Posted on June 27, 2016
Ten days ago Kevin and I were in Duluth, MN. Since then we’ve been to more than one bookstore in more than one small town across Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We stayed three days in Petoskey, just south of the Mackinac Bridge which connects the UP with the mainland. And then we drove down the western side of the state and headed home to Benton Harbor.
As a rule, when I travel I bring work; but this time I didn’t. Instead, I left not only the stationary aspects of my life (piano, ironing, paying bills) but also the creative ones (blogging, working on my newsletter, managing a new publishing company) behind. It was a new experience.
I found I had time just to talk and read and drink coffee with my son. Those are all things he loves to do and does well. He’s also a soccer aficionado; and since some sort of Soccer World Cup was on television, we watched a lot of that together too.
As a professor, Kevin glories in summertime when he doesn’t have to prepare for classes, keep regular office hours, or grade papers. He is free of students, faculty, and administration; and if he thinks about them – and I bet he does – it’s in a peripheral way. So I couldn’t have traveled with a better role model.
I don’t know where the ten days went, but when Kevin left for Chicago this afternoon, I sat down to work with renewed interest. Maybe that’s another benefit to a real vacation.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Travel
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Posted on June 17, 2016
I’ve never been to Duluth, MN, and might never have come now except for my son Kevin’s plans to participate in Grandma’s Marathon tomorrow. It’s the fortieth anniversary running of this event; and it’s being acknowledged in a big way.
This is Kevin’s eighth marathon; and I’ve traveled some distances to be there for more than half of them. There was Chicago, Lake County, Rome, and Boston. Now Duluth.
We were reminiscing and plotting this morning where I would be along the course to yell Kevin’s name and spur him on. Other runners often just see their families at the finish line. But I try to study the course and figure out where I might surprise and encourage him.
Chicago’s course, for instance, made it easy because it was a narrow loop. I could be at the five-mile point and then walk only a few blocks west, see him again at the nineteen-mile marker, and then hightail it to the finish line. The same was true of the cobblestone route in Rome. But Boston and Duluth are point to point courses. And given the traffic on Race Day it is extremely difficult to wait along the way and then get to the finish line to meet up.
My current plan is to be somewhere near the twenty-two-mile marker. Once Kevin passes I’ll walk the remaining four miles to the finish line, rather than drive through the spectator throngs and rerouted traffic patterns in a city I don’t know. I assure you he’ll get there long before I do. Still, this is our tradition . . .
Perhaps I should ask Kevin to consider only looped routes in the future if I’m to continue following him around the country and the world to yell, “Go Kevin.”
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Nostalgia, Special Events
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Posted on June 14, 2016
Every day owns some historical scrip; because of this, various newspapers carry columns of “What Happened on This Day.” So I’ve decided that for today, I’ll offer my own version. It is probably one that won’t be found in local rags.
For instance, on this day in 1381 King Richard II of England met the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt. They had a variety of familiar issues: taxation, political tensions, war and finances. While not well recognized today, the Peasants’ Revolt was significant back then and has been studied inside and out by historians.
In 1642, the first compulsory education law in America was passed by Massachusetts. Keep in mind this was more than a century before the American Revolution.
In 1789, Captain William Bligh reached the Dutch settlement of Timor after traveling 3618 nautical miles in an open boat over six weeks’ time. He was the Captain of the HMS Bounty, when his first mate, Fletcher Christian, and others mutinied and put Bligh and those loyal to him into the open seas, hoping they would perish.
In 1834, sandpaper was patented by Isaac Fischer Jr. But the emery board wasn’t invented until 1910.
In 1923, “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” was the first country music song to be recorded.
And now we’re to the current day when the newspapers take over. But if you really want to cull the richness of any day, Google® “This Day in History” and see what the papers leave out.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Things to Ponder
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Posted on June 13, 2016
Yesterday’s mass killing in Orlando, FL, has already raised the decibel level on the gun control issue once again. And it will command the headlines for a week or so, while the NRA will stand by its slogan: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”
I’m not the first person to weigh in on the slogan, but as a writer I find a serious grammatical flaw in it. And that flaw leads to a flaw in the logic. Of course, it’s highly possible there is nobody left in this country who thinks logically, but I’m offering my two cents anyway.
The NRA’s two sentences can stand by themselves. However, they are connected by a semi-colon. This suggests the two parts are equal. And I think that’s what the NRA wants us to see. But they’re not equal because the subjects are not equal.
I’ve probably lost half my readers already, but I’ll forge on. The subject of the first sentence is “guns.” The subject of the second is “people.” The thing is guns are inanimate objects; people are not. So some of the equality disappears right there.
Consider these two sentences joined by a colon. “Baseballs don’t hit people in the stands in the head; players hit people in the stands in the head.” Would anyone disagree that the batter hit the baseball? And that the baseball then accidentally hit someone? And would anybody disagree that to say, “Players hit people in the stands in the head” changes the discussion altogether? Maybe players used their fists . . .
Or this sentence: “Cars don’t hit people; people hit people.” In both instances, we see that the sentences are not equal because the subjects in the first sentence – baseballs, cars – are not the same as the subject, “people,” in the second sentence.
It’s easy to fix. The NRA slogan should read; “Guns don’t kill people; people with guns kill people.” Or “. . . people kill people with guns.” But that wouldn’t serve the organization’s agenda. And since there are probably fewer grammarians than logicians left in our country, most likely all this will go unnoticed.
Posted on June 7, 2016
Joseph Woodbury of Michigan died on this day in 1944. He was part of the Normandy invasion that turned the tide against Hitler’s Armies. Several Google® inquiries reveal little of his life, not even his date of birth, although he hailed from Michigan where I now live. I learned this from his headstone.
Earl and I visited Normandy in the Spring of 2015. It was my mission to find someone who died on June 7, and was ultimately buried there. We walked the rows of crosses and Stars of David, finding many who had died between June 6, the first day of the invasion, and weeks later. But it was serendipity at work that we found Joseph, who died on June 7 AND was from Michigan.
Today, seventy-two years later, I salute him. For he died on the day I was born; and his sacrifice, along with others, enables me to live free today. Joseph, sleep well.
Posted on June 6, 2016
Where I live, far outside the Chicago city limits, the Sunday Chicago Tribune costs five dollars. I’ve seen it creep toward that amount over the past two years and noticed that I have an easier time finding the Sunday edition. Five dollars seems to be the line in the sand that many newspaper readers won’t cross. I still do, although I wonder what will happen if the price goes higher.
We also get the local paper delivered seven days a week. But it’s thin in many ways: Few pages, mostly syndicated, and what is locally written focuses on sports and obituaries. The abundant typos are included at no extra cost.
So I get the Tribune for a broader view. Yesterday’s edition carried lengthy articles about the passing of Muhammad Ali, the influence of Millennials on today’s world, and the mounting madness that is the presidential race. Yes, it also features the sports and obituaries of Chicagoland. And then there is the travel section, the arts and entertainment, the world, automobiles, real estate, and the comics. It gives me enough reading for a couple nights, which averages $2.50 a reading session.
Looked at this way, the paper costs less than a latte.
Posted on June 5, 2016
Joni Mitchell has nothing on me. Her song, “Both Sides Now,” reveals the perfect fence-sitter’s observations. It studies clouds, moons, Junes, and love from both sides. I get it.
And now that I’m officially becoming a publishing company, I get it even more.
For the past couple years, I’ve tried to entice agents to consider my work. When they’ve expressed interest it’s on the basis of how strong a following I already have and how many copies of a book I think I can deliver from that following. It seemed as if I was doing what used to be an agent’s job. But the shoe is on the other foot now.
As a publisher with a serious monetary investment in my brand, I now understand that publishing houses hope their authors can bring some cred to the table. It’s a pricey proposition to print a certain number of copies of a book and not know if you can sell them. So there’s comfort in hoping the budding author can help.
Which brings me to Philip & Phoebe, the first offering of my new company, Spectacled Bear Publishing. If you are reading this and would like to help, please sign up for my monthly newsletter either at www.spectacledbear.com or www.annebrandt.com.
As the publisher, I appreciate your support. And, as the author of Philip & Phoebe, you’ll help me with credibility. In time, I hope to feature other authors that you’ll want to know about too.
Posted on June 4, 2016
Waylon and Johnny are dead. Kris is still into music but has a form of dementia as he approaches eighty. And Willie . . . is just Willie. At eighty-three, he’s still on the road making music with his friends.
But tonight, compliments of PBS, I saw these four country singers in a concert filmed in 1990 when all four were at the top of their games. In addition to solo careers and careers with some of their wives, these iconic country singers (Nelson, Jennings, Cash, and Kristofferson), rebels all, collaborated as The Highwaymen. They performed around the country; they participated in LiveAid; they recorded albums together. Mostly they just played music.
There were no strobe lights back then. No screens behind the band showing distracting images. No scripted pitter-patter. Just four men who enjoyed each other’s company as they took turns singing and picking.
Time slipped away as I watched this footage of over twenty-five years ago. It returned me to where I was in 1990: taking Willie’s “Always On My Mind” to heart, helping children leave home, knowing I would divorce my husband and follow.
It was an hour and a half of memory lane with no capital letters, but with sweet thoughts about that music and, yes, even that time in my life.
See more 10 Minutes in category Nostalgia
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Posted on May 30, 2016
It’s official. Donald Trump has enough delegates to be the nominee of the Republican Party once the convention convenes this summer. A year ago, nobody would have believed it. Which means the people who say he will never be elected President of the United States might want to remember that those who don’t learn from history are prone to repeat it.
Trump is a master marketer. There have already been mountains of print written about him, miles of interviews following his every action, and many opponents left in his wake. There is nothing I can add that would bring something new to the table. I have no inside track, no connections with his former wives, no interest in being his apprentice. So why bother posting about Donald Trump at all?
Because it’s Memorial Day, that last Monday in May where we honor those who have fallen in battle for our country. Those who stood tall in the face of adversity. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. Didn’t contradict their beliefs.
I wonder what they would think of The Donald.
See more 10 Minutes in category 2016 Election, Special Events
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Posted on May 29, 2016
This blog isn’t about the Royal Family or the Blake Shelton-Miranda Lambert divorce with a side of Gwen Stefani. No, it’s about Costco and American Express.
Perhaps you’re not a Costco member, so this may not seem important. But if you are, and your membership is tied to an American Express card, then you know Costco will no longer honor that card after June 20, 2016. Instead Costco has found a new partner in Citi. Those shoppers who had Amex need to get used to it.
Even though I’ve followed this business situation for the past few months, I’m still unclear as to the real reasons for the break-up. But I suspect money has a lot to do with it. Either Amex didn’t feel it was getting enough of a discount or Costco felt it was paying too much. There was also the added issue of cash back on purchases.
As with most break-ups, the parties have tried to be civil, using their legal and marketing departments to full advantage. I can’t tell you how many flyers and letters and brochures I’ve received giving me a blow-by-blow. And, a couple days ago, my new Citi card arrived in the mail, with no muss or fuss or application process.
If this were a real divorce, I’m in the position of the offspring who is not consulted but has to live with the consequences. I don’t even get visiting privileges with Amex.
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