Big changes are often easier than small ones

One of life's paradoxes is that it is usually easier to make big changes, all at once, than nibble away at challenges. This is particularly true when things are going OK, but not what we hoped, or when we fear all sorts of unanticipated problems if we aren't careful.

Today, I read about how some places have instituted free bus fares as a way to break through the continuing environmental and traffic and parking problems that plague most cities. That was in the New York Times, based on the new mayor's promise to make public transportation free. Not surprisingly, that promise prompted many "but what about..." objections.

In today Denver Post was a story about the frustrations many in the Denver metro area have with RTD, which governs buses and light rail across eight counties and that cannot seem to recover from the pandemic (among other challenges). 

Making public transportation free sounds costly but often turns out to be quite economical. The trade-off is between revenue and all the costs associated with enforcing revenue rules and laws. New York City tried an experiment in "surging" more transportation police, and that backfired spectacularly. One incident featured a transit cop firing at an offender who jumped the subway turnstyle. The shots missed the offender but wounded two bystanders. 

Not the same as ICE in Minneapolis but at least distantly related.

Could the RTD magically decree that all light rail and bus service will be free starting Monday? Yes.

Would everything be smooth and simple? No.

Would it be a big change that might prompt x number of additional riders? Maybe.

Systems tend to acquire complexity the longer they exist and the more those in charge try to tinker with all the details. That has happened with light rail in Denver. If you are a student, you can get a free pass (maybe an app?) and ride to your heart's content. If you are over 65, you get a discounted rate. There are varying rates depending on how long your ticket is good for and according to your "zone," or how far you are from the city center. 

Then there are transit cops who randomly ask to see tickets and who can issue fines. You can ride on the light rail for months and months and never see such an official, BTW. And I have never seen anyone asking to see tickets during rush hour. It's just too crowded and clumsy. 

All the administrative costs connected with enforcement of the fare system need to be balanced against the revenue, which continues to dip with decreased ridership. There is also some sort of civic cost as many people take the chance on not paying and not getting caught. 

If we are serious about the need for public transport and reducing traffic, pollution, and driver frustrations, maybe it's time to make the "big change." 

Yes, someone needs to pay for public transportation, but until officials make the big change, why explore creative options for revenue, tax money, sponsorships, etc.? 

When life seems to lack a bit of "oomph"

I know this sounds almost un-American, but I basically skipped the Super Bowl last Sunday. That loss two weeks ago by the Broncos to the Patriots might have had something to do with it, but I also anticipated that it just wouldn't be much of contest. It wasn't 

Big day for our Seattle kids and grandkids, of course, and I know they hosted a fun watch party.

I did watch the halftime show and thought it was good... technically spectacular with people in giant tree costumes to create an instant forest. My Spanish is basically non-existent but I could sort of follow that there was a narrative going on. 

I wouldn't recognize a Bad Bunny song on a bet, at least partly due to not frequenting dance clubs. I can appreciate the symbolic power of a Puerto Rican artist performing during America's biggest religious holiday (and that not really a joke). 

I enjoyed the discomforture of many of the Trump minions, who somehow turned the whole extraveganza into blasphemy (see what I mean about religion and the Super Bowl?). I am certain there will be a brand new national scandal that will push the social commentary and over-the-top praise off my screens, probably within the next week or so. 

We are in the mid-winter doldrums and our Octoberplike weather isn't really helping. This is the time of year that seems to drag, leaving me impatient for reopening the deck and patio. 

The Olympics are everywhere now, but I have almost no interest in them. I certainly accept that these athletes are demonstrating unbelievable skills and even bravery... I just can't bring myself to feel emotionally invested. 

This is the time of year when Kathleen and I have finally decided to get a whole home water softener, followed by conversations about why we didn't do this, say, 18 years ago. Pulling the trigger on that led to us overdoing it today in moving shelves and bins and boxes out of the furnace room to make way for the new "life-changing" unit coming next Monday.

It's an awkward space but for almost two decades we have stored Christmas decorations there. I took apart an ancient metal shelving unit that leaned precariously due to metal fatigue (maybe?), and that was a thing. Next Monday or Tuesday we will need to make some decisions on rearranging or even culling some decorations. 

We don't put them all out each year and some are pretty beat up, but many of them have some sentimental value and the editing of those items will be agonizing. 

Imagine this: one of my goals for 2026 now is to imagine the fresh, softened water washing away 18 years of sediment. Maybe our appliances and faucets will gain some life.

And my experiment trying a very expensive coffee maker from Denmark failed completely. The $375 unit simply doesn't make very hot coffee... and that was the whole point.

So we went back to the $70 Cuisinart and I have to report that I found this morning's brew quite hot and tasty. 

See what I mean about being in the winter doldrums?

Show me the money... though I won't do anything about it

In addition to watching the country sleepwalk into a dictatorship (ah, it couldn't happen HERE), I continue to be be puzzled by our unwillingness to comprehend and resist the unprecidented wealth disparity in the U.S. 

Economists call it the K-shaped economy, though no one really seems to understand the nuances of that shape. Bottom line, though, is that most of the momentum of our economy comes from the wealthy (people making over $125,000 per year was one marker I found) increasing their spending. They can't spend enough to slow down their rapid dividends and high salaries and stock options. 

As the song goes: "The rich get richer and the poor have children." Wait. That is not true any longer. Now it's back to "...and the poor get poorer."

So, the rich have plenty of money as the stock market continues to churn along and the middle class just struggles to hang on. The lower classes economically? Forget about it. The very wealthiest in the billionaire class might as well live in another reality compared to the "average" American.

The slow drip of scandal from the Epstein files may embarrass some of the world's elite, and many continue to hope that, somehow, Donald Trump will feel so much shame from his longtime friendship with a pedophile that he will resign, but what comes through most clearly is that the elite, the very rich, live in an insulated and separated world... and have done for many years. 

Morality is for the poor. Ethics is for suckers. The extremely rich are interested in hoarding more riches and feeding their egos while the vast majority of the world struggles.

I assume this has been worse in world history. I would imagine ancient Rome presented an even deeper and broader gulf between the very rich and the very poor (slaves, at the time). 

Most commentators are quite fine noting the gulf between urban and rural populations, as if concentrating so much education and money into small areas automatically creates conflict. And, yes, much of the world's unrest can be traced to levels of education. 

But, as in most human interactions, it is wise to simply follow the money. There are rich Democrats and rich Republicans and rich autocrats and rich tech gurus. They sort of squabble, but they all seem to do quite well, no matter which political party is in power.

Full disclosure: My wife and I happen to have just enough equity plus investments plus pensions to have something to lose were the economic system to change very much. It would not be wise to hope that Baby Boomers will suddenly support some sort of redistribution of wealth any time soon. And most Boomers don't have what we have.

Jeff Bezos yesterday oversaw over a third of the Washington Post staff being let go. The given reason was that the paper lost $100 million last year and things don't look good in the future. Bezos, of course, is worth over $340 BILLION and seemed to have little problem investing in the Trump family by funding the Melania documentary for $75 million. 

Investing... bribing... it's all the same when you are stupidly rich. 

Bezos might have simply claimed that $100 million invested in supporting American democracy and free speech was well worth it. After all, his wealth will likely increase by that amount in the next month. 

But Bezos made the choice the very rich almost always make: They keep their money. They help themselves. They don't think too deeply about the difficulties a rich man might face in squeezing through the eye of that needle that Jesus referred to as the challenge for the very wealthy. 

Bezos and his tech siblings were chummy with the Obamas. Now they suck up to the Trumps. They will rapidly shift their sucking up to the next government leader. And the rest of us will continue to pretend that it's all about values and government programs. 

Wait... you said WHAT now?

I happened across two very different but startling things in the past 12 hours. The first was a nearly five-minute report on CBS co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother being missing, perhaps kidnapped, from her Arizona home. It was the story that led the news.

I was surprised merely to find that this story led the night's news and then became more and more disoriented as the report went on and on, including a sherif nears tears worrying about the poor woman. Perhaps this was part of the "new" CBS that Bari Weiss has envisioned, but to devote over 20 percent of the entire "live news" slot to a story that had zero effect on, well, anyone other than the Guthrie family, was startling. 

I realize that reporters and viewers may tire of the constant stream of horrific behaviors across the world, but how was that report supposed to help or assuage or even entertain? 

Kathleen was amused by my bemusement and suggested that it was a good thing that there were few earth-shattering events to cover that day. Maybe she's right, but it struck me as the worst sort of self-service to focus so much on something that would not merit a second normally. But she's the mom of a CBS "star"!

Then, this morning, I was reading a commentary on the Atlantic site by a college professor that basically was a love letter to himself as a teacher. He started with the plain fact that college students do not seem capable of reading long passages, much less novels, and immediately claimed that this was mostly because professors didn't ask them to.

He teaches a literature class that covers 400 years of American literature in a semester and rhapsodized over the fact that by sheer force of his argument he convinced his students to delve into Thoreau and Melville and even Jonathan Edwards ("Sinner in the Hands of An Angy God"). That they not only were able to respond with joy and insights but that they did so in on-the-spot essays written in class. 

I had several questions starting with the very idea of survey of literature class that claims to cover 400 years in 16 weeks. That's 25 years per week, from one perspective, sort of like touring Europe is eight days. "Well, I've done THAT."

But then I wondered about his purpose in making this argument. I tried to imagine his approach being applied throughout our vast university system, not to mention K-12. 

Here is the final paragraph: "The students I taught last semester turned enthusiastically to Faulkner and spent their time reading about the journey of the Bundren family to bury their mother’s body. Why did they do this? Because I asked them to, and told them it was worth it. I said that time was precious, and that we needed to take some of it back for ourselves. So we did."

Imagine my chagrin when I realized that success in education will flow through the sheer power, the magnetism, and the sincerity of a teacher championing reading deeply. Why did no one share this with me 50 years ago when I began my career?

Heaven forbid that I would doubt the professor's success, but this resembled the CBS report on a missing elderly women in its navel gazing. 

In both cases there was a blissful lack of audience awareness and a fixation on talking about themselves. 

My current thoughts are "I hope the old lady is OK, though I honestly had to look up who Savannah Guthrie is," and "it's great to know that what education needs are magnetic and passionate teachers who can lead their captive student audience to illumination." 

Journalism and education are far too complex for easy solutions to their challenges. Those two reports remind us of that.

The best laid plans may never have even been imagined.

An early online discussion thread in my CSU Strategic Writing class asks students to choose one career option of interest, do a quick bit of research on number and pay and prospects, and then share with the class. Everyone is required to respond to at least two of their classmates. 

I was browsing and commenting randomly myself on some of the early posts this morning and I am intrigued by how many of those students seem to have a fairly firm idea of what they would like to do in the future, at least initially. I mean, who knows where life will take us as technology and history and personal interests expand?

When I compare them to my own memory of dreams of a career, I find that I had almost no idea when I was in my early 20s about the future, much less about what I might do to earn a living. 

I think I had some dim notion of law school as an option but once the Air Force, marriage, and fatherhood became a reality, I don't think I seriously returned to that idea. I remember being momentarily interested in working for the post office... my military service would give me a boost in getting hired, and a steady paycheck sounded attractive after leaving the service. After all, for my first few months in the Air Force I was paid $100/month. Kathleen got another $100 as a dependent stipend once we married. My pay tripled early in 1972 when Nixon signed a new defense bill. So we were raking in $400 a month there.

No wonder Kathleen took a job at the officer's club running the cash register and hosting. It was a day job, which was nice. I have no idea how much she was paid, but anything would certainly help.

On the other hand, our monthly rent for our little bungalo in Lakenheath village came to about 100 pounds per month (about $240 U.S.) and Kathleen remembers each bag of groceries she picked up in the BX averaged $5. 

My point is that I certainly had no lofty dreams of a big income. Niether of us did.

We both ended up working for the government in one way or another, me for the Iowa City public schools and she for the UI. Kathleen likes to tell the story of getting a job in a copy center on the Iowa campus soon after we returned from North Dakota (after my discharge). 

I had set up an interview for myself for the part-time gig but something happened and I couldn't attend. Kathleen showed up instead, impressed (obviously) and got the job. The led to her soon moving to a customer service job with UI Printing.

I was at the end of my undergrad degree in 1975 and looking for local teaching jobs. I honestly have no memory of why that profession. I had always been good at school and I certainly had some fine teachers in my past. 

I made an appointment with Father Gene Benda, then principal at Regina, my alma mater, who had once been my Religion class instructor. He almost immediately offered me a job, though there were no English openings. He did have a 7th and 8th grade math and science job open, plus coaching options. 

I told him I really didn't have much training in math or science but he assured me that just keeping a page or two ahead of the kids would be enough to get me going. Pretty high standards! The next year, June Braverman retired and an English job opened, along with advising the yearbook and newspaper. 

Bottom line in my wandering career story: things seemed to just happen. I'm sure we made decisions and had a few options, but Iowa City was not a big place and options were not limitless. And we now had two daughters who we had to take care of. 

Not surprisingly, it all turned out well, as far as we were concerned. Humans are great at seeing the path when it's in the rear view mirror, of course. Hindsight is 20-20, etc. 

That is why I find it a little strange that I teach a class that includes career planning, writing resumes and cover letters, and other professional documents. 

Perhaps I should share the truth: most of our plans get changed along the way. The good news is that we can still do OK. It certainly helps to have a partner as it all works out.

I guess Kathleen and I are still gliding forward, often surprised by what we find. 

Spitting into the wind... again.

One of the trending theories about America's current problems is called the "dual state," and it makes a lot of sense. 

In Nazi Germany, only a small percentage of the population was a member of the party. About one percent of the population was Jewish. Most people could go about their day, safe and secure. Problems only occurred when people acted or spoke in ways the regime didn't like. 

Gradually, of course, the country that passively accepted fascist leaders became de facto fascist, and WWII happened. 

All the professional commentators seem to agree that the United States is quite different from Germany in the 1930s... we are too big, have too long a democratic history, have institutions that retain a lot of power... And that sounds comforting.

Most Americans are quietly going on with their lives, even as the murders and outrages pile up... even as our clearly declining and increasingly desparate leaders lie and attack and pervert without fear of any repurcussions. If we aren't living in a version of the dual state, I don't understand the theory. And maybe I don't.

But when we watch ICE stormtroopers execute innocent Americans in the streets, immediately followed by bizarre and clearly fictional explanations by our federal government, followed by cruel and unhinged attacks on those murdered? I'm not sure that some hopeful musings about "it couldn't happen here" are comforting to me.

Can ICE ever regain any positive reputation among the majority of Americans? 

Is it remotely possible that Trump and his toadies would simply declare success and remove the ICE agents from Minneapolis? 

Can legal channels function quickly enough to force any changes, no matter how obvious and necessary?

Is there any chance that ICE, which now has access to a huge budget, larger than most other nations' entire military expenditures combined, would be quietly wound down and embrace something that resembles normal law enforcement?

My answers to all those questions is no. I can imagine most of the thugs leaving Minneapolis, but they would simply be sent elsewhere. Denver seems like a good spot for a crushing invasion, for instance. 

Until a few Republican congressmen decide that their dormant ethics need to be strengthened due to fear of losing their next election... until those mystifying cowards decide that all their private hopes that Trump will somehow change are silly, and consider that there could be life outside Washington, D.C., for them... 

Until those unlikely things happen, we are left with the prospect of three more years of constant struggle and chaos and immorality and division ahead of us. Last night I watched both Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel speak in tones reminiscent of Old Testament prophets, clearly distraught and without equivocation. This was on late night TV and I know few Americans pay much attention to those shows.

But I was struck by their emotion and their discarding the expectations that they would be funny. Trump is even ruining silly comedy monologues. 

I hope I am proven wrong, but is there anyone who can seriously see the light at the end of the tunnel right now? 

If you want to tell the story of ICE, tell the story of one kid

The power of photography is incredible, and the deluge of images and video coming from citizens and professional journalists in Minneapolis is a demonstration of that power. 

The five-year-old with a bunny hat and a Batman backpack being ushered into a vehicle by what we can only think of now as thugs (employed by ICE) after being used to lure his father out of the house is a prime example. 

A private citizen shared the photo with the school district, which then gave permission for it to be widely distributed. 

It's a tough sell for even the most avid supporters of removing undocumented immigrants to get us to believe that this kid should be a focus of the intense roundups in Minnesota. The original lies about deporting the worst criminals have been shown to be excuses to go after pretty much anyone... particularly if "anyone" is not clearly white. 

That the United States contains a substantial number of racists is also tough to dispute. After all, Trump was quite clear when labeling the entire country of Somalia as barely human, unworthy of anything other than scorn and hate. His explicit racism was hardly mentioned by the news media. His racism and our current regime's racism is simply baked into the pie, so to speak.

The world is often quite cruel to children, as we continue to see in Gaza, just as an example. We see video and photographs of slaughtered children on a daily basis, if we care to look. 

The most cruel among us simply describe those deaths as unfortunate, as the result of the actions of their parents and other adults. Our five-year-old's father probably is undocumented. That makes him a criminal, technically, though it's a civil offense that hardly requires masked thugs with automatic weapons and full tactical gear to effect arrests.

At this point, there is no "fixing" the increasing problems with untrained and unrestrained ICE agents. They are clearly not what we would think of as law enforcement. They are not suddenly going to behave as our police behave. They aren't going to behave as our professional military behaves. 

ICE agents are, as a group and by design, using superior power and weapons to bully and taunt and forcibly remove people weaker than them. I worry that our professional military, for whom we ostensibly pray and offer support, is also suffering irreversible ethical and moral damage... that the reputations of all being forced to do the bidding of committed racists will not recover.

Trump and his minions have bombed many countries in the past year and a number of people within our country have been killed. The common thread is that those being bombed and killed are weak. In fact, most of humanity is weak when compared to a military force backed by the most deadly and powerful weapons and funded by a country with nearly unlimited resources.

I am ashamed today to be an American.