November 16, 2021

A great man said November is a month to breed pessimists. (He was Canadian and facing months of battleship grey… Meanwhile, I’m Texan and optimistic to post daily this crystal-clear month.)

I’m a ramblin guy. Recording this on audio as I drive through Southern Illinois.

The weekend was terrific. The former place of residence remains as strong as ever with a tradition that turns out terrific young men (just was named outstanding chapter for the entire nation, their first such win in 24 years). 

Tryin’ to make a livin’ and doin’ the best I can

I was delighted to see so many old friends and I’m thrilled to reconnect to them and see new connections formed among their sons and mine. As far as my time with John, I had a blast. I would say that a high point of the weekend was tailgating with dozens of familiar faces before the debacle of a football game. Another highlight was seeing basketball Friday night in the venerable Assembly Hall.

The lunch that I spent with Don and David on Friday afternoon at Trojan Horse was… searching for the right word. “Significant” might be too strong, but it had meaning to be back with them after so long. And David and I calculated that he and I had not seen one another for 13 years, which is insane.

Rolled through Luckenbach Texas last Wednesday… But I couldn’t stay

Question: When did everyone on Interstates decide to just start hauling ass? My recollection as a younger driver was that most everybody drove within 10-15 mph of the speed limit, and a big-time speeder doing 98 mph was typically an outlier.

Today we all are disregarding posted speed limits as a group. When I was young and the so-called energy crisis swept the nation. Nixon reduced the interstate’s speed limit to 55, where it remained for years until 65 mph came into being circa 1990.

But it seems that sometime around the turn of the century, a combination of things took place. Perhaps the manner in which law enforcement polices the speed limit the way they once did changed.

Another factor would be that today, all cars regardless of make are better designed, better made and quiet. If you were in a vehicle approaching a hundred miles an hour in 1979 — you felt it. Your car was a bucket of bolts ready to come apart, like the joke in The Blues Brothers where the Bluesmobile at the conclusion of its necessity falls apart in an instant.

Is it possible that I just didn’t notice, as a boy and then as a new driver, how many vehicles speed on the interstate?

I do believe I’m onto something that it wasn’t always like this, where scofflaws and grandpas alike are doing 90. Eighteen wheelers on I-30 in Arkansas are driving 85 miles an hour as a matter of routine in open stretches. These were things you just didn’t see. 

Lots of abandoned vehicles on the Interstates. Noticeable. Is this the new standard? Just leave the dispossessed (people or machines) by the roadside? 

I was just thirteen when I had to leave home
Knew I couldn’t stick around, I had to roam

LATER… Little Rock — Does anybody need to watch or go on the website of, “ABC World News Tonight,” or read the Dallas Morning News anymore? If it weren’t for airports and hotels would anyone consume CNN or USA Today?

I’m thinking about it because my mom was watching “World News Tonight” and it was the first time I’d seen a network news program in several years. The experience was excruciating.

What’s happening in the US media — all of it, every outlet — is unfortunate. 

Once technology showed which content influenced viewer/readership the most, the old news industry died, replaced by a Be First, Check Later urgency to lure eyeballs and tweak headlines to maximize clicks. 

The result is the biggest difference ever between opinions in America. Driven by these tools.

Persuasion — not journalism.

Sad, a profession that I aspired to and studied as a young man. Ultimately, I gravitated towards the business communications side for my 9-to-5 career, but that doesn’t mean I lack respect for what the institution used to be.

We’ve seen the dichotomy of opinions mainly due to social media and smartphones and confirmation bias. Socials figured out how to push your emotional buttons based on your preferences – it’s crazy what they know.

There are people who get that we are in a new phase of media — and plenty more who do not. They are the ones being persuaded daily. They eat it up, and that’s why they’re so often mugged by reality. 

The “good news” is future consumers don’t watch the news. Here’s hoping that the younger people, with new and different media consumption patterns, will see through this and we’ll move on to another, more responsible model. 

Okay that’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed my weak ramblings.

Wait there’s more.

TEXARKANA —and the scent of burning mesquite in rural Texas on a crisp 46-degree evening. Love it… and:

Gratitude is my word for this year.

It’s fantastic Rob playing for UTD which means we don’t have to say goodbye to the basketball bond that has been such a strong one in our family’s social calendar for 16 years. 

It is a real blessing to have John plugged in and enjoying IU. John will play intramural hoops which is pretty serious, high level.

We get three and a half more years and the action and the fun just tipped off for this year within the last week. Rob’s team is now 2-0, and will be playing a pair of ball games in Georgetown in one week’s time. (John’s IMs will begin in January.)

Ben is looking at graduate doctoral programs and got accepted to one last week. So his journey takes a new turn here shortly. More gratitude thoughts next week.

Right now, I got to be moving on.