Blog

  Today I waited at Cedar Riverside light rail station for a friend. We were going to walk and chat about our memories of the area. He, and his father before him, had attended the nearby Augsburg College. [See his blog post.] 100 years ago, the Cedar Riverside area of Minneapolis was the first American home… Continue reading My America

The other day I came across an article at wired.com with the click-bait title: 10 Perfect Gifts for your Favorite Long-Haul Traveler. I was skeptical right out of the starting gate: I travel light, a declaration I repeat ad nauseam. Recently I renewed my passport, and opted for the version with more pages as I was running… Continue reading Imperfect Gifts for Long-Haul Travelers

If I die in a distant place, my instructions are simple. No coffin, no embalming, just have me cremated then shipped back in a generic box to Minneapolis. That’s it: one final flight to MSP, then scatter my ashes somewhere. Lakewood Cemetery would be a fine place for The Scattering. It’s beautifully maintained by a… Continue reading A Carny’s Final Journey

This week we welcomed a personal assistant into our home. Or, to be more precise, FedEx delivered a Google Assistant. It’s a stubby, round box you plug into the wall. It listens for our commands and talks to us via surprisingly good speakers. It connects to Google services over WiFi. It sits in a corner… Continue reading Our Personal Kitchen Assistant

The term “hidden city” conjures up all sorts of romantic notions: a Mayan city lost in a jungle; a Soviet-era science city excluded from maps; abandoned tunnels under a city, beyond the rule of law. It’s also part of a strategy some people use to save a lot of money when traveling. I’ve posted about my plan… Continue reading Hidden Cities

In 1960, in a school playground in Northern England, boys were grabbing younger boys and demanding: “Nixon or Kennedy?” If you answered “Nixon” you got roughed up. All the boys were answering “Kennedy” so I answered “Nixon.” I was nine. My nephews are eight and nine. I wonder if last week’s election has inspired bullying… Continue reading My Post-Election Microblog

This morning I photographed my shadow, firmly attached to me. Although it was almost noon, the sun was quite low in the sky. In 1847 Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Shadow, a short story that talks to the present time. Here’s the bare details: A man gave his shadow permission to leave and explore the… Continue reading The Meaning of Shadows

A strange thing happened today as I was jogging slowly round our neighborhood lake, Lake of the Isles. A diminutive older woman was trying to catch my attention. She announced proudly in a Russian accent that she was voting for the Republican candidate for President. “Very good, very good” she declared to prove her case. By… Continue reading A Strange Election