Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Things that defy description.

Loose Ends

When I write these blog pieces, I’m sitting alone in my kitchen relating the best information I can on a topic.  That doesn’t mean I cover any of them thoroughly.  Your comments always raise new perspectives that sometimes flat-out school me – and either make my arguments stronger or tell me to drop them.  I can’t thank you enough for this great experience in social media, where community works together to arrive at something like “truth”.

Lately there have been a number of loose ends that have come to my attention from other sources, however.  Those, combined with an interest in longer replies say that it’s time to tie a few things back together.  It’s all good!

Continue reading

Pledge Drive!

It’s Pledge Drive time at Minnesota Public Radio!  This Winter’s pitch for bucks comes at the same time Congress is (once again) looking to slash funding for public broadcasting.  That means one thing to me – I better get my own Pledge Drive in while I can.

Welcome to the first ever Barataria in-blog Pledge Drive!  There’s a survey at the end where you can tell me just what you think anonymously and easily, whether you give or not.

Continue reading

Blog Series

The blog, as we know it, is a deeply flawed platform for discussing complex ideas.  It emphasizes quick bites of text and an obsession with newness.  With a little modification, however, I happen to believe that a blogger can create works of great relevance if they carefully pay attention to the organization of what they are trying to say.   One method for accomplishing this is the simple device that I call a “Blog Series”.

Continue reading

Happy New Year!

I’ve decided to skip a post and simply wish everyone a year that is much better than the one that we just had.  Happy New Year, world!

Baratariana

In the two years I’ve been writing Barataria, I’ve taken one sick day and one vacation day off from a MWF schedule.  I’m proud of that record, but with my parents in town and a potential new business opportunity starting to fill my thoughts there wasn’t much room left for a piece today.  So I’ve decided to do a clip show – a few highlights of pieces from Barataria past that seem to be popular.  I hope you enjoy them!

Continue reading