Maybe that I take the world seriously.
Author: tallthinman72
First Grade
Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.
It was before the days of compulsory kindergarten. Up to that point, the extent of my social interactions involved my siblings and cousins and Sunday School at a local Lutheran church. I think there are pictures, though I haven’t seen them for a while. Mom was there. I was likely dressed in a paisley shirt with plaid pants that came up to my navel, or maybe that was junior high.
With lunchbox and some form of ancestral Trapper Keeper from W.T. Grant in hand, we walked to the bottom of the driveway, crossed the street, and waited for the bus to round the bend. I can still remember it slowing down, coming to a stop. It was an old Dodge, probably from the late 50s, not nearly as big as the buses today. I don’t remember if it had all the blinking yellow and red lights that today’s models have. And it was definitely before the days of stop signs that popped out, and that long bar that protrudes from the front.
Anyway, the door opened and I looked up at Mr. Lemanski– gruff, cigar-chomping Mr. Lemanski. It was often difficult to tell if he enjoyed this daily routine, but he safely delivered us to school every day for the first few of those elementary years.
Amazing– what stays in your head.
Cesspool
I wonder if the people at Fox News ever steal a moment to ponder. I wonder if, despite the hype and their all-in bravado and kowtowing to Donald Trump, they ever pause to realize that they’re backing the wrong horse.
The cascade of bad news with regard to nominees for important jobs just got markedly worse, in my estimation, with the nod to Kari Lake.
Christopher Wray’s resignation? Most everyone knew that might be coming, and it certainly doesn’t bode well for our future. But Kari Lake? There’s always been something about her that raises hackles. She seems downright evil to me—a slick, calculating, angry smartass who wants to lash out at somebody. She might be the culmination, the poster child for everything that’s ugly and wrong with another Trump administration.
Any Republican in Congress who still possesses a shred of decency should be grieving. And alarmed, too.
Such Memorable Oratory…
Not speeches, really, but as a pastor, I delivered sermons most Sundays and offered eulogies for many people.
My only brush with the stage was in junior high, when I played Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. As I recall, I was ready to deliver a performance for the ages, but somehow a couple pages of dialogue got skipped, and with them most of my lines. So, that was that.
Expensive Savior
$765 million. We all know it’s only gonna keep going up. A billion-dollar contract is coming, and it will be rationalized simply as the cost of doing business in a competitive marketplace. That, and the new record is temporarily newsworthy, brings attention to an organization.
I guess my questions include Why, and How, and, going forward, Who can afford to attend the games? How do the teams recoup their commitments, apart from skyrocketing ticket prices and pay-per-view nickel and diming, and paid subscriptions and deferred compensation that players must be hoping actually materializes?
Is it humanly possible for Mr. Soto or any player to maintain a level of humility, and to perform to the now wildly escalated expectations many will have?
Meanwhile, there’s a whole other world in which people look at this and shake their heads and question priorities.
The Mets must be hoping the guy stays healthy. And motivated. I’m sure they’ve got it all figured out.
Motion
Golf, yard work, running around with the grandkids, and a few machines at the Y– recumbent bike, elliptical, and various upper body and arm sets. OK… and stair push-ups– trying to work my way back to the real ones.
Steely-eyed Missile People
Reporters covering war zones; astronauts and airline pilots; community organizers who refuse to give up hope; teachers; parents who love their children.
Are You Seeing This?
It’s like they’re playing with Monopoly money. They’re like kids playing dress up.
Not every Trump appointee is off the wall, but many of them are. And what are the chances that they’ll be able to punch above their weight?
It’s hard to watch, because they can’t be taken seriously, yet this is all very serious. It’s like they’re there only to break things, not to govern. No thoughtful policies, minimal to no expertise, just loyalists who won’t know what all the buttons and switches are for.
It’s difficult to imagine a smooth confirmation process for hardly any of them, unless Trump gets to make a bunch of recess appointments.
Bee-beep
Hmm… probably The Roadrunner Show, with Wile E. Coyote.
Let Me Explain
I’ve been told by a person whose opinion I value that I’m a miserable person who’s let Donald Trump take up residence in my head. It’d be easy to blame my admittedly un-rosy disposition on Trump, but of course he’s just one ingredient—though one at the beginning of the list—in the witch’s brew of items that have pecked away at my attitudes and world view.
Between Trump and my drifting away from the Christian faith that had offered at least something of an anchor for most of my life, I’ll admit to feeling more than a bit angry and lost. There are other things, too, but those are more personal and not things that belong in a public space like this, at least not in this entry.
I’ve written ad nauseam about Trump because he is such an unwelcome anomaly in our collective life. The suggestion of not letting him live rent free in my head is easier said than done. It’s not like he stayed on TV and hosted his contrived show, which was much easier to dismiss and ignore. No, he decided to get into politics and bludgeon his way into the national conversation, inject his ugly persona and polluted thinking and twisted aspirations that passed for policy and know-how and were embraced by millions who still think he’s something akin to the Second Coming of Christ.
I will not—cannot—stop commenting on Trump, mostly because it’s been his decision to enter an arena which invites and requires a reaction, and pushback. It’s not easy to just ignore him and try to live my life as if he doesn’t exist– he will soon be President of the United States again! He’s invited himself into the arena of public discourse and opinion and scrutiny. Because of who and what he is and represents, I feel driven to offer a dissenting voice.
On occasion, I may take the next step and write a letter for publication in the Op-Ed section of the local paper. But until then, this blog is where I practice, where I refine my prose and style, and hone my use of words that, hopefully, some day, find their mark.
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