Sick of the government mandate that we hide in our houses and hankering for a road trip, my wife and I recently took a trip to Montana and Idaho via North Dakota. It was marvelous to get away and to see some magnificent scenery and meet fine people. Early in our trip as we approached […]
Why is it impossible to avoid holier than thou apostles wearing halos and continually pointing to their saintliness as symbols of “wokeness?” The crowd has become a scourge to life. As George Orwell wrote they’re “like idiots staring over an asylum wall.” Examples bombard us daily from all manner of sources. One that arrived in […]
Things don’t happen in vacuums, much as so many seem to believe they will. The recent racial discord following George Floyd’s death is a case to consider. With all the riots and looting tied to calls for punishing police officers, it would be reasonable to anticipate police calls to trouble areas in cities are going […]
The more I see of the “news,” the sicker I grow of it. From national news networks to the local folks, it’s all the same old story about the coronavirus problem in the United States. People are dying (the only story for weeks on end, complete with photos of body bags and ventilators and panic […]
It is long past the time when the political primadonnas in Washington have been called out for their antics. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressman, did it when he demanded members of the House of Representatives cast a recorded vote on the Coronavirus spending legislation. The wailing that accompanied his call for a recorded vote sounded […]
I came across this video about Alvin Law and have watched it with awe and inspiration. I can’t believe the way some people who have been handed garbage in life turn their experience into a feast. This is a story about one man who did. I don’t want to spoil the story, so will just […]
Life in the Back Shop by Robert MacGregor Shaw I have done a lot of books on a lot of different subjects, but this has always been among my favorites. It’s a collection of recollections from printers who slugged their way through life in the back shops of newspapers during the earlier part of the […]
Hand-set type cabinets The other day I came across a blog post by a letterpress printer praising the achievements of “Women of Color” and “Women” for their contributions to printing history. The blog set me to thinking, so I jotted a note to the printer who wrote the initial blog. Perhaps you will agree with […]
When will the breast beating and hair pulling ever end? This year for the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the British Broadcasting Corp. issued a documentary it called “Germany–Justice and Memory. The piece is advertised as an exploration of “how Germany has tried to come to terms with the legacy of […]
He’s a Bookish Treasure Greg Campbell has been a key player in the Twin Cities book arts community for decades. He learned the bookbinding trade from his father, who owned Campbell-Logan Bindery before passing it along to Greg. In 1979, Greg invested in a bold expansion of the family bindery when he rehabilitated an old […]