August 26, 2024 When I was a kid, my family often spent a week or two of summer vacation visiting my grandmother in Springfield, Illinois. She lived in the middle house in the photo below, next to her sister Adelia's place, the one with white columns and trim. Next door to Aunt Del on the… Continue reading The ghosts of August
Category: history
Very sincerely yours, Jesse Owens
February 15, 2022 Photo by Wikipedia For Black History Month, I'm unpacking a bit of history from the memorabilia in my closet, a program from a sports banquet and a personal letter to my father Don Swan, both signed by Jesse Owens. When we lived in Columbus, Ohio in the 1950s, Dad belonged to the… Continue reading Very sincerely yours, Jesse Owens
A pandemic diary: Afflictions past and present
August 19, 2021 Martha Carrier's marker at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial On this day 329 years ago, Martha Carrier was taken in a cart to Gallows Hill in Salem, where she and four men were hanged after being convicted in the infamous witch trials. A poor woman with an independent spirit, she'd previously drawn… Continue reading A pandemic diary: Afflictions past and present
The Capitol I knew
January 7, 2021 One afternoon in the summer of 1998 I was sitting in my cramped broadcast booth in the Senate Radio & TV Correspondents Gallery in the Capitol, where I spent my days reporting on Congress for listeners all over the world on the Voice of America. I had just filed a routine story… Continue reading The Capitol I knew
A pandemic diary: The view from the cheap seats
June 7, 2020 Back in 1974, during the first impeachment crisis of the modern era, I rode a bus all night from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington. We arrived just as the sun rose over the National Mall, where many thousands of us gathered to demand that President Nixon be thrown out of office. Several… Continue reading A pandemic diary: The view from the cheap seats
How many more?
Fifty years ago (May 4, 1970) I was a sophomore in high school. Everyone was stunned, the atmosphere in the building hushed, uncomprehending. That day or the next, we had an assembly, about which I remember nothing except a girl singing, “Blowin’ In the Wind.” The song below still sends chills up my spine. Too… Continue reading How many more?