Hard times need good songs. The Great War had “Over There.” The Great Depression had “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.” World War II had “We’ll Meet Again.” And now, with Covid-19 roaring back, it feels like we need an anthem too. I nominate “Wise Up,” by Aimee Mann. The song came back to me yesterday, just after I canceled the family vacation rental I’d booked for […]
The shit keeps coming
‘Well, that was some weird shit.” President George W. Bush’s reaction to Trump’s 2017 inauguration speech was apt then and describes pretty well everything Trump has done since. Weird shit indeed! It never ends, does it? Last night (July 3) at Mount Rushmore, Trump was reveling in dystopian fantasies of culture war and forced-perspective photographs suggesting his own smirking visage would look pretty good chiseled alongside the […]
Unmasked annoyance
I used to not mind grocery shopping. But now every trip to the store involves a certain amount of resentment and homicidal rage. That’s one more effect of the pandemic: It makes me uncomfortable with my thoughts. Here in Jacksonville, the Republican mayor has finally decided that maybe masks aren’t so bad after all, and recently announced a citywide requirement that masks must be worn in any […]
Two steps back
For us, the pandemic started March 13. We went out for pizza. No masks then, but no hugs or handshakes either. Seated well apart. Talking about the coronavirus, I opined that we might get together again in a month or so, when things eased up. I thought we’d have a clearer picture on how long this thing might last. More than three months later, a clearer picture […]
Still afloat
We’re about a month into this now. Amazing what you get used to. Amazing what’s changed and what hasn’t. We’re still eating pretty well. (Thanks, WalMart Pickup!) We still go for walks and enjoy the good weather. We got through the wretched Tiger King, but still have a long queue of books and Netflix recommendations from equally bored friends and family. We’ve still got Zoom, with all […]
Trump in spyland
I just finished John Le Carre’s latest: “Agent Running in the Field.” It’s a pretty good book for those who like literate spy stories, but to me it’s noteworthy for at least one other reason: It’s the first time I’ve explicitly encountered the dark and dimwitted presence of Donald J. Trump in popular fiction. Probably won’t be the last. Trump is not a character, thank God. But […]
Boring is good
OK, the debates were kind of boring. But really, boring is fine, isn’t it? At this point, boring is cool. The only thing not cool is for Democrats to show up with machetes and start carving each other apart on nebulous policy issues. It veered that way for a bit, but cooler heads prevailed. What I want in a president is (a) somebody who is smarter than […]
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