Category: History

Sunday Morning Reading

As summer transitons into Fall we’re back at lovely Lake LuLu for the last weekend of the season. So lake time takes precedence over reading. But with cooler climes ahead that will change, much like the seasons. Nevertheless here’s a few Sunday Morning Reading topics to share. Enjoy.

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The world of politics seems crazier and crazier by the moment. Much of the current focus in on, well you know what and who it is on. There’s also focus on the Supreme Court for the cauldron of corruption that place is, leading us to often overlook some of the cases. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Community Financial Services Association is one we should keep an eye on. Essentially, if the plantiff prevails much of the Federal Government would be declared unconstitutional. Ian Millhiser has a good luck at the case in A New Supreme Court Case Could Trigger A Second Great Depression. On the one hand it seems seems silly, but on the other quite dangerous, given the climate we’re in.

Is the American Dream still a dream or a nightmare. Belen Fernandez tackles that in On the Road Towards the American Nightmare. Excellent piece.

The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases by McKenize Funk tells us a bit about Hank Asher, the ‘King of Databrokers.’ He’s had and his legacy continues to have more influence on our lives than most of us realize. Did you know you have a Shadow SSN?

David Todd McCarthy takes on the legacy of Jimmy Buffet and the culture he created and the business he crafted from it in The Lost Shaker of Salt Has a Dark Side.

Is there such a thing as children having a Nature Deficit Disorder? Chris Thompson tackles that while Sliding Down Hills on Cardboard.

Ron Grossman digs into the Chicago Tribune archives and pulls out fascinating stuff in this piece about Black and Tan nightclubs in Chicago. Check out In Segregated Chicago, Black and Tans Provided Lively NIghtlife in the Early 20th Century. 

And lastly, this Atlantic piece, The Patriot,  by Jeffrery Goldberg on retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley is worth a read.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

The Ties That Bind

I wrote a little something on the Medium publication Rome Magazine about poltics, my grandfather, and how nothing much has really changed when it comes to the political animals that we are. We just don’t hide behind the facades we like to show the world as much. 

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Hope you check out The Ties That Bind. Thanks to David Todd McCarty for letting me publish on Rome Magazine.Good stuff and good writers there.

Sunday Morning Reading

Celebrating the grandson’s second birthday this weekend but there’s still a bit of Sunday Morning Reading to share. As usual it’s a myriad collection of writing on different topics featuring some history, some politics, some Shakespeare, and some writers with some personal things to share.

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First up are a couple of interesting pieces about Shakespeare. In August Drew Lichtenberg wrote a provoking piece in the New York Times about the latest attempts to cancel Shakespeare in the wake of all of the current nonsense going on in educational and political circles. The title, Cancel Shakespeare, might turn you off. Don’t let it. It’s worth a read for the turn.

In a follow up to that piece, Shakespeare’s ‘Sublimely, Disturbingly Smutty Effect’ Must Endure, Lichtenbeg lists some Shakespearean passages that readers say “got their blood flowing.”

And while I’m sharing pieces on how politicians think banning and banishing books, topics and history can change the future, this Politico piece by James Traub, Virginia Went to War Over History. And Students Actually Came Out on Top is worth considering. This in depth piece is worth hanging on to if we ever come to our senses and someone chronicles this period of insanity for future generations.

And speaking of history, you might not (or might) be sipping some whiskey with your Sunday Morning Reading, but this piece from Jason Willick on What a 1790’s Rebellion Shows About the Campaign to Disqualify Trump takes us back to the Whisky Rebellion. It’s worth considering in light of all the talk about the 14th Amendment disqualifying Trump from holding office again. FWIW I wrote a little something about that here.

And one thing follows another. Nate White, a British writer, delivers a terrific takedown of the orange guy in British Writer Pens The Best Description of Trump I’ve Read.

Jay Rosen is always worth following if you’re interested in what’s going on in journalism. This sketch of a lecture he was going to give in 2013 resurfaced in my feeds and I thought “Old Testatment and New Testatment Journalism” was worth sharing.

And on a somewhat personal note, I’ve contributed a few pieces to a Medium publiciation Ellemeno, thanks to the prodding of David Todd McCarty. The publication hosts some excellent writers with fantastic writing from a personal perspective.

I recommend two such pieces here if you want to get a taste. First up is McCarty’s All On My Own. As he describes it: “The art of being alone without being lonely, or one man’s semi-solitary adventure through time and space.”

Next up is Natasha MH with Why Are You Obssesed With Me? I’m thinking it has something to do with her writing.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

There You Go

I wrote a little something that I’ll share a link to here. It’s a little something about race in my hometown, growing up, and reunions in a mountain top restaurant sitting astride a country line. 

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You can find the piece called There You Go on Ellemeno, a publication on Medium. There’s an excellent collection of writers there.

Thanks to David Todd McCarty for letting me put my words down there.