Categories
Living in Society

Korean Grocery

Bulletin board at H Mart in Niles, Ill. On April 2, 2025.

Someone shared a photo of the interior of a Korean grocery store in Niles, Illinois in a social media post. I had to visit the next time I was in the area, so this week, I did. The experience was a bit surreal.

For the first time in a long time, I entered a grocery store and left without buying anything. It was the H Mart in Niles, an Asian Grocer larger than the American grocer I frequent near home. They had aisles and aisles of foodstuffs with Korean lettering on the packages. Two of us walked from end to end to see what was on offer. It was a lot. It would be easy to drop $500 in one visit and not scratch the surface of what was available.

There was a food court near the entryway. It was well past the lunch hour when we arrived, and two hours until supper time. I would have thought someone would be eating, yet few were. Every person behind the counters was not doing anything, just standing or sitting, I suppose waiting for a customer. The store was almost empty of customers on a Wednesday afternoon.

At the other end of the store near the exit was a row of other kinds of merchants, such as the nail salon that stood out. In between were well-stocked, well-faced shelves. There were a couple of stockers, who each had a single box of a product to refill a shelf. This is unlike our grocer in that here, the stock person fills a large flatbed cart with dozens of items which are wheeled to the floor and parked while the entire aisle is re-stocked. Maybe it’s a cultural difference, although I’m struggling to figure out why.

There was a lot of seafood, reminding me that marine life everywhere on Earth is under pressure from over fishing. There were many kinds of pickled products, including kimchi and daikon radishes. I wouldn’t know how to choose one type of pickled product for a meal among so many options. There were small shelves of U.S. company products. Notable was a wide set of shelves of Spam products, actually multiple sets in different locations in the store.

South Koreans eat lots of Spam, according to National Public Radio. It is the second-largest consumer of Spam in the world, eating roughly half as much as the United States, which has six times as many residents. U.S. soldiers introduced Spam to Korea during the Korean War. Dishes such as Kimchi Spam Musubi, Bibimbap bowl with Spam, and others are considered to be delicacies. When my uncle was stationed in Persia during World War II he ate so much Spam in his rations he never ate it again after military service. To each their own, I suppose.

The reality of H Mart did not measure up to the internet posting. In person, it seemed a vast, well-stocked warehouse for people with a specific culinary interest. How does one decide which pancake mix to choose when there are so many? Maybe there are too many varieties. Inside H Mart it is a world of its own.

They even had boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake mix, with the iconic figure on the box, from before Pepsico took a step into the future of racial equality and removed her. Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of Pepsico, may have felt it was doing the right thing by removing the aunt’s image. In the bright neon lights of the store there was consumer comfort in seeing her image persist. Maybe they got the message about DEI and put Aunt Jemima back in her place.

I found the visit fun, the most fun I’ve had in a while. I don’t get out much. Since I didn’t buy anything, it was cheap fun. I don’t know if the internet ruined me for experiences like this. I would never have seen the inside of H Mart without that social media post. It is one more bit of reality incorporated into my online world view. I just need to develop a taste for kimchi and I’ll be set.

Categories
Reviews

Book Review: The Ministry of Time

Trail walking on March 31, 2025.

Large crop fields have been worked along many of the roads I traveled to Chicago this week. Ready or not, the season turned to spring. Next on my indoor planting schedule is tomatoes, followed by cucumbers and squash. I’m waiting for conditions outdoors to improve to tear down some of last year’s garden and prep the soil. It’s how I’ve learned to be a gardener.

I finished reading The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. I wrote a book review on the Goodreads social media platform:

The public library had this book and I heard about it from Barack Obama’s reading list. It was a fast-moving, engaging read. The 20k+ reviews already written on Goodreads are a trip and highly recommended. Here is a link to the page. Couple things to add:

  1. The main value of this book is the author’s use of language. It is right on the surface and had me looking up things she wrote for usage. Most fiction I read does not engage like this. The writing worked sometimes, and sometimes not. I found this invaluable to my own writing.
  2. Did not care for romanticizing tobacco use. Too many friends who died of lung cancer.
  3. Lord Franklin’s search for the NW passage is being rediscovered. Not sure this fictionalized version helps or hurts. Probably not positive to actual history.
  4. Hard to put down once started.
  5. The imperfect character of the female lead was compelling.
  6. Author’s summary of how she created the male lead from the historical record is a must read.

Rated 5 stars because among dozens of fiction books read in the past several years, this one stands out with enduring quality. It is likeable because it is different.
Give it a go!

I’ve been away from my writing computer for two days. It’s time to get back to work on my memoir. Thanks for reading.

Categories
Living in Society

Better Vibes Ahead

Lake Macbride Watershed drainage ditch on March 22, 2025.

I plan to be out of office and away from writing computers for a couple of days. Here is a photo from a recent trail walk to keep you company.

Categories
Living in Society

Institute of Museum and Library Services Update

On Monday, March 31, National Public Radio reported the Institute of Museum and Library Services placed its entire staff on administrative leave. While the employee count is low at about 70, the impact of the institute across the country is high. I recently posted about all they do to help public libraries in my community.

According to a statement from AFGE Local 3403, which represents IMLS workers, the agency’s staff was notified by email about being placed on paid administrative leave for 90 days after a “brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership.” Employees had to turn in government property, and email accounts were disabled. (National Public Radio, March 31, 2025).

The future of previously awarded, yet unpaid grants is uncertain. Work on new proposals stopped. One assumes the institute won’t be returning from leave except to wind down the Congressionally approved institute. Whether the grant-writing process would be transferred to another agency hasn’t been discussed in public. The uncertainty is not good for people who work in public libraries, especially in smaller communities where libraries are widely used as a resource and a foundation of community life.

I wrote my federal representative and senators. Senators Grassley and Ernst replied, and based on that communication, we are in a wait and see period while the intentions of the Department of Government Efficiency become public and the process evolves. Placing staff on paid administrative leave throws cold water on initial belief the institute could be saved.

Why is this so important? Public libraries are the lifeblood of our democracy. In addition to public facilities made available for little or no fees, reading is a valued way of learning. The anti-intellectualism behind the assault on museums and libraries is on prominent display with this action. The endgame is the deliberate destruction of knowledge. We are already seeing evidence of this in other parts of the state and federal government.

If locals need to fund our public library, I believe money could be raised if federal grants disappear. Uncertainty is in the air. Just tell us what you are doing, federal government, and with clarity library lovers everywhere will do what is needed to support our public libraries. While this action in unwelcome, it is not the end of the discussion of public libraries and museums.

Categories
Writing

Inside the Bubble

Trail Walking on March 29, 2025.

The ambient temperature is chilly as I write. Not freezing, not spring, just chilly. I yearn to be outside working in the yard and garden. I don’t yearn enough to bundle up and brave the cold and wind. At least I got the garlic in the ground on Saturday and it rained Sunday. I’ll take little victories when they come.

I’ve been spending what seems like a lot of time writing. Each day includes writing emails, social media posts on BlueSky, and at least one blog post. All of that writing is to prime the pump for work on my autobiography. I’m on the draft of Chapter 25 of a possible 50, so the draft is half finished. Time writing is valuable for the distraction it provides. Distraction from our politics, mostly.

On Monday, Paul Krugman posted this graphic:

His comment was about the impact of economic uncertainty on small businesses. It’s not good, he said. However, there are more kinds of uncertainty during the current administration that are equally uncertain.

Will Social Security continue to provide steady retirement income? Will my veteran friends continue to have health care through a viable Veterans Administration system? Will my public library be able to afford things like interlibrary loans, websites, and other services if federal funding goes away? Will research facilities be able to create needed vaccines during the next, inevitable pandemic? When I’m infirm enough to need a nursing home will Medicaid be available to help defray costs? Life today is one big truckload of uncertainties, hence my need to be distracted from it.

As society grows more uncertain, the tendency is to withdraw into what is most important in life: family, maintaining a home, eating sufficiently well to avoid problems, maintaining physical and mental health, and more. Such concerns during the Reagan administration rose and my reaction was to withdraw into what I will call the “Reagan bubble.” Focus on what is important and the heck with everything else. Needing a Reagan bubble complicates things in significant ways.

The tendency is to conserve resources. That means less spending on retail in person and online. It also means using funds to pay down debt. Can we get by with the vehicle we currently own for a few more years? Will the washer and dryer hold up without needing replaced? Conserving resources, multiplied by a society that feels the same way about uncertainty will have negative fallout for the consumer economy. While I’m not an economist, it will be felt across the economy, not just in the consumer sector.

Living in the Reagan bubble will be good for my writing, the same way the coronavirus pandemic was. Until I finish the second book, I need that. That raises another question, though. Where will things be when I do finish the book, hopefully by the end of the year? It’s a big unknown. Those of us who have been to this rodeo before during the Reagan years know what to do.

Categories
Living in Society

Letter on Library Funding

Solon Public Library

Below is the message I sent to my federal representatives in Washington, D.C. The president signed an executive order on March 14, which said in part, the Institute of Museum and Library Services is an unnecessary bureaucracy.

…the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law… (Continuing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy, The White House, March 14, 2025).

Here is the message I sent:

What can you do to save the Institute of Museum and Library Services?

I’m writing to express my disappointment that the president intends to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) “to the maximum extent of the law,” via executive order. As you know, the Congress created IMLS and, by law, only the Congress can dissolve this federal agency. As a resident of your district, I don’t understand how the executive branch can intervene in a congressionally created agency, cancel grants, and in effect put it out of business. Please explain.

Our local public library in Solon, Iowa depends on IMLS funds for things like inter-library loans, platform fees, shared online resources with other Iowa libraries, website hosting, the People’s Law Library of Iowa, and more. Depending upon the timeline for ending grants, if that is the final decision, these library services upon which we depend could be disrupted.

If the federal government pulls the plug on IMLS, the community will respond and replace it as we can. We’ll see what the courts say about the president’s executive order. What can the Congress do?

Our community is self-reliant. When we didn’t like that the library was located under the band stand in the city park, we solved the problem by contributing more than $1 million to build the current facility. When we quit claimed the building to the city, they made a commitment for staffing. Ever since, the library has been a valuable community asset.

Thanks for considering my email. Good luck navigating these turbulent times.

Regards, Paul Deaton

Senators Grassley and Ernst replied, and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks has not. Grassley and Ernst did not really address my concerns, yet they say they support libraries and don’t have an opinion on the effective closing of this agency. Like me, they are concerned and describe the current situation as actively unfolding with a lot to learn. I posted part of Grassley’s response here.

What seems clear from the executive order, and the other actions the president has taken, is the impacts on plain folks like me will be many and will hit me where I live.

The next step is figuring out what I can to about the many changes proposed by the federal government.

Categories
Sustainability

Sunday is a Day of Rest

Predawn sky from the state park trail.

The constant news cycle is not good for us. Sunday is as good a day as any to take a break and focus on the real world all around us. It is also a day to post my favorite photo of the week.

Categories
Living in Society

No Tax Cuts in Reconciliation

Woman Writing Letter

According to the U.S. Treasury website the national debt as I write this letter is $36.22 trillion and growing. The politics should be simple. Don’t provide any new tax breaks to corporations and individuals until the debt is substantially paid down.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires this year. It increased the national debt and should be allowed to expire without action. It was a bad idea for America. Will the people who enjoy its tax cuts miss them after the law expires? Likely yes, but we all should make sacrifices for the betterment of our country.

Republicans in the Congress passed H.Con.Res.14 which provides a framework for establishing a federal budget through reconciliation. According to the bill, it “requires the maximum deficit increase permitted by the reconciliation instruction… ($4.5 trillion in the resolution).” Whatever bill is written seeks a total of at least $2 trillion in deficit reduction.

The Congress is having trouble finding $2 trillion in deficit reductions, and settled on $1.5 trillion which they can’t find either.

I took arithmetic in grade school. The Congress is proposing adding some amount, maybe $2.5 trillion or more to the deficit. We are going the wrong way, especially if we are funding tax cuts with these loans.

It is common sense to stop increasing the national debt to provide tax cuts and pass a budget that reduces the deficit instead. Politicians are not known for their common sense, so we plain folk need to keep reminding them.

~ Submitted as a letter to the editor, not published

Categories
Writing

Schererville Terminal

Welcome to Schererville. Photo Credit – Wikimedia Commons.

Editor’s Note: This is a draft chapter from my memoir. I was assigned to the Schererville, Indiana trucking terminal of Lincoln Sales and Service for most of the time from 1987 until 1993.

On my first day of work, as I crested the railroad bridge just south of the Schererville terminal, I saw a car had driven under the trailer of one of our tractor-trailer rigs while it was making a left-hand turn onto Indianapolis Boulevard. I didn’t know it then, yet this would become the typical start of a day. During the time I worked there, about four of the six years we lived in the Calumet, there was always something happening. It was nearly impossible for a human to keep up. Thankfully, no one appeared to be hurt in this specific accident.

The Town of Schererville, Indiana is called the “crossroads of the nation.” Situated in Saint John’s Township in Lake County, it has been a crossroads since before becoming a state when Native American trails crisscrossed not far from the current location of the intersection of U.S. Highways 30 and 41. At one time, Standard Oil Company owned all four corners of that intersection. The Standard Oil Trust had lots of money and was buying desirable locations to sell automotive fuel and lubricants across the country. Locations along the Lincoln Highway, which ran coast to coast, were prime. Their corporate descendant, BP, still operates on the northeast corner which currently has a large gas station and convenience store. Our trucking terminal was about two miles north on Highway 41, which is also called Indianapolis Boulevard.

Because the company fuel island was close to the main roads traveled by our truckers, almost all our drivers stopped to get fuel, drop off payroll paperwork, use the restroom, check in with the company trainer, and if needed, get their equipment repaired or serviced. Our fuel island attendant J.J. knew Chicago like the back of his hand and gave directions to help out-of-state drivers find their customers using routes safe for an 18-wheeler in the city and its suburbs.

In 1987, Lincoln Sales and Service in Schererville was a full-service trucking terminal. During my two tours of duty there, we evolved into a driver recruiting station when the shop and fuel island were closed after a union organizing attempt, and training was moved to the corporate office in Cedar Rapids to provide a consistent, documented process when the U.S. Department of Transportation audited us. Driver payroll had already been centralized in nearby Griffith, Indiana. Our terminal staff shrank from more than 25 employees to half a dozen over the years. There was less traffic after the fuel island closed, yet it was busy enough for us to hire an outside security service. I was young and could keep up with the workload which often bled over into family time.

I described terminal operations in Chapter 18, yet I want to bring focus to the story of my work.

The many driver interviews I conducted were a story of dehumanization. Workers were laid off by companies that felt they had to be competitive, whatever that meant. It was a time of ubiquitous management consulting firms who restructured businesses to direct more revenue and earnings to owners, shareholders, and high-level managers. CRST followed this path eventually. It was busy at our terminal because most of the time I worked in uncharted territory in managing a recruiting operation with little guidance unless there was a lawsuit, workers compensation claim, or union activity.

In the crucible of manufacturing in transition, tens of thousands of workers in our area were trying to adjust. I was there listening to them and found one heck of a story. I hired some of them, doing what I could to ease their transition.

I officed in Schererville yet traveled a lot. By the end of my time there I was managing trucking terminals in Schererville and Richmond, Indiana, and starting recruiting operations in West Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. I would wake up on airplanes unsure of where I was, or where I was going.

I’m glad for the experience. I hated the experience. My life in the Calumet, and everywhere else I traveled, taught me about unionization and the consequences of change sparked by the Reagan Revolution in a way I believe gave me a unique perspective. They were days of hope for an intangible future that included success. In retrospect, I don’t know what that means. It was a busy time and there was little time and energy left for family.

Categories
Living in Society

Classified Stuff

The Situation Room during the death of Osama Bin Laden, May 1, 2011. Photo credit –
Official White House photo by Pete Souza

While stationed in Europe, I drew an assignment to serve as a visiting officer to a French battalion of Infantry Marines in the coastal city of Vannes in Brittany. Not many American officers knew the French language, and even though my French was marginal, the command felt it would improve and be needed in case the balloon went up. That is, there was war on the central plains of Europe. After returning to garrison, I was asked to write a classified account of my observations while assigned to a French platoon. Our battalion S-2 officer knew what the word classified meant and complied with Army procedure in handling my report. Today, I don’t recall what I wrote, except to say the French were liberal in the use of corporal punishment by officers on enlisted personnel. I filed the report and hadn’t thought about it much since then.

The news this week is of the operational security breach when National Security Advisor Michael Waltz added national security reporter and editor in chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg to a chat about an ongoing attack in Yemen on the messaging application Signal. I had not heard of this app, which is an American open-source, encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. Signal has known vulnerabilities to infiltration by Russian and Chinese intelligence. Worse case scenario, bad actors were listening in on the chat in real time, in addition to an experienced national reporter present by apparent mistake. There are issues.

First, the president was not part of the chat and likely should have been. When people on the chat asked whether the attack should commence, whether the president authorized it, no one knew. The decision to make the strikes then appears to have been made by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, according to Heather Cox Richardson. What was the president doing then, instead of being in this meeting? Watching television or doom scrolling his phone? The president said he didn’t know anything about it.

Content of the chat aside, why weren’t the participants using secure channels for this discussion? Even if the Situation Room at the White House is not a viable option, the government has secure channels for use in its place. Either the administration hopes to avoid scrutiny by using a commercial messaging app, or they are incompetent… maybe both.

I would much rather write about other things on this blog. The truth is I need to process what I’m hearing and writing about it helps. What we heard this week is important and we can’t look away. Plenty of other sources have better detail and analysis about the security breach. I’ll let the story run its course, which is expected to be a long one.