Author Archives: Jim Blackwood Jr

The Chair — How We Decide Our Politics

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

  Tell me where someone gets their information and I can tell you what they think.   Well, maybe not what they think, but how they think.  When you turn on the radio, what station comes on?  When you fire … Continue reading →

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A Family History — In Cars

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I am a gearhead.  I love cars.  I like to drive fun cars.  I like to read about cars.  I have subscriptions to 2 car magazines.  (Actual magazines.)  I like to see cars go fast.  I love the sound of … Continue reading →

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Anthony Bourdain: The Traveling Brother I Never Met

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I don’t do celebrity but I did Anthony Bourdain.  His death by suicide this morning was a gut punch.   Like most folks, I met him via his book Kitchen Confidential.  He immediately seemed like a fellow traveler.  Punk as an … Continue reading →

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Mozy Revisited: Learning From Our Blind Dog

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Sally and I were crushed when our golden collie mix Mozy lost her sight.  It was a strange process from thinking she had a problem with her legs to realizing her eyes were failing.  There is more than a little … Continue reading →

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Nostalgia and the Typewriter

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Nostalgia is tricky. You can bath in it or just feel it as a gentle rain. It can hold you and put lead in your shoes or awaken you and set you running out the door. As with any memory, … Continue reading →

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When Your Heroes Die

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

As a kid, I didn’t read comic books.  I loved words and all those pictures meant there were fewer words.  That also meant I didn’t have any connection to the heroes and superheroes that today roar though our popular culture … Continue reading →

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Mozy is Blind

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

“She’s so beautiful.”  That is how every conversation begins when someone meets our 8 year-old Collie/Sheppard mix Mozy.  From the first time we took her to the vet to every person who stops to talk with us on the street, … Continue reading →

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The Starbucks Incident — What Do You Want?

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I will readily admit I don’t know a ton about what happened in that Starbucks in Philadelphia.  I’ve seen the videos of the incident and the Police Chief.  I saw some television reports and an article or two.  Seen some … Continue reading →

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The Commissioner and The Baseball

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

  What is the strangest relationship you have ever had? Was it in your family, so you had no choice? Did you have a lover whose very existence in your live now baffles you? Did you have a boss who you are now … Continue reading →

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Signifiers — Thoughts From the Coast

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Signifier: a symbol, sound, or image (such as a word) that represents an underlying concept or meaning. Admittedly, this is a damn strange word to have stuck in my head for months. When I obsess over a word the bubble … Continue reading →

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