One

It was just over a year ago that I moved to the Twin Cities, and shortly after that when I got married. That's two one-year anniversaries to celebrate and reflect upon, which I'll try to do here.

First, moving to the Twin Cities. I was a life-long Hoosier, not because of any great love for the place but mainly due to inertia. Central Indiana is an okay and extremely inexpensive place to live. The people are nice enough, although there's a decided lack of education and respect for intelligence among many. There's also little to no arts scene, and in Indiana, Republicans rule. So there wasn't much to miss when I moved, other than friends and family.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is definitely a much larger and more sophisticated metropolis than the Indianapolis area. Lots of great restaurants, a terrific music and arts scene, just a general big-city vibe that Indy aspires to but has never reached. The people up here are, perhaps, nicer than the folks in Indiana, although I suspect that what they call "Minnesota nice" is really just an advanced form of passive-aggressiveness; they're really nice to your face, but they talk a lot behind your back. Still, it's nice to be around nice people.

That passive-aggressiveness comes out in their driving, however. Nobody up here can negotiate a simple roundabout (not that there are that many up here, especially when compared to Carmel, Indiana, the roundabout capital of the U.S.). Half the time they enter the roundabout then stop halfway through to let someone from the outside in. I want to get out of my car (and I have time to, since traffic has come to a halt), pull them out of theirs, and beat their little pasty white heads against the pavement. I guess I haven't gotten into the Minnesota nice thing much, myself.

The arts scene in the Twin Cities is terrific. My wife and I have seen more music in the past year than I saw in a decade in Indy. They love and support all types of music up here, jazz especially, and the Dakota is the best jazz club I've ever seen. (Better even than Indy's Jazz Kitchen, which I still love.) In the past year we've seen Nanci Griffith, Brian Wilson, Booker T. and the MGs (twice), John Pizzarelli (also twice), James Hunter, Gordon Lightfoot, Manhattan Transfer, Irma Thomas, Ruthie Foster, Lura, and Sophie Milman. (There's so much good stuff up here, I get annoyed at the acts we have to skip because we can't fit them into our schedule.) All were good, but the very best were Brian Wilson and Nanci Griffith, both legends of their own type. Hearing Brian and his wonderful backing band do "God Only Knows" brought a tear to my eye, it was just so perfect. That moment alone made the move to Minneapolis worth it.

Of course, the real reason I moved to the Twin Cities was to get married. My wife Sherry came from Indy, originally, but has been living up here for the past twenty or so years. We've known each other since high school, but hooked up again about three years ago and did two years of very long distance dating. (I put a lot of miles on the old convertible...) I finally talked her into making an honest man of me, and so we got married a year ago April.

Married life is a bit of a change for a 50 year-old bachelor. Not only am I sharing my (new and bigger) house with my wife, I'm also sharing it with her dog, her teenaged son, and, during school breaks, her college-aged daughter. As an added bonus, her younger daughter is going through a divorce, and she and her two toddlers are also living with us. I originally thought a five-bedroom house would be overkill, but now I sometimes wish for even more room.

Room aside, I kind of like having a full house. I really like the grandkids, two year-old Collin and his one year-old sister Hayley. Collin and I are great pals, and he likes to do just about anything he sees me doing. Yeah, Sherry and I spend a lot of time babysitting that we could be spending doing newlywed-type stuff, but I wouldn't give up the time with the kids. After spending a half-century alone, I treasure every single minute with my new family. (For those interested, pics of the grandkids can be found here: Mike and Sherry's Family Pictures)

Sherry has one more child, a daughter who is married and living in Winona, about two hours away. (That's also where the other daughter goes to college, conveniently enough.) So there's one more grandkid in the mix, with a fourth on the way. I wish we could spend more time with little Alethia, but the distance precludes this. Again, I treasure the time we spend with her.

It's a big lifestyle change for me. Friends say I'm either a saint or a crazy person; I admit to the latter, but don't find anything wrong with that. It's a different life, but one I'm trying to live to the fullest. There's less private time, but a lot more love.

What do I miss about my previous life? My Indiana friends, of course. But also the little things, like Cajun food (none at all up here) and my old coffeehouse. During the month of May I tend to miss the goings on at the Speedway, but that hasn't been the same for a decade or more, anyway, so there's less to miss. I don't miss the thickheaded rednecks in my old hometown; I do appreciate the more liberal bent up here, as well as their great enthusiasm for all things social and political. (And Norm Coleman should just give it up and go home, already.)

All in all, it's been a good year. I hope to have many more with my new friends and family here in Minnesota -- and with my old ones in Indiana, too.

But that's just my opinion; reasonable minds may disagree.

Paul Harvey

The voice of Middle America is gone. Paul Harvey has passed away.

Like many listeners, I first heard Paul Harvey while on family vacations, interminably long trips to Florida or Colorado when I was a youngster. There is absolutely nothing good to say about the flat desolation that is Kansas, other than at twelve sharp you could turn the AM radio a few turns left or right and hear the voice of Paul Harvey. There was a dry stretch while I was in high school and college, but when I got older, I got hooked again, listening to Paul Harvey News & Comment when driving to lunch on almost every Saturday. At a still later date, Paul (along with the pre-merger XM Radio and old Bob & Ray CDs) kept me sane while I was long-distance dating my future Minnesota wife from my home in Indiana. It didn't matter where I was en route, Paul was always on some station somewhere.

I might have disagreed with his politics, but I appreciated the way he presented them. Instead of the bile and hatred that is right-wing talk radio today, Paul was decent and civil, putting his point across without viciously attacking those who disagreed with him. Rush and Sean and all the other blathering heads could learn something from Paul's honorable approach.

What I found most appealing about Paul Harvey was the same thing I appreciated about Johnny Carson. Both men had kind of a Midwestern decency about them. They may have hung out with movie stars and corporate bigwigs, but they didn't act like it or sound like it. Each of them seemed like the guy who lived next door, maybe a special uncle, someone who paid special attention to the old lady standing behind them in line at the grocery store. Paul and Johnny were just as interested in the couple celebrating their 50th anniversary or the old woman who collected potato chips as they were in the short-lived "celebrities" of the day. A true interest in everyone they met or read about, that's the common factor, and the ability to directly relate to their listeners and viewers. I miss that about both of these men.

I certainly will miss having Paul Harvey to listen to on the radio. Even though he wasn't there every day in the past few years (illness, old age, and the death of his wife cut into his schedule), noontime was always a little special when that booming voice came over my car radio speakers. I was always ready to "stand by for news," and my day wasn't good until Paul said it was -- with his trademark long pause. He may have been a product of another time, but there must have been something worthwhile about those days to produce someone as interested in and genuinely excited about human affairs as Paul Harvey.

But that's just my opinion; reasonable minds may disagree.

Mortgages

The whole mortgage crisis has me of multiple minds. On one hand, I'm not that hip on bailing out folks who made bad decisions and got in over their heads with overly-large mortgages. On the other hand, I'm also not that hip on forcing families out on the street and leaving large chunks of real estate to sit vacant in neighborhoods across the U.S. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of situation.

Excessive rhetoric by the media doesn't help things. In particular, there's little good to be said about the inflammatory comments by CNBC ranting head Rick Santelli about the Obama administration subsidizing the mortgages of "losers" and promoting bad behavior. Except, of course, that there's more than a little truth in the content behind the blather. Forget the tone and the source, and you're faced with the reality that it's the folks who screwed up who will probably get bailed out, while those of us who didn't (or haven't yet) screwed up have to keep paying our often-excessive mortgage payments. As a guy who has dutifully paid his various mortgages on time for the past twenty years or so, that kind of burns my ass. I play by the rules and don't even get a thank you note, while the bums who skip their payments get a hand out -- subsidized by me! Thanks, Big Government, for the appreciation.

On the other hand, I have much sympathy for those folks who either got talked into ill-considered mortgage products or who've recently lost their jobs and may soon lose their homes. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and we should do something about that. I'd rather these folks get a little help than a boot out the front door.

On the other other hand, lots of folks who took out excessive mortgages really shouldn't have. They should have known they were getting in over their heads, whether we're talking lower-priced housing or a second McMansion. Sometimes it's okay to rent and most often there's little to be gained from trying to keep up with the Joneses. Some fools, rich and poor, deserve what they get.

But not all, and certainly not the folks we know, and most certainly not our neighbors. Thus the appeal of some sort of bailout for these mortgage holders. 

Still, I'm left with the feeling of being royally screwed by being a good on-time payer all these years. It's not that I begrudge the help to those who need it, but what about me?

This, I think, is the difference between insensitive blowhards such as Santelli and more reasonable guys like myself. Calling all families with mortgage problems "losers" is extremely unsympathetic to those who really are the victims of misfortune. I'm sympathetic to their plight -- I'd just like a little consideration for doing what I was supposed to be doing all these years. (And I'm also aware that anyone -- me included -- could have similar misfortune and need similar assistance in the future. There but for fortune, and all that.)

What I'd like to see is some sort of plan that helps everyone, not just those in default. I'm not sure what that would be, but I'd lean towards some sort of universal principal and/or rate reduction. (I'd be real happy refinancing at 4% or so, if anyone's listening...) That sort of plan would benefit those currently underwater as well as those of us who've played by the rules all this time. Yeah, and maybe a few "losers" too, but that's what happens when you cast a wide net.

But that's just my opinion; reasonable minds may disagree.

2008

The old year is past and the new year is upon us. Time to reflect briefly on the good things and bad things of 2008.

Bad things first, which include:

• The economy, the continuing military excursion in Iraq, the continuing encroachment on our individual liberties, and the ongoing enfeeblement of the press. Thanks, George W!
• Starbucks closing my local store. (And closing my former local store back in Indiana.) Not that I'm a big fan of corporate anything, but it's surprising how even a poorly performing Starbucks location forms its own tight community. My store is sorely missed not just by me (primarily for its convenient location) but, more importantly, by the regulars who made it their home. Home is where you find it, and dozens of people lost their home when the corporate office downsized.
• The "merger" of XM and Sirius satellite radio -- more accurately, a hostile takeover of my beloved XM by the smaller and less-successful Sirius. Gone are my favorite personalities, especially those on what was formerly my favorite XM channel, Soul Street: Bobby Bennett, Dr. Nick, and Leigh Hamilton. The late lamented Soul Street was, hands down, the best-programmed channel I've heard on any radio service, period, and it was criminal for Sirius to dump it so unceremoniously. Not only do I miss the DJs' expertise and intelligent conversation, the replacement channel (Sirius' Soul Town) leans too heavily on crappy 70s funk and not enough on the sweet 50s and 60s soul (including a lot of obscure tracks) that made Soul Street so great. Other favorite channels have also bit the dust, and the survivors seem to have shortened and more frequently repeated playlists. While I did pick up a few decent new channels (Little Steven's Underground Garage, The Bridge, and the real NPR), the "new" Sirius XM sucks almost as bad as terrestrial radio. I'm just glad I'm no longer driving 1200 or so miles a month, so I'm not forced to listen to this crap.
• The passing of some of my favorite public people. Chief among those these are musicians Levi Stubbs (of the Four Tops) and Isaac Hayes, actor Paul Newman, the legendary Bette Page, and author Donald E. Westlake, one of the most talented and prolific writers of any genre. They are all missed.
• Way too much snow in Minnesota.

Good things about 2009 include:

• The fall of the crony capitalistic dictatorship of Bush and Cheney and the election of Barack Obama. Of course, Obama inherits one of the biggest messes in history, but he's a smart guy who surrounds himself with smart guys -- a good start, at least.
• With the election of Obama, the notion that it's okay if not cool to be smart. I'm tired of this country's ignorance worship; it's time we looked up to those folks who actually know what they're doing.
• The Dark Knight and Iron Man -- finally, two really good comic book movies. (And I can't wait to see Watchmen when it releases later in 2009...)
• My favorite albums of the year, including the charming Volume One from She and Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward); Brian Wilson's latest near-masterpiece, That Lucky Old Sun; Duffy's Brit-soul Rockferry; Shelby Lynne's tribute to the great Dusty Springfield, Just a Little Lovin'; and my personal favorite, James Hunter's infectious blue-eyed soul on The Hard Way. We had the personal pleasure of seeing both Brian Wilson and James Hunter in concert this year, and both were joyous experiences.
• Getting married to the love of my life and enjoying family life, including time with all my new step-grandchildren. (See my other blog for pics of us and the kids.) It was a bit of a change after 50 years of bachelorhood, but well worth it.

And that was my year, and my opinions. Reasonable minds, as always, may disagree.

Change

Well, it finally happened. Barack Obama actually won the election and handily, surprising all the cynics and curmudgeons and worry-worts among us. Apparently our country isn't quite as ignorant or racist or whatnot as one sometimes is led to think. Good for us! (Although ignorance and racism and whatnot do still exist -- as evidenced by anyone eavesdropping on those old guys talking in the corner booth at Denny's on any random Tuesday morning. But I digress...)

Obama's victory is historic for any number of reasons. The first black president, the first post-baby boomer president, and so on and so forth. And whether the vote was one for hope and change or one final repudiation of the Bush/Cheney near-dictatorship, what we get is the opportunity to correct all that has gone wrong over the past eight years and set a new course into the 21st century. That's a good thing.

What pisses me off, however, are all those conservatives and Republicans and media pundits who keep insisting that Obama has to "govern to the center" and be all bi-partisan and such. These are the same people who insisted that Bush had a "mandate" with much smaller popular and electoral vote majorities in 2000 and 2004, and set about ramrodding their ultra-conservative agenda down everyone's throats. Democrats, liberals, and even moderates were marginalized in particularly ruthless fashion; the Bushies didn't even give lip service to that whole "govern to the center" and bi-partisan thing. Bush said that since he won he got to do whatever he want, the other 49.5% of the country be damned. And look what happened.

So now the same bastards who locked the Democrats away for the past eight years now want those same Democrats to play nice with them and include them in all their major decisions. Fuck that shit, I say. There is no reason at all for Obama and the Dems to give the defeated minority the time of day; why should they treat the righties any better than the righties treated them for the past eight years. What goes around comes around, my friends; karma demands retribution.

But we're a "center right" nation, the righties argue. Oh no, we're not, I reply. This supposedly "center right" nation just voted the supposedly most liberal member of the United States Senate into the presidency; the supposedly "center right" nation is also in support of supposedly liberal issues such as universal health care and against staunch conservative issues as abortion bans. No matter what the pundits might say, the facts are clear that this is a center left nation, a land of closet progressives with socialist leanings. Obama should keep this clearly in mind as he moves forward, and not be tempted to placate the whining minority.

The conservative elite have a lot of balls, I'll give them that. They take a slim win and call it a mandate, then take a major loss as a basis for co-governance with the winning side. The real winners -- Obama and the American people -- shouldn't listen to this massive spin. To the winners go the spoils, to the losers go four years (at least) in the political wilderness. Let the Republicans deal with the fact that they're the ones that are out of touch; the rest of us have more important work to do rebuilding our country. That's the real change ahead.

But that's just my opinion; reasonable minds may disagree.