An (extra) Ordinary Potato
MY RECENT POSTS
- Clear Blue Skies
September 12, 2012 10:59PM - A Few More Minutes
September 12, 2011 10:58PM - Trudel’s Truth has posted a
new item
July 10, 2011 07:18PM - Visit Trudel’s Truth
June 30, 2011 02:10PM - A simple watch.
May 12, 2011 10:45PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “The article is excellent
and terrifying and within
the
article inclusion of the
i…”
October 11, 2010 04:34PM - “I am taking a class in a
modern building in downtown
Chicago
with massive
amounts…”
July 14, 2010 08:53PM - “So evocative. So
wonderful. The the use of
images gives just
the right
veil of my…”
July 14, 2010 08:47PM - “Excellent piece and
fascinating
responses.
I wrote
this to GK:
Forgive me if
I am i…”
December 27, 2009 06:44AM
Leonard Grossman's Links
Clear Blue Skies
Clear Blue Skies
I remember the clear blue sky. I was hiking along the Highline Trail at Glacier National Park. Mountain goats and sheep dotted the rugged landscape. The day before I had hiked on the other side of the mountain, the other side of the Continental Divide, climbing almost straight… Read full post »
A Few More Minutes
“Would you like a few more minutes?” How many times have you heard those words when a waitperson notices what he or she thinks is indecision in your face when she has finished rattling off the specials? I have been asked that question in tony restaurants in River North… Read full post »
Visit Trudel’s Truth
Trudel’s Truth
has posted a new item, ‘June 30, 1934 Fortunately I can see
every
thing as funny . . .’
June 30, 1934
This is an extra personal letter. Do not show to everybody.*
Well, Aunt Henny has had the same [medical condition] as our Mother,
… Read full post »
A simple watch.
Clean design, white face with burgundy dots for numbers.
But as the hour hand touched each dot I noticed a small stick
figure
pop-up on the face.
At each hour more figures appeared, corresponding to the number of
the hour.
Stick figures, but lithe and athletic.
By three o’clock they began… Read full post »
Trudel’s Truth – A post for Mother’s Day
In 1933, my mother wrote in her diary, “There is no future for Jewish youth in Germany. I think I shall go to Palestine.” “Why would you leave?” her family and friends asked? Today we know she was right. She didn’t go to Palestine, however. Instead, when… Read full post »
Creative Plagiary*
I took a creative writing class once. Long ago when I was an English Major at a windswept Midwestern university. The professor was Lucky Strike…Really. Well, that’s what we called Lucien Stryk, behind his back at least. He has gone on to become a well known writer of… Read full post »
Brooks cites Chicago Trib in Support of Kirk, Misses point.
In his column in Friday's NYTimes, David Brooks tries to shore up the credentials of Mark Kirk, Republican candidate for the Senate in Illinos. It shows how far Brooks has fallen that he relies on an editorial from the Chicago Tribune in support of his position. It isn't surprising… Read full post »
I hate when that happens
I just completed a brilliant, scintillating, scorching, convincing, irresistible piece on the contrast between last Friday's headlines about additional job losses as a result of layoffs of employees at all levels of government and the Republican calls for decreased government spending. Wh… Read full post »
Remember, Breathe, Remember
Inhale and Remember. The first breath of hot damp air flowed through my nose and filled my lungs. Instantly I knew the feeling. But where had I had this sensation before? The clingy damp, the isolation, the calmness?
The glassed-in steam bath in the old Sovereign Hotel on the north side… Read full post »
Transplanting a sprout
I have been writing online since the mid-90s. By the beginning of this millennium, my website The ModemJunkie's Portal was already outdated. Writing more-or-less bi-monthly essays about the computer world became tiring, especially after I raised questions about the ethical responsibilities of blogger… Read full post »
A Story about A Hot Steamy Day, cubed.
Today is hot and steamy day in Chicago. I am hiding in my study with a small air conditioner trying to dry off. But this weather reminds me of a story about a story about a story about a hot steamy day. I confess, I originally wrote this piece a dozen… Read full post »
It's not the wind.
It is not the wind.
The house shudders. A cold front is moving across the Midwest. Tiny
snow crystals blown by high winds have returned. I hear a wail as
it comes down the street, the cold drafts seeping through the
walls.
But it is not the wind that I hear and… Read full post »
It is not the wind
It is not the wind.
The house shudders. A cold front is moving across the Midwest. Tiny snow crystals blown by high winds have returned. I hear a wail as it comes down the street, the cold drafts seeping through the walls.
But it is not the wind that… Read full post »
Thirty years in the vinyeards of Labor (and alphabet soup)
On New Years Eve, I retired from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) after nearly 31 years with Office of the Solicitor in Chicago (CHI-SOL).
My interest in workers' rights began in my childhood as I heard stories of workers compensation cases my… Read full post »
Praise where praise is overdue: Obama on Israel
Those who follow this blog may be forgiven if they were under the impression that I am hostile to President Obama but they would be mistaken. Barack Obama was the first candidate for president for whom I ever voted with enthusiasm. If I have been critical here it is because I
… Read full post »Tarnished Medal of Freedom.
I know that Sandra Day O’ Connor has many accomplishments and I am sure that other presidents have given the Medal of Freedom to unworthy recipients but there is a special ring of hell reserved for the cabal that engineered the coup d’état that installed George W. Bush.
… Read full post »Unitasking in a Multitasking World
In an essay entitled,How
Living as a Unitasker Nearly Led Me to Ruin in a Multitasking
World, I wrote,
In a world that comes to depend more and more on multitasking, some
of us are really born unitaskers. Are we doomed to sit on the
sidelines or will we someday be able/
How
Living as a Unitasker Nearly Led Me to Ruin in a Multitasking
World, I wrote,Only now can we call it futile
Imagine, if you will, a gray-haired petty bureaucrat
Walking in a steady gray rain
Black umbrella in his right hand,
Rigid, upright.
In his left a black briefcase
Which contains the book he has just finished reading.
He walks slowly, matching the rain,
The angle of the umbrella and his posture
Tiptoing around the edges of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is not humane
Tiptoing around the edges and tinkering with the details just won’t cut it any more. Yesterday Defense Secretary Robert Gates is reported to have said, the military might not have to expel someone whose sexual orientation was revealed by a third party out of vindictiveness or suspect motives.
… Read full post »U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal report that the Obama administration is internally circulating a proposal that could allow some terrorism suspects at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to enter guilty pleas without representation and to be sentenced without going to tri
… Read full post »They held a loaded credit card to my head
Congressional irresponsibility reached new heights when the
right to carry loaded, concealed weapons was included in the credit
card bill.
There is irony in the fact that the rate on my credit card nearly
tripled on the day before it passed.
Review of the credit reform legislation shows that many
… Read full post »It’s a free country, Isn’t it?
A few days ago on the way to work, my El car stopped while crossing the Chicago River and I used my Palm Centro to snap a couple of shots of the images mirrored in a highrise office building alongside the tracks. I decided I liked them and posted them in
… Read full post »Mea Culpa CREDO
A few days ago I ranted about a poll announced by CREDO, called Bracket of Evil, where participants can select among pairs of candidates for “the most malevolent forces in American politics.” I noted that aside from some instant gratification, villainizing individuals does nothing cons/
… Read full post »
liza Donnelly
Chicago Guy
Linda Seccaspina
Deleted Account
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com