They live secure in our vault where everything we hold dear is ferociously guarded. We understand their importance, their irreplaceability. Make no mistake, we appreciate their value. We know this as instinctively as a hungry child reaches to suckle her mother’s breast. The way we act, what we feel, our perceptions, our jealousies and our fears all possess a direct line to them. Often we close our eyes and drift, opening the vault in search of (more…)
Every August Beloit College publishes what they call The Mindset List. It’s a puddle of facts designed to illuminate the rest of us about things which help shape the worldview of the incoming college freshman class. (The most recent list contained such sobering thoughts as “Amazon has never been just a river in South America” and “The Communist Party has never been the official political party in Russia.”) But the list does more than that. It also shows (more…)
Everywhere we turn we’re told what we can’t do. Just once I’d like to come across a sign that said, “Yes, you can do that!” Yes, you can park here on Saturday! Yes, you can go into the water without a lifeguard present! Yes, you can enter without proper authorization! Yes, you can bring in outside snacks! Yes, you can be seated without (more…)
I first heard about Trader Joe’s 5 or 6 years ago. A store opened a solid 45 minutes north of me and was an instant success. I never bothered with it. Whenever one of the converted discovered I had never been a look of astonishment crossed their face. “You gotta go, dude! It’s amazing!” The accolades were never-ending and I thought, “All this for a food store? A food store??”
If praise is constant and consistent a moment comes when you begin to feel as if (more…)
Remember when the car embodied total freedom, when its main purpose was not utilitarian, rather something far more exciting? Remember when hitting the road filled you with the absolute conviction that literally anything was possible? Anything! Man, I’d be twitching with anxiety, ready to hop in and just drive. Whether a few hours of local cruising or several days of long distance journeying, the very act of driving offered deliverance on promises barely explainable, yet brimming with profound meaning. Sometimes I’d seek out new places, exotic in their (more…)
It’s a fun and busy time for the hard-pedaling news cyclists, filled with stories of great interest and import. Here’s a smattering of recent goodies which set the nation’s gums flapping.
Wendy’s Unveils “Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy Burger”
The first Wendy’s opened in 1969. Now in 2011 they have come to the realization that “hot and juicy” is how we peoples loves our burgers. One must applaud Wendy’s (Applause!) for their blunt honesty, admitting they didn’t know something backyard grill-meisters have known since the advent of controlled outdoor cooking and mankind has known since taking its first bite of cooked meat. Wendy’s, bless their adorable naivety, basically said, (more…)
Church bells tolled throughout the morning.
For America this is a day of remembrance and solemn ceremony, a day swimming with emotion. Today these emotions clash, tumble and spill together with heightened potency and poignancy. Sadness mixed with anger mixed with grief mixed with frustration mixed with loss mixed with melancholy mixed with pain mixed with love.
Today is also much more. Today is today.
Today is a day to hold (more…)
A 42 year-old woman in the Netherlands was recently arrested for stalking her 62 year-old ex-boyfriend. The charge alleges she phoned him 65,000 times over the course of a year. This figure was determined after police seized her cell phone and computer and their techies performed whatever voodoo they do to extract this type of information. When confronted with this total she claimed 65,000 calls were not excessive. Interestingly enough, the man claimed (more…)
Trask Avenue 
the collective
Posted: October 25, 2011 in Observations and CommentaryTags: Al Jarreau, blogging, collective, Halle Berry, interwebs, random, Versatile Blogger, viral, We Are the World
It’s interesting how something perceived as a bad thing for a long, long time can suddenly be reborn as a good thing. This potential for metamorphosis probably gives Dick Cheney the will to live another day. But this isn’t about our bionic ex-Vice President. It’s about the word “viral.”
Before the interwebs tossed our lives sideways nobody, aside from an occasional overly enthusiastic research scientist, wanted anything to “go viral.” Going viral was reserved for those pesky micro-organisms which replicated far too fast to be contained and possessed the power to swiftly kill millions in hideous and horrendous ways. Periods such as the Black Death, the (more…)