What passes for progress Laura Kavanagh, the forever “acting” commissioner of FDNY, has chosen Kwame Cooper, a long serving city of Los Angeles fire official, to be the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the department. The Diversity Officer “is responsible for creating, implementing, assessing, and gaining support for diversity…

Don’t let the old man in I’ve been spending some time down at the National Mall with my “Lock Him Up” sign, sitting quietly on the steps as an unofficial greeter. My goal is to spend an hour there for each and every “Let’s go Brandon” hat I have had…

Annandale FD and the house that was. Annandale is in central Fairfax County, Virginia, a few miles southwest of Washington, D.C. It sits at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Little River Turnpike, (Columbia was once a “turnpike” too.) A turnpike was a private road with tollhouses to collect the…

Of Stately Funerals Funerals, they say, are for the living and no more so than when the deceased wielded power and influence on the world stage, leaving the trappings inevitably behind. Showing up for the service (or not) provides an opportunity to send a message regarding the general nature of…

Pearl Harbor Redux September 11th is all grown up, old enough to buy a stiff shot of whiskey. Pearl Harbor (1941), another day of infamy, turned 21 in 1962; the world was dominated by the Cold War, the price of gasoline was 31 cents a gallon and we were tip-toeing…

Welcome Back With Labor Day comes the mongol horde of the nation’s eighth-graders and we are glad for that, ka-ching. (Just kidding, I would never do it for the money — I like being harassed by people 1/5 my age.) There is a certain type of eighth-grade trip leader, the…

Sunday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial I spent a couple of hours at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, coincidentally it was the 59th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a Dream” speech, given on the steps there. As usual, I sat quietly, smiling and holding my sign; most people laughed, gave a…

Some third career magic My fellow firefighters, active and retired, would likely identify with the thought in the title, what we did was so much fun and worthwhile that the doing seemed compensation enough. Routine firefighting is a splendid combination of will, thrill, challenge and teamwork with a dash of…

Is Adolph off limits? My city walks often take in the area around the White House and the Mall; sometimes I do it while holding a sign. A favorite sign simply says, “Say howdy to Hitler”, a blend of humor, mischief and truth. Most folks nod, smile, laugh and yes…