My friend, who is a much better reader of poetry than I, dislikes this translation of Pablo Neruda's "Walking Around." But I like it better than the translation she has.

When I rang my friend's doorbell, I was greeted by his two young boys, who, after ascertaining I was there for the Superbowl party they weren't quite aware was about to occur, asked me, "Where are you boys?" 

The boys got banished to the basement so the men could watch the Men play… Read full post »

The auto bailout is toast. The Senate Republicans rediscovered their resolve for fiscal discipline right at the moment when flexibility and empathy could mean the most to hundreds of thousands of people. For nearly a decade, they've been positively scyphozoan when it comes to fiscal discipline.… Read full post »

Illinois's Governor, Rod Blagojevich, was elected after the total collapse of the Republican party following a massive bribe scandal. The year he won the Governorship, only one Republican won a statewide office (Judy Bar Topinka, Treasurer). 

 Blago had a simple and clear mandate from the v… Read full post »

TV series of a certain age almost always succumb to the look-back episode. There's probably an industry term for it, but you know it as the episode where the writers ran out of ideas, the producers ran out of money, or everybody ran out of time, and they used some… Read full post »

My friend Rick runs a non-profit promoting passenger rail/subways, which is something I adamantly support. I don't own a car, which I can do because I live in a city with a pretty good rail system (Chicago and the El).

Environmentally, cars are not the future. Even with green technologies,… Read full post »

I understand you had to leave
It would have been nice if there
hadn't been all the lies and the negotiations for
a substitute hadn't begun while I was still on the team
but the snow is here and it would be sublime
to sit in the orange chair reading McEwan
drinking hot chocolate.
Did you need to… Read full post »

Greg Thomas's Deserted Island CD post, which champion's Miles Davis's Kind of Blue as the one album he's un-hesitantly take as his sole source of tunes got me thinking about who has been the best musical artist since music first started getting slapped onto wax.

 My only rule for a pro… Read full post »

Relatively speaking, torture is a minor problem. Relative to the misery caused by dysentery, it's a grain of sand in a dune. But I struggle to finish reports on torture because they upset me so much. And that anyone in this country could suggest that we can't prosecute those who have commissione… Read full post »

I am not a biological parent, but I'm a loving parent. I took in my charge after her mother joined a shelter for homeless moms. 

 My little girl is charming and cute, but lately, her stupidity, lack of language skills and disreputable character have begun to wear on me. I try… Read full post »

Oy, today I got a beatdown on CGTalk. I have to admit, as much as I didn't want to hear it, it was a well-deserved beatdown. 

Eyes, lips, ears, forehead, waist... what was right? The only question is why was I just now getting this feedback. I suspect that I started… Read full post »

I'm just about at the point in my 3D project where I'm going to give my model a number of physical disabilities. As I approached this point, I began to think about what responsibilities I, as an artist, have to people I represent, particularly when I'm not a member of their… Read full post »

I just read Lee Ann Kinkade's article on organizing a Wiccan Halloween on Slate and realized that I have a bias against Wiccan (Wiccanism?) that I can't really justify. I don't think the act of thinking Wiccan is silly is inherently bad. Wiccan may indeed be silly. But I can't justify think… Read full post »

It's 70° in Chicago right now. It may be the last day of October, but this feels like Spring. With History with a magnificent capital ache sitting just four days out, it definitely feels like Springtime in this lil ole country of mine.

This blog is a pretty low rent affair.… Read full post »

Does Obama have to worry about people not turning out because his win looks assured? I don't think so. I live in Chicago, Illinois, which Pollster.com gives Obama a 25 point lead. 

Around 3:30 this afternoon, I noticed that there was a considerable line at the polling place across the stree… Read full post »