Country Music

All of my kids, but probably only a few of my friends, know that I have always loved country music. It doesn't seem consistent with what people think of me, but it is the truth. I can't tell you how many times people have told me they assume I am a "Berkeley liberal."

I've never lived in Berkeley and I've never considered myself a liberal. In fact, from the moment I arrived here, I couldn't stand the politically correct people I was forced to endure in the course of my work.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a conservative or a liberal. I am some sort of combination of both. I see both sides. As for music, I love all kinds. Last night, in a nostalgic mood, I revisited some of my favorite country songs. I especially love those by George Jones  -- the sad sorrowful songs. I don't know why.

I guess I'm drawn to the blues.

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Sanibel

Tonight I am worrying about my favorite place on earth, Sanibel Island. I visited and lived there for over 20 years, wrote my books there, and watched my older kids grow up there.

It seems hurricane Irma has Ft. Myers in her sights. That city is right across the bay from Sanibel. A slender flat barrier island could easily be destroyed in the process.

Here are webcams.

I hope not.

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Happy Birthday Aidan!

Yesterday he turned 23 and we took him to dinner at Dosa on Valencia for some delicious spicy Indian food. He is such a fine young man, now single and working full-time.

At work we are tracking the hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico; also the earthquake and hurricane hitting Mexico -- lots of news this weekend. And, of course, all the political news that never seems to stop coming.

I've been interviewing candidates for some new hires at work. We are going to seven-days-a-week news coverage!

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Today's News

In these difficult days, with the awful tragedy in Texas, it is best that we connect with each other and find moments of hope.

Today, Aidan and Dylan picked me up at KQED and we went to lunch at Toast on 24th Street.

It was a wonderful break from the news cycle

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If You're Coming to San Francisco...

It's a sunny day here here in the city by the Bay. Thousands of people are expected to fill the streets -- most of them marching against the hate groups that called rallies here. The hate groups have been sending mixed messages about whether they will go ahead with their plans or not.

At KQED News, we have a number of teams going out to various points to report on what goes on. My own sense is that if a very large number of counter-protesters -- tens of thousands -- come out, then *that* is the story.

We have a hate-inciting President, who has inspired these fringe groups to emerge from the shadows where they belong.

I'll spend the weekend coordinating our digital news coverage.

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First Days

52 years ago, I moved away from home and into my dorm and met my roommates in Ann Arbor. I was 18.

Today my youngest, Julia, moves into her dorm at Goucher in Maryland and meets her roommate. So my thoughts and hopes are with her. I hope she likes her room and even more that she likes her roommate.

The world is so different than it was when I went away to college. I was a conservative Republican. My roommates were from Detroit -- Philip (white) and Timothy (black). I quickly became very close with Timothy, so much so that I was eventually invited to join one of the black fraternities on campus.

I also became friends with Timothy's friends -- including a guy who was Stevie Wonder's best childhood friend and a guy who dated Diana Ross in high school.

The latter guy, sadly, had some emotional problems and later tried to commit suicide.

The whole experience, for me, was surreal. Here I was, a pretty naive white boy who had grown up in small towns -- Royal Oak and Bay City -- unsophisticated to the point that I did not even know how to leave a tip in a restaurant.

I certainly did not know anything about girls, which Timothy urged me to rectify. When his Dad dropped him off he had left a bunch of condoms, and he offered to introduce me to any number of girls.

Wandering around campus one night I came upon a small circle of activists sitting and chanting anti-war and civil rights slogans and songs. Taunting them were a number of jocks.

Instantly, I knew which side I was on and I began an intensive self-eductional mission on the civil rights and anti-war movements.

I transformed myself into a left-wing activist and advocate. I knew most of the major black leaders on campus to the point where they trusted me with information about their future actions, which included chaining themselves to the front of buildings to prevent business as usual.

Within months, I changed again, turning myself into a journalist in order to cover these events. In those days we didn't draw a line between actively participating and writing about participating, but gradually, as I became educated, I realized I couldn't do both.

I chose to become an observer and to record what I witnessed.

Many years later, my perspective changed again, and I started becoming more conservative again, with libertarian tendencies. I fell in love with free markets and free trade.

Now, at age 70, I shun all labels. I hope, most of all, that I am a humanist, with sympathy for all others. And most of all today, I hope my 18-year-old daughter, as the wonderful, brilliant, beautiful person she is, starts on some sort of adventure like my life has brought me.

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This Week's News

The most important story in my world is that Julia flew back to Maryland yesterday to start her college years.

On the professional side: Today we had Rep. Adam Schiff on our TV show. I spent some time with him off-camera, partly because I sense he is going somewhere politically in the future. We talked about how exhausting this endless news cycle is for all of us -- congress members and journalists and members of the public.

I found him thoughtful, polite and articulate.

It is the privilege of being a journalist that I get to meet these people. Today I made sure I had a chance to connect with someone who I suspect will in the future be a senator, governor or even president.

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