Monthly Archives: February 2018

Are you a White Supremacist too?

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

The big, heavy blunt instrument feels so good. Anyone who has swung a sledgehammer knows how productive it feels. But that same person knows that the sledgehammer is indiscriminate. It destroys and often misses the mark. To build and finish … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coward? You May Never Know

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I can’t stop thinking about the case of Scott Peterson, the school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas High School. For 5 minutes, as shots rang out in a school building, he chose to wait outside. After 33 years as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Live Music Keeps Me Alive

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I saw my first live rock show at 13 years old. In 1968, my mom dropped my buddy Gregg and I at the fair grounds so we could see Iron Butterfly. The opening act, from San Francisco, was called Floating … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Congress Can Do About Guns…Now!

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

We have all seen this before. Right? Predictable violence against innocents followed by thoughts and prayers. Grieving people build shrines of flowers and balloons and painted signs. All of the news networks put their anchors on sleek Gulfstream 5 jets … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Portland City Hall: It’s the System Stupid

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Portland City government is badly broken but not in the way that some people think. The public servants in City Hall work hard in a world of constraints, endless demands and never enough money or time to meet outsized expectations. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments