I find it no surprise that the two movie critics I most commonly read, Andrew O’Hehir and Roger Ebert, both use the word “breathtaking” in their reviews of Martin Scorcese’s Hugo. Stunning, arresting, awesome… I am disappointed that off the top of my head I cannot find… Read full post »

 Author's note: I've recently been accepted to two study-abroad programs, the first to begin at the end of December. This entry is copied from my blog devoted specifically to that experience.

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I am typing this at 6:10 A.M. EST from the top bunk of a dorm in… Read full post »

Try to imagine yourself on a road trip with two acquaintances. Not friends you know well, just two people who, for whatever reason, had to come on the trip with you. Imagine a stop for gasoline. You fill the pump, go inside to pay. You look outside and find a stranger… Read full post »

UPDATE I below...

The Obama administration, to its credit, keeps a section on the White House's web site (called "We the People") through which citizens can directly petition the administration. Any time a petition receives enough signatures, the administration promises a respons… Read full post »

I work for the county out on 95

All day I hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by

In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss

Someday, mister, I'm gonna lead a better life than this

-Bruce Springsteen, Working on the… Read full post »

For the last decade I've read my Noam Chomsky and Glenn Greenwald. In 2007 I co-captained a busload of Minnesotans on an overnight, weekend jaunt to Washington D.C. to participate in demonstrations against the wars. If he'd stayed in the race until my state's caucus night, I would've voted for Dennis… Read full post »

I'm a Minneapolis native, was lucky enough to make it to Madison this weekend.

This is my friend Andy, member o… Read full post »

Part II

So are white people oppressed? My answer, seriously now: Yes, a lot of them. The Economic Policy Institue will help me explain:

also...

NY Times:

Yahoo!:

Mother Jones:

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- - - … Read full post »

An analysis in two parts

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Part I 

Some ills pervade society to such a spectacular degree eventually even the poobahs of liberal media have to acknowledge them. For once, Fox News is not alone in seizing the gauntlet.

They marched on Washington to reclaim civi… Read full post »

"Industries Find Surging Profits in Deeper Cuts" NY Times 7/25/2010

Excerpts:

This seeming contradiction — falling sales and rising profits — is one reason the mood on Wall Street is so much more buoyant than in households, where pessimism runs deep and joblessness shows few signs… Read full post »

Sisera... fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite... Jael came out to greet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord, come in here, do not be afraid." So he entered her tent and she covered him with a blanket. He said to her,… Read full post »

   Bad Samaritans:  The Myth of Free-Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, by Ha-Joon Chang.  2008.  Bloomsbury Press.

Sometimes a blog entry deserves an entire post devoted simply to linking to it.

A queer medley of factors has kept me awake the last 24 hours.  The first factor is melatonin.  The second factor is what I think might be Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.  A third factor was that I had not fallen asleep until 5 a.m. two nights ago (Thursday morning, technically).  R… Read full post »

Note:  Except for a few edits made before posting, I wrote most of the following on October 1, 2006, a day after the described incident. I am a live-away, every-other-weekend father, we usually visit my parents on those weekends.

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"I don't think I'm tough."

Words spoken… Read full post »

Despite the exhilaration of the Minnesota Twins’ late-season hot streak which propelled them to the playoffs, Twins’ fans are sore after another early exit from the playoffs for a Minnesota pro sports team.   The Minnesota Timberwolves with Kevin Garnett were notorious for such… Read full post »

Yankees fans have a special cheer for Derek Jeter.  They may not know it, but I've been to the old Yankee Stadium and I've heard it.  It starts as a low rumble like an orchestra tuning up and it doesn't always get loud, but it gets... confident.  It sounds just like… Read full post »

Woman:  "So do ya think the Twins will win today?"

Man:  "Nope!"

-Overheard (by me) in the Minneapolis downtown skyway this morning.

It was a slightly older pair of people.  The man spoke with certainty and no despair, answering as if he was being asked if he had a lot of hard… Read full post »

The Twins faced the Yankees in the opening round of the playoffs in 2003 and 2004.  Like this year, the series opened in the Bronx.  Unlike this year, the Twins won Game 1 of both series.  They followed both games with three straight losses to the Yankees (the 2004 Game 2… Read full post »

Any article to tell the story of the Minnesota Twins' victory last night, clinching their 5th American League Central Division title since 2002, is an exercise in planned obsolesence.  In 10 hours, the Twins will begin the ALDS against the Yankees in their Stadium.

As my dad has said, it'… Read full post »

As this past weekend began, local news media were billing it as one of the biggest weekends for sports in the Twin Cities in recent memory.  The cross-border football rivalries of the Minnesota Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers, and the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers were both being renewed/… Read full post »

I am blogging!  What should I write about?  What can I write about?  Am I selfish for writing?  Am I a writer?  I don't think I'm a writer.

I am learning Italian via Michel Thomas discs.  I just finished the 4th disc and I don't know how to say "I… Read full post »