Field notes from the Figure 8 Ranch
I’m writing this on Sunday morning, during the first real snowstorm we’ve enjoyed this year — though I almost didn’t believe it was going to happen. I stopped believing the weather woman about 2 months ago. This was a deliberate ...
Last week provided a sobering look in the American mirror. Much of that ugly reflection was concentrated in the State of Virginia, where governor Ralph Northam first admitted, then denied, that he was one of the two utter dimwits who ...
There is a concept in the art world known as Negative Space. The basic idea is that instead of trying to draw the branches in a tree, one draws the space between the branches, and therefore, ultimately, the whole tree ...
The field of candidates for the 2020 Presidential Challenge Blowout is taking shape just in time for pitchers and catchers — they report for spring training in early February – and what makes this timing so marvelous, so utterly serendipitous, ...
The field of candidates for the 2020 Presidential Challenge Blowout is taking shape just in time for pitchers and catchers — they report for spring training in early February – and what makes this timing so marvelous, so utterly serendipitous, is that it is also beginning to look a lot like a mid-season Sausage Race. ...
Now that the APA (American Psychological Association) have decided that the political opinions of psychologists are a legitimate factor in mental health care decisions, we’ve reached another checkpoint on the battlefields of American culture. Under the guise of concern for “the impact of power, privilege, and sexism on the development of boys and men and ...
Americans are not only terrified of everything — it turns out they are also subject to sudden and inexplicable tolerance breaks. Last week’s viral incident at the Jet Blue counter in Miami serves up more evidence of an epidemic of adult conniption fits, even as nobody seems to know why the Adult Freak Out singularity ...
One idea that surfaced from the recent VAT meetings was to foster a vision of Sisters Country as the artisanal capital of Oregon. That idea may be one of the better ones to have emerged from the project, if only because it is an organic outcome of broad-based community support. It is also something that ...
Americans have become a fearful lot. And I really do mean scaredy-cats, a bunch whimpering, simpering, cowardly lions afraid of everything from chocolate milk to clowns, from fake eyelashes (it’s a thing) to 11 year-old playground bullies. I’m not sure how this happened, but fear has become a pervasive element in our culture. It’s virtually ...
My detective brain tells me that President Donald Trump is lying, though it’s unclear to me exactly what he’s lying about. It also seems clear that fired FBI Director James Comey, too smug by a country mile, is lying also – either actively or by omission, and who knows which. But that’s not unusual in ...
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-dtkn2-9d1009 In this inaugural segment of Running Iron on the Road, Craig shares thoughts and music from a recent trip to San Miguel de Allende, and Guanajuato, Mexico. Part 1 of 2.
I’ve been wondering what there is to say about the saga of Judge Kavanaugh, and the allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. There really is no upside to joining the discussion in the present environment, largely because we seem to have regressed to the tactics of denunciation and character assassination in place of evidence ...
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zjqay-9b0255 In this episode of the Running Iron Podcast Craig, Jim, and Oil Can are joined in the bunkhouse by Austin, Texas, resident Rick Schwertfeger. Rick is a retired public health professional who has also become a regular contributor to both Frontier Partisans and Running Iron Report. Rick sits down to discuss internet dating, former ...
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-xt98x-99b47e Nevada cowgirl, educator, philanthropist, and elite-level athlete Cris Converse joins Craig and Jim in the Bunkhouse on the historic Figure 8 Ranch. Cris leads just the sort of eclectic and informed American life that fans of Running Iron appreciate; in this terrific interview she discusses the fascinating trail of her life, and lends important ...
Bunkhouse Chronicle 