BROKEN WINDOWS

Friday, November 28, 2003

It's snowing! Real Chicago snow. I took a picture that I'll post on Monday. It's just lovely, especially right now, at dusk.

Cookies, tea, fire in the fireplace (and dog in the bathroom -- he's deathly afraid of fire), snow outside. What an enchanted evening.

5:00:18 PM |

Hello from Chicago!

We got in late Wednesday evening (well, maybe technically early Thursday morning) after trekking up from Vicksburg, Mississippi. There were other northerners heading home for the holidays on the road beside us, including a group from Tennessee with "CHI TOWN" license plates. Cool.

It's blistery here, with light lake effect snow (not more than a sprinkle in the air really) and we've got a fire in the fireplace. It's amazing how much you miss cold weather when you're from a place like this. Of course, our skin's about as dried out as the wood. Technically it's humid here right now too, but there's something distinctly different about the humidity in 25 degree air than that of the warm swampy air of New Orleans -- there we have the windows open, here we're inside with the heater blowing. It's amazing what a difference that makes.

Unfortunately I forgot the cord that connects my camera to my computer, so I won't be able to post any photos until Monday. Check back then to see a night shot of the largest pre-fab aluminum siding cross east of the Mississippi (off 57 in Effingham, affectionately called "Effypatch" by all who know it); the blinking coconut trees now found in our Chicago neighborhood; and Haley Barbour's winning Mississippi placard: "Keep the Flag, Change the Governor." (But it's not about race, right?)

Off to bake cookies for another get together tonight. Ahh, the holidays!

1:03:12 PM |

The Cult of Personality: We've Fallen for it Again	7/17/05
Ignorance Leading to Fear Leading to Descrimination in NYC	7/17/05
How the cycle begins, how it is perpetuated	7/16/05
Speak truth to power? You must be out of your mind...	7/16/05
Preach it, Sister Vowell	7/16/05
A few links to follow up on the Christian Fascism thing....	7/16/05
"Not in the Name of Islam"	7/16/05
Doc's thoughtful question and a couple of other reads	7/16/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/15/05
The rise of Christian Fascism: the Blue Voice on Pat Robertson's anti-semitism	7/15/05
Operation Truth needs our help	7/14/05
"Am I Next?": The endless tragedy of a futile mission	7/14/05
Hey France: Happy Independence Day, Y'all	7/14/05
The compounded tragedy of a young man's murder	7/14/05
Seven more...	7/14/05
Word of the Day for Wednesday July 13, 2005	7/13/05
Will someone please get Tom Friedman a dictionary?	7/13/05
Jeremy's rant on Op Truth	7/12/05
Karl Rove has got to go	7/12/05
Beauty and the injection of violence	7/11/05
Excellent Sunday Reading	7/10/05
"The Stain of Torture"	7/9/05
Swerve Left on how to stop terrorism	7/9/05
Where they came from, who they killed	7/9/05
A love of violence and a fear of death	7/9/05
A few worth your time today	7/8/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/8/05
From the vault	7/8/05
I can't believe it	7/8/05
The sudden rupture of nostalgia	7/7/05
"What is truth?"	7/7/05
What a dark day	7/7/05
Yep.	7/7/05
Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" Is Genius	7/6/05
And then we jail the journalists...	7/6/05
Eric Alterman goes off on Stingy America	7/6/05
Sarah Vowell in the New York Times	7/6/05
Exvotos and Giving Thanks	7/5/05
Thank our Liberal Ancestors Today	7/4/05
It's hard for me to celebrate independence this year	7/4/05
The warped use of rhetoric to defend the indefensible	7/4/05
"Remember Petey"	7/3/05
The Bush Administration: Balancing Facts with Fiction since 2001	7/3/05
To all the keyboard kommandos out there in cyberspace	7/3/05
The casualties of war	7/2/05
"Criminal suspects are treated better..."	7/1/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/1/05
My short-lived fantasy	6/30/05
Rieckhoff on Bush	6/30/05
Our war against an "abstract noun" and our glorification of warriorship	6/30/05
"I can't forget the dead."	6/30/05
Coincidence?	6/30/05
"The Live Bait Approach to National Security"	6/29/05
Onward, Armchair Soldiers! May God Bless You All!	6/29/05
The Tragedy of Bush's flawed argument	6/29/05
So thankful for email...	6/28/05
Thank you, mom. I needed that reminder.	6/28/05
Too much worry	6/28/05
Paul Rieckoff on Bush's Ft. Bragg Speech	6/28/05
"Amid the Turmoil, Iraqis...Turn to Books"	6/28/05
China's cyber wall	6/28/05
Sam Hamill on Poetry, War, and Protest	6/28/05
Afghanistan, still broken	6/28/05
Thank you, Washington Post, for keeping on the DSMs	6/28/05
The Nightmare	6/27/05
Deconstructing Michael: Ignatieff on the Butcher's Block	6/27/05
It's about trust	6/27/05
Michael Smith on Downing Street, from the LA TImes	6/24/05
Tom Friedman, the Left's David Brooks	6/24/05
Fighting Myself	6/24/05
Our new reality of the absurd	6/23/05
Quagmire? There's no quagmire!!	6/23/05
Photos from S: Asadabad	6/23/05
Karl Rove on the Downing Street documents	6/23/05
"I only feel bitter disappointment"	6/23/05
In the swing of things	6/23/05
Sorry...light posts for another couple of days	6/20/05
Knock, knock. There's still a war on.	6/20/05
"God Save Our President"	6/18/05
Granta's "What we think of America" and Mishra's article on jihadists	6/17/05
The Chicago Tribune is pathetic	6/17/05
Joe Conason on the press's coverage of the Downing Street Memos	6/17/05
Chalk another one up for our good neighbors, KBR	6/16/05
Operation Truth's Jeremy Lewis on the Downing Street Memo	6/16/05
Email from S	6/16/05
Downing Street Live Chat: Read it, Please!	6/16/05
The "Colombiazacion" of Mexico, the "Mexicanization" of the US	6/16/05
Downing Street Memo Live Chat -- Right Now	6/16/05
Check it out! Sgt. Zach in the news!	6/15/05
"...the purpose of regime change 'has no basis under international law'"	6/15/05
HanniBolton Lecter at Zen Comix	6/15/05
Trying to keep it together	6/15/05
Fanning the flame of hatred	6/15/05
And speaking of no WMDs in Iraq...	6/15/05
A few funny searches	6/14/05
Why the Downing Street Memo is important	6/14/05
Praying at the graves of al qaeda "martyrs"	6/14/05
Howard Dean in Chicago	6/13/05
"What is life worth?"	6/13/05
The NY Times: on the road to obsolescence	6/13/05
Back in J-Bad	6/13/05
The most important story of our time	6/12/05
The reality on the ground: training ANA and Iraqi troops	6/11/05
"Yellow is not our color"	6/11/05
The ever-growing disconnect	6/11/05
What I Miss	6/10/05
Why I hate Colin Powell	6/9/05
Photos from Afghanistan -- Around Jalalabad	6/9/05
It's too much to ask	6/9/05
Thank you John Conyers	6/9/05
This has got to stop.	6/9/05
Photos from Iraq on Operation Truth's website	6/8/05
Reality Check, Please	6/8/05
The Ideological Battle of our Time	6/8/05
Making Waves, Not Ripples: Thank you, Sgt. Zach	6/6/05
Who I am -- an attempt to keep me in the blogosphere	5/31/05
Too much bitter in that pie.	5/28/05
Maybe more funds for PTSD; meanwhile, "part-timers" get no coverage.	5/27/05
Inventor of Freedom Fries Chokes on His Own Creation	5/25/05
Leadership, anyone?	5/24/05
More evidence...	5/24/05
Watch today's edition of Democracy Now!	5/23/05
Truth obscured, again	5/23/05
"Maybe lying's not a big deal anymore"	5/23/05
Civil War?	5/19/05
"let's remember what it means to send people to war"	5/18/05
The only thing I can offer	5/17/05
"a democracy can die of too many lies"	5/17/05
That heartbreaking photo...	5/15/05
Oops	5/15/05
Our Excellent Support...	5/15/05
Complete and utter insanity...	5/15/05
"Identity Crisis" Indeed	5/15/05
The Stop-Loss: What it really means to soldiers	5/14/05
Help vets with PTSD: contribute to Operation Truth	5/14/05
What the hell is going on?!!	5/14/05
News from the war America forgot	5/12/05
Comments are back!	5/11/05
A Soldier's Thoughts...brilliant Iraq soldier blog	5/10/05
Our out-to-lunch press...	5/10/05
"A Deadly Guessing Game"	5/10/05
Cindy Sheehan's Mother's Day Letter	5/9/05
"The Marines' Flawed Body Armor"	5/9/05
Some New Orleans pictures...	5/9/05
Forty-eight soldiers dead	4/30/05
Photos from Afghanistan	4/30/05
Afghan Irrigation System -- from S	4/30/05
The Worry	4/27/05
Our Lady of the Kennedy Underpass, Chicago	4/24/05
A few outrages from the road...live from Mississippi	4/24/05
Where are the feel-good, hippie-type christians?	4/22/05
"Think About How Crazy All of This Is"	4/22/05
A Litany of Bad News	4/20/05
Thank you, Rhye	4/19/05
Heil Papa	4/19/05
No news to report...right?	4/19/05
I've had it with bigotry	4/19/05
Thank you!	4/18/05
Radio, Radio	4/17/05
A sea of white crosses	4/17/05
An absence of numbers	4/17/05
Eliminate! Eliminate! Eliminate!	4/16/05
Farewell, Gelertner. Thanks for the outrage.	4/15/05
Afghanistan in Pictures	4/15/05
Afghanistan in Pictures	4/15/05
Please don't speak about the wars in the past tense	4/14/05
Go to Iraq, Lose Your Job: Courtesy the US Government	4/13/05
Our Psychotic Big Brother: The Corporation	4/13/05
How many have gone to war? Over 1,000,000 and counting...	4/12/05
Oh New Orleans	4/11/05
Our Culture of Death: Viva Muerte!	4/10/05
Bouphonia	4/9/05
Study cancelled; shocking that it was ever considered	4/9/05
What can we do?	4/9/05
Wagner's "The Ring of Nibelung"	4/8/05
"Are we better off with a foreign policy that promotes regime change while justifying war with false information?"	4/8/05
Newsflash: Iraq Missing from Newspapers Nationwide	4/5/05
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill	4/4/05
Chicago Feminist in Burkha Opens Refrigerator Door	4/1/05
Afghanistan, from S	4/1/05
From France, with Love	4/1/05
What Else Is Going On in the World, You Wonder?	3/31/05
Belgian Store Windows	3/31/05
LA	3/31/05
Cork, Ireland	3/31/05
The Overwhelming Desire for a Narrative	3/31/05
Greetings from Europe	3/19/05
Escape from Reality	3/13/05
America the Red	3/13/05
Gunner Palace: War Without End	3/13/05
Private Contractors and Their Wads of Cash	3/12/05
Becoming the Army Wife	3/12/05
Orwell, Irony, and the Two-Year Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom	3/11/05
No Light, No Hope: The Soldier's Heart	3/7/05
I'm Back	3/7/05