State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

  • Seven Influences

    We are blinded and forever changed by our experiences if we are lucky. Insights and epiphanies are few in life’s span. They can shape who we are and the choices we make in profound ways. Some become passions and border on enthusiasm. Enthusiasm as in close to spiritual ecstasy, or possession by a god or… Read more

  • Walt Whitman’s ‘New Book’

    That scholars would publish newly found material written by Walt Whitman is not surprising. In a time where old newspapers are being digitized and new methods of scholarship seine existing publications like factory ships trawl the Bering Sea, Whitman’s voluminous work shows up. Manly Health and Training: With Offhand Hints Toward Their Conditions, serialized beginning… Read more

  • Politics Takes A Holiday

    The Bernie Sanders campaign is laying off hundreds of staff members, indicating either he is planning to throw in the towel after California, or that he won’t be placing people currently on his staff in local political organizations for the fall campaign. Maybe both. The presidential nominating party may not be over, but most of… Read more

  • Breaking Fast

    After a week, I’m coming up for air. Our daughter visited for four days — just over 96 hours. Once she was safely returned home, I was incapacitated with a headache, fever and dizziness for a full 48 hours. Of course I went to work sick. That’s what low income people do. I broke fast with… Read more

  • Supervisor Race Update

    JOHNSON, COUNTY, Iowa — Last time I visited the county board of supervisor race, I had picked the two incumbents for the June 7 primary, Rod Sullivan and Lisa Green-Douglass, leaving one pick open. The Johnson County League of Women Voters is hosting a public forum with the candidates on Wednesday, April 27. I plan… Read more

  • Recipe Search

    I called off work at the farm because of the six stitches in my right hand. I had hoped to resume soil blocking today, but not yet. On deck is transplanting basil into larger plastic pots, preparing containers for potato planting, and radishes, turnips and spinach planted in the ground as the temperature rises to… Read more

  • Easter Rising

    Yesterday was a punk day. We called the day between Good Friday and Easter Holy Saturday when I was a grader. It was not as important as Easter’s main event in the liturgical year. On Easter Sunday we dressed in our best clothes to attend Mass with Grandmother. We’d return home for Easter dinner and… Read more

  • It’s Not Just About Wages

    It’s time for a new discussion about wages. People who harp about hourly wages are tedious and mostly fooling themselves. The economic instinct in society should be and is making a decent life from what we have and are given. Wages are a part of that, but there is a lot more. A person can’t… Read more

  • Flesh Wound

    I cut my right hand at work yesterday and had to get stitches — six of them at the base of my thumb. It doesn’t hurt much, and my motor skills haven’t been impaired, however, the doctor said I’m supposed to minimize the use of my hand until a worker’s comp doctor reviews my healing… Read more

  • At Winter’s End

    The first two lambs were born at the farm last Sunday, evidence of spring. I’m ready to work in the garden as soon as time off work aligns with precipitation-free days — maybe Saturday morning. Despite heavy winter precipitation it looks like the upper Mississippi River basin will be spared severe flooding this spring. The… Read more