This \u201cblog\u201d, originally called \u201cTrump World\u201d, began just over four years ago. It started at the suggestion of my niece Leslie. We were talking about what to do about the new Trump Administration and how we could make our voices heard against the outrages we saw. Leslie suggested I \u201cwrite a blog\u201d, something that seemed both interesting and alien to me. Our family always discussed politics and world events, with even the youngest (that was me for a long time) not only expected to have a say, but listened to and respected. Our discussions around the dinner table were legendary among my parents\u2019 friends, but it all started with just us, just the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But conversations are two-way streets. Essays are putting thoughts on paper. It\u2019s difficult to know if what you\u2019re thinking and writing and what people are reading is \u201cthe same\u201d. So I wasn\u2019t sure if essays were the answer. (By the way, I\u2019ve discovered the same kind of problem with public \u201cpresentations\u201d in our new COVID world. \u201cZoom\u201d lectures aren\u2019t anywhere close to classroom presentations. There\u2019s no \u201cfeedback\u201d, even rolled or closed eyes, to let you know how you\u2019re doing. Nothing like lecturing a blank computer screen to test your concentration. Human contact, verbal or non-verbal, is vital).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So Leslie thought I could replicate some of those \u201cdinner discussions\u201d in a \u201cblog\u201d. And as a retired guy, I had the time and the inclination to try it. By the way, I\u2019m not that fond of the word \u201cblog\u201d, I always feel like \u201cblogging\u201d is a stream of consciousness kind of thing: \u201cDahlman\u2019s Blog \u2013 MacBook Pro, Star Date 74594.4 \u2026\u201d<\/em> I see myself as more of an essayist. I need a structure, a beginning, middle and end that relate to each other. As my college writing Professor, Tony Stoneburner, taught: an essay either needs a skeleton or it needs a shell, but it needs something that pulls it all together. I\u2019ve always been a \u201cshell\u201d guy. The essay may go a long way away in the middle, but returns to the beginning at the end \u2013 at least that\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I bought a website (dahlman.online<\/a>) and paid the fees (WordPress) and set out to try to explain the years of Donald Trump<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was going to be a once-a-week thing, for a few folks that we knew. And if it had stayed that way, here four years later, there would be about two hundred fifty essays spanning the era. But, just like our family dinner table discussions that would last for hours, the essays got \u201cout of hand\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The more I wrote, the more I seemed to want to say. The essays became a near-daily exercise, staring at the blank white page (screen) of my MacBook. It even got to the point where several essays were written on my IPhone. Essays were written in cars, classrooms, hospital rooms, and when I took a full-time online teaching job, in the very dark early hours before school started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So why all of this \u201cprocess\u201d talk about the essays? Because this essay is the one thousandth on \u201cTrump World\u201d, now \u201cOur America\u201d. And more than just the \u201cfew folks\u201d are reading them. There are still those \u201cfew folks\u201d who get essays by e-mail. Then there are the \u201cFacebook\u201d \u201cparticipants\u201d \u2013 where all the discussion and sometimes acrimonious debate, goes on. That\u2019s around a thousand people a month. Then there are the over two thousand people who \u201csubscribe\u201d to the website itself – \u201cOur America\u201d. So the \u201cproject\u201d has progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The thousand essays contain around a million words, or in book form, two thousand pages. That\u2019s seven-hundred, twenty-five pages longer than War and Peace<\/em>. It\u2019s a body of work, about the events of our time. Sure the word \u201cTrump\u201d is probably the most used, but topics went from the horror of mass shootings<\/a> and child separation<\/a>, to the joy of watching a solar eclipse<\/a>, to travelling<\/a> around the country. Some of the best essays were written on picnic tables as the sun rose over our camper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other recurring themes: track teams<\/a>, Boy Scouts<\/a>, teaching kids<\/a>, lots of history<\/a>, and dogs, all the dogs. We lost one of the best, Dash<\/a>, our Yellow Lab early on. But Buddy, our shepherd-mix miracle cancer survivor<\/a> is still going strong. And we\u2019ve added a new Yellow Lab, Atticus, and an Australian Shepherd mix, Keelie, both, like Dash and Buddy, rescues<\/a>. And just recently we\u2019ve acquired Louisiana<\/a>, the long-legged gentle rescue from Baton Rouge. He was supposed to be a \u201cfoster\u201d as he recovered from two broken legs and a broken hip \u2013 but he and Keelie are fast friends. So we might end up having \u201cfour dog nights\u201d instead of \u201cthree\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I\u2019ve taken the opportunity to share some \u201cstories\u201d: about my parents<\/a>, my life, and our world. That\u2019s a lot like my classroom (or long rides in the back of the bus), where there would always be some \u201cstory\u201d to highlight the lesson or the meet. Sometimes it was history, and sometimes personal. But there is a reason \u201cstory\u201d is part of the word \u201chistory\u201d, and I took full advantage of my opportunity to tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a list of the essays, and how many read them \u2013 here\u2019s the top ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small Town Problems<\/a> – 918<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mom\u2019s War<\/a> – 560<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out My Window \u2013 Part 4<\/a> – 507<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Dahlman<\/a> – 168<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memories of Notre Dame<\/a> – 147<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shanksville<\/a> – 145<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lester Kahrig<\/a> – 144<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flags and Shoes<\/a> – 130<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, Boomer<\/a> – 124<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going to War \u2013 The Draft<\/a> \u2013 114.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s interesting about the list? Direct essays about the Trump Administration aren\u2019t in the top ten. Instead they\u2019re stories about people (Mom\u2019s War<\/em>, Don Dahlman<\/em>, Lester Kahrig<\/em>), history (Memories of Notre Dam<\/em>e, Shanksville, Going to War<\/em>) and my small town, Pataskala (Small Town Problems, Out My Window \u2013 Part 4<\/em>). That leaves two more political essays \u2013 Flags and Shoes<\/em> and OK, Boomer<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While any adult close to me knew my political values, as a school teacher in the same community for forty years I kept my \u201cpolitics\u201d out of the classroom. So it came as a shock to some that \u201cMr. Dahlman\u201d teacher, was a \u201cfire-breathing liberal\u201d. For some of my former students that came as a welcome affirmation, but many felt I betrayed their values. They seemed to be in search for some prior \u201csins\u201d of indoctrination \u2013 but if that was so, I did a lousy job. Forty years teaching in the school, and our community is still overwhelmingly \u201cTrump Country\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I\u2019ve lost some \u201cfriends\u201d along the way, some that don\u2019t matter, and some that I really respected, outside of the realm of politics. The one thing that Donald Trump symbolized to our country, is the loss of political civility. He wasn\u2019t the cause; we were already well down the road of \u201cdisagree with me and I hate you\u201d, but he took us to a whole new level of vitriol. I\u2019ve learned things about folks I know \u2013 well \u2013 that I\u2019d rather not known. But that\u2019s been our world, stoked on by Trumpism, and now magnified by the isolation of COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And on the other hand I\u2019ve found some \u201cfriends\u201d as well. Some have shared the verbal \u201ccombat\u201d of our discussions online, and some have more gently commented in the \u201cblog\u201d itself. And for some \u2013 it\u2019s been even more subtle. We live in \u201cTrump Country\u201d, but we put our politics on the front lawn. It not only was an exercise in politics, it was a statement of our freedom of speech. When our Biden signs<\/a> were stolen, they just were replaced by bigger ones. Happily, there were many in our community who spoke out against the theft, most of them with \u201cTrump\u201d signs in their front yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the real mark of fellowship was the person who lived on a nearby street who stopped by after Biden was declared the winner. Her neighbors were so volatile that she dared not put a Biden sign in her yard. But she wanted to thank us, and handed us a bottle of champagne \u2013 bought to celebrate Hillary\u2019s coming victory four years ago. COVID world wouldn\u2019t allow her to come in and share a drink (we asked), but she wanted to toast Biden\u2019s win, at least vicariously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four years ago we were struggling to describe \u201cTrump World\u201d. Now we aren\u2019t sure we can get rid of it, even if we get rid of the \u201cman\u201d himself. There will be a plenty more to discuss, and plenty of opportunity to argue. Hopefully we can all recognize that, in our changing America, most of us want things to get better. After all, it\u2019s \u201cOur America\u201d now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Blog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So Many<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
History and Dogs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Top Ten<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Liberal in Trump Country<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Still Friends<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Our America<\/h3>\n\n\n\n