Driving home today I caught about half of "The Long and Winding Road" on the radio, and experienced the wave of vague melancholy that I'm prone to when listening to the song. Part of that is the movement of the melody between tonic (E Flat major) and it's relative minor (C). The lyrics also play … Continue reading The Song and…
More Than One Road to Perfect
As a boy I loved going to the movies. With family or friends when I was little, on my own as I slipped out of childhood, I was seldom more dependably happy than when I was settling into a theater seat as the lights went down. The darkness helping me focus on the screen in … Continue reading More Than One Road to Perfect
Willie And Joe: A Life In Words
My mother turned eighty nine a little over a month ago, and it is not going well. Age has hit her in most of the ways it can; diminished in all capacities, the already considerable psychological issues of her younger life exacerbated to cartoonish proportion. I suppose there are people who manage to get older … Continue reading Willie And Joe: A Life In Words
Driverless Cars Can’t Be Any Worse Than Brainless Drivers
Recently, I have become aware of an increase in concern regarding the inexorable move towards automation. Surprisingly more of this kind of talk seems to be centered on the potential perils of self driving automobiles as opposed to job displacement via robotics. I understand the odd, eerie feeling that the thought of not seeing a … Continue reading Driverless Cars Can’t Be Any Worse Than Brainless Drivers
Without Limits
As we begin to move into spring I find my self in an oddly cheerful place. Stay with me, I know how that sounded. Spring is, for most of us, a time of rebirth, life, possibility. I understand all that, and to some extent share in that sense of hope. Being of eastern European heritage, … Continue reading Without Limits
Twitter, Guns, Abortion and My Friend Sam
When this blog was first suggested to me it was made clear that in order to build an audience I would have to become active on social media. That thought was not particularly tempting. I didn't really know all that much about it and didn't have an overwhelming desire to find out what I was … Continue reading Twitter, Guns, Abortion and My Friend Sam
Hillary, What A Character
Depending on how you look at it, Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't miss by much. She won the popular vote by a margin just shy of three million (2.1%). Trump carried 30 states to her 20, taking 304 electoral college votes to her 227. Regardless of whether you're happy about it, learning to live with it, … Continue reading Hillary, What A Character
You Had To Be There
As someone who's spent his life with passions more or less equally divided between art and sport I've come, as I've aged, to feel like I walk a line dividing two factions who frequently view the other as deficient in some way, if not of lesser moral fiber. Most of the people I've met who've … Continue reading You Had To Be There
Shithole Happens
Well, here we are. After more than a week of pounding on a moribund equine it seems that as a nation we've managed to misdirect a substantial amount (but not all) of our collective attention, raising the likelihood that roughly fifty percent of the nation will see an increase in their atenolol dosage some time … Continue reading Shithole Happens
The First Time, Again
The other day at work my friend Eric and I were discussing musical moments that had a significant effect on us. The magic of a first hearing was the conversational staple. A pleasant few minutes, and then back to work. Later in the day I realized that I had (inadvertently) lied to him. About pretty … Continue reading The First Time, Again
