Wonderful World

Just like that, in the course of one sleepless overnight, summer ended and the school year began.

I didn't see that coming, but of course I'm not going to see anything coming until those damn cataracts are dissolved by laser surgery next month.

Do you remember back in the old days when kids got new clothes and backpacks for the start of the school year?

Ah, sweet memory.

Now they just discard their pajamas for the first time in three months and the backpack industry has probably long since gone bankrupt.

"Grandpa," the younger ones may ask, "What is school? I mean is it an actual place with walls and desks like in the books we read or is that just what's on Zoom?"

You can see how soon adults will lose all of our remaining semblance of credibility. ("There he goes again," one kid says to the other behind their Grandpa's back, "telling us to wear our good shoes for the Zoom call. When was the last time you saw somebody's shoes on a Zoom call?")

In that context, the question has been raised whether a certain fourth grader should take her aged grandfather into class this week as the answer to the question,  "What happened over summer break?"

"Grandpa," she could say. 

In an era when absolutely nothing happens over summer break, the arrival of a Grandpa at your front door can indeed be a notable event. it shows you can order pretty much anything from Amazon these days.

***

*  Kamala Harris on Donald Trump's campaign to question her eligibility to serve as vice president and president. "They're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the American people. And I expect that they will engage in dirty tactics. And this is going to be a knockdown, drag-out. And we're ready," Harris said. (TheGrio)

* ‘Reagan Democrats’ found a permanent home in the GOP after 1980. The tables may now turn at last for 'Biden Republicans'. (Wall Street Journal)

* CNN Poll: Biden and Trump matchup tightens as enthusiasm hits new high -- Biden leads Trump 50-46 percent with margin of error of 4 points. (CNN)

* Hong Kong journalists harassed, arrested and lose press freedoms under new China law (L.A. Times)

* State officials rush to shore up confidence in November 3 election as voters express fears about mail voting (Washington Post)

* Baseball is honoring the Negro Leagues. It needs to explain why they existed. --As Major League Baseball pays tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, it should also admit its history of social injustice. (Washington Post)

* Trump’s Policies Are a Boon to the Super Rich. So Where Are All the Seven-Figure Checks? Only a small fraction of the president’s top donors from 2016 have given as much to his re-election effort. (New York Times)

* COVID-19 Economic Downturn Triggers Exodus From San Francisco and other cities (CBS)

* Scientists See Signs of Lasting Immunity to Covid-19, Even After Mild Infections -- New research indicates that human immune system cells are storing information about the coronavirus so they can fight it off again. (New York Times)

***

In my ongoing quest to find some reason or inspiration to restart work on my stalled memoir,  yesterday I reviewed tapes of our 25th anniversary party for the Center for Investigative Reporting back in 2002. They came my way courtesy of my co-founder Dan Noyes, who's saved many items from our shared past.

The great muckraker Molly Ivins, who has since passed, served as the Master of Ceremonies at the gala affair. A large crowd was in attendance. There is  a video of the celebration but it runs out just as I started speaking. So I have only a vague idea what I actually said that night.

Maybe it's just as well, since I suspect I spoke about my motivation to do investigative reporting, which was a deep anger at the injustices I saw all around me in the world. So it was at least partially an angry speech on what was supposed to be a happy occasion. 

Afterward, a friend told me that a mutual friend listening in the crowd was very upset that I had spoken about my anger; that she thought it was not appropriate to do so. It was a difficult night for me on other levels as well; my mother had just passed away and my second marriage was crumbling.

But what I said about my motivation to do the work was true then and it still is today.

***

WONDERFUL WORLD

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me, too
What a wonderful world this would be

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for

But I do know one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be

Now, I don't claim to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
For maybe by being an A student, baby
I can win your love for me

Don't know much about history...

      -- Sam Cooke