Point Made

I only have a few streaming services. I've been a Netflix subscriber since they only mailed out disks. I joined Amazon Prime to get free delivery of things I ordered from them. I dabbled in others. Hulu, HBO, and Showtime were on my list at one time or another. I think I subscribed to Showtime to get 'Ray Donovan". I read Game of Thrones, so I never got into that conversation. Recently I subscribed to Apple + to get access to "The Morning Show." I'm deliberately avoiding signing up for Acorn, MHz, Britbox, Showtime, or HBO. I'm doing that because I have about a year's worth of shows on my wish lists on the services I currently pay for. I have already watched Aeronauts, The Irishmen, Marriage Story, and I'm following along with The Morning Show . Plus, I have a couple of guilty pleasures. Right now I've got two procedurals and two soap operas. The one soap that takes place in America is titled Virgin River . The others take place in Australi...

This has been one hell of a year for me. The physical issues causing a long period of recovery after four surgeries in six months. Then there was the abrupt ending of an almost thirty-year relationship. The ongoing family squabbles that were frustrating and pointless. Then finding out that people I thought were friends were not friends, was surprising. There were highlights. My column for Appleton Monthly Magazine was exciting and fulfilling. I enjoyed the jams with the guys in The Expansion Band. The weekends with Rae Rae and Felix, face-timing with Brogan and Tate, and visiting my other princess warrior, Violet, make me feel like a Poppa. The discovery of a daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson, I didn't even know about was made so meaningful, because they are such kind and understanding people. I am readjusting and recalibrating with the help of my real friends. I've shared this bit of wisdom from Linus, with some of you, but I repeat it here for all of you. H...

Luck of the Draw Or What You Missed At The Moth by Jeff Jordan I sent a draft of my five-minute presentation for The Moth to my friend Niki Robinson. Now just because Niki produces the Milwaukee version of the internationally produced The Moth doesn't mean I get any special treatment. All participants are urged to submit their ideas and presentations to the program for vetting and mentoring. Niki got back to me with a thumbs up and a couple of suggestions. I tweaked and futzed with the piece every day for a week. Contestants have five minutes to present. I timed my presentation as I performed it to my ever-patient computer screen. There is a loosely enforced theme for each slam. That evening, it was Family. Your story must be true, It has to be about something that happened to you or profoundly affected you. As a story, it should have a beginning, middle, and ending. Besides having a five-minute constraint (Remember I'm Irish), you can not use any notes, scripts, o...

Wow! Poppa Jeff slept in on Sunday. It's amazing. I'm a five o'clock in the morning riser. Today, I dozed until 5:45 am. Now I know. Some of you will say that seems like a small amount of time to be concerned about, Let me just say, that the value of time can be a matter of perspective. When you're young, you think you have all the time in the world. When you're my age, the nightly news remarks on people my age that are dying all of the time. I never want to make this blog become a substitute for a journal, but I thought this week I might give you my friends a glance at what my life is like these days. Let me start with a benchmark event. I got my first Holiday Card for this year. A big thank you goes out for Char and Bob Van Astin. My article for Milwaukee County Transit Services newsletter Rider Insider was published this week. If you're a bus rider, you might want to subscribe by going to the MCTS website and selecting Programs and then Rider Insider. For...

Slowly but surely, you can adjust to living alone. At my age and living where I do, I encounter more women who are divorced or widowed than men. The gender might make a difference in how we adjust, but I think there are many similarities. One of the challenges is cooking and eating alone. I've heard people talk about this as a significant problem. For me, it hasn't been a problem for a couple of reasons. I have to plan my meals to a certain extent since I walk a couple of blocks to the grocery store. I have a cart to transport my groceries home. Both of these are reasons why I can only purchase so much in one trip. On the flip side, I don't have to satisfy anyone else's preferences. I probably eat better meals now that I'm alone because not only can I plan better, but I can eat two meals a day instead of shoehorning three meals. The other reason it's easier for me to deal with mealtime is I love to cook. I don't look at it as a chore. Not only do I enj...

I seem to be delving into a lot of reading and film material that is causing me to become "woke." I'm told that is the current word for making oneself aware of one's personal concept of racial issues. WARNING! Do not watch Netflix's American Son alone . It's an hour and a half of nonending tension concerning an interracial couple dealing with law enforcement regarding their missing son. Because my son is married to Rossllyn, a wonderful black woman, I have two grandsons, who in societal terms, are black.  I say in societal terms because I remember a commentator at a writers conference in Madison, who posited a question he termed the Alex Haley dilemma. Haley, the writer of the seventies book that was converted into a television miniseries entitled Roots .  Roots is the story of a young black man who is captured by slave traders and sold as a slave in the colonies. Haley admitted he began writing this tale as a search for his black history. Haley wa...

Enemy of The People Can it be news, i f it's not entertaining? Press  is a 6 part series on Masterpiece Contemporary PBS It's one thing to be a drama or comedy TV depicting a news program and another thing to be a form of news media performing as a reality show. There have been numerous movies and film depictions of news operations, both print and television. And it's easy to see why. The setting provides the elements necessary for the dramatic arc. The grouchy editor, who is often a shapeshifter which alternately stands in the way of the truth-seeking reporter and then champions them to the publisher, who forgets what news operations are for. Then there is the competition, which  drives the narrative between  the battle-weary old-timers and the young idealistic reporters, often women. Then there is the "deadline" the ticking clock that increases the tension. We are conditioned to receive our information in story form. As Don Hewitt, the legendary p...

This week the rain stopped falling in Milwaukee. As a matter of fact, I can hear them shoveling the after-effects of the sudden cease in the rain and the introduction of its ugly sister. We are so lucky! Poppa Jeff was a busy guy this week. I had Meetings about this, and that. I was getting together with friends and go through withdrawal after the end of the Milwaukee Film Festival. All of this took place regardless of me liking it or not. I was to attend a meeting of an organization in the evening in downtown Milwaukee. It was a cold evening with a persistent wind gushing down the concrete canyon that is Wisconsin Ave and helping the wind chill temperatures to go even lower. Mistake One: I got on the wrong bus. The route of the bus I was on didn't go as far as I needed to go. I ended up getting off the wrong bus and having to walk about three blocks back to Wisconsin Ave. Mistake Two: I thought I could take another bus after a short wait rather than trying to walk to my de...

Transit Services Advisory Committee What You Should Know About It and Why By Jeffrey Jordan What TSAC does: The Transit Services Advisory Committee (TSAC) provides citizen input regarding the Milwaukee County Transit System to the County Board Committee on Transportation Public Works & Transit. Primarily the group is charged to represent the riders and the public in transit issues facing the County Board. TSAC is asked to submit reports and advice to the Board's Committee. How TSAC members are chosen, and who they meet with: The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors created TSAC in June of 2005. County Supervisors appoint members of TSAC.   TSAC members have monthly meetings with MCTS staff, a representative from the bus drivers and mechanics union, and other guests. The sessions are mostly informal - TSAC members provide a sounding board for MCTS staff ideas. Occasionally TSAC members vote to support or oppose policies, and this is passed along as advice given...

Twitter Is For The Birds By Poppa Jeff, AKA Jeff Jordan I couldn't figure out why I am so comfortable on Facebook, with a constant threat of Russian propaganda and the so-called arrogance of Mark Zuckerberg & Sheryl Sandberg. These two (The two bergs.) are the face of Facebook . They are just two billionaires, just looking for another billion or two. Why are so many people angry with them? My Twitter feed is so full of bile; it prompts me to try and feed it omeprazole. I learned early on that I didn't have to 'follow' TrumpleThinSkin on Twitter. Several well-known reporters in Washington repost his postings along with their learned and critical observations. Then there are the citizen commentators, who, if anything, can be bitingly humorous. The answer is obvious. On Twitter, I'm following too many Washington insiders who often sound like one person posting under different names. Don't get me wrong, I'm on the MSNBC side of the page. I agree with ...

You Don't Know It, But I'm Your Daughter. Beware of those DNA tests. by Jeff Jordan If you have or ever thought of having your origins discovered by submitting DNA for testing? This s a cautionary tale. I provided my "spit in the tube" sample supposedly to help my granddaughter, Abbott build a family tree. Given the number of divorces and blended families, this was going to be more like a bush than a tree. It was a ruse. The real story was that my oldest son and his family did submit DNA to Ancestry and Abbott was building a family tree. From what I understand things were going well until she got an email, through Ancestry with a question from a young lady in Minnesota. The request was something like, 'I'm doing our family tree and all of these Jordans keep showing up and no one in our family knows who you are.' Abbott turned it over to her dad, Brad who just ignored it. Another email came. My son, arranged for a phone conversation. His question ...

The Two Popes Is This What Organized Religion Is About? by Jeff Jordan Each Month Milwaukee Film Festival Members have the opportunity to see a film for no charge. During the annual Festival, the film's title is kept secret. This year, I was thrilled to see "The Two Popes." The Backstory With the problems of its historical inability to deal with pedophile priests, Catholic women flaunting prohibition of practicing birth control, and fewer men and women becoming celibate members of the Catholic Orders of priests and nuns. Add to that the politicization of the tenets of the church between the liberal and conservative branches and you have the potential of a schism. Presently in the United States, the Catholic Church is running scared, and the only thing that might be holding it together is Pope Francis, a prelate, who is clearly in the camp of the compassionate priests. Pope Francis is a man who washes the feet of sinners, rejects the opulent perks of the papacy, a...

Notes on acting your age: Here are a couple of signs that provide evidence to friends and family that your thinking like an old person. We should review this classic sign of aging.  It used to be the typical sentence that started off with, "When I was a boy, we...." Presently,  it's a little more subtle. Try to see the senior citizen seeping out of this statement. "I don't like reading off a computer or tablet screen. I love the feel of a real book in my hand." First of all, I admit I agree with that preference, but I do also read books on my tablet. I have a hand-me-down I=Pad with a cracked screen on which I read books that I have purchased for pennies when compared to mass-market paperbacks. I also purchase used books from various venues, including the rack at the Public Market, which offers books for one dollar each on an honor pay system. Why am I so stingy? (Wait for it.) Because I'm on a fixed income and have to watch my spending. The n...

Niceties, A Stage Play Confrontation on Steroids By Jeff Jordan On either side of the stage, the seats are arranged like bleachers like a football field. Between them, the set looks like the office of a long-tenured History professor with stacks of books with bookmarks sticking out of them like cactus leaves. The beverage stand has a machine that allows an actor to make tea on the set. There are a desk and rows of books shelved behind it. The other wall has the entrance door. On both walls, there are pictures and paintings. The largest of which is a painting of George Washinton. Keeping with the set theme of a well known and accomplished history professor at an elite school, suspended above the set, there are two elaborate chandeliers. We are given abundant clues in the opening dialogue that the year is 2016. It’s the end of the spring semester. When two actors appeared on the stage, they are introduced to us by some very snappy and informative dialogue. We have a babyboomer whi...

Show Time! by Jeff Jordan Someone once said ninety percent of success is a matter of showing up. I started doing just that this week. There's the gym. There's the continuing effort to reconnect with friends here in Milwaukee. Probably the most essential item on the checklist, making sure each day has something in it that makes my life and those around me better. I made a pot of beans because I got a hankering for some beans and rice. In the South, beans and rice are like mashed potatoes and gravy in the North. My stop in Mandeville, Louisianna, caused me to become hooked on it. The dish can be served as a meal or a side dish. After I soak my dried beans, I slow cook them in my crockpot with some salt and pepper.  Once the beans are soft, they are ready to eat. However, to give them more flavor, I fried some bacon, chopped it into smaller pieces, and then dumped the bacon and the grease into the pot of beans and let them simmer for the afternoon. I did rescue a serving of...

Things Are Working Out by Jeff Jordan There's an old joke about the guy that tells his friends that he bought a gym membership a couple of months ago. He admits it didn't seem to help him reach his fitness goals. Then he admits, "I found out you have actually go to the gym to make any progress." While that might be obvious, what you do when you get it is equally important. My first workout at the Milwaukee YMCA was discouraging, to say the least. My two goals are building endurance and regaining my balance. I going to have to add flexibility to that list. I had trouble mounting a stationary bike. Just getting up into the seat and getting my feet on the pedals was more effort than I anticipated. The problem was partly balancing, but my ability to move my legs with any kind of certainty was a surprise. Then having to get into the seat of a leg exercise machine turned out to be complicated. There's o question about my need to ease into a regular workout and co...

The Fall of Man by Jeff Jordan aka Poppa Jeff I took the bus to Appleton last Wednesday. My primary mission was to attend the Packer Game. I also needed to pick up some left behind possessions from Maria's. As it turned out, the best thing that happened was a birthday celebration for my Pal John Brownson. John and I took a countrywide route up to the Packer game. I swear we found every road repair project in Outagamie and Brown County. When I think of it, we may have even gotten into Waupaca county. We went West to find out we needed to go East. We tried state highways. We went down county roads. John even decided to drive through a construction project because it was signed as open to residents. When we finally got to Green Bay, we had no trouble getting to our favorite parking sot, which is just a couple of blocks from our gate. We have been parking in this person's yard for years. My guess is over twenty. The couple that ran the place when we first started has turned ...

Immigration Tales It's not just for foreigners you know By Jeff Jordan aka Poppa Jeff Since moving to the city, I've taken a lot of steps to reintegrate myself into the environment and the culture. First I got my library card. Immediately, I used the Milwaukee County Library App to reserve a book. The book I found, when I received it, I had already read. Library Card ⛛ My other reason to go to the library was to register to vote. What I discovered was a dedicated computer and printer to do what I could have done from home. All it did was allow me to make out the form online and print it. I still had to validate my address and mail it to the clerk's office. At least I didn't burden some poor person with trying to read my writing. Voter Registration ⛝ The YMCA for a gym membership was a breeze compared to the voter registration. The process was easier because I had my Silver Sneakers member number. For all you youngsters, Silver Sneakers is a Medicare Provid...

Rain, Rain Go Away by Jeff Jordan          No news really but our weather prognosticators made it official. We had record rainfall in the month of September. Please notice the month isn't over yet. It isn't news because anyone living down here s well aware that it has been raining a lot. This week alone we were awakened most mornings by thunder and lightning followed by a downpour.  Our problem is that the ground is so saturated that all of the rain is running off. Good for the lakes and rivers except they are running high on their banks already. Besides the flooding problems, numbers of trees have been toppled because of high winds and the inability of the over-saturated soil and shallow root structure to anchor the trees.  In the case of the City of Milwaukee, the runoff caused one of our infrequent treatment plant's overflows. This means the sewer waste is pumped directly into Lake Michigan. You would think that we would be a ...

Breaking News! by Jeff Jordan aka Poppa Jeff So I'm sipping my coffee, (A sacred rite as you who know me well realize.)  My fingers sense a rough spot in the handle of my brand new, ultra snazzy, deep blue, coffee cup. It's one of a set of four. Did I not wash it sufficiently to get rid of any sticky, come rough and dry food particle? A rogue cereal flake being my first suspicion. Lest you think I was making a snap decision, think about it? Cereal flakes consist of flour and water. They are the first two ingredients in a paste. You do know what a glob of dried paste feels like. Right? I put the cup down on its traditional place, the tile I bought in Toledo, Spain. At the bottom of the hoop handle, I saw a white spot. A closer inspection bore out my worst fear. There was a large chip out of the handle. A brand new cup, probably used two or three times, and it has a chip in the handle. I now have a set of three matched cups, and one in the wheely bin on it's the way to...