A week away from phones, Internets, Twitters, and Facebooks
Early tomorrow morning I’m stepping away from computers and phones for a week on a retreat with several great people from around Tacoma. I’m going on the American Leadership Forum’s “wilderness experience” out near Mt. Adams. Since … oh maybe 1998 I can only think of a handful of times I’ve been without email or a phone for that amount of time. I’m looking forward to it actually. Professionally speaking, since working at the Grand, it’s been rare to have a vacation that I’ve been able to completely check out of work for. Even our best vacations had a certain Read more…
This is at a zoo.
via failblog.org I appreciate warning signs that actually get your attention. If this sign just said “Danger: Do Not Enter” that’s not very specific. Why is it dangerous? I’ll quote one of E.B. White’s rules of style: “Be clear.” “Muddiness is not merely a disturber of prose, it is also a destroyer of life, of hope: death on the highway caused by a badly worded road sign, heartbreak among lovers caused by a misplaced phrase in a well-intentioned letter, anguish of a traveler expecting to be met at a rail station and not being met because of a slipshod telegram. Read more…
A Bizarre Oldie for the Day
The Coasters, from 1961. I heard this song the first time yesterday. It's just crying out to be on a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKm2L79Xbyg?wmode=transparent]
Charlotte Valbert, savior of Tacoma’s Blueberry Park
Valbert worked with Gatewood to rescue what is now Blueberry Park from development and improve it into a park with trails, picnic sites and 4,000 blueberry bushes. Of the dozens of honors she received, the City of Destiny Award, the Cox Conservation Award and the Washington Department of Parks and Recreation Citizens of Merit are among those that pleased her most. via thenewstribune.com A nice obituary in the paper by Kathleen Merryman. If you’ve been to Blueberry Park, you can see the legacy she’s left.
Some summer movies
Inception The best critique of Inception is that it's too clinical. That it's such a puzzle that you can't get into it much. But so what? It's essence is that of a heist movie. And it's a fabulous height movie. Inventive, interesting, great effects, incredibly complex, but still follow-able. Really a good film. Dinner for Schmucks Steve Carell stands out in this. It's mostly funny throughout without too many of the traditional misunderstandings that can mar a film like this. Some good laughs. Salt Angelina Jolie is a good heroine. This is basically a launch of an action franchise. It's Read more…
The supposed “mindset” list
This list isn’t about the mindset of the class of 2014. It’s about the mindset of the people who write it. It’s about what makes them feel ancient. It’s not about how college students think at 18; it’s about how we think at 40 and 50 and 60. It’s about how we think about the markers we once drove into the ground to mark what we considered Now, and how alarming it is to note that they are farther away than they used to be. Griping about texting is just this year’s griping about how hard it is to program Read more…
Park51
Longtime readers will know that I am passionate about the First Amendment. The Park51 Community Center in New York, more commonly known as the Ground Zero Mosque, is at the center of the debate right now. (I don't like to call it the Ground Zero Mosque. First, it's not at Ground Zero, it's 2 blocks away and likely not even visible from the new tower. Second, it's not a mosque, it's a community center. Like a YMCA.) It should go without saying that the right to build a mosque, synagogue, church, or any other religious community center on private land should Read more…
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