­­ I was looking for some new tennis shoes recently. Quite a collection. I thought some that Scottie Pippen endorses might not be too bad. $125. I don't know; I bought my first car for $125. I really like Tim Duncan. $130. Then I spotted something-- the Nike Air Flight posite. A speed sock. Wow! Only $160. That was our monthly payment on our first home. On the way out of the store, I glanced over and stopped in my tracks. 'Strength' Guarantees you a 5-10 inch higher vertical leap, they will take 2/10ths of a second off of your 40, and increase your anaerobic (whatever the hell that is) power by 500 percent. I asked the salesperson if all this would be true for a 51 year old man. She looked at me with this blank daze which I interpreted to mean no. I walked out.

­­ Pat Buchanan is bolting from the Republican to the Reform Party. This is good. I personally believe he could use some reforming.

­­ It seems Congress was informed about the use of tear gas at Waco after all. In the Republican's rush to hang Janet Reno, it seems they all forgot to read their report. The longer this Congress goes on, the more of a joke it becomes. We need to find something else for this group of guys to do. Besides, what would they have done? They don't need to know near as bad as the rest of us.

­­ I hear there's some new political jargon floating around Washington. One is ''I've been Monica Lewinskied.'' In order to avoid this, remember sex education principle 1: Keep your zipper up. Another is,''I'm seeing Starrs.'' To prevent this, don't annoy any right-wing lawyers.

­­ If I were on the city council, I would recommend taking the old visitors center (the phone booth) and place it on the parking lot of the new center (the palace). Let's see now, what kind of sign could we hang on it:--

Here's what $250,000 or so can do.--

My how we've grown.--

Welcome to Galesburg. Please come in and make yourself at home. You can stay here until you find a minimum wage job and people like Frank Pecsi rent you a broken down dump.

We could have used $250,000 to renew our parks, feed our hungry, or build some housing for the underprivileged. But we thought making our 50 or so tourists per year comfortable was more important.

­­ I'm glad to hear the Knox County Housing Authority has decided to use some of the vacant buildings at the Iowa Court complex. The original thought was to tear them down. This is a case of using one's head rather than a bulldozer. It seems many times, bulldozers have the creative edge over our intelligence. Isn't it just a miracle what can be done when a group of people get together and exchange ideas and agree to create rather than destroy?

­­ I get a kick out of listening to Conservatives who blame the world's ills on Liberal Democrats. It's pretty entertaining. William Bennett became their head cheer leader, capitalizing on this odd notion by writing ''The De-Valuing of America.'' He tells of how all of society's problems can be traced back to the 60s and those damn Liberals. It's such simplistic thinking it actually makes for fairly good comic reading. As you're well aware, I have my own theory on the demise of our society, which has to do with lack of alleys. None-the-less, I enjoy my would-be status as wreaker of havoc on society. It somehow is uplifting to me to know that I am the purveyor of evil for advocating giving help to the poor and down-and-out: for believing that adequate health care is a right rather than a privilege; that people should be paid a living wage for their labor; that freedom of the press and free speech should be protected from a few men trying to monopolize it; for proclaiming that the huge profits being made by the few is obscene when poverty and hunger continues to exist; for wanting religion and education to remain separate in publicly supported schools; that we should provide programs allowing people to work for an honest day's pay, live in decent housing, and with pride ,determination and dignity be allowed to rise up out of poverty and despair; that we turn away from war and paranoia toward compassion and forgiveness; that we quit making weapons designed solely to kill one another; that we care for Mother Earth as we would our own mother and that women be allowed to control their own bodies without the interference of altruistic politicians. If any of these things are evil, negative or somehow not conducive to the enrichment of the human spirit, then I suppose Liberals are evil, mean-spirited and unwise. But I don't think that's the case. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with the tale.

­­ Fall has arrived. It's time to prepare for winter. Nature tells us it's time to start slowing down and hunker in for winter. It's time to think about what has been and to begin to prepare for what is yet to come. I like the Fall. The air is cooler and I like the subtle colors. I think about my writing, about creating community wealth to promote social change, about shaking off limitations, prejudices and close-mindedness. It is a good time to do these things in the Fall. This Fall in particular, just prior to the end of the world, what with Y2K and all.


Uploaded to The Zephyr Online September 28, 1999

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