Daily Blues & Views

 Our culture has always been confused about the difference between heroes and celebrities.  Even more so now.  We seem to equate the well-known with the exceptional.  No wonder all manner of folks from a professional wrestler to a professional con-man has been elected to political office.   Recently, we've lost some real cultural heroes.  That they became famous and thus celebrated has more to do with their character and deeds than their air-time.  How do you compare a Hank Aaron or a John Lewis, with a loudmouth salesman, a mediocre actor, or a paranoid bully?   You can't.  The medium really has become the message, hasn't it?   I'm bracing myself for the loss of more true heroes.  I'm at the age when my childhood idols are passing the torch and passing from this world.  Seems like they come in bunches these days.  But there are two, just over the age of 80 that will hit the hardest. My first two idols were ...

       When was the last time you were truly surprised?  Not pleasantly surprised, but truly surprised.  Was it a birthday party your friends and family pulled off behind your back, or the reaction of someone that radically did not fit your expectation?       Currently, some of us are continually being surprised by the feckless behavior of many politicians.  Their prioritizing party politics over morality or ethical behavior falls more under the heading of disappointment, but to see it from those we had a modicum of respect for is shocking.     Surprises are best when they come out of the blue.  I should say under the blue.  Nature provided me with two wonderful surprises on days when the sky was blue and bluer.       I was casting a fly one summer afternoon in the headwaters of the Deschutes River.  This is a magical little spot where the mighty Deschutes actually springs out of a small ...

     Had a thought today.  Many US Government or Civics teachers use the idea of a "Mock Congress" as an engaging way to teach how the Legislative branch of government works.  There are many forms of this activity but most depend on the size of the classes and the kind of facilities available.  Not to be confused with any large scale event like a Model UN or some sort of Boys/Girls State, the Mock Congress is for 1-3 classes to role-play how Congress works.       To do this effectively you need to have students play the role of the House of Representatives, Senators, and then the VP, Party leaders, and perhaps a Seargent of Arms, or even some members of the media.  The whole purpose of this effort is so that students can form committees and create, debate, and try to pass bills into law.  As things develop, many of the fine points of the process emerge.  Students try to compromise, re-write, and struggle to actually get so...

 The state of the union is...tired.  It's overwrought, cold and hungry, and irascible.  We're moving into the second year of "lockdown" and many good Americans don't want to be told what to do anymore.  No matter their health, or the health of other people.  They fret and whine about their "freedom." Yet they are the first to remind me and my ilk that "freedom isn't free."  They want it both ways, but that is not on the menu. Our cities are dotted with homeless camps, shuttered shops, and crumbling infrastructure.  The Congress has a few members who openly advocate political assassination and call themselves "patriots," yet they can't seem to summon the courage to support the impeachment of a president who openly called for insurrection and even promised to join the mob.  He openly lied for 4 years and then warned his supporters that they needed to "take back the country."  Will they continue to fight for it?  Are we...

 Sometime in the late 1950s, I went with my family, including an aunt and uncle to Disneyland.  It had only been open a few years and was the object of lust for every kid I knew.  With the exception of two brothers in my neighborhood, whose father worked for Technicolor and secured industry passes on opening day for them, I knew very few other kids who had been.  Because I had an East Coast uncle who was in the media, we received will-call passes and 10 books of tickets, including two of the coveted E-tickets.   Sitting in the horse-drawn streetcar at the end of Main street, my Aunt Dorothy and I began to chat.  She made a joke or two about not sitting too close to the horse's behind.  From that, we soon were discussing all the changes in transportation over the last century.  From horse-drawn vehicles to cars,  dirt roads to freeways even paved streets, and sidewalks.  To myself, I began to wonder how many things that no longer exi...

 Millions of words are forming sentences about this moment in time.  Formed by minds that occupy every slot on the political spectrum.  Formed right now and throughout the day.  Millions of words from millions of people trying to separate the mythology from the facts, the delusion from reality, the lies from the truth.   Our Capital attacked, we seek to unpack the events and the mindset of those who would commit insurrection.  Those who did commit insurrection on January 6, 2021.  The President sits in the White House today with the flag flying atop the pole, while all over the iconic buildings and monuments of Washington D.C. the flag flies at half staff.  Perhaps, that says it all.  Who and what has died? This is what the millions are unbraiding as we ready ourselves for the transfer of power slated to take place in 12 days.  The behavior displayed by Trump's army in seeking to overturn the election results was repugnant on every ...

 Did you ever wonder who is living in the house where you spent the first couple of decades of your life?  Occasionally we get the chance to drive by a former home.  Always a little eerie? No?  I once looked at my childhood home over Google Maps.  Looking at the color of the house, the yard, and the surrounding homes on the street, it soon became obvious that my former home did not exist.  Inside our heads, they do exist, of course.  But who is walking those halls now?  What kids are spending a sleepless Christmas eve now?  Are all the fruit trees my family planted gone?  What about the Chinese Elm that my grandfather planted in that backyard?  I can't even imagine what our garage looks like.  Oh yeah, it's no longer our garage. There is a line regarding Arthur Miller's masterpiece, "Death of a Salesman" where Miller,  in a preface to the play looks at the home of the Loman family with hindsight.  He says something li...