Longtime readers may know that I attended two universities here in the Cincinnati area: Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and the University of Cincinnati (UC).
I have pleasant memories of both of them, but I especially enjoyed my time at NKU. I was a student there during the 1986-1987 academic year. The university had been founded the year I was born (1968). NKU felt like a dynamic academic institution that was rapidly growing.
Oh, what a difference 39 years can make. NKU is now suffering from a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. The university recently announced that it will eliminate 1% of its existing workforce. An unspecified number of vacant positions will also be eliminated.
I saw the news on Facebook, where the rule of thumb is: Don’t read the comments. But of course I did. There were plenty of people blaming both Donald Trump and “woke” professors. Continue reading “NKU staffing cuts, and my college days”
If you want to maintain your abilities in a foreign language, you have to use the language regularly. And one of the best ways to practice a foreign language is by reading.
Forget the “apps”—read an old-fashioned book.
(Note: Yes, certain apps can be helpful when you are first learning a language. I’m not anti-app. But once you’re proficient, real-world materials will help you make the most progress. If you’ve been studying a language for years, you should be well beyond the Duolingo stage.)
I first read Pet Sematary—in English—in 1984. Back then, the book was new to all readers, and widely billed as, “the novel that scared Stephen King while he was writing it.”
Like The Dead Zone, which I recently discussed, I remembered the basic plot line and main characters of Pet Sematary. But I have forgotten enough to make the book entertaining the second time around. Also, when I first read this novel, I was a teenager. I’m now in my mid-50s. That makes a big difference.
What about the Spanish?
I sometimes get tongue-tied when chatting in Spanish, but my reading and aural comprehension abilities are quite high. I can read just about any modern text in Spanish, with only an occasional reference to a dictionary.
Lest this strike you as braggadocio, I will also point out that I had my first exposure to Spanish as a high school student more than 40 years ago. I took one year of intermediate Spanish in college. I used Spanish on the job during frequent trips to Mexico in the 1990s and 2000s.
My Spanish is good, by the standard gringo yardstick, and it should be, after all this time. I’m not a language-learning virtuoso, by any means. But I am a dedicated language learner, and one who has been at it for a number of years now.
Yesterday I learned that Rush, the Canadian rock band that I’ve loved for more than 40 years, will resume touring in 2026.
The band officially retired in 2015. And after the death of drummer/songwriter Neil Peart in 2020, most of us believed that a Rush revival would be out of the question.
But it turns out we were wrong about that.
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee will be joined onstage by German drummer Anika Nilles. Since the announcement, I’ve seen lots of armchair quarterbacking online, about Nilles filling in as Neil Peart’s replacement.
Anika Nilles joining Rush on their ‘reunion’ tour is historic.
It marks the first time a female will be in the building at a Rush show.
Most of the feedback has been positive, but I have also seen plenty of negative comments. A few wags have remarked, tongue-in-cheek, that Nilles’ debut concert will mark the first time a woman has been present at a Rush show. (While female Rush fans are not unknown, the typical Rush fan is a Gen X male, often one with nerdy tendencies. And yes—I’m one of them.)
Some old guard Rush fans are understandably overcome by cognitive dissonance. I wouldn’t chalk up their reactions to simple sexism. Reverse ageism would be more likely. Anika Nilles wasn’t even born when Signals came out in 1982—the year I discovered Rush at the age of 14.
Plenty of the bands we Gen Xers grew up with have changed their lineups multiple times over the years: Journey, AC/DC, Kansas, Def Leppard, etc. Fleetwood Mac has had eighteen different members at various times. Chicago’s “past members” list on Wikipedia reads like the roster of a baseball team.
But since the mid-1970s, there were only three members of Rush: Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart. Three and only three. There was never a large enough lineup for any member of Rush to fade to the background or get lost in the crowd. Continue reading “Rush 2026 and the case for the new drummer”
From my personal Facebook feed this morning, someone has a question about athletic fashion during the 1980s:
“What exactly was the point of wearing athletic shorts on top of sweatpants [in the 1980s]?”
From my personal Facebook feed, a question about 1980s athletic attire…
I was a teenager in the 1980s, and an avid runner. I don’t really remember seeing this all that much. I do remember seeing it on occasion, and thinking that it was a little odd, or pointless.
I can say with 100 percent certainty that I never went running with gym shorts worn over my sweat pants.
I did, however, often run with gym shorts over my tights. Athletic tights, then as now, were much more form fitting and much less modest. (Athletic tights are also far better suited to running.)
If you didn’t actually experience the 1980s (or any historic period, for that matter), there is a danger in conflating the anecdotal with the common.
And even some common things weren’t all that common. For example, I never wore my hair in the style that is now called a “mullet”. (We didn’t call those hairstyles “mullets” back then, either.)
I recently received an email from a reader of 12 Hours of Halloween, asking me about “Devil’s Night” and the 1980s. The reader wanted to know if I participated in any Devil’s Night mayhem as a youth.
For those of you who don’t know the term: Devil’s Night, aka Damage Night, or Mischief Night, is traditionally the night before Halloween, October 30.
The observance apparently dates back tothe 1790s. In the 1800s, this was a night when children engaged in innocent pranks, like soaping neighbors’ windows.
But nothing remains innocent for long, does it? By the time I was a kid, in the late 1970s, Devil’s Night had acquired a bad reputation. This was largely owing to the destructive arson sprees that took place in cities like Detroit on October 30, starting in the 1960s.
Strait-laced suburban youth that I was, I wanted no part of any of that. Nor did I hear much about such pranks during my trick-or-treating years. I think a few kids may have toilet-papered trees. But that’s about the extent of it.
My maternal grandfather, mid-1930s
In my personal circle, I have been acquainted with exactly one person who admitted to serious Devil’s Night misconduct: my maternal grandfather.
My maternal grandfather (who loved Halloween) was one of my favorite people. He was also a World War II veteran.
But before all of that, he was a youth in rural Southern Ohio, on the westernmost fringes of Appalachia. He grew up in the 1930s. And if you think those were innocent times, then you’ve been watching too many episodes of The Waltons.
On Devil’s Night, my grandfather and his friends used to engage in some marginally malicious hijinks. Much of this consisted of tipping over outhouses
My grandfather told me about one Devil’s Night on which a crotchety old man (who was the bane of local children) fired a shotgun at him and his friends in the dark.
No one was harmed. According to my grandfather, though, the man had fired his shotgun with the intent of doing serious bodily injury to the trespassers. (And they had just tipped over his outhouse.)
Do I approve of what my grandfather and his friends did that night? No, of course not. But I’m quite grateful that that old man’s aim was off. Otherwise, I might not be here to write this post.
-ET
**12 HOURS OF HALLOWEEN**
Halloween night 1980 will be unlike any other!
On Halloween night 1980, three young friends face the perils of a supernatural curse.
Their familiar suburban environment is transformed into a nightmare hellscape of witches, evil spirits, and unimaginable creatures.
A terrifying coming-of-age tale for Generation X, or anyone nostalgic for the 1980s!
The Lawrence Welk Show was a musical variety program that ran from 1951 to 1982. It was a show made for the World War II generation, a generation that is no longer with us.
This was one of my maternal grandparents’ favorite shows. Throughout my early years, my grandparents were my parents’ caretakers of choice when they went out for the evening—usually on a Saturday night.
Writing on X, Democratic Party activist and occasional horror writer Stephen King describes himself as “the most banned author in the United States”.
“I am now the most banned author in the United States–87 books. May I suggest you pick up one of them and see what all the pissing & moaning is about? Self-righteous book bannersdon’t always get to have their way. This is still America, dammit.”
I am now the most banned author in the United States–87 books. May I suggest you pick up one of them and see what all the pissing & moaning is about? Self-righteous book banners don't always get to have their way. This is still America, dammit.
I discovered Stephen King as a high school student in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1980s. His books were in my school library. If he wasn’t banned in that time and place, then he isn’t banned much of anywhere.
If you are near any population center in the United States, then you are almost certainly within a mile of a Stephen King novel or two.
King also has an estimated net worth of $500 million. He has pleased many readers over the years, and his success is well-deserved. But his attempt to portray himself as the victim of a mass rightwing censorship campaign is a tad pathetic.
Never a boring moment in 2025. President Trump has ordered federal troops to Portland, Oregon. Their mission is to protect immigration enforcement officers (ICE) from Antifa-provoked violence. The troops will also be charged with protecting federal buildings and facilities from those who throw rocks, bricks, and flaming objects in the name of Antifa.
This has once again stirred up the debate about what Antifa is, exactly, and what it is not.
Is Antifa truly “anti-fascist”? Are Antifa like the Weather Underground? Or are they the French Resistance? Is Antifa an organization, or a mere set of ideas?
I was just turning 15 when Risky Business—the movie that launched Tom Cruise’s acting career—hit the theaters in August 1983. I was too young to get into an R-rated movie without an adult; and this wasn’t a film that either of my parents would have been interested in seeing with me.
I neglected to see Risky Business for more than 40 years, partly because I was put off by the much-played clip of Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear. Call me homophobic if you’d like; but that isn’t the way to get me to see a movie. And there were just so many other movies to see.
I finally got around to watching Risky Business a few days ago. (Better late than never!) The movie was quite well done for a film that was originally conceived as a throwaway flick for Reagan-era young adults. (Moreover, despite the ubiquity of that clip with Tom Cruise in his underwear, that scene is a minuscule portion of the 95-minute movie.) Continue reading “‘Risky Business’: an entertaining film that would never get made today”
I have been watching some old movies from the 1980s recently. Some have been movies that I saw, but have long since forgotten. Others are iconic films of that era that I never got around to seeing when they were current.
For example, I recently wrote a post about Mystic Pizza (1988). Last night I watched Risky Business (1983). I will have a post about Risky Business soon.
A scene from Mystic Pizza (1988)
One thing I’ve noticed is that many films created in 1980-something as disposable teen comedies were actually pretty good. In 1985, did anyone imagine that people in 2025 would still be talking about The Breakfast Club? Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) has been recognized by the American Film Institute for its merits.
Another thing I’ve noticed is the diversity in movies from that bygone era. In 1985, an original movie, properly executed, could make a lot of people rich. But the economics of the 21st-century box office encourage conservatism and a tiresome emphasis on franchise films. Continue reading “The comparative joys of old (1980s) movies”
More details are emerging about the deranged inner world of Robin Westman. He/she/whatever is the transgender gunman who shot up a Catholic church filled with kids last month, on the first day of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
It seems that Westman had a girlfriend named Abigail Bodick, who was a “furry”. For the uninitiated out there, a “furry” is a person who identifies as an animal, usually a dog or a cat.
Yes, this is completely insane. And this brand of insanity certainly didn’t flourish in the 1970s and 1980s, when I was a kid. This is a Gen Z thing.
But who is to blame for Gen Z? Certainly not the much-disdained Baby Boomers. The Gen Z birth years run from 1997 to 2012. A Baby Boomer born in 1947 turned 50 in 1997. That was a little old to be having kids. Continue reading “Gen Xer = bad parent?”
I recently discovered that someone was trying to gain entry to my WordPress site. This had been going on for about two weeks. Based on my site’s usage records, the activity was small-scale, and probably perpetrated by an individual, or a small group of individuals who had chosen my site at random. None of the attempts had been successful.
I already had an extensive security plan through my hosting service, but I took yet one more step to lock down Edward Trimnell Books. This was done mostly just for peace of mind, and to stick a thumb in the eye of the cybercrooks. Continue reading “Website hacking, and the opportunity costs of cybercrime”
I belong to a gym in suburban Cincinnati. Over this past summer, the gym ran a 3-month membership special for college students. It was a good deal, apparently. My gym was overrun with baby-faced, tattooed moppets from June through August.
I have nothing against our youngest generation of adults. Except for one thing: they all become catatonic when staring at their cell phone screens.
I have nothing against cell phones, either. I carry one with me just about everywhere I go.
But most of the time, it’s in my pocket.
Not the Gen Zs, however. Everyone born after 1995 seems unable to function unless the cell phone is constantly in hand. Sometimes they appear to be texting. Most of the time, though, they are simply scrolling through the screen. (Waiting for a text, perhaps?)
But what does an old man like me care about such things? The problem is that in a gym, Gen Zs take twice as long as everyone else, because they park themselves on exercise machines, immerse themselves in their phones, and tune out the rest of the world.
Absorbed in his cell phone, a Gen Z zones out while seated on an exercise machine, thereby inconveniencing everyone else
I will also note that Gen Z males are worse about this than Gen Z females. (I suspect that these young guys are looking at young women on social media, or desperately hoping that a young woman will text them.) Continue reading “A Zoomer moment at my gym”
How I wrote a horror novel called Revolutionary Ghosts
Or…
Can an ordinary teenager defeat the Headless Horseman, and a host of other vengeful spirits from America’s revolutionary past?
The big idea
I love history, and I love supernatural horror tales.“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was therefore always one of my favorite short stories. This classic tale by Washington Irving describes how a Hessian artillery officer terrorized the young American republic several decades after his death.
The Hessian was decapitated by a Continental Army cannonball at the Battle of White Plains, New York, on October 28, 1776. According to some historical accounts, a Hessian artillery officer really did meet such an end at the Battle of White Plains. I’ve read several books about warfare in the 1700s and through the Age of Napoleon. Armies in those days obviously did not have access to machine guns, flamethrowers, and the like. But those 18th-century cannons could inflict some horrific forms of death, decapitation among them.
I was first exposed to the “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” via the 1949 Disney film of the same name. The Disney adaptation was already close to 30 years old, but still popular, when I saw it as a kid sometime during the 1970s.
Headless Horsemen from around the world
While doing a bit of research for Revolutionary Ghosts, I discovered that the Headless Horseman is a folklore motif that reappears in various cultures throughout the world.
In Irish folklore, the dullahan or dulachán (“dark man”) is a headless, demonic fairy that rides a horse through the countryside at night. The dullahan carries his head under his arm. When the dullahan stops riding, someone dies.
Scottish folklore includes a tale about a headless horseman named Ewen. Ewen wasbeheaded when he lost a clan battle at Glen Cainnir on the Isle of Mull. His death prevented him from becoming a chieftain. He roams the hills at night, seeking to reclaim his right to rule.
Finally, in English folklore, there is the 14th century epic poem, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. After Gawain kills the green knight in living form (by beheading him) the knight lifts his head, rides off, and challenges Gawain to a rematch the following year.
But Revolutionary Ghosts is focused on the Headless Horseman of American lore: the headless horseman who chased Ichabod Crane through the New York countryside in the mid-1790s.
The Headless Horseman isn’t the only historical spirit to stir up trouble in the novel. John André, the executed British spy, makes an appearance, too. (John André was a real historical figure.)
I also created the character of Marie Trumbull, a Loyalist whom the Continental Army sentenced to death for betraying her country’s secrets to the British. But Marie managed to slit her own throat while still in her cell, thereby cheating the hangman. Marie Trumbull was a dark-haired beauty in life. In death, she appears as a desiccated, reanimated corpse. She carries the blade that she used to take her own life, all those years ago.
Oh, and Revolutionary Ghosts also has an army of spectral Hessian soldiers. I had a lot of fun with them!
The Spirit of ’76
Most of the novel is set in the summer of 1976. An Ohio teenager, Steve Wagner, begins to sense that something strange is going on near his home. There are slime-covered hoofprints in the grass. There are unusual sounds on the road at night. People are disappearing.
Steve gradually comes to an awareness of what is going on….But can he convince anyone else, and stop the Headless Horseman, before it’s too late?
I decided to set the novel in 1976 for a number of reasons. First of all, this was the year of the American Bicentennial. The “Spirit of ’76 was everywhere in 1976. That created an obvious tie-in with the American Revolution.
Nineteen seventy-six was also a year in which Vietnam, Watergate, and the turmoil of the 1960s were all recent memories. The mid-1970s were a time of national anxiety and pessimism (kind of like now). The economy was not good. This was the era of energy crises and stagflation.
Reading the reader reviews of Revolutionary Ghosts, I am flattered to get appreciative remarks from people who were themselves about the same age as the main character in 1976:
“…I am 62 years old now and 1976 being the year I graduated high school, I remember it pretty well. Everything the main character mentions (except the ghostly stuff), I lived through and remember. So that was an added bonus for me.”
“I’m 2 years younger than the main character so I could really relate to almost every thing about him.”
I’m actually a bit younger than the main character. In 1976 I was eight years old. But as regular readers of this blog will know, I’m nostalgic by nature. I haven’t forgotten the 1970s or the 1980s, because I still spend a lot of time in those decades.
If you like the 1970s, you’ll find plenty of nostalgic nuggets in Revolutionary Ghosts, like Bicentennial Quarters, and the McDonald’s Arctic Orange Shakes of 1976.
***
Also, there’s something spooky about the past, just because it is the past. As L.P. Hartley said, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
For me, 1976 is a year I can clearly remember. And yet—it is shrouded in a certain haziness. There wasn’t nearly as much technology. Many aspects of daily life were more “primitive” then.
It isn’t at all difficult to believe that during that long-ago summer, the Headless Horseman might have come back from the dead to terrorize the American heartland…
I discovered the music of Kansas in the early 1980s, as I was entering high school. By that time, Kansas already had eight studio albums, including the new one at the time, Vinyl Confessions. I eventually purchased their entire back catalog.
I knew immediately that Kansas’s musicwas “different”. Whereas Van Halen was singing about beer and women, the typical Kansas song dealt with spiritual and philosophical themes.
Some Kansas songs are so intellectual that I didn’t connect the dots until years later.For example: “Journey from Mariabronn” on the band’s 1974 debut album, takes its inspiration from Narcissus and Goldmund, a 1930 Herman Hesse novel set in medieval Germany.
I happened to read this novel just a few years ago, when I was already well into my fifties. I had a classic “ah-hah” moment when I made the connection between the Hesse novel and the Kansas song—which I’d enjoyed in partial ignorance for all those years.
Kansas songs are full of Easter eggs like that.
The above documentary covers Kansas from its foundation, through the height of the band’s commercial and critical success in the late 1970s.
In the 1980s, Kansas suffered a decline, as the group’s members disagreed on their creative direction. (I’ve written a post about that here.)
All musical acts have their ups and downs, though, and none stays at the top of the heap forever. Kansas remains one of my favorite bands, more than 40 years after I first discovered them.
