Nobody wins unless everybody wins

 Day minus 5. Now the hard work begins. More to come....

All the hard things I found out

The new Springsteen album makes me sad.

I’m sure it’s at least partially because the past and mortality hover over many of the tracks. It’s also because he, in spite of the usual ebullience of the E Street Band, now spends more time looking backward than ahead. And the album's closer, the wonderful “I’ll See You in my Dreams,” sounds like a goodbye – to old friends, bandmates and even his fans.

And while the album overall is quite remarkable, the three oldest songs – “If I Was the Priest,” Janey Needs a Shooter” and Song for Orphans,” are clearly the best things here – and they are nearly 50-years-old. And it reminds me that he’ll very likely never approach that greatness again. These are Dylan-drenched dense throwbacks, newly recorded, and sublime. And to think, he thought they weren’t good enough to release earlier. That’s the mark of a great catalog of songs to choose from. 

And that saddens me to think that his prime – and mine – are long gone. While, of course, he's still hitting some high notes (something I never really did in any respect), his thoughts of mortality call to mind my own – many regrets, poor choices and advancing years.

So I am trying hard to remember those old times, specifically the ones Springsteen-related: My first show in 1975, 117 more shows all over the U.S and even Great Britain, friends that I shared those shows with. Hours upon hours of listening to this music and dreaming. Thinking of the days when Rosie – and me as well – really were jumping a little higher. 

Exposing Jack to this music and getting in his car for a drive, and he immediately cranks up “The Promised Land.”

And, amidst the sadness, I sit back and smile.

We've been worried but now we're scared

15 days to go....

Nothing has changed. The polls favor Biden, but who knows? There is a lot of nefarious stuff going on, and it says a lot that I don't trust anyone.

I should be planning a little harder for an escape plan. Honestly, even if Biden wins, I don't think I can live with what happened with my (some now former) friends, neighbors and yes, relatives. This isn't hyperbole; I wake up every day with a bottomless pit in my stomach. This country has far too many ugly people. ugly both in spirit and attitude.

This all sounds like a broken record, and that just goes to you how deeply this affects me.

I hate what has happened to this place.

You just smile and tell me there ain't nothing wrong

30 days to go...

So, Trump has COVID - at least the White House says he does. He's in the hospital, accompanied by cheery reports by his doctors and awkward videos designed to make it look like he is charge (a video, by the way, that looked suspicious with him wearing clothes that are not hospital garb).

I remain skeptical. About the whole thing.

Why should we believe anything that comes out of this administration? I wonder if he going to get healthy quickly, showing how virile he is and that this pandemic is something to sneeze at.

Going on record as saying I don't want him to die - course not. I do, however, wish he would resign and retire to Mar-A-Lago. I can have no sympathy or empathy for someone who is incapable of displaying the tiniest bit of humanity to anyone else.

Go away in good health.

Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound

36 days to go...

So...I have a neighbor across the street. Nice guy, works in law enforcement, immigrant from a Central American country with a history of unstable governments.

I've known he was a Trump supporter, but we haven't talked about politics for a few years. Yesterday, as we took out our respective garbage, he asks me about the election, and I half-jokingly say, "I will be putting my signs up soon; you better not steal them.."

He replies: "Trump is the best president we ever had."

With that I go on a 5-minute tirade, my voice raising and lowering alternately, finger pointing all the time. 

I am not proud.

Still, we joked a few times and we left on a somewhat congenial note.

Later he sends me a couple of videos, one a manipulated Nancy Pelosi video making her appear drunk. I respond with several articles that point out Trump's fascist tendencies, Trump's sexual improprieties and the fact that the Pelosi video is not real.

He responds: "Fake News!" And he threw in a random "George Soros" for good measure. With that, I excused myself from the conversation.

I have no great reveal in this, other that the Fox News vacuum gets to everyone, even those who have seen corrupt governments in their own country.

It's gonna be a long walk home. 

Death to My Hometown

38 days to go...

Mail addressed to me this week. It looks like someone thinks I may be thinking about a difficult decision post Nov. 3:

Stupefaction

40 days to go...

Imagine, if you will: People so clueless, so out-of-touch, so uneducated, that they think we should have four more years of this shitshow.

And believe me, shitshow is the nicest word I know to describe what is happening.

41 more days until American holds a mirror up to itself. 

We can decide what we see in that reflection.