Journalism isn’t broken, but the way this public art pays has fallen down almost completely. Given that a free people need good information to make good individual decisions this struggle is now something at the core of where a lot of things are going in the future.
The chairs were arranged around a central point at the coffee house. In each of them sat a person more likely to keep their nose in a cup of steaming coffee in a kind of ritualistic way, as if to ward off the late March chill, than anything else. If they knew each other, they’d be more likely to be chatty and bubbly, even this early in the morning, so it was obvious from the whole arrangement that something was up. I couldn’t help but listen in when someone rose to speak.
When materials were handed out and the speechifying started, it became obvious. These were Census workers, learning the details of their new trade.
Posted in People & Culture, Urban Life
Less than a week after the passage of a landmark health care bill into law, the pundits appear to be sure of one thing: this will be used heavily by republicans in the November elections. The most interesting thing about this prognostication isn’t how universal it is, but how very likely it is completely wrong.
The Mississippi is still rising in Saint Paul, generating a wave of “Flood Tourism”. People come down to look at the yawning river that now stretches into what was once solid ground. It’s about as exciting as waking up in the morning, which is really all that the Mississippi is doing for the year. Spring has returned to Saint Paul. It becomes important, however, when you see how close we live to this wild and untamable creature that wakes up in a similar mood to any of us.
Posted in Nooze, Urban Life
As political sports, the passage of a Health Care bill was something we haven’t seen in a long time. All day there were updates on the radio relaying the status of the debate and what the latest deals were in Washingtoon. It came down to a pair of speeches in the well between Bonoir and Pelosi, with shouts and applause breaking and highlighting their pace like the UK House of Commons. Then, there was the vote.
