Beyond Time

 

Are you tired of remembering the end-of-season meltdown of the White Sox?  Or the miserable start-of-season performance of the Bulls?  Here's a new idea:  Eternal Baseball.

A team is assembled from the stats of today and yesteryear.  The best of the best beyond the "mortal coil".  Your teams is matched against the other team's best, including some teams that moved around or disappeared.  I'm following the Sox.

Is this the reason "Finding Your Roots" is such a popular TV show?  Why people are submitting DNA to connect with the heroes (or villains) on their family tree?

Time has always been terrifying to us self-aware humans.  And so far, eternity has been beyond purchase.  So, why not have fun with Eternal Baseball.  Or, for that matter, Eternal Parents, Eternal Friends, or Eternal Leaders.

The Eternal White Sox of the American League won their first game.  Doc White pitched a four hit shutout to beat Eternal Baltimore 6-0.

Writers and Their Characters

 

I've carried around a fascination about when an author decides to end the life of one of his most favorite characters.  A character that has been lovingly followed through several books.  A character that has brought the author fame and fortune.

As I cry about the death, does the author cry too?  What goes into the decision?  My friend Rex, an author himself, says: "Maybe he just got tired. Ready to write about someone else."

But what about the connection?  The relationship?  Isn't the character "real" in some way?  Isn't it a "death?"

Walter Mosley killed off Easy Rawlins and went on to write a completely new series in a new town.  That takes some kind of confidence.

The writer owns the story.  The reader owns the story of his life.

My Electric Date

 

My friend Craig had been waiting for his Tesla for a long time.  So long, that the "locked in" price he had negotiated with the dealer had gone up on the street by about $10,000.  "Are you tempted to just take your profit and sell it?", I asked him last summer.  He smiled the smile of a satisfied man.  "We'll probably keep it."

Today was my first ride.  "Did you have to pledge allegiance to Elon Musk to take possession?",  I said as I climbed into the black beauty. Craig is used to me being snarky.  Snarky turned into astonishment as Craig pointed out all of the features.

The climactic moment came when he turned onto good old Lake Shore Drive and went into the self-driving mode.  The Tesla didn't notice the homeless tent in the park but it did notice traffic and adjusted accordingly. I climbed out of my horse and buggy mind into the mysterious future. Thanks, Craig.

Wow.

Who Do We Love?

 

Hershel Walker and Brett Favre Were Football Gods.  It Should Have Ended There.  When I saw this article in the Washington Post I nodded my head in agreement and then I started to think.

Athletic stars have never shared more of the spotlight than they do today.  We are a culture craving endless distraction and the media moguls know how to extract every available profit from our infinite goodwill.

Walker and Favre have stepped deep into it.  They deserve whatever fate awaits.  But why shouldn't a athletic star enter politics?  Or any other endeavor?  We can look at them anew. If fame gives you a leg up,  I trust that as much or more than I trust a billion dollars.  Don't you?

End of Days?

 

I went to my favorite park today to soak up the gorgeous weather.  The sign on the fence said:  WARNING:  WATCH OUT FOR AGGRESSIVE BLACKBIRDS.  What?  Now I have to add this to my list? Arthritis, inflation, global warming, Republicans?  I know my days are numbered but this is too much!

P.S.  I didn't see any of the doomsday messengers.  Just the little sparrows that populate our lives without worry.

A Long Time Leftie Loses Her Mind

 

I can't help it.  Whenever I see Merrick Garland, I see the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover.  When I see those earnest FBI agents in their black suits and tiny ties explaining it all on TV, I think of those same agents roaming the Chicago Stadium, snapping our pictures as we listened to Martin Luther King.

Trump walked away with nuclear secrets.  Just like the Rosenbergs, right?  

Lori Lightfoot is Mayor.  I wonder what Fred Hampton could have become.

A Mystery Emerges

 

Are you as bowled over as I am about Liz Cheney?  Just the name Cheney still sends shivers down my spine.  And now, even as the shivers remain, I have to add the name Liz and come up with a new reaction.

My friends say that after the hearings she will go back to all of her policies that we despise.  We laugh about whether the few Democrats in Wyoming should cross over to support her.

I just read a thoughtful article by Monica Hesse about the Liz phenomenon.  She puts it all together beautifully.  I am more inclined to add it to the pile of "mysteries of life" which  keep me humble.  Thank goodness they keep me still curious and engaged.