Siftings
Jul
16
Malin IV
The screen door slams. Mary’s dress waves. So begins Springsteen’s epic Born to Run. His third album, and maybe his last. The first two didn’t sell well, so Born to Run was his last chance. Last chances are as illusory as any other fabrication, but imagined doom does have a way of distilling...
Jul
15
Makers
The prison woodshop was my refuge. In creating something, I left the reality of incarceration behind. To build something - anything really - was to set aside a captive present for a liberated future. The projects weren’t much; an oak-handled shiv, a plywood nightstand for the bunk, a...
Jul
07
The Wee Small Moments
The last time it was raining this hard at Modern Woodmen Park, CNN was bearing down on Davenport. That was the morning of June 13, 2008. The local record for rainfall in four hours was being set, steepening the Mississippi River flood crest also bearing down on us. There was heroic work all...
Jun
27
The Dismantling
The blade slices through the post like a presidential candidate cutting through a sidewalk crowd on their way to a donor’s check. The sawdust flies, the Sawzall chews the pressure-treated pine into a bulky waste pile, and we’re left with a gritty square where the sandbox used to be. We’ve...
Jun
26
Forward
The e-mail changes to craigthomasmalin@gmail.com. And its non-public! The cell phone stays the same. If you don't have the number, ask around.
Thank you, all. The best team ever.
Go Davenport.
Jun
26
Craig’s Friday Countdown - Things We Learn
Today’s countdown comes from Budget Management Analyst Mallory Merritt. My most grievous error this year (that’s a good - daily - countdown category) was not ensuring her office was included in the “Still Lifes” countdown. No matter, in typical Mallory fashion (see what I did there?) she was kind...
Jun
24
Ready ?
Originally posted November 27, 2014
You just can’t find walnut laminate this burly, these days. Riding the elevator up from the parking garage at the Galt House hotel in Louisville transports you to the past. Surrounded by the most brazenly plastic wood the 1970s had to offer, it’s like you’re...
Jun
07
Brush With History
We keep our democracy fresh. That’s the glass half full line I use when a conversation about Davenport’s two year Council terms being absurd is underway. Stubborn optimism is one of many character flaws, so I stick with the line, even in the face of substantial evidence to the contrary. Building...
Jun
03
Flashback
FC7 flashes by. For the non gear-heads among us, that’s a paint code. “Plum Crazy” purple was let loose upon the world’s retinas in 1970 as one of Dodge’s “high-impact” colors. It is a color so bright you can hear it. It says - I could really care less what you think. Thus, along with Ford’s...
May
22
Craig’s Friday Countdown Wrong Things
An incomplete list of things that are wrong or, at least, hard to get used to.
10. Square headlight Jeeps
9. Ketchup on hot dogs
8. Schadenfreude
7. Vast hole in late night comedy created by David Letterman’s departure
6. Announcing a 2016 Presidential run early in 2015. Please, just get...
