topics which will remain uncovered in this blog

As a newbie to the blog world, I have been reflecting that there are several topics which I will not address in this public forum.

I will not reveal extremely intimate information about myself, past or present.

I will not opine about recently concluded criminal trials in Florida which are attracting national attention.

I will not ride my hobbyhorse over Republican governors, or legislation overseeing student assessment and teacher performance and collective bargaining.

What is left to say? Plenty.

First, there are a lot of good people who get up every day, go to work, work hard, and complain very little. They have opinions and are concerned, but they choose to express their concern by doing a good job in their corner of the world. They get discouraged, or they get encouraged, but they still get up and go to work every day.

Second, there is a lot of good composing going on that gets to the heart of what is important to remember from day to day. So for today, here is the first line of Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Any place we go back to day after day is full of promises and disappointments. This first line has a variation on the telescoping effect of the first chapters of The Grapes of Wrath, as well as the germ of a sense of place, all in one sentence.

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.