When you have a dog, a house, a full-time job and you live with people, there is only so much time in life to go around. All this to say that this poor, neglected blog that I really like got thrown aside when the Wisconsin Historical Society Press liked the first three chapters of the … Continue reading My pandemic baby has words, pictures and a publisher: Adventures in authorship
Category: music
Note: I took a couple of weeks off to hang out with out-of-town family and work a lot, but will be back next Sunday with some sort of story....here's a brief and entertaining (thanks to John Forster) take on the college admissions debacle. Wait!? You got a Ph.D. and an MD, you took all your … Continue reading John Forster’s pitch-perfect musical response to Admissions Scandal… 26 years before it happened
Dear Rep. Omar: I’ve been writing you a letter in my head since the second round of “She’s a raging anti-Semite!” hysteria, but this is the first moment I’ve had time to actually begin setting anything down on virtual paper. Apologies in advance for the interruptions – our 11 am tickets to “Disney on Ice” … Continue reading Random Jewish American seeks Pen Pal: An open letter to Rep. Ilhan Omar
Sweetheart’s answer to where he went to school to become an arborist is, “I learned on the street.” We have that in common. To this day, I’ve never taken a journalism class. I learned to be a reporter on the street. Literally, somewhat, as part of my first job at a daily paper involved finding … Continue reading Talk to the understudy and other ‘stuff reporters do,’ starring Danny Arnold
Life has never been better. Or more frustrating. Every morning, I wake up with a list of things to do and hardly any of them get done. Some of that is laziness. Some is fear, some is inertia. This house is in the neighborhood, but it carols at us, not the other way around. Also, … Continue reading Speak the truth & sing the songs: ups and downs of everyday life, Government shutdowns & Christmas carols
I was in the middle of an anxiety dream involving my mother, peanut sauce and Wales when the sound of a door opening jarred me awake. It was Sweetheart, with our morning coffees. After I attempted to describe the dream (Sweetheart: "Peanut stew? That sounds terrible!"), I said, "It's Election Day!" Then, I started … Continue reading Retain your complaining rights! A “nag you to vote” post featuring Alice Cooper, Mom’s 3¢ postage stamp, Tuki & Ward 201
If anyone with a social media presence wants to see their blog stats tank, here’s my advice: Quit Facebook. Even though my blog is my gift to me, a place where I write what I want to in order to loosen myself up to write better and more freely and not about how many … Continue reading ‘Honoring Miss Pietsch’ or how a composer helped me get my house in order, featuring 1886 wallpaper
Usually I slam out a blog post in a Word file and then transfer it over here to the wordpress template and tinker. Then, after I publish it I find more typos and things to tweak. This morning, though, I am going to slam down something spontaneous as John Gorka sings "St. Caffeine" and drink … Continue reading A little flow from the stream of consciousness, with music
The best seven months of my work life so far are the ones I’ve spent as a public librarian. Here are a few of my favorite moments librarying and some pictures of the reason I now describe myself as my library’s “Display Queen.” (Yes, I did use “library” as a verb. Thank you for noticing.) … Continue reading Great moments in librarying (yes, it’s a verb now), with illustrations
This morning, I woke up to the Facebook village and Twittesphere going nuts over what happened when Vice-President Elect Mike Pence went to see "Hamilton" last night. My first thought was "Geez! If I'd known becoming vice president would have helped me get 'Hamilton' tickets, I would have applied for the job." But who am I kidding? … Continue reading Two post-election vignettes: ‘Hamilton’ cast makes most of ‘Carpe Diem’ moment; Ephemeral display lets librarian do the same
the sentence factory 