Recent Comments

1. 9 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   I had the same experience. Back in the early 60s, when I was a little kid in Minnesota, my dad also used to build up a rectangular border of dirt and then would flood it as a small skating rink. I remember the ice was always very bumpy compared to the frozen lake we’d sometimes skate on, but it was fun to be able to skate in our yard after school.

   I’ve always felt like Schulz’s winter scenes captured what I remember from my own childhood in Minnesota, even though he left the state just before my time there.

2. 2 months ago on For Better or For Worse

   Good old college dorm pranks.

   When I was a freshman, several of us moved all of the furniture from a second floor dorm room to the basement while the two roommates who lived there were in classes. We arranged the furniture in the basement just as it had been in the dorm room. When the two guys returned, one of them seemed to think the whole thing was pretty funny, and the other guy acted outraged. Of course, it was the latter reaction that we were all hoping for. And, of course, we moved the furniture back to their room.

   What goes around comes around.

   One Saturday night a while later, I returned to my dorm room after seeing a movie on campus, only to find one of those guys (the outraged one) using my room for a party. If I remember correctly, he was using my room because his roommate was studying in their room. I wouldn’t have minded the uninvited party in my room so much if someone hadn’t spilled a bong on my bed…

3. 2 months ago on Prickly City

   FWIW – Youngkin won’t be running because Virginia governors aren’t allowed to serve consecutive terms.

4. 2 months ago on Nancy

   Why not just have Nancy steal cash or a credit card from Aunt Fritzi’s purse? If it’s supposed to be funny that Nancy is starting on a life of crime, there are a lot of despicable things OJ could have her do…

5. 3 months ago on The Knight Life

   On a visit to Boston several years ago, I came across a business that was a combined donut shop and police-supply store. From one counter, they sold donuts, and from the other counter they sold the kind of stuff a uniformed police officer would need.

   No kidding.

6. 3 months ago on Heart of the City

   Do kids really need “help” to get into a PG-13 movie these days?

   I’ve remained under the impression from my long-ago youth that theaters don’t check the age of ticket-buyers until you get to R-rated movies. But perhaps kids are more restricted these days — ?

7. 3 months ago on Warped

   A great tribute to Richard Thompson’s genius, gone way too soon. Thanks, Michael!

8. 3 months ago on Edge City

   I have the good fortune to live on a semi-rural road with beautiful views of the nearby mountains.

   I also have the misfortune to live on a road that is chosen for multiple charity bike rides each year (not to mention weekend rides by smaller groups of cyclists). While I usually support the charitable purposes of the rides, they make life difficult if I, say, want to go to the grocery store.

   Our road is very hilly, with sharp bends throughout. Even very experienced cyclists have trouble going more than 2-3 MPH on long stretches. Imagine what a less experienced cyclist like Len can (or can’t) do, riding a bike for the first time in a long while, without much training beforehand. And multiply that one cyclist by the 50 or 100 usual participants.

   They make our road almost impossible to use for everyday purposes. You’re pretty much forced to follow the cyclists, going at most 5 MPH, because the road’s curves and the cyclists riding (inconsiderately) all over the road (instead of single file) make it impossible to pass them safely.

   It seems like the organizers of these bike rides don’t know what they’re doing. Somehow, the word has gotten round that our road is good for these events, and the organizers send out dozens of out-of-shape riders, without checking out the route and seeing that it’s way too difficult for most riders. One time we came upon about 50 riders in one group, all going about 2 MPH. The organizers should have known better than to allow such a large group to essentially block the road by starting all at once.

   Again, I appreciate the good intentions of the participants of these charity rides. I just wish the organizers would instead use the nearby bike trail, which is level and would be much easier for the average rider. And wouldn’t disrupt the lives of the people who aren’t part of the ride.

   Thus endeth my harangue…

9. 4 months ago on Heart of the City

   Thanks to all for the replies. As someone with only limited contact with today’s kids, it’s interesting to get a perspective on how they view their lives as stories.

10. 4 months ago on Heart of the City

    Do kids today really think of their lives as if they’re TV shows, structured as a series of story arcs?

    Seems more like someone writing about kids, rather than something kids themselves would actually do, but I’m no expert on kids…