Living in Society
Politics mostly social commentary.
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Growing broccoli from seeds is tough without a germination shed and controlled environment. Miraculously, I made it from seeds to plants in the ground, with hope of a crop. I fenced them in before rain came yesterday. This morning I inspected the plants and all survived. Each has the prospect of a head of broccoli,… Read more
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It’s been a tough couple of weeks complicated by a lingering and persistent impulse to void the rheum of excess mucus. I don’t feel ill for the most part, but the coughing has been terrible. Missing work without sick pay means less income and a further exploration of the life of low wage workers. Well… Read more
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa– Al Gore held up a T-shirt presented by a youth group from Indiana that said, “Ask me about my future.” The context can be political, even if the presenters intended the question be about the environment. Gore joked about wearing the T-shirt in Iowa and what it might mean during the run… Read more
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A persistent cough prevented me from working at the warehouse Friday and Saturday. My schedule included preparing and serving food, and it would have been bad to go in sick. Instead I felt like crap at home and tried to focus enough to get a few things done, including writing an article for the newspaper,… Read more
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The sound of children playing reached through still air to the parking lot where I distributed shares to CSA members. The sky was clear and children were having fun chasing balls, swinging on a swing set and playing in the grass. It lifted my spirits for that hour. Lilacs are in bloom and apple blossoms… Read more
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Suddenly sucked into the vortex of writing about politics, my reaction is to back down. It was hard not to pay some attention to Hillary Clinton’s campaign launch in Iowa last week. After all, people have been talking about it for years and there was pent up Hillary demand. She’s on to New Hampshire now,… Read more
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April has gotten very busy. There are dozens of tasks to do at home and farm work has kept me busier while my warehouse work and newspaper writing continue at the same level. It seems impossible that I had eight jobs at one point last year. Working three jobs fills the time if it doesn’t… Read more
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Out in the country good stories get circulated. I don’t mean Liz Mair’s self-described “incendiary” piece on Hillary Clinton, or other tales of paid punditry emanating from inside the D.C. beltway and nearby Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Here’s one that circulated earlier this week as an example: FARMER: I’d like to see Hillary Clinton again.… Read more
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Hillary Clinton spent Monday night at the Blackhawk Hotel in Davenport. It felt very close. When I was 17 my father had me put on a tie and took me to dinner there with his boss at the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America Local 431. I recall the room was dimly… Read more
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