Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, June 13, 2020, 9:53 a.m. What have I learned from the great vacant year of 2020? I’ve got plenty of time to ponder this absence of normality. It’s only half over as the calendar flies. The pandemic is a house fire that continues to flare up every time it looks like …
Tag: Monte Dutton
Fifteen Yards for Piling On
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, June 4, 2020, 8:54 a.m. This morning I’ve been thinking about significant things I learned from obscure sources. For instance, my highly detailed views on various shades of color derive from very large boxes of Crayolas. “Well, it’s like navy blue, but I think it’s really closer to midnight.” Also, I …
At Least The World Is Turning Laps Again
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, May 21, 2020, 10:42 a.m. Mainly I have been writing about stock car racing. Mainly stock car racing is what is going on, whether at the dirt track in Laurens or the paved superspeedway in Darlington. The gates aren’t open, but the cars are going around and around. I’m sure there’s …
Works for Me
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, May 2, 2020, 11:28 a.m. The times demand resourcefulness. Me? I invented a cocktail. I’m not a big drinker these days, but occasionally it helps me sleep soundly and without dreams. Occasionally I put some bourbon in a mug of coffee, but the weather is getting warmer, and the java and …
Dreeeaaaam, Dream, Dream, Dreeeaaaam …
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, 8:48 a.m. She was a level-headed dancer / On the road to alcohol / And I was just a soldier / On my way to Montreal … That I think a lot about John Prine songs is in part because he recently died, but it’s also because I …
Satire at Sunset
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 18, 2020, 8:37 a.m. Back when I traveled most of the country, writing about race cars that went ’round and ’round and the mostly white men who drove them, my favorite device was not a shock absorber but its literary equivalent, satire. Once -- it was in Dover, Delaware, I …
What Comes to Mind Today
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, April 9, 2020, 11:28 a.m. If the country is pulling together, you can’t prove it by Facebook. I’ll stop blaming President Twitter when he stops blaming everyone else. The best reason to watch replays of old sporting events is that at least it’s sports. The worst thing is that everyone knows …
Mastodons Run Amok
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, March 30, 2020, 7:45 p.m. When I read Don Quixote, I found it astonishing to learn that the art of comedy had not notably advanced in over four centuries. Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte takes Miguel de Cervantes forward and adds levels that would not have been structurally feasible in 1616, when the …
The Age of Chicken Little
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, March 22, 2020, 9:16 a.m. Everywhere people say the sky is falling. Never mind that it is. Mostly, when my “land line” rings, it is either my mother or someone who wants my money. I hang up so often, one would in earlier times think me inconsiderate. My cell plays tricks, …
The Horse Ain’t High No More
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, March 19, 2020, 9:23 a.m. There’s nothing wrong with feeling sorry, but there’s no purpose in feeling sorry for ourselves. Things are tough all over. Everyone’s got a tale of woe. Everyone’s got someone to blame. Stop it. We’ve got the right to lash out at who or what is the …
Nightrider's Lament 