What’s done is done, and new adventures await
Just when I conclude that things can't get more surreal, along comes 2026. It has been draining, but we squeezed in an excursion to...
Claude Lanzmann’s essential documentary film Shoah
Whenever I'm asked to reveal my "favorite" film ― and be aware this happens rarely, because everyone who knows me understands that I’ve never...
Barack Obama’s speech at the funeral of Jesse Jackson
Earlier this afternoon I happened to scroll past the live feed just as Barack Obama was beginning his speech. I listened to all of...
With the passing of Jesse Jackson, I’m reminded of 1984 (the year, not the...
Even if Orwell never goes out of fashion in New Trumpia. Cover photo credit: Rainbow PUSH Coalition; video clip here.
First, the here and now.
CHICAGO...
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...
On the murder of Charlie Kirk
I’ve largely refrained from commenting on The Assassination of Charlie Kirk By The Coward Robert Ford (wait, this should be Tyler Robinson). I oppose...
Top Ten things I reject that other people revere
One must keep his mind active, so I began jotting down a few of these "you like, I dislike" items.
When it reached 500, it...
Pint and bunions, or “A Cynic’s Word Book” for food and drink
Version 1.0, 20 June 2025 (cover photo credit).
This effort was occasioned by the remorseless efficiency of a single sentence from an anonymous writer (trust...
R.I.P. Mariusz Handzlik, a Polish diplomat (1965 – 2010)
A full ten years after my tenure at NABC began a slow-burn of a winding down that lasted until 2018, items belonging to me...
Reprise: “Talking Seventh Inning Blues”
Major league baseball is underway, and before I go any further, a reminder: When we finally get around to waving cold steel pitchforks at...
Latest article
40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 92: Pentecostal pews, beer judging exams and...
Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 91: New Albany’s brewing history, prior to NABC resuming it.
It would be perfectly reasonable of the...
40 Years of Sidebars: Hugo Claus, Frans Masereel & NABC’s one-off Silent Oath Oud...
This Belgian cultural excursion didn’t slot handily into the “40 Years in Beer” narrative, and so I've declared it suitable as a “sidebar.” The...
40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 91: New Albany’s brewing history, prior to...
Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 90: A brewery for the New Albanian in all of us, Lite-free NABC debuts in 2002.
In...
