Getting The News In Print Only - A Digital Cleanse
From today’s New York Times:
“It has been life changing. Turning off the buzzing breaking-news machine I carry in my pocket was like unshackling myself from a monster who had me on speed dial, always ready to break into my day with half-baked bulletins.
Now I am not just less anxious and less addicted to the news, I am more widely informed (though there are some blind spots). And I’m embarrassed about how much free time I have...”
(For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned.https://nyti.ms/2G2z5y7)
Nowhere Man
I’ve been whingeing lately to anyone who will listen about how I’ve not been hearing songs that speak to the day-to-day chaos of current events in this country. Well, here’s one that does. It was written in 1965. (I’ve done some editing. I hope John would approve.)
He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to
He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don't worry
Take your time, don't hurry
Leave it all till somebody else
Lends you a hand
Red Sparrow
I saw “Red Sparrow” today.
Take the Bourne and Bond movies, add Moscow, Budapest And London, stir well with good acting and directing, and you have a most enjoyable movie. Not great, but good - just the kind of film that makes it worthwhile to see on the big screen, in a big, comfortable recliner. With contraband Maple Pop Tarts.
Jennifer Lawrence has been a chameleon from role to role, and she has become believably Russian for this one.
James Thurber, 1931
Who among us...?
Engagement Announcement
if they ever have kids, I hope they don’t hyphenate their last names.
Summer Wardrobe Time
It’s still Winter in Boston, but it felt like Spring outside today, the last day of February. And that felt wonderful after a particularly difficult Winter here.
My thoughts turned briefly toward clothes I may need to replace or upgrade for Spring and Summer.
I’ll keep you posted.
Vigils
Fifty years ago, we stood vigil on Amherst Common to bear witness against the Vietnam War.
Today, we attended a rally and vigil in Lexington Center to protest gun violence and to support more effective gun control laws, and much stricter enforcement of those laws.
Representative Katherine Clark (D-MA 5th District) was especially eloquent in her address to the large crowd assembled on short notice at the Depot in Lexington Center.
Different times, different issues, but you do whatever you can.
Philly Philly!
A week after Super Bowl LII, it’s finally time for me to move on. The grieving has concluded.
Really though, as much as I hated to see the Patriots lose, that loss was bittersweet because at age seventy-five, I can remember myself as a seventeen year old Eagles fan in 1960, listening to Bill Campbell call the game on the radio as they won the NFL Championship Game (what they called it before they started calling it “The Super Bowl”), defeating the Vince Lombardi Packers in a game that came down to the final play..
I don’t remember post-game riots, or even a victory parade. But then, the city and in fact the society have changed quite drastically since 1960.
But I do remember how wonderful that feeling was for me - and for all Eagles fans.
One More Month!
The first Red Sox Spring Training Game will be on the radio one month from today. I find that a very encouraging sign that Winter is term-limited.
