Author Archives: Tim Bryant

Break Time Mr. and Mrs. Friendly & Niece & the Purtiest Cat You’ll Ever See Mrs. Friendly accosted me from the front seat of the roadster pictured here as I walked up a hill toward the town of Conception’s water tower. I had excused myself from the other retreatants at nearby Conception Abbey after theyContinue reading “Easter Sunday, April 19, 1992”

Way Back When, in the 90sHalfway to Somewhere, Iowa The guy was wearing blue jeans, an army jacket, and a baseball cap. He took off his cap to reveal close-cropped graying hair. His face was lean and muscular, and his eyes were bright. “Do you want me to strap in?” he asked as I hookedContinue reading “Would you look?”

I was at the gym and I said hello to the somewhat older feller who was checking in next to me. “How are ya?” I said. He says, “Good, and you?” I says, “Pretty good” with a positive tilt, as many take “pretty good” for less than good. Then he says, “I can only sayContinue reading “Pretty good”

Jobber Jobber, which means ‘an unspecified object,” as “Hand me that jobber over there.” Once I was driving back home to Illinois from Nebraska and I picked up a Native American couple who were hitch-hiking from the side of the road. The woman was a little dull-witted, and the husband wasn’t far behind, but we gotContinue reading “Jobber”

All we need is another buzz term – that was my initial response to this article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tired-of-being-told-cheer-up-the-problem-of-toxic-positivity-11635858001?st=y0ud3q4z09rme0i&mod=pcktm_1221&utm_campaign=pockethits&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket Initial reaction, which was immediate: I hate to see “toxic positivity” accepted because it reminds me of other buzz things, such as “toxic masculinity” and “gaslighting.” They could at least have come up with something that doesn’t soundContinue reading “All we need”

BNormal, IllinoisMarch 12, 2020 This morning as I stopped at the Thornton’s gas station, I happened to notice a couple of young guys walking very slowly in skinny sloppy blue jeans, a decidedly relaxed fit. The first fellow I encountered looked to have all the time in the world to lounge around and to slouchContinue reading “Sitting on one’s arse and baring it in public”

I was working in Champaign, Illinois, one time, or oncet, as Sam Clemens used to say, and I stopped at a popular donut shop to get a dozen or two donuts to take into work. It was a cold slushy day, and the place was packed with people sitting down and eating donuts and drinkingContinue reading “Moral Battleground”

Dear Lainey, I stopped in Iowa City for the night (Saturday), woke at 5, and had an engaging conversation with a young waitress self-described as “weird” but in actuality very feisty, who had just thrown three big drunk guys out of the restaurant where she worked. When I went into this place, I first askedContinue reading “Makes you or breaks you.”

This weekend has been a low-key one, as it’s been pretty freaking cold and windy out, thus a certain laidbackness has been in play whether I like it or not. In fact, whether I like it or not has been the overall theme. On Saturday I made a trek to Walgreen’s to pick up aContinue reading “Boomers and Buttheads”