Diary for 9 July 2021: Origin Park is the green space equivalent of Jeff...
Diary for 9 July 2021
Earlier in the week I mentioned to a few friends that a new ON THE AVENUES column was forthcoming. However,...
“Howard Zinn’s July 4 Wisdom Stands the Test of Time,” followed with a rant...
Howard Zinn, Mark Twain, Edwin Moses and me, but first, Frederick Douglass. Dave Zirin, one of a select group of sportswriters who really matter,...
Shane’s Excellent New Words: NIMBY versus YIMBY, though not to neglect BANANA
Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
-- Warren Zevon
"Shane's Excellent New Words" was a...
Diary for 1 June 2021: Constructive criticism is seldom tolerated at the grassroots
If there is any one surefire takeaway that springs to mind from my lengthy period of civic engagement — the grassroots era, those "localism"...
The wild, wild Right Bank of the Ohio
Not so long ago, one of the downtown bars within extended staggering distance of our place of residence posted a social media notice in...
The Weekly Wad lives on in the minds of malcontents everywhere
(updated for the 50th anniversary in 2025)
In the past I've expended quite a few words to explain why I try to keep high school...
On Memorial Day, I’d prefer DRINKING beer
A few year ago at a bar I frequented, one of the younger 30-something employees was pushing hard for a Memorial Day promotion to...
Make your own fun, but I will not carry a gun
I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got thrown into this war I had a clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns....
Battered, bruised, and crawling back onto the non-band wagon
"The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality isn’t about bicycles. It’s about refusing to sacrifice vast amounts of the public realm to the private car;...
Them ominous vultures
Last week we went for a walk to the pharmacy on a day with clear skies and warmth in the air, too early for...
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The book that wasn’t, why it won’t be, and really, that’s all right with...
Today’s bullet point is borrowed from Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (1930): “Hello, I must be going.”
Regular readers will recall that earlier this year, I...
R.I.P. Barry Sears, a friend since kindergarten who changed my life over lunch
(There is a story behind the featured photograph, and it comes at the end, so please read or scroll.)
My lifelong friend Barry Sears died...
Diary: The story of the Sladek (brewer/maltster) stone at Fairview Cemetery
We bought our house in downtown New Albany in 2003, and by the following spring casual neighborhood walks had become a regular weekend feature...
