Category: Commentary and Reflections
A Wedding Message for Kayte and Nate
Last weekend, Terri and I traveled to St. Louis to attend the wedding of my niece Kayte to her fiancé, Nate. While there was no opportunity to offer my thoughts on their marriage there, I decided to write them here. Kayte, the first time I saw you I think you…
Social Security Scare Tactics for Younger Workers
The owners, the rich elites who own this country and have been waging various wars of terror on the American people since this country’s founding, are doing what they’ve always done of playing one group off the other while they increase their already obscene amounts of wealth. One of their…
A Belated Remembrance
Everyone we know or have known, at least for more than just a casual acquaintance, touches us in ways that we may not always understand at the time. Memories of those we have known fade into dim recesses, remaining forgotten until an event or circumstance triggers a flood of memories…
Thank You for Your Service
Today is Memorial Day. Memorial Day has its roots in a time before the American Civil War. Families in the rural south conducted religious services and picnics in family graveyards, where the graves were decorated with flowers. The first ceremony related to the Civil War occurred in June 1861 in…
Social Media, Ambassadors, and Hero Shots
I came across an opinion piece in the Sweetwater Now, written by the owner of the Wyoming Fishing Company in southwest Wyoming. I’ve not read an opinion piece related to fly fishing so pointed in its criticism of a specific individual. And that’s what I think makes me uncomfortable. The…
Day Zero and Hook Choices
Look at the two hooks above. The top one is a TMC800s; the one below is a Daichi X452. They are both excellent size-six saltwater hooks. If it’s not clear from the photograph, the TMC is a thicker-wire hook than than the Daichi. Now, which one should you use? The…
Reflections on a Ferry Ride
I drove to a fly shop in West Seattle to test a fly rod a few days ago – more on that in a future post. After leaving the shop, I turned on the navigation system in my Outback to give me the route home – hopefully to avoid the…
Remembering Vasili Arkhipov – One Person Can Save the World
We live in an age of cynicism and desperation, beset by crises that appear insurmountable. Whether it is political strife, economic upheaval, climate change or tensions with other nuclear-armed states, the problems appear to be so large that no single person can make a difference. And yet, there are times…
Etiquette and Fly Fishing Maniacs
Fly fishing. at least in the United States, has evolved in both perception and practice from many decades past when it was considered by most a small sport of rich elitist white males wearing tweed and fishing with custom bamboo fly rods and creels. While the reality was more complex,…
Government Shutdown, And Other Empty Language
I’ve made reference to George Carlin in a number of my posts. I consider him to be one of the top two standup comedians of all time (the other is Richard Pryor). But more than a simply a comedian, George was a profound critic of American society, culture, and the…