A political fundraiser
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Late yesterday we went to a small gathering of people in St. Paul. It goes by the generic label: “political fundraiser”.
Homeless
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This morning, as usual, we went downstairs at our church for the usual coffee and donuts. (Our place is the Basilica of St. Mary’s at the near edge of downtown Minneapolis – it is a downtown parish – a place of diverse sorts of people.)
“Class War” and “the American Dream”
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Sometime in 1987, well into President Ronald Reagan’s second term, I was in San Benito TX visiting my father.
One evening, he and I went out to dinner with his good friends, also retirees in San Benito. It was just a night out. I knew them both from previous visits. He was a retired locksmith, and she a homemaker, both originally from Minnesota.
9-11-01 to 9-11-11: Have we learned anything these last ten years?
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Dear Family and Friends:
One of the indelible memories of my life came on my 60th birthday, May 4, 2000. We spent the entire day at the horrific Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland. Entering one of the first buildings with the awful artifacts of the final solution – hair, shoes, suitcases… – was a sign with this quotation:
I breathe union
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Labor Day, I was caught in the magnetic pull of the Minnesota State Fair. It was the last day of the great Minnesota get-together, and I went on a whim. It was my second visit in the Fair’s 12-day run. I have rarely if ever missed a Fair in 46 years in Minnesota.
Vets rising to be recognized at the State Fair August 29, 2011
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Monday was Senior Citizen day at the Minnesota State Fair and I made my way over to fulfill my annual ritual, now stretching back to the mid-1960s when I first arrived in the Twin Cities.
Watching Elvis
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A timeout, away from the serious issues of the day.
This morning, President Obama comes to Minnesota for the start of a three day swing through mid-state America. He’ll touch down a few miles from where I type this post. Odds are he’ll be ending his swing at the Iowa park where we had a family reunion several weeks ago. My thoughts on his visit to our area later this week.
Will this crisis finally wake us up? I doubt it….
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Earlier today I sent to my own e-list the link to the Sunday August 7 Face the Nation.
I added this note:
“The Shock Doctrine,” a highly recommended read with four days to the default
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For some years we’ve had week 30 at a time-share in the Breezy Point complex on Pelican Lake in north central Minnesota. It is ordinarily a quiet and relaxing week, away from computer and the normal hubbub of life. Excepting 2007, when the evening news on August 1 brought us news of the collapse of the I-35W Bridge into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, one can escape.
Day 14 of the Minnesota shutdown, day 19 to default of the United States: A chance encounter with the City of Dubuque IA
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The Family Reunion over on Saturday, I settled into my motel room in Dubuque IA. I had just given myself a mini-tour of this small Mississippi river city which I have visited a number of times over the years, and I felt impressed with what I saw. Continue Reading