Sunday, March 10, 2024

The Atomic Room


 Oppenheimer is expected to win big at tonight's Oscars.  The Sun Times today features a walking tour of the University of Chicago where many atomic age discoveries were made.  

There's another location downtown that I remember fondly amidst the excitement.

I was a low level staff member on Adlai Stevenson's second campaign.  Our headquarters were located at the old 69 West Washington building.  My job took place in a closed off room which I was told housed atomic secrets during World War II.  

What I, and my colleague MaryAnn, was doing was secret too.  We operated a little machine holding an ink pen which replicated Stevenson's signature.  We applied the signature to letters to important people.  The letters looked like they were "signed by hand."

So many secrets.  Everywhere.



Friday, March 8, 2024

On or Off?


 It's primary season in Illinois.  People are already voting in anticipation of election day on March 19.  Donald Trump made it onto the ballot.  States Rights be damned, the Supreme Court made sure of that.

I chuckle imagining if Trump had been stuck at the local level.  Political operatives and lawyers have made whole careers out of keeping people on and off the ballot here.  It's a time honored sport in which those operatives play on either side.

Aside from keeping us from some statewide fun, I believe the Supremes were very shortsighted.  If Trump regains the Presidency and the Court then makes a ruling he doesn't like, do you think he will "obey the law"?  The Supreme Court has no enforcement power.  They could be in for a big "No thank you."




Sunday, March 3, 2024

Life's Purpose?


 I'm not sure if lives have any "purpose."  But I, and everyone I've talked to about this, seem to want to give our life some meaning.  It satisfies some need.  And, we want the purpose to be a noble one.  Not something mean, evil or trivial.  Most important, we want to decide.

These ideas exist in a sea of other ideas. Is our life decided by karma?  God's plan?  A higher power? Randomness?

Of these choices, I''ll acknowledge randomness.  Every choice we make can be interrupted without notice.  The effort remains worthwhile.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sliding Doors


 Sliding Doors is a film that Bill produced in 1998.  It addressed a universal theme:  how our lives are affected by the decisions we make.  In this case, the story covers the two paths the character's life could take depending upon whether she catches a train.  It stars Gwyneth Paltrow as the girl with "two lives." Most of us spend a lot of mental energy contemplating "what if I had done this instead."  I know I do.  

Lately, in listening to the radio and TV, I've noticed that the expression "sliding doors" has come into our conversations.  As in "he had a sliding doors moment."  It's not often that a film title becomes part of our language that everyone understands.

Yogi Berra thought about it too: "When you reach a fork in the road, take it."

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Decent Guys


 When I wake up in the middle of the night, I usually listen to a podcast and eventually fall back asleep. Usually, I have only a vague memory of what the podcast was about.  But sometimes I am so interested that I remain awake.

The Bill Bradley interview was compelling.  You remember him:  the basketball champion who became a Senator and then ran for President.  I was a volunteer for that last campaign.  He lost out to Al Gore.

Bradley has developed a one man show about his life and his values.  He's taken it around the country and there's a video of it streaming on Max.  He says he hopes his story will bring some healing to us and the country.

Bill Bradley and Al Gore.  Imagine when we had a choice between two very decent guys.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

A New Look


 I've spent the last few days enjoying a new look at life.  My brain has been stretched by seeing alternative expectations.

On Friday, I saw The Monk and the Gun.  This is a film that Bill's production company financed and encouraged.  For a few hours I watched another way to be human.  It is funny, deep and persuasive.  I hope it becomes on of those stories that sticks around for a long time.  We need it.

Yesterday I watched the Netflix documentary about the creation of the anthem We Are The World. All of the top stars in popular music left their agents and handlers outside the room.  The collaboration demanded community over competition.  It was magic.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S.  Hundreds of millions will watch the intense competition.  I'm one of them.  Is this what unites us here today?


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Somewhere Out There...


 

My head hurts thinking about it, but in reading about 1968, I’m reminded  that our Mission to the Moon was happening at the same time as the Vietnam War raged on.


That year, the message from the Apollo 8 Space Capsule was a reading from the book of Genesis in the Bible.  


What if, instead, it had been something like this:


Message to the Universe


We have human beings here who are smart enough to have invented this device which ushers in our presence in outer space. But, even though we possess so much intelligence, we are in deep trouble.  We have not been able to figure out how to live peacefully with each other.


We have also not been wise enough to respect our natural habitat.  Our life style is destroying this planet to the point where we can actually envision our extinction.  Yet no one has the will to turn things around.


If you hear this message and are more advanced, we could surely use your help.