April 15, 2025 When we celebrated the Bicentennial of our founding in 1976, I was fresh out of college, underemployed, and generally too busy to care. Now we're sliding into the 250-year Semiquincentennial (yes, that's a real word), beginning at Lexington and Concord with the anniversary of the shot heard 'round the world on April… Continue reading Revolution remembered
Category: War
D-Day as seen by a legend
June 6, 2024 My introduction to the story of D-Day didn’t come from Saving Private Ryan or The Longest Day. I learned about the events of eighty years ago from the book above, a collection of war reporting for The New Yorker by the great A.J. (Joe) Liebling. It belonged to my father, who also… Continue reading D-Day as seen by a legend
From cold to warm and back again
February 28, 2022 I'm sure glad my wife and I had a safe room built into the basement of our house. We did it because we were worried about tornados and the dangers of climate change, but it'll make a fine fallout shelter too. Source: AP 2/27/2022 To someone who was born early in the… Continue reading From cold to warm and back again
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?
A pandemic diary: Lessons from the last world war
March 25, 2020 My dad and his mother in Elgin, Illinois in 1943 I’ve hardly been out of the condo for three weeks. Except for my wife, my last offline human interaction was five days ago with a grocery clerk. Every time I wash my hands, which is often, I feel like Lady MacBeth: "Out,… Continue reading A pandemic diary: Lessons from the last world war
A statesman speaks
When you're a reporter covering Congress, you listen to an awful lot of speeches. Many of these breathless bulletins concern vital issues like National Cub Scout Month and the renaming of post offices. Speeches can be pompous, sanctimonious, badly reasoned, highly partisan, dull, hypocritical, long-winded, or all of the above. They're sometimes thoughtful or heartfelt.… Continue reading A statesman speaks