Snow was falling and I was tired. I was returning home to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin after a day of teaching at the university. It was 5:30 in the afternoon in the middle of winter, so it had already been dark for about an hour. As I pulled into town, I started thinking about food. I was in no mood to start cooking something, but Fort … Continue reading Dining with the Colonel – No. 39
The Republican dominated Congress of the United States has now condemned the United States to a kind of living hell. The U.S. Senate voted last week to reject the expansion of background checks for guns purchased online and purchases at gun shows. That means the only solutions the Congress, the National Rifle Association, and the motley assortment of Republican presidential candidates can offer to remedy … Continue reading Our Insanity About Guns
There are moments in our lives so strange we wonder if perhaps we are not in someone’s movie or play, definitely not of our own making, but in which the script and the setting have been written for us by an anonymous author. Continue reading Karen Carpenter and the Terracotta Warriors
What if Facebook were our only source of news and information? What would we know about the United States? How would we see the world around us? I have been thinking about these important questions and offer the following observations. (Note that some of the observations contradict others, but that’s the nature of reality in Facebook.) Politics ° Hillary Clinton is the matriarch of a … Continue reading What if Facebook Were Our Only Source of News?
In his prescient political novel, 1984, George Orwell writes that “doublethink” is the “power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . . .” Here in Wisconsin we are in the middle of deer hunting season. On the front page of last Saturday’s Janesville Gazette, the local newspaper, two stories were featured. Above the fold was a … Continue reading Wisconsin Doublethink
When I was young there were heroes. They were on TV, in the comic books, and at the movies. It was the 1950’s, the heyday of the cowboy western. It was the age of the buckaroo. A man of few words, and often a loner, the buckaroo showed up whenever there was trouble. He always defended the weak in the name of justice and everything … Continue reading Bring Back the Buckaroo: Or “Shane, Shane, Come Back!”
I like photographs that tell us something about social reality, that provide insights about the human condition, or that tell a story. The Internet is full of beautiful photographs of sunsets, sunrises, children, pets, mountain landscapes, seashore landscapes, desert landscapes, and bad weather landscapes. I admire all of these, especially when well done. But there are not so many of the kind that show us … Continue reading Thoughts on Photographs that Reflect Social Reality
I just read that this is “National Bicycle Month” and that this week is “Bicycle to Work Week.” I have no idea who makes these pronouncements, but I am sure they represent a kind of wishful thinking rather than an accurate reference to everyday reality. Last week an article in the Washington Post reported new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that a mere … Continue reading National Bicycle Month vs. Reality
In an earlier post (November 14, 2012) I outlined the four basic rules of bureaucratic survival. Briefly these four rules are: Always cover your rear; Never embarrass a superior (especially your boss) in public; Never give those who report to you an opportunity to speak in public without first scripting their responses; and, When things go wrong, never admit a mistake. Either claim that what … Continue reading How to Succeed in Bureaucracy without Really Trying – Communication Skills
The Day of the Dead celebrations in Oaxaca include elaborate attention by family and friends to the grave sites of the departed. And while the traditions in each cemetery are similar and have the same purpose, the customs in each cemetery may differ from community to community. In this album three cemeteries from the state of Oaxaca are represented: the main cemetery in the city … Continue reading Day of the Dead – Three Cemeteries
Soybeans Ready for Harvest near Whitewater, Wisconsin This is a remarkable time of year in southern Wisconsin. The changing colors of the leaves capture one’s attention, but I also like looking at the crops ready for harvest, especially the soybeans. Wisconsin is ranked 13th in the nation for soybean production, and Rock County (where I live) produces more soy than any other county in the … Continue reading Amber Waves of Bean: The Beauty of Soy
Nothing focuses one’s attention on getting older quite like attending your 50th high school class reunion. I attended mine last month. For those of us over forty, we know that the physical effects of aging are gradual but persistent. For many of us, our waistlines expand, we lose our hair, and invariably we are greeted by more, not fewer, wrinkles each morning when we first … Continue reading A Weekend with Familiar Strangers: My 50th High School Class Reunion
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