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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

We're neck-deep and head-high in the 2020 presidential campaign. I've got an odd fact from our 45 Presidents Of The United States (POTUS) that might help you navigate the wild waters around us. I'll leave it to you to determine what it means for our current situation. In all of our history of presidential elections, from 1789 down to today, only twice—TWICE—have we had a consecutive string of … [Read more...]

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...]

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...]

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...]