Much as I hate the reasons for having to do this, and despite its corporate appearance, on the advice of a good and savvy friend I’ve added the copyright sign to the CI masthead, as you can see. “That’s a great name,” she said, “and take it from me, I’ve had it happen — names […]
Read more“A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge of a disappointed politician.” — Alexander Hamilton, 1802 (qtd. in NY Times, 9/15/11) As a society, we’ve got a reality problem. A know-nothing right-wing anarchism designed to starve government to death while enriching the anarchists’ own careers is being accorded a respectability and freedom of movement […]
Read moreAn ironic, forlorn voice, a twist on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s, floats through my head suddenly tonight: Oh my foes, and oh my friends, oh, I am so afraid. Fear is not a characteristic note for me, in anything I say or write — and not only because I try to keep the darkest things […]
Read moreI can’t remember when this country has ever been so afraid, even more than it was in the days and months following 9/11. Except that what is clouding our hearts and our minds and our lives right now is not immediately recognizable as fear. Even as their average constituent swallows hard and keeps looking for […]
Read moreLast night it became impossible to ignore. Clipping a stem from my backdoor rosemary pot and stripping its leaves into a pork, tomato, onion, and garlic stuffing for peppers (thank you, dear Nigel Slater), I smelled the green cedary tang as it hit the hot oil, and knew, in my senses before my brain, that […]
Read moreLate summer. It’s LATE SUMMER. Because just like my students, I am fighting to push back the Start of School — specifically the entrance and settling-in of School-Year Mentality into my head, there at its worst to hollow out and colonize my mind — as late as possible. What do I mean by that? College-professoring […]
Read moreA pretty neat day… All politics aside, here’s what I learned today: 1) Meeting The President of the United States will take your breath away and make your heart skip a beat. I’m pretty sure this is universal with meeting any President. 2) The US’s current problems will not be fixed by a bunch of […]
Read moreStill vacationing, friends, readers, and fellow cheapskates. (That’s me in the yellow ocean kayak.) Look for more posts when I begin processing my now-burgeoning tomatoes! Thanks, as ever, for your support and good cheer.
Read moreSo this afternoon, following a morning of errands, I tackled the yard again: grass-cutting, edging, cleaning off the sidewalk, and then weeding, till my clothes were completely soaked with sweat. I mean, even my socks. And my old yard sneakers. Tomatoes have rocketed up and out, putting on green fruit like crazy, necessitating some tucking-in […]
Read moreInspired by today’s ride through a perfect Northeast Iowa summer evening, things I learn and relearn from my simple old machine: 1) If I just get started, it will get easier from there. This applies to everything. 2) From a bike, the world wakes up my senses: flowering vetch, wild lilies, Queen Anne’s lace, black-eyed […]
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