My friend sent me the following text message today: My friend lives in Atlanta, Georgia and often has occasion to decry the strident blowhards he sees in the South from the conservative side of the political spectrum. I can sympathize, although I have never lived in the South or had much exposure to “Red state” … Read more
“That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” I never liked the above quote by Frederick Nietizsche. More accurately I suspected a conflict which almost kills you leaves you traumatized. It scars and leaves you less than you were. Instead of being strong and active, you are passive and vulnerable. I preferred the Chinese … Read more
Today California “re-opened” officially. If you are vaccinated you can enter stores without a mask. I did so this morning, and it felt wonderful. To wear a facemask for some twenty minutes while at the grocery store is not the end of the world, and in the larger scheme of things it is a minor … Read more
I had my first long summer bike ride along the beach yesterday. I rode some 35 miles total from downtown Ventura to Rincon Point along the beach, and back. It was my favorite time of the day for such a bike ride: approaching sunset. The temperature was dropping as the dying sun reflected a rust … Read more
My school year comes to an end tomorrow. It was my 27th. But my first full one during an epidemic. So it has been a long year of (distance) learning. I taught my students the best I could over the Internet using Zoom (and Canvas). I was there day-in, day-out for my students as much … Read more
I never thought I would see the day. A long-term friend of mine is about the best candidate for a concealed weapon permit I have ever known. His criminal record is entirely unblemished. He also owns his own business and regularly handles large amounts of cash, lives and works in a high-crime area, and has … Read more
Today is my birthday. I turn 54-years old. I hear some complain of “getting older.” They don’t want to hear out loud the number associated with the span of their years. They seem almost to want to keep their age a secret. That is not me. I enjoy getting older. I have earned my gray … Read more
In a few weeks my younger daughter will finish her fifth grade year and move to middle school. It will end nine years of our family’s involvement at Poinsettia Elementary School. I remember a co-worker telling me how it seemed like her children’s time in elementary school lasted forever. I tend to agree. But the … Read more
The purpose of this essay is to explain my ambivalence about science, and to identify how and why I best learn it. Science is important. You have to study it. But I never enjoyed science classes in school. I enjoyed math even less. I was a humanities person. I still am. I would avoid science … Read more
Today, if she were still alive, my mother would turn 80-years old. But she is dead. She died at 56-years of age. To arrive at 80-years of age would have been quite the milestone for my mother, if she were alive. It was so for my father. Additionally, my older daughter Julia turns 14-years old … Read more
I had occasion lately to come across a posting of mine from January 15, 2007. It is titled, “The Past Is Not Done With Me.” That would make the essay over fourteen years old. I was 39-years old when I penned it, and now I am 53-years old. What is the difference between those two … Read more
This was the moment I realized the end was in sight. It was February 21, 2021. I came across a big stand of hand disinfectant on sale at the grocery store. A sign said “Manager’s Special” in front of a huge stack of unsold produce. It seems nobody was buying hand disinfectant anymore. So they … Read more
I talked to my aunt last night who is 75-years old, and she remarked that her pandemic life is not too terribly different from life before. She is retired and need not leave the house for work; she does not have any young children at home all the time because the schools are closed, and … Read more
“Men have become the tools of their tools… Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” Henry David Thoreau Last week I wrote at length about my long slog through the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield. I wondered why our society … Read more
Some Meditations on Reading a Long Book During Quarantine in 2021: Patience and Perseverance, Purpose and Fulfilment They say that a book should be only as long as it takes to tell the story. It should be neither longer nor shorter than that. But that is plenty vague, and leaves lots of room for different … Read more
I wrote a few weeks ago about a very minor run-in I had with some bumptious Trumpkins in one of their mobile “Stolen Election” caravan protests. I could see the aggressiveness of these people. They had an edge. So I was not that surprised by the attack on the Capitol Building four days ago, although I … Read more
Political Commitment: Progressive Politics as a Secular Religion The decline of religion and loosening of family bonds has been much in evidence in the United States these past few decades. The rise of single-parenting and economic stress on the lower classes has weakened the family and led many young people to grow up without much … Read more
It has been a tradition for me to plan and record my resolutions for the new year, and then to reflect back on them later. I put considerable thought into my resolutions, as you may witness going all the way back to 1999 and earlier — Rich Geib’s New Year’s Resolutions:Over Two Decades of Introspection … Read more
Victor Hugo once said that “music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” I am not sure about the “impossible to be silent” part, but music can convey emotions and messages which words, for all their versatile flexibility, cannot. The sound goes straight into our ears where … Read more
It was November 22, 2020 at approximately 1215 pm. I was waiting at the corner of Saticoy Avenue and Telephone Road in Ventura, CA with my daughters in the car. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was taking them out of the house to get some air; we were going to go browse for … Read more
We are now in the deepest darkest winter of this Coronavirus pandemic, with the infection numbers rising sharply and the government restricting even further our activities. I read yesterday there were some 3,100 new coronavirus deaths nationally and 216,548 new cases reported on December 3, 2020; and that over the past week, there has been … Read more
As of late you have shown a particular interest in reading blog posts I have written. “Can I read one of your essays?” you intone before bedtime. It seems to have become a ritual. This surprises me. I am running out of essays for you to read. But they seem important to you. So I … Read more
I have spoken at length about my antipathy towards social media — or what I would prefer to call it, anti-social media. Jack Dorsey and Twitter — with persons like Donald Trump and others — are trying to poison our country with splenetic 280-character bursts of poisonous partisan politics. The loudest, most outrageous attention getting … Read more
Gratitude I studied along with my oldest daughter Julia last spring in a class on happiness — supposedly the most attended class in the history of Yale University. Professor Laurie Santos claimed that happiness comes from human connection with others, quality sleep and daily exercise, and acts of kindness and experiencing gratitude. I like that … Read more
We are in the eighth month of this SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, and the end is not in sight. It calls for the endurance of the marathon runner — the mental toughness, the steel in the spine — which one encounters when one hits “the wall” around mile 18 of the 26 required to complete the … Read more
So I had just completed my 45-minute evening swim, covering almost a mile, and changed back into my street clothes. Then I stopped on my way home at the Von’s grocery store at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Seaward Avenue to pick up some parmesan cheese for my older daughter Julia, as well as … Read more
So the election returns are in. And my hopes, at the time of this writing the morning after the general election, seem to have been answered: Biden will narrowly win the Presidency, and the Republicans will retain control of the Senate. Neither side won, neither side lost. A very close election providing for split governance. … Read more
It has been months since I had anything to say about politics or the presidential election, but it is now one week away. I claimed I was happy to see Joe Biden drub Bernie Sanders so thoroughly in the primary. I wanted Biden, the Democratic candidate, to win the presidency in November, I claimed; but … Read more
Trudy Rideout went home to her maker today. She died at 1:30 pm on Tuesday October 6, 2020. This ends a life that started on March 11, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. Trudy was my stepmother, a much maligned family role in our popular culture. The negative trope in society is the sullen teenaged girl resentful … Read more
Among my friends and family It is a well known story: how I took my TV out to the desert and blew it up with a shotgun. That was back in 1986. It was a small black and white TV, befitting a college student with no money. But it was a highly symbolic action, and … Read more