A feverish little soccer player shook me awake at 2 AM this morning. After giving him ibuprofen and a cough drop he fell back asleep but I wasn’t so lucky. At 4 AM I got up and spent an hour working on my French. I caught a few z’s later in the morning on my office floor but basically need to catch up tonight because we are waking at 4AM tomorrow catch a flight to the Second City to see the musical Hamilton. The soccer player and his older brother will be on the plane with us along with their parents. We have three days in Chicago before I fly back. I wanted to put something in the blog because I may be too preoccupied with family to Keep my voters or my twelve loyal readers up to date.
The last time I went to Chicago with my wife was 2012 for another long weekend. I didn’t blog about that trip because I simply wanted to enjoy the best November weather Chicago ever experienced. I mentioned it five months later in another blog post. In two weeks I expect to return to fulltime family life having cleared my conscience about the deplorable state of National and local politics. I got off my duff and tried to do something about it. I just discovered that Loren Martell described my thinking perfectly in his latest reporting of the School Board. He did it by quoting me which, of course, I was pleased about:
The words “bullying” and “civility” are tossed about often these days, and I think too often used as a shield to deflect criticism. One of my favorite quotes from a local official on the subject is from former school board member, Harry Welty, now a Republican candidate for the eighth district congressional seat: “If I am at war with anything, it is the milquetoast moderates who believe civility is the equivalent of good government.” Mr. Welty further described civility as a “desirable virtue that is too often used as a means of discouraging honest discourse.”
I said much the same thing to the Timberjay.
About this little extravagance. My daughter and son-in-law flew to Arizona in the Spring to see Hamilton and fell in love with it. They have been playing the music ever since and my grandson’s have pretty near memorized all the songs. Its an incredibly sophisticated telling of one of the most important founding fathers Alexander Hamilton. Other than his appearance on the ten dollar bill most Americans know little of the man who built our nation’s finances.
I am thrilled that my grandsons, aged 8 and 10 are imbibing this American history. Its better than Schoolhouse Rock. While we are in the Second City we will do a little sight seeing and enjoy some balmy weather. I’ll be prepared to blog more when I return…..and if KBJR does manage to put Pete Stauber and my appearance online I’ll try to link to it.
Its almost 10PM and time for me to hit the sack and make up for this morning’s early wake up call.
