John Sundman

I'm glad you lived to tell the tale. I've wiped out in 5' waves & that was bad enough. But never, thank Fred, in truly heavy surf. I do hope to surf again; please Jesus in 2026. But I'm 73 years old and WAY out of shape. Planning to get back on the good foot starting 3 days from now Ash Wednesday.

Walked through deep ice-covered snow to retrieve the rickety 4' step ladder from the shed. Futzed around on tip-toes for an hour to replace the battery; reset the alarm. But it still chirped! Then the second one started chirping! Arrrrgh! Buy new stepladder & smoke alarms, $$. But all is well now.

. . . at Squibnocket that looks pretty when there's an offshore storm. But it's a right break & I'm goofy foot, and there are rocks. I'm much too old for that stuff. I hope to get back to LBI some day when the waves are breaking nicely, maybe 4', and I'm still ambulatory. We'll see. 10/10

I got two more rides & paddled in. The waves were still perfect, but I figured I had used up my luck. I really was scared the whole time. Mike wiped out 3 times & had to swim to shore. Jerry too, I think. I've lived on Martha's Vineyard for 30 years but never surfed here. There's a point break 9/10

After an eternity (about 4 seconds) I emerged from the tube & as soon as I did I made it to the shoulder & kicked out. I looked to the beach. People were whooping & hollering, waving towels, hugging each other. The greatest surfer they had ever seen! They thought I had done that stuff on purpose. 8/

With my weight all wrong the board did a sharp U-turn & in 0.1 seconds I was back at the top of the wave, the very lip, and somehow I got into the curl and the damn wave closed over me & I was in *the green room* now, really truly afraid. Or I would have been if I had had any room for thought. 7/

I dropped in and the wave grabbed me as a cat might grab a mouse. I was traveling faster than the speed of sound. Somehow I jumped to my feet. I heard my friend Jerry calling after me "What color flowers?" When I reached the bottom I was totally off balance, all my weight on my back (left) foot. 6/

So we sat in the lineup, the 3 of us, as wave after beautiful wave passed under us — perfect lefts, perfect rights — we sat there ten minute, just glad to be alive. Then one came in & I surprised myself by turning my board towards the beach & starting to paddle. Jerry said, 'You're going?' 5/

I should add that this was in the days before ankle leashes had been invented. If you wiped out and couldn't get to your board, your best plan was to say 3 Hail Mary's and 1 Our Father & hope God would have mercy on your soul. 4/

My friend Jerry & my brother Mike & I said "Fuck it. Gotta die sometime." Somehow we all paddle out to safety. Going up an incoming wave took 3 or 4 strokes. Terrifying. Then when the waves passes under you it's free-fall, with a fire-hose of spray on your back. A crowd had gathered on the beach 3/

Woke up with the waves shaking the earth. Cloudless blue skies — hurricane far off in the Atlantic — stiff offshore breeze. Walked up to the beach at dawn & nearly fainted. I was 19. All the hot surfers were 14, 15, 16. Sitting on their board on the beach. Exhausted from trying to get outside. 2/

YouTube video by Ryan Mack 20ft WAVES in NEW JERSEY WINTER SURF December 18, 2023

We did a paddle-out to spread my brother Paul's ashes, but maybe that's not the kind of 'paddle out' you meant(?) I surfed Hurricane Agnes at Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Looking back, every year the waves get 4 inches taller. Agnes was in 1972, so. . . but actually at least as big as these: 1/

That got me thinking about how so many other things have been virtually chirping at me over the last few weeks. Totally derailed my writing schedule. Gonna get back on it now, by golly. Phew. 3/3

(Yes, that's a surfboard suspended from rafters in the picture in prior bleet.) Anyway, I went to hardware store, purchased 2 new devices and a 6-foot stepladder. Finally got around to replacing the failed detectors today. OMG I didn't realize how much that chirping had been grating on me. 2/3

photo of interior of room with peaked ceiling. Near the apex on far wall there is a smoke detector.

About a week ago the hard-wired smoke detector with battery backup in my attic office started chirping. I could just about get to it with my rickety 4' stepladder. Swapping battery did no good. Then another detector, even harder to reach, started. Figured out they were end-of-life. 1/3

Same. Also, techbros & technocracy.

No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town. | Will Bunch A much-hyped ICE pullback from Minneapolis is a blip in a looming nationwide surge of arrests, concentration camps.

While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started

Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun

My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...

Measles is one of those nightmare diseases that, if it hadn't been killing people for hundreds of years, people would ABSOLUTELY be pushing conspiracy theories about right now. It's too nasty in too many different directions to seem natural. But oh, boy, it sure is.

Ben Rosen Follow @ben_rosen REPUBLICANS: we're having the military throw protesters in unmarked vans DEMOCRATS: mark 5:23 • 23 Jul 20 the vans

This, basically:

A lone figure skis across a frozen sea, pursued by Russians shooting guns How my grandfather left Finland and came to America

On the street in small-town NJ where I grew up there were immigrants from Italy, Lebanon, Finland, Scotland, and Ireland, plus one Native American family. This is my idea of America. open.substack.com/pub/johnsund...

My mother was an anchor baby AND an immigrant (born in Philly, back to her parents' home country at 9 months old; emigrated to USA age 22, followed 6 years later by her mother.) Paternal grandfather was a refugee from Finland; grandmother immigrant from Ireland. 1/2

American culture of the 1840’s would have been *very fucking surprised* to see the Irish considered as co-founders.

Elon’s an ahistorical dipshit, but its always worth saying some stuff out loud: if you‘re a fellow Irish-American and you aren’t 100% pro-immigrant, you’re a fucking embarassment.

Mural of Iryna Zarutska near the corner of Western and Montrose in Chicago

Out driving just now and saw this giant mural of Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee who got stabbed on a bus.

Despite the fact that her family has asked them not to use her death for political reasons, Elon Musk has been funding these murals all over the country.

Can a president eliminate mail-in voting by executive order? President Donald Trump announced via social media that he is going to lead a movement to eliminate mail-in ballots.

news.northeastern.edu/2025/08/18/m...
NO HE CAN'T

Elections Colorado & Washington conduct their elections totally by mail
CA, CO, HI, NV, OR, UT, VT, & WA all have universal mail-in voting that Trump wants banned
Here in AZ over 80% vote by mail
Call your Senators 202 224-3121 Stop SAVE ACT

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social Our court system is largely working, with the exception of the most important court 1. Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.soc... 1d Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn't stopped. www.reuters.com/legal/govern... Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn't stopped. The decisions amount to a huge legal rebuke, but the administration has continued jailing people inde... www.reuters.com 11:53 PM Feb 14, 2026 Everybody can reply

I'm not trying to add snark. I keep hearing versions of this and think it's useful to consider.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that it is true that the lower courts are working. That forcing lawyers for immigrants to prove 4,400 times that the .gov breaking the law is the system working. +

That explanation miiight apply to Platner's histrionic anti-fascist posts like “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”

But being "disillusioned with our government" doesn't explain why he posted racist and rape-minimizing bullshit.

People are getting rich off this evil

Alas.

George Washington required his troops be inoculated against smallpox — that decision helped win the Revolution! This Presidents’ Day, we honor the Father of Our Country. 🦅🇺🇸 #WeThePeopleVax