6/6/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “A Modest Proposal” Chapter 95 By Bruce Williams           I’ve been thinking about the variety of rites and passages that we bestow upon our kids as they age out of school, and the rather arbitrariness of some of the stages we’ve settled on to grant…

5/23/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “On Twins” Chapter 94 By Bruce Williams I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have had a twin.  Especially an identical one.  I think eventually I would get tired of him—he’d be a know-it-all who took up too much of my personal space, and we’d both be…

5/16/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Concerts” Chapter 93 By Bruce Williams I got my Foo Fighters cancellation notification while we were on vacation, and I was pretty bummed out.  I never got to see them and now who knows (after the overdose of their drummer) if they’ll ever tour again?  I’ll see Iron Maiden…

5/9/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Self Checkout” Chapter 92 By Bruce Williams As the kids and I were buying Mother’s Day flowers and a chocolate torte Saturday at Haggen’s after a long day at work, I noticed there was only one line lit up to serve customers and there were eight queued shopping carts…

5/2/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “The Big Exhale” Chapter 91 By Bruce Williams Most civilized people cover their mouths when they cough—or yawn.  Many sneeze into the crux of their elbow or bend over and face the ground away from others when they feel that familiar nostril tickle (did you know that a sneeze…

4/18/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Notes from Las Vegas” Chapter 90 By Bruce Williams The second in this year’s series of travelogues, Notes From Las Vegas pits your itinerant author against a desert backdrop and its cornucopia of colorful visitors.  I hope to illustrate the uniqueness of each city I visit this year through…

4/4/2022 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Notes from New York” Chapter 89 By Bruce Williams This week I’m just going to turn over my notes of the observations I made during our recent five days in New York City.  I’ll let you thread them together and find a through-line for yourselves.  Frankly, the constant barrage…

“That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Whatta Ya Like?” Chapter 88 By Bruce Williams I was looking at the front of the Weekend Plus section of Friday’s Seattle Times and it featured lamb sliders on the cover.  “I hate lamb,” I declared to my betrothed, sitting across the living room as she pecked on her phone. …

“That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Disinterested, Disinterested, Disinterested” Chapter 87 By Bruce Williams I started writing a column this week about March Madness—partly because I was watching it and partly because I feel guilty sometimes about almost never writing about sports—even though my writing appears on a sports website.  I watched Kentucky go down to…

“That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” “Best Picture Nominees” Chapter 86 By Bruce Williams Every year over the past 15 or so I’ve watched all the Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards with a sense of duty—a nod to what amounts to American Culture in its most obvious form—cinema.  This has included such movies as…