Jay Wissot

Denver

Columnist at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I am 75 years old, married and the father of two adult daughters who live in Santa Fe. I am a marathon runner and have run 89 marathons over the past 44 years.

Featured in: Favicon

vaildaily.com Favicon

post-gazette.com Favicon

newsbreak.com

Articles

I-wasn-t-ashamed-of-my-country-but-my-government-jay-wissot | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

6 days ago | post-gazette.com | Jay Wissot

I’m most aware of being an American when I’m not in America. Being a tourist in another country reminds me that I have a national identity that I don’t notice when I’m here. I was acutely conscious of my being a Yankee on a recent trip to London and Edinburgh. I was apprehensive about traveling there because I didn’t want to be a scapegoat for my government’s ill advised nostalgia for the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s and the subject of comments about America and our politicians.
Jay Wissot: On turning 80 and being happy in the face of death

1 month ago | post-gazette.com | Jay Wissot

I recently turned 80. Mine is the best of times because I never expected to be 80, and the worst of times because the 80s are the decade when most Americans die. Only 30% of men who live to 80 manage to make it to 90. My father died at 69, my mother at 81. Only three relatives on either side of my family made it this far: one grandfather lived to be 87 and two aunts into their 90’s. Many passed in their 70s and some passed in their 60s while attending family events.
Keith C. Burris: America needs the public virtues Jimmy Carter had and Donald Trump doesn't

Jan 20, 2025 | post-gazette.com | David Mills |Jay Wissot

The state funeral of Jimmy Carter celebrated public virtues — values and qualities needed in citizens and leaders of a republic for a republic to survive. These virtues are in regrettably short supply in our politics today. We scarcely seem to realize we need them. The task of citizens who cherish the republic and seek to preserve and defend it, be they Trump voters, Never Trumpers, or Trump skeptics, is to revive these virtues. This is how we cope with a second Trump presidency.
Jay Wissot: We want Trump to succeed

Jan 4, 2025 | post-gazette.com | Jay Wissot

When John Fetterman told Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week” that “if you’re rooting against the president you are rooting against the nation,” my initial reaction to the Senator’s words was positive. He seemed to be reminding us that the fate of the nation is more important than the outcome of an election. Hoping Trump’s presidency fails was tantamount in his opinion to hoping the nation fails. Upon further reflection, I think he was wrong.
Jay Wissot: The moment American history became surreal, or, from Kennedy to Trump

Sep 6, 2024 | post-gazette.com | Jay Wissot

ACCOUNT SECTIONS OTHER CLASSIFIEDS CONTACT US / FAQ
Wissot: Writing is like reading except much harder

Sep 6, 2024 | vaildaily.com | Jay Wissot

I always wanted to be a writer. Well, maybe not always. When I was 10, I wanted to be the centerfielder for the New York Giants. My writing ambitions began when I was 18 and attending a community college in Brooklyn. It was a two-year business program that compassionately accepted students with a D-minus grade point average in high school. I hated high school and my grades reflected my attitude. As part of the business curriculum, students were required to take an English class.
Wissot: Memories matter more than money

Aug 23, 2024 | vaildaily.com | Jay Wissot

My maternal grandfather was born in 1890 in Minsk, White Russia (now Belarus). In his mid-70s, he decided to take my grandmother to Minsk for the first time. They scheduled a trip but then canceled it due to myriad mundane excuses. The trip was rebooked for the following July; my grandmother died that June. I was 20 at the time but the postponement impacted me emotionally. I vowed not to put off for tomorrow the places I had the time and money to see today.
Wissot: You deserved better, Joe

Jul 26, 2024 | vaildaily.com | Jay Wissot

Nature is cruel and politics crueler. You certainly earned the right, Joe Biden, to run again and defend your record as president. It wasn’t your job performance as president that hurt you. It was nature’s cruel timetable for physical and cognitive decline that dealt the first blow. It was the plastic, cosmetic, nature of politics that values style over substance that delivered the fatal blow. You were crucified for how you performed in a 90-minute debate.
Wissot: Feeling invincible is not the same as being invincible

Jul 12, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Jay Wissot

Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
Wissot: Feeling invincible is not the same as being invincible

Jul 12, 2024 | vaildaily.com | Jay Wissot

The diagnostic report from Vail Summit Orthopedics read as follows: Probable chronic L/3 L/4 radiculopathy; moderate right lumbar rotoscoliosis, 17 degrees; severe multilevel lumbar disc degeneration. The long and short of it was that I was suffering from a pinching of the nerve root in the spinal column (radiculopathy), an unnatural sideways curvature of the spine (rotoscoliosis).