Dawn begins to break, and one is trying to sleep after the previous night’s festivities. The next-door neighbor lets out their dogs. The dogs begin to bark incessantly. It feels personal, and […]
Of Many Minds about Dogs
Readin’, Writin’, and ‘Rithmetic: Back to the Basics and Books
When people call for public education to go “back to the basics,” it reminds me of “readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic,” essential knowledge for all time. Imagine a one-room, frontier schoolhouse, something out […]
Surviving the Winter Doldrums, One Movie at a Time
It’s been a long, cold, treacherous winter, folks. Between tons of snow burying half the country, and subzero temperatures freezing Lake Michigan’s waves, it got so cold down in Daytona Beach that […]
2025, Our Year of Greed and Elon Musk
What do award-winning singer Billie Eilish and established award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates have in common? Both are successful women in the twenty-first century, and both have used their platforms to criticize […]
Why Does Kid Rock Keep Saying Stupid Shit When I Really Want to Like Him?
To be honest, Kid Rock first came on my radar because of disinformation. A few years back, I heard the intriguing rumor that Kid Rock was the grandson of Hank Williams, Sr., […]
Romancing the Map
Recently, while playing competitive team trivia, we missed a “World Geography” question. The question was: what country comes between the Czech Republic and Slovakia? The answer was Austria, though we answered Croatia […]
What Type of Roof Are You?
When Pharrell sings about clapping if you feel like a room without a roof, I just can’t go along. Roofs are serious business, even basic asphalt shingles, not to mention the architecturally […]
A Sticky Metaphor, or Why I’m Not Going to My 45th Class Reunion
We joke around in my circles about which of us is “the glue.” In my daughter’s friend circle, Stephen says he’s the glue, but it’s probably his wife, Heather, a vivacious school […]
Things Nobody Wants to See That Are REAL
Why do electrical wires look so messy and dangerous? An unvarnished pole of treated wood rises like a mast against the sky, a pole strung with taut wire, with slack wire that […]
If You Want My Vote, It Will Cost You
This is a message to all yous billionaires out there. You know who you are. If you want to buy my vote in a highly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice election, or […]
The Gloria Sirens 