Catchy Tunes Young Joseph Ratzinger, now the Holy Father, would have sung the Horst Wessel Leid, just like the other kids. Perhaps he did it unwillingly, but someone would have noticed if he did not and reported him. The old Brownshirt Anthem to the punk to died in the street fighting other punks was appended to […]

Good News, Bad News It is a good news, bad news morning. I am up too early, a function of going to bed the same way. But it is raining, and will rain all day, which means there will be time for napping. So there is an upside to this time of creativity, in that […]

Rain, Rain I threw open the door to the patio and stepped out. I could smell earth, rich and musty. The rain had been coming down all night, and the division between dry and wet under the overhang of the deck over my patio was indeterminate, uncertain. I looked out past the pool and the […]

Succession I’ll touch lightly on the biggest event of the week, which is not the sad loss of the Nationals under the lights last night to the Marlins, nor the prospect of the violent thunderstorms that could come with the collision of cold air with humid mass that has brought temperatures almost to the 90s. It is […]

Smoke Signals Everyone looked for smoke today, looking up at the roof of the Sistine Chapel. They got it right this morning, dark and thick, which they did not yesterday. The burning of the first ballot by the Conclave of Cardinals was ambiguous. The crowd began to shout with anticipation, since the first whiffs from […]

Take Me Out It was the most glorious of days, a little cool, perhaps, but the tips of the trees are pastel tinged, and you don’t have a hair on your ass if the top of your car is not down. I got the morning chores done, the dry cleaners, and gas (gulp!) and the […]

QWERTY I can’t type in the morning, arthritis or delirium, I don’t know. I can’t read, either, since the font size that comes up as “normal” in Microsoft Word is so tiny that it may as well be invisible. I have to go back and adjust it to twelve, or even fourteen pitch. I know […]

Unto Caesar If you listened really hard, you might be able to hear the cries of the missing and the dead through the open window. It is season ably cool in the darkness, for this position of the planet in its orbit around the sun. President Lincoln was shot on the day that the Earth […]

Varnish It is the eve of the Fiesta in San Antonio, and the Ferris Wheel has already been erected on South Santa Rosa Boulevard. It will be four days of lights and excess in commemoration of this city’s history and people. It is cool this morning, and still dark. The birds are massing to fly […]

The Bubble I am out the door for Texas this morning, leaving too early because the flights I wanted were not available. The flying weather looks good, no storms between me and the Lone Star State, and only one plane change in Chicago. It could be a valuable trip, opening some doors at the Command […]