Point Made

When you are trying to break an addiction, we usually advise that you take one day at a time. I find that now that I'm beginning my tenth week of self-quarantine, one day seems pretty much like the last one. In the morning, the water boils while I take my shower, shave, and brush my teeth. Then I pour the water into the press to steep while I make the bed. Then it's on the computer for the news. After I plow through my Email, I read Urban Milwaukee, NYT, The Guardian, BBC Online, and move onto Facebook. Occasionally, I peek at Instagram and Twitter. I avoid prolonged exposure to twitter because I end up angry and discouraged. So much so that I can get sucked into the war with the trolls. (By becoming one of them in the process.) I ran out of patience the other day when I ran into a video of series for videos featuring people harassing a reporter who was wearing a mask and two women deliberately coughing into the faces of people in stores who were asking them to wear a mas...

These days of spring blossom on us like early flowers. One day the weather is iffy, and deciding how to dress for a daily walk becomes a game of hanger roulette. Alexa informs me that it's sixty degrees outside. However, I know for a fact, she's called the airport for that information. That report will not account for the east wind off of Lake Michigan, bringing colder temperatures to my neighborhood. This prompts me to wear a hoodie that is a little more substantial than a sweater I might stick into my golf bag for a chilly morning round. Once I launch my daily walk out of the east-facing lower back exit from my building, I realize that the sun is warm and will help keep me warm even in the cooler by the lake air. My head tells me to go back upstairs and change my outerwear. But I'm like a train on the track; there is only one way to go, and I'm moving forward. The Eastbound trip down Juneau Ave is nose into the breeze until I cross Lake Drive, and the tree line from...

A strange parade indeed, if the blind guide the naked down the route. In this case, all the blind need to do is take off the sleeping mask they use to hide what they choose not to see or acknowledge. And the naked? They need only to cloth themselves, but they will not do that.  Because if they do, they become like the rest of us and no one will look at them. Think of who you are in this tale. You can be our elected leaders, who in an effort to retain their control of government make decisions that might cause harm and even death to us. They do this by blindly rejecting the opinions of their own advisors. You might be those who are naked, who in this case cloth themselves in automatic weapons, confederate flags, and fascist slogans so they can draw attention to their naked anger at being told what to do. To be fair, not all of this group are racist, nationist, bigots, but these folks, still naked mind you, tend to be lost in the crowd when surrounded by the others. Or, you may...

"White now, its berry berry scary out dare." Elmer Fudd We are at a crossroads in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Supreme Court is taking up the legality of the State's stay-at-home rules, via a lawsuit filed by Republican legislators. The State of Wisconsin has been under this mandate since March 24th. It was issued by the Secretary-designate of The State Department of Health Services, Andrea Palm. https://evers.wi.gov/Documents/COVID19/EMO12-SaferAtHome.pdf Under the law, Palm has the responsibility to regulate when the State is threatened by a disease outbreak such as COVID 19. the mandate recently was extended until May 26th and will be enforced unless it's overturned by a decision by the State Supreme Court. The claim by the legislature is that the consequence of Palm's action causes unnecessary harm and that the legislature working with the state government should decide on the terms of this reaction. The State claims that the roles as they are wri...

Did you ever notice when some kind of disaster happens, it's almost immediately compared to something similar in the past? The financial collapse of 2008 was compared to the depression of the 1930s. This current pandemic is often compared to the Spanish flu from the early 1900s. Is it that we don't learn from these things or that they get so far back we can't think of them as anything we should be worried about. Survivours of the German concentration camps, tell us we should never forget the evil men can do to each other if they fall under the spell of madmen like Hitler. We had numerous genocide outbreaks since then. When this pandemic is sufficiently controlled, we will all start to feel better, celebrate for sure, and move on with our lives. But are we going to learn anything? We could and should put practices and policies in place that anticipate and plan for another pandemic. We should be on a constant war footing against these bugs, because like it or not we wil...

I attended a film club meeting last night (Friday, April 17). Naturally, i n these trying times as we shelter in place and practice social distancing, we met on  Zoom. We discussed a film, Strictly Ballroom ,  I vaguely remember seeing in the theater a long time ago. So, I did take a refresher peek at the film before the meeting. It's an Australian film which, according to our moderator and film buff guy, John Hickey, was a breakout film for the director-writer, Baz Luhrmann, and the Australian film industry as a whole. The award list for this film, starting with the Cannes festival in 1992, reflects the international fame it achieved and it's cross nationality appeal. With a little prodding by Hickey, we agreed, that the film had several elements in it that strode hand-in-hand with tried and true authentic storytelling. Our reluctant hero is a young man, Scott, whose parents run a ballroom dance studio. Scott, we're informed by the dialogue, is going to be the next C...

I don't know, is TMTTT (To Much Time To Think) possibly a new Messaging short cut? Let's face it,  in these trying times as we shelter in place to practice social distancing, it sure would come in handy. As I think back on my conversations with friends this week, it's obvious this stay at home period is beginning to wear thin on people and pets. ( We have been warned, we may get the disease from our cats. As Jimmy Kimmel said, "This is the worst thing to happen cats since the movie. ) Many of us are dealing with this situation by multitasking the most mundane chores you can imagine. Fresh air and gardening. We've been told we can get out of our houses and get some air as long as we practice social distancing. Pam Frautchi, confirms she is out clearing the path for new growth in her notoriously grand upper east side Milwaukee garden. It is sometimes referred to as traffic-stopping. By admitting to me that she is scrapping a section of fence, an ordinarily lo...