attribute their results to two possibilities. One. Evolutionary. In the pandemic times, people who mask seem less likely to have got, or … Continue reading Masks (And Now This Week Idiotic Canadian Now French Now BelgianTruckers, And German Anti-Vaxxers )

I just got the program from his service today after earlier streaming online. It's not the same as being there but I could not travel. Seeing my brothers (and sisters) help our Mom in the church, and knowing how they have supported her through all these months. From this distance what I can do (and … Continue reading Mourning My Dad

Joan Didion died just a few weeks ago. I always had respected her substance and prose style. Better writer than me (obviously). But her so no-holds-back raw memoir (Year Of Magical Thinking, its title) about the deaths of her husband and daughter, within months, addresses the worst loss and how we (all) have to process, … Continue reading Year Of Magical Thinking

My very favorite old style pens and those top bound spiral pads arrived. I would prefer to be with my family this week but with (all-the-all COVID travel not good), work at desk is reality. Lots to get done by spring. That's not so bad. Goals. Hunker down.

One of my good high school friend's birthday is December 14. I was looking for a way to contact her in 2012 when the news came on of Sandy Hook. Of course no person with any humanity could complete that horrific day or ever forget it afterward. Sandy Hook Promise should have been on my … Continue reading Sandy Hook December 14