Courier Journal - Fall/Winter 2024

As it turns out, working as a courier in the deep of winter in Northern New England is exhausting. I was doing this job last winter, but that was an unseasonably mild winter. This winter kicked my ass. Working a job that you can sometimes walk over 18,000 steps in a day, my being in my 50's and having worked a desk job most of my life ... you could say it was rough. This is my explanation, my excuse, for not putting out a Courier Journal for Fall 2024, I was too exhausted to write. Not only that, but the heater in my living room went on the fritz. For the last month, the room where I do my writing has been freezing cold. 

Fall in Vermont elicits images of idealistic scenes of leaves changing, people raking and lots o' pumpkins. For us locals it means leaf peepers driving slowly and pulling over to take pictures of their trips north. We've gotten so used to the foliage, we often don't notice. You really have to watch your driving this time of year. You can turn a corner on a rural highway and come up on someone pulled over taking a scenic picture. Visitors don't always know how to drive on these roads. It reminds me of how bad I drove in Ireland. As it turns out, round-abouts are extremely confusing when you drive on the left side of the road. My brain doesn't work that way. I had to take several revolutions before I could get off. I have to remind myself of this, when I get pissed off at tourist drivers. 

Ever since I've moved to Vermont, I've noticed something very weird about Vermonters. They talk about Burlington like it is unsafe. I just don't get it, and it annoys me. It appears to me to be the safest city I've ever been in. Maybe it is an example of people not having travelled and not having experiences with any other cities, but it seems so preposterous to me. Business Insider magazine recently rated all of America's cities based on safeness. Burlington came in #4 while its neighbor, South Burlington, was #1. I am very lucky in that I work in both of these municipalities. New England fared well with Warwick RI, Nashua NH and Portland ME all making the top twenty.  

Crime isn't the only factor that is included on this rating but suffice it to say, I am safe when I walk around town or into people's backyards carrying packages for the good people of Burlington. It is not only a safe town but a happy and friendly place. People say "hi," smile and sometimes hold the door for me. One day recently, a woman on Church Street saw me carrying a very heavy package and walked along with me so that she could hold the door for when I got to the storefront I was going to.  One of my coworkers recently said that he feels like he needs a "bulletproof vest" when he delivers in BVT.  (No, he really said that.)  This is just completely fucking bonkers to me, but I lived in Boston for ten years and I never once felt unsafe, so maybe I am the one that isn't normal.  

Another thing I really appreciate about Burlington is this:

That's right porta-johns. Here's another:

I drink a lot of coffee so I have to pee a lot. Having these spread around the city is a godsend. The first one is in Battery Park. The second is on the corner of North Prospect and Loomis, I think. There are quite a few of them and not all of them are on construction sites. I love this town. 

Courier Journal - Summer 2024

Twenty four years ago, when I moved to Vermont, a Boston friend told me that I'd be back. I would get bored. She could not be more wrong about me moving back. I defend boring as a lifestyle. Of all the times of year, Summer in Vermont is the least boring. It is full of tourists and construction and a ton of things to do that are not accessible in the Winter ... like kayaking, hiking, wading in mountain streams. It is my favorite time of the year. Working as a courier in Vermont for the Summer is also great. Sure, it is hot, but Summer in Vermont is by no means as hot as most of our country.  Burlington gets a wind off of Lake Champlain that is quite lovely. 

Burlington vs. South Burlington: When I first moved to Vermont, I was surprised that it wasn't as liberal as I expected. Having moved from Boston, I am not sure what I expected but the people I was getting to know were not as liberal as I expected. Then someone explained to me that it was because I was working in South Burlington, that is where all the Republicans in Vermont live. I have not found anything to back that up. The county that both towns are in, Chittenden, is quite blue. The conservatives live up in the Northeast Kingdom not here in liberal Chittenden, but South Burlington is definitely more conservative than its larger neighbor to the north.  

Burlington is Vermont's largest city. To put things in perspective, it has a population of 44.5 thousand people. This is when school is in, the University of Vermont and Champlain College are in session. It gets significantly smaller in the Summer. South Burlington, a suburb of Burlington, is actually the second largest city in the state at 21 thousand people. Colchester, a town, is third with 17.5 which is also a Burlington suburb. The point I am making: Vermont has very few people and most of the people that live here, live in this county, Chittenden. Burlington is the funky college town. South Burlington is its mildly more conservative neighbor to the south that has no real downtown and a couple of malls. When college students move here and fall in love with the place, some of them stay. When they get older and grow tired of the city, they move into the Suburban city, South Burlington or the cozy lake town of Colchester .... hence they are slightly more conservative. 

People seem less happy in South Burlington than Burlington. I have no data to back this up, only anecdotes. When you don't have hard data, by all means, rely on anecdotes. What else do you have? I deliver in Burlington Tuesdays through Fridays, part-time. I work one full-time day and that is in South Burlington on Mondays. I deliver to doctor's offices, law firms, retail outlets, big corporate and government buildings and residences in both municipalities. In general, people in Burlington are a joy to deal with. They seem to be happy with what they are doing whether at home or at work. The woman that runs the bagel place on South Union St. or the people on the loading dock at the Red Cross ... they are a joy to deal with. I can't say that I run into anyone in Burlington that seems to hate their job or life in general. I can't say that about South Burlington. Some people are very pleasant, but I deal with some truly miserable people in that city. The joy is not there, just one zip code number away. My imagination or bias, perhaps. Take it for what it is worth. I've never liked the burbs so perhaps it is I that is miserable in South Burlington.

The problem with horns: One day I was approaching an intersection. I realized that I was in the wrong lane. Right directional on, I tried to change lanes. Visibility isn't great in a cargo van. The rearview mirror is blocked; the only reason it has one so that you can have a reverse camera. So it has a significant blind spot. I was taking a long time to change lanes. I heard a horn, someone was really leaning on it. When I heard the horn, I thought I was driving into someone that I couldn't see. So I pulled back into my lane. But I wasn't. The person beeping was just angry with me because I was taking so long. Because I didn't understand his beep, I took even longer. The problem with horns is that they don't come with explanations. A horn that says "you are going too slow" sounds exactly like one that says "you are about to crush me." Maybe someday we'll have a solution to this but until then. We will just have to be patient with each other. My rule about horns is that if I am using it in anger, then I probably shouldn't be using it. 

Fall has come. Students are back. Tourists (aka leaf peepers) are still here. Life is back to normal in Vermont. 

How Jim Rice Cured Me of Racism

I grew up around a lot of racism. We were a neighborhood of mostly white, working class Catholics of French Canadian origin. The N word was used often and not ironically. Awful Jewish jokes were told involving ashtrays. The term Puerto Rican was used as a term that meant someone couldn't follow the rules of a game or a lazy person. Stereo-types of the Polish, Asians and Portuguese were accepted as truth. I found myself buying right into it, because I was a kid I didn't know better. I remember an internal dialogue of trying to figure out what it all meant and how true it was. I didn't really have anyone strong in my life to set me straight.

At the time, in the 1970's, the media didn't help. We watched a lot of television, which was three networks of mostly crap with a lot of racisms mixed in there (along with a lot of other isms). We had the natives on "Gilligan's Island," the natives on "F Troop," or the Chinese on "Kung Fu." In serious shows, black characters were pimps and prostitutes like Sugar Bear on "Baretta." Occasionally we had a show that had a diverse cast of complex characters, I remember "Barney Miller" being one of them. The one real thing we had on television, that was not scripted, was sports. In my house, it was baseball.

1974 was the year Judge Garrity ordered Boston schools to be desegregated and forced busing began. For four years, he was kept under guard for his safety. Protesters burned him in effigy outside his home. Boston was a very racist city. In 1975, the Boston Red Sox were in the World Series. On that team were two amazing rookies, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, often called the Gold Dust Twins for their able to cover each other in the outfield. Lynn won rookie of the year that year, Rice placed second. Lynn also won Most Valuable Player and Rice was voted third. They were an amazing team. If not for the slightly more amazing Cincinnati Reds (aka the Big Red Machine), they would have won the World Series. One year later, 1976, was the year I became a Red Sox fan. I knew nothing of their history.

The Red Sox, historically, was a very racist team. There is no denying this. They had early opportunities to draft Jackie Robinson and Willy Mays and did not do so because of their race. They were the last team to integrate, doing so in 1959 with Pumpsie Green twelve years after Robinson joined the Dodgers. This nonsense was so bad that at one point, they wouldn't even allow anyone on the team who wasn't Catholic. This explains why they were so bad for a long time. Their losing ways was mostly their own making. They were not alone in this, every team in Major League Baseball was doing it, but the Red Sox were one of the worst. It is our cross to bear as Red Sox fans. 

I didn't know it at the time, because children have no sense of history, but when Jim Rice became a star in Boston sports, this was a big deal. He was the first black star in Boston. He was the first of many to come. He was not just an incredible player and future Hall of Famer, but he was a gentleman and truly gentle spirit. Any time I heard a racist comment among my friends and at school etc., my go-to-black-man was Jim Rice. I'd ask myself is that true about Rice. Of course not. How could say that this guy was lesser than anyone else? This guy:

That was that. From there on, racism was nonsense, an embarrassment really. His soft spokenness, his classiness, on and off the field, his friendship with Lynn, Yazz and Dwight Evans, his amazing athleticism ... that's all it took.  I was cured. 

In 2016, I mourned David Bowie by playing nothing but Bowie for at least a week. My wife was a little irritated particularly with the obscure stuff. When Bob Dylan passes, I have no doubt, much to my son's displeasure, I will react in kind. When Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, I walked around saying things like "So it goes" for at least a week. When Woody Allen dies, I foresee a moviefest even though his private life seems ... well... disgusting. Along with Walt Whitman, all their works have been formative in how I think, see the world and lead my life. Yet not a tear will be shed when they pass. I am not so sure about Jim Rice. I dread the day I hear about him passing; I get weepy just thinking about it. 

Trumps Second Term: Worst Case Scenario

I have always been a bit of pessimist. It is more of defense mechanism than anything. If I assume the worst is going to happen, when it doesn't, it feels like good news. When I was younger, during the Cold War, I'd wake up each day expecting Armageddon was coming. I'd put the radio on to catch the news, when the missiles weren't on their way, whatever I heard was happening in the world, yay, good news. We weren't all going to die today. 

When Trump was elected in 2016, this served me well. While others were shocked, stunned, and/or pissed off, I was thinking, "I knew it." In 2024, I do what I can to prevent him from being elected, but if it does happen, I will be prepared, emotionally anyway. What will his second term look like, I assume the worst of course. 

In 1934 Germany, an event took place, under Chancellor Adolph Hitler, often referred to as the Night of the Long Knives. I apologize for bringing up Hitler, but it is difficult not to when Trump is using words like "vermin" when he refers to Americans that disagree with him and is threatening retribution. For a three day period, Hitler's thugs (aka "brown shirts") went on a killing spree, executing Hitler's political opponents. The official number of victims is eighty but some say it was as high as a thousand. The real number was lost in the fog of war that was soon to come. It is something like this, that I see as a worst case scenario. Trump's "brown shirts", either under his direction or not, go after his political opponents. Not just other politicians, like Harris, Biden and Pelosi etc., but judges, lawyers, journalists, maybe even bloggers. He'll claim he had nothing to do with it and he'll get away with it. 

Trump's language at his rallies suggest that I am not too far off. He said some really disgusting things about fellow Americans, about me and probably you as well, and his crowd of supporters cheer him on. Some have even elevated him to a religious icon. What saved us from his first presidency is his administration's incompetence. Their total lack of direction was their ball and chain. This time around he already has more direction with Project 2025 backing him up. He also had a lot of traditional conservatives around him preventing him from going completely off the rails. His second administration, according to him, is going to have no such people in it. He has talked about a loyalty oath and firing anyone that won't sign it. 

Hopefully, I am wrong about all of this. Kamala Harris seems like a decent and capable person. Since, I'd vote for anyone running against Trump, she definitely has my vote regardless. 

My Grieving for American Democracy

American democracy is dying. It has been dying for quite some time, a long slow painful death. After this past week, one could pronounce it dead. Dead on arrival the moment Biden first talked at the presidential debate last week and showed us all how badly he had declined, intro to Diminished Joe. DOA at the moment that Trump told his first lie, first of many. If that didn't convince you, then certainly when the Supreme Court decided that the president couldn't be prosecuted for anything he/she did that was broadly related to their job ... certainly that killed democracy for you.

The first stage of grief is denial and you could say that is exactly where I was for the past decade or so until Thursday night when I laid down into bed to watch the debate. My wife already started it without me and within a couple of minutes I said "We are fucked" and she said "yup." This is when denial turned into anger, stage two of grief. I am angry that these are the two candidates we have to choose from. We are stuck with them: Biden, who looked like he was going to die on stage and couldn't put a coherent sentence together, and the unhinged Trump, the worst person in America ... a convicted felon, racist, sexual predator, a pathological liar and someone we already know was a truly awful president. 

I know what some of you are thinking, "but Mark, we have more than two choices. There are third party candidates." I have already considered this. The most popular and viable third party candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr., is just as bad of a choice as these two guys. Kennedy is a paranoid nut. If both my father and uncle were victims of public assassinations, I would probably be paranoid as well. He may be younger than our two octogenarians but his health is no better. He is just a notch better than Trump. 

I was on the Biden bandwagon until the debate. Joe has been an excellent president, one of the best in my lifetime. Originally, in 2020, I voted for Joe because I was voting against Trump not for Biden. As his administration progressed, I noticed a lot of good things happening: green spending, Judge Brown, childhood hunger going down, infrastructure spending, student loan debt loopholes sealed, bi-partisan deal on the border (that Trump killed) and elegantly walking a fine line in two foreign wars. His many years in the Senate has really paid off, but is he up to the job. I would like to point out that I still take Biden on his worst day over Trump on his best. The debate performance may have been Biden on his worst day, but for all we know, he has had a lot of these and his staff is just hiding it from us.

The most frustrating part of this is that both party have good and, some, young alternatives. Why are we stuck with these guys? The Democratic party has had plenty of opportunity to address this. Back in February, 2024, special counsel Robert Hur referred to Biden as "an  elderly man with a poor memory." Hur is not a political hack. He spent several days with the president. Why didn't they see this as a red flag? We have some great candidates that all poll well against Trump: VP Harris, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (MI), Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) and Sec. Pete Buttigeig are all excellent candidates. We still have time before the convention to resolve this. Even the Republicans have some reasonable candidates. Both Mitt Romney and William Weld are still alive (my northeast bias is showing here). 

The next president will probably have two Supreme Court nominations. This is it folks. If you don't like what the Supreme Court is doing, we can't have another Trump presidency. Before I go into the next stages of grief: bargaining, depression and acceptance, lets try the defib pads one more time and see if we can resuscitate this Democracy ... unless you think Emperor Trump is good idea. 

Courier Journal - Spring 2024

It is amazing what a different city Burlington is when the warm weather comes. I attribute this to three factors:

• Once the colleges let out, about half the city's population leaves. So driving around the University and Champlain College is a lot easier. The busyness shifts to other parts of the city once they leave. This is a great relief for someone like me that always fears driving among the texting youth that seem oblivious of their surroundings. For about a week, moving vans clutter the streets. Then peace ensues, but other treachery awaits.
• Burlington is a beautiful city, vibrant and exciting. It sits on Lake Champlain with the Adirondacks to the west and the Greens to the east. Every weekend it seems we have a new festival.  Jazz Fest last weekend. Food fests, Reggae fests, Brewfests, etc. This means we have a ton of tourists, particularly from Boston, New York and Montreal. These aren't cities known for their good drivers. This brings a whole new dynamic to driving. 
• Because we are a cold weather climate, most of our road construction takes place in the few warm weather months. This makes Burlington a nightmare to drive in. It seems like there is construction every other street.  For these months, Vermont's state flag should be changed to have an orange cone on it.

I have always been frustrated with people. To put it bluntly I am not a "people person." Driving in the city during tourist season has not interacted positively with this part of my nature. Here is a short list of how people annoy me: 

• Don't park in loading zones. I've confronted several people parked in loading zones. The response I get is that "it is okay, I'm just going in the bank" etc. No, it is not okay. Loading zones are for commercial vehicles, loading and unloading. I don't think Vermonters know this. They think it is someplace to put your car if you have something quick to do.
• The stop line is where you stop at a stop light. At every light, there is a line on the ground that tells you where you are supposed to stop. Some of them are far back. An expert has studied this intersection and has determined where you should stop. If you stop after the stop line, there is a possibility that a bus may come along and not be able to turn because you are in the way. Just follow the rules and traffic will flow just fine.
• Red arrows mean you can't turn. I don't know why, but people just don't seem to know this. If a green arrow means you can turn, what do you think a red arrow means? 
• If you are going to hang out as a pedestrian and just look at your phone, don't do so at a crosswalk or an intersection. You may be oblivious to this but drivers think you are going to cross and react to you. Stand back and away from the curb.
• Try, if you are close, to use a crosswalk. Some cars actually do stop if you wait in the crosswalk. Chaos is good for no one. 

Traffic flowing helps everyone. 

We recently watched all three seasons on Ted Lasso. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. If you don't have Apple TV, sign up for a free trial, watch Ted Lasso and then unsubscribe. You'll get all three seasons in before the month is out, I promise. The reason I bring this up, the main character Ted has a philosophy that has stuck with me, that he got from my favorite poet Walt Whitman, "Be curious, not judgemental." I have been trying to get into this mind set when I drive and for the most part it has been working. 

So far I've had these experiences:

• I was at an intersection (North St. and Willard), the light turned green, I was about to go straight (east on North) when I noticed coming down Willard a bicyclist that I knew wasn't going to stop at the light. So I waited or I would have hit him. Not only did he blow off the light but he wasn't even looking at traffic; he was looking at his cell phone. Be curious, not judgemental. Must have been doing something very very important happening on that phone. This philosophy is challenging. 
• At the corner of Main and Winooski, a woman decided driving through the intersection out of her lane through a red light, all the while with her hand on the horn honking. About ten cars were at the intersection and we all stopped to let her go. They probably were as stunned as I was. Be curious: must have been a real emergency, perhaps she was going to hospital (which is in the other direction).
• While driving on College Street, heading toward Winooski and downtown, in front of the library, I had to stop for a group of homeless people (or is it houseless now?). About seven or eight of them were yelling at each other, I had no idea what was going on. I waited until most of them crossed but one woman remained in the street and decided to dance in front of my truck. I lightly beeped but she seemed oblivious. I drove around her by driving with one tire on the sidewalk. Luckily there were no other cars or pedestrians coming. The traffic behind did the same. If this were to happen again, I might get out of my truck with blinkers on and tried to escort her out of traffic. Be curious: I wonder what she was on.
• This philosophy is difficult at times, but it seems to be working. I was driving up College Street one day and I noticed a car driving erratically in my rearview mirror. He seemed to be yelling at me. He decided to pass me on a city street. I yelled, "What the hell?" or something a bit more vulgar. I noticed his Quebec plate and judgement ensued, but I stopped it with curiosity winning over. He pulled in front of me and stopped. He got out of the car and approached my truck. "Holy shit!" I unrolled the window. In a very polite French Canadienne accent, he said "Your back door is open." My freight was exposed. The guy that I was about to yell at just put a lot of energy into saving my butt. The weather stripping on my cargo door was preventing a good closure on the door. I had to do a quick repair. Ted Lasso and Walt Whitman rule. Merci beaucoup! 

The quote does sound Whitmanesque, but I didn't recognize it. I know my Walt. I was curious, of course. Snopes says it isn't Whitman, I have to believe this is true. To me, it just makes Ted Lasso a more realistic character. He is wrong on a little thing but overall, he is very much correct. 

Most of the Spring was spent delivering in Burlington and occasionally South Burlington. The only exception was the day of the total eclipse. Because of the chaos downtown, most businesses were closed so my boss didn't need me in Burlington. So he sent me up to the islands which is a really beautiful spot in Vermont. The most Northwestern part of Vermont are a group of islands in Lake Champlain that border Canada and New York state. It was a gorgeous day and I finished working in time to get back home to watch the eclipse with my family.

Game of Thrones: Book to Film (S1E1)

With the exception of Tolkien, I've never been a big fan of fantasy fiction. I've tried. I've read many others, but none of them have been very appealing. Even when one of my favorite writers delve into fantasy, like Ursula K. Leguin or Kazuo Ishiguro, I just can't get into it. Tolkien, on the other hand, is enthralling. I've read the The Hobbit several times and the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy twice. Everything about his writing is amazing, character development, dialogue, plot line, social relevance, world building. He's got it all.  I haven't liked another fantasy writer at all until now. 

In my pursuit to read every book on my shelves at home, I finally picked up Game of Thrones: Book One of a Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin and started it. I've seen the HBO series a few times so it is impossible to get the actors out of my head when I read of the characters. I decided not to try. My first impression is how incredibly close the series is to the book.  The big difference is the age of the characters. Let's started with my four favorite characters: Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Arya Stark.

Tyrion, the imp, portrayed by the amazing Peter Dinklage is 32 years old at the start of the series. He is only 24 in the book. This is a complete mystery to me why they changed this. Perhaps it is because they wanted Dinklage for the part and he doesn't look 24 at all. Changing the age of the younger characters makes a lot of sense, but this one does. He looks at least 40 in the show. 

Having children actors, in any series, is problematic for a lot of reasons so I can see why they changed their ages. Children grow, when a series is seven seasons long, this could cause problems with the storyline depending on how much time passes in the story line. The aging process of adult's isn't as obvious and easily changed with lighting and makeup. Also, due to the sexual nature of some of the scenes, HBO could get into some trouble with under age actor. Using older actors, not only makes sense, it prevents a lot of legal and ethical problems. 

The character, Daenerys Targaryen, is 13 years old at the beginning of the book when she weds Drogo, but in the series she is 16 (Season One, Episode One: S1E1). The actress that portrays her, Emilia Clarke, is 25 at the time. I never thought she looked that 16. Perhaps having the difficult life of a transient has made her look older beyond her years. 

Jon Snow, the bastard, and his half brother, Robb Stark, are both supposed to be 14 years old. In the series, they are supposed to be 17. The actor, Kit Harington, that portrays Snow is actually 25 in Season One but he could pass for 17. 

Robb Stark is also 17 at the start of the series as well. The actor Richard Madden is 25 as well.  I don't know how they get these actors to look so young, but seven years seems to be a typical difference for actors. I recently heard an interview with Ron Howard where he said that he had a hard time finding acting gig when he was a teenager because people in their twenties could play teenagers. So it seems this has been going for a while. 

The younger Stark children Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon are 11, 9, 7 and 3, respectively, in the beginning of the book. They are 13, 11, 10 and 6 in Season One of the series. We aren't ever told how old Rickon is in the series, until his death is season three. He is 11. He is the only Stark child that isn't a major character. 

Arya actually looks 11. The actress, Maisie Williams, is 14 in Season One. When the book was originally published in 1996, she wasn't even born. 

The only character that is younger in series than in the book that I could find is Theon Greyjoy. He's 18 in the book but 16 in the series. I found this in google not the book. He's a very minor character early on in the story. 

Other than ages of the characters, the only difference from the book I could find in S1E1 is in the very last scene when Bran gets thrown off the tower. He overhears a conversation about political intrigue while the queen and her twin brother are having sex (this book has everything.) In the series, he only hears, and then, witnesses the sex. He doesn't hear the conversation. I can't imagine why they changed this. Length, I am sure, is always a good enough reason for an 800 page novel adaption.

Time to rewatch Episode Two.