Posted in culture, politics, rants, thoughts, writing on April 30, 2007| 26 Comments »
I knew a kid named Mattie whose family lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of town. They had a big yard with various trees, including a small cluster of plum trees by the big open field we used for playing baseball. Mattie loved those plums; the only problem was, the bees liked those plums, too, and he’d get stung, and run crying into the house for his Mom’s first aid.
Later, sting medicated with ointment, he’d come back outside, and drift closer to the little plum orchard again.
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Posted in art, culture, life, travel on April 27, 2007| 6 Comments »
Imagine standing in line at a new museum in Paris, a long line, projected to have an hour or more wait, and someone coming up and announcing it’s their birthday and giving the last ten people in line a ticket to celebrate.
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Posted in art, books, culture, entertainment, life, movies, politics, television, TV on April 26, 2007| 5 Comments »
While I was in high school, some forward-thinking teacher showed us the movie The Strawberry Statement, in class. It stuck with me, so much so that I later found a used copy of the book it was based on, by James Kunen. It’s set in ’68 during the student protests and the takeover of the administration building at Columbia University.
In hindsight, it’s easy to think the anti-war position was a popular view, but in a very immediate way The Strawberry Statement brings home how embattled they were, how much of a minority they felt (the jocks, for example, called them “pukes”), and not just the spontaneity of the moment but a feeling of newness, or everything being up for grabs.
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Posted in baseball, sports on April 25, 2007| 2 Comments »
My Twins lost two out of three to lowly Kansas City and got swept in a two-game set at home by the Indians. They’ve lost four of five, and to the teams I picked to finish 4th and 5th in their division. Okay, it’s still early. Still I’m concerned about one Justin Morneau.
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Posted in gardening, life, politics, television, thoughts, TV on April 24, 2007| 4 Comments »
Imagine being able to vote your heart and your conscience, having a chance to choose the candidate who best represents your views, without having to sacrifice pragmatism. And doing it in a couple months of campaigning, rather than a couple years!
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Posted in life, love, thoughts on April 22, 2007| 8 Comments »
I heard the voices at 4:27, according to my alarm’s digital display. Loud voices, carrying from the neighboring apartments. I lie still, listening, then heard the words “call the police” clearly. I got up and stepped over a slumbering dog to our upstairs window, and peered out through the levelors at the apartments.
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Posted in commute, culture, entertainment, humor, life on April 20, 2007| 1 Comment »
Someone sent me an amusing little story recently, as told by a physician driving her then-four-year-old daughter to preschool.
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Posted in art, books, film noir, life, novels, thoughts, writing on April 19, 2007| 6 Comments »
Sometimes life has to pitch a notion to you several times for it to sink in. I don’t remember the first time someone recommended that I read Earle Stanley Gardner; the second time, I think, was while home brewing with my friend Dave. Recently, Marianne commented on him, and then I picked up Raymond Chandler Speaking.
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Posted in animals, commute, entertainment, humor, life, pets, travel on April 18, 2007| 3 Comments »
Someone emailed me this article about a cat that rides a bus. I don’t know if it’s true or not. You know how the internet is — some odd souls out there delight in perpetrating a hoax.
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Posted in animals, dogs, life, travel, writing on April 17, 2007| 2 Comments »
We drove over to the coast on Sunday. It’s one of those things my friends and I did often when we first arrived out here and now rarely bumps it’s way up the weekend to-do list any more; delivering a baby quilt (pictured below) is what got us going this time.
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OmbudsBen 