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Monthly Archives: February 2011

That Old Time Music

Mon, 28 Feb 2011, 05:00 PM (-06:00)

They sat at the table eating their Thundercloud egg salad sandwiches. He guzzled an iced tea. She was drinking water. The Cars were playing over the speakers. “It’s really quite amazing,” he said. “What?” she said. “This song,” he said. “That this song is playing here and that it totally makes sense.” “This is The […]

Cold and Warm

Fri, 25 Feb 2011, 08:55 AM (-06:00)

She told a tale of winter, of snow dragons rearing their heads and gnashing their teeth. She said how warm the one-degree-below-freezing temperatures seemed and of the no-big-deal report of the weathermen during their snow forecast. She told of 100 inches accumulated so far this winter. And my mind turned to the shade I ran […]

Family Visits

Tue, 22 Feb 2011, 03:03 PM (-06:00)

1. My Brother My brother comes to visit frequently. He was here in October and then again this week. He said it seemed so long ago that he was here, but it wasn’t long ago at all. We are so spoiled that he comes to see us as often as he does. And I feel so […]

True Grit

Tue, 15 Feb 2011, 04:11 AM (-06:00)

We sat in the dark theater at Alamo Drafthouse watching the big screen.  Trudy was eating her fish and chips and drinking a beer.  I was devouring a BLT sandwich and relishing the luxury of hot french fries and ketchup. We were there to see the Coen brothers’ True Grit. This is my report, such as […]

All the Way From Kentucky

Sat, 12 Feb 2011, 10:30 PM (-06:00)

The fair and industrious Trudy bought some strawberries on a sunny weekend a while ago. A few days later we put some soil in a whiskey barrel and two old leaky buckets, and we planted the five little plants. We gently surrounded them with a little bit of pine straw and a three inches of […]

It Happened on the Day of Prayer

Fri, 11 Feb 2011, 10:25 AM (-06:00)

“You didn’t really think he was going to step down, did you?” My heart was black. I felt like a heel. How could I have let the cheering and the flags and the singing and chanting lead me to believe in change, lead me to believe that something good can happen there? That was yesterday. […]

Suleiman Speaks

Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 05:23 PM (-06:00)

And so we hear that the tyrant chooses to remain. The calls of the people fall on the deaf ears of the entrenched elite. The tyrant speaks and the people shake their shoes at him. And then the newly minted Vice President, Omar Suleiman, speaks. “Go back home,” he says. “Go back to your work.” […]

Yalla!

Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 01:09 PM (-06:00)

It’s 19 hours GMT, and Al Jazeera is covering live what is sure to be one of the great events of the early 21st century.  What amazing coverage. I had given up on journalism. “After seventeen days of protest, excitement is growing.” And as far as you can see, they tell us, every street leading into […]

Tahrir Square

Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 11:43 AM (-06:00)

It’s night in Cairo. The lights in Tahrir Square illuminate people standing shoulder to shoulder, filling the square, waving hands and fluttering flags, whistling and chanting and clapping in synchrony. Things are moving very fast now. Mubarak may soon join the ranks of de-stringed puppets: Pinochet, Pahlavi, Marcos. What a legacy. Fingers crossed. Because we […]