Thought from the North Country

“But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency...”
Bob Dylan

Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music

I leave this line open for interpretation, but they know who they are...

This is another photo that I took at the Skokie sculpture park a few years back.

'Welcome' Redux (from Oct. 24)

This is a republished entry from earlier this week. Because it was the charter entry I have opted to reprint:


Welcome to my blog post. The title "Fissures at an Excavation," is, of course, a play on the title of the famous symphonic work by 19th century composer, Modest Mussorgsky. If you are not inclined toward classical music, reference any Emerson, Lake and Palmer discography and you will locate the same result.

This post will comprise thoughts, reflections, reminiscences, opinions, and the occasional fiction or humor piece. I may, from time to time, pepper entries with found or established sources in the way of interesting quotes, excerpted song lyrics or prose/poetry cuttings. Now and then, I also hope to engage other friends to share their work here, be it prose or artwork (photography, drawings, etc.). Authorship will always be properly cited. For now, I will refrain from political commentary, but it won't be easy considering the public apathy and the corrupt political process.

In the end, I hope to provide something akin to an online magazine. And I welcome relevant and thoughtful input from the outside.

Well, let's see where the river takes us...

I took the above photo in a nearby sculpture park in Skokie, Illinois. Others will follow.

'Going' Says It All

From "Urge for Going" (Joni Mitchell)

"I awoke today and found
the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky
then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
and all the trees are shivering in a naked row

I get the urge for going
But I never seem to go
I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in..."

Copyright © 1966; Siquomb Publishing Company

"Urge for Going," written by Joni Mitchell, captures the autumnal transition between summer and winter better than any other song I can think of. I think I first heard the song on a Tom Rush album (he was among the first to record the songs of Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne before any of them released their first albums). Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard a bad cover of this song. The other versions (I know) by David Crosby and Graham Nash, Dave Van Ronk, Joni herself (of course), and an obscure Canadien band called Courage of Lassie, may vary in tempo and interpretation, but it is so evocative you can almost see the leaves falling off the trees.

The photo above is one I took about 20 years ago in a field in northeast Wisconsin (Door County).

Suggested New Ad Campaign Slogan for Major Fast Food Chain (Don't thank me yet!)

"Burger-Mortis... your meal ticket to heaven!"