As 2019 ebbs out, the annual ritual of waxing nostalgic assumes center stage. One thing about keeping a daily journal is it makes one very aware of time in the sense of days, weeks, months and years that have passed. As this tailored ponderable undergoes its yearly evaluation, here are some items worthy of note….
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Five years of Reason Rest Stop
Just like that, earlier this month RRS celebrated its fifth anniversary of offering liberal news and views from the Mother Road’s most conservative stretch. Due to a larger endeavor taken on by Yours Truly, postings have declined considerably in 2019 and that trend will continue for the foreseeable future. That by no means should be…
Continue ReadingA milestone reflection
On this day forty years ago my sea service officially started, my tour aboard a Ship of the Line which legitimizes my claim to the title U.S. Navy Veteran. Seeking to serve a cause greater than one’s self is often accompanied with adventure of the sort one would have otherwise never have imagined. Such was…
Continue ReadingUnderstanding an essential epiphany
I remember writing about the evolution of the human soul a few months ago and waxing philosophical on what a fascinating phenomenon it is to witness. It is the ability of men and women to evolve after reaching a point of enlightenment regarding basic characteristics of their own being that gives me a lot of…
Continue ReadingConcluding Volume 44
As 2018 drains away by the minute, I become ever more mindful of the usual milestone year-end promptings. This has become the inevitable time for me to look back on the year that was, or at least the things about it I saw fit to record in my own hand. Well, actually, in my own…
Continue ReadingHighlights in the headlights: celebrating four years of RRS
As it turns out, writing is a more common passion than I thought. Yes, there are those whose living depends upon their ability to express themselves in words and to create something from nothing by painting life portraits on blank pages via written language. Seeking to earn a living by such means is an honorable…
Continue ReadingUSS Pueblo Incident + 50: An unresolved issue with North Korea
The more things change the more they stay the same. That particular aphorism may be wearing pretty thin of late but it sure fits this particular anniversary. Members of the “below 50” demographic may remember reading or hearing about it in the Cold War chapter of a high school U.S. History course. Yours Truly was…
Continue ReadingEndings, beginnings, aspirations and expectations
This week as I transitioned into living in 2018, I experienced a deep and visceral sensation that I am sitting stationary on a huge existential conveyor belt being slowly but forever pulled forward on a great master timeline. So many times in my life the month of January has been one of endings and beginnings,…
Continue ReadingFinishing Volume 43 and reflecting on 2017
As the current year’s final hours tick by, I wax nostalgic about the binder full of daily entries I have compiled since January 1st. The December 31st entry will bear the cataloged number of 43-365 and will mark the end of my 43rd volume of daily records, a personal activity which I began in the…
Continue ReadingWatergate: An enduring memory of my youth
All democracy is a work in progress. For better or worse and despite being under constant threat of compromise since its founding, the grand American experiment has met the demands and overcome multiple imposed stresses as well as all manner of intense strain up to and including civil war. In my lifetime that radical idea…
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