Daily Blues & Views

I had a little problem with my front door lock the other day.  That's when I met Jack.  The key to one of the two locks on my front door would go in, but wouldn't turn.  Time to call a locksmith.  I phoned a recommended source and Jack appeared. Jack can best be described as a journeyman.  He's a career professional and his career just might be a dying breed.  Everything is going digital and locks and safes are no exception.  But until that day, an old school locksmith like Jack will continue to make a good living. Jack can get you in.  He can actually diagnose a problem from a fairly accurate description. "This will take about 20 minutes," Jack said after looking at my problem.  He adjusted a few things and then returned my key.  It seems some small part had broken off on the top lock.  When his repair was complete, in about 15 minutes, Jack went on to explain that the top lock, the deadbolt, was in fine shape and really all one...

When I first heard the term it struck me...this idea really fits.  "Tabloid culture"... we live in a tabloid culture.  All the signs were there.  One had only to hear those two words fall into place. This was right around the time that reality TV shows were coming into vogue and tabloids, themselves were beginning to appear in grocery stores at the check-out counter.  And appear they did, in numerous forms.  Newspaper and magazine formats took the place of Time and Newsweek. Of course, television stations were programming the likes of Jerry Springer and Maury Povich.  Who impregnated whom and who done him or her wrong shows were the new ratings toppers. So what does this say about who we are as a people and how that relates to the current state of the union and those who are in the halls of power?  With all sensitivity to personal tastes and differences, to class, race, and gender...it says that we've come down a few pegs and are, perhaps, in fre...

I've been spending a fair amount of time lately reading Ron Chernow's massive new biography of General Ulysses S. Grant.  At over 900 pages, there is a lot of history here, and much of it quite interesting and thought-provoking.  It is also fascinating to read about this historical era when the country was so divided in a time when the country is so divided again. Even though it seems like these divisions will never end or be resolved, they somehow dissipate for a time, only to surface decades later in an altered form.  Altered, yes, but not entirely different from their original content and intensity. We live in a time of tremendous division.  Much of that division concerns the interpretation of what is loosely termed the direction of our country.  We have at the helm, a political newcomer who thrives on pandering to his base and overtly expressing his racism, sexism, and self-righteous indignation.  This is not unlike the world that Grant inhabited w...