PicoBlog

This evening the FDIC announced that Citizens Bank, a $66 million asset nonmember bank based in Sac City, Iowa, had failed. As is standard, the FDIC’s announcement was fairly terse, announcing that all deposits had been assumed by Iowa Trust & Savings Bank and that the estimated loss to the DIF is expected to be $14.8 million, without going into the reasons for the failure. I cannot claim to know the full story, but I think it is possible based on public information to piece together at least a few more details.

This is the second in a series of columns by Julie Gammack from her trip to Burlington, Iowa. Next: UAW workers on strike. Jeff Abell, owner, publisher, layout editor, reporter, and sometimes newspaper carrier of the Burlington Beacon, says he’s also a grief counselor. When Burlington residents come into his office to subscribe to his upstart newspaper, Abell says it is as if they are ending an abusive relationship or mourning the loss of a deceased loved one.

Let’s begin with an old joke. Maybe you’ve heard it. A park ranger is explaining to a group of tourists that when you’re hiking in the backcountry, wearing bells on your clothing alerts bears to your presence and helps avoid confrontations. Likewise, carrying a can of pepper spray can help ward off a bear, if one were to still attack. The ranger also explains that learning to tell the difference between the poop of a black bear and the poop of brown bear (aka grizzly bear) can also be beneficial to hikers.

“Beauty will save the world” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky In my previous article, I urged readers to find what they value in art. But what if you didn’t get art? That was me a while ago. I did not understand the hype around art. I would see many paintings and walk away unimpressed. Sure, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is beautiful. So what? There are so many beautiful paintings of flowers in the world.

What’s the gift that keeps on giving when you’re a gal in your late forties? It’s perimenopause, my friends. Lately, I’ve been having trouble falling asleep at night and/or back to sleep when I wake up to pee at 3 am (which I always do). I hear this can be a thing when the hormones are a-changin’. What’s so annoying about it is that I feel tired. My body just refuses to shift into sleep mode.

During my recent chat with Scott Newman on the 27 Rouge podcast, I rambled my way into a concept that now I can’t get out of my head. Artisanal simulacra. Basically everything we encounter in modern life is simulacra: copies of things that no longer have an original. Living in a world saturated with simulacra amounts to living in hyperreality, where it’s nearly impossible to distinguish reality from simulated reality.

Last month I wrote a blog post about the paperwork for the Baltimore Orioles’ 1978 uniform order from Wilson Sporting Goods. One of the sheets included special instructions for pitcher Nelson Briles’s uniform: “Sleeve opening to be 1″ larger in circumference. No elastic at bottom of legs, has very heavy thighs.” That prompted a bit of discussion in the comments, as follows: I was excited to have David Briles — Nelson Briles’s son — participating in the Uni Watch comments section!

Welcome, Readers!  The first time I read Lonesome Dove, it immediately entered rare company as one of my favorite reading experiences of all-time. Cowboys and cattle drivers Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are among the most memorable characters you’ll ever read, guaranteed.  This week I’m giving ya’ll some introductory material as well as the reading plan, which takes us all the way through March. I’ve broken it down by week rather than by day, since McMurtry variates between short and long chapters.

In today’s diverse workplace landscape, feedback is a vital element that helps teams grow. As the late CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, once said, the role of a leader is to be the architect of the greenhouse. Leaders shouldn’t tell each plant how to grow but create an environment in which they can flourish on their own. But here's the rub: Just as gardening requires knowledge and skill, so does giving and receiving feedback.