These days, I now know why father stopped answering the phone during the day. Back in the prehistorical telemarketing era, cold callers would besiege him. A retiree by then, he made a great target. Continue reading The Annoyance of Affluence
Tag Archives: father
Laggards
Younger Anglo males have become a frequently sad spectacle in America.
There are constant print articles and television reports of their societal decline. As a group, they’re increasingly succumbing to drugs that numb the pain of being them, or, in extreme cases, suicide, to end the invented agony of being them. Whoever they are.
How did this come about? So what? Who cares? Continue reading Laggards
We Have Plenty Yet We Are Poorer
As has been written elsewhere, Thanksgiving is the best of all American holidays. It commemorates nothing. Especially now that the indigenous North American people are letting the rest of us know they regard the arrival of Europeans on these shores as a parasitic invasion.
Columbus Day, anybody? Continue reading We Have Plenty Yet We Are Poorer
Strength Through Fear
New Yorkers living in and who once resided in the Metropolitan Area know Donald Trump too well. For worse, he’s one of us. However, the farther west and south one travels, the short-fingered vulgarian somehow morphs into a worthy figure.
What better demonstrates the concept of “two Americas”? Continue reading Strength Through Fear
Marathon 65
Sometimes through life this runner stumbled. While there was never any first place, crossing the line signifying 65 eventually became a major goal.
On some plane, I should grumble about not living in opulence and swaddled by elegance. People who do are part of my circle. Cosseted as such, some still haven’t found satisfaction. Deep or otherwise. Indeed, you can have plentitude and realize it means little.
In lieu of close family, I’m lucky to have a network of trustworthy and understanding contemporaries. Can’t buy those. Continue reading Marathon 65
Different Calibers
Best caricature of American character? Our gun fetish. It makes us look like cartoons to the rest of the world. Immature cartoons at that. Continue reading Different Calibers
Long. Languid. Like August.
August is the reason the French refer to September as “reentry.”
Like some Old World countries, the Belle Republique takes a month off after the bombast and celebrations of July. Americans should do that here in the New World but wouldn’t this just be the thing to interrupt our motorcycle rallies and guns shows? Besides, we must grudge the notion of vacation. Isn’t it a national trait? Instead of seeing time off as deserved, ah, earned, business and our hamsters on wheels go-getting natures insist we disdain time away from the millstone.
That’s just wrong. Continue reading Long. Languid. Like August.
Decoration Day 2023
Americans have done a great disservice to the valorous who fought and sacrificed for the Union cause during the Civil War. By renaming it Memorial Day then amalgamating all who’ve fallen in each of our nation’s armed conflicts, Decoration Day, consecrated and commemorated on May 30th, has been robbed of its purpose.
Like Armistice Day. November 11th signifies the emergence of the United States as the 20th century’s preeminent global power. The true start of the American Century.
A date upon which Henry Luce and Walter Lippmann might’ve seamlessly agreed. Continue reading Decoration Day 2023
Solstice Serenades
Despite the mounting profusion of ads for Halloween, the bloom of summer remains fragrant. Besides, this was written in September. At least two weeks yet before Michael Myers, Freddie Krueger, and Jason Voorhees start invading screens for marathon gore sessions. Continue reading Solstice Serenades
On Our Side of the Line
Perception must depend on location and familiarity as well as with who surrounds oneself. This realization has become even more pronounced since moving cross-country.
Before coming to Nevada, I’d already accumulated years in the Southwest. Though after whatever needed conducting here was finished, I scrammed back to New York. Now as a Silver State resident, the region’s peculiarities are more present and therefore more insistent.
Especially among non-landed citizens. It’s as if they’re intentionally indifferent towards recognizing individuals, preferring indistinction and keeping certain groups amorphous. Continue reading On Our Side of the Line