Scott B (he/him)

I guess if I never dared to hope or dream I wouldn't have the joys of experiencing crushing disappointment and failure. So there's that.

I'm seeing a lot of people struggling with hopelessness and despair lately, and I GET it.

There's an antidote for it that works every time for me, and it's doing good things IRL for and with other people.

Connect in person! Protect each other and let others protect you!

Unfortunately this is a very real person who I know well and used to get along quite well with. He is no longer that person it seems.

honestly can't even process the gutting of mRNA research and vaccines. the amount of suffering this administration has unleashed is incomprehensible.

We could have had cancer vaccines, and instead the United States will contribute nothing whatsoever to mRNA research, condemning millions of people worldwide to unnecessary illness and death

A series of Facebook comments I exchanged - text as follows: It may be the continued systematic elimination of children and innocent civilians from Gaza as they are shot approaching aid stations, or the mass starvation of children because of the lack of aid being allowed in. I honestly value my cat's opinion more highly than anything Dennis Prager says. Even Craftsman couldn't make a bigger tool. it's looking like that the destruction and eradication of Israel and the Jewish people wouldn't bother you. I didn't say anything of the sort and how dare you put words in to my mouth. Show me one thing about my discussing the shooting and starvation of children, by anyone, that would lead you to that conclusion. You can't and you shouldn't. I am capable of thought and reasoning and compassion and empathy relating to complex topics. You post simplistic memes with no additional substantive comment or opinion. You have a closed mind and a cold dead heart.

I guess I can add another family member to the list of people who won't be inviting me to Thanksgiving...

Seeing From The Inside Out Seeing From the Inside Out is the heart/brain-child of writer and storyteller Gina Blitstein who interviews guests to learn and discern the story that dwells within them so they can indeed be known, f...

My wonderful wife Gina jus launched her podcast Seeing From The Inside Out where she interviews guests to learn and discern the story that dwells within them so they can indeed be known, from the inside out.

One of my favorite Bob Dylan lyrics, from "Sweetheart Like You," seems appropriate to share today:

They say that patriotism is the last refuge

To which a scoundrel clings

Steal a little and they throw you in jail

Steal a lot and they make you king

YouTube video by David Bowie - Topic This Is Not America (2002 Remaster)

Woke up with this song in my head on this 4th of July.

Care too deeply. Love too much. Pull the marrow from every bone.

Say the sweet thing. The truth thing. Give sincere compliments any chance you get.

Shout loudly about what lights you up. In the dark times, be a lighthouse. The moon. The goddam sun.

This is NOT a day of celebration of our nation's history. I have never been patriotic, but I'll tell you something: I long for the days when the U.S. had a semblance of sanity, compassion, empathy, and strove for decency for all persons here and abroad. Those days have disappeared, at least for now.

People living under fascism didn’t survive by giving up joy—they protected it.

They held onto the things fascism tried to erase: art, friendship, jokes, rituals, language, memory.

Not as escapism but as resistance. As proof they were still human.

Joy isn’t frivolous under fascism. It’s strategic.

NP: Allman Brothers 9/1/2004 with a stellar "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad / Franklin's Tower" - A great show we saw in Rosemont, IL.

Man I miss this band so much.

Scott's Brain In today’s episode of Gee – Scott’s brain is weird, in yesterday’s post about music nostalgia I mentioned a series of radio promos that ran in the 70’s and 80’s …

Yesterday I tried to remember some radio promos that ran in the 70s and 80s here in Chicago, with no luck - today it just popped in to my head so my brain must have kept thinking about it in the background. Anyone else remember Starbeat Presents What's Happening! I wrote a bit about it here.

I'm writing a blog post about being a young'n in Chicago late 70s early 80s about the music scene. Remembering WMET and The Loop and Lorelei and XRT featured artist cards and such. I recall recurring promo spots for concerts that ran on the radio but am blanking on the name? Anyone remember them?

Genie: ok what do you want for your birthday
Trump: a military parade, oh, and also millions of people on the street chanting my name
Genie: okie dokie

Malibu Creek State Park

Malibu Creek State Park

Malibu Creek State Park

Malibu Creek State Park

Guys stay away from LA - it’s a hellscape of riots and fires and …

Sometimes I Feel Very Sad… I guess I am at the age in my life where my musical heroes are just going to die. We’ve lost so many already and I am so not prepared for this. Each takes away a part of me, and even though t…

The site that sends out the 1001 Albums daily review assignment gave everyone something Beach Boys or Brian Wilson related today. I got Pet Sounds, which I listened to yesterday as I was writing this reflection post, but I sure don't mind listening again today. sensorydispensary.com/2025/06/11/s...

YouTube video by Daniel de la Flor gov't mule- afro blue

Need 30 minutes away to clear your head....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eqr...

One of my least favorite things is being misunderstood, so when I wrote my 1001 Albums review of Master of Puppets I really wanted to be sure that it couldn't be misinterpreted. I hope that I was successful.

My assigned album today for my 1001 Albums project was Public Enemy. While not really my thing, I listened and heard a Queen "Flash's Theme" sample which reminded me that I have a pretty great Queen Favorites playlist I made. I promptly put that on when the album was over - yes this is much better!

To hate another human being for their gender identity or sexual orientation is the marker of someone whose humanity is fundamentally broken.

As my 1001 Albums project reached day 63 I was assigned another Eminem album.

Gina and I needed an extra strength palette cleanser so I put on the "My Perfect Songs" playlist I made, 111 songs, over 7 hours. I hope it's enough...

I do thank you so much for the help you gave, I am sure that we'll learn to navigate this. If it was my wife or I we would just do it like we have with other challenges but when it's another person who is resisting, we are trying to help without feeling helpless.

Hi - thank you! Her doctor gave a cognitive test like the man, woman, tv, camera memory test and I guess she did ok We tried to take her to a class at our library but she wasn't interested. This is all exacerbated by our estrangement from my other family members who help assist her with things.

I decided I didn't really want to co-mingle my Sensory Dispensary blog posts to auto-share in to this account so I created a second account for that. I mostly post about music and the 1001 Albums challenge but anything can happen there if you want to take a look. bsky.app/profile/sens...

Things like this are getting more frequent and it's really hard. We try to help as best we can but mom downplays the memory lapses and won't get help or try any of the solutions we bring to her for reminders or notes, or she forgets to look at her notes. I don't know what to do.

Gina took my mom to the store today so she could pick up a few groceries. When she hadn't called to let Gina know she was done, as expected, Gina called her to find out that mom had forgotten how to unlock her phone. She was just standing and waiting for like 1/2 hour.

I guess the silver lining of waking up coughing at 5am this morning is that I was finally able to snag an appointment for Gina at the DMV to renew her license. We've been trying for months, thankfully she could go today which was only option available. What a ludicrous process.