THERE ARE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING EVERY DAY

Howdy, folks, and welcome to my blog.  I’ve been wanting to start a blog for at least fifteen years.  My original plan, back at the turn of the century, was to use the space to talk about music I like.  And I still expect to write about music, books, and films. 

But it was politics, and specifically the ongoing American tragedy that Donald Trump represents, that finally pushed me over the edge and into blogging.  You can expect politics to dominate this space for the foreseeable future. 

I’m a center-left Democrat because I believe I have a responsibility to help other people; and I believe that – for all their flaws – Democrats are the last, best chance we have to save the American social safety net.  At this time last year, I was a Bernie Sanders supporter, but I switched my allegiance to Hillary Clinton when she won the nomination.  I spent the summer and fall posting arguments in favor of Clinton and in opposition to Trump (plus Jill Stein and Gary Johnson) on Facebook.  That wasn’t much, but it was the most active politicking I’d ever done in my life. 

My minuscule contributions were obviously not enough to help Hillary Clinton win the election, but I felt good about making the effort.  Since the election, I’ve continued to post longish opinion pieces on Facebook.  I’m gratified that some of my FB friends have responded favorably to what I’ve written.  I appreciate that support, and the likes, shares, and comments.  I don’t intend to abandon Facebook.  Most, if not all, of the entries I post here will appear on Facebook, with a link to this page, which will serve as an archive of what I’ve written.

As pretentious as it may sound, I want to be small part of the Democratic resistance movement.  My goal is to help Democrats regain control of the presidency and both Houses of Congress, as well as capturing governorships and state legislatures.  

Moving right along, the name of the website comes from a song by the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” a big gospel/R&B hit in 1944-45.  It’s worth a listen, so here’s a YouTube link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzqGq6jiorg

The graphic I’m using comes from Alex Schomburg’s endpaper illustration in the Winston Science Fiction series of young adult books back in the 1950s.  My friend Gina Fischer personalized it for me a couple of years ago.

I’ve pre-loaded a few earlier pieces so there’ll be content on the blog now that it’s live.  Some of them were originally posted on my friend Dan Wilson’s blog, “This Just In.”  Other things I’ve written can be found on This Just in by using the search box at https://thisjustin.wordpress.com/.  I thank Dan for giving me my first opportunity to write online in long form.  I don’t know how many people read them, but that wasn’t the point for me.  Creating that content allowed me to believe that I might just be able to pull this blogging thing off.

I don’t know how often I’ll be posting, but I hope it’s at least once or twice each week.  Time will tell, and the future lies ahead. 

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.