tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78787214532567455992009-11-11T08:12:28.166-06:00An opportunity to explore the big -- and little -- issues of America today.Meditatornoreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-38270141894018649422009-11-11T08:08:00.001-06:002009-11-11T08:12:28.179-06:00

Today is Veterans’ Day. In 2004 we were on Gibralter on November 11. At 11:11 our guide stopped everything and we stood in silence for two minutes. The First World War, the horrible War To End All Wars, came to an end at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. It slaughtered about half of the young male population of England, and in honor

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-8908549133108872392009-11-03T08:02:00.003-06:002009-11-03T08:08:22.434-06:00

I was a Shoe Tree. Ann dressed as a French Maid.As always, feel free to comment below.

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-17857620599091841202009-11-02T11:14:00.002-06:002009-11-02T11:21:24.970-06:00

Halloween has come and gone, and with it the frantic messages from Those Who Know Best about devil worship, paganism, impending planetary chaos, and general going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket of those who celebrate and enjoy the holiday. I think Halloween is fun. It used to be more fun when I was a kid, but that may have to do with the fact that I was a kid. I kind of think not, however. When I

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-380603431701460252009-10-26T08:53:00.007-05:002009-10-29T07:56:29.584-05:00

Ann and “Vlad” outside the castle.There is no such thing as bad publicity. Some of the best remembered figures in history weren’t nice people, but they were well known. Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. Stalin said that one death is a tragedy, but a million is a stastic. Both Charles Manson and Rasputin

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-42802977434474358962009-10-18T15:08:00.006-05:002009-10-18T15:38:11.072-05:00

Derek, Jo, and HerselfProud Grandpa and EllaProud Grandma and Ella.Ella HerselfI frequently am impatient. I want things to be better than they already are. I want life to improve.We went to Denver last week to see Derek's new baby, our new granddaughter Ella, who will be 10 weeks old on Tuesday. It was a great visit. I got to hold her, feed her and I didn't have to change her. I learned I

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-6875977837844594042009-10-11T15:22:00.003-05:002009-10-11T15:30:19.968-05:00

I don’t have a sports gene. I don’t know why it skipped my generation, although it’s possible that it never really existed in my family. My father used to turn on football games so he could nap on the couch. If we changed the station or turned off the television, he’d wake up immediately and say something like, “I was watching that!” I never understood how commercials didn’t interrupt his

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-91114024130762807172009-09-30T10:58:00.001-05:002009-09-30T11:01:36.076-05:00

We use cloth napkins. Always. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Generally, they are finger towels of terry cloth, absorbent, big enough to wipe your hands and face on, and easily washable. No ironing. We have dozens of them. When we have fancy guests we use linen, generally monogramed, hand hemmed, double damask, sixteen-by-sixteen-inch napkins my great-grandmother made shortly after her

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-18874726357482267182009-09-19T10:31:00.001-05:002009-09-19T10:32:49.362-05:00

Today is Ann's birthday. I can't say how old she is, but she's not old enough for Medicare yet.Shower her with greetings by commenting below, and I'll pass them on.

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-57161978984293487202009-09-19T10:17:00.003-05:002009-09-19T10:30:01.275-05:00

Too many ideas in the public discourse have become reduced to slogans and sound bites. That leaves no room for any kind of thoughtful discussion. When thought ceases we are left with heat rather than light. Whose fault that is becomes a matter of discussion, one, no doubt, that would produce, ironically, more heat than light and yet another series of sound bites. Instant communications

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-33163193338386494472009-09-11T11:39:00.004-05:002009-09-11T12:43:40.540-05:00

I believe in natural consequences. They are akin to Newton's Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reactionWhen Daniel, our son, was little, we employed natural consequences. We told him what would happen if he disobeyed. He could choose to disobey and take a punishment - or not disobey. It was pretty easy, and we tried to make the consequences fair and 'organic.' They

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-62353162409764183492009-08-27T08:38:00.006-05:002009-08-27T09:20:23.531-05:00

The other day I was waiting for my imac tutorial at the Apple Store and ran into my cousin Jerome. We chatted a while and then he looked around and shook his head. "What have we come to?" he asked. "We are so dependent on computers and gadgets that we've lost our work ethic." I would like to say I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue, but I can't raise one eyebrow. Both of mine

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-5980268930260953812009-08-25T08:27:00.003-05:002009-08-26T08:35:41.658-05:00

I think it’s time we had some Constitutional amendments. I can think of many issues we need to address in these United States. This list is not exhaustive by any means. First, let’s think about the right to privacy, which is not stated explicitly in the Constitution, but has been interpreted from the Ninth Amendment, which mentions “other rights being retained by the people.” That’s pretty

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-65607175931911797152009-08-15T16:31:00.003-05:002009-08-18T22:53:55.466-05:00

When I was very young, perhaps seven or eight, well over fifty years ago, I read in my Jack and Jill Magazine a story about a kid who was born in the nineteen hundreds and lived through the landmark of the turn of the Twentieth Century. I wondered if I would live that long, being too old to be a baby boomer, although I didn’t think about that, and if I would live through the turn into the

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-11814167496353672182009-08-05T10:50:00.002-05:002009-08-05T10:57:11.136-05:00

What are you wearing? Whenever he called, my friend Bobby would ask that instead of saying hello. Bobby was a brilliant man beset with demons, a charming, charismatic person who was an inspiration to a generation of high school kids in the Sunday School class he mentored, an addictive personality who damaged himself in slow suicide until he was murdered by his equally damaged lover who

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-23695413611474786082009-07-31T11:10:00.003-05:002009-08-01T11:54:12.553-05:00

I am back from Vermont and the Olympic Peninsula and a couple writing conferences. The hiatus is over. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose: the more things change the more they remain the same. Here we are, once again (still?!) in the midst of political infighting. And the people who need services that the government provides are the ones who suffer. In Illinois, for example, the

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-65013324020588227292009-06-11T00:03:00.002-05:002009-06-11T00:07:27.911-05:00

I am really busy this summer and will resume blog posts  in August.  Thanks for your support in the past.  I'm looking forward to resuming my blog in a couple of months.In the meantime, Beyond Telling, by my friend Jim Churchill-Dicks, is a wonderful read.  You can access it to the right, underneath my photo.  Check out also J. Miller Rampant, which has a link there too.Have a great summer!

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-64653698678768754632009-06-06T11:57:00.001-05:002009-06-06T11:57:42.787-05:00

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-34527348542323585932009-05-24T16:51:00.002-05:002009-05-24T16:55:24.260-05:00

Each year we celebrate Memorial Day.  The real Memorial Day, set aside to honor Civil War dead, is May 31. [Surprise, it wasn’t designed as yet another holiday to have a ^%$#&@* mattress sale!  Not that I have strong opinions about that.] As the Civil War receded in history, other wars claimed their victims, and the collective memory dimmed, Memorial Day became a day to remember all the

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-75535659605546677292009-05-23T07:47:00.003-05:002009-05-23T08:01:01.723-05:00

I got a semi-interesting email this morning,which I'm posting below.  I suspect the Nigerians have gotten such a reputation that they no longer are able to bilk cash from unsuspecting old folks and the fake bankers in Hong Kong have taken over.  I'm not following up, of course, by involving myself with Mr. Cheng.  And I've deleted his email address although if you really want it, I'll send it to

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-66535811221891567952009-05-20T10:25:00.003-05:002009-05-20T10:53:39.863-05:00

I am tired of people trying to censor ideas because they don't agree with them.I don't agree with plenty of people, but I let them speak.  Voltaire said, "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."  I'm not so sure that I'd die for something trivial, but I still believe that people have the right to say things I don't want to hear.I don't want to hear,

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-89192787783889941012009-05-10T09:03:00.003-05:002009-05-10T09:07:57.552-05:00

Our lives have been in chaos because of electronics the past couple of weeks:  The internet has been out.  We finally figured out it was the router, got it taken care of, and we're back on line.  I used to say I hated having the electronic leash, and I still do, but I have a little more respect for it these days.  In any event, I'll be getting a couple of entries out early this week.For those of

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-3162568113286492802009-04-29T11:56:00.002-05:002009-04-29T12:05:04.230-05:00

There has been a lot of discussion about the death of newspapers recently.   The younger demographic (younger than I am is practically everyone) gets their news from the internet and television.  But I also have contemporary and older friends who have CNN on constantly - or CNBC, MSNBC.  They don’t read newspapers. [I should probably explain that I have a minor in journalism - a very old minor

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-29570868655145402012009-04-29T11:03:00.001-05:002009-04-29T11:05:24.355-05:00

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-33437872934041949742009-04-20T11:09:00.002-05:002009-04-20T11:09:43.465-05:00

Congratulations to our friends Dale and Valerie, who just became grandparents - again - of a beautiful boy!

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-50711214348093005672009-04-19T14:46:00.002-05:002009-04-19T14:59:15.936-05:00

The First Amendment of the Constitution has come under fire of late from a lot of different places.It says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.I am particularly

Meditatornoreply@blogger.com0