Tuesday, 11/3

I hope I wasn't being too idealistic.

Welcome to mid-term election day, a day when (from all appearances) big changes are on tap. Any time there's a consequential election it seems like the county holds it collective breath, and this one is no different. So I took the opportunity to use my TV piece last night to share a dream I have, a dream that—and I hope I'm not being too naive here—that we can all live together when it's over.

Of course, I'm the same person who asks for my own spaceship every Christmas, so I do have some experience in pipe dreams.

I posted the video to social video last night, along with a slightly changed line from John Lennon's “Imagine”. The first few people who responded thought I was indeed crazy for saying what I said, but as the evening wore on it appeared that there are a LOT of people out there who are tired of the political divide among us, and who yearn for a little civility in our civil discourse. Of course, we have about as much of a chance of that as I do of getting my own spaceship, but a boy can dream, right?

No matter how things turn out tonight—whether your side wins or loses—I hope that, beginning tomorrow, as can all live together. After all, if there's anything the past decade has shown us, is that we're really good at living apart.

And I really hope that that changes soon.

The TV piece in question?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 11/2

Yes, I'm insane. What's your point?

Over the past weeks I've had several people ask when I sleep, seeing as how I have a full-time radio job and two different weekly TV gigs that require a lot of preparation and/or writing. So I guess it's s fair question, although, in all honesty I love what I'm doing and it really doesn't seem like work.

But that's not the point. If the people who asked me when I have time to sleep also knew that, aside from my radio & TV jobs, I've received my History Center assignments for next year, then they'd think that I've REALLY gone over the edge.

But I'm not quite insane. Not yet.

Here's what it looks like I'm doing next year (and keep in mind that this is on top of a full-time radio job and two different TV gigs that require a lot of preparation and/or writing)--

January—Kaufman show with my pal Jack, which we're calling “Legends & Lore 4” because, I guess, “Lore” & “four” rhyme. Although this WILL be the fourth in the series, so I guess, in a way, the name DOES make sense.

April—I'm not quite sure why, but I've been asked to make a presentation in front of the Marquette Economic Club. You know...the club that brings in important people with important topics.

And, for some strange reason, apparently me. I have no idea why.

Also in April—The debut of season six of “Pieces of the Past”, the short videos I do for the History Center. At this point, it's looking like there will be 15 of them. Although there could be 16. Or 14. But odds are, it'll be 15.

At least for now,.

June—A reprise of my old “Third Street: Day & Night” walking tour, which was actually the first tour we did at the History Center after Covid restrictions were lifted. It might be nice to do it with an actual crowd this time around.

August—A brand new walking tour I'm putting together called “Jim True Life crime Tales”. While I haven't started work on it yet, I'm guessing it's deal with crime.

And true life.

Add into that the probability of, oh, four or five newspaper articles, and...

Well, now that I think about it, maybe I AM insane. If nothing else, we'll find out by the end of 2027, won't we? But the cool thing is I really enjoy doing all of this, and it's not like I'm dreading tackling any of the projects. In fact, I'm really looking forward to most (if not all) of them. The only problem—and I'm not sure yet if this will be a problem—is trying to find the time to (properly) put together everything on a timely (and tight) schedule. We'll just have to see.

And besides, if I need them, I always have the seven or eight hours I should be in bed each night, right? If people are wondering where I get the time now, maybe they should look at my schedule for next year.

Then the questions might really begin.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 10/30

Happy Halloween Eve. Here's your scary thought for the day—you still have five more days to sit through what seems to be non-stop commercial breaks filled with nothing but political ads.

Sorry. Didn't mean to send THAT much terror through you.

Doesn't matter if you're watching TV or listening to your favorite radio station (and you DO have a favorite radio station, right?). You'll either see or hear upwards of 20 political ads during an average one hour period. In fact, while it's not quite as bad on the station where I work, I have seen an hour of TV on a local station where they had nothing BUT political ads. It's almost enough to make you long for the days of non-stop drug commercials listing their side effects, you know?

Well, okay. Maybe not THAT bad, but I think you know what I mean.

It's probably not much a surprise, either, that in our highly polarized political climate most of the ads you see or hear aren't positive ads. For the most part, they don't tell you what the candidate wants to accomplish or what the candidate stands for. Nope; we're just lucky that most of the commercials we see and hear are negative ads, either telling you that one candidate is a horrid human being, or trying to twist facts so much that you start to believe if you vote one way or another you'll end up with brain cancer.

And that helps the democratic process how?

I don't know that their system is any better, but I've written in here about how German elections are relatively peaceful affairs. There are no non-stop orgies of negative ads, no dark money political action committees, campaigns are limited to a span of just a few weeks, and they hold elections on Sundays so that everyone can vote. In the end, they have a higher percentage of their citizens voting, and, if I had to guess, a lot less stress caused during their election season.

But, for better or worse, that's not how we do things here. And that's why for the next five days any kind of media you consume will constantly remind you of that. So if you're looking for a scary Halloween fact, there you go. But at least six days from today, it'll all be over. Or at least it'll be over until, say January, when the 2028 Presidential campaign gets underway.

Boo!

8-)

Have a great & safe Halloween weekend. If you're downtown trick or treating tomorrow, stop by TV-19. I'll be joining Kevin and, I'm guessing, cracking a LOT of jokes about pasties.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 10/29

It's been a few weird days. It really has.

I complain in here waaaaay too much about how some weeks are just jam-packed with things to do, while others are much lighter. I really shouldn't complain; that's just the nature of having (ahem) four different jobs. For instance—this week, aside from my usual insane daily schedule I'm also in the middle of several “High School Bowl” shoots, doing some extra stuff for TV-19, and, as I had mentioned a few days ago, interviewing a congressional candidate.

Or that's what I thought.

A few minutes before I was set to interview Callie Barr, running for the US House in Michigan's First Congressional District, her UP campaign manager popped into the station and said “Would it be okay if the Senator joined in the conversation”?

And that's how I ended up interviewing both Ms Barr and ex-four term US Senator Debbie Stabenow at the same time.

I wasn't expecting it, but I guess I'm lucky that I know enough to roll with it. I was actually able to incorporate Ms. Stabenow's own experience in the interview, and after the interview was over even asked her for her perspective on Michigan's US Senate race. After all, it seems like she would know something about that, right?

So maybe, just maybe, in hindsight it's not surprising I forgot the topic of the blog I was going to write about old masks. Maybe, just maybe, it's surprising that there aren't MORE things I haven't forgotten about.

Unless, of course, I have forgotten about them already. Because, you know, that's how I roll these days.

8-)

If you have 11 minutes and the inclination, here's the interview with Callie Barr & Debbie Stabenow--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 10/28

It all started because I needed to dig something out of my backpack.

Let's review, shall we? I had an idea for a blog this past Friday, and promptly forgot about it. I spent the weekend trying to remember what it was, to no avail. Then the idea finally reappeared to me Monday night, after which I had no time to write about it, because I had to interview a candidate for the US House of Representatives.

That brings us to now. What was the blog topic that's been taking up waaaaay too much space in my brain the past few days? Well, it came to me when I had to dig through my backpack to find something Friday, and I discovered I had three masks buried deep within the folds of my bag.

So the topic was (or is) just how many masks do we have lying around and don't even know about?

I know; I myself am trying to decide if the topic is worthy of all the brainpower I've devoted to it the past five days. But that's neither here nor there. It's the topic that (almost) drove me insane, and it is a valid one. Since 2020 just how many masks HAVE we accumulated and then lost, whether it's in a purse or car glove compartment or in jacket pockets or, as in my case, a backpack? I'd venture to guess that the number's probably a bit higher than one would think.

Especially since, in the Before Times, we never would have thought about accumulating masks like we do gum wrappers or pocket fuzz.

And it's not just finding our own masks everywhere we look. If you spend as much time walking as I do you'll still notice, even almost six years after Covid changed our lives, all kinds of discarded and/or lost masks floating around on the streets or in the drains. If I wanted to be snarky, I could make the claim that old masks have become the new cigarette butts, as least as far as street trash goes, and I probably wouldn't be wrong.

Like I said, they're everywhere you look.

So if you get bored, take a look through your jackets and purses and backpacks and glove compartments. Figure out how many old and long-forgotten masks you have in there. That way, maybe some of the brain power I've devoted to the subject the past five days would not have been in vain.

Because, you know, I are an idiot for not remembering it in the first place.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 10/27

I remembered what it was.

As you recall, I spent a good chunk of the weekend trying to remember a blog topic I came up with while running around on Friday. I thought it was something relatable, a topic upon which everyone might have an opinion. And now that I've remembered what it was I still think so.

However...I have to go interview a candidate for the US House of Representatives in (looking at a clock) a half an hour. I won't be able to write about it today, so you don't mind waiting until tomorrow to find out what it was, do you?

I appreciate it. But if you want a little tease, look around your house, in your purse, in your backpack, and in your glove compartment. You might be surprised (or shaking your head in disbelief) in what you might see in any or all of those places.

Like I said, more tomorrow. Now, I'm off to chat with a candidate for Congress. In lieu of anything else meaningful, here's last night's TV piece--

A ghost story for Halloween week.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 10/26

Okay. This is really irritating.

Friday afternoon when I rushing around trying to get a thousand things done at work I had an idea for a blog pop into my head. As I remember it it was a really good idea; something that I could expand upon and something to which a lot of people could relate. That was about 1 pm Friday.

By 130 pm Friday, I had totally forgotten what I was going to write about.

That, of course, meant I spent the entire weekend wracking my brain, trying to remember what that really good idea was. Alas, though, it was to no avail. If I was a normal person I could've put it aside and used my weekend for its intended purpose—relaxing and not worrying about work.

But, of course, when I have I ever been normal?

I remember the idea had something to do with either the number of something most people have or how often a person does something. That's why I thought it would be relatable; whatever the idea was was something most of us have to deal with. I tried thinking of every obscure little fact that had been added to my brain, but couldn't come up with it. I even went back to work and re-traced my steps and actions when I came up with the idea.

Sadly, that didn't work. And just as an aside, how come I can remember obscure little facts that pop into my head and NOT the topic about which I was going write? Sometimes, I amaze even myself. But as always, it's hardly ever in a good way.

I have no idea if I'll ever remember what the blog was supposed to be about. I do, though, have the feeling that I ever recall the topic it'll be at 4 in the morning, jolting me out of a sound sleep. After all, that's how things work, at least in my little pea brain.

So instead of what I had originally intended to write you find yourself lucky enough to cruise through this babble. I'm sorry; if I had an actual brain instead of the blob of matter that resides in my skull, that would have been different. But keep this day in the back of your (functioning) brain, and in a few weeks or months or years if I actually DO remember the topic about which I wanted to write, you can mentally head back to this entry and say to yourself (or say out loud)--

“Took you long enough to remember it”

Sigh...

(jim@wmqt.com)