What's in Dave's Head

Yes, 2016 was an abomination for so many reasons: the seemingly endless wars, public vitriol and animosity, rise in hate, assault on domestic privacy, the passing of too many entertainers, and, of course, the election. If anyone needs a reminder, check out Dave Barry’s 2016 Year in Review – What the … ? As usual, it’s worth the read. Still, 2016 was a great year for me. Because despite all the angst swirling around the country and the world, we find our peace at home, with family. And in 2016 our family had much to celebrate, and be grateful for. Kate got engaged to Steve Ritchie Eileen and Andrew brought into the world Corinne Mae, our first Grandchild We had an unforgettable vacation of a lifetime in Ireland, with all our children and their significant others We found a pub that sells Guinness! At the end of the year, Jack proposed to his girlfriend, Erin Breslin (she accepted) And best of all, I got to spend another year with ...

The results of the 2016 presidential election surprised just about everyone. I’ve been trying to get my head around it and what it all means. During the primaries, I was debating with my son-in-law, a fervent Bernie Sanders supporter, about Sanders’ electability. I viewed Sanders as too left-leaning and too strident to win a general election. In hindsight, it was Hillary who was unelectable. Sanders, like Donald Trump, had tapped into the anger, frustration and disenfranchisement felt by so many people – particularly traditional Democrats. Clinton didn’t get what Trump and Sanders got – that peoples’ patience had worn thin, that they were fed up with a struggling economy that had left them behind and an unresponsive, broken government. Many of us were hit hard by the Great Recession of 2008, and have struggled to claw back to being whole again. Factory workers across the country have seen their jobs move overseas. The disparity of income between executives and front-line w...

The month of October I commuted by bus between my home in Columbia and my work at an office on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. I wish I had discovered it sooner. The buses were nice commuter coaches, with reclining seats like on a plane or train, folding armrests, reading lights, and occasionally electrical outlets for each passenger. The drivers were polite and courteous. The driver of the evening bus, George Harris, made a point of learning the passengers' names and greeting us by name as we boarded. Every evening, as we exited I-95 onto Route 175 into Columbia, he would get on the loudspeaker and regale us with jokes, supposedly from his children Taylor and Elijah. In November my company is moving to Harbor Point, a new part of the city not served by my commuter line. I will miss George, who brought civility, warmth and cheer to the daily commute. I gained some perspectives riding the bus, about Baltimore's architecture and  people, and race. Architecture...

A few months ago Donna and I decided to arrange the vacation of a lifetime – a trip to Ireland with our kids and their significant others. Ten years ago our daughter Eileen had spent a semester of her junior year of college in Cork, and Donna and I had gone to visit her. We had started our Ireland experience back then with a couple days in Dublin and then had headed south to Cork and then up the western coast to Dingle. It was a magnificent trip for us, for several reasons. First, we got to visit Eileen. While she loved her time in Ireland, I think she missed us almost as we missed her. In addition, Donna’s heritage was Irish – the grandparents of her mother, Joan O’Keeffe Harding, and her father, Lou Harding, had immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in the 1800s – and we were excited to see the land and people from whence she came  (I think I have a little Irish pedigree, but more Scottish, Swiss and German). It was the land, and especially the people, that had cap...