There is nothing easier than complaining about TV news, except maybe complaining about the weather or commercial radio. Some like to blame the “broadcast journalists,” but we stopped calling them that years ago. Honestly, why continue to expect wisdom from the mouths of babes? Besides, it is not the newsreaders’ fault, and it is not … Read more
to be a discoverer you hold close whatever you find, and after a while you decide what it is. Then, secure in where you have been, you turn to the open sea and let go. –William Stafford, from “Security” Is the path to the waterfall an ascent or a descent? Descents have a bad reputation … Read more
We’ve been holding our tongue on the whole Katherine Kersten Kolumnist thing, but after her tawdry little appearance here, we can no longer keep ourselves from mumbling out loud on several points. First, she definitely should have held pat with the original column photo. Every picture we’ve seen of this woman makes it clear to … Read more
Gogi? I remember saying. Is that your real name? She said something to me, something impertinent I’m sure, that was lost in the whirring of the blender. Grasshopper? she said a moment later, offering me a thick green drink in a jelly jar. I swear, I said, I could drink these all night. I do, … Read more
Hard to believe, but reports say that Minneapolis’s new camera cops have snapped photos of nearly 2,000 runners of red lights. This fact reminds us that our favorite tune Paul Westerberg ever screamed is “Run It,” but it also reminds us that maybe we’re not quite the “nation of laws” we thought we were… or … Read more
It’s always nice when you’re scuffling to get some wins from the back end of your rotation. It would be even nicer at this point to see the Twins start putting together some big innings and throwing some crooked numbers on the board to give the pitching staff a little breather, but I’m not about … Read more
In yesterday’s New York Times magazine, Matt Bai proposes that “South Park Conservatives” have nothing on “King of the Hill Democrats.” Bai maintains that Hank Hill is the living, breathing animation of the nation’s much-desired Nascar dad, and that Democrats like North Carolina governor Mike Easley are wise to poll their constituencies based on whether … Read more
If you Christians don’t quit worshipping golden calf statues, I’m gonna smash your laws. I was just listening to MPR’s Talk of the Nation, and they were discussing the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on the display of the Ten Commandments in public space. It was going along about as these things usually do (everyone treated … Read more
Maybe you’ve seen my tongue limping in circles, yoked to the whip hand of my brain, sinking further and further into the muck. The words don’t come out the way they’re supposed to, or the way they used to. Something happens. Happened. It’s like when you take a picture and the print looks nothing like … Read more
–Illustration by James Dankert Last night was a train wreck all around. I drove down to my old home town, Blooming Void, to attend my 25th high school reunion. To be perfectly honest with you, I’m not quite sure what I was thinking. When I got home from work I tried without much success to … Read more