The Baboon Congress

Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

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Header image: Male wood duck by John Bowden from MN Conservation Volunteer Facebook Page

Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

For the past maybe 20 years, we have been receiving a little magazine called the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, which celebrated its 75th year in 2015. It is an amazing publication, measuring just around 5” x 8”, issued bi-monthly. Each issue features richly illustrated articles on conservation efforts in Minnesota, and various outdoor activities, from fishing and hunting to snowshoeing.  Regular departments include:

–          “This Issue” – a summary of the issue’s main article

–          “Letters” from readers

–          a “Young Naturalists” segment, used by science teachers across the state (all Minnesota schools and libraries receive MCV)

–          “Minnesota Profile” – two of the last pages in each issue, highlighting a plant or animal you may or may not recognize

–          and my favorite, “Natural Curiosities” – questions from readers about some unexplained natural phenomenon seen, often, in readers’ back yard, and answered by the staff

Once or twice a year there is a “Sense of Place” issue, in which the material is connected to a particular landscape.

The website’s “About MCV” section describes the magazine thus:    “Minnesota Conservation Volunteer is your guide to wild Minnesota. This flagship publication of the Department of Natural Resources delivers in-depth, in-the-field coverage of the state’s outdoor news and conservation issues. The MCV mission is to encourage conservation and sustainable use of Minnesota’s natural resources.”

Although I believe you can still receive MCV free of charge, it is readers’ contributions that keep MCV magazine, together with its education and outreach projects, afloat. And it is unique – “[n]o other state conservation magazine has this model of reader support.”

I am always amazed by the photography accompanying the articles – I have cut out photos and made little books with them for children in my life. I save my MVC issues (which measure about 5” x 8”) on a bookshelf, and am having a hard time discarding them even though I am moving. (Let me know if any baboons would like some back issues.) I will make sure that my Minnesota Conservation Volunteer subscription follows me as we move to Winona.

What is your favorite magazine/periodical, either paper or electronic?

99 thoughts on “Minnesota Conservation Volunteer”

  1. Rise and Browse the Pictures Baboons!

    I used to look at this publication when I worked at the Grand Rapids, MN library–always a great magazine with wonderful pictures.

    Current favorite(s) “The Week” “Mindful.”

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  3. I’m partial to the Boundary Waters Journal, partly because they’ve published two of my articles, but also because of the quality of all the articles–long-form stories that completely immerse the reader in the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations unique to canoe country.

    BWJ is a dying breed of magazine that doesn’t consist more and more of ads, or ads disguised as articles (UGH!). Usually about 80-90% of it pages contain articles and photos–sometimes full-page photos. Articles can run upwards of 5,000-6,000 words. Photos are of high quality. Content is 100% devoted to travel and experiences in the BWCAW and Quetico Provincial Park.

    It’s a welcome respite to the electronically connected world because it forces me to slow down and take my time reading. Especially in winter, I often get a vicarious experience of being up in the BWCAW paddling my little buns off on a trip that exists only in my imagination.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  4. OT – Will have to return to today’s topic later; for now, here’s a poem written by an old college chum of mine, Randy Pitts.

    “To Bob Dylan On The Occasion Of His 75th Birthday

    Hey Bobby Dylan, I wrote you a song
    It ain’t very good, but it ain’t very long
    You meant a lot to me when I wuz a kid
    I bought ever’thing that you ever did

    You talked about Cisco an’ Leadbelly too
    An’ most of all Woody, their spirits moved in you
    The god you now channel, his old eyes are blue
    Does he twirl in his crypt as you doobie doo?

    But hey Bobby Dylan, there’s only one you
    How dare they question anything you might do
    It attests to your genius, they don’t have a clue
    Don’t listen, don’t quit, happy birthday to you.

    (Sorry for all the mean things I may have said, you little genius you!)”

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  5. I haven’t been doing much magazine reading in recent years. Many years ago I read Down Beat magazine and learned a lot about Jazz from doing that. My first issue of my new subscription to Down Beat arrived a few weeks age. I am hoping to get make in touch with the latest developments in Jazz by returning to reading it.

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  6. Veg News. Unlike most vegetarian/vegan magazines, which are mainly recipes with a few cookbook reviews, it’s a lifestyle magazine. Although I don’t travel and aren’t likely to afford to travel anytime soon, I enjoy the city (American and international) guides, and their profiles are often of people who are actually interesting, such as activists, educators and writers, rather than just the celebrity of the week. Plus, it’s very attractively designed and has a youthful feel (in a good way, I mean).

    The only other magazine I read regularly is Witches and Pagans. It’s also more of a lifestyle magazine, much like the late lamented Green Egg, meant to be readable by long-time practitioners (as a baby pagan I grew up with Circle Network News and loved it to the end, but it was decidedly 101 level). I’d read it for the genuinely critical book and media reviews if nothing else, but it also has some great columns, including one by the former Grand Archdruid John Michael Greer, he of “The Archdruid Report” blog which I cannot recommend highly enough. I’m not as impressed by the website–Patheos Pagan Channel is much better–but the print magazine is great. It used to be called PanGaia, and I liked that name much better, but the content’s pretty much the same and that’s what counts.

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      1. I think they are or will be putting issues of Green Egg online, so you may get to read it yet. Green Egg was famous for its letters column, the place where all the bickering and flaming and sometimes even discussion happened pre-internet. They even had their own pet troll, Tarostar, who Had Some Points every so often but mainly liked to stir things up.

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  7. Most of my working life was spent creating magazines. I used to think of my work as an editor as grunting out a new magazine once a month. I sympathized with chickens that grunt out eggs each day–eggs that disappear without turning into chickens.

    Magazines I used to read shaped me. At one time or another I have subscribed to magazines about outdoor recreation, cooking, decorating bungalows, pheasants, photography, bird dogs, fly fishing, birding, wildlife management, humor, folk singing, politics, science, wolves, fishing the Great Lakes and general interest magazines (like Smithsonian).

    I now subscribe to one magazine, a semi-obscure thing called The Sun. It is a magazine of great writing and storytelling, with some poetry, counter-culture interviews, thoughtful quotes and photography.

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      1. For many decades there has been strong disagreement about the physical size of the MCV. That tiny size must have made sense once, but when the magazine publishes gorgeous photography the pictures are so small they don’t show well. The DNR used have a raging debate about changing the Volunteer to normal size. I assume the debate continues still.

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  9. Morning all. I have too many magazines in my world right now. They pile up and then I go into a frenzy to get caught up, but don’t enjoy reading in a frenzy. Have decided to let Smithsonian go – took a LONG time to come to this decision. That will leave me with Scientific American, Mental Floss and National Geographic. Very weird mix, I know.

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    1. Well, you’re in good company. My 18-yr old with autism who loves to read and learn has a very similar lineup of magazines – minus the Mental Floss.

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  10. Have always wanted to have The American Nut Journal on my coffee table. But then I read they key word in the title wrong. I gather it is out of production.
    As my life and interest have narrowed, like Steve, so has the list of magazines I read. Down to 0.

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  13. The internet has put great pressure on magazines. People who used to turn to magazines now go to the internet to read articles and run videos. The pain is particularly strong among charities and interest groups that reward membership by sending out magazines. The magazines are critically important for strengthening the bonds between members and the organization. But it is difficult and expensive to create, print and ship a magazine. It is obviously easier and more environmentally sensible to create and distribute magazines on the internet. Organizations fear, however, that such magazines won’t connect with their members as well as magazines on paper. This is a raging debate being thrashed out in magazine after magazine right now.

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    1. I don’t know about the raging controversy, but it seems to me that the magazines aimed at a membership community, and I’m thinking here about publications like the one AARP sends to its members, are becoming less and less relevant as they move away from providing essential information and advocacy and toward providing a marketing platform to advertisers seeking a particular demographic. Selling increased amounts of advertising space and also the membership lists may be a necessary response to the difficulty of sustaining a print magazine of diminishing quality, but it looks to me like a death spiral.
      Rather than enhancing the relationship with members, the mercenary affect of the publication and the ancillary solicitations that spring from the AARP mailing list serve to sully the professed original intent of the organization. I used AARP as a concrete example, but the phenomenon is widespread; those house organs are unlikely to survive.

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      1. I sat on the board of one of those magazines, Bill. I sure wish you had been a member of that board, for you present arguments I tried hard to promote for years. Some board members were ready to neglect the original purpose of the magazine (to entertain and inform) in favor of any conceivable activity that might bring in more money. In general, my experiences with special interest publications has been sad. The drive to bring in more money always seems to override the high goals of the group. Many groups pander so shamelessly that they do things counter to their stated goals.

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      2. AARP was a perfect example. When I turned 50 I started to get AARP materials and I even signed up because wasn’t that what I was supposed to do when I turned 50? After a year, I dropped the membership because it seemed that all I received were solicitations for items that somebody thought I should purchase because of my age. Blech. I still get way to much AARP mail but it all goes into recycling these days.

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        1. Once they have your name and info on their mailing list, they’re not going to remove you just because you are no longer a member. Their principal product is their mailing list and the more heads the better.
          What’s either dispiriting or amusing depending on your frame of mind is how unimaginative and probably young are the marketers interpreting the demographics of a list like AARP’s. You start getting advertisements for stair climbers, burial insurance, incontinence products and expensive tours where everything is tightly choreographed and you need never come in contact with any natives except for the service staff.

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        2. I just remembered an aphorism that I like a lot. It was meant mostly to apply to online sites, but it applies equally well to the free publications like the one from AARP:
          “If something is free, then YOU are the product.”

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  14. Smithsonian is one of our favorites. And I enjoyed ‘The Week’ but we let that one go a few years ago.
    These days I get four theater magazines and 2 farming magazines… I think that says something about my life…
    There’s ‘PLSN (Pro Lighting and Staging News), there’s ‘Live Design’, there’s FOH (Front of House) and there’s ‘Stage Direction’.
    And The Farmer and Successful Farmer.
    I kinda miss ‘Hoards Dairyman’.
    http://www.hoards.com/

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    2. Ben, I often imagine the computers of marketers have interesting discussions about us (“us” being consumers, I guess). They chat behind our backs to share tips on how to sell stuff to us. I grin to think of what computers tell each other about you. “Well, he’s into farming and theater, plus he reads Smithsonian. What targeted strategies do we have for selling to a guy who is into farming, theater and general knowledge?” You must be giving those computers fits!

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  15. MCV is my favorite too, Barbara. I have two large boxes full of them. They used to throw them away at the DNR Fisheries office where I once worked. I scooped them up and added them to my collection. I also have a couple of the old “Fins, Feathers and Fur,” which Steve will remember.

    I agree with the comments about the small size not being good for displaying photos. One of my favorite photos by Jim Brandenburg shows lightning across Lake Superior, looking toward Duluth. They published this photo in MCV but the seam went right through the middle of the photo. Sad. I still like the size though. It’s part of the unique appeal of the magazine.

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    1. I do remember that magazine. It was mostly for trappers, as I recall.

      I never heard why MCV was issued in that diminutive size. The fights about enlarging the magazine always ran into the argument that people had collections of MCV copies and jumping the size would mess that up.

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      1. If they were regular size, I would not be as attached to them for some reason. It makes them unique, and I have room for them in a lot of spaces the others don’t fit. I realize they may not do justice to some photos…

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  16. The only magazine I subscribe to is National Geograpic – still love the photography and the articles but there are way too many ads now. Used to read Newsweek from cover to cover but gave that up when it went electronic. Don’t enjoy reading from computer screens, tablets, or e-readers.

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    1. Two quick thoughts about National Geographic. The cliche about that publication used to be that boys read it to see photos of naked female breasts. I assume your motivation was different. 🙂

      People seem to hoard National Geographic more than any other magazine. I’ve been in basements where there were no other books or magazines, but the stacks of National Geographics were as high as a man.

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      1. Not that many naked breasts these days. When I was a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the planet) I used National Geographic repeatedly as reference for school assignments. And my mother always let us cut them up and use the photos as well. Let me tell you, back then having a color photo as part of your report really spiffed it up!

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      2. Yeah Steve, my motivation was much different. I used to hoard the magazine – had every copy since mid 80’s but have since been ruthless about thinning them out. I have kept special issues (such as the water one), torn out stories about places I have traveled to, donated a bunch, and actually tossed some. I still have a total of about three years worth – much better than 3 decades worth.

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  17. i love magazines. i was sad to hear victorias catalog went out of hard copy version today. i like hard copies instead of internet.

    arizn highways is my favorite for that sort of thing but i used to meet people at the book store and hang out by the agazines to read bits about all the different stuff they offered. i at one time hat 10 or 12 subscriptions going on i lvoe magazines . architecuual digets. psychology today
    national georgaphic.
    mothe jones
    life
    art news.
    mnens joouranl
    esquire is a wonderful mag
    thanks bir
    good luck with the house thing

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  18. Gosh. I really don’t do magazines any more. A while back, I subscribed to a cooking mag, then I switched to a digital version of it, then I realized that I need to have recipes in hard copies, so I cancelled the digital subscription. I don’t like the format of the recipes in that mag (Eating Well) and I don’t really need any new recipes (at least in that quantity, every other month), so I won’t be subscribing to the print version.

    Sometimes I check out magazines from the library. Then after three weeks, I gather them up – almost always unread – and return them.

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  19. My heaviest paper magazine is People. Each morning, I begin with Facebook since it’s the best way to keep track of my family’s lives. I then move on to Huffington Post; then to the Strib; then to TB. Same routine every morning.

    I got an email recently from a Strib “investigative reporter” telling me that he’s heard I’m the most prolific opinionator they have. He’s doing research on why people post opinions and said, “I’ll use your real name, of course”. This struck as very odd because the only reason anyone posts an opinion is because it’s anonymous, and here this guy wants to use my real name. I explained how doing so would “out” me and trigger death threats, and politely refused.

    I love Huff Po because it updates headlines throughout each day, it has pictures that, when they catch my eye, are opened to read the full story. It also has many videos. One this week was of a goose relentlessly tapping its beak against a police car. The cop got out and the goose led him to her goosling who was trapped by a long balloon string.

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    1. the strib blogs are the ugliest group of people i have ever seen. i cant even read them it is so upsetting. we live in an ugly little hidden cancer of a community that is minnesota nicw when you look at them and snakes when the blinds are drawn.
      my wifes family talks about folks and drives me crazy. it wasnt part of my upbringing.

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      1. Are you calling me ugly, Tim? I happen to be the voice of reason on these boards and often the only representing a voice of sanity. I figure that someone has to post facts and decency.

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      2. The inspection went well, just needs more insulation in the attic, but we’re waiting to hear back from the realtor about how to work that, since there isn’t really time to get it done BEFORE we need to move in. We’ll return to Robbinsdale later today, one way or another…

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  24. I remember the moment well. It was 1963, when I was a senior at Grinnell College. One of the guys living in our dorm was from New York city. One afternoon Ken ran around asking guys to listen to a record in his room. It was The Freewheeling Bob Dylan, his first successful album (there had been an obscure release earlier called Bob Dylan, a strange recording on which Dylan had withheld all his best material because he didn’t trust Columbia to make the album he really wanted to do. The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was that album whose cover had a photo of a cute young Dylan walking the streets of Greenwich Village with girlfriend Suze Rotolo. It had all his first big hits: Blowin’ in the Wind, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Don’t Think Twice and others.

    I remember not being able to figure Dylan out. He was some kind of a folk singer, and that was my favorite music then, but different. He had attitude and a message. I sensed he would be an acquired taste.

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  25. I first saw Dylan on television. It must have been around Christmas in 1962 (I had just returned home after spending a year in Switzerland). I was visiting my parents, and this guitar-strumming, harmonica-playing, very nasal singer came on. It was a broadcast from England, and I recall my dad hating him. That, of course, was more than ample reason for me to like him. Blowin’ in the Wind was the tune he was singing.

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      2. By then, BiR, I was 19 years old, and was no longer living at home. I had long since realized that dad and I often disagreed on things. That he disliked Dylan without ever really listening to him didn’t surprise me.

        When The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was released the following year, I bought it, and literally wore it out. I absolutely loved that album, and I would have whether or not my dad hated it. I still think Dylan is one of the most intriguing artists of my lifetime.

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  26. I first heard Bob Dylan on the radio in my large bedroom in the walk-out basement of our family home on Cannon Lake. I listened to WDGY or the other one – I don’t remember the name – was it 15-KSTP? I think I might have heard Peter, Paul and Mary do ‘Blowin in the Wind’ before I ever heard Bob do it. My dad was a PPM fan and had all their albums the instant they came out. He was not a Dylan fan.

    I agree that early Dylan was an acquired taste. I wasn’t allowed to have opinions at the time, but the budding folk singer in me loved the harmonies that came so easily to PPM and Simon and Garfunkel, and detested the nasal quality and grating harmonica that is so much a part of Dylan’s early folk music. I believe it’s my love of melody and harmony that made me aware of just how great Dylan’s songwriting was and still is.

    One of my old favorites:

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    1. KDWB was the top 40 station I remember from that era.

      My mother had that same reaction to Bob Dylan’s voice. She never really liked him much. She did enjoy Simon & Garfunkel, Steve Goodman, John Prine, and especially the Paul Simon solo albums.

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  27. I can’t remember when I first heard Dylan. It was likely when Like a Rolling Stone was released – that’s the first song I remember distinctly. I still have the famous Milton Glaser poster of Dylan from around that time.

    As for the magazine discussion – I don’t subscribe to anything, but I always go for the New Yorker if it’s on the table in a waiting room. There’s usually at least one article that I want to read all the way through. I’ve been known to come back to the waiting room after my appointment and sit down to finish an article if I didn’t have enough time to get all the way through it when my name was called.

    I like paging through Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and Women’s Day. Not usually very much to read in any of those – the pictures are the appeal.

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  28. I associate the Highway 61 Revisited album with the first dance I attended with first love (as we were just getting to know each other). I can’t imagine that we danced to Dylan. Perhaps he told me about the album and I sought it out afterwards.
    1965 or so

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  29. I probably first heard Bob Dylan on the radio, but I don’t have a distinct memory of it. My older sister was a fan (still is) and she had some of his albums. I can only take his voice for a little while, but, man, can he write songs. While I’m not a Peter Paul & Mary fan and didn’t care for their versions, there are some other artists who I really liked their version of his songs. Pete Seeger singing A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall is one I particularly like. Also Odetta singing Mr. Tambourine Man and Blowin’ in the Wind.

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  30. This may by blasphemy to this group, but I’m not a big Dylan fan… maybe I’m a little too young?? (I’m ducking and wincing as I say that).
    My favorite Dylan song is ‘Tanged up in Blue’.

    The last concert I worked as a Union Stagehand was an outdoor concert of his back in 2006. Still got the T-shirt that says Dylan, Stage Crew.

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    1. There’s no Dylan in any of the essential soundtracks of my life either. Like ljb, the Dylan songsI like best are sung by someone else.

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        2. Ach yours too! I hardly need an excuse for my opinion. Bob Dylan just doesn’t ring my bells. As I said, some of his songs are pleasant, especially when somebody else sings them, but there are a lot of pleasant songs out there. I recognize that a lot of people consider him exceptional and even important, but I am not much moved by what other people think.

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    2. Some of the most ardent Dylan fans I know are younger than you – my middle daughter (age mid-20s) and neice (early 30s). So it’s not an age things.

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  31. I’m not sure anyone else would share my close interest in Bob Dylan’s Dinkytown days. Yesterday I spent hours looking into that. I first knew Dinkytown in 1964. Dylan had come and gone already. He was there, it seems, between 1958 and 1961. I met several people who had known Dylan when he still called himself Robert Zimmerman. I later lived on 4th Street SE, the street immortalized by Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.”

    There is a gossipy, critical biography of the young Dylan written by a British journalist named Howard Sounes. It is on the internet now, courtesy of Google Books. It provides a fascinating (although biased) view of young Dylan as he struggled to create a persona and performing style. He was obviously a complicated person, not very likable but endlessly intriguing. Those who knew him as a kid struggling to become a folk singer were later blown away by the his talent and fame.

    Dylan is utterly fascinating in many ways. His greatest talent might have been his ability to keep reinventing himself. Thanks, BiR, for inspiring me to spend a delightful afternoon of reading about the young Dylan and remembering the people I met who had known him.

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    1. Two guesses, BiR. First, Baboons are folkies, and Dylan only played that role for a few years at the start of his career. Second, Baboons are biased in favor of folk performers who are Good People, and Dylan (in spite of his prodigious talent) falls short there.

      This might seem like an odd thing to mention here, but I’d like to throw a plug in for one of the classic Alec Guinness movies: The Horse’s Mouth. It is really distinctive and superbly done. Guinness plays a fictional painter who is a real prick in normal life but who has qualities of greatness as an artist. I think of that movie when I review Dylan’s life. The movie is available for free on YouTube, by the way.

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      1. I’m intrigued, Steve, by your claim that Dylan falls short of being a “Good Person.” In what way?

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        1. For that matter, which of the folk performers are Good People and how would the average listener know? And why the odd capitalization? Is it an organization? An award?

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        5. Dylan has a long record of infidelity to wives and lovers. He abused friends, living with them and then stealing their records when he left. He left several friends (including Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez) feeling he had betrayed friendships and stepped on people as he climbed up the ladder. Some of his lyrics express the negativity of a sullen child. He’s just not a warm and fuzzy guy.

          But that is not an appropriate standard for judging an artist. I stand in awe of his musical genius. If nothing else, Dylan has demonstrated a prodigious and varied musical output for many decades that surely ranks him among the most productive musicians this country has known.

          Perhaps the best work of art created about Dylan is the Martin Scorcese documentary masterpiece “No Direction Home.” People who don’t have the time to view it can check out the very intelligent Robert Evert review of the film.

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        6. Bill, I assume you had tongue in cheek when you wondered how anyone could tell what sort of person a performer is when not performing. When I wrote the blog question about inviting famous people to dinner, I was thinking of that a lot. A friend once told me that one semi-famous folk performer was a real jerk, but he mentioned that as part of his larger point that most folk performers are people you’d enjoy calling friends.

          That is surely not the most appropriate way to judge them as artists, but my favorite folk artists also happen to be people who are generous, modest and respectful. One example–although not a “folk” performer as such–is Bonnie Raitt . From her earliest days she has always made a big point of acknowledging her musical debt to earlier performers, sharing stages with some of her early heroes. Interviews with Bonnie Raitt are powerful examples of her humility and capacity for empathy. She’s someone I’d love to know as a friend.

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        7. Not really tongue in cheek, Steve. My favorite performers are the ones who sing songs I like. I know little or nothing about them personally and have not been especially motivated to know more. I assume some of them are nicer than others, like everybody else, but which ones are which I’m unlikely to ever discover.

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  33. I know I’ve told before of the afternoon I spent at Stubs & Herb’s in Stadium Village with Dave Van Ronk. As you can imagine, the stories he could – and did – tell about Dylan, Baez and Joni Mitchell, among others, were both entertaining and full of detail you wouldn’t want to repeat in print. Same thing with Rosalie Sorrels. Great storytellers, both.

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  34. OT – Just heard that Trump is no longer the presumptive but the actual nominee of the GOP! Don’t know whether to laugh or cry. A sad, sad day for American politics.

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    1. the only thing more incredible and revaling would be if he got elected. i thonk we underestimate the people who surround us. the guy who stands up for being against the cuases of the moment , taxes gays mexicans muslms is the guy for all thos people driving on the freeway. its scary to think about what people have in their brains. i had dinner last night who couldnt believe i would consider backing a criminal like hillary. the 5 people she killed and the breaking of the law with her email. the talk radio cancer and the tea party are beyond scary. jessie ventura is tame lesson of the possibilities.
      if trump wins the world will be getting a wake up call along with the voice of reason. it has happened before where the rally around a negative has diven the masses to atrocities in the name of the me me me views.

      initially i thought that it would be good to have trump or cruz win so the differences could be proclaimed beyond any shodow of a doubt. but who would have thought w could be elected twice or that it would come down to cruz and trump as the two best offerings the right could muster.

      its a brave new world and it maybe time to wake up and smell the coffee.

      i tell people that i think bernie is as far left as trump is right and the reality is that the middle is made of 40 % both right and left. its odd to think of in the middle like that.
      but bernie made hillary establishment and trump made jeb and christie too tame. bachmann was never beaten here was she? what a world.

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    2. I feel like I should say something profound in response to this, PJ, but really can’t think of much to say at all. It blows my mind that people I know (slightly), who are more conservative politically than I am, think Trump is a better choice than anyone the Democrats could put against him. Because Hilary is (according to them) the worst choice than anyone, even, presumably, Hitler if he could come back to life as an American politician. And Bernie is a socialist, which is a totally evil system (according to them). When I hear people say things like “At least Trump is honest” (that’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard – why is somebody who is crude and rude automatically assumed to be honest?) and “I like his views on vaccination” – i just can’t understand what people are thinking. That Canadian island is starting to look mighty appealing…

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  35. dylan is a poet. no one likes poets. he sings his songs different every time . it used to drive joan baez nuts i hear. i love his stuff. his radio was exceptional and gave me some insights to the thoughts behind the thoughts. too bad xm cancelled him or he quit. i would love to get a copy of the 200 episodes or so he recorded. it was around a theme like our own boys did. an hour an episode. with humor ditties thrown in to make it even better. almost no dylan n dyland radio.

    bringing it all back home freewheeling hiway 61 were my favorites but i did really like blonde on blonde when he went electric full time and loved nashville skyline when he came back out and new morning an planet waves on his return along with biograph
    i found the chronicles book fascinating and him as a storyteller very interesting.
    i keep thinking i had better not miss too many more of his offerings as there wont be another 20 years of duylan concerts to attend but who knows . what else has he got to do. he likes it. 200 days on the road is right for him. if you can jus tpick where to stop for a week or a month and catch your breath why not. add another year to the tour schedule.

    i hear the masses get to him and make him feel stalked if he stays put too long. weird onging challage to live with

    i sure enjoy his stuff

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    1. I agree, tim. You surely know that there are college courses devoted to studying his lyrics as poetry. You are right about Chronicles being a great read (but you don’t need to believe what he says). And as for the way Dylan keeps his distance from fans, we should sympathize. None of us has experienced the terrors and indignities of that kind of fame, plus Dylan has long known the real physical dangers of being as famous as John Lennon.

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  36. I was not a Dylan fan growing up – I came of age with The Beatles – and never have owned any of his albums. Can only listen to his nasally singing for just so long…….but do agree that he is one prodigious talent and influenced many musicians.

    As to the Donald and the people who support him…..I have no words – am just dumbfounded at his appeal.

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  37. Bob Dylan is one of a few artists that I am never not in the mood to listen to.

    There are so many Dylan lyrics that just absolutely nail it. And I say that knowing that he’s written a real torrent of lyrics, words upon words upon words, and like an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters, something profound must stand out in all of that. Still, it stops me in my tracks when he writes something like “Summer Days’:
    She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
    She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
    She says, “You can’t repeat the past,” I say, “You can’t?
    What do you mean, you can’t? of course you can.

    I don’t think life would be as rich as it is without the music of Bob Dylan. If colleges want to offer courses that focus on his work, and if that’s pandering, then let them pander. Something blessed can be learned from it.

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