Navigating the North Side of 50

  I have to admit, I have never been much of a Bob Dylan fan.  To cut myself a little slack, the guy has made a career out of being misunderstood.  From the nasal, unmelodic vocals to the acoustic guitar strumming and jarring harmonica interjections, it just never was my kind of music.  He is a legend.  Good for him. Today I went to see the biopic A Complete Unknown about his arrival in New York and the storm that ensued after Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, the latter weakened by Huntington's disease and bedridden in a New Jersey convalescent home, were taken by the teenager troubadour from Minnesota. Most of the scenes felt exaggerated and forced, the charming but tortured Dylan churning out stunning lyrics one after another.  Everyone loved everything, and women including folk legend Joan Baez wanted to own him.  One after another, Bob Dylan broke away and established himself as the property of no one.  That included record labels and the Folk M...

  On December the 6th, Mom did a rare thing and text messaged me.   "Don't want to spoil your weekend but just got news Duane has lung cancer.  I talked to him tonight.  He said the doctors give him 18 to 20 mo.  He has chosen not to do chemo as they don't offer much additional time with it.  We can talk more about it when you get home." Daniel and I were in Boston, just finding our seats for the Milwaukee Bucks to take on the Boston Celtics at TD Gardens.  We flew in that day for a "father/son weekend" and were enjoying the first of several experiences I had hoped he could recall when his anxiety and ADHD made life difficult, if not desperate.  They aren't a cure, but if he really gets down, I want him to know I will do anything with him. My Aunt Rhonda passed away suddenly at the age of 70 after a botched surgery to repair her bowel, when surgical mesh from a previous hernia surgery became problematic.  No one expected the surgeon to n...

  My childhood was less sheltered that that of my kids.  Just the presence of parents changes risk, and my parents were absent for much of my youth.  Not absent in a bad way, just occupied with adult life, leaving their kids to find their own diversions.  This wasn't markedly different than the way their parents raised them.  Something definitely changed about parenting in my generation.  We were more involved, competitive with other parents, longing to be friends with our kids and needing their approval in so many ways. This is evidenced by our childhood activities and especially in our toys.  One major difference is the marketing and branding of toys.  Manufacturers improved the realism of toys and now give kids accessories to play that require very little imagination.  Toys look like the real thing, and advertisements show kids how to properly play with them.  This is a far stretch from the sticks my friends and I picked up that becam...