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 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: 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: 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–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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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 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 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...]
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...]
