Garrison, your wisdom and humor permeate every column. But old age has also brought you a fatalism that isn't necessary and is disturbing. The Dem's may be running in circles, a chicken without a head, but we can't just go down into retreat. Most of us don't have Minnesota farms. I do have the Chicago lakefront that is ever-inspiring and awe-producing. But then I turn to walk in the city and see the homeless encampment and the new Venezuelan refugee shelters the city has established. And I feel some compunction to do what I can to move the homeless and the asylum-seekers into better habitation. We can't give up the fight and wait for the next millenium where camomile tea wins over the double bourbon. Maybe it's the Camus in me, but we have to keep pushing the rock uphill, now.
Bravo to you. I'm not complacent, I'm realistic. Outright morons are in tight competitive races with serious candidates. This is ridiculous. I'm going out for popcorn.
Garrison is good; I've enjoyed him for forty years. He is also privileged. In this political climate, to not use his privilege in positive, compassionate and unselfish ways trumps his wit and longevity. I am no longer a fan. Be well, do GOOD work, and call me for a list of candidates to support.
I've donated money to good people, I did what I could, and now I can see defeat coming towards us. At some point, you have to see the headlights approaching.
I watched Judy Woodruff interviewing Liz Cheney on PBS NewsHour on Tues. evening and felt a little more optimistic when I learned that Liz is actually endorsing several Democratic candidates who are running against tRump-loving election deniers. She said that she has never voted for a Democrat in her life, but is going to next week. Unfortunately the people who might be influenced by what she said in the interview probably have never watched NewsHour.
This is great, but I have to ask--what took her so long? And where are people like Mitt Romney, the conservatives who sit back and seem uncomfortable with the so-called GOP's slide toward fascism but offer little or no support to the people who are trying to save American democracy?
How historical this all seems. The early twentieth century, right after the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and the beginning of the Second World War and the United States foreign policy of isolationism and the fall of Europe. Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights marches and the police brutality during those demonstrations, the Race Riots in the 1960's and segregation of the public schools and colleges in America.
How are things that different than it is now? There is still the injustice. There is still poverty. There is still war. Death and disease still are effecting and taking loved on. Haven't we learned anything to correct and stop these horrors. Do greed and power over others always have to take precedence over justice and fairness? Are we forced to repeat these histories time and time again?
Nope. Of course not. While Putin may make all this moot with one button push, we must do what our parents and ancestors have always done: take one step to help, then another, then another. If we disappear in a ball of flame or ultimately to greed and power, at least we can look our children in the eye.
You're right Ryn, it does all start with each of us. What kind of world are we leaving to our children and grandchildren? It frightens me, they deserve so much better. I only hope we could get passed the disfunction and hatred that seems to permeate society. Does it have to get to the breaking point before real change can happen? I hope not. Thanks for your comment.
This morning I saw where someone broke into the home of an elderly man in California and attacked him with a hammer. But what is actually distressing about this attack is that many politicians and people in the media are laughing about it and making fun of the victim and his family. And many people are flocking to vote for politicians who mock and laugh at someone who was attacked with a hammer.
Yes, Garrison, if one wants to be depressed and pessimistic, there is lots to be depressed about.
Fortunes are still being made peddling hate and division. If someone is selling something, it means that someone is buying. Apparently there is a big market for hate and resentment.
But we all know that there is a lot of bad things and bad people with world. But there are also lots of good people and good things in the world. Although news about the bad sells better.
We can chose to focus on the bad or focus on the good.
I might be wrong but I believe that Emerson was pastor of a church who decided that he no longer believed what he was preaching so he gave up the pastorship of said church. You don't hear of that often.
So focus on being grateful and seeing the good. That seems to be the message of Jesus, Buddha, Epicurus, and many others.
Glad to see that your shows are doing well and wishing you the best with your shows.
Yes!!! I too want to find a place to escape with my physical books and real musical instruments and LPs and stereo and just enjoy the best of life and stop worrying about it all. However, I will carry on fighting this fight to salvage our nation and our humanity by voting next week and encouraging my young adult son to do the same.
I voted early back in Minnesota and was discouraged to be one of the only ones at the polling place. The turnout rate of young adults is incredibly low. What do people need to awaken them?
If you let me know where and when, I will bring the hot dogs, s'mores, and Emerson. We can do this, whatever 'this' means. Garrison, whose PHC I've loved and depended upon for decades, has earned the right to reflect and let go in certain ways. He has paid his dues. But I believe in his poets, and doing the good work, and the lights we see approaching don't hold a candle to all the work he has done getting us to this point. Steady on, friends; thank you Garrison.
I started keeping quotations I liked in a Word document a number of years ago. No organization to the quotations. The newest quote just added after the previous entry. I have not added anything in the last 6 months - long election season. I liked the first Emerson quote in your column and added it to my random list. I then noticed the last entry before was a Thich Nhat Hanh poem:
Thank you for those quotes from Emerson. I printed your column out with the two quotes and plan to start carrying it with me to read when I get stressed out and these days mean I will be reading them a couple of times a day.
Hang in there, Mr. K! That low branch must have given you quite a whack to your cranium and likely temporarily shut down your cerebrum's frontal lobe where the common sense and logic happen to be!
Yes, it does seem like they are out to get us, but our marvelous Constitution continues to save us from going under. So we go forth from presidents Kennedy....and on to Biden and long-lasting Congresspersons, some of whom have been there way too long. But still we float. Those forbears of ours have kept us afloat, still taking nourishment too .
So, there's no need for you to shuffle off to Melrose or Freeport with its smiling water tower. You're safe wherever you are, I do believe, either NYC or points west. So, let's trust our forbears and try to stop the whackos before they whack someone again..
I'm glad you're not giving up. Thoreau said something like why would I want to read about something I can't see. So Minnesota sounds good but Aarroostiic county is closer. And remember what he said to Walden Pond 'bout the first frost... 'I'm outta here...keep the cabin."
I learned to swim in Walden Pond. It is very deep and spring-fed with no inlets or outlets and the water was often chilly on overcast days in July. It hasn't frozen over in recent years, but we used to ice skate on it in colder winters in the 1950s and 1960s.
I'VE BEEN THERE ONCE (THERE IS MUCH COOL STUFF BETWEEN bow Lake n h AND cONCORD Mass-TODAY THE SPOUSE AND I DROVE THE plumb island RESERVE /I CLIMBED ONE OF THR TOWERS)
How dystopian! Wonderful!
Garrison, your wisdom and humor permeate every column. But old age has also brought you a fatalism that isn't necessary and is disturbing. The Dem's may be running in circles, a chicken without a head, but we can't just go down into retreat. Most of us don't have Minnesota farms. I do have the Chicago lakefront that is ever-inspiring and awe-producing. But then I turn to walk in the city and see the homeless encampment and the new Venezuelan refugee shelters the city has established. And I feel some compunction to do what I can to move the homeless and the asylum-seekers into better habitation. We can't give up the fight and wait for the next millenium where camomile tea wins over the double bourbon. Maybe it's the Camus in me, but we have to keep pushing the rock uphill, now.
I'm glad you're pushing the rock up the hill. I'm cheering for you. I'm 80 and have a new heart valve and I'm going to be a cheerful writer.
BULLSHIT!
Complacency is cowardice.
America is under attack from the radicalized right wing.
You are babbling to the demise of the Republic.
Bravo to you. I'm not complacent, I'm realistic. Outright morons are in tight competitive races with serious candidates. This is ridiculous. I'm going out for popcorn.
A great way to start the day, reading the wisdom of Garrison Keillor. There's a reason he endures: He's good!
Garrison is good; I've enjoyed him for forty years. He is also privileged. In this political climate, to not use his privilege in positive, compassionate and unselfish ways trumps his wit and longevity. I am no longer a fan. Be well, do GOOD work, and call me for a list of candidates to support.
I've donated money to good people, I did what I could, and now I can see defeat coming towards us. At some point, you have to see the headlights approaching.
I watched Judy Woodruff interviewing Liz Cheney on PBS NewsHour on Tues. evening and felt a little more optimistic when I learned that Liz is actually endorsing several Democratic candidates who are running against tRump-loving election deniers. She said that she has never voted for a Democrat in her life, but is going to next week. Unfortunately the people who might be influenced by what she said in the interview probably have never watched NewsHour.
Right on
This is great, but I have to ask--what took her so long? And where are people like Mitt Romney, the conservatives who sit back and seem uncomfortable with the so-called GOP's slide toward fascism but offer little or no support to the people who are trying to save American democracy?
I needed this very badly. Thank you!
Good November 02 2022 !
Minnesota in the Morning.......with Garrison ;)
I think we all could use a break from this chaos.......and then get right back to doing what we do best.....
How historical this all seems. The early twentieth century, right after the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and the beginning of the Second World War and the United States foreign policy of isolationism and the fall of Europe. Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights marches and the police brutality during those demonstrations, the Race Riots in the 1960's and segregation of the public schools and colleges in America.
How are things that different than it is now? There is still the injustice. There is still poverty. There is still war. Death and disease still are effecting and taking loved on. Haven't we learned anything to correct and stop these horrors. Do greed and power over others always have to take precedence over justice and fairness? Are we forced to repeat these histories time and time again?
Nope. Of course not. While Putin may make all this moot with one button push, we must do what our parents and ancestors have always done: take one step to help, then another, then another. If we disappear in a ball of flame or ultimately to greed and power, at least we can look our children in the eye.
You're right Ryn, it does all start with each of us. What kind of world are we leaving to our children and grandchildren? It frightens me, they deserve so much better. I only hope we could get passed the disfunction and hatred that seems to permeate society. Does it have to get to the breaking point before real change can happen? I hope not. Thanks for your comment.
This morning I saw where someone broke into the home of an elderly man in California and attacked him with a hammer. But what is actually distressing about this attack is that many politicians and people in the media are laughing about it and making fun of the victim and his family. And many people are flocking to vote for politicians who mock and laugh at someone who was attacked with a hammer.
Yes, Garrison, if one wants to be depressed and pessimistic, there is lots to be depressed about.
Fortunes are still being made peddling hate and division. If someone is selling something, it means that someone is buying. Apparently there is a big market for hate and resentment.
But we all know that there is a lot of bad things and bad people with world. But there are also lots of good people and good things in the world. Although news about the bad sells better.
We can chose to focus on the bad or focus on the good.
I might be wrong but I believe that Emerson was pastor of a church who decided that he no longer believed what he was preaching so he gave up the pastorship of said church. You don't hear of that often.
So focus on being grateful and seeing the good. That seems to be the message of Jesus, Buddha, Epicurus, and many others.
Glad to see that your shows are doing well and wishing you the best with your shows.
Yes!!! I too want to find a place to escape with my physical books and real musical instruments and LPs and stereo and just enjoy the best of life and stop worrying about it all. However, I will carry on fighting this fight to salvage our nation and our humanity by voting next week and encouraging my young adult son to do the same.
I voted early back in Minnesota and was discouraged to be one of the only ones at the polling place. The turnout rate of young adults is incredibly low. What do people need to awaken them?
I'm still looking for those campfires of civility in the darkness. They are getting harder to find.
With all due respect, start a campfire of your own. The light will attract many others.
Finally. Advice I can use. Thank you.
If you let me know where and when, I will bring the hot dogs, s'mores, and Emerson. We can do this, whatever 'this' means. Garrison, whose PHC I've loved and depended upon for decades, has earned the right to reflect and let go in certain ways. He has paid his dues. But I believe in his poets, and doing the good work, and the lights we see approaching don't hold a candle to all the work he has done getting us to this point. Steady on, friends; thank you Garrison.
I started keeping quotations I liked in a Word document a number of years ago. No organization to the quotations. The newest quote just added after the previous entry. I have not added anything in the last 6 months - long election season. I liked the first Emerson quote in your column and added it to my random list. I then noticed the last entry before was a Thich Nhat Hanh poem:
In - Out
Deep - Slow
Calm - Ease
Smile - Release
Present Moment - Wonderful Moment
On my plate
The miracle
Of daily bread
Thank you for those quotes from Emerson. I printed your column out with the two quotes and plan to start carrying it with me to read when I get stressed out and these days mean I will be reading them a couple of times a day.
Hang in there, Mr. K! That low branch must have given you quite a whack to your cranium and likely temporarily shut down your cerebrum's frontal lobe where the common sense and logic happen to be!
Yes, it does seem like they are out to get us, but our marvelous Constitution continues to save us from going under. So we go forth from presidents Kennedy....and on to Biden and long-lasting Congresspersons, some of whom have been there way too long. But still we float. Those forbears of ours have kept us afloat, still taking nourishment too .
So, there's no need for you to shuffle off to Melrose or Freeport with its smiling water tower. You're safe wherever you are, I do believe, either NYC or points west. So, let's trust our forbears and try to stop the whackos before they whack someone again..
Oh, yeah! And beware those low branches.
I'm glad you're not giving up. Thoreau said something like why would I want to read about something I can't see. So Minnesota sounds good but Aarroostiic county is closer. And remember what he said to Walden Pond 'bout the first frost... 'I'm outta here...keep the cabin."
I learned to swim in Walden Pond. It is very deep and spring-fed with no inlets or outlets and the water was often chilly on overcast days in July. It hasn't frozen over in recent years, but we used to ice skate on it in colder winters in the 1950s and 1960s.
I'VE BEEN THERE ONCE (THERE IS MUCH COOL STUFF BETWEEN bow Lake n h AND cONCORD Mass-TODAY THE SPOUSE AND I DROVE THE plumb island RESERVE /I CLIMBED ONE OF THR TOWERS)
Thank you, Garrison. I feel a little better now, on top of living in rural Minnesota.
Do you have a guest bedroom?: