Welcome !

Well, here we go. Now that I don’t have to get up and log on anymore for a living, I now have the time to log on whenever I want to and write about things that (until now) have run through my head and then ended up in the vast place where unexpressed thoughts go to die. The content will vary greatly. Politics, Education, Music, Religion, Philosophy, sports and the list goes and goes and goes. I hope it brings you some joy. It gives me a lot of joy to write it!

I’m going to start with a piece written to help preserve some semblance of sanity in a year that just had to end in a contentious American presidential election. I (we) really didn’t need that to finish out a year of COVID, Racial Awakening, a president who is of no help to most of us, fires, hurricanes and whatever local maladies that you have faced, with a freaking election. We just didn’t need this.

But, we have it and here’s what I have to say about it.

A little about me. I retired from a 30 career as a public school educator in July of 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Most of that time was spend teaching Science to Sixth Graders in Terra Bella and Santa Clara, California, USA. My hobbies include singing, bicycle riding and writing. I love to travel and spent two years as a volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps in Belize from 1988-90. I’m anxious to continue the traveling hobby as soon as my country figures out how to deal with stopping the spread of a tiny virus.

The Pandemic nudged me into retiring a year earlier than I had planned, but at age 64, with my wife already retired, and with teaching being limited to online instruction and contact with my students and colleagues being dependent on a reliable internet connection and limited to two dimensions, I decided that it was time to begin the next phase of life.

I’ve taken advantage of some of that time to pursue my interests in the 2020 elections, helping my wife assist her 90+ year old parents and aunt and to experiment with new rituals and routines suitable with my new time freedoms. I enjoy tinkering with technology, particularly with the audio and video technology associated with virtual singing.

Unlike many, perhaps most, people, I am very comfortable in life right now. I have a nice suburban house with a pleasant yard. I have a good retirement income and a partner to spend my days with. I am politically liberal and I identify as a person that some might derisively label as a Socialist. Socialism is people taking care of people. It is NOT Communism, as many on the political Right would lead you to believe. My strong feelings on this topic will often show through in my writings. Again, I have no problem with you disagreeing with me. But, let’s disagree without being disagreeable!

I have many interests and I have strong opinions. You may not agree with my opinions and that’s ok. But, if you want to express your disagreement you had better darn well be civil about it. If there is anything that truly angers me, it’s incivility. That’s as uncivil as I will be.

Let’s have a conversation. That’s why I started publicizing my thoughts. It’s about bridging the political and social divides in my country (the United States of America) and quite possibly yours too.

I welcome your comments. Again, keep them civil and rational and we can engage each other in passionate and civil discourse.

I hope that the time you spend reading this Blog is considered time well spent and helps you make the lives of those around you just a little bit better.

Bruce