I try to be amused…
When troubles arise, better people have a line of poetry to soothe the moment. Primitive that I am, I often find myself remembering, “I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.”
It’s the intro to “White Shoes,” a long-forgotten Elvis Costello song about a bad break-up. He considers ending it all. But instead he tries, not altogether convincingly to be amused.
Profound? No. Poetic? Helpful? Not really. But when it comes to public affairs and rank culture, it can help.
Babe Ruth’s World War I Draft Registration
Despite the hoarding habits of certain federal officials, the National Archives still has a big inventory. Military history stuff. And baseball stuff. It marked the start of spring training, for example, by publishing Babe…
World War II’s Guests: Enemy Soldiers Living in the U.S.
Like, 425,000 of Them I’ve been talking to book clubs and groups about “Something Like Treason,” which, of course, is about some pro-German U.S. soldiers during World War II. Until climate change became evident to enough people, World War II…
The strange allure of World War II and meat-grinding
One Man’s War is another Man’s Movie I do love World War II. No, not the meat-grinding blood, torture, cruelty, death, and heartache that it was. But let some character seem to die or spy in a war book, movie…
Only SOMETHING like treason?
I thought I had settled on a good book title. Among other things, however, it also seemed to produce an apparently irresistible urge for people to ask, “why was it only something like treason.” World War II was well before…
Flattery always enthusiastically embraced
When I was researching the book, I ran across a really interesting military historian named Fred Borch. I cited some of his work in “Something Like Treason.” Now I’m ready to do something modest like worship at his feet because…
The Disloyal Misfits Camped Next To The 10th Mountain Division
And a new generation of literally cold warriors It’s less bizarre this time, but the Army is buying “skis, snowshoes, large tents and other equipment to train troops on cold-weather survival” again. This time it doesn’t have to share a…
Chaplain Arrested by Military Police
The Army Times called it “in a perfect encapsulation of 21st century life on Kuwait’s Camp Buehring, a Pennsylvania Army National Guard chaplain was handcuffed and hauled off by military police.”
I try to be amused…
When troubles arise, better people have a meaningful line of poetry at the ready to soothe the moment. Primitive that I am, here’s what I often resort to: ”I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.“
It’s the first line of a long-forgotten Elvis Costello song. It’s about a bad break-up. The singer considers ending it all. Instead he tries, not altogether successfully, to be amused.
Profound? No. Poetic? Solve anything? Not really.
If you’re lucky, it doesn’t make you smart or at peace. Just somewhat amused.