Overnight I’ve been involved in the never-pleasant preparations for a Colonoscopy. I’m a veteran of the procedure – family history, precautionary. If past is prelude, the preparation for the Big Event later today has been worse than the Event itself will be. And afterwards I can eat again! I’m a Medicare veteran, and the Colonoscopy […]
From time to time I’ll add updates to the end of this post. For other blog entries on Climate, see “Climate Change” under Categories. For current information, see International Panel on Climate Change. Early yesterday morning came a brief e-mail from someone who reads these posts: “…if the world doesn’t limit global warming to 1.5 […]
UPDATE: The venue at which the Bad Plus is playing New Years Eve is the Village Vanguard in New York City. The National Public Radio program which will broadcast part of its performance, plus many others, including at the Dakota in Minneapolis, is apparently Toast of the Nation on December 31st. There is a very […]
Today is my Dad’s 102nd birthday (he passed away in 1997, not quite reaching 90.) He’s more on my mind than usual this year because, for the last several months, I’ve been trying to summarize 400 years of his French-Canadian ancestry in North America. I’m in the home stretch, now, thanks to many people. I’m […]
NOTE: Each year I’m drawn to this essay, written in December, 1985, for the teacher union newsletter on Minnesota’s Iron Range. June Johnson was then a teacher at Bigfork High School. CHIPS FROM THE NORTHERN BRANCH by June Johnson From somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I have plucked a Christmas memory which […]
COMMENTS follow this post. Last evening I watched most of a History Channel program on the horrors of the Dust Bowl of mid-America in the 1930s. Interspersed with film and commentary from the actual events, were recollections of survivors of the Dirty Thirties, as well as a fascinating effort by scientists to reenact in the […]
Last night about 8 o’clock or so the phone rang. There was an irrepressible, unmistakable, voice on the other end. It was Danny, calling to wish us a Merry Christmas. Danny is one of those memorable characters one comes across once in awhile; people who brand themselves into our memory bank. I met Danny during […]
UPDATE Dec. 18, 2009: We now know much more than we did three days ago. Were this a place with a union (it isn’t) I would without hesitation advise a grievance on wrongful termination. Most likely, though, our friend would never grieve: her gender, race and culture would cause her to not fight the issues. […]
December 13, 2003, I arrived back from Haiti, all imbued with idealism, but pretty certain that Haiti’s democratically elected government would be deposed, though not sure how or by whom. I had met a lot of people who were standing by President Aristide, even though it was clear that his government was being starved out […]
Last summer a good friend, one of those friends I have never been privileged to meet in person, asked if I had read the novel, “The Shack”, and heightened my interest to the extent I purchased a copy. As so often happens with me, I got to page 34, found the book was interesting, but […]