I no longer feel obligated to listen to or speak to anyone with their cell phone out. If they have an important message, they can (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
My new Web site
Panda Bear
08/15/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentWe wonder at times how our grandchildren navigate their biraciality. They live in the East Valley of Maricopa County, Arizona, one of the reddest parts (Continue Reading)
Those strange notes
06/26/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentAs I type on my blog, I hear my wife singing in the kitchen. She seldom sings. But the strains of her song are clearly (Continue Reading)
Not exactly synonyms
05/26/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentRut and groove in their most basic referent are the same thing, but as Wikipedia says: disambiguate. OK. When I was young I was in (Continue Reading)
Highs and lows of recent times
05/15/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis is in lieu of a Christmas letter. Off the top of my head, some highlights. I got my knees replaced and you can read (Continue Reading)
Early influences on my views of African-Americans
04/17/2019 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsTwo books I recall reading as a kid: Louis Armstrong’s autobiography Satchmo! and Richard Wright’s Black Boy. The former the librarian wouldn’t check out to (Continue Reading)
Blew my theory
07/26/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentI figured we’d see the highest level of police-on-Black violence in Southern states. Not so. It’s in the Midwest, places like Milwaukee and Chicago. Why? (Continue Reading)
Incredible Serendipity
07/26/2018 Pat Barrett 5 CommentsAs the blog entry Untangling Police-on-Black Violence was spooling out, my attention kept being drawn back to my other blog entry, Blew My Theory, in (Continue Reading)
The secret is to make a pile of money
05/08/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentLet’s just point out the bad people to start with: the Arizona state legislators. I’m guessing it is mainly Republicans, the people of personal responsibility (Continue Reading)
What I forgot
05/06/2018 Pat Barrett 7 CommentsWatching Morning Joe, I had a Great Thought. I came to the blog to write it down but first had to log in. I missed (Continue Reading)
As the new year looms…..
12/29/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentEarlier I had felt a change coming with the demise…. I mean end of 2017 or, more precisely, the end of the holidays with their (Continue Reading)
And yet another memorial service
07/31/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentContrary to long custom, the services for the deceased at the Pentecostal church my wife was raised in no longer feature a body. In fact, (Continue Reading)
Our YouTube Channel: Crossing the Color Line
07/09/2017 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsOur grandson suggested we start our own YouTube channel based on the conversations he heard between us. So we put out our first episode, Introduction, (Continue Reading)
Get Ready World
06/27/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentLast night our grandson sat down with us and mapped out both strategy and tactics for putting us on YouTube. He bought a camera and (Continue Reading)
Full circle
04/17/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentFull circle Saturday my wife went to hear her cousin speak in a church. She hadn’t been in that church in 53 years; it was (Continue Reading)
Seeing Loving
02/03/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy wife and I saw Loving tonight. It was very personal for us because our state of AZ had had anti-miscegenation laws on the books (Continue Reading)
Acuity
01/20/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentHere’s a good example of the almost inconceivable acuity of attention to detail some people have: there are 76 uprights, wrought iron with floral designs (Continue Reading)
MLK Day
01/16/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentPat’s version of The Speech: I may be moving like pond water, but the arc of history bends toward me getting the refrigerator cleaned. My (Continue Reading)
Culling books
01/14/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentA few years ago I oiled my bookshelves, necessitating pulling the books off and replacing them, an activity that encouraged culling. I wound up giving (Continue Reading)
New medication
09/20/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentI am now taking Vitriol. Check with your doctor to see if Vitriol is right for you.
Another turning point
06/01/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis day I at once anticipated with dread and with hope arrived and everything turned out well. Our son had intestines and colon removed in (Continue Reading)
End of an era – personal
03/21/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentI got a couple of notes on a listserv recently thanking me for some comments I made and obliquely acknowledging the fact that my combination (Continue Reading)
Expanding the Empire
02/10/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentExpanding the empire Tonight we were watching political news and our grandson suddenly said he had the best idea ever: my wife and I should (Continue Reading)