Americanism Redux December 4, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 You're holding tight but your grip is slipping. You're standing firm but your footing is slipping. Through your hands and beneath your feet, something has started to slip away. It's today, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (no one to drive) "Anyone come in answer to … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 4, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
December 4, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Pro Football and America 250: Week 13
December 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Pro Football and America 250: Week 13--it's time to go to midfield, postgame. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Episode 53: On The 250 River With Dr. Dan–The Top 5 From Nov 27, 1775
December 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
On The 250 River With Dr. Dan--The Top 5 From Nov 27, 1775, your Thanksgiving. A wife writes her husband and the outcome is purely American. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 27, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
November 27, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Americanism Redux November 27, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 [I wasn't going to write an entry on our Thanksgiving Day. I changed my mind when I found the letter below, written today 250 years ago, from Abigail Adams to her husband, John. Abigail wrote from outside Boston to John, inside Philadelphia with the rest of the Second Continental … [Read more...]
Episode 52: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5 From Nov 20 1775
November 24, 2025 by Leave a Comment
From an unnamed writer in the army to a traumatized Catholic priest. It's the Top 5 from 250 years ago and the week before Thanksgiving. And remember, we're a Union before we were a Nation. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 20, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
November 21, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Americanism Redux November 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 The basics can get hard to see when so much is flying through the air. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. The basics never go away. They're often the reason things are as they are. Basics. Today, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * A basic is getting people to do … [Read more...]
Episode 51: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5–Week Ending Nov 13 1775
November 14, 2025 by
So much in this week's episode. I'm proposing a further dimension for Veterans Day. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 13, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
November 14, 2025 by
Americanism Redux November 13, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 You won't go very far in any direction before you bump into it. A few miles? Okay. A few days? Sure. However you want to slice your life up, though, whether in space or in time, you can't avoid coming face-to-face and eye-to-eye with... War. As a topic of conversation. As an … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan: The Top 5 of Nov 6 1775–Episode 50
November 11, 2025 by
Episode 50 baby, believe it or not! And believe this--it takes four months, yes FOUR MONTHS, for a document to go from Philadelphia to London and back again. But don't draw the wrong lesson...! Enjoy the Top 5 and find out how to keep it right for you. From Guy Fawkes to four months, and more... WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Pro Football and American 250: Week 10
November 11, 2025 by
Culture time for Mike Vrabel and George Washington, two head coaches! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 6, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
November 7, 2025 by
Americanism Redux November 6, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 You've got today, right now, the actual minute you're reading this. Then you've got four months ago. Since we're in early November, that would put it around the time of early July. Today, now. Early July, then. A gap of four months between now and then. Does anything … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 9
November 4, 2025 by
It's Week 9 of the NFL season and some big surprises are now the new reality. Meanwhile, Head Coach George Washington faces a problem no one expected. And yes, I think it's a genuine problem and threat, though you're welcome and invited to disagree. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–October 30, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
October 30, 2025 by
Americanism Redux October 30, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 An emotion has a map. You start at a known point and then, consuming energy from some source, go further and further and further. Eventually, you are at the emotion's edge and frontier. Beyond that, uncharted territory where the emotion takes a form you never imagined, or you stumble … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 8
October 29, 2025 by
Week 8 of the NFL and UFL (Union Football Leage) seasons. Check out the happenings on the Continentals with Head Coach George Washington. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 48–The Week Ending October 23, 1775
October 28, 2025 by
It's Episode 48 of "On The 250 River With Dr Dan" for the week ending October 23, 1775. Top 5 for the week! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 23, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
October 24, 2025 by
Americanism Redux October 23, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 "Reality means (fill-in-the-blank) to me." Or try this: "reality (fill-in-the-blank)." That's what today is all about—reality, the real, the realistic. 250 years ago, reality is on the minds of a lot of people. You'll see how people think of reality from unique … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 7
October 21, 2025 by
Knock, knock. Pardon me, Coach Washington, but there's a group here to see you... WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 16, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
October 16, 2025 by
Americanism Redux October 16, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink..." Samuel Coleridge will write these words in one of his poems in 1798. That was then, and this is now, 250 years ago today, in 1775, a generation before "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Water, water everywhere... * * * … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 6 of Head Coach George Washington and the Continentals
October 14, 2025 by
We're at Week 6 in the season! To illustrate, we're having the Pittsburgh Steelers take a hypothetical gut-punch. Check it out! WATCH HERE For the full written entry of American Redux that served as the basis for this story, go below. READ HERE … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Top 5 From Your Oct 9 Of Their 1775
October 10, 2025 by
We're Top 5-ing from 250 years ago right now. I'm suggesting something for your consideration on a very difficult topic we'll face in the 250 of 2026. But we start with Ike Harris and his amazing instinct for the marketplace... WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 9, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
October 9, 2025 by
Americanism Redux October 9, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 A piece of wood can break cleanly, or splinter into pieces. The one feels smooth and straight, the other feels ragged, jagged, and a bit of a mess. Today, 250 years ago, the splintering has begun. * * * * * * * (Quamino) John Quamino waits for his scheduled time with … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 5 Of The Season
October 7, 2025 by
5th week and we head into the second quarter of the NFL season. It's Coach George Washington and his team, the Continentals. Take a look! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 45–Week Ending Oct 2, 1775
October 6, 2025 by
Welcome to GrimeyVillage for the 45th episode of On The 250 River With Dr. Dan. We're Top 5ing for the week ending October 2, 1775. What is it you're taking with you from today into tomorrow? We start with a word. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–October 2, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
October 3, 2025 by
Americanism Redux October 2, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 After what happened to me today, well, I just don't know where it goes from here. But tomorrow is coming, and I need to know what I'm taking with me, from here to there. Yes, today is about over and I'm heading into tomorrow with...what? * * * * * * * The tears are still … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week 4
September 30, 2025 by
Looking at the Bengals, the Colts, and the Ravens as set-up for a deep-dive into the Continentals and a discipline problem facing Coach Washington. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Top 5–Episode 44–The Week That Ends September 25 1775
September 29, 2025 by
We're doing 5,4,3 together and 2,1 as well. It's an important moment for you, from 250 years ago in late September. If you're a parent, you want to see this. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–September 25, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
September 26, 2025 by
Americanism Redux September 25, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Close your eyes. Try to imagine what it will feel like when a leather whip slices and cuts into the skin of your bare back. Thirty-nine times. Will you scream out? Will you cry? Will you curse and spit? It's 250 years ago, today. * * * * * * * (a later version of the … [Read more...]
Episode 43: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5 from the week ending September 18 1775
September 25, 2025 by
From a musical creator in northern Hungary to a college campus in New York, it's 250 years ago in the week that ends September 18, 1775. Click Here … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America’s 250: Week 3 Of The Season
September 23, 2025 by
A very big Week 3 for Coach Washington! And the Indianapolis Colts! Click Here … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–September 18, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
September 18, 2025 by
Americanism Redux September 18, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Something imposes an order on things. The molecules, the atoms, the stuff, all of it is arrayed and arranged according to...Something. The reality of that order will reflect the source from which the Something acts. Is virtue the source? Is power the source? Is a third, or … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America’s 250: Week 2 of the Season
September 15, 2025 by
Week 2 of the season! Colts win and go 2-0. Coach Washington has a couple of massive issues to tackle. Check it out below. Click Here … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 11, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
September 12, 2025 by
Americanism Redux September 11, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 I need to know, I need knowledge, I need to know some of the knowledge. That's what I'll hold onto, like a candle in a dark room. The light makes the shadows, and I need to know what's inside the darkness. It's today, 250 years ago and it's 250 years ago flashing forward … [Read more...]
Tragedy And The Boat
September 11, 2025 by
Tragedy And The Boat Below is my recent brief video on our recent tragedies. Click Here … [Read more...]
Pro Football and America 250: Week One Of The Season And This Time It Truly Is America’s Team
September 10, 2025 by
It's Week One of a brand-new sub-series of "On The 250 River With Dr Dan". The Colts win, the Bills-Ravens have an historic game, and two QBs led two different lifetimes in the same game. But there's a new team in town 250 years ago. Check it out below. Click Here … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–September 4, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
September 5, 2025 by
Americanism Redux September 4, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 You've got your assumptions. You're working along those lines, from those predicates built out of assumptions. Two things. First, thing one, way, way out there is an action, a decision, or both that sets in motion stuff which, sooner or later, meets your assumptions. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 28, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
August 28, 2025 by
Americanism Redux: August 28, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 Look out there and tell me what you see. Out there, just look and say. You've got two eyes and what else? A thought? A dozen thoughts? A hundred? Likely an assumption, an experience, an expectation. Other stuff, too. So go ahead, look and say. It's 250 years ago today and they're looking and saying. * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 21, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
August 21, 2025 by
Americanism Redux Look at that wall. Closely. See the cracks? Every wall has them. Most of the time, the cracks in the wall can be repaired, patched, painted over. Looks like new. Not a big deal. Every once in a while, the cracks in a wall mean much more. A serious problem, a deep flaw and weakness, signal of a coming collapse. The trick is to know the difference between cracking … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 14, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
August 15, 2025 by
Americanism Redux August 14, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 In your life, you are the decider. And today, 250 years ago, you would have been the decider as well. * * * * * * * (the Mauney house marker) Among the three dozen men of decision at Christian Mauney's log house on Court House Road is a 48-year old German immigrant, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 7, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, in 1775
August 11, 2025 by
Americanism Redux August 7, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 A moment has a sound. Of joy, fright, shock, power, fear. You hear the sound as the moment surrounds you. So many sounds of today, 250 years ago. The challenge is to draw from the sounds a feeling of direction. * * * * * * * (a peaceful Newmarket) He still … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 31, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
July 31, 2025 by
Americanism Redux July 31, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 (The Five Man Electrical Band--Signs, 1971) I'm looking for signs of what I want or what I dread. Is this a sign? Is that a sign? Today, July 31, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (the grave) A friend of Abigail Adams tells her the latest from inside the … [Read more...]
Episode 37: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5 From July 24, 1775
July 29, 2025 by
It's leather pants and leadership time! https://youtu.be/aVctD7WQgSQ?si=y-Ga1jkPW3ieAqmK … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 24, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, in 1775
July 24, 2025 by
Americanism Redux July 24, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 It's a great, big, vast thing and it takes up a massive part of your life. And other people's lives, too. So much so, in fact, that when you meet with folks you always have something new or "latest" to talk about regarding that great, big, vast thing. Anything come to mind? It … [Read more...]
Episode 36: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Top 5 From July 17, 1775
July 23, 2025 by
Welcome to Episode 36! We're making soup! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 17, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
July 17, 2025 by
Americanism Redux July 17, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 "Keep it together, man." Classic line from Monsters Inc. Sometimes it's a heckuva lot easier said than done. Today, July 17. 250 years ago. * * * * * * * In a letter to his wife, a dad-husband is agonizing about their young kids. He's hoping she can help the … [Read more...]
Episode 35: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Special Investigative Report Edition–SIRE Up!
July 15, 2025 by
It's Episode 35 of "On The 250 River With Dr Dan" and it's the first-ever Special Investigative Report Edition--SIRE Up! We're deep-diving on the River so that we can find subsurface truths about two ideas critical to the American system in 2025 and beyond. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/_HLGOi2vuBs?si=xGhG-4UlBxpueOjt … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–July 10, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
July 10, 2025 by
Americanism Redux July 10, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 (let's poke around inside Jaws) Good Lord, the changes right now are fast and furious. No end in sight. That's the view of many, many people. Some like it, some don't. In such a time, things reset, realign, reconstitute. Let's take a look at another time when this same … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 3, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
July 3, 2025 by
Americanism Redux July 3, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 On a hot day, the sun burns bright and the trees make shadows. In both, the light and the dark, you can see things. Happy fireworks. * * * * * * * (under the elm) Standing in the shade of an elm tree, a tall man is speaking. A great white horse waits nearby, held by … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 33–The Top 5 From June 26 1775
June 30, 2025 by
Here's my latest podcast and I'm telling you this--there is real history-making in this episode. Be well! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 26, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
June 26, 2025 by
Americanism Redux June 26, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Standing here today, we're a week or so in...into the summer, that is. How do things look for the coming season of heat, humidity, and flashing thunderstorms? Like you, they're at the front edge of summer, today, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (like Peter) Peter Brown … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–June 20–Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
June 20, 2025 by
Americanism Redux June 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 We are a family. A hard and difficult time has struck us. Crying, hurting, thinking, praying. We do them as a family—a family of Adams—in a moment we've never known before. * * * * * * * (Abigail) Abigail Adams, wife of 39-year old John and mother of 8-year old … [Read more...]
Happy 250th US Army! Just Six Things To Bear In Mind
June 17, 2025 by
We're coming off the 250th anniversary of the start of the US Army. Various events marked the occasion. 2025 being 2025, much, if not most, if not all, of it quickly sank into the love/hate clashes that surround POTUS 47. I think it's a good use of my time to go back to the minutes, hours, and days of the launch of what we now call the US Army. I'm using research I've done for Americanism … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 32–The Top 5 from June 14/15 1775
June 16, 2025 by
Get ready for wretching...or maybe not! Say hello to the Super Six for the US Army's 250th birthday. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–June 15, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
June 15, 2025 by
Americanism Redux June 15, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 We're peopling today. That means hanging out, checking in, and stopping by. People—they're doing what they do, of importance to them and to others. Today. 250 years ago. Let's say hello. * * * * * * * (what's a re-org?) Hello, Moses. He's Moses Sleeper, … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 31–week ending June 5, 1775
June 9, 2025 by
Watch this week's episode! WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–June 5, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
June 5, 2025 by
Americanism Redux June 5, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Life is trying to re-settle. Well, maybe not exactly re-settle if you take it to mean settling down. No, it's better said that life is trying to re-find a kind of equilibrium. It's where one feels the ground underfoot and can extend their arms without fear of exposure or … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Top 5 for the week ending May 29, 1775
June 2, 2025 by
We're Top 5-ing for May 29, 1775! Get your crypto out for the purchase of a lifetime from our episode sponsor. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–May 29, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
May 29, 2025 by
Americanism Redux May 29, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 (good ol' Aesop) The appearance of things. Tricky, that. Something can look one way on the surface or at a glance, but can then turn out to be quite different when you lift the lid or take the time...to listen, to observe, to dive deeper. It's today, May 29, 250 years ago … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Top 5!–The Week Ending May 22, 1775
May 27, 2025 by
My latest Podcast. Enjoy and feel free to reach out. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–May 22, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
May 22, 2025 by
Americanism Redux May 22, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 A husband and wife face a challenge. * * * * * * * (her) Today, 250 years ago, Abigail Adams is doing what her husband John asked her to do. Before he left to participate in the 2nd Continental Congress in Philadelphia, John had received a box of books and letters from … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–Episode 28–The Top 5 From May 15, 1775
May 19, 2025 by
This week's podcast is below. We start with a jaw-dropping quote from Richard Henry Lee. Click Here … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 15, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
May 15, 2025 by
Americanism Redux May 15, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Get your gear, the gloves, the hard hat, the tool belt. The Union is going to work. Today, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (Pennsylvania State House, or Independence Hall) There will be 66 of them when it's all said and done. They're the delegates for the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 8, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
May 8, 2025 by
Americanism Redux May 8, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Ah, the aroma of spring. You can't beat it. Fresh, bright, sweet. Take it in. Every year at this time. But more than that this year. It's a sweetness, brightness, and freshness beyond all imagining. The blood has dried. The tears are mostly dried, too, except maybe for night when … [Read more...]
POTUS And The 100 Days
May 7, 2025 by
POTUS AND THE 100 DAYS – THE 4+2 YARDSTICK Here's my podcast: WATCH HERE Below are my bulletized notes I used in the podcast. You'll also find the five key questions at the bottom. Take a look. (the 1789 Inaugural speech) George Washington: everything is precedent letters he writes, people he meets or entertains, daily conduct tariff act signed … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 1, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
May 1, 2025 by
Americanism Redux May 1, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Now everything resets. What it was—is not what it is. Read that again. And what it's become—is what it now is. Read that again. But what it now is—stays so...for how long? We really have no idea. It's today, May 1, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (Dr. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 24, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
April 27, 2025 by
Americanism Redux April 24, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Beneath darkest waters, two giant plates—tectonic plates—lay alongside each other. A seam separates and joins them. Time passes. For a reason known only to them, one of the plates begins to move. Along the dividing and connecting seam, but especially at one point, the other plate … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 17, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
April 17, 2025 by
Americanism Redux April 17, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 One person's week. Your week. How has it gone for you? Like you had expected? Here's how it went 250 years ago, in the week leading up to today, 250 years ago. Remember, a leader, such as yourself, is a person with one or more followers. A leader's week. * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 10, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
April 10, 2025 by
Americanism Redux April 10, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 To continue life and living. To change life and living. Which is it? Can they co-incide? It's 250 years ago for both today and the week's days leading up to today. * * * * * * * (first, in this direction...) Okay, okay, okay. He's heard enough. Yes, it's been … [Read more...]
Episode 22–On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top Five for April 4, 1775
April 6, 2025 by
Mercy Me!! She's clocking in at #5 on my Top Five for "On The 250 River With Dr Dan" It's Episode 22. https://youtu.be/w2a0n-puWSE?si=Pxbammsd9UqRi4LW … [Read more...]
A Day To Remember–April 4
April 4, 2025 by
It's a day to remember, April 4. https://youtu.be/UcLQX-AnNYw?si=Hh10I-Ixw5jWf4Ko … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 3, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
April 3, 2025 by
Americanism Redux April 3, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 It'll happen. The unknown is the where, the how, the who. But any doubt that it will happen? Really, no. None. The great big thing that people knew might or could or would or should happen? Now, it will happen. It's today, April 3, 250 years ago. * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Episode 21: On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5, And It’s A Doozy!
March 30, 2025 by
We're on one of the most important weeks of the entire 18th century. Grab a beverage and find out why! See below: https://youtu.be/0X5hfeSkEIw?si=bEiDla7o7olzazSb … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 27/28, Your Todays, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
March 28, 2025 by
Americanism Redux March 27/28, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 This time in day and week, 250 years ago, is one of the most important times in the entire American Revolution and the world's history in the 18th century. Before a shot is fired at an enemy. Before anyone rides on a horse shouting "the British are coming, the British are … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr. Dan–the Top 5 from March 20, 1775, 250 Years Ago–Episode 20
March 24, 2025 by
Here you go. Real people, real stories, real life on the road to American Founding. 250 years ago. https://youtu.be/2VvbDE60DuU?si=ASk1K6bGLjrAeTF8 … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 20, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
March 20, 2025 by
Americanism Redux March 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 "Everything, Everywhere, All At Once." It's a film title in the early 2020s. 250 years ago today, it's also a pretty good description of what the imperial-colonial crisis feels like, has nearly turned into, for the daily lives of people in many parts of British America. … [Read more...]
Pandemics: Reflections from 5 Years and from 105 Years Back
March 16, 2025 by
It was five years ago. And I'd like to bring a few things back to your awareness. A special podcast. https://youtu.be/8U7Ickv3XQY?si=gd8GG9wkntK0Axay … [Read more...]
Podcast: Week of March 13, 1775–On The 250 River With Dr Dan–The Top 5
March 16, 2025 by
https://youtu.be/-tklEUgsIPQ?si=m-TDWmGxVNqubhIl Top 5 for the week ending March 13, 1775. From British India to the doors of Westminster Courthouse. … [Read more...]
Lunar Eclipse And Me
March 14, 2025 by
Lunar Eclipse and Me Staggering out of bed in the middle of the morning-night, I have a hazy recollection of being outside and tilting my head skyward. Yeah, I did it, now I remember. Lord, that moon was blinding. After recovering, a few thoughts from the lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025. Small My life and me are small in the scheme of things. Comparable to one of those … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 13, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
March 13, 2025 by
Americanism Redux March 13, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 ('tis the season) Imagine this. You have no clue as to seasons. They're alien to you. Your only existence and consciousness consist of being plopped in the middle of cold and snow and ice. You know nothing else. But, even then, a feeling inside you says something is changing. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–Podcast Episode 18–The Top 5
March 10, 2025 by
Welcome to Episode 18 of my weekly podcast "On The 250 River With Dr Dan" It's the Top 5 from March 6, 250 years ago. Real people, real stories, real life from the journey to American Founding. You gotta see the box, Item #5 starts the Top 5. https://youtu.be/jlWT2zx4xBA?si=6c7kRQUm9c9OaIXe … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 6, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
March 6, 2025 by
Americanism Redux March 6, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 (What??) A surprise is unfolding. You can go along, go along, go along, even in a crisis, and sometimes forget that you can always be surprised. So today, 250 years ago... Surprise. * * * * * * * (those hands) In Boston harbor, inside a British fort on Castle … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 27, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
February 27, 2025 by
Americanism Redux February 27, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Sometimes life is a nesting doll. Inside of one thing is another thing, and then another thing inside that thing. And so it goes. Today, 250 years ago, we go inside, and again inside, and once more inside. You're surprised, then you're not surprised, and then you don't … [Read more...]
Episode 16: Top 5 On The 250 River With Dr Dan
February 23, 2025 by
It's a German accent, a surprising #1 on the Top 5, and my begging admonition at the end! Enjoy! https://youtu.be/pP7VFLuNYMo?si=bzJNrf8a6yoo87ea … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 20, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
February 20, 2025 by
Americanism Redux February 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 (microscopic) Sometimes you don't know until you look closer. Really close. When you do, you'll often see things that are, up to that point, unseen. So it is with this. A very close look and it becomes clearer—seventeen months before anyone declared any nation independent, … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan Podcast–The Top 5 For Mid-February 1775
February 16, 2025 by
We're Top 5-ing! From the streets of Philadelphia to the halls of Parliament. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/9jd8F2nRj9g?si=RH32981VJ4GbCNeB … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 13, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
February 13, 2025 by
Americanism Redux February 13, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 The times are big with great events. What will be the consequence, is not in human sagacity to foretell. * * * * * * * (the first Tribunus) Today, 250 years ago, put a " in front and a " in back of the quote above, and you'll be reading the current edition of the … [Read more...]
Of Time And Taylor
February 11, 2025 by
Of Time And Taylor Music critic Steven Hyden wrote about Taylor Swift in 2023. He observed: "She has, rather brilliantly, convinced the public that her past AND her present coexist RIGHT NOW..." Re-read that quote. What's the point that settles in for you? For me, it's the answer shown in the two reflections: The brilliance is that it's the same for all of us. If deceit is … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr Dan – The Top 5 From Early February 1775
February 8, 2025 by
We're doing the Top 5 from early February 1775, 250 years ago. Take a look and hope you enjoy click here … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 6, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
February 6, 2025 by
Americanism Redux February 6, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775 Is life visible in all its forms in a few days? Yes, if you look at Virginia, the British colony. * * * * * * * (the site of Sarah's operation) After hearing the words "breast cancer" some weeks back, Sarah Eilbeck started dreading the arrival of today, 250 years ago. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 30, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
January 30, 2025 by
Americanism Redux January 30, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 Anything you've heard? Anything at all? The latest scrap, the most recent piece, any important new thing that shows what's going to happen. That's what people want, today, January 30. 250 years ago. * * * * * * * (She's asking a friend) A woman reaches out to a man, friend to friend. She's looking … [Read more...]
A Potential Rhyme
January 28, 2025 by
A potential rhyme between the world of POTUS 7 and the world of POTUS 47 suggests a reason to brighten. Take a look. WATCH HERE … [Read more...]
On The 250 River With Dr. Dan–Episode 12–The Top Five Of January 24, 1775
January 25, 2025 by
Who makes the list? Take a look! https://youtu.be/VkfDwiU-YLw?si=GlAnv9lJ6ENg0D-k … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 24, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
January 24, 2025 by
Americanism Redux January 24, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 Two tracks, two lines, two paths. For now, they are apart. They run separate. Day by day, though, they come closer together. They'll touch, join, blend. What happens then? Something will change. One of them will change. * * * * * * * (look for the Phillips family) William Phillips is a merchant in … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 16, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
January 16, 2025 by
Americanism Redux January 16, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 Let's allow an illusion. You've got your minutes and hours and days down to your own control, that everything you're doing flows into a narrowly formed funnel over and over again. It's fine to think it. Go ahead and live it. Just know that up-top, where time runs, life doesn't care. It's always everywhere, moving in … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 9, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
January 9, 2025 by
Americanism Redux January 9, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 A thing happens twice. * * * * * * * (the overnight act) One is first, real and experienced as a direct, right-now, and first-hand fact. "I see that." Two is second, as in reported in viewing (read or watched) or listening (heard) and experienced as indirect and second-hand fact, second-layer fact, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 2, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775
January 2, 2025 by
Americanism Redux January 2, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1775 A new year. * * * * * * * (Parkman) It was six months ago—six months! Hasn't enough time passed? Why do they keep coming back at me? Reverend Ebenezer Parkman sits in the house next to his church. Many of his congregants verge on despising him. He knows it. He doesn't sleep well, food tastes bland, and his … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 26, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
December 26, 2024 by
Americanism Redux December 26, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Maybe we should be grateful we don't know. Knowing the future could be much more of a burden than a blessing. Two years from now, right now, for you and me and we. Don't tell me. (But how about a quick peek?) * * * * * * * (the seat you're in) Today, 250 … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 19, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
December 19, 2024 by
Americanism Redux December 19, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 The storm's not on the horizon/ The storm is not out there/ The storm that's now arising/ Is the storm I'm about to bear. * * * * * * * (as newlyweds) She lies in bed while he rides his horse. Deborah Franklin, wife of Benjamin, dies 250 years ago this week … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 12, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
December 12, 2024 by
Americanism Redux December 12, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Time has a way of warping things. You look back on two things in the past. Thing One happened before Thing Two. When you see it from now, Thing Two seems utterly natural, smooth, and free-flowing after Thing One. That's a warp, and usually not a reliable way of moving from … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 5, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
December 5, 2024 by
Americanism Redux December 5, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 If you'd told me last year at this time that you, me, and all of us would be where we are now... ...I never would have believed you... ...nope, never would have believed it. * * * * * * * (the logo they will adopt) It's never happened this way before in the colony … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 21, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
November 21, 2024 by
Americanism Redux November 21, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 You know it because you live it. Others know through living, too. And pretty much across the board you and they have the same feeling. Here it is: —the problem is so big right now that it's likely this turns out only one way: —war: —that's the reality for you and me if … [Read more...]
A Leadership Now Talkshop: Your Leadership And Our Civil War
November 16, 2024 by
A LEADERSHIP NOW TALKSHOP: Your Leadership And Our Civil War: American Rhymes of 2024-2025 And The River of November 1860 To June 1861 I'm guiding clients into the world of six months in fall 1860 to spring 1861. History doesn't repeat—it rhymes. With that truth in mind, we'll looking for how to measure the rhymes of the early American Civil War to our own post-election period with POTUS 47. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux-November 14, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
November 14, 2024 by
Americanism Redux November 14, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Both a boulder and a ball roll. The similarity ends there. It's 250 years ago—let the bouncing begin. * * * * * * * He was sky-high, up on a cloud in his excitement. It's his time of the year and it's a special year all by itself! Reverend Ebenezer Parkman dates his … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 7, Your Today, 250 Years Ago In 1774
November 7, 2024 by
Americanism Redux November 7, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 We've got to make sure about these elections. And check the clock on your phone about spring-forward and fall-back. * * * * * * * Today, 250 years ago, the people of Philadelphia in the colony of Pennsylvania learn of the strict process of election that will occur in the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Your Today, October 31, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
October 31, 2024 by
Americanism Redux October 31, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Standing in the place we could not have imagined, thinking the thought we vowed would never be known. Halloween, 250 years ago, today. * * * * * * * (where this Word was spoken) Eyes wide open, then blinking hard. Lump in the throat, then swallowing hard. Sitting … [Read more...]
Addendum to Episode 8 – On The 250 River With Dr Dan
October 27, 2024 by
I thought about it and I concluded we need to look at this for 9 minutes more. That's because you need to know that the American Founding formally begins in 1774, before 1776 and before 1787. The point must be understood for the meaning it holds today and across the 2020s. Take a look: https://youtu.be/agI-Jz6RIWg?si=VGbGFZoZgiVvC-j9 … [Read more...]
Podcast: On The 250 River With Dr Dan – Episode 8 – October 24, 1774
October 26, 2024 by
Here is this week's Podcast. Take a few minutes for the story of three shocking "birth" documents. It's the moment Abraham Lincoln called the birth of the American union. https://youtu.be/8X-7qYxdDb0?si=VUGslN7XKTmmojJJ … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 24, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
October 24, 2024 by
Americanism Redux October 24, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Such a big day. I know it is. Big, big day. Amazing. But I wonder: is this how I'll always think of this day? * * * * * * * (Carpenters' Hall) Today, 250 years ago, a month-and-a-half has gone by and the colonial delegates at the special Congress are wrapping up their … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 17, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
October 17, 2024 by
Americanism Redux October 17, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Things are clearer in October. Crispness where haze once was. Brightness where darkness once was. A sharp aroma where heavy air once was. Open yourself to the sights and sounds and smells of October. You might as well because they'll find you anyway. * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 10, Your Today, In 1774
October 11, 2024 by
Americanism Redux October 10, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Time is a river, and you're at a spot in the current, 250 years ago. * * * * * * * Today, the massive oak and elm trees show the year with shades of yellow and red appearing amongst the aging leaves. Today, talons wrapped around branches of the hardwoods, eagles wait and … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 3, Your Today, In 1774
October 3, 2024 by
Americanism Redux October 3, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Look around. You're seeing it sinking and seeping into everything. All around you. Think you can avoid it? That really doesn't seem likely. You'll need to figure out what it means in your life, for your life. * * * * * * * (Gurnet Lighthouse) Would you believe it? … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 26, Your Today, In 1774
September 26, 2024 by
Americanism Redux September 26, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 An American original. Living a life in a place, and a place that shapes the living of a life. But the life needs birthing and the place needs making. * * * * * * * (beginning) Elizabeth lays back in her bed. The sheets are soaked in sweat and linen cloth shows … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 19, Your Today, In 1774
September 19, 2024 by
Americanism Redux September 19, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (the green hints of first) A campfire brings a rare feeling in the early fall. Before frost and cold and icy breath, a fire of early fall is for warmth, not heat; for whispers and spoken words, not shouts and wild tirades; for support, not survival. Next to a fire of … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 12, Your Today, In 1774
September 12, 2024 by
Americanism Redux September 12, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 The land and the ground are so basic you're seldom aware of them. You assume them. They're always there. Always. But the unthinkable can happen. And when it does, the land sways like the surface of the ocean. The ground shakes and cracks and roars. Earth quakes. I feel an … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 5, Your Today, In 1774
September 5, 2024 by
Americanism Redux September 5, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (this is the Pepperell flag, perhaps for American Moment holiday) America, listen to me. Start a new celebration, commemoration, memorialization. Add it to the 4th of July. Do it across the first five days of every September. Beer and barbecue, wine and quiche, makes no … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 29, Your Today, 250 Years Ago
August 29, 2024 by
Americanism Redux August 29, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Are you feeling well? Fever or chills? Aches or soreness? Tell me a number that describes your pain. The baby, the child, the adult, each in a different condition and each in the care of someone who cares, or knows, or both. They have a number. Today, 250 years ago, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 22, Your Today, In 1774
August 22, 2024 by
Americanism Redux August 22, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (the blues say "end") What if this really is the end? ...of... It. That. Them. Us. Your call as to the object of the question. It does happen, you know, an end, the end. And then there is a next, which can only start if... ...this really is ending. Today, 250 years … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–August 15, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, in 1774
August 15, 2024 by
Americanism Redux August 15, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 You let it in, brought it in, welcomed it in. Doesn't matter, you chose and that's fine. Completely okay. The "it" is the current public political and governmental turmoil around you. You have a stance and a viewpoint and something to say about it. Part of your life, by … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 8, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
August 8, 2024 by
Americanism Redux August 8, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 I'm in this place I can't quite figure out. There's a way out, somehow. There's a way ahead, somewhere? How do I not go down? https://youtu.be/j6-9p9O-nYw?si=BJirlwajWXKajeNU * * * * * * * The last thing he remembers is the horse and the air and the blackening. And … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 1, Your Today, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
August 1, 2024 by
Americanism Redux August 1, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 No longer. I'm done. I've been driven to the breaking point, I'm breaking at the breaking point, I'm going past into whatever is next after breaking at the breaking point. Maybe you've been here, with addiction, the wrong crowd, a bad relationship, a hated job, a dead-end town. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Your Today, July 25, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
July 25, 2024 by
Americanism Redux July 25, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Two little words, "if" and "only". Put them together and you make a razor's edge, capable of slicing and cutting to the level of bone. If only. It's today, 250 years ago, and the shining blade of the two words gleams in the light. Welcome to Americanism Redux. * * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 18, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
July 18, 2024 by
Americanism Redux July 18, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 The only passage to the future is through the present. No other door opens up on tomorrow. Only today. * * * * * * * (the land of Nomini Hall) In the final scorching of a summer day, the sun sat for a moment on the distant trees. A lush green thickened the woods and meadows … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 11, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
July 11, 2024 by
Americanism Redux July 11, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Endcoming. Is this a new word? Could be. The definition: an end that you see coming. The now won't last. The way you're used to? It will be over. No doubt about it. A profound change will set in. It's only a question of when and where and maybe not much of a question at … [Read more...]
I Dug These Up
July 8, 2024 by
I knew I'd written these but I just wasn't sure exactly when. Well, first, it was September of 2020, almost four years ago. I coined a phrase-name that I'm sure wasn't completely popular. I never meant it in partisan political terms. I meant it as descriptive. Warren Biden. A hybrid of Warren Harding and Joseph Biden. It's appropriate today in July 2024 because of the connections I made in my … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Your Today, July 4, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
July 4, 2024 by
Americanism Redux July 4, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (a juncture from AI) In the future, there is a juncture. You believe this, and so do I. At the juncture, everything, or nearly everything, of today that is important, contested, and unresolved will meet. A, B, C, D, and a dozen others will come together. Plans, actions, events, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 27, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
June 27, 2024 by
Americanism Redux June 27, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Boil it all down and one thing is left, stark and clear. You are the linchpin. Just think about it. You're right now, in this single and very real moment, the present. You're the thing between the past of how you've gotten here and the future of where you're likely going. You're … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 20, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
June 20, 2024 by
Americanism Redux June 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Your hands grip the wheel. Feels good. Going a bit faster than you're used to or than you like. That's okay. You're dealing with it. The faster pace, it turns out, is manageable. You can still enjoy the countryside out the window. Then, something slams the accelerator and the whole … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 13, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
June 13, 2024 by
Americanism Redux June 13, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (within) The deepest, inner-most workings of yourself are not where you spend every day. You can't, it's too exhausting. Those moments arise, however, when the depths, the core, the utter basics, are the only place for you to be to make sense of your existence. Down there you'll … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 6, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
June 6, 2024 by
Americanism Redux June 6, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Life has more than one level. (a levels view) Big and large, middle and medium, small and tiny. A hundred others, too. From level to level, things can change. An outlook, an action, a decision, each varies as the levels vary. It pays to know the level you're seeing. * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 30, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
May 30, 2024 by
Americanism Redux May 30, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Now is new. (yes, it is) You know and feel it. Not everything is new, of course, but a whole lot of important stuff seems on the verge of new. Turn your head and take a look. Focus your mind and apply your thoughts. Listen to the sounds around you. What was will be so no longer. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 23, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
May 23, 2024 by
Americanism Redux May 23, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Displaced. (an example of calmer displacement) Displacement is what happens when a new thing shoves aside existing things. They either slide down your list of priorities, become something different through interaction with the new thing that does the displacing, or simply disappear … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 16, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
May 16, 2024 by
Americanism Redux May 16, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (it has landed) No more drift, or glide, or float, or motion in air. No more. Instead, on solid ground, the law has landed. * * * * * * * (where it landed) Slightly less than a week ago, Boston's residents read or heard read words of the Boston Port Act passed by … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 9, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
May 9, 2024 by
Americanism Redux May 9, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (September 10, 2001) It's the last day before...it happens. One more day and then...boom. Ahead of the moment, you're totally unaware. You don't know, you can't know. Only hindsight makes it clear—the arrival of the thing that changed everything. Life's not the same afterward. You … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 2, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
May 2, 2024 by
Americanism Redux May 2, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Outside, in the night, an owl hoots. Eyes watch the meadow below the tree. Talons grip the branch until the last second of flight, descent, and attack. Inside, in the night, they sleep. A thin pillow folded in half. A blanket pulled up against the chilly spring blackness. In … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 25, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
April 25, 2024 by
Americanism Redux April 25, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Stop and listen for the sound. https://youtu.be/zf5T2nb99RY?si=CiKAMaBerv6qgnZY You'll hear it, perhaps recognizing without realizing. It's the sound that tells you where you are, the thing that you often hear at this time of day or this place of night. Or maybe you won't hear … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 18-19, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
April 18, 2024 by
Americanism Redux April 18-19, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 The difference a time makes. It was only a few hours ago. A few days ago. A few somethings ago. Time can take such a short form and yet appear to be so long ago. Is it the same for time yet to be? Is the future as far away as the past? No, because there's nothing between us … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 11, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
April 11, 2024 by
Americanism Redux April 11, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Your money. It's in your account. How much? It's on your credit card? How much? It's listed on sheets and screens. How much? You access your money through passwords, numbered codes, facial recognition. You're reminded of it every time you see a person holding up a sign and asking … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 4, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
April 4, 2024 by
Americanism Redux April 4, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (communication of the casual and natural) Today, you meet your family, your friends, and the people who come and go as the minutes and hours tick by. You talk with them, write to them. Behind the words are ideas in your head. Some are so old and familiar to you that they … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 28, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
March 28, 2024 by
Americanism Redux March 28, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (together, voluntarily) Do you belong? To a club, a group, some sort of collection of people outside your family? Together, you and they meet each other, see each other, spend a period of time with each other. You, and they, are joined for a while around whatever it is that brings … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 21, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
March 21, 2024 by
Americanism Redux March 21, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (the Virginia bluebells) Take a walk in these first spring days and you'll see the early flowers, the Virginia bluebells. Delicate yet hardy, they are the flowers of aspiration. An aspiration differs from hope. It looks ahead with sharper eyes, seeing both considered plan and … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 14, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
March 14, 2024 by
Americanism Redux March 14, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 A public problem has grown into a public crisis. Some people are part of pushing and driving the growth. Others resist and seek its undoing. Still others rush to stand apart and build a wall against whatever is coming. And life rolls ahead, over stones and rocks in the river. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 7, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
March 7, 2024 by
Americanism Redux March 7, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Husband and wife. Parent and child. Friend and neighbor. Do human relationships get any more basic than these? You don't want them to shake or tremble. You don't want them to crack apart and break down. But across the table, across the room, across the fence, something seems to be … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–February 29, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years go, In 1774
February 29, 2024 by
Americanism Redux February 29, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 This day is your gift. Your gift of an extra day, Leap Day. We all know that time is a truly valuable thing in life. A Leap Day is like a few golden coins in your hand. So, what's your plan for the spending? An extension of the day before? A thing new and different? Peek into … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 22, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
February 22, 2024 by
Americanism Redux February 22, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 "My life is (or is not) my own." Which is it for you? Is the answer one of choice or of compulsion, your freedom or something else's force? A blend of betweens? Think about your day and week up to now. As you begin to separate time into pieces, do you see any hint of things you're … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 15, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
February 15, 2024 by
Americanism Redux February 15, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 There is a day when you know the driver of your life. It's the most basic, single element of your living. On this day you're crystal-clear about your life-drivers. * * * * * * * Today, 250 years ago, a British ship enters the port of a colonial city. The ship carries important … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 8, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
February 8, 2024 by
Americanism Redux February 8, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 You need to see this thing. Good God, it's a massive tree. Down it came, crash and thud. By now, today, 250 years ago, the leaves are dead, the bark and branches gone, and the wood becomes plank and log. Other trees are laying next to it. (Harrod's tool) Over there, that's … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 1, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
February 1, 2024 by
Americanism Redux February 1, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Sight for seeing up-close. Sight for seeing far-away. Sight for seeing what's not there at all. Sometime your ability to see depends on your orientation, on where you are. * * * * * * * (the home where Mercy missed her friends) Today, 250 years ago Mercy Otis Warren is … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 25, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
January 25, 2024 by
Americanism Redux January 25, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Slumped against the front door, he's reaching for the handle. With a few fingers on one hand, he grabs, holds, and turns. The door opens. The mob yells and shouts and taunts as he drags himself inside. He's half-crawling, half-sliding on the wooden floor. The pain is now his entire life, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 18, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
January 18, 2024 by
Americanism Redux January 18, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 The tea rings continue rolling beyond Boston Bay from a month ago. "It was done by Fire and Water; and so general was the spirit, that all ranks and degrees of people, high and low, rich and poor, Whig and Tory, agreed in the affair." So described an observer in Newburyport, … [Read more...]
The Fourth Quarter of 1773–The Journey To The American Founding–In Five Minutes
January 12, 2024 by
If you've not read my Q4 1773 entries of Americanism Redux, here's a five-minute video summary. Take a look. https://youtu.be/Ac4VCmDzJV4 … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 11, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
January 11, 2024 by
Americanism Redux January 11, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 Over there is your diary. Over there is a sheet of parchment paper. Over there is a notebook. But you're not writing in any of them today, 250 years ago, unless you're in the south, where it's warmer. For most British colonists, it's deep winter. Ice. Snow. Frigid air. And there … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: January 4, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1774
January 4, 2024 by
Americanism Redux January 4, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774 (near the site of Mrs. Roger's school) Today, 250 years ago, a woman enters the turbulent marketplace of education in Philadelphia. As the most advanced and innovative larger community in the British colonies, Philadelphia is the scene of fierce competition for students and … [Read more...]
The Big 4: American Celebrations of the Declaration’s Birthday–Lessons for 2026
December 30, 2023 by
On December 12, 2023, I delivered the keynote speech at a special event kicking off the "Journey To The American Founding" initiative in Indiana. It's a partnership initiative between The Remnant Trust and Sagamore Institute to help guide the recognition and honoring of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. I invite you to watch and listen to my speech. Feel free to … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 28, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
December 28, 2023 by
Americanism Redux December 28, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 (Saint Nicholas, by Carlo Crivelli, 1472) "To Sint Nikolaas." People holding hands. Arms wrapping around necks and shoulders and waists. Smiles on faces. Laughter and words of happiness and good cheer. People having a pleasant and meaningful time. Inside is warmth. A … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 21, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
December 21, 2023 by
Americanism Redux December 21, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Well, it's over. And now... ...the waiting begins. 250 years ago today, an east-sailing ship carries five-day-old news across the Atlantic Ocean to London, England. The present's big event is a thing of the past that others will discover in the future. * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 14, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
December 14, 2023 by
Americanism Redux December 14, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The front. That's where you're looking from—the front of the room, the front of the group, the front of the line, the front of the moment. The front is a perspective all its own. * * * * * * * Today, 250 years ago, the smell of tea is still in the nostrils of Reverend Jonas … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: December 7, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
December 7, 2023 by
Americanism Redux December 7, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 It feels like overnight. The change. Fast, everywhere. You look back a few weeks or months and it seems like a different world then. Not that world now. All at once, or so your heart and mind and soul tell you. * * * * * * * Today, 250 years ago, Francis Salvador steps off the … [Read more...]
Eight Words On The Seventh Day
December 7, 2023 by
Eight Words On The Seventh Day (2023) On the 7th day of December 1941, Japanese military forces unleashed an attack on American military forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Territory of the United States. Also on the 7th day of December 1941, after news of the bombing had arrived on mainland America, the US Army Chief of Staff, General George Marshall, walked toward his office at the … [Read more...]
Leadership, Tea, and 1773
December 6, 2023 by
Leadership, Tea, and 1773 Those eyeglasses on your face are 250 years old. Can you see well through them? Take a look over there, where a group of people are dumping tea in Boston harbor in December 1773. (for your leadership vision) A swath of my Redux entries for 2023 have, one way or another, featured the oncoming story of the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. I write my Redux … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 30, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
November 30, 2023 by
Americanism Redux November 30, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 It's here. No more wondering. The thing is here, right in our laps. And now things happen with blinding speed. * * * * * * * (Dartmouth) The British ship with the East India Company tea is now in Boston harbor. And things have started to happen. Today, 250 years ago, … [Read more...]
A Letter One Month Ahead
November 28, 2023 by
A Letter One Month Ahead Right off the top, I'll give you a heads-up. This is a post leaning toward the spiritual, the metaphysical, the cosmic. Kind of. This is not a post to exclude. My intent is to pose a question that takes you into your own thoughts. For some of you that means into your mind, for some into your soul, for some into both. I do respect the choice to go … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 23, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
November 23, 2023 by
Americanism Redux November 23, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 A table with chairs around it. A tabletop with platters of food on it. We sit, eat, and talk together. Not all food will be eaten and not all thoughts will be spoken. A moment becomes an event. A space becomes a place. Time becomes a light, carried on waves from a darkness above, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–November 16, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
November 16, 2023 by
Americanism Redux November 16, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Below the written lines are the other lines. The other lines are separators between the life we believe we lead and the life often led, the life of darkness. These other lines are thin, all too thin, though we seldom bother to notice. Until, that is, the other lines snap and wave in the … [Read more...]
The 10-POTUS Checklist–Your Tool For The 2024 Presidential Election
November 11, 2023 by
THE 10-POTUS CHECKLIST--YOUR TOOL FOR THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Last time I did a list like this I entitled it the "9 POTUS Checklist." That's because nine American presidents, as of 2016-2019, had won a first term, won re-nomination as president, and lost the general presidential election for a consecutive second term. The 2020 election added one to the list but changed my findings not … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–November 9, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
November 9, 2023 by
Americanism Redux November 9, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Exhausting, that's what it is. The things I need to do. The things I have to do. The things I can't avoid one minute more and so will do right now. It's a crush, all of it, pressing in on me. Do them without illusion because there's more on the way. Yes, that's right, more on the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: November 2, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
November 2, 2023 by
Americanism Redux November 2, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 There might be one thing that you truly would never, ever give up. * * * * * * * Dr. John Connolly is doing today what he loves doing most, adventuring on a river, seeing the prospects of a new life, absorbing the implications of lost worlds and how the world of now came from … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 26, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
October 26, 2023 by
Americanism Redux October 26, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The marriage you expected, and the marriage you have. One is the life of love. The other is the life of reality. If you're lucky or blessed or both, the two intersect. They share some ground. The record of the sharedness is the story of the marriage. (her ring) * * * * * * … [Read more...]
Thoughts On The Israeli-Hamas War From Colonial America
October 25, 2023 by
Thoughts on the Israeli-Hamas War From Colonial America As Americans, our best lens for looking at the current and future Israeli-Hamas War likely is not 9-11 or Pearl Harbor. They've come to people's minds but I don't think they tell us much. I suggest something a little more unusual. Let's take a moment and gather a few points from the period of the American past usually known as "colonial … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 19, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
October 19, 2023 by
Americanism Redux October 19, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 It comes all jumbled up and twisted together. Knotted and clutched up, in a ball. You have to do the untying and unraveling. Hold a string in one hand, a different string in the other hand, a third string between your teeth and, looking down, you still see about three hundred other … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–October 12, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
October 12, 2023 by
Americanism Redux October 12, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The darkness. Oh, the darkness. Into the darkness I see. * * * * * * * The wolves stay quiet and deep in the forest. Ashes in the campfire are still warm. The gray light of an autumn dawn covers the land and the headwaters of Wallen Creek. Eight people are asleep. Twenty … [Read more...]
The Israeli-Hamas War–A First Thought From A Historical Perspective
October 9, 2023 by
The Israeli-Hamas War--A First Thought From A Historical Perspective Here's my five-minute video on something to watch for this year and next. https://youtu.be/iDk38rhz5Ms … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–October 5, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
October 5, 2023 by
Americanism Redux October 5, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 It's coming. On the water. A Boston newspaper reprints a letter cited in a Philadelphia newspaper. The reprinted letter describes shipments of tea leaving England bound for Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. A ship operator has refused to carry the tea but other ship captains … [Read more...]
Back To Birth For Re-Birth
October 4, 2023 by
Back To Birth For Re-Birth (one of the birthplaces, in Michigan, summer 1854) Quick thoughts on what the past offers to the present state of disarray in the Republican Party. 1. Go back to the birth of the Republican Party in the mid-1850s for some surprising lessons for 2023 and beyond. Re-birth will look a lot like birth. 2. Substance and direction came from the outside-in and the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 28, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
September 28, 2023 by
Americanism Redux September 28, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The ties that bring us together. They bind. They break. They are a physical presence. They are a metaphysical moment. * * * * * * * The door to her jail cell opens. Hagar, the black woman of unknown age, walks out of her cell, a sheriff from the eastern shore of Maryland leads … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux-September 21, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
September 21, 2023 by
Americanism Redux September 21, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The future is in front of you. It's just ahead, in the direction that your face is facing. Always in front. But where's the thing that affects your future? Is it further in front, beyond your sight? Or off to the side, hiding, or behind you, out of your field of vision? Ask … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux-September 14, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Year Ago, In 1773
September 14, 2023 by
Americanism Redux September 14, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The world I know and love is falling apart. Falling apart. What can I do? What can I do to help? Is there something, a talent I possess or an opportunity given to me, that can make a difference? Now is the time. Right now, not next year, not next whenever when the stars have … [Read more...]
The Time After 9-11
September 12, 2023 by
After the tragic event, life continues. The River rolls on. And yet, in the current and in the water, are elements of what just happened back at a spot in the River. How long will they stay? How far into the future, Down River, will they be seen? * * * * * * * It is almost 7:30pm, an early evening of late summer, September 11, 2001. On a rugged hillside outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–September 7, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
September 7, 2023 by
Americanism Redux September 7, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 In New York City, the news is twenty-four hours old. Here and there, clusters of a few people stand and murmur next to cobblestone streets. Then they disappear into the taverns. They're talking about the day-old news. Came aboard ship and landed in the newspaper called the New York … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 31, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
August 31, 2023 by
Americanism Redux August 31, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Well, well, at last the news has arrived in London. The effects of imperial-colonial disputes in Boston and Massachusetts have crossed the ocean. Today, 250 years ago, a London newspaper prints a report on the letters of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lieutenant Andrew Oliver secretly … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 24, Your today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
August 24, 2023 by
Americanism Redux August 24, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Close your eyes. To see clearly, close your eyes. Behind eyelids, in the loss of sight, your mind's eye begins to see. In the half-dark, with trails drifting across your vision and points forming into patterns, settle in to let your mind's eye open up. Watch the past begin to show on … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 17, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
August 17, 2023 by
Americanism Redux August 17, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 So ruled, says the judge in Augusta County, British colony of Virginia...and David Essex, who has been caught after running away as a servant from the man who claims to own his labor, can either pay a sum of money or work two more weeks beyond his obligated term of work. It's Essex's … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 10, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
August 10, 2023 by
Americanism Redux August 10, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Sometimes you're just in one of those moods. * * * * * * Think back in your memory. And write it down. Recall what you've seen or read. And write it down. A thing that has stayed in your mind. And write it down. He's in a mood and decides to think back. (Melancholy, by … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: August 3, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
August 3, 2023 by
Americanism Redux August 3, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Oh my God. He's dead. We're still here but we won't have him any longer. That sweet face and kind eyes. Generous heart and active mind. Gone. Now what? That's the feeling today, 250 years ago, and hour by hour it will flow out of the chamber where the dead man lays. From the chamber … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 27, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
July 27, 2023 by
Americanism Redux July 27, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The antlers of bucks are just now coming in. They've shed the old to make way for the new. The moon of the month, now in its last phase, is named for the males among the deer. (A fading quarter-light) What a Buck Moon it's been for Janet Livingston. Twenty-nine years old, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 20, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
July 20, 2023 by
Americanism Redux July 20, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The change I see in front of me is the change I... ...embrace...or fear...or expect...or dread...or need to prepare for...or have no way of preparing for. And on it goes for me, my family, my circle of loved ones and friends, my community, my nation—or empire—today, 250 years ago. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: July 13, Your today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
July 13, 2023 by
Americanism Redux July 13, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Nemisis. That's his name. (the mountain of Nemisis) He was left, left around here somewhere on this rise of land in the thick, dense forest. His comrades told him they would hide him so the Natives he'd been fighting wouldn't come back and torture him to death. They placed a … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Your Today, July 6, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
July 6, 2023 by
Americanism Redux July 6, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Here they come. Just stand over here with me. Pay attention and keep your eyes and ears open. **************************************** Throughout the day, they come. One person, a pair, a small group. They say much the same things. --He looks so natural. --It's simply amazing, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Overview of Second Quarter (April, May, June) 1773–A 6-Minute Scan And Span Of The Weekly Stories
June 30, 2023 by
Don't have time to read all the stories of Americanism Redux for Q2 1773? Not a problem. Take 6 minutes and get a video overview. And you're always invited and encouraged to double-back and read the stories themselves. It's for you and your leadership as we move toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. https://youtu.be/Fukt-jJ3HNc (click the link above) … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 29, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
June 29, 2023 by
Americanism Redux June 29, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 A second thought? Do I give it a second thought? Do those things that just happen to me right now, the things that will define the 24-hour today, do I really know they'll last beyond today? It depends on the things, on what they actually are. That's the truth 250 years ago today and … [Read more...]
Two Lives–Death and Doom, Them and Us
June 27, 2023 by
Below is a copy of one of my most important blog posts on the two pandemics, 1918-1921 and 2020-2022. As I think you'll see, the gap of time means nothing but the nature of time means everything. ******************************************************************************* A People And Two Lifes. Regardless of where you are with the pandemic today, one point we can agree on is the difficulty … [Read more...]
The 1920s-As-2020s Overview – The Rhyme Of History
June 27, 2023 by
THE 1920s-As-2020s Overview – The Rhyme of History Laying the Groundwork... Americans of 2020-2023 and Americans of 1918-1921 share a striking similarity. They encountered, endured, and exited a deeply serious public crisis. That crisis shared (rhymed, in my parlance) key realities. The primary sharing point was that in both periods Americans coped with a pandemic that collided with the major … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 22, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
June 22, 2023 by
Americanism Redux June 22, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Filled with them. The pages are filled with them. The people—men, women, children—who are on the run, seeking freedom from some various forms of forced labor. They are enslaved. They are apprenticed. They are bound by contract to one or the other of people who expect forced labor by … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 15, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
June 15, 2023 by
Americanism Redux June 15, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 Three ties that bind, British to colonial British, colonial British to British. But what is in the ties, and will binding become a bond or a bounding? * * * * * * * Hand me that pen. Yes, paper, too. I'll get the ink. Now stand back and leave me alone. I've never been more furious … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 8, Your Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
June 8, 2023 by
Americanism Redux June 8, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 In the sights of your eyes...on a street in Paris, France. I want to see her, move aside and let me closer to the street. Has anyone seen her yet? I can't wait to know if she's as beautiful as they say she is in her portraits. I may look a mess, maybe I'm hungry a lot of the time but none … [Read more...]
A Phrase Returns
June 5, 2023 by
In last week’s Talkshop (Rapids From The River: You, The 2024 Election, And 5 Moments In The American River), I explained to the participants my River construct. In that explanation we explored the idea of repetition across time. This involved my view of Rhyming—that rapids on the river recur, shallows on the river recur, bends on the river recur, everything on the river recurs. The key reality … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: June 1, Your Today, on the Journey to the American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
June 1, 2023 by
Americanism Redux June 1, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 The world is a place where horses scream. From terror, panic, uncontrollable fright. Brought on by a penetrating strike into the deepest instinctual sense of self-preservation. The final breath of death that closes what began with the first breath of birth. This horse screams as the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Today, Your Day, May 25, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
May 25, 2023 by
Americanism Redux May 25, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 He agonizes. John Adams agonizes, to himself, in his diary, today, 250 years ago. (John Adams) "Tomorrow is our General Election." "The Plotts, Plans, Schemes, and Machinations of this Evening and Night, will be very numerous. By the number of Ministerial, Governmental People … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 18, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago Today, In 1773
May 18, 2023 by
Americanism Redux May 18, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 The river is running fast. (Salmon Falls River) Away from the rushing current mid-stream, two figures float in the water. They drift and turn slowly in the water that laps up to the bank. They are two bodies, the corpses of Lucy Lord and Jonathan Hardison. The pine trees stand in … [Read more...]
Welcome
May 11, 2023 by
Some of you know that I did extensive research and writing on the Two Pandemics, the influenza pandemic of 1918-1921 and the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2023. I'll be featuring some of my most well-received posts from that work as well as developing new material for posting here. Stay tuned! Thanks for your involvement. … [Read more...]
Welcome!
May 11, 2023 by
Thank you for visiting a new part of my latest work, the 20s-as-20s. It's my strong belief that we in the 2020s are living a kind of poetic rhyme with the 1920s. It's not identical, but it has a particular connected motion that can look and feel oddly similar. Think of the words "hog", "fog", "clog", and "dog." They're different in meaning but in their rhyming they can give a sense of movement if … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 11, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773
May 11, 2023 by
Americanism Redux May 11, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Hear the baby crying. Hungry for a feeding. Another woman will need to nurse her. The baby's mother, Sarah, died yesterday at the age of 37. The baby is—or should it be "was"?—Sarah's eighth. Sarah's husband, her widower of a day's length, places his head in his hands. He walks to the mound of … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: May 4, Today, On The Journey To The American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
May 4, 2023 by
Americanism Redux May 4, today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773 There goes one. Gentle in the air. Falling, drifting onto the bright green grass without making a sound. Delicate and soft in its color and shade. The breeze carries it down. These are the blossoms of the fruit trees, descending one by one after a week of brilliant fragrance. They'll begin to … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 27, today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773
April 27, 2023 by
Americanism Redux April 27, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 A black man sits in a small wooden hut in the woods of the Hudson River valley. It's been made, hastily, just for him. Up until a few days ago, he was working with a crew digging for iron ore. He was one of the best workers on the crew. It was back-breaking stuff, shovels and pick-axes powered … [Read more...]
Rapids From The River: FIVE Moments From The American Experience For Your Leadership And The 2024 Election
April 25, 2023 by
The public mental condition surrounding the 2024 election will be strained, pained, and woundful. If you are a leader, you will be leading in these elements. Take note—you must prepare yourself in advance. Take heart as well. There are significant moments in the American past and history that can embolden your leadership and its resilience, endurance, and steadfastness. To assist you, I have … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 20, today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1773
April 20, 2023 by
Americanism Redux April 20, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Who's going to sign? Get up here and sign your name. (sign here) One by one, around a table, four men lean forward. Hands on the desk to steady the sheet of paper. In turn, each man takes the quill pen and dips the pen into a small bottle of ink. Each man moves his hand quickly onto … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 13, Today 250 Years Ago, on the journey to the American Founding, in 1773
April 13, 2023 by
Americanism Redux April 13, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, dear name-goes-here, Happy Birthday to you..." They finish the crooning. Or maybe shouts of "for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow..." They stretch out that last note. If … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Video Overview, The First Quarter of 1773, On the journey to the American Founding
April 6, 2023 by
For a 6-minute trip the 12 weeks of January, February, and March 1773, watch my video overview. https://youtu.be/XK-sNfb2RUc … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: April 6, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773
April 6, 2023 by
Americanism Redux April 6, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Sometimes you don't realize the importance of the words. Sometimes you do. Whether spoken or written to yourself, to someone else, to a group of people. These are some of the words spoken and written today, 250 years ago. (spoken or written) * * * * * * * Six words spoken … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 30, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773
March 30, 2023 by
Americanism Redux March 30, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Clip, clop. Horses on the street. Click, clack. Shoes and walking sticks on the sidewalk. Bustle and noise. Standing in front of the imposing building, top step of the stone stairs before you go inside. You're in the shadows of six massive Roman-like pillars or columns, three of them to … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 23–on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today–1773
March 23, 2023 by
Americanism Redux March 23, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Overall, the mood was rather bright and upbeat. That's what he thought, at any rate. Everyone seemed relieved that the biggest crime threat of this young year was dealt with, the law-breakers caught, tried, and punished. Always a good thing when counterfeiters are taken off the street and … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 16, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773
March 16, 2023 by
Americanism Redux March 16, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Beneath a blanket of snow, a grave recently dug holds the body of a deceased elderly woman. She is Margaret-Christine Otis Baker of Dover, New Hampshire, 85 years old at the time of her death back in late February. Today, 250 years ago, her three-week old death is so significant that the people … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 9, Today, On the Journey To American Founding, 250 Years Ago, in 1773
March 9, 2023 by
Americanism Redux March 9, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 It's one of those days. Nothing special on the face of it. Life sprawls, today, 250 years ago. (Ordinary Day, sunrise) You see kindness. A Christian pastor travels from house to house in Westborough, Massachusetts. He's visiting members of his congregation who are sick. A young boy, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–6-Minute Video Overview of the Fourth Quarter–Today 250 Years Ago–in 1773
March 8, 2023 by
Below is my quarterly overview video. See and hear the highlights of the stories of October, November, and December 1772 on our journey to the American Founding in July 1776. https://youtu.be/GJl5M2zzZF4 Thanks for watching! … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: March 2, Today, On The Journey To American Founding, 250 Years Ago, In 1773
March 2, 2023 by
Americanism Redux March 2, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Walk down Newbury Street. Come to the intersection with Pond Street. There's the house, right over there, the big house with the fancy door. That's your destination. You're about to knock on the fancy door. When the servant opens it you'll ask for the owner. You need to see him. You have … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 23, On The Path To American Founding, 250 Years Ago Today, 1773
February 23, 2023 by
Americanism Redux February 23, on the path to the American Founding, 250 years ago today, in 1773 The pursuit of freedom can take you to weird places with odd relationships. Today, 250 years ago, the pursuit of freedom leads to England, near London, where ship Captain Robert Calef sits in the home of a wealthy aristocratic woman named Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. Calef has … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 9–Life and the American Founding–Today 250 Years Ago: 1773
February 9, 2023 by
Americanism Redux February 9—Life and the American Founding—Today 250 Years Ago: 1773 The tiny seeds had gone in the ground a few weeks back, after Christmas. Planted in dirt finer than grains of sand, the seeds were now seedlings. Tender and green shoots of the new plants poked up from the ground, no taller than the length of your finger. The Virginia soil has given birth to this year's … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: February 2 – Today 250 Years Ago – in 1773
February 2, 2023 by
Americanism Redux It's Today, February 2, 250 years ago—In 1773 Good lord, the air is cold. You inhale and your lungs feel like they're frozen together. Exhale and a whitish air rises and disappears. Again and again. Inner pangs of cold, outer clouds of frost. Up you go. (winter transportation) You're on the plank board that serves as a seat. Bundled with densely woven clothes, … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux – January 19 – 250 Years Ago Today – in 1773
January 19, 2023 by
Americanism Redux January 19, 250 years ago today, in 1773 Teaching and education. My life. I teach young people how to think. I teach adults how to worship. God made me to live this life. I've met a person, a parent, actually a step-father for whom I've developed great respect. The step-father respects me, too, I think. Yes, I'm certain he does. That's not bragging. It's a mutually … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux – January 12 – Today 250 Years Ago – 1773
January 12, 2023 by
Americanism Redux January 12, 250 years ago today, in 1773 "All in favor say 'aye'." The hands raised up. "One", "two", "three", and on it went. The count was finished but the outcome was never in doubt. The group wanted to do it. Excited. Motivated. Resolved. Today, in the British colonial capital of South Carolina, the Charleston Library Society approves the plan to "to establish a … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux – Today – January 4 – 250 Years Ago in 1773
January 4, 2023 by
Americanism Redux January 4, 250 years ago today in 1773 (Colony House, Newport, Rhode Island) Clean out the room where the hearing will be held. Do the work. Sweep the floors. Wipe down the seats and the rails. Stack firewood. Candles at the ready. Make sure nothing from the first floor works it way up the stairs to the second floor. First floor: the marketplace, scene of money … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux – 250 Years Ago Today – December 28, 1772
December 28, 2022 by
Americanism Redux December 28, 250 years ago today, in 1772 Flowing out. Spreading. Ceaseless and unrelenting. Waters broken through the mill dam and covering the cold, dry ground. How to stop it? How to hold it back? That's the reality of today 250 years ago. Towns in Massachusetts are beginning to hold meetings to consider the Statement of Rights produced by the Boston town council … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux-Today – December 21 – 250 Years Ago-1772
December 21, 2022 by
Americanism Redux December 21, 250 years ago today (1772) On a ship, today, 250 years ago, he looks at the Florida coast. But a lifetime ago he was somewhere else, looking at a moment that would begin to define his life. ******************************************************************************************************* He feels the cave's walls on his body. He clutches a small … [Read more...]
Almost Ready To Release–The 80-Year Old Film You Need To See
December 16, 2022 by
The war. The Second World War. And one of the greatest movies of all time. 80 Decembers ago it was almost ready for release. If you want a glimpse into attitudes that Americans of that time had for the world at large, here's your chance to see it. Casablanca. You likely know the story of the movie. Bogart plays an American, Rick, who owns a bar/cafe in Casablanca, Morocco. To his shock, Ilsa, a … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux-250 Years Ago Today-December 14, 1772
December 14, 2022 by
Americanism Redux December 14, 250 years ago today The baby, a day old, sleeps. Tiny eyelids, soft skin, the wispiest of wispy hair. Fingers are curled. Invisible breaths in and out, the chest rising and falling less than a sixteenth of an inch. Perhaps now is the perfect time for mother to catch a quick nap. She's not really sure. It's her first baby. Phebe, the mother, is 19 years old. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–250 Years Ago Today–December 7 1772
December 7, 2022 by
Americanism Redux December 7, 250 years ago today Yes-To-Tom. Yes(terday) – To(day) – Tom(orrow) Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Time in sequence as you live it and know it/as it comes, stays, and goes/as you were, is, and will be. Yes-To-Tom. Yesterday, a ship captain named Prince made himself at home as best he can along the docks of New York City. He collected his thoughts in … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–250 Years Ago Today–November 30 1772
November 30, 2022 by
Americanism Redux November 30, 250 years ago today Some strings are invisible. They exist out of sight until you're reminded that they're there. Serving as ties to home, family, place, beliefs, dreams, and dozens of other things, these strings bind your life together. You may lose track of them in the bustle of daily life, but they won't lose their connection to you. Making them takes time. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–250 Years Ago Today–November 23
November 23, 2022 by
Americanism Redux November 23, 250 years ago today Today, 250 years ago, the announcement comes forth in a document read aloud to the people of New Hampshire: "to be religiously observed and kept as a day of public thanksgiving", a day next week will be set aside to express the people's gratitude and gratefulness for their British Monarch, King George III. New Hampshire's royal governor John … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: 250 Years Ago Today, November 15
November 15, 2022 by
Americanism Redux November 15, 250 years ago today So. This is what the boss wants. Wants me to give my thoughts as to how we can make things better around here, make things work right, make things the way they ought to be. Oh really? Well, it's about time. Happy to oblige. Buckle up. Here we go. The do's and the don'ts. I've got clear answers. Do...stop expanding. No more. … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: 250 Years Ago Today, November 9
November 9, 2022 by
Americanism Redux November 9, 1772, 250 years ago today The youth and their futures as the skies of today turn gray and cold. 21-year old James Madison writes from his family's Virginia plantation home to a friend he'd known in college. Madison thanks him for his friendship and for staying in close contact via letters. He congratulates his friend on a decision to continue … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: 250 Years Ago Today, November 2
November 2, 2022 by
Americanism Redux November 2, 250 years ago today Dozens of candles and lanterns glowed against the walls and columns painted in white. The flickering light revealed each delicate wave and curving line in the glass of the window panes. People talked, loudly and in urgent tones. A vote was called for. Hands raised up. All in favor. Yes. Passed. Gavel smacks down. Murmurs rippled around … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–250 Years Ago Today–Video Summary & A Few Thoughts–3rd Quarter 1772
October 27, 2022 by
Here you go. A short look at where we've been in July, August, and September 1772. https://youtu.be/KI0nzPABCRA For a few more thoughts on the points... A little more beyond the video on the four main points in summary from Q3 1772. Oh, and be sure to read my ending sections here after the four points. 1st— Diversity... In the nineteen (19) stories I shared with you from Q3 1772 you … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: Today, October 18, 250 Years Ago
October 18, 2022 by
Americanism Redux October 18, 250 years ago today He shook his head. So disappointing. To be within sight of the place we've dreamed of, our destination and the life we want. It's just right out there, the beautiful shoreline. But we can't go. The officials here won't allow it. The brutes just told him that, in tones and manner he'd seen far too often back in a corner of Ireland, the … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: October 13, Today, 250 Years Ago
October 13, 2022 by
Americanism Redux October 13, 250 years ago today Golden leaves in the day and chilled air at night. October 13. My college diploma still feels fresh, barely a year old. I miss that life that ended last year. We had classes, professors, weekly assignments, reading and writing. We socialized, attended dinners, danced, made friends for life and friends for the night, drank too … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux–Today–October 5–250 Years Ago
October 5, 2022 by
Americanism Redux October 5, 250 years ago today A chance to watch a sporting event? hang out with friends? sip an adult beverage? in one of my favorite towns? Count me in. But hold up, give me a minute. I've got to get my best powdered wig and false teeth. OK, got 'em. I'm ready. Let's get going. (Sound familiar? Well, maybe not all of it. Still, most of it seems like last … [Read more...]
Americanism Redux: September 28, 250 Years Ago
September 28, 2022 by
Americanism Redux September 28, 250 years ago today The parents looked down at the crib. Their baby, their first, is two days old. A beautiful daughter. Maybe something is not quite right, a little too pale and a little too fussy and a little too congested. Well, who knows. Maybe everything will be fine. Mom is Martha, nicknamed Patty by her husband, who is Tom. Patty and Tom were … [Read more...]
September 20–Today–250 Years Ago
September 20, 2022 by
Americanism Redux September 20, 250 years ago today For now, their lives are apart. Separate and unjoined. They don't know it but Down River—in the future—they will collide in the roaring waters. That day awaits, a lamp moving over a black surface. A 50-year old man writes a letter. Living in Virginia, he encloses a copy of family documents important to the woman who is waiting … [Read more...]
September 14–Today–250 Years Ago
September 14, 2022 by
Americanism Redux September 14, 250 years ago today She lay in bed with him next to her. Nine years in love. Nine years making a home. Besides their life together they'd made life further at least twice, their two daughters. They call her Mama, which she is. They call him Papa, which he is. But Mama and Papa are not husband and wife. Maybe someday, maybe sometime, but not now. Same bed, … [Read more...]
An Off-Shoot
September 12, 2022 by
I spend a lot of time in time passed. The past. All time before now. Since this is so, I'd like to offer an out-of-the way thought from the 21st anniversary of September 11, 2001, or 9-11 as it's shortened for history, those small slices of the past chosen to be remembered. I'm thinking of the Invisible Triangle. The Invisible Triangle affects you, me, all and each of us. It … [Read more...]
September 7–Today–250 Years Ago
September 7, 2022 by
Americanism Redux September 7, 250 years ago today The signboard of The Dog and Pot hangs over the front door of the same-named tavern in Boston. Sign of The Dog and Pot tavern in Boston Inside, candles flicker in lanterns fixed to the walls. Scattered across heavy tables are tankards of ale, a tin plate or two, a carved wooden bowl, and half-filled bottles. The air smells of old … [Read more...]
August 31–Today–250 Years Ago
August 31, 2022 by
Americanism Redux August 31, 250 years ago today The eye stares down. The eye sees all. Under the gaze of the eye stands a little church where, yesterday, a small group of people had gathered to worship, to sing, to pray, to hear a sermon. They didn't know the eye would soon move over them. In its gaze. Midnight nears. Horror looks different in the dark. During the four hours … [Read more...]
August 26–Today–250 Years Ago
August 26, 2022 by
Americanism Redux August 26, 250 years ago today I'm turning this thing around...today! No more tricks, no more games, no more local-yokel garbage that delays and delays and delays until everyone just forgets and the thing disappears. No more. Today is when it starts and it starts with me and my pronouncement. The damn people burned my boat...uh...our boat...uh...our vessel...uh...our … [Read more...]
August 19-Today-250 Years Ago
August 19, 2022 by
Americanism Redux August 19, 250 years ago today A dress hangs painfully on her arms and back. It's hard to get comfortable with the fabric rubbing against the scars and bruises. 70-year old Margaret remembers the latest beating. Her second husband, named Savage, hit her with a leather strap. He does it a lot. For today, 250 years ago, she heals. And she'll use today in seeking another … [Read more...]
August 12-Today-250 Years Ago
August 12, 2022 by
Americanism Redux August 12, 250 years ago today God Almighty, it's hot. Never seen anything like it. Her slender, delicate fingers reach to dot the beads of sweat on her forehead. She tucks a few strands of her light-colored hair back under her cloth bonnet. 20-year old Elizabeth may look calm and composed on the outside. Inside, she's nervous and unsettled. She never thought about … [Read more...]
August 5-Today-250 Years Ago
August 5, 2022 by
Americanism Redux August 5, 250 years ago today Lay the paper flat on the table. Hold the edges down. Write the terms of agreement. Sign your name. Change our world. Today, in Vienna, Joseph II, co-emperor of Austria with his mother, Maria Theresa, announces his written agreement to a plan that divides up the eastern portion of the fledgling nation of Poland. Frederick II, king of … [Read more...]
July 29-Today-250 Years Ago
July 29, 2022 by
Americanism Redux July 29, 250 years ago today It's a river called "Mad", flowing into a river called "Big Waters", or Miami as it's known in the language of one native people, flowing into a river so appealing that another native people used their rival language to find the word for "Beautiful"... The Ohio. In these watered lands a four-year old boy lives with a large family. His … [Read more...]
July 23 – Today – 250 Years Ago
July 23, 2022 by
Americanism Redux July 23, 250 years ago today He is, literally, a hot head on this summer day. It's hard not to be when you've got sweat on your head. The sweat of his scalp spreads out from the roots of his hair. The woven fibers laying over them are soaking up the perspiration. His nose detects the faintest scent of olive oil, a sign that his servant has cleaned the fibers while … [Read more...]
July 16
July 16, 2022 by
Americanism Redux July 16, 250 years ago today July 16, 250 years ago today My best friend. Does she think I don't care anymore? Holding a letter signed and sealed and sent from Newport, Rhode Island, the 19-year old girl reads the lines and realizes her best friend didn't receive the last letter she'd written a while ago. The thick paper shook slightly in her thin, almost frail … [Read more...]
July 9
July 9, 2022 by
Americanism Redux July 9 If you could see his hands, you'd know what he did. Black stains fill the lines and wrinkles on his hand, fill the tiny crevices around his fingernails. 250 years ago today. He is a printer, one of the most influential and successful owner-operators of a media company in colonial Philadelphia. 58-year old David Hall watches as today's edition of the four-page … [Read more...]
July 4
July 4, 2022 by
He decides. Today, 250 years ago in 1772. Freedom for me. I'm breaking away from the doctor. Sure, he bought me. Sure, a signed document sealed the deal. Sure, my freedom is gone in exchange for being here in a strange land. None of it matters, he tells himself. Now is the time. He makes his own personal declaration of independence in the shadow of the Pennsylvania State House on Walnut Street … [Read more...]
July 1
July 1, 2022 by
For him, it was a long day on a business trip. Hoping to find new clients, maybe yes, maybe no. Now, moon rising, he's lonely being away from his family. He's 36 years old, stuck for tonight in a small, isolated coastal town. In a guest room strange to him with a candle glowing next to the bed, he reaches for a paper-bound book in his travel bag. The book is a stage play, banned from public … [Read more...]
The 1920s As The 2020s: A Powerpoint Overview
April 29, 2022 by
Below is a 12-slide powerpoint overview of my Leadership Construct known as "20s-As-20s." It's a brief and high-level summary of how I believe the two decades of the 1920s and 2020s rhyme with each other—not repeat, but rhyme—in trends, events, and decision-points. I'm offering this to you free of charge. Below are supplemental remarks that provide slightly more context. If you'd like to explore … [Read more...]
The Run-Up Yardstick
March 22, 2022 by
THE RUN-UP YARDSTICK AMERICAN INSIGHTS FROM 1917, 1941, AND THE UKRAINIAN CRISIS OF 2022 This document supplements my Facebook Live show that I broadcast during the week of March 14, 2022. I shared in the show those aspects of American entry into World War I (April 1917) and World War II (December 1941) that struck me as useful in 2022 as the Ukrainian crisis continues to unfold as a potential … [Read more...]
A State Of The Union In Three Forms
February 28, 2022 by
Depending on when you're reading this, POTUS 46 will either be delivering the speech on Tuesday, March 1 or has already done so. Regardless, I'd like to share briefly three examples to help you gauge and measure our current moment under broadly similar conditions. The examples fit around a set of criteria. 1) a major European war is happening; 2) Americans know it, with a meaningful percentage … [Read more...]
Hard In The Center And Soft On The Edges: The Washington Post And Year Three
February 7, 2022 by
February 7 of Year Three of the pandemics of 2022 and 1920. Hard in the center and soft everywhere else. That's my assessment of the Washington Post article from yesterday that's now circulating today across the nation. The article is about the importance of knowing the parallel dates of early February in 2022 and 1920. Yes, at the center of the point is a hard fact—the cursed illness is … [Read more...]
The Rhyme Of A Time: The Poem Of 23
February 2, 2022 by
It's the 23s all around. 23rd month for our pandemic of 2020-2022. 23rd month for your ancestors' pandemic of 1918-1920. Today I begin my early-morning scan of "the news." The very phrase is scary these days. I'm never quite sure if it's my version of the carnival barker, the town crier, or various chicken bones and frog toes arranged in a particular pattern. Whatever it is today, I plunge … [Read more...]
A People And Two Lifes
January 27, 2022 by
Regardless of where you are with the pandemic today, one point we can agree on is the difficulty it's presented to the American people. Think about your view of and attitude toward the pandemic, whatever your stance on the topic. You could agree that "difficult" describes it. Think also about people who disagree with you. Somewhere along the line you'll encounter the word "difficult" or you'll … [Read more...]
Day 504: January 25
January 25, 2022 by
1918 Influenza Pandemic Day 504 You read it right--504th day of the pandemic. But it's not ours in 2022 but theirs, or rather your family's at that point, in 1920, a half-thousand days into the influenza pandemic. Let's match your family's life then to you and your family's life now. Warnings: I want you to be sitting down when you read this. Also, put away any light, throwable objects that … [Read more...]
Sr And Jr
January 25, 2022 by
Sr. and Jr. The distinction between them can be as vast as the universe. That's not a bad thing, just a real thing. I thought I'd share a short but true story with you about the gap. To start, full disclosure: I'm not a Kennedy guy. Still, I can appreciate without being a supporter. Moreover, I know something about speeches, leadership, communication, crisis, and the millions of stories on … [Read more...]
Fifteen People
January 20, 2022 by
What number of people can destroy a world? One answer is 15. It is today, January 20, in 1942, that 15 men gather around a large table and in two hours agree on a plan to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child they can find, wielding all the powers a nation-state can give them. The journal of one of the participants survives, allowing us to know this. The 15 were various German … [Read more...]
This Month In 1968–Not Yet The City Of Peace
January 17, 2022 by
Today, in 2022, we honor Martin Luther King Jr. Today in 1968 he is still alive and unaware of the future to come. Also today in 1968 the city that will be the scene of shocking silence on the night of his death is equally unaware of the future to come. I've written a short book about six leaders who lived their lives on the night that King lost his. These six people share three things--they are … [Read more...]
Twice Rhymed: November 2–2021 and 1919
November 2, 2021 by
The past makes sounds in history. These sounds rhyme. Yes. These sounds repeat. No, no, and no. Today, across the 102 years spanning 2021 and 1919, we'll hear two rhymes of pandemic. I want you to remember the pair of rhymes as you move from this year now (the present) to this year next (the future). Please follow below for just a few minutes as I guide you through image and text. ...the … [Read more...]
The Stage of Indiana University Football Grief
September 6, 2021 by
With apologies to Dr. Kubler-Ross... This past Saturday I sat down with three buddies to watch the opening game of the Indiana University football season. I left with my own version of the stages of grief. Let's call it the IU Football Fan's Stages of Grief. Stage One is leading up to kickoff. It's aspirational, hopeful, the world is a wonderful place. Talk of top rankings and new bowl-game … [Read more...]
A Short Talk On A Sunday Afternoon
September 1, 2021 by
This is a FREE leadership exercise. I invite you to use it. And when you're done, I invite you to reach out to me for a FREE second step (more about that below). Our topic is leadership and communication, though as you'll see, it's really a lot more than that. You'll move through Brigadier General Dwight Eisenhower's experience of his first significant meeting with Army Chief of Staff General … [Read more...]
Of Late August
August 30, 2021 by
Of late August then They were scared. By the millions, they were scared. As August ended, Americans looked out their windows at the dying grass and hot winds. The chance that the pandemic would return again in the fall scared millions of them to death. Over a period of eighteen months, three waves of pandemic had ripped its way through American life. Influenza. With the final weeks of … [Read more...]
One Year Later: Leaving The Pandemic
July 16, 2021 by
A Historical Solutions Leadership Talkshop for summer 2021...register now... Leaving The Pandemic: Your Leadership And The Lessons One Year After World War II, World War I, And The Civil War. It's 1946, 1919, and 1866 and Americans have put hard times in the rear-view mirror. They've said goodbye to the problems and difficulties of a major struggle—World War II, World War I, and the Civil … [Read more...]
Eleven Years–Then And Now
July 13, 2021 by
Think about Americans, American civic life, and moving visual images. The first use of motion pictures in American presidential elections was in March 1901 with the inauguration of William McKinley. Filmed by the inventor of film--Thomas Edison. Again, 1901. The first use of motion pictures in American presidential campaigns was in fall 1912 with the campaign of Woodrow Wilson. Filmed by a … [Read more...]
Not So Different
July 10, 2021 by
“All right, we are two nations.” Sad. Tough to bear. Not a lot of hope for things to get better. The American people spit and scowl at each other as splits, divisions, and internal hostilities set citizen against citizen, group against group. The quote above comes from the mind and heart of an American intellectual. Essayist, novelist, occasional journalist. The quote-maker knows the … [Read more...]
The Declaration of Independence: Five Thoughts For Your Leadership
July 2, 2021 by
I offer these five thoughts for leadership, drawn from the Declaration of Independence. #1 The Declaration was the work of a committee. A group of five delegates got the call to form a committee to write a draft of the Declaration for review, editing, and completion. In addition, the Continental Congress constituted itself as a committee-of-the-whole. In this fashion each of the fifty or so … [Read more...]
Yesterday and Today–for the rest of the year
April 20, 2021 by
"Tell us what you think about the rest of the year." That was the request made of me for this morning. Yesterday, to prepare, I wrote down four points for 2021. I'd like to share them with you now and also thank the Hendricks County (IN) Republican Party for their graciousness in hosting me. With your sights set on April-December 2021, here you go. Point #1: The The Roaring Twenties today … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth–Point Three of Eight
March 15, 2021 by
I missed writing the entry yesterday, Sunday. Actually, I wrote part of today's entry sitting in my car and finished the rest on the following morning in a coffee shop. To refresh, I talked briefly about the past year of pandemic during my most recent show of "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live). Eight points or thoughts seemed significant to me. We're almost half-way through more … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth–Point Two of Eight
March 13, 2021 by
Yesterday I began an eight-part series on my main thoughts looking back on a year of pandemic. To remind, the previous twelve months were my primary theme in my most recent edition of my weekly show "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live). I won't repeat the list of six items that made March 11, 2020 such a historic day. You'll find them on this blog, the prior entry. Let's get … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth – Point One Of Eight
March 12, 2021 by
Last night, in the early Thursday evening of March 11, 2021, I devoted my weekly show "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live) to a recounting of major events a year ago on the same day. On that one day the World Health Organization defined coronavirus as a pandemic; POTUS 45 closed travel from Europe; the NBA suspended its season; Tom and Rita Hanks disclosed from Australia that … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: December 3
December 3, 2020 by
The ship awaits, 1918 Now And Today, December 3, 2020 The risings. That's what we've got. Going up across the board. The spread of the virus—rising. The extent of anger over actions taken and not taken—rising. The level of frustration with those who don't agree with you—rising. The chances of vaccines—rising. The probability that Christmas and the holidays look nothing like previous … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: November 25
November 25, 2020 by
Wilson Tout, later in life, birding Now And Today, November 25, 2020 Three clumps of life today. One is the numbers counted. One is the people known. One is the stuff in between. Life shakes out into three clumps on the day before Thanksgiving. The numbers counted are everywhere. Of cases. Of tests. Of the hospitalized. Of the dead. Of hospitals under stress. And also of potential … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: November 19
November 19, 2020 by
Gettysburg 1918 Now And Today, November 19, 2020 The mud sticks to your shoes. Hard to walk in the gray shadows between sun and night, night and sun. Can't remember which they are. You try to scrape the mud off by rubbing one shoe against the other. A few steps and stop. A few steps and stop. The third time you realize something. The ground you're walking on is getting softer and wetter and … [Read more...]
If History Rhymes: The Poem of Kamala Coolidge
November 12, 2020 by
The 2020s and the 1920s are already rhyming. They already display patterns and movements that have this weird sync with one another. Not exact. Not mirrored. But zigging and zigging, zagging and zagging, the stuff of times and rhymes, these are all around us. The waves of pandemic are only the start, powerful yes, but merely the first of many. I've written about the rhyming of two candidates … [Read more...]
My Response And A Cup Of Coffee
November 12, 2020 by
An alumnus of mine just sent me the screen shot of something dressed as analysis. It's from a media outlet in my home state of Indiana. As a consulting leadership historian and, more importantly, someone who has real regard for the person who sent me the image, I offer a response. As you'll see, the five points that disqualify the analogy of the influenza pandemic's “second wave” are as … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: November 11
November 11, 2020 by
Now And Today, November 11, 2020 The election is the end of it. The long struggle winds down in the presidential campaign and other campaigns of the political season. Results in or coming in, tallies and totals, winners and losers, winning sides and losing sides. Despite a ragged gathering, conducting, and counting of votes, the end is here. The end is far from here with the pandemic. We're … [Read more...]
TTP: ElectionDay-To-InaugurationDay–Paddles & Yardstick
November 2, 2020 by
ElectionDay-To-InaugurationDay: Your Leadership & 5 Crisis Periods From American History Five times in American life a crisis has blazed away in the period from Election Day to Inauguration Day. Fives times Americans have faced turmoil, confusion, uncertainty, and potential chaos in this stretch of days and weeks covering the end of one year's presidential election and the next year's … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 31
October 31, 2020 by
The Susquehanna in autumn Now And Today, October 31, 2020 Back and forth we've gone. Whether or not to have Halloween. Cities, counties, townships, towns, the burbs, the countryside. Doesn't matter, they're all up for grabs and on the bubble on observing Halloween. Yes in some places. No in others. And in between the sincere attempts to offer, in a word popular these days, a hybrid. A … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 26
October 26, 2020 by
POTUS Now And Today, October 26, 2020 You want to know something that is nearly impossible? Separating politics and the pandemic on this day. The truth is that we'll get a cure, a vaccine, a 3-D digitized image of the virus and every treatment known to humankind, a winning lottery ticket with free steak knives thrown in before we'll ever figure out how to pull apart the election … [Read more...]
Clouds And Seeds–The Difference
October 22, 2020 by
A cloud and a seed don't sound like the same thing. I wonder if we sometimes act like they're the same thing, assume they're the same thing, pass them by as if they're the same thing. I offer a gentle reminder to you that they are not the same thing. Especially now as we live out the rhyming of our 2020 pandemic with the 1918-1920 pandemic. I had a wonderful private meeting with a client of … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 20
October 20, 2020 by
Now And Today, October 20, 2020 Promised Land. Promised Time. Outside the gate the fog is gone and the fields are clear. Time for you to run through. Away from rules and strictures, from fences. The air freshens, the light brightens, and the sounds ring just a little bit truer. How great it is. You've gone somewhere or you are somewhere and the pandemic didn't follow in full. Vacation, a … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 5
October 5, 2020 by
Speed Now And Today, October 5, 2020 The speed is incomprehensible. From nowhere, the virus appears in one, then five, then twenty. In a small space, person to person, contact to contact, the virus spreads in a matter of minutes and shows signs in a matter of hours. One day you see someone you know, the next day you see them behind glass, mask on, isolated and removed. Then they start, the … [Read more...]
TTP: The Pandemic Presidents
October 5, 2020 by
POTUS 45 and POTUS 28 They are the Pandemic Presidents, Donald J. Trump and T. Woodrow Wilson. We'll get to that in a minute. First, I'd like you to go back and breathe in the early winter air of late 2016. That's when I got the first whiff, invisible yet detectable. Time tracks forward, in a line from one minute to the next, one day to the next, and on we go. In reality, though, time flows … [Read more...]
A Year Ahead
October 2, 2020 by
The fog of the future A pandemic afflicted Americans in 1918. The worst of it was in the fall, especially October. By year's end, the worst was behind them. They looked forward to a new year, the next year, the future in its first frame. We do the same thing in 2020. Ready and eager to leave this year behind us, we anticipate 2021. In a recent speech delivered online, POTUS 45 Donald J. … [Read more...]
TTP: Your Waters Of The Day
October 1, 2020 by
Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson Nearly all of POTUS 45's term is past. It is in the past, as in before now. We don't know if the adjective “first” or “one” will precede the word "term." That's not the choice I am asking you to make today. Settle down. Easy does it. I have something else in mind. Clearly, among the fundamental leadership points raised in the experience of POTUS 45 is … [Read more...]
Wave Two: From 2020 To 1918: Tending Haystacks
September 29, 2020 by
With thanks to Claude Monet The date of September 28, 1918 has been rolling around in my mind for the past several hours. I think a follow-up to yesterday's entry is in order (that entry is here https://historicalsolutions.com/1918-pandemic/wave-two-from-2020-to-1918-september-28/). That this follow-up is so untypical in my Wave Two series ought to give a you a glimpse into my thinking about … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 to 1918: September 28
September 28, 2020 by
Convergence in the dark Now And Today, September 28, 2020 The last thing you want to do will not stand much of a chance when it's placed alongside the first thing you want to do. The last thing may take control for a while but, over time, the first thing will be back on top. First things are first things for a reason. The dominant sight in your everyday life will not allow itself to be … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 24
September 24, 2020 by
Rules and rules-doers Now And Today, September 24, 2020 The rules last until they don't. The rules apply until they can't. The rules matter until life overrides or circumvents them. The next stage after that is a mess with nothing to hold it together—it's just simply next as a state of time. Not all spaces are created equal. The space to be together and learn is not equal to any random … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 22
September 22, 2020 by
From July 1918, a few weeks before Dr. Welch arrives, and departs Now And Today, September 22, 2020 The pandemic has pervaded and invaded at the same time. It's in bodies, in places, in customs and habits. It's changed so much of what we typically know to do and how to be. Strangely, the same could be said of the upcoming election. By themselves the pandemic and election are hard enough to … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 21
September 21, 2020 by
Now And Today, September 21, 2020 A thread woven into threads. A fiber woven into fibers. A strand woven into strands. So many strands and fibers and threads that you can't tell one from another or this thousand from that thousand. They're a tangled mess. Your time and energy are nearly impossible to allocate into a tangled mess. You know you're expected to do something, yet you have no way … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 18
September 18, 2020 by
The doctor with a pen Now And Today, September 18, 2020 The following conversation is occurring all across the United States. Employer to employee. Friend to friend. Family to family. Person to person. Door knock. Or cell ring. Or message ping. Or Zoom call. Can we talk? Sure. My (child, other) is having real problems with (school, college, whatever). Can't concentrate. Isn't … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 17
September 17, 2020 by
Near the site of The New Era, Lancaster PA Now And Today, September 17, 2020 It just goes and goes and goes. Our pandemic. Where's the edge? I can't see it. Where's the end? I don't know. Where's the clarity? Good luck finding it. So you continue, the slog continues. You do your day the best you can. More masking, spacing, and limited face-to-facing. If you have anyone in any form of … [Read more...]
If History Rhymes: The Poem Of Warren Biden
September 10, 2020 by
Don't freak out. Just give me a minute or two. How it happened no one really knows. Somewhere along the line Mark Twain scooped up the credit as writer and speaker of one of the best quotes ever uttered about the past and history. History may not repeat—Twain is supposed to have said—but it sure does rhyme. Great stuff. And so very true when you think about the passage of time on a scale … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 8
September 8, 2020 by
W.E.B. Du Bois Now and Today, September 8, 2020 The numbers of coronavirus are sobering but not awful. They're far more than we'd ever want but slowly going downward, the absolute right direction. Those of us with anyone of a school age—from pre-school to graduate school—can describe the disruptions to daily life and near-term future of a pandemic in Wave Two. That's a feeling and a fact of … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 7
September 7, 2020 by
Camp Devens Now and Today, September 7, 2020. It's our holiday, Labor Day. In a normal year we take time off from work and school, at least most of us. We say goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall. It feels like the trip to the lake or the beach is the last of the season, even when it's not. And in the usual cycle of every fourth year, the political among us know that the presidential campaign … [Read more...]
TTP Working Paper: 60 Days Out
September 3, 2020 by
60 days from now, on November 3, the American presidency will be decided. Or at least that's when most Americans who vote go to the polls, do whatever ritual of choice and choosing in their heads, and cast their ballot. As of this writing, 60 days from now the time of decision begins. Seems like a good time to bring back the yardstick! Yes, I'm referring to the research and analysis I've done … [Read more...]
A Special Session For You: The Tough Month Of October 2020
September 2, 2020 by
ANNOUNCEMENT: on Thursday, September 17, 2020 I will be conducting a 2-hour social-distance session on my recent post, “The Tough October Of 2020.” The focus is on providing you, as a leader, with takeaways on how to help yourself and your followers deal with a month that I believe will be the worst of the year. The time is 3pm-5pm, location is The Haverstick, 9191 Haverstick Road, Indianapolis IN … [Read more...]
The Tough October Of 2020
August 31, 2020 by
October 2020 will be a bad month. It may be the toughest yet of our pandemic. I say that not because of numbers of cases or counts of the dead. I say that because of our social body, our body politic, and our civic condition. October will be traumatic. Permit me to lay out my reasoning. My approach is different, unconventional. It's not everyone's first way of looking at things. I understand … [Read more...]
Working Paper: Already In Your Home–Wave Two And K-16 Schools
August 25, 2020 by
For millions of Americans, Wave Two of the coronavirus pandemic is already here. It's in their homes. I'm referring to education, kindergarten through college-age, and the reality of students Zooming to their craft tables, classrooms, and lecture halls. Wave Two is already here for them and the adults who are part of their lives. Millions and millions of them. Wave Two is now and Zoom is the … [Read more...]
Side-By-Side: Putting The Past Of Wave Two To Work
August 24, 2020 by
If you haven't read my post on Wave Two, 2020 and 1918, you'll find it here: https://historicalsolutions.com/1918-pandemic/wave-two-in-2020-a-thought-from-1918/?fbclid=IwAR0kTC3pG_X45WS-T9PS7sXpOZUBJpw0LRrOm7QsK_8mTkLLqk-f1tvJ9NA. I'm emphasizing it because of a point I made near the end of the 4-minute essay. My statement was that Wave Two 2020 will appear in a variety of ways. It was true in … [Read more...]
Wave Two In 2020: A Thought From 1918
August 21, 2020 by
We're waiting in 2020 to see if coronavirus has more than one wave. Most major viruses and pandemics in the past have more than one wave, so it's reasonable to expect the same will be true again, will be true for us. But how will Wave Two differ from Wave One? This is where a creative look at the pandemic of 1918-1920 offers part of an answer. I'd like to walk you through my concept of … [Read more...]
2 Minutes With Lincoln
August 7, 2020 by
I just had a real moment. It was the experience of an oldest thing in an old thing where I try to do a new thing over and over. Translation: I'm constantly working on improving my communication in writing and speaking. I do that with a conscious awareness of Abraham Lincoln's lifelong experience of self-learning communication. And one of Lincoln's fundamental sources of self-learning was a … [Read more...]
The Hard Truth Of My Own Change–New Sheriff In Town Revised
August 5, 2020 by
The Headmaster then... Yes, this was my version of me as the Headmaster of the newly formed Miller In-Home 5th Grade School. That was April 2020 when Covid-19 was new and unknown and we all bonded together in the yes-we-can spirit! Now as then, apologies to Kurt Russell. Fast forward to the Revised version and the updated Hard Truth. It's August 2020 and Miller In-Home 6th Grade School is up … [Read more...]
The Glass Between Words
August 3, 2020 by
Two statements. Heard across time. Staring across time. A glass in between. "..repeatedly try to undermine & create public distrust in Dr. Birx." That's the statement from Alyssa Farah, the Director of Strategic Communications for POTUS 45. She's responding to remarks made by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi criticizing Dr. Deborah Birx, a key member of POTUS 45's … [Read more...]
Time In A Bucket And Time In A Bottle
July 30, 2020 by
The amount of time we have for our big project, our big switch, our big change. We thought it was a bunch of time between now and then. Enough to fill the big green bucket. A large amount of time. Oodles. Turns out we were wrong. Life got a vote, life made the choice for us, and life said it's not a big bucket but a tiny bottle instead. We have no where near the time we assumed for planning, … [Read more...]
A Lot Into A Little: Your Likely Experience In The First Wave
July 27, 2020 by
2 years into 2 months. 12 months into 2 weeks. The fear of being "too unknown to try" becomes the challenge of "too much of a crisis not to try." These are the realities of millions of leaders and followers dealing with change thus far in the pandemic of 2020. For a long time—months or quarters or years—they had argued and debated over changes that were important and controversial. Stalemate, … [Read more...]
Change Brought A Clash
July 21, 2020 by
2020 has brought you confusion and dissension from the pandemic, the social unrest, and the ongoing political whirlwinds. The year has also brought to the forefront some of the features of change you might not have expected as we stand here in mid-summer. I wonder if any of these four features—four subtle clashes, if you will—are familiar to you in this moment. First. People want to get back … [Read more...]
Why Bother With 1918?
July 21, 2020 by
In 1918, influenza was a pandemic killing millions world-wide. 600,000 Americans died. It was 102 years ago. So what? With a pandemic of our own in 2020, why bother with 1918? Because, freakishly, a startling number of things that are striking us in 2020 happened also in 1918. For that reason it pays to know about 1918's pandemic and how Americans dealt with crisis, tragedy, and … [Read more...]
The Lost Holidays Of 1918 And 2020
July 7, 2020 by
Erased, wiped out, altered to a great extent. Our tradition and celebration of two holidays have been deeply affected by the pandemic. It's a shame. These words describe the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. Let's take a closer look at the two pairs of days that usually help track our year. The holidays 1918: Halloween and Thanksgiving 2020: Memorial Day … [Read more...]
Today In 1918: Working Paper, Month Three Of The Influenza Pandemic
July 1, 2020 by
THE THIRD MONTH – TODAY IN 1918 Week 9 (Days 59-67, Nov 5-13, 1918) In Philadelphia, celebrating war's end As of the first week in November, influenza barely, ever so barely, inches below its awful highest point of death and destruction in October. Then, it—or rather, they—happened. The happenings were public events, the occasion when people pushed beyond the rules and regulations made to … [Read more...]
TTP: A 9 POTUS Checklist for the 2020 Election: Part III, Just The Numbers
June 22, 2020 by
The past illuminates the relationship between today and the future. Our present is on a course, maybe a crash-course it sometimes feels, with a specific date in the future. I'm referring to Tuesday, November 3, the date of the 2020 presidential election. I've researched the past of the American presidency using a three-part criteria. Here it is: 1) presidents have won election to a first-term; … [Read more...]
When Our City Started A New Era: The Unforgettable Summer Night Of Benjamin Harrison
June 17, 2020 by
It's June 25, 1888. Benjamin Harrison is in his adopted hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. He learns that, shockingly, his political party has nominated him to be their candidate for the Presidency. He'll be the Republican nominee for the White House. But a bigger thing is at work, a larger meaning is in play. The reaction of the people--Democrat and Republican, white and black, old and young, men … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 90
June 9, 2020 by
By early December 1918, more than 360,000 Americans have died since early September. That's more than 100,000 every month, every thirty days, as of December 4, 1918, the 90th day since influenza broke out of Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Thankfully, as of now on the 90th day, though the sickness has not completely stopped, it has certainly declined. The lowering scale of death is … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 85
June 4, 2020 by
Hero When does a hero know? The thing they've done that made them a hero, well, maybe they know that. Especially after the fact. But when does a hero know that he or she is in trouble and life has taken a turn in a bad direction? Do they know that today is different, that today I have to pay attention to myself and not to others, that today, maybe, the future comes calling. A door is … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 83
June 2, 2020 by
An American woman, Thanksgiving Eve Get yourself behind me, influenza. Americans are united in wanting the rest of their lives. We have things to do, issues and decisions and actions that are vital in the here and now. Some we've known about, others are a surprise or a shock, regardless, we want to do them. Do them now and not do influenza anymore. We know how bad it's been, but it's time to … [Read more...]
You Might Need Reminding
May 29, 2020 by
The weeks have more in them--the days have more in them--than we can keep up with. Sometimes the rush of events and actions overwhelm us. So, I thought you might need reminding, a gentle reminding, of a post I wrote back in early 2019. Well over a year later and the list I compiled needs to be remembered now more than ever. Of particular interest are the 4th and 6th bullet points. Without further … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 77
May 27, 2020 by
San Francisco family, before and after the siren A siren has a sound all its own. It fills, pierces, and overwhelms all at once. The sound enters your ears and holds in place beside your brain. Open your mouth and it will enter there, too. Your nose is next. Hear it? A siren cannot be escaped until the sound starts its steady winding-down. Less. Fading. Stopped. Silent. Now … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 76
May 26, 2020 by
Brevig Village, Alaska, modern view of the grave site November 20, 1918. The 76th day of the worst wave of influenza. "Damn this ground is hard." The men with pick-axes, shovels, and explosives must have said it a lot. A dozen times. That's the reaction when you're trying to dig into the frozen earth. Six feet down into ice and dirt. Maybe a hundred times is more like. A slice of ground … [Read more...]
The Graduation Of A Lifetime
May 26, 2020 by
My Saturday last is a lesson for all of us. The small moments of May 23rd have a larger meaning in the midst of Covid-19. I've got a feeling about the truth of this. I invite you to stay with me for a few minutes. I began the day with some dread, to be honest. High school graduation. My fear was that the Covid-revised ceremony would encapsulate our overall feeling of a sad end to our oldest … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 70
May 21, 2020 by
St. Paul, Minnesota, 1918 Making a hash of things. An old phrase, it means you take something and cut it into smaller bits. A thing once together is now jumbled and unorganized. Influenza has made all of life an unending hash. The question is left—how do you unhash a hash? November 15, 1918, Day 70 after influenza broke loose from Fort Devens in Massachusetts. It's a make-it-hash … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 68
May 19, 2020 by
Downtown Tucson They all seem plausible. They all seem understandable. But they all seem straining toward different directions. A shared point, a common bond, is absent and without it, it's hard to know where to go except farther down a single lane of reality, of life. The junction is empty and open and not yet joined. Five paths pull against the center. Day 68, November 14, 1918. One. … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 67
May 18, 2020 by
The Mississippi River, Grand Rapids, Minnesota In the far north, along a ribbon called the Mississippi River, eagles perch on the branches of the gray pine trees. At their choosing, they'll launch and fly downward at a long angle, eyes fixed and legs tucked. Gliding and gaining speed, they cruise at top speed parallel to the water. At coordinates measured in quarter-inches, they slowly drop a … [Read more...]
The Bottom Of The River
May 13, 2020 by
The River, bottom and top This morning, over coffee, a sort of sun beam broke through the clouds. My wife had just read the Day 59 installment of my "Today In 1918" series. We talked about the story. In listening to her, I had a bit of an epiphany, as I mentioned, a sort of sun beam. The clouds, which if you've been around me you already know, symbolize my usual state of mind. The … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 61
May 12, 2020 by
So who do you believe? The media or a group of students? A fair question but when you dig a little, you find it's not completely fair, you find a deeper understanding. Day 61, November 7, 1918. Here is what happens. Newspaper around the US publish in blazing, black, and thick-block print the following headline on the front page: THE WAR IS OVER! Uh. Nope. Turns out it was a false … [Read more...]
Working Paper: The Second Month, Weeks 5-8, Today In 1918
May 12, 2020 by
lung samples, 1918 Week 5 (Days 29-36, Oct 6-13, 1918) From bad to worse. There is always a worse, and there is always a worst. The worse you feel in real time, in the present, and the worst is best known in hindsight, looking back. No matter, the worse and worst is the stage with the most extreme point of trouble, problems, and difficulties. The bad comes with the worse. For 1918's … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 59
May 10, 2020 by
Later in life, little Charlie Long A river has a surface. That is its highest level. A river also has a bottom. The surface water runs along it, above it, over it. The water at the top and the water at the bottom are almost two different worlds. One man rides the river's surface. In the darkness below two families struggle along the river's bottom. This is a Day 59 like no other. The 59th … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 57
May 8, 2020 by
Dr. Roy Flannagan, shown right An eight-year old girl with dark, round eyes thought she heard some good news. Finally. Her parents seem excited. They are very political, active and full of opinions. That's OK in peacetime but here...sometimes politics can kill you. The young girl stares at her parents and brother and sister. She's searching for any sign that today's news will, in fact, prove … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 56
May 7, 2020 by
A tough place for a decision Perched on the fence with a strong wind blowing. That's what Day 56 feels like, the second day of November 1918. The fence is the issue of re-opening or not, the perch is the indecision over which to do, to stay closed or to end closures, and the wind is the trend of most American communities to stop quarantines, stop the bans on all sorts of public … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 55
May 6, 2020 by
Eagle River, Colorado Next time you're by a river, take a minute to stand and watch. Watch closely. The current has currents. Water is on top of water with different depths, bottoms, and barriers. The grade, the banks, the wind, each affects the shape and leaves a mark. There's a lot going on in every river. So, take a minute. Stand. Watch. Closely. There's a lot going on in the River of … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 54
May 5, 2020 by
Costumes, 1918 Violet Harris, 15 years old, copes with influenza in her home town of Seattle, Washington, as best she can. While the illness has devastated much of the city, so far no one in her family has died. The Harris family has tried to do their part, to follow the rules, the orders, the laws that seem to pop up day by day to fight the sickness. For Violet, a few of the changes are even … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 53
May 4, 2020 by
The French Lick Hotel, 1918 Blurred, mixed, and ragged. Most of the time you're dealing with lesser evils and shifting boundaries. Sound familiar? Then you're right at home with influenza on Day 53, October 30, 1918. There are places where things are getting worse. The leading newspaper in Idaho informs readers that "stricter rules may be needed to curb influenza." Nearby, the health … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 50
May 1, 2020 by
A World War event, Grant Park, Chicago No river runs straight all of the time. The question is the bend—how big, how sharp, how different once the turn is made. You only know by going round. On top of Carter's Mountain in North Carolina, you hear the sound of a hammer hitting a nail. A man makes a coffin. A stack of lumber is nearby, ready material for the second one to be made. Wha-ping. … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 49
April 30, 2020 by
Sharp Street Church, near the burial site Influenza, the heartbreak of today. One day before his first wedding anniversary, 20-year old Henry Kulp is buried in Souderton, Pennsylvania. The president of the University of North Carolina, Edward Kidder Graham, dies. It was his dream job as a 1894 grad of the school and its first journalism professor. Two Catholic priests die in Baltimore, … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 48
April 29, 2020 by
You get stuck. The things you see around you; the tilt and trend down to now and your memory of the past weeks; the things you're looking to see in the day, days, and week after today; those fixed events already set or expected several weeks or a few months ahead. You're somewhere between all of these states of time, states of being, and states of mind. With so much floating and swirling, you feel … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 47
April 28, 2020 by
In Ohio, a temporary hospital. The trends are bad, no matter what they tell you, but that's not the whole story. More to tell, more to know. Day 47, October 24, 1918. Today, people are jumping in, taking action, making a difference in the circles around them. Water on the rock—though pressures from influenza do wear us down, at the same time they reveal beauty, worth, and essence. As tidal … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 46
April 27, 2020 by
Camp Custer, October 1918 The future is like the sun. Stare at it and your eyes go bad. Now well into the sixth week, Day 46, and Americans are looking forward, sizing up the shapes and objects ahead. They hope to see an edge sharpen to an end and a line drawn for a beginning. But it's hard to really see much. The only thing visible is a blinding light. And looking longer doesn't help. In … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 45
April 26, 2020 by
A truckload of coffins for influenza fatalities Through the gray cloud of influenza a flash of light is seen on October 22, 1918, Day 45 of the pandemic. Dr. Edward Rosenow is 43 years old and has for some time been regarded as brilliant in his field of medical research, a producer of "monumental work" as one person put it. A few weeks before influenza's outbreak at Fort Devens, … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 44
April 25, 2020 by
Sanitation workers, Chicago Climb the ladder, from bottom to top. Influenza waits at every rung. From one family. A Polish family lives in Winona, Minnesota. A doctor visits their home and is shocked at the sight—both parents and all ten of their children suffer from influenza today. The doctor looks around the house and sees next to nothing of anything. Little food, few household goods, … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 43
April 24, 2020 by
Joseph Fuccy belonged to this team All sorts of horse races were up in the air on the forty-third day since hell bolted free at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. There was the natural kind. The horses expected to run at Pimlico Race Track near Baltimore, Maryland were still in their stalls. Race officials in Maryland and at Pimlico were going back-and-forth about holding races. For now, they had … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 42
April 23, 2020 by
Dr. White's workplace When can it become just too much? One of the too-much times can be when a bad thing you didn't expect joins the bad thing you're already coping with. And the more sudden, the more jolting the second bad thing is...well, it can be very hard to absorb. That's the start of Day 42 in the home called Place. He is Homer. She is Bertha. They're the Places, Mr and Mrs … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 41
April 22, 2020 by
Navy Building, Washington DC In their locations, they were a half-mile apart at most. In their hierarchies of work, they were a universe apart at least. Nonetheless, on the 41st day since influenza began to rip apart Fort Devens, Massachusetts, they were joined in a life of pandemic whether they knew it or not. October 18, 1918. The Native American typist named Lutiant Van Wert or Luciant … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 40
April 21, 2020 by
Through The Looking Glass A hand held a pen. Ink on the tip. A few dashing strokes crossed out a word here, inserted a word there. The writer stared at the sheet, then stopped for the day. Almost ready as a book, almost finished as a story, almost born as a warning that, sadly, will never need to die. "I'll believe in you, if you'll believe in me. Is that a bargain?" In 1871 so said the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 39
April 20, 2020 by
Mail carrier In New York City, on the 39th day since the outbreak at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, begins October 16, 1918. A mail carrier walks down the street with a mask on his face. An office worker sits at her desk, typing a letter and wearing a mask on her face. Across the city, if the reports are accurate, more than 400 people die today of influenza or a related illness. And the hard … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 38
April 19, 2020 by
On Day 38, October 15, 1918, the heat turns up. Inside the pot, steam rises, water boils, and something turns over and over. At the town of Verdun on the banks of the Meuse River, a group of boys-boiled-men follows Captain Harry Truman back into combat. They've been away from the fighting Germans for a bit. Their enemy for some days was the sickness, influenza, that is killing as many as the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 36
April 17, 2020 by
Fatalaties per 100,000 due to influenza, Minneapolis and St. Paul, to October 13, 1918 Far north. Far south. A young couple in love and a couple of perspectives on the day. Let's take them in turn and a few others in between. Day 36, October 13, 1918. Minneapolis and St. Paul are side-by-side in Minnesota. Together, today, the two cities reel from the misery of influenza. It's the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 35
April 16, 2020 by
Young influenza patients in an Oklahoma City Hospital, 1918 Is it normal? Hell no. Is it abnormal? Way beyond that. Well, then, what is it? I don't really know other than to say it's massive. Truer words were never spoken, written, thought, or felt. Day 35, October 12, 1918. You can't really know. That's the reality in Philadelphia when 837 people die today. Or when the city of … [Read more...]
Working Paper: Today In 1918, First Month
April 15, 2020 by
Influenza Epidemic 1918 - Policemen in Seattle, Washington, wearing masks made by the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross, during the influenza epidemic. (National Archives) This is your summary of the first 28 days of my Today In 1918 series. I offer it as a higher-level look with closing thoughts on ramifications for you. Estimated reading time: 20-40 minutes. Contact me if you wish to discuss … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 33
April 14, 2020 by
"Entire Country In Grip Of Flu and Pneumonia." That's the headline in a newspaper in an American city on Day 33. Dead accurate, you might say. Everywhere you look things are upside down on October 10, 1918. Illness, suffering, decline, recovery, death, and sometimes none of these. Fears, doubts. And you're not supposed to meet in groups, not supposed to shop, not supposed to spit, not supposed … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 32
April 13, 2020 by
Madam CJ Walker 32 days. It's generally thought that it takes 32 days to form a habit. From pronouncement to reality, 32 days have to tick by before you can say a New Year's Resolution is now part of your daily living. It took something else 32 days to make a change. 32 days since influenza slipped into Fort Devens, Massachusetts and the daily life of the American nation is numbingly … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 31
April 12, 2020 by
High above the prairie, storm clouds fly in the night. Blown by air unusually warm for the second week of October, dark forms race through the sky. Rain is in the black air. It is a witching hour, well before the tilt and turn of the earth brings another dawn. On the prairie is a camp. Hundreds of buildings are silent and dark. Barns, barracks, quarters, and storehouses, not a person stirs … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 29
April 10, 2020 by
Hoarding, 1918-style Crisis comes and goes at different times for different people. You have a sense that often tells you when it has arrived or departed. You can know it. The arrival of crisis is known today in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's Day 29, October 6, 1918, and the city shuts down. Just about everything closes until someone in a position of authority decides otherwise. People across … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 28
April 9, 2020 by
Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson, 1918 Change is a constant but not all constants change overnight. Only some surge, or plunge, to that level. Today, on Day 28, overnight is now and lasts for a full twenty-four hours on October 5, 1918. Overnight, a ban on all indoor public gatherings begins in Seattle, Washington. Mayor Ole Hanson declares that the only public gatherings allowed will be those … [Read more...]
The Shadow Of Late Winter
April 9, 2020 by
On January 24 I wrote my first post to a closed group of Alumni about Covid-19 and its likely importance for your personal leadership. On March 5 I found lessons from 1918 and shared them in the post below (which I've reproduced here). It was for my followers on LinkedIn. It seems to me that it hit and still hits the mark. So, I'll ask you now, standing a few days ahead of Easter and spring all … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 27
April 8, 2020 by
The crater of October 4 Life never stops, not in its variety or surprises or challenges. Today, Day 27, October 4, 1918, the earth shudders around the town of Morgan, New Jersey. Martial law is declared. People fear for their lives and safety. Survival is the question, and no one knows for certain. Life gets a vote. One of the largest non-nuclear explosions in American history rips … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 26
April 7, 2020 by
Telegraph machine, a better Twitter This guy has the perfect name for Day 26, that's for sure. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Royer sits in his office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The sign on his desk reads: "Pennsylvania State Health Commissioner." During a fast-flowing 26th Day of influenza, Dr. Royer directs his assistant to type a message. In a few minutes the message will be converted into a … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 25
April 6, 2020 by
An Ohio newspaper, October 2, 1918 October 2, 1918, the 25th day of influenza after its appearance at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. There is a feeling that the worst is here and that the worst is headed somewhere. Deaths and cases roll into new areas across the nation—in Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Georgia; Red Cloud, Nebraska; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Naval Training Station at the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 24
April 5, 2020 by
American flag, 1918 500 young men raise their hands and look up into the sky. Their focus is a flagpole standing in the center of the young men. Atop the pole is the 48-star American flag. An Army officer and a Union College official read aloud, in full speaking voice, the words from of a sheet of paper. At this ceremony in Schenectady, New York, the incoming class of Students' Army Training … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 23
April 5, 2020 by
Hospital at Fort Benjamin Harrison, outside Indianapolis, Indiana, 1918 A young nurse leans over a sick soldier, wipes his forehead, and gives him a drink of water. She smiles and speaks softly. He opens his eyes, the color of his face is pale but not blue. Not yet, thank heaven. She moves away and leans over the next soldier on a cot, and the next, and the next. Twenty-five in all. This is Day … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 22
April 3, 2020 by
The first influenza case arrives at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan on Day 22 Do you know that thing you're doing? That sacrifice and extra effort? Well, you better get yourself ready to do more. Today, Day 22, September 29, 1918, doing more than expected is how life goes. At Fort Devens, Massachusetts the medical facility was meant for 1200 patients. No longer—6000 sick men were there. … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 21
April 2, 2020 by
Take a quick breath to take stock. Three weeks ago. Day 1, influenza begins at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. It's back after an outbreak some three months before, in the spring, a seasonal thing. Now, on Day 21, Saturday, September 28, 1918... ...a helluva day. At 1am this morning Major Ernest Gibson and his military comrades were ordered into line and told to start marching from their … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 20
April 1, 2020 by
Looking north, across the Ohio River, from Newport, Kentucky, early 20th century He's "one of the most robust men in Newport, Kentucky," his hometown on the Ohio. That's the general view of Joseph Schulkin. Yesterday, he got influenza. Today, he's dead. The water flowing by when he became ill is now, at his death, a few miles closer to joining the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. The river rolls … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 19
March 31, 2020 by
Artillery fire, Meuse-Argonne Offensive At 5:30 in the morning, September 26, it begins. And this is what it's supposed to be all about. This is what we're focused on. The work, the effort, the strain, the sacrifice. Day 1 in that world, while it's Day 19 everywhere else. Boom. Orange fire and a dark object screams across the sky. Seconds later, almost four miles away, an … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 18
March 30, 2020 by
A Jackie Band near Winnekta, Illinois, 1918 News large and important. Printed in newspapers, transcribed on telegrams, written in letters. Read by thousands, read by dozens, read by one. Word is spreading about life in a world that is—like it or not, choose it or not, know it or not—abruptly new. Day 18, September 25, 1918. For the thousands... A leading newspaper in Charlotte, North … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 17
March 29, 2020 by
September 24, 1918 Camp Dix, New Jersey, the shadows of a sunny day Warm and sunny, one of those great fall days. You're in line. One by one, they line up. You're stepping forward, a few feet at a time. You normally train for war but today, you're doing something else. Into the wooden shed you go. They hand you a cup of warm, salted water. They bark at you: go outside, tilt your head back, … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 16
March 28, 2020 by
An American worker, 1918 A guy named Wiley Eastwood is a good stand-in for hundreds of thousands of Americans today, Day 16, September 23, 1918. A hard-worker, Eastwood goes to his job—earns his pay, like always—but in the late morning starts feeling weak, fevered, coughing. Lunchtime comes and goes and he's worse. Finally, he just can't keep going. It's time to talk with the boss. Eastwood … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 15
March 27, 2020 by
Dr. William Welch, 1918 You turn the corner and there it is. A sudden shock. The look and feel of an unknown that is total, that is capable of swallowing up everything you are and everything you're ready to do. Beyond your experience, your expectations. Beyond all there is in you. You turn the corner and there it is. On this fifteenth day, September 22, 1918, a young mother and her two young … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 14
March 26, 2020 by
Crouse-Irving Hospital in Syracuse, New York Two weeks on, September 21, 1918, and the remedies started flowing in. Some folks say don't let your feet get wet and watch out for signs of blocked bowels. Others assert that chewing food well and drinking lots of water is the answer. Eating onions, drinking sour milk, the list grows of what people hope will be the cure, the trick, that keeps them … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 13
March 25, 2020 by
Lt. Hugh Coughlin of Escanaba, Michigan It was a day of youth. 21-year old Hugh Coughlin is with his parents at their home in Escanaba, Michigan. His mother touches his forehead. He's hot with fever. His father hears him cough. A deep and rattling thickness. Mom and Dad together exchange a worried look at seeing their son. He suffers in pain. Of course, they're thrilled to have him home; the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 12
March 24, 2020 by
Dr. John Hurty The phone rings at an office in the state capital of Indiana. The ringing is heard at the wooden desk of Indiana's Secretary of the State Board of Health. Dr. John Hurty. Holding up the heavy black phone to his ear with one hand, Hurty hears US Surgeon General Rupert Blue on the other end of the line. Hurty listens for a few moments, asks a question or two, and then thanks Blue … [Read more...]
The Puzzle Of 1968
March 23, 2020 by
A lab technician in 1968 helping with response to influenza. I don't want to be misinterpreted here. But the more I write, the thinner the ice beneath me. A crack, I just heard a crack. Heck with it. I'm going forward, slowly. I'll have to depend on your judgment and willingness to offer me the benefit of the doubt. Yes, I fully support the current understanding of Covid-19 and … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 11
March 23, 2020 by
A Cincinnati barbershop, fall 1918 Just the "Grippe." Only the grippe. Don't freak out over the standard seasonal cough, fever, and aches that everyone calls "the grippe." Newspaper editors and writers are telling lots of readers today that the illness everyone's talking about is simply another outbreak of seasonal flu. They say it in Cincinnati today when one of the city's newspapers … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 10
March 22, 2020 by
From Boston, 1918 Among the vast reality of Day 10 come these two moments on the same day from nearly the same place in Massachusetts. In Cambridge, Massachusetts a telegraph operator tapped out a message. Seconds later, the transmission sped like a flash to South Dakota where another telegraph operator recorded the signals and wrote a note. Within an hour or so, Mrs. Arthur Neilson of Hot … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 9
March 21, 2020 by
John Dill Robertson He's known as "Dill Pickle" by some in his department, by some of his followers. He is Dr. John Dill Robertson, public health director for the city of Chicago, Illinois. On this day, Day 9 of the Influenza Pandemic (September 16, 1918), Dr. Robertson announces to the people of Chicago that influenza is now a reportable disease. Big deal? Honestly, yes, it is for the folks in … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 8
March 20, 2020 by
Blinding speed. Bewildering speed. You just can't even hope to understand the cosmic swiftness of this speed. Welcome to reality on the eighth day of influenza, September 15, 1918. Outbreaks are occurring across the world and throughout the US. Nearly all are related to war and war-making. Camp Lee in Virginia, Camp Dix in New Jersey, Camp Dodge in Iowa, and the port of Los Angeles where the … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 7
March 19, 2020 by
The past has a voice. https://youtu.be/7k20VFZeLKY Having received the list of influenza symptoms from the US Surgeon General, more newspaper editors approve the publishing of articles about the illness. The Philadephia Evening Bulletin reports: "Spanish Influenza Here" while smaller-town publications like the Daily Star in Marion, Ohio describe how illness has appeared in various East … [Read more...]
A New Sheriff In Town–the lunchroom edition
March 19, 2020 by
OK, not me. But as headmaster of the newly opened Miller In-Home Girls School (MIHGS) that has opened at our house since the onset of Covid-19, this photo captures my persona, title, and overall self-image, to say nothing of ego. Two students, daughters age 18 and 10. Want to see the new world they're living in? Let's go into the MIHGS lunchroom, formerly known as our kitchen and nonstop … [Read more...]
Learning From The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Day 6
March 18, 2020 by
On this sixth day a team of public health specialists works at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. They study conditions at Devens following the prior day's report of an influenza outbreak. But before they had arrived, a group of US soldiers had left Devens, bound for Fort Upton on Long Island, New York. Carrying the sickness unknowingly with them, the soldiers prepare at Long Island to leave for France … [Read more...]
Learning From the 1918 Pandemic: Day 5
March 17, 2020 by
1918 Influenza Pandemic Day 5 (first entry) The first case of influenza appears at Fort Devens in Massachusetts five days ago, regarded (for our purposes on this blog) as Day 1. Similar outbreaks are occurring across the Atlantic in Europe. The Fort Devens case is the first US case inland from naval facilities in Boston. A team of experts plans to travel to Devens to examine conditions. The … [Read more...]
1918: First Entry Tomorrow
March 16, 2020 by
Tomorrow, St. Patrick's Day, Tuesday, March 17, 2020 I will begin my new exploration of the 1918 pandemic and its application for Covid 19 in 2020. … [Read more...]
I Now Equal Six
March 16, 2020 by
I now equal six. A month or so ago it was five. I'm adding one to make six. This is the number of events that have affected me deeply over my lifetime. Like me, you have a number. For me, three of them are personal and individual. A tornado in the mid-1970s, a baptism in the mid-1990s, and a set of moments made by my wife and two daughters over the past couple of decades. … [Read more...]
One Young Woman–Covid 19, 1918, And Your Leadership
March 9, 2020 by
Thank you for seeking out more information from the experience of an unknown leader, 32-year old Edna Fletcher. Pictured above, she was a significant healthcare leader at Methodist Hospital (now Indiana University Health Methodist) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Below are brief points from her experience. I believe they can help you in your leadership right now and the days ahead. (Contact me at … [Read more...]
TTP: A 9 POTUS Checklist for the 2020 Presidential Election, Part II
March 3, 2020 by
So, from Part I of my series, you now know that 9 POTUSes won and completed a first presidential term, won their party's nomination for re-election, but lost in the election for a second term in the White House. Also, you have the six-item checklist to use in gauging whether or not we'll add the 10th POTUS to the group in November 2020. To refresh your recall of Part I, CLICK HERE. For you … [Read more...]
TTP: FuturePast
February 25, 2020 by
I happen to believe that the South Carolina Republican primary in early 2016 will one day be seen as the point at which Donald Trump's nomination reached a critical mass. After it, Trump's nomination became increasingly probable. The ability to turn in a different direction narrowed with each passing week. Here's why. South Carolina in early 2016 was a place with public opinion apparently … [Read more...]
TTP: A 9 POTUS Checklist for the 2020 Presidential Election, Part I
February 19, 2020 by
I'd like to offer you a free gift before the 2020 presidential election hits you in full force. No, not steak knives or diet food or some type of weird enhancement. I'm referring to a tool of sorts. You're going to need it because the media coverage between now and November will be unlike anything you've experienced before. You'll be reaching for ear plugs, sleep masks, and anything else that will … [Read more...]
Up In The Sky
February 12, 2020 by
Our youngest daughter and I waited in our car for her school to open. Typical start, typical day. Then we looked out and saw this. Miles above us, a passenger jet carried folks to their next destination as Ava and I sat in our car. But it's the contrail that captivated me. A thought dawned and my photo, shot through a smudgy windshield, resulted. Here is my thought: the trailing … [Read more...]
TTP: Measuring From The Past–Four Stories And The Trump Presidency
January 3, 2020 by
With history, you gain perspective. You gain a sense of what's truly near you, what's far away, and how one thing flows from another. That's why, in my talk entitled "Measuring From The American Past—Four Stories And The Trump Presidency", I share a set of brief insights from American history to help us know how to fit the Presidency of Donald Trump into 2020 and beyond. These stories speak to … [Read more...]
Abraham Lincoln, Ariana Grande, and the Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address
November 18, 2019 by
Ariana and Abraham. Grande and Lincoln. A warm June night in Manchester, England, UK. A cold November day in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Three hours in 2017 and three minutes in 1863. A universe apart. Across such a span, is there anything they can say to one another? I've thought about this question for more than a year. I've searched the span and I think the answer is yes. They can speak … [Read more...]
The List That Can Save Your Sanity
November 13, 2019 by
The televised impeachment hearings of POTUS 45 are officially open. You'll be inundated with news, quasi-news, fake news, yuk news, and more. Much more. By all means, pay attention. But you don't need me to say that. My best role, my best advice, is to provide you with the list below and remind you of what it means. Consider, a century ago, in the twelve months and fifty-two weeks of 1919: … [Read more...]
Filling Shoes
November 7, 2019 by
A storm of sorts ripped through my town a couple of weeks ago. Not your typical storm, it was calm and quiet. It was off the radar, too, with no TV meteorologists waving their arms in front of moving colors. But I still call it a storm and I think you should know it struck. You see, this storm was death and in a 24-hour span death stole some of the future of my town. I'd wager that never in my … [Read more...]
Have We Started Yet?
November 5, 2019 by
The beginning, the start. As a leader, do you know when it is? Often you do. A project, a budgetary cycle, a strategic initiative, a team's creation, a grand opening, all of them have a specific point in time when they get underway. You're further encouraged to be confident in starting and beginning by so many things around you. A work week, a school year, a season, a movie, a meal, an athletic … [Read more...]
Beneath The Surface
October 25, 2019 by
Something happened the other day and it bothered me. I'd like to share it with you to see what you think. It's only a couple of minutes' reading. Here we go. On Twitter I follow a person who sends out a daily tweet on "this date in the American Revolution." Whatever today is, the guy tweets about some event that happened on that same day back in the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783. It … [Read more...]
Four Decisions, Two Hours, and One Day
October 9, 2019 by
Benedict Arnold Saratoga Battlefield, Saratoga, New York Benedict Arnold. If you know the name you know why. He betrayed the American cause in the Revolutionary War. Switched his loyalty to the British in exchange for money and status. In America, his name is synonymous with treason, back-stabbing, the worst kind of sell-out. I still want you to know something different about him as a … [Read more...]
The Dot Perspective
July 8, 2019 by
When you're busy, one of the first things that gets ignored is perspective. Chucked in the bin, out with the trash. You don't have time for it. In the minutes taken to find perspective, something else has gone wrong, something else has gone bad. Perspective is a luxury afforded to those rich with time. That's not you. Stop. Take the time. Make the time. Perspective will reward you. It pays for … [Read more...]
The Reason For Tears
July 5, 2019 by
Why was I nearly crying? After a lot of soul-searching, I think I know. But let me set the stage for you. In the end, you may want to give it a try for yourself. Our family decided that this year's Independence Day celebration would be a day early, on July 3rd. As we often do, we planned to attend an outdoor concert, held at Conner Prairie, a living history site north of Indianapolis. The 1812 … [Read more...]
TTP: Measuring Shadows
June 26, 2019 by
The magic number is 9. That's how many US Presidents have won a first-term in the White House, secured their party's nomination for a second-term, but failed to win re-election. To refresh your memory, here are the 9, starting with the most recent and moving backward: George HW Bush; Jimmy Carter; Herbert Hoover; William Taft; Benjamin Harrison; Grover Cleveland; Martin Van Buren; John Quincy … [Read more...]
Page 11
June 19, 2019 by
Today's Wall Street Journal, the first section, the 11th page. There were two articles. I read them both and in an instant I thought of 1914. Here's why. The current reporting pertained to the tensions between the United States and Iran. Officials from Iran and 118 other nations are meeting in Russia. That's where Iranian representatives are making their case to the crowd that they should build … [Read more...]
The Facial Tic
June 6, 2019 by
Think of one of your defining experiences. It stays with you year after year, a visible thumbprint on who you are as a leader. Chances are good that whenever you face Major Change your mind turns to that defining experience. It molds your response. Let me introduce you to the man on the horse in the photo. George Marshall. He's riding at the front of President Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural … [Read more...]
Black Saturday
April 20, 2019 by
Black Saturday is the most human day of Christian Holy Week. If you're a Christian or spiritually curious, you'll want to read on. If not, you're still welcome to continue reading but I'd understand if you choose to move on with your day at this point. I just wanted to offer a thought or two about these 24 hours. Friday is done. The event is over. We believed in the man, up to various points … [Read more...]
With The Smoke And Ash: A Few Thoughts On The Burning Of Notre Dame
April 17, 2019 by
>> The venerable church stood as the Black Death raged, the anti-religious terror of the French Revolution exploded, the crowds of the Paris Commune rioted, and two world wars rained violence. But it is the incompetence and carelessness of poor renovation that did the damage. >>It's been a tough year for France. A vital organ has been bruised. >>Watching people crying at … [Read more...]
TTP: The Moment Never Dies
April 12, 2019 by
One moment, one event, can live a long, long time. And if it happens on a public stage or in the public eye, the staying power can take on even greater magnitude. Once more, we have a shared point between POTUS 7 and POTUS 45. Well before any action they took in the White House, this moment had, in the public's mind or at least the collective minds of their followers, made Andrew Jackson and … [Read more...]
Grassroots To Symbol To Monument
April 10, 2019 by
In late 1961, Martin Luther King Jr sat down for an interview in England. He told his questioner that he had become a symbol. King knew he symbolized the movement he was leading. He was now the public face of nonviolent protest on behalf of equal rights for African-Americans. I found this story for part of a Creative Conversation (my leadership coaching service) that I'm doing with a client. … [Read more...]
Beyond The Noise And Beneath The Fog
March 4, 2019 by
By the time you read this, President Donald Trump's summit meeting with Kim Jong-Un in Vietnam will be a fading memory. Two days from now it will be buried in dust and dirt. In a month, the event will be fossilizing under forty other layers of dead news cycles. Before we reach that point, I'd like to invoke William Shakespeare. You see, it was Shakespeare who, at least for me, wrote … [Read more...]
Answer On A Cold Walk
December 7, 2018 by
Yesterday, I had lunch with eight interesting people. The facilitator, whom I'll name below, asked a question toward the end of our meal. Most of the people answered. I did not. One thing I've learned over the years is that I'm better off not saying anything if I don't have anything clear or real to say. Then,this morning on a hiking trail through the woods, it hit me. Clarity. Realness. My … [Read more...]
Of Two Cents and Bush One
December 5, 2018 by
Here's my two cents, as they used to say, on the memory of George H.W. Bush, or "Bush One." Before I begin my brief story, let me say that the elder Bush always struck me as a good and decent man. He was a public servant of immense experience and exposure. He will be missed and should be remembered. Now, come with me and get a beer, a "Pound" as it was called in Nick's English Hut in … [Read more...]
A Weird, Early Ritual
November 30, 2018 by
A weird ritual starts my day. A few minutes after 5am I pour a cup of coffee and say a prayer of thanks for one more day. Coffee mug in hand, I head out the side door of our garage. I walk a short distance around the side of the house and into the driveway. This is the end of the preliminary part of the ritual. In the dark, I stoop down at the edge of the driveway, like a catcher in … [Read more...]
A YARDSTICK FOR NUMBER TEN: LESSONS FROM NINE ONE- TERM US PRESIDENTS
November 28, 2018 by
Nine Presidents. In all of the American past, nine US Presidents have attempted to win re- election and lost after having secured their party's nomination. Nine people in the White House who sought a second term but failed. Nine. Are you and I living in the midst of Number Ten? Let's use history in a creative way to find the answer. I invite you to join me in an energetic and … [Read more...]
From 1833-1834 To 2019: Jackson, Trump, And Quasi-Impeachment.
November 28, 2018 by
Because of chaos around the White House, 2019 is going to be a difficult year. The political climate in the US will be awful, worse than 2018. If you're a leader—if you have followers—that climate will affect them. Let me help you help them. I invite you to participate in my upcoming Talkshop, "From The 1833-1834 To 2019: Jackson, Trump, And Quasi-Impeachment." I'll be guiding you through the true … [Read more...]
The Number 133
November 16, 2018 by
133. Keep that number in mind the next time someone shrieks that "we're on the verge of another Civil War!!" I thought of this today as I read an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal. It was about the Democrats in the House of Representatives and the potential selection of Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker. The column, written by Karl Rove, highlighted all the Democratic representatives … [Read more...]
The Remarkable Speech of William Lough Jr.
August 2, 2018 by
(The posting below is for the use of my participants in the Cowles-Fogg book club. However, if you're a random visitor to my website, I certainly invite you to read this post. For the book club members, though, I'd ask you to consider whether or not Lough's comments would have been persuasive if you'd been sitting in the audience back in 1907. Would you have gone out the next day and changed your … [Read more...]
Of Z And Thee
July 30, 2018 by
A setback slammed into you on a Friday. It was unexpected. It was on a large scale. It was quickly told to other people. By Monday, if not sooner, you're trying to recover. We've just summarized the recent past of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Over the course of a day, his company lost $123 billion, more than the gross domestic product of Kuwait and the largest single business loss ever. We … [Read more...]
The Framed Photograph
July 26, 2018 by
The framed photo of General George S. Patton's grave marker had these words scribbled across a corner: "Dear Donald, let's remember our common history." And so, on July 25, 2018, one President handed a gift to another President. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave the present to American President Donald Trump. The written remarks were from … [Read more...]
The Gap Made By A Pen
June 22, 2018 by
Doing the right thing can mean doing the fair thing. I want to do the right and fair thing in pointing to today's column by conservative commentator, George Will. Earlier in 2018, I wrote a post criticizing Will. He had just penned an article about the death of Billy Graham, the famous Christian evangelist. The article was scathing. I expressed disagreement with the writing and disapppointment … [Read more...]
TTP: Stronger Stuff In The Glasses
June 22, 2018 by
"The Trump Rule" was a creation of mine back in December 2016. Over a tasty lunchtime fare of chicken and salad, I shared with workshop participants three stories from the American past to help them understand the emerging Trump Presidency. After each story and as the cookie tray was passed around the table, I offered a takeaway. The Trump Rule was one of my takeaways. I told folks that the … [Read more...]
A Good Three
March 13, 2018 by
All in all, a pretty good few days for me. That's how I judge it when I can honestly tell you that since the weekend, three clear insights have settled into my life. Three good things. One was from a book review written by Daniel Richter, published in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Richter reviewed two books written about war in seventeen century colonial America. Those books … [Read more...]
The Virtue Of The Desk Drawer
February 23, 2018 by
Flat-out angry and boiling mad. That was Abraham Lincoln as he sat behind his desk. He wielded the pen in his hand like a knife, writing words and sentences that sliced into the person meant to receive this harshly-drawn letter. It was mid-July, 1863. Lincoln was furious at US General George Meade. Lincoln believed Meade had allowed the enemy of the United States, the rebel army led by … [Read more...]
Words Under The Ocean
February 22, 2018 by
They were deep under water for less than a minute. 8000 words, broken down into roughly 32 pages. Into a cable like the one shown above. Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap.... Today, February 22, 1946, an American diplomat in Moscow, George Kennan, finished this extraordinary document. Having written it over the course of several days, Kennan used the document to report his views on the Soviet Union … [Read more...]
The River: The First Weekend In February
February 9, 2018 by
Seven days ago I waited for a busy weekend, the first weekend in February. On Friday we hosted a neighboring family for dinner at our house. On Sunday we hosted a group of friends for a Super Bowl party. Seven days later and all of it is in the past. Now, in writing of it to you, I'm turning last weekend into a piece of history. I'm remembering it intentionally. Both events were wonderfully … [Read more...]
The Union Of The Tablecloth
January 31, 2018 by
"The tablecloth between them has been cut." This was the comment by business analyst Roger Entner, quoted in an article ran in today's edition of the Wall Street Journal. Entner's remark pertained to the previously warm and longstanding relationship between two top CEOs in the wireless phone industry. Like a quote from Warren Buffett the day prior, this statement included an image of great … [Read more...]
Tapeworms And Leadership
January 30, 2018 by
Yep, gross as it is, there's a connection. Let's turn to Warren Buffett and an announcement he made this morning: "The booming costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy." This vivid statement was part of Buffett's unveiling of a three-partner effort (Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon) to respond to healthcare costs. The connection I want to make between the … [Read more...]
TTP: Thoughts Over Wine Tonight–The 1832 Election And The 2020 Election
January 18, 2018 by
Tonight I have the blessed privilege to enjoy a glass of wine with some very good folks. I'll be talking briefly with the members of the Westfield (IN) GOP Club at Wolfies in Westfield. My topic is as savory as the pinot noir--the lessons of 1832 for 2020. You see, I've maintained that Andrew Jackson was the first quasi-Donald Trump. So, it's natural for me to suggest that we can gain a lot of … [Read more...]
TTP: Taking A Pick-Axe To Nine American Presidents
January 8, 2018 by
A vein of resources lies buried in the past. With my pick-axe in hand, I mined for answers to a particular question: What does the past say about POTUS 45, Donald J. Trump, winning re-election as president in 2020? I explored the stories of nine American presidents. Each of them sought re-election to a second consecutive term in the White House. Each won their party's nomination but lost on … [Read more...]
TTP: Reaching Across Time: Four Thoughts on Steve Bannon and Duff Green
January 4, 2018 by
Permit me a few additional remarks on the commonalities between Donald Trump (the second Jackson) and Steve Bannon in 2108 and Andrew Jackson (the first Trump) and Duff Green in 1831. As you'll know from my recent posts, I regard Green as Bannon-like. Green was the moving force behind the United States Telegraph, a new kind of political newspaper in the 1820s and 1830s, one that featured scandal, … [Read more...]
TTP: Steve Bannon As Duff Green
January 3, 2018 by
I've spoken and written often about the connection between Donald Trump and his leadership forebear, Andrew Jackson. Jackson, in my view, is the first Donald Trump. I don't say that to go on a tangent that is specifically pro-Trump or anti-Trump, pro-Jackson or anti-Jackson. I simply maintain this position because I think it works, it helps illuminate the present and future. The new break … [Read more...]
The First Thing You Say
December 7, 2017 by
George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, walked into the War Department (shown in the photo) on December 7, 1941 and said this: "We are now in the fog of war." That was his chosen first statement to his immediate followers at the War Department after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Take a moment and let that 8-word statement sink in. Try to imagine sitting in a nondescript office … [Read more...]
The Builder-Leader
November 30, 2017 by
Say hello to another type of leader and leadership--the Builder-Leader. I'm working with a private client in my Creative Conversations service. The client came to me with a particular situation. They were in charge of an organization with an impending physical expansion. It would be a major new physical space. My client asked me to think of a historical leader we could follow "Down River", as I … [Read more...]
Why These Three Are Thought Leaders
November 29, 2017 by
I posted yesterday about Thought Leadership. I referenced three leaders I've used with clients as examples of Thought Leadership. Today, I realize I should give you a fast explanation as to why William Sherman, Theodore Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King Jr are, in my view, examples of Thought Leaders. Read on--this will just take a moment--it's possible you'll see them in a rather different light … [Read more...]
Thought Leadership
November 28, 2017 by
Thought Leader. Are you a Thought Leader? Permit me to help you answer the question. A Thought Leader is someone whose leadership includes thinking about new ways to do things. He or she does the things that leaders do—dealing with followers through the vision, goals, planning, communication, problem-solving, inspiration, and more. In addition to these, however, a Thought Leader takes on the … [Read more...]
A Mountain To Scale
November 14, 2017 by
Yesterday, General Electric's stock price fell to its lowest point in the past five years. The cause appeared to be new CEO John Flannery's announcement of slashed dividends and only a limited closure list of the company's far-flung business units. But that's not what struck me about the events of yesterday. Flannery also remarked that as part of his response to the challenge of turning … [Read more...]
A Different View of History and John Kelly–A Reply To Noah Rothman
November 1, 2017 by
I'm a big fan of Commentary magazine, a faithful subscriber. My remarks below pertain to one of my favorite Commentary writers, Noah Rothman and his recent article entitled, “General Kelly's Disastrous Interview.” If you haven't read it, click https://www.commentarymagazine.com/american-society/john-kelly-bad-ideas/ before proceeding with my post. I offer my thoughts as a fan might at a football … [Read more...]
General Electric, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Link Between
October 24, 2017 by
What's the connection between the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL and General Electric? Reset. That's the term used by John Flannery, the new CEO of General Electric. After recent reports of dismal earnings and forecasts for GE, Flannery announced that this year was a “reset” year. He acknowledged, openly and clearly, that the massive corporation had not only failed to meet expectations, it … [Read more...]
The Historical Site I’ll Never Forget
October 24, 2017 by
Eery. Strange. Nothing but evil. These are my descriptions of an historical site, the one site out of the many I've visited over the years that I'll say, with no hesitation, is the most eery, the strangest, and as a place of significance is filled top to bottom with nothing other than pure evil. Not Hitler's vacation hideaway, not the Nazi's model concentration camp at Dachau, not the slave … [Read more...]
The Call
October 3, 2017 by
Dr. Deborah Kuhls spoke these two sentences. She's on the medical staff at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her statement is from today's Wall Street Journal and its coverage of the mass shootings and slaughter. In addition to remembering, honoring, and praying for everyone affected by this tragedy, I'd like for you to think for just a moment about Dr. Kuhls's statement. … [Read more...]
YOUR CHOICE OF MARBLE: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, GETTYSBURG, AND MONUMENTS OF HISTORY
September 11, 2017 by
The man in the circle is Abraham Lincoln. I want you to squeeze in next to him, on that platform, and listen to what he has to say about our controversy in 2017 (and beyond) over historical monuments. He'll share ideas that go directly to the simmering tensions over race, nation, inclusion, and diversity. I want you to sit right there with him in the red circle, reliving Lincoln's day at the … [Read more...]
THE CONDITIONS OF A 1-TERM AMERICAN PRESIDENCY
September 11, 2017 by
As elections go, we are half-way between. The past on one side. The future on the other. A year ago was the stunning presidential election of 2016. A year from now is the unknown outcome of the off-year congressional election of 2018. What word stands out in that second sentence above? "Unknown." The outcome of the 2018 election is unknown. The deciding factor of the 2018 election is … [Read more...]
Strong’s Words
September 8, 2017 by
A lawyer active and interested in American politics, George Templeton Strong scribbled in his diary one day in 1854. He wrote, "Life and property grow less and less secure. Law, legislation, and judiciary are less respected; skepticism spreads as to the existence anywhere of anybody who will not steal if he has an official opportunity. Our civilization is decaying. We are in our decadence. An … [Read more...]
The Time in Strategy
June 21, 2017 by
An executive wanted my service as a coach on strategy and leadership. "Any historical examples come to mind on strategic leadership?" asked the executive. "Sure do," I replied, and off we went down the "River" of Martin Luther King's leadership during the march on Birmingham, Alabama in the first half of 1963. Our first surprising bend in the River pertained to time. Not time management. … [Read more...]
The Bridge From 2000
May 29, 2017 by
In the place where I live, out of nowhere, about a million of these little guys showed up this weekend. They are the 17-year locusts and as I write, they are humming their presence in the trees. They went into the ground in the year 2000. So how much has changed between their burial and their birth? You tell me. In 2000 a divisive presidential election split the nation into hostile … [Read more...]
TTP: The Similar Opposite
May 24, 2017 by
TTP: The Similar Opposite Andrew Jackson as the first Donald Trump, Donald Trump as the second Andrew Jackson. As many of you know, I've been among those who have asserted that a link connects these two American Presidents. I also believe a link connects their opponents. The people who opposed Andrew Jackson share quite a lot with those who stand against—or "resist", to use their … [Read more...]
A Story Otherwise Untold
May 22, 2017 by
The media's coverage of Donald Trump casts a shadow the size of Mt. Everest. I invite you to walk with me into the sunlight for some news of major importance that you likely didn't see over the weekend. It concerns one of the world's most urgent and alarming problems—North Korea. You'll be relieved to know that news is, on the whole, positive. You might also find the nature of this news … [Read more...]
The FBI Director and Me
May 4, 2017 by
"Come back to October 28th with me and stare at this, and tell me—what would you do?" Earnest words. A touch of drama, a dash of urgency. The speaker faces the group. The group listens and considers what next to think, to do, to say. The speaker was FBI Director James Comey. The group was a Senate committee. The scene was yesterday, at the US Capitol, testimony on the director's decisions … [Read more...]
TTP: 75 Days
April 14, 2017 by
TTP: 75 Days Last week, on April 6, I spoke with a group of healthcare leaders from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and North Carolina. I spoke about my constantly updating presentation, "3 Pieces of the Puzzle: Understanding The Trump Presidency Through Three Stories From American History." During the third story, I shocked the room. See photo above. "75 days," I said. "75 days." That … [Read more...]
TTP: Presidency on the Brink
March 6, 2017 by
For anyone who wants to know what it's like in the Trump White House, on the Trump presidential team, I have a book recommendation for you. Season On The Brink, by John Feinstein. It's a look into the world of former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight. One season seems to last a lifetime. A few words from Season on the Brink that might apply to Presidency on the Brink: … [Read more...]
73 Years Ago – A Saturday in March
March 2, 2017 by
If you don't want to know anything else other than listen to the speech, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjx3IqURT6I. If you'd like to take a couple of minutes and, I think, gain more out of it, read below--you'll see another link and can view the speech then. (Whichever you do, thanks for pursuing. All the best, Dan) This is the story. I want you as a leader to absorb it, work through … [Read more...]
The Past of a Winter’s Day
February 9, 2017 by
Above is a picture of my hike earlier today. Bitterly cold. Sharp wind. Ice forming along the edges and creeping out across the water. I make this hike two or three times a week. Weather usually doesn't affect it. Today is proof of that. My dog and I weren't the only ones out traipsing around. You can see from the picture that another creature had been there before. Look close. Those are … [Read more...]
3 Sharpened Pieces of the Puzzle
February 8, 2017 by
Here is your 2-minute video invitation to a leadership event that is like no other you'll attend in 2017. "3 Pieces of the Puzzle" prepares you to deepen your success as a leader during the Trump years ahead. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0rkOVPmig When you attend "3 Sharpened Pieces of the Puzzle," I'll offer you three takeaways for your leadership. I call them Paddles … [Read more...]
A Memory Alive
February 8, 2017 by
Colin Powell is one of the most recognized figures in the American Experience of the late 20th century. Military officer, national security adviser, secretary of state, one-time potential presidential candidate, best-selling author, and more, Powell ranks among high as an influential leader in American life. In this short article, I'd like you to focus on one thing about Colin Powell. I … [Read more...]
TTP: The Presidents & The Judges–The Lessons of a Saturday
February 7, 2017 by
TTP: The Presidents and the Judges—The Lessons of a Saturday Today, February 7, a federal court hears the appeal of the government's attorneys on behalf of President Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration. You and I can find an important story from a Saturday in early March, 185 years ago. I invite you to stay with me for a few minutes while I provide you with a perspective on this … [Read more...]
Excavating January 30th
January 30, 2017 by
The Tet offensive began on January 30, 1968. As an event, it occurred throughout winter and spring of 1968. As a leadership story, it illustrates the powerful clash between facts and perceptions. Take a look at my 4-minute video here for a quick exploration of Tet and your leadership. After you're done, consider these questions for your leadership: Have I had an experience where I've … [Read more...]
TTP: The Trump Rule
January 27, 2017 by
TTP: The Trump Rule As promised, and promised, and promised again, henceforth and forever more shall it stand, drum roll, here is the Trump Rule: You must react to Trump's leadership in your own leadership. That's it. Underwhelmed? Don't be! Please remove your finger from that delete button for one minute...let me explain. Some of Trump's presidency is unique. Some isn't. Within the … [Read more...]
TTP: A Piece Of The Puzzle From 1913: The Trump And Wilson Inaugural Speeches
January 20, 2017 by
TTP: A Piece Of The Puzzle From 1913—The Wilson and Trump Inaugural Speeches I know, you're swimming (or seeking dry land) in the coverage of the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. And yes, I know I just posted a piece yesterday. I ask for forgiveness and pledge to keep this short. But I want to show you something. I've recently designed and led a seminar on using history to understand a … [Read more...]
TTP: The String-Cutter Escapes Through The Window
January 19, 2017 by
TTP: THE STRING CUTTER ESCAPES THROUGH THE WINDOW He was a President unlike any other, his long hair, wispy and unruly, waving in the wind, brushing the collar of his coat. It was after his inauguration-day speech, in the afternoon before the music and dancing of the inaugural balls later in the evening. Andrew Jackson—the first Donald Trump—dismounted from his horse and stepped into the White … [Read more...]
Meet The First President Trump
January 3, 2017 by
TTP: MEET THE FIRST PRESIDENT TRUMP I believe we've seen a US president similar to Donald Trump before. Allow me to introduce you to Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. Other commentators have made the point, too. My arrival at this conclusion was done independently, after thinking through the histories of 44 American presidents. Jackson and Trump share several key … [Read more...]
The Uniqueness of #45
December 29, 2016 by
THE UNIQUENESS OF #45 No question that Donald Trump is unique as President of the United States. But let's be sure we know precisely what is unique about him. It's not his home state or birth state. Seven other American presidents were born in the state of New York. It's not his pre-presidential career as a political outsider. If you define outsider as not having been elected to … [Read more...]
Eight Words And Pearl Harbor
December 7, 2016 by
What do you think of when the anniversary of Pearl Harbor rolls around every December 7? I'll tell you my image in a moment but let's get yours first. Is is a photo of burning American battleships? Is it a recording of President Franklin Roosevelt's statement about a "day that will live in infamy"? Maybe you've had the good fortune to visit Pearl in Hawaii and have the chilling recollection of … [Read more...]
Your Leadership And The Fog Of War
December 7, 2016 by
The fog of war is situational ignorance. The ignorance of conditions and circumstances exist in two frames of time, both the current/present and near-term future. The fog of war also has parts—that which is purely unknown, for one, but also those things that are so partially, hazily, and uncertainly known as to qualify as likely unknowns. Have you been in an event or lived out a story where … [Read more...]
A Client’s Question Out Of Left Field: Happily So
December 5, 2016 by
I always listen to my clients. Two weeks ago, a client from Louisville, Kentucky—a team from Humana—asked me if I could think of a way to use the Louisville Slugger Factory in a special leadership module for them. They are in the midst of planning a retreat that includes a tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum. I happily said, "Yes!" The past is everything and everywhere down … [Read more...]
Monument Making
December 1, 2016 by
I'd like to share a few thoughts with you about your leadership and the culture of your followers. But before I do, please take a moment (a total of six minutes and a few seconds) to watch both of my videos. Thank you in advance for doing so. Now, let's talk. Culture is an expression of both history and the past. The things you choose to celebrate, to honor at a particular time … [Read more...]
Hillary Clinton and the Ghost of Russia
November 17, 2016 by
Recall for a moment the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. One of the effects of the Soviet Union losing the Cold War was that it killed a longstanding enemy of the United States. I suspect the defeat of Hillary Clinton will act the same way for the Republican Party. The Soviet Union's death removed a unifying element that was a strong reason the US had a broad consensus internally on … [Read more...]
3 Pieces Of The Puzzle–My Upcoming Leadership Now Workshop
November 16, 2016 by
Tuesday, November 22, is a day I'm excited about. That's when, running from 11:30am to 1pm, I'll be doing a special Leadership Now Workshop at Capital Grille in Indianapolis. The title is "3 Pieces Of The Puzzle: Using History To Clarify A Trump President And The Impact On Your Leadership." The cost is $75 per person and includes an excellent lunch, meaningful fellowship, and powerful interaction. … [Read more...]
Some of the New Water Ahead
November 10, 2016 by
You'd have to be brain-dead not to realize that both the result of the 2016 presidential campaign and the campaign itself have opened a new era in the American experience. Some of you know that I call such things "a new Stretch of River." Part of the new Stretch is the water I'll describe below. Oh, and that's Justin Bieber in the mugshot. See where I'm going? Part of the new Stretch of … [Read more...]
Of Gaps and Horses
November 7, 2016 by
Well, the national horse race that is the American presidential election is nearing the finish line. I ask your indulgence on a final few thoughts. I'll start with 1912. When you look at Woodrow Wilson victory in the electoral college, it was a large span of victory. That span masked an underlying point of divergence from appearances--the opposition was deeply split. I think the same thing … [Read more...]
Post-Election 2016 & Your Leadership
November 3, 2016 by
POST-ELECTION 2016 & YOUR LEADERSHIP Regardless of how the US presidential election turns out, we are in for a tumultuous stretch of time moving into 2017-2018. To most of us, it may feel rather like the biker in the photo. Recently, I conducted a special seminar on the 2016 election and an earlier presidential contest that I think offers some clarifying points for the road ahead. I believe … [Read more...]
Killing a New Myth – Wikileaks and Russia
October 27, 2016 by
Let's put to rest a myth that has emerged late in the 2016 US presidential election campaign. Wikileaks is said to be the tool of Russia and Vladimir Putin, his evil effort to affect the US elections. Awful! Frightening! Never happened like this! Perhaps, maybe, and wrong. The Russians--including the Soviet Union down to 1991--have engaged in American elections for at least five decades and … [Read more...]
Post As Past
October 5, 2016 by
I'm always looking for and thinking about words that pertain to the past. We have thousands of them along with hundreds of phrases and images that depict the movement of time from living to lived. I'll pick one for today—post. Stay with me and let's explore the word just a bit. If you're a sports fan, you may recognize this word immediately. Post-game interview or show. It's the slice of the … [Read more...]
Learning From 56 Years Ago
September 23, 2016 by
Heading into Monday's presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, I recommend a look back at the only other televised presidential debate to rival this one in importance and impact--I'm referring to 1960 and the Nixon-Kennedy debate. There is something to learn here that affects your viewing on Monday night. First, like now, there was a powerful sense of old and new. These … [Read more...]
Two Waters of One River
August 22, 2016 by
Two cities sit on the same river. Their cultures of water, however, are very different. Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio reveal contrasting marks from their shared Ohio River. This realization occurred to me as I reflected on research for a Walkshop in Louisville and my frequent visits to Cincinnati to see my wife's family. The Ohio River in Cincinnati is narrow. Perhaps because of its … [Read more...]
As Is
August 18, 2016 by
This is a photo of one of the hundreds of landing ships carrying American soldiers into battle with the invasion of Normandy, France, June 1944. They are sitting there as is. They are ready to disembark as is. Their first step on the European continent--and in many cases that will be their last step in life--will be as is. The as-is organization can do remarkable things, just like these brave … [Read more...]
Breaking Update & New Action
August 10, 2016 by
Urgent for your attention: by popular demand from my clients and alumni—I have revised and updated my customized workshop on President Donald Trump. History is being made day-by-day and I recommend you, as a leader, make time to participate! You will gain new non-partisan perspectives on events yet to come in the remaining quarters of 2017 and beyond. Breaking Update & New Action: 3 … [Read more...]
Coming Up On Five Months Ago
August 3, 2016 by
Nearly five months ago I posted on my blog that I thought the best way to understand Donald Trump's appeal as a political force was to look back to the phenomenon that was Bob Knight as an active college basketball coach. In the midst of what some are calling a "meltdown" of Trump's presidential campaign, I return to that point from early March 2016. I stand by it. I started out as a fan of … [Read more...]
Solutionism and 2016
July 25, 2016 by
Solutionism is one reason why Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for US President in 2016. I don't like Trump as a person but I do think that if we step back, we can see a very interesting reality at work. Take a few moments with me to delve into solutionism. I'll define solutionism as the opinion, principle, value, and belief seen in the act of solving. More than solving by itself, … [Read more...]
The Troubles of Dallas
July 8, 2016 by
My deepest wish is to be wrong. In looking at things like Dallas, I'm beginning to wonder if we are entering a new phase, a new Stretch of River. I'm referring to the evolution of current tensions within the US. Race, law enforcement, and urban blight are within these tensions. The new phase or Stretch might be likened to the Troubles in Ireland and England. The hardening of conflict and … [Read more...]
The World After Brexit
June 30, 2016 by
Seem familiar? No, it's not a strange photo of Donald Trump. It's a picture of Boris Johnson, one of the main leaders of Brexit. Johnson shocked the British political world by announcing that he would not seek the post of Prime Minister. His announcement is the latest moment of upheaval that is measured almost in quarter-hour increments. You can't keep up. I have not written anything here about … [Read more...]
A Past Slice For Today
June 9, 2016 by
This is a 20 dollar gold piece from, you guessed it, 1854. You were doing one if you had these in your pocket. Let's take a slice from it for our use today, in 2016. In trying to sort through the confusion and strangeness of the 2106 presidential campaign, I've been thinking about an earlier time when the American political party system exploded. That was in 1854, the same year that freshly … [Read more...]
Serious Beginnings
June 8, 2016 by
So it began. Today (June 8) was the first full day of debate in the Continental Congress in 1776 whereby the delegates took up a specific question of American independence. The day before a resolution was introduced which proposed American independence. And now comes the discussion, the arguments, the back-and-forth, the insults offered and those held back, the shifting of opinion from one side to … [Read more...]
The Messed-Up Factor
June 7, 2016 by
Know who this is? Of course you don't. I wouldn't if I hadn't searched it out and posted it here. This is Chester Arthur, obscure President of the United States from the early 1880s. He is Exhibit A is what I'm calling my Messed-Up Factor. Part of the problem we're grappling with in the 2016 presidential election is the Messed-Up Factor. You see, we're to blame not because we're active or … [Read more...]
The Immediate Threat To Hillary Clinton: Not Trump
May 25, 2016 by
The politicians responsible for the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974 weren't from the Democratic Party. The ones who succeeded in removing Nixon were, like him, Republicans. This is a group of Republican senators who had just finished meeting with Nixon and had urged him to resign. Nixon complied. I offer this in light of the 2016 presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton's most … [Read more...]
The Illusion of Autonomy
May 24, 2016 by
A person I admire and respect talked about "the illusion of autonomy." That's when you're told by those in authority above you that, yes, you can make decisions; that, yes, your decisions will matter; and that, yes, you can shape what we will be doing." It reminded me of the fakeness that is driving so much of our election season in 2016. You hear over and over again that "authenticity" is … [Read more...]
Water Tides
May 20, 2016 by
Like the currents and tides, events flow back and forth between the US and Europe on one hand and between the US and Asia on the other. As we move into the nominee/nomination phase of the American presidential campaign, I urge you to remember this. We saw this happen last summer with the radical Islamic attacks in Paris. I suspect we may see it again as the story solidifies of what happened to the … [Read more...]
The Ripples of Beer
May 20, 2016 by
I make history. That's not an egotistical statement. I literally make history--I write stories about the past. As some of you know, I talk about history being a partial reconstruction of the total past. So, in that use of phrasing, I make history. Let me give you a brief look into how I would make part of the history of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton. In my … [Read more...]
Some of the Basics
May 10, 2016 by
Let's refresh on a few of the basics that I use. Grab whatever your beverage of choice is and take a moment with me to review. Remember, I'm self-titled--a consulting leadership historian. First, our life is a River. Yours, mine, ours, theirs, individual, collective. Life is a River. Point A is the start. Point Z is the end. The flow of time from A to Z functions, behaves, and acts much like a … [Read more...]
A Curious Document
April 4, 2016 by
In the midst of a deep, sweeping, and sizzling change, small things will appear. It's hard to know in the moment how to make sense of them. As a leader you will have to decide whether they are worth pursuing, whether they are an opportunity that needs your attention. Not every small thing rises to this level but every once in a while, one will. Here is stunning example from this past … [Read more...]
Narrow The Time
March 14, 2016 by
Narrow your use of the past to find a good guide to political turmoil in 2016. I point you to a period of 25 months--from spring 1854 to summer 1856. That's the interval between the passage of an explosively controversial law (the Kansas-Nebraska Act) and the birth of a political party that grows so quickly it nominates a presidential candidate two years later (John Fremont in the 1856 … [Read more...]
My Number 33
March 10, 2016 by
We have a long way to go until November 2016. Countless things can and will happen, some of which will be unexpected and with deep impact. Having offered the proper qualifiers, permit me to suggest that the Number 33 could prove of major importance to Donald Trump if he wins the Republican presidential nomination. 33 or more specifically, one-third. I suspect that if Trump alters one-third … [Read more...]
An Echo You Must Hear
March 5, 2016 by
I'm getting lots of reactions to my post from yesterday--on the present and the dying thing. A dear friend of mine commented on Facebook, stirring me to address a key point. Before I do so, I'm listening to a song as I write this. It's a song of great moment. I'll put it on my website in the coming week. Look for it under You And This Song. Now, on to today's post. The wonderful image above … [Read more...]
A History Of The Present And The Dying Thing
March 4, 2016 by
I've never hidden the fact that some historians dislike my approach. They say I'm too quick to link the past to the present, the present to the past. I won't rehash my view on that now. I do, however, want to continue to apply my view. The chips can and will fall where they may. We are seeing a thing die in front of us. We see it on television, the internet, in our living rooms and on our … [Read more...]
From Then To Now: George Washington and 18 Days
March 1, 2016 by
I think you'll like this from my individual leadership consulting earlier this morning. A client and I are going down George Washington River together. This morning, I asked a question about 18 days. That was the span of time in 1775 from June 15 to July 3. At the start, on Day 1, Washington accepted the offered position of "General and Commander-in-Chief" of American military forces outside … [Read more...]
Colts Again: What Should Be True Now
February 26, 2016 by
A few weeks back I shared my thoughts about the succession decision of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay to retain both General Manager Ryan Grigson and Head Coach Chuck Pagano. For me, the most interesting leadership point for succession was the need to do something different after the decision was made. By all accounts, relations between Grigson and Pagano were some degree of strained--whether … [Read more...]
TTP: An Open Letter To The Four Horsemen Of The Trumpocalypse
I'm a big fan of them. For today I'll dub John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, Noah Rothman, and Sohrab Ahmari as the Four Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse. They're the commentators of Commentary, a magazine devoted to, as Podhoretz dutifully recounts in every podcast, "intellectual analysis, political probity, and cultural criticism from a conservative perspective." They are also fair-minded … [Read more...]