I was getting annoyed. The two cars ahead of me at the parking lot exit were taking forever. Daily parking is free so exit usually takes 10 seconds, but not these two – after handing in their ticket, they just sat there. When I got to the booth, I did the same thing. The attendant … read more How you doing?
Month: November 2016
Where there’s smoke
The Appalachians are on fire. I am on my hands and knees, collecting documents that are irreplaceable before we evacuate. I’m fighting to think straight, control the panic. Acrid smoke has been hanging around our mountain community for days now, chased by strong winds from the wildfires in western North Carolina and northwest Georgia. The Rough Ridge … read more Where there’s smoke
Eternal vigilance
Today’s penny is a 2000. That’s the first time that Donald Trump ran in a primary election, as a Reform Party candidate. This post was updated throughout the day. Noon. Back at our own polling station – now there’s no line, and the handicapped spot is visible and open. We go in to vote. I fill out … read more Eternal vigilance
What you can do tomorrow
Fellow citizens of the United States: No matter who you are or where you are, no matter your party or lack thereof, you can do more than vote tomorrow. Vote – yes, of course, if you haven’t already. You can make sure you are ready to vote on ALL the positions and issues on your ballot … read more What you can do tomorrow
Time to change
I hate the time change. Why do we bother? We’re on Daylight Savings Time more than we are on regular time. It makes no sense. When I was a kid, after the Uniform Time Act of 1966, we had Daylight Savings for seven months a year. I remember people being confused by the time change, … read more Time to change
Keeping watch
Time was that I could rattle off the election regulations for Georgia – the Republic of Georgia, that is. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, I was in Tbilisi for a month at a time, working with local journalists to help them cover elections. Part of training them about their role in a new democracy was to train … read more Keeping watch
The World Series, part 2
[Continued…] I’m still not sure how my boyfriend Ed convinced a bunch of women at my newspaper to form a softball team. Maybe women just liked him. I’m also unclear how he convinced me to start lifting weights. He was a fanatic about that, too. I got a membership at the local YMCA. I swam laps … read more The World Series, part 2
How I got to the World Series
I was always one of the last kids picked when we chose up sides for kickball. I was tall and I could run very fast, but I couldn’t kick and I couldn’t throw. My sisters played baseball at home, but I only know this because of the family jokes about when Ann broke Maggie’s nose … read more How I got to the World Series
Decision fatigue
I read that high-powered executives try to limit the number of trivial decisions they have to make each day, so that they can save their mental energy for the important decisions. They have a rack of identical suits, they have tightly scheduled routines, they let someone else order lunch. There is actual science behind this. … read more Decision fatigue
Leaving Fiji
Nov. 1, 1996 – Suva, Fiji The latest issue of the Africa-Carribean-Pacific magazine, The Courier, had country profiles of Mali and Western Samoa. The photos of those buildings in Mali fascinated me, I can’t wait to see them in person – unearthly, built by another species. So many things transcend time and space. And yet … read more Leaving Fiji