TWENTY YEAR TRAGEDY

It is so easy for the rest of us to overlook the years of suffering millions of Americans endured during the Dust Bowl years starting in 1930 in our mid-western states.

The effects are noticeable even today in many areas and in a host of lives. The ill effects of those years can be seen in the health records of those who stayed there and fought the seemingly unending battle with Nature as well as those who packed up their remaining belongings and trekked to California or some other haven of safety.

The scars of those years of extreme poverty and loss are evidence in statistical studies and tell of one of the most stressful times of our national history.

We must not forget those times and those people. We may be wrapped up in our current troubles ...economic, possible war at any moment, cultural malaise and bewilderment and social problems of various kinds - but others have suffered severe hardships which were just as bad in many ways - and survived. We can learn from their example.

It is so typically American, that the average one of us can thinks of the “Dust Bowl” era in a humorous manner. You, no doubt, think of two things when the term is mentioned..”The Grapes of Wrath”, a novel, by John Steinbeck, or more likely, your memory of the film made from that book. The other thing you will think of will be an even more readily association with Jed Clampett and his Beverley Hillbilly family who, having struck it rich in oil, went west to Hollywood. Our sense of humor is our safety valve assuring the survival of some sanity in times of disaster. It is a very good quality to have, but, in seeing the humorous side of tragedy, one must not obliterate the memory of the evil of those times entirely, because they could be repeated in the same, or some other form, at any moment.

It is difficult or any of us to imagine the horror of seeing dense clouds of of choking dust swirling around us from darkened skies, augmented by high winds and electrical storms. Livestock perished and the soil on which people depended for the main crop of wheat was blown away. Everywhere it was replaced with drifted dunes of shattered earth and the residue of a civilization which no longer existed. Many of us learned a lesson or two from those Dust Bowl decades. Far too many had to learned the lesson first-hand, but all of us came to see the value of Soil Conservation and other related practices concerning the proper use of the God-given gifts of natural resources wealth.

We do well to remember that which we have acquired through the suffering of so many before us.

A.L.M. February 27, 2003 [c476wds]

 
A PROMISE!

At last, a ray of hope for our musical future!

I was not at all impressed with the recent Grammy Award show on TV. It was gaudy, rambling, confused and had too many people with nothing to say who kept saying it - and more - anyway.

Dustin Hoffman and Simon and Garfunkel did the opening well, but I felt as if S and G did not know each other. Did they ever look at each other? I don't think so, but they remain one of my favorites from the past decade or so. They deserved their Lifetime Achievement Award, too.

The one bright spot of that first portion of the show for me was then newcomer Norah Jones was on. For the first time I could look at someone who was not yelling, screaming, or gyrating bodily portions in my face. She sat quietly at the piano and played decent handfuls of something we used to know called melody. The combo with her was not in gym class training either and did a proper bg for her keyboard work. Then, when it was completed it had an ending - it did not simply quit or fade away which is so common in today's dis-arranged “music”. I knew I liked that girl and her natural actions and I was pleased to read that Tony Bennett has alike admiration for her and her abilities. He made the best remark of the entire show for me when he said something about Norah Jones . “She sings the American Song book,” he said, and seems to see Norah Jones as a possible “turn-around” personality who will bring about many long-desired changes in our music.

Tony Bennett walked by a camera earlier in the show and I wondered why he happened to be there. He represents a bygone era which is no longer respected in present day Grammy-land. Bennett, long a favorite of mine, more or less moved to England years ago when rock overcame the American scene. He has remained popular there as a sort of heftier Perry Como type and widely respected and admired by many viewers. He is in one of best positions in the world to realizes that changes are direly needed if our music is to survive. After learning of his reaction concerning Norah Jones, I have a distinct feeling he was there primarily to support that young lady in this important step in her new career. If Bennett believes in her as someone who can bring about some positive changes in our music - I say go with him all the way.

While I was disappointed by the Grammy Awards show seeing pictures of Norah Jones holding five such awards did me good and I shall go out of my way, as of now, to listen to her records as I get the chance. I freely admit I have ignored phonograph records in recent years. Maybe now they will be worth hearing once again.

A.L.M. February 26, 2003 [c506wds]

 
UNDER I-64

When we travel Intestate 64 crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Piedmont section of Virginia into the Shenandoah Valley, we actually move above the site of an historic landmark known as the “Rockfish Inn.”

Thomas Jefferson used to visit the place from his home in nearby Albemarle County and it was he who invited a group of twenty-five men (some records say “twenty-one”) to gather there in August of 1818. That conference was called to decide where the newly planned university for the Commonwealth of Virginia was to be built. The had three choices. The new educational facility would be built at Staunton, Lexington or Charlottesville.

If one judges by the final vote of this group of community leaders it seems obvious there was little doubt about where the new school was to go.. Jefferson called the meeting. Jefferson chaired the conference. Jefferson wanted the “Central”site chosen – the one within sight of Jefferson's estate “Monticello” estate.

The old inn where the conference group met was located about three miles of Waynesboro . I was just down from the entrance to the Swanannoa estate, if you remember that ornate dwelling, also atop Afton Mountain. It had been built around 1770 out of durable local and it served a clientele who trekked across the Blue Ridge at this Rockfish Gap point to visit some of the springs, health spas, and summer places to the west.

The Inn as destroyed by fire April 4, 1909, and when Interstate 64 was constructed paralleling State Route 250 and becoming one and the same at the mountain top point, with the scenic route “Skyline Drive” where it becomes the “B;ue Ridge Parkway” bridged across the momentarily melded I-64,250 and Drives. When the Interstate portion was added the old site of the Rockfish Inn of Jefferson's day was graded downward and room made for the required fans of Entrance and Exit ramps needed to serve the, now, numerous businesses at the top of the mountain.

The conference members in 1818 may well have enjoyed the panoramic views from either side of the mountain, or they may have visited two well-know springs in the area – one called “Chalybeate” and the other “Freestone”. The meetings themselves were not exactly clean runaways for the “Central.” Both the delegations from Lexington and Staunton tried several times, to have the meetings adjourned to their own towns, but such efforts were thwarted. Mr. Jefferson voted in favor of the “Central” location as did a neighbor of his by the name of Madison and fourteen other delegates they had invited. The three delegates from Lexington – Mr.Breckenridge, Mr. Pendlelton and Mr. J .McTaylor voted in favor of the Lexington site where Washington College was already functioning. They went home disappointed, as did Mr. Archibald Stuart and Mr. Thomas Wilson – they having voted in favor of the Staunton location.

Somewhat later, after our Civil War, “Rockfish Inn” was host to another well-know-known man who was on his way from his from his home in northern Virginia to start a new job as President of Washington College - Robert E. Lee.

A.L.M. February 25, 2003 [c523wds]

 
TILLER TIME

Yes, I do remember when cars were driven by means or a tiller instead of a steering wheel.

Lest I cast myself too far back in Time, let me say that it came about because of an old gentlemen who owed two such cars. Even in the 1920's they were vintage cars. I remember them, you see, but they were oddities even then for cars had changed to wheel driven systems years before. There was try at using double tillers for left and right, I have heard, but it did not catch on. I don't know what ever became of the two old cars after the man died.

I don't even remember the actual make of the cars. They resemble pictures of OLD models in the 1907-10 era. They were both relatively low slung and looked, as so many early did, like a horse and buggy coming down the street without the horse. I don't remember such cars as being common, They were considered only as show items along with Stanley Steamers, electric cars and trucks and an air-cooled “Franklin” and other strange manifestations of man's fabulous creativeness concerning wheels on which he could travel.

Actually, most early cars resembled buggies or wagons with built in power all their own. Those two cars were internal combustion types, I'm sure and they were low down in appearance compared to other cars of that time.

I do not, you see, actually remember when such cars were in common use among car owners. I recall then as show units or curiosities of my time.

Thinking of them also brings to mind a sad and disturbing memory, as well for the old man who owned those two cars was severely handicapped in a way which impressed young boys such as use and actually frightened many people causing them to avoid him whenever possible. He wore a mask made of soft leather with holes neatly punched in it. It tied over his ears around his neck and fit just along his upper lip. Regardless of when people realized his condition, it came as shock to see a human being without a nose. He had, instead, where it should be, raw-looking, red and scarred tissued cavity. He was, I have heard, a cancer victim, and an operation had removed the offending area but plastic surgery was uncommon in those days. He wore the mask which he made himself at his shoe repair shop. I never heard his say one word about the mask or the nature of his misfortune.

We boys came to know him because he kept our shoes in repair an and we had occasion of visit his shop. We kids came to know his as well as or better than many people in town . One would think adults would have shown more compassion, and some may have done so without our being aware of it. But we felt the old man was poorly treated and excluded from community life because of his unusual appearance.

I remember when he died and his old store, unpainted for years and in need of repair, was sold and torn down. Then, oddly enough, people spoke of man by name. They remember seeing him get one of those cars out now and racing them them in the field in back of his house, up the hil and,l maybe, a turn up and down Main Street. They remembered how he drove one in our town parades and a mechanic from the Ford garage drove the other one and people, seeing the immaculate cars creeping by, clapped their hands an cheered... especially children.

Isn't it odd how in seeking out one memory we are often led to another - even to one we would rather have forgotten? I'm glad you asked me about the old tiller cars, however. In doing so, you have reminded me of how important it is to live every moment of our lives aware of the blessings we enjoy and to be aware of the tragic prisons others must endure, and, too often, alone. It may be time for us to upgrade from “ tillers” to improved “steering wheels” in our navigation of Life.

A.L.M. February 24, 2003 [c705wds]

 
KITES

You seldom see kids out in a field flying kites any more.

When you do, it is a disappointing thing to witness because people seem to think it is necessary to run their legs off to make a kite fly - Mom's and Dad's, in particular. They are demonstrating how it should be done. Far too many peoples seem to think you have to run with a kite to make it fly.

Not so.

They buy a gaudy, plastic covered toy kite at the discount store, ten feet of string to fly it with and think all they have to do is to attach one to the other and run around the field to make the kite fly.

No way.

To begin with, the average manufactured kite seldom has the proper feel to fly. If you happen to live near a real kite store you can sense the difference just by examining the materials and know a sense of lift when you raise or lower one. Kites are eager to fly, in fact, but they need a human presence and assist to controlling their doing so. If you have ever been a flier of kites, you already know that the hobby takes lot less work and more fun than many other and you experience a sense of success ever time yui see our dreams airbourne and flying freely. The almost lyrical sweep of kite against the sky is something you can control, too. Kate flying can be demanding of us, as well. It can be brutal and cruel, it can be ender and loving and compassionate.

We used to make our own kits, of course. All that was required was some old newspapers - preferably the comic section which made for a colorful display in flight; some strong string - more string, several balls of it, at least – an old, discarded bed sheet, perhaps, and it was necessary to “borrow” a few tablespoons of flour from the kitchen cabinet sifter bin without Mom becoming aware of our having done so. A little water added and it would became paste to hold the newspapers together as the kite's fabric covering..

The other requirement – stick weeds dry and sturdy or strips of wood, if you had them If you planned a speedy, tricky two-sticker kite, you cut two such sticks and fashioned a cross with the shorter strip about three fourth of the way up the longer one. You tied the together securely form both sides to keep they from slipping back and forth. We used to wind a bit of string around that joint too make sure it stayed firm. If you planned a slower, easier handled three-sticker model you laid out a cross like a “X: with the crossover bar at about two-thirds of the way up way up, and the third shorter horizontal stick was added at the crossover point, tied securely. With a pen knife, we cut a tiny slit it the tip of each stick -.all ends. Start anywhere and and take string through the slit and around he sticks to form a string frame. When this was tied off was a good idea to double tie the end of the horizontal stick over the frame strings to draw all the string tighter .Do so, then pluck the string and sense a dull “zinn-n-n-g” sound.

Next, lay newspaper on a flat surface and place your harped-frame on it. Using scissors, clip all around the pattern to allow about an inch or two of newspaper to be lapped over the string when folded inward. Mix up your flour paste.. Don't make it too thin so that the kite paper gets too wet. Apply it evenly all along he string and fold the paper inwardly to the back of the kite. Make it a good, tight fit..

All kites need some sort of “harness” as a rule. The store-bought toy kites do not have it.. So many people simply tie the string to the topmost point of the upright stick and run themselves ragged trying to get it into the air. Do this: tie a string across the horizontal stick; allow perhaps two inches of slack above the front surface surface of the kite; the the same on the uprights and tie the together at the crossover point. This is not a hard and fast knot to start with. It will slide each way and up and down, allow the kite to fit itself to the wind it receives. Do not make it too loose so that it changes with every twist. That can be regulated by observing how it acts and it may be adjusted and firmed up later on..

Most kites also require a tail assembly, too. There are exceptions in box kites and other fancy self-fliers. The stronger breeze; the longer the tail. Fit the tail to a string suspended from both lower tips on two-stick models and let it slide to adjust to the wind.; Each kite seems to develop a character or personality all it own which dictates the amount of support needed for stabilization in flight.

There is no need to run to get a decently constructed kite off the ground.. Simply hold it facing the breeze and you will have trouble keeping it on the ground.

Warning. .Check out hazards of flying kites in any area. Trees, power lines,, antennae, or nearby buildings which modify the flow of the wind.- anything on which a kite might snag. There can can be dangers in kite flying as may people have, unfortunately, learned through cruel experience.

Go fly a kite! It'll do you good. Take youngsters with you to let other adults see you helping the to fly kites for fun. Better build two kites each time. One for the kids and one of you very own.

A.L.M. February 22, 2003 [c984wds]

 
RADFORD'S RIVER

Our town was built on a series of shelves paralleling the river called the “New” which was carved out of ancient Appalachian rock over the centuries during which the Ice Age cap was receding northward. That portion of the town on the right hand as we faced the wide river, was called “East End”and that on our left, logically, designated as “West End”.We lived in the middle portion which was designated as “Central” Radford. Collectively, since we were joined together, the threesome came to be called the City of Radford in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

It was a city. It sneaked in just under the legal wires in the early part of the century before the population of official cities was doubled to ten thousand inhabitants. We never had more than six-thousand-some in the years when I was growing up there.

It was built on this series of shelves of varied widths as they came up or were worn down beside the river. The far side of the river remained fairly stable and did not give way to the rushing waters as readily. Its stubbornness only caused the river to dig in deeper on its determined way to the Kanawha, the Ohio, the giant Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. In flood times the river came up on the shelves it had already carved and washed new areas each time.

It is deemed to be the oldest river on the North American continent. Check any map of the continent. You will see that all of the northward flowing rivers end up in the Arctic Ocean and they remained under a mass of ice long after the one forming on the spine of the Appalachian Mountains was flowing freely.

How and why then, is it called “New” River?

It has not,of course, always bee known by that name. Early visitors it simply called "the river" or the “great river” since it was , and is, the most impressive stream of water in that entire sector. There was one explorer-traveler named Abraham Wood who named most things he found as if they were personal property. He christened it “Woods River”. It appears as such on many early maps. I don't know if he also named other rivers in his egocentric manner, but he did name gaps in the mountains by the same name and we have two “Wood's Gaps” in Virginia's mountains to this day. Just who renamed Wood's River the “New” is not clear unless it could have been early settlers seeing it for their first time after the James River on their trek from the north and east There is a possibility, too, that people upstream in North Carolina called it the New river at one time and the name “sorta drifted” downstream with the currents. I have never come across any mention of that, but it seems logical to me that the name might well have been given at the upper end.

An y way, Radford's River is called the “New” and it can be just that for visitors. The river is unpredictable in many ways and stories concerning it's hastening quest to find the far off sea are plentiful.

A.L.M. February 22, 2003 [c560wds]

 
BIGGER IS NOT BETTER.

It's fundamental nursery-rhyme reasoning: “when the bough breaks”...any cradles resting on such a structure will fall. It would seem to apply to many business firms, today which we see in sad disarray, seeking mixed panaceas in Chapter Eleven and bankruptcy and failing to find the help they seek.

Corporations are going to come and go. They are man-made and, hence,. flawed from the start, but some seem to be better established than others

As we look at today's failures. it appears many of them simple grew far too fast for their own good.

If there is any one thing which scares me in reading the business news it is that terse, little announcement that sneaks out of some press release writer's notebook which lets us know that “so-and-so” is about to buy “such-and-such”.

. These pre-purchase feelers are carefully crafted and skillfully positioned to either present the idea that the young company has grown to such an extent that it now wishes to take over lesser firms and be the biggest boy on the block. Or, it can also be crafted to hide the fact that the young corporation is feeling unsteady and weak in some areas and needs some stability to be found in older,well-established firms in the same of related field. They are looking for help in a back-handed manner. Notice, if you will, how often the so called “merger”, “take over” “alignment” suffers a reverse in title not too long after the union. The “lesser” company seems to dominate. The tail wags the dog.

I once worked for a large typewriter firm and when it was noised around that “we” were buying a major European firm, we former workesr in the American firm were rather pleased and even proud that our one time company was buying up a decadent old Italian firm. A year later the name under which we have been a leading manufacturer ceased to be entirely and the logo of the Italian firm had replaced it. It happens that way today, too. Who is buying whom? That detail is not always as clear and clean as it should be.

We see mergers taking place and they can be seen either as advancements or as surrender to pressuring circumstances. Very little is ever accomplished by one firm buying another firm buying another while each is in good health. There is a basic underlying fact that says there is something wrong with one or the other,or they would not be seeking to take on on each others troubles.

It takes time to build a good business. It has to develop a strong root system. It has to grow with sureness and stability and to refrain from sending out branched with unplanned abandon long before trunk has grown sufficiently strong to hold such additions. You don't see many corner newsstands staring super-bookstores in every other city for miles around. You have witnessed the branch bank phenomena in your area ,no doubt, convenience stores, fast food spots. and fortune telling booths and oriental self-defense parlors, as well. Cloning endless additions of an imperfect business does not help anyone.

The clone concept has a great many business people fooled it seems. It would be wise to reflect on the fact that “Dolly the celebrated cloned sheep, had to be put down at half her time because of conditions which were developing in her lungs and other parts of here body which made her twice a sold as she was and on the decrepit side while still pre-mature. She, like the tree we envision and like many of the dot-com firms which came and passed on quickly; they all grew far too fast and age without maturity is neatly packaged Hell for anyone to handle.

Be suspicious when you hear someone is buying someone else. As Freeman and Godsen used to say in their old “Amos 'n Andy” scripts for radio “...you has to figger out “who am de “buy-or”and “who am de “sell-eee!” before a deal can be made.


A.L.M. February 21, 2003 [c682wds]

 
TREE BUCKETS

Sap buckets are already hanging on local maple trees and that's a good sign that someone else thinks Spring in on the way.

I am not alone.

The appearance of the shiny buckets in the grove of maple trees is ,to me, a sure indication that winter is on the wane and spring lies just ahead. With honey makers from the Great Lakes area on down - from Maine to the southern tip of mapledom – it is the generally accepted word Because this winter has been a severe one we are to be blessed with a bountiful crop of honey. It works out that way and, while I don't know how the scientific citizenry might consider it to be, the idea is a pleasant one. It is to be encouraged.

There some some "iffy" words in there, however, just in case it does not work out the way it is supposed to. Severe winter - lots of spring blossom and a good honey crop. Logic.

Either Vermont or Maine will generally be the top honey producing states with New York flowing in third, but it is hard to beat honey from the flowers of this Shenandoah Valley of Virginia area. The honey-making festivities of the Highland County area around the community of Monterey each year draw tourists - well, like bees to fabulous flowers!

Each year the grove which surrounds the colonial Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church - 1740 'till now, and still going strong - at Fort Defiance, Virginia , sprouts new glistening buckets and it is these I see as my harbingers of Spring as I visit the old church. A young man in the community puts them out each year - "lays them out" the honey people say, and the honey-money goes to support the Ft. Defiance High School Band program.

The buckets usually appear when weather forecasts indicate temperatures will go above forty degrees. I am pleased to hear February 25th quoted as the day that happens because is my birthday. Actually, they say the 22nd, but I ignore such claims. Trees do better if they have plenty of water, too . Heavy snow is best. A sudden cold snap can cause trouble and a few days above fifty degrees can work havoc, as well. There is an old saying which varies quite often but ends up as:”Don't count your honey "till it's in the jug”.

Like almost everything about the farm, it's a risky business. And, the risk starts long before the bees come out of their hives and get busy as good bees are supposed to be.

A.L.M. February 20, 2003 [ 443wds]

 
SAYING IT...

It has been said on the Evening News this week that the War with Iraq has “already started.”

It has, and that fact comes as a shock to some people who were not aware of the fact that we have been conducting air raids on Iraqi military targets for several months. No one denies that fact. They just don't talk about it. It is what has been called a “Low Level War” but it is combat with an enemy none the less. You have been listening to accounts of such raids in enemy territory - a radar installation most recently, and other -“military” targets the past few months- in the so-called “no-fly” zone which makes it all an enforcement actions designed to keep the peace rather than to be attacks.. No one seems to get too worked up about it and neither side gets excited about such incidents, so they continue and they are war-like actions in spite of their guarded nature which might call the police actions designed to maintain the terms agreed upon at the end of the Gulf War.

TV's prime talking heads are now using roughly-cut statements which say it in the form of a question, as a rule. Some are asking if listeners think the dropping of what they are calling “propaganda” leaflets over Iraq. Are such planes engaged in war-like actions? To think of such informational materials as “propaganda” is a throw back to other times but that does not keep critics from using such pointedly derogatory terminology.

The tip-toe stance in regard to existing pre-war activities reminds me of a temporary ban which was quietly set up some years because the president was out of the country and the new people were asked to refrain from mentioning it. The media complied, but one radio commentator gave daily teasers, however.“He is not at the White House! He is not at Camp David? Where in the world might he be tonight? A pause and the next news was carefully date-lined.

A petty thing,of course, but such pettiness can prove to be costly when we are in a wartime attitude. We, by our very nature, oppose and resist censorship or even official guidance, in any form. We may not like it and think it to be very un-American to be told what to do. In our preference for such freedom, we must also accept the individual responsibility with comes with such a treasure.

It could well be that, in effect, the war has already started. Those who believe so, should have courage enough to step forward and say so if they wish to do, but to make a subtle game of it using hints and suggestions is dangerous. We had a slogan in another era saying: “Loose Lips Sink Ships!” They could and did.

Half-baked ideas, set forth as being complete, can bring down planes and entire civilizations. It is important that we start listening carefully to what we hear and to due consideration to who is supposed to have said it as well as who actually said it. We must fine-tune our ears to hear what is being said as well as the manner in which it is being presented.

A.L.M. February 19, 2003 [c545wds]

 
TWAIN TIME

Mark Twain is one of those writers we should read again when we get older.

We have a memory of having read his “funny stuff” but when we recap our reading we actually find we have read very little of his writings, Tom Sawyer, perhaps, Huck Finn , those tales about the rafts and river steamboats, a some have a memory of the Yankee character he created who suffered a bump on his head and found himself waking up under a tree in the time of King Arthur and the Court at Camalot. Far too often, our memory is a bit warped and we realize that what we are actually remembering are versions of his stories we have seen in the movies.

I received a 3-thousand book CD library for Christmas and among the first books I decided to “re-read” was that of the Yankee living in a restored King Arthur's armor-suited domain.

To my be surprise, I found that I had never read the book at all.

What I was remembering was Will Rogers playing the role said Yankee many years ago -so long ago, I now realize, that it was a film without sound. That film and dealt with the impressive opening episode of the book, and, unless I am again mistaken, I think that is as far as it went. You know that part of the story in which the Yankee is due to lose his head to the royal executioner's blade, unless he comes up with the sort of thing MacIver did so well on TV just a year or two ago to show his impressive power which would make his onlookers think he was a magician of special abilities.

Your will know that story because it has been done to multi-death by every facet of the media. I'm sure because it has been done in so dne doe to death in many ways. Doomed, he remembers that the year om which he finds himself was one which witnessed a complete eclipse of the sun... so he lets it be know that, if he is harmed in any way, he will blot out the sun.

Right on schedule, after a last-minute cliff hanger, he starts the process. Twain, almanac in hand, no doubt, lets him do just that and the populace is very much impressed as was the king and the knights who were at the Round Table. Listening to their pleas, he awaits the king's offer making him assistant king, then slowly brings the heavenly light back and restores it's warm light!

That's just the first incident of thirty-plus chapters of other magical acts undertaken by the Yankee makes the king's so
official magic worker Merlin look like an upstart.

The Yankee worked hard to keep his new place as Assistant or Vice-King of the realm of Camalot. He ran the place on behalf of his buddy King Arthur and his changes and modifications in government make up the rest of the book.

Twain got to work off a great many of his somewhat strange social and political ideas possibly to try to influence the future.
While much of it may seem old-fashgioned and seen historically now they were new in King S' domain.He “invents” all sorts of things such as the telegraph and modernizes the land in many fantastic ways. I get the feelign reading some of the ideas that MarkTwain was being as serious as he could possibly be in setting down some of the the social ideas he favored, but it still comes off on the silly side since we have sucha pre-conceived notions of who and what he was as a writer.

I found I had not read the story “A Yankee in King Asrthur's Court” at all and I dare say it applies to much of MarkTwin's writings with many of you ,as well. He is read at certain times in our lives.

I have now read the Yankee thing and realize, for the first time, that I have probably been guilty of doing the same sort of injustice to other authors and their books. We do not realize how much we have been dominated by the media versions, early films, newer ones with color and computerized embellishments, radio,TV the comic book genre and now revised versions for the old ones, often discounting earlier accounts. The youthful generations today are in even more dire straits. Their entire memory of classic literature is based on their detailed knowledge and firm acceptance of the Disney versions of history. And, you and I both know how far from fact those tellings can go.

A.L.M. February 17, 2003 [c-777wds]

 
INNER CONFLICT

We, all too frequently, forget that the tribes of North American Indians were often in severe and costly conflict with each other. The battles they fought - small perhaps by white man's standards - were at times large enough to decide the future of entire tribes.

We can learn much by being aware of these early American wars.

One such decisive battle was fought in 1755 about two miles east of that point in the now-State of Georgia where Long-Swamp Creek and the Etowah River meet. That would be in the northwest in the Pickens-Wilkes county area. The specific battle marked a culmination of the state of war which had existed between the powerful Creek and emerging Cherokee tribes for at least a decade or more, certainly since 1740.

In April 1755 the great Cherokee Chief Oconostoata led five hundred of his braves in an attack upon the Creeks at that site. The Creek forces were far more numerous but the Cherokees soundly defeated them and sent the Creek warriors scurrying southward across the Chattahoochie River. In doing so, they left to the Cherokees the very heartland of what was to become the Cherokee's national home.

We should know more about these inter-Indian battles. This one is called the Battle of Tiliwa was strictly and Indian affair. It appears to be just one of many such tribal conflicts. We could learn several important things about the "native Americans" - as they are now called in argumentative circles - and our own ancestors the European "intruders."

The use of the term was, perhaps, we were, at least, in the Indian view, just that - intruders - moving into portions of lands "frequented by" rather than "settled by" Indians family groups. They had been, and were a largely nomadic and wandering set of people by nature. They were rivals in many aspects who were far from being at peace with each other. They had clan-likes disregard for the niceties of social conduct when family was concerned, and there can be little doubt that the small groups suffered great losses in senseless bickering and petty warfare with the neighbors - even relatives. Such wars were over ownership of real estate holdings and the larger areas which served as treasured hunting grounds so essential to their way of life.

The white man was, no doubt, can be accused of excessive violence in regard to Indians but at the same time we must not overlook the historical fact that the Indian was, at that time, his own worst enemy. Internecine strife was endemic. The Indian youth was raised to hate his counterpoint just across the mountain or river boundary. They killed each other in large numbers and the degradation, while to some degree over-stated when dressed in white-man's terminology. Very often those groups we call "tribes" are to be more accurately seen to have been "families"... small units of close, blood-related persons and a few hangers-on, perhaps, as well as several like groups with whom they were closely allied at a specific time and for a set purpose.

In order for Chief Oconostoata to bring together five hundred warriors, he would have to have behind him an amalgam of groups large enough to supply that many eligible-aged men. It is important to remember that the overall intent of the war could be seen to be quite different by each family group represented. A strong leader such as Oconostoata must have been could hold them together just so long.

We need to learn from the Cherokees, Creeks and others that in times of stress and dire need minor difference must be set aside for the common good. At the moment we are a nation at war in every way except the technical designation of its being named as such and we are in a constant ferment of petty disagreements with each other. It is time we joined together for our common good. Let's set political bickering aside for a time and tend to the now urgent difficulties which threaten our very existence.

A.L.M. February 16, 2003 [c681wds]

 
BAD NAME

Isn't it odd how products, which are really not unworthy of being marketed, seem to get what we call “a bad name” from the very start? They never seem to get a real chance to redeem themselves, either.

I was pleased recently to see that the B-26 bomber which was made by Martin during World War II in excess of five-thousand and was vilified as “The Flying Coffin”, “The Widow Maker” and other such names, has been found to have been not so bad after all.

In a recent edition of “Ex-CBI Roundup”- a magazine dealing with the various aspects of World War II actions in the oft-ignored China-Burma-India theater of operations - I found some good things about the much maligned plane.

It was dangerous when flying – but more so for the enemy than to the pilots or crew thereof. A study of flight records and historical data concerning the 5,257 B-26 “Mararuders” the Martin Company made during World War II era shows they had a remarkably safe flying record. They were, true enough, more demanding on crew capabilities. They, for instance, had a landing speed of around one hundred thirty miles per hour – a bit too fast some thought for those days - faster than most other bombers – and that meant that an unskilled crew might find it could “get away” from them. Those who liked the plane spoke of it as being:”alert”and those who did not care for it said it was “tricky.” The observation which claimed it could be “too hot to handle” might well have been an apt accusation but it did have advantages such as a bigger bomb load capacity, greater speed and and increased staying power. Records also show that, while the B-26 was built to be safely operated by a crew of seven men. In actual use, however, records indicate it was often flown with a crew of six men – five , at times.

That tendency to fly with short crews could be interpreted as a point in favor of the efficiency of the plane.

We see other products so vilified, too.. Do your remember the “Edsel” - now a collector's item. Scoffers called it the “Horse Collar”, but I knew one Edsel owner who was very pleased with his and kept it for the rest of his life. His widow sold it at a profit and someone has it today and probably brags about it. There are other such examples of worthy products which have been bad mouthed from day one and thus lost forever and excluded from public evaluation.

How many can you think of off-hand?

A.L.M. February 14, 2003 [c448ds]

 
AT TWENTY- ONE PER

During World War II, when I was invited to became a member of the Armed Forces of our nation to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies, the prevailing rate of pay for draftee soldiering was all of twenty-one dollars per month.

We survived.

Many of us wondered how we could possibly get along on that amount of money each month, but we quickly realized that military economics and civilian same-thing are never the same.

I was duly examined one cold November day, I remember and with a bus load of men from my Staunton, Va. Area. The usual run once around the room put your clothes back on and wait. After being declared sane by one grand old doctor I used to know back in the days when he sat in the local drug store back home talked back to the radio. I was sent to what was then called Fort Lee ,Virginia.,near Petersburg, Virginia, which was again being called “Camp Lee” as it had been during World War I since it was again being over filled with human bodies sent there to be trained in the ways of the army.

Some of the old barracks from 1917's trainees where still in use at the start of World War II. but we were lucky enough to get a brand new, pine-smelling one. The style was the same, but it was new. We moved in. Two Floors I was lucky again and got a first floor bunk about half way down from the Non Com officer's room at the end. The community showers and other facilities were at the other extremity. We were Company A and the Mess Hall was just across the company street from our bunk house.

In that situation we then began a rigorous thirteen-week campaign to change civilians into soldiers .The small, tan-colored field manual we were issued called lour lot “Infantry Training, Basic.” We were infantry and would be trained as such. We were also Infantry Medics and, as such, would not be trained for or with firearms, according to the dictates of the Geneva Convention which went along with those decaying 1917 barracks we felt.

Feeling varied on that specific branch of service most expected to become good medics, but the army changed along the way. When there proved to be more medics than were needed., we were make-over troops trained in some other field of work by on-the-job training and sent out as cadres of a mixed sort. My lot sent me - a shadow of my former self and probably as healthy an individual as I have ever been in my lifetime – to Langley Field, Va..

I will never forget the day we were told of that sensational change of pace for all of us The entire battalion on he drill field between he long rows of look-alike barracks and a full Colonel took his place on a flat-bed cart to make a speech. He wasted no time: “Men!” he yelled, “this entire battalion has been transferred into the United States Army Air Corp and, if I were you, I wouldn't ask any damned questions!!”A fine speech. It brought a flood of cheers, laughter and some unbelief. Our company comedian,
jumped on the platform and let loose with aloud and happy “horse neigh” which must have been heard , at least in Petersburg, perhaps in edge of Richmond!

About generous hunk of us were were sent to Langley Field, Virginia. They installed us all in a hanger on the flight line. What could anyone do with six hundred medics they did not need?

We found out gradually. The pay was better, too - fifty dollars per month.

A.L.M. February 14, 2003 [c631wds]

 
PIN BALL LORE

I remember the first pinball machines.

We had a kindergarten grade visitor at our house several weeks ago and she sat down at this very computer and I witnessed her bat out a pinball game which I was not even aware we had since “games” is not our forte. She did well, as far as I could tell, and played as several “players” getting bumped, flipped, bounced and batted all over the place in an elaborately colorful and noisy routine.

The first pinball machines I remember must have been in the early l930's. It developed as Depression Times amusement because of the low cost.

The first I remember was called “Baffle Ball” I think and those early models strictly mechanical and all were “counter mounted”. One of the first I remember was placed on the end of the cash register counter in a news-stand set-up. The keyboard faced the customer area and I am certain the price was a nickel for a “game”,or for so-many tries. There was a short plug on front at the bottom which sent the balls up into the glass covered case. They rattled around and fell in holes which were cut into a slanted field in a moon design with stars around it.

That's about all the first ones did. Player sought for the highest scores and some places gave prizes for the best scores or sets of scores. There were other versions called Ballyhoo and Bingo ...with art work to distinguish them because they all did that much the same things. Before too long they got battery power which made them more interesting and largely because players learned to bump the machine, lift them to guide the ball too other areas, so “tilt” devices were invented to shut the practice down when someone played “unfairly”. The counter top boxes grew legs of their own, too, and by, because heavier and by 1934 they were usually equipped with transformers and could be plugged in for dependable power. At about that same time, lights were added and the things went wild with colored lights blinking and flashing light luring players of all ages, circumstances, age and social levels to enter the behold the wonderful make-believe world that seemed top offer plus rewards or varied kinds as a reward for very little skill and effort. There was a time when the pinball machine was deemed to be socially unacceptable by some. They machines were found mainly in pool halls, dives, joints and other limited access locations, but, in time, it turned up in corners at the drugs stores, grocery stores and service stations - seemingly without number - and they became a mainstay of the arcade, game rooms spots where they developed a more complex group of players. - some of whom grew to “expert” status at playing the now, more complicated games at advanced levels
.
That's when the antiques people started buying up the older, creaky ones and some of the flashy newcomers, which are still around in private collections and museums.

Do you have some pleasant memories of the Pin Ball era?

A.L.M. February 14, 2003 [c526wds]

 
MADAM, PRESIDENT

When the subject of our having a woman president some day comes up, I sense a feeling if uneasiness among men in the conversational group.. Some of us are not ready to deal with that subject, but a woman president is not as remote an idea as some seem to think it remains.

The possibility has support among many people and it has gained in the past few years. This has come about, I think, because more and more women have proved to be capable and have done well in governmental offices at various levels. These successes have help form a sense of confidence in the mind of many who have favored the plan for years.

We have already experienced women running for the office of Vice-President an in accepting that possibility voters have, in a backhanded way, conceded that a woman can, will and should run for the top office as well. The Vice President is a “stand-by” President who can step in an take over the Oval Office if he President becomes incapacitated in is unable to do the job.

Rather, it would seem to me, than with the general electorate, the problems to center more on the male-oriented nature of the political party mechanisms which, in a final analysis seem to be oriented toward a male perspective fundamentally accountable to established political mores not given to change.

Geraldine Farrar is among those who worked to achieve the office of Vice-President years ago and others have ventured on stage. The have been pioneers. They have broken paths through the political wildernesses often encouraged but not really assisted in their quest for the prime office.

The entire concept of running woman for the top office has been increased, I think, in recent years by the presence of Hillary Clinton. Many people see her as the Democratic nominee. Some think an immediate attempt in the next election would be too early. But few planners discount the possibility of a run four years hence. One hears other names suggested from various areas: Jan Fonda, Barbara Strisand, Elizabeth Dole, Condoleezza Rice, or one of the women governors in those states who now have women at the helm.

It will happen, I 'm sure - in time, and perhaps sooner than most men seem to concede.

Another critical factor is the problem we have with fewer people actually voting. A very small percentage of qualified voters show up at the booths on Election Day. A woman would stand a far better chance of election if that voter base expanded among those already qualified to vote. Prior to election, however, a candidate has to be nominated and that remains as the main stumbling block keeping us from saying “Madam, President”.

A.L.M. February 2003 [c465wds]

 
SAY WHEN

How much is too many?

We often have to make a decision with that in mind and we often arrive at the same conclusion - it varies with the nature of the individual concerned.

There is, for example, no hard and fast regulation which determines how much time should be spent airing commercials on the average television show. That number which seems to be the absolute upper limit to some people and drives them wild, may, to another viewer, be less than offensive – even commendable.

Some viewers actually like to see the commercials and some prefer them to the content of the show they are “stuck with” for a half-hour or hour segment. It never occurs to them to either turn the TV set off or to change to another channel, because they feel if they do change they will end up with more of the same. With such TV viewers, once a TV set is turned “on” it cannot be turned “off”. TV is only social life they experience. One does not ,simply, discard it. One learns to “make do” with disruptive conditions which are bound to come along in any association.

The latest studies are said to say we use nineteen minutes out of every hour for commercial on night time shows and twenty-one minutes for daytime formats. Although the survey did not say so, I think they must combine the two limitations for movie re-runs.

Some protester types like to rave and rant on this “too many commercials” theme, and just anyone has, a one time or another, thought about seeing a show favoring program over “a word from”.

This foolish game is being played in the wrong court.

It is the program producers, not the viewers, who should be taking all of this commercial commotion to heart. If they keep on pushing the envelope, the whole thing is going to blow up in their prosperous face! They should, by this time, know how a goose, laying golden eggs , can be killed and what the consequences might be for them.

At random, I counted the number of commercials in a “break”.There were twelve of them. I fail to see how any of the sponsors profited from their brief and confused “message” jammed in with so many others. I find I don't recall the content of any of them. Local stations will tell, you it is the networks which do the overloading on commercials;the networks will tell you it is the cable stations and , since our “local” TV station depends upon cable for seventy-five per cent of its viewers we end up with neat “round robin” in which no one is “guilty.” The need to run and rerun the same spot, even minutes apart, is another killer.

One of these fine days business men and women will start to demand that their “spots” be presented to best advantage and not sandwiched in as a layer in a whole-arm “Dagwood” special. The glamor is gone from TV selling. It is routine now and if it is to continue to be lucrative it had better shape up and face reality.

A.L.M. February 11, 2003 [c531wds]

 
FABLE FOR OUR TIMES

In this world there are thorns. They are not attached to poison ivy, but to beautiful roses - bright, colorful,tempting roses.

For that reason, mankind has had to learn to take extra precautions when he wanted to gather roses. They had a deterrent to ward off dangers. The poison ivy did as well, but it would, take time for that to have any affect. The prick of the the thorn's sharp point gave instant and impressive warning to man that he had wandered into a forbidden area.

The thorns are below and around the flower it is to protect and not a part of it. The thorn is disguise in that it appears to be much the same color as the stem from which it projects., and it has little of the quality of beauty ,very must the same as that of the stem from which it projects. Is lacks the compelling beauty of the rose, but has a stark, stripped and alert stance all its own. Man does well to respect the common thorn guarding the rose.

The thorns multiple and hide themselves in the wild twists and turns of the bush on which they grow and pointing in all directions ward off perils to the bloom they guard. It is their place. It is their duty. Their nourishment is supplied by the same sources which cause the rose to burst into furious glory above. Some people see the arrangement and say : “What a pity so much energy has to be sacrificed to activate those no-good thorns!. It it could all be channeled to the rose! Think how more beautiful it could become!”

It is a wise thing to respect the power and welcome the presence of thorns where there is beauty even at times when danger is not readily seen.. Yes, even in wintry,storm-blasted times when the flower itself is no apparent! The ground and the bush upon which the new rose will bloom in the spring must be held ready, not crushed or torn apart by enemies.

There will always scorners who will say they hate the thorns worse than the unseen enemy. They, all too often, tend to see little good in preparedness... in being ready. Life goes on regardless, they contend.

The rose is our nation .The oft scorned thorns are our armed forces both here and across the seas.

A.L.M. February 10, 2003 [c408wds]

 

BUILDING NEW CHURCHES

Wherever you live, there are new church buildings being constructed. Some designs are realistic but so many seem to be going to exotic extremes.

Does it disturb you when you find such combined community centers, with gyms, fully-equipped banquet facilities, radio and television studios and sanctuary lighting, organ placement and display - everything though to be needed for extended media mission plans.

I would urge upon building committees to think about what they are building. Is it a house of worship? Or, is it something else, entirely?

It is, truly, a dwelling place for God?.

I think most of us would agree that the proper dwelling place of God is within the hearts, minds, and souls of mankind.

A few might insist it is to be within a physical tent, shed, building, tabernacle, temple, church, or cathedral... built as near to perfection as possible, as a proper dwelling place apart for God in our midst. Much depends, it seems, on what we are born to believe. But, environment and circumstances can also have a marked bearing on what we accept as proper.

In actual experience where God lives is connected vitally to where we live and we must, from time to time, consider the bounds and limits of our total community of faith.

Each of us is a Temple in a sense. So our sphere is larger than the physical counting and tabulations of the condition of rooms, or bathrooms or garages or any accountings of our possessions or holdings earned directly or by inheritance and fortunate happenstance. Our domain is bigger than any room; larger than any extended listing of such chambers, and ,by far, more impressive in essential simplicity . It is bigger than the holdings which made it possible.

What we build deals with essential facts about our faith and changes made by the coming of Christ into our personal life and affairs. We are not as we used to be at one time and we must learn to act and to build accordingly..

Our fellow fellow citizens in the community of God will held build the new church upon a foundation not unlike the fellowship of and prophets and apostles of old. Christ Jesus, himself, being the chief cornerstone, in whom the entire structure is joined together is is is to prosper as you intend it – as a dwelling place for God among us.

The new church you build is more than mere brick and mortar, glass and steel, adobe slabs and grass - if that be your circumstance.

To confine our religious potential to a certain unnecessary finite real estate is to take upon ourselves burdens of debt and management which can only detract from the intended purposes of the building.

A.L.M. February 10, 2003 [c465wds]

 
I BLEW IT!

Aw-right! So I blurted out the wrong answer!

We were watching a school-kids quiz show and the question was: “What is the national motto of the United States of America?”

I knew the answer right away, of course, but I was wrong.

What do you think it might be?

I said it as “E Pluribus Unim” - “from many, one” and I was crushed when the moderator informed the world I was mistaken. I looked it up and found I'm forty-eight years behind the times. On January 30, 1956 the law became effective which changed the motto from “E Pluribus Unim” to “In God We Trust” .

I knew, of course those words are on some of our coins and printed currency, but I did not know it had been made our national motto as well. It seems to me that lawmakers, in making this change were leaning a bit too far toward the area of wishful thinking. We are, in reality, formed from many into one” but in no sense do I see how we claim to be nation which places its full trust in God.

In today's street talk terms: “Let's get real, Ralph!”

We are said to be the most religious nation in the world and , at the most recent count, attest to the fact because most recent statistics show we have, I find we have over 2600 different religious faiths many of which are contending with some or all of the others.. Factions are fashionable; friction is urged, union is beyond the realm of reality. Trust is placed in many things other in God.

It is quite true that many of the early immigrants to these shores were seeking religious freedom and I would say they exhibited profound trust in God when they dared to cross the Atlantic ocean in such flimsy craft as they called ships. I question our so-called Founding Fathers attitude as they came along in time to form a government. We are, I feel, often too willing to be led to believe them to have been a bit more religious than they actually were. Rather, I think, they are shown to have had some rather strong views concerning the wisdom of keeping religious regulations and temporal laws separate.

It is rather easy to show how we are, indeed, one from many. The use of Latin may floor some people because that's been “out”of educational fashion''for some time. There are people who would oppose any slogan in other than English as being, in their view, un-American.

The Congress in 1956 worked a political miracle of a sort. In view of the fact that we did not not have a national motto of which they had officially approved, they agreed that the line “In God We Trust” was to be established as our official national motto but also that any citizen who wished to continue the use of “E Pluribus Unim” was free to do so.

In effect, the “chicken” side of both houses must have voted both ways. The one motto is official; the other is traditional. The use of either one is right, except only one is official.

It is no problem for me. I prefer the “E Pluribus Unim” and feel a bit unsure of the other. All of this does help me to see how it is that our Congress is often so slow and has difficulty maintaining a proper separation of church and state. They may be looking for a another chance to vote both ways at once.

A.L.M. February 9, 2003 [c601wds]

 
SHOT TOWERS

In old Baltimore, Maryland, you will see a structure that looks like an old-fashioned factory smoke stack. It rises 220 feet above the street and it was build in 1828 to make ammunition for muskets of that era.

There are other such towers, including one here in Virginia at Ft .Chiswell. You can see the square, brick tower on the south back of the New River when you cross bridge on Interstate 77 just south of I-81.

They were a part of our war efforts in the past and each played important, at times even critical, role in defending the nation in time of need.

The thing that fascinates me, however, about the shot tower in Baltimore, is that it was built from the inside without scaffolding on the outer sides. The builder followed the designer's plan which instructed him to mark out a one hundred twenty-nine foot circle on the ground. He then dug down, on an average, about seventeen feet until he found firm footing on which to place the construction. Thus prepared he started laying a six foot wall of brick around that circle, gradually bringing the inner surface inward by shortening the circumference, until he reached the height of two-hundred and thirty-four feet with an upper opening of just eighteen inches!

Known as the Phoenix Shot Tower, it was in operation from 1828 to 1892. Molten metal was dropped from the upper region of the tower through a sieve-live gadget and fell in a tank of cold water at the base. When hardened, dried and polished each ball formed in the fall became a usable shot. The tower could make over a million bags of shot per year... double that if needed. For smaller sizes of shot, the molten metal was dropped from points below the top platform through different screens. The tower was dedicated by Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and was, until the Washington Monument was finished after the Civil War was the tallest structure in the United States

The Shot Tower in southwestern Virginia is less impressive, but it played a vital role in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, having been built in l804. It as functioned largely in association with the famed lead and zinc mine in nearby Austinville and Ivanhoe, Virginia.

A.L.M. February 8, 2003 [c399wds]

 
ALL OVER AGAIN

It is seldom that a person gets to live a life a second time, and yet I feel, at times, as if I am doing something like that, And, to what purpose, I wonder.

I have, on two occasions during my almost eigthy-seven years, been close enough to the actual point of death that others were concerned about the obvious fact that I might not be around much longer. I also partipated in a major war in which I did what I was told to do and went where I was told to go. Some guardian angel in charge of military involvment took care of me even there in situations far beynd my control. I "lucked out" while others I knew did not. That, in a real sense, is a great mystery I'll never be able to understand - why I should live and one of my childhood friends shoud be killed in the salt water wilderness of the wide beaches at Tarawa; why another should be killed by a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell while seated in a B-24 bomber over central Europe; and there have been others, too...why they should die and I be allowed to live.

My other close call was two years ago, in April, when X-rays taken for a relatively minor exploratory purpose, revealed that I was - unknowingly - walking around and living and active life style with an abdomonal aorta which was ready to burst at any moment. No need to dwell on my "operation". Suffice to say I know I am very lucky to be here today and I have wondered many times how it was that the deft hands and skill of a young doctor by the name of of Nancy Harthun were awaiting the arrival of the helicopter in which they flew me to a larger hospital where a team would be available to meet my unusual need.

Why?

That' s what continues to puzzle me almost daily. Why me? Why, and to what end... for what purpose? The common termonology might be that "They were taken, but I was spared." I have even thought that it may be the other way aound, depending on what the future might entail. It could read: "They were chosen or selected while I was rejected... thrown back as being not quite ready for whatever!"

I am not unacquainted with death. I have worked as an assistant in the procedures of embalming. I have helped prepare and witnessed the cremation process and I have lost loved ones suddenly to Death. I am not afraid of dying. I often wish I could leave my family with more holdings than we have, but I know my time will come and my religious faith is strong and I have his constant feeling that someone else has a final say as on when my time may be ended and then, maybe, I'll learn why it is all happening this way.

A.L.M. February 7, 2003 [c481wds]

 
ABOUT JAPAN

I have suddenly discovered I know very little about Japan and I wonder if such a lack of common, every day facts is a common shortcoming with others.

About Japanese housing, for instance.

I am told that a typical home in Tokyo offers the resident about 630 square feet of living space. Is that enough space for the average family? I rather doubt it, since I find that American "trailer" homes - an item no longer being produced, but still used as a yardstick - offers more space than in a 32ft.x 10ft. model. That' s "togetherness" in a family sense, I'd say. Here, it would be considered to be inadequate for a family of modest circustances and I'm told that, in Japan, two familes might well occupy such an area.

Of course, we realize that the population of Japan is said the be "dense". It has been that way for centuries and, oddly enough, seems to show little tendency to change.

One reason set forth to explain this static growth stand is that Japan is subject to earthquakes, and high rise constuction has, therefore, been avoided for decades. The cities have growth has not been "up" and "out" is limited. Growth has been "inward" to make strill more intense use of the space the do have. It simply does not make good economic sense to build structures which a quake can eliminate. Another fact has been stated which is distrubing one to me, as well. That argument cites the relative poverty of the people. Tokyo is known as one of the most expensive cities in all the world in which to live and when it comes to many standards of present living elsewhere plainly indicates that the people of Japan - a least of Tokyo - enjoy the best life they have had for generations. In a relative sense, they can't be all that "poor".

Tokyo and Osaka are not "all" of Japan, of course. I think we realize that well enough, but we tend to equte the rest of Japan with our own vast westward lands of expansion. Much of Japan, I find, is virtually uninhabited. The truth, I'm told, is that "most" of Japan is, indeed, "uninhabited". I find that difficult to believe. It just doesn't fit in with my concept of Gilbert and Sullivan's pictures of it all. I would have thought we had learned about what modern Japan is because of World War II associations and the occupation years. I ,obviously, did not do so and I find the same level of ignorance to be common among many I know.

Just about half of the 130 million or so citizens of Japan live in several large, urban swatchs around major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. The same clamoous jumble of always moving people, steadfast concrete on every side, and glistening asphalt surfaces can been seen ahead and otherwise noted for seemingly endless miles. Take the three hundred and forty mile trip from Toyko to Osaka on one of the celebrated but highly subsidizd "bullet" trains and you will see nothing but wilderness beyond the track area. There are, it seems, no "small towns" dotting the landscape here and there.There are no end-to end flowery bowers of the music hall versions of rural Japan. There are no bucolic byways, either.

I must learn more about Japan. Have they every had a full-fledged agricultural plan, I wonder, wherein unused lands might be adaped to growing the foods they must now import in large amounts. This sort of action, it would seem to me, is Japan's key to future security and prosperity. Yet we, as a nation, are certainly in no position to point the finger of criticism at Japan. Witness, if you will, the vast stretches of woodland and pasture which is unwisely used, misued or not used at all along our own Interstate highways and other roads in every secionoif our own country.

I would imagine old concepts of land ownership might have something to do with land use in Japan, and, perhaps,too, their changing ideas of what constitutes a family.

We need to learn more about people with whom we share this Earth, if only to come to realize how we have been blest and continue to be cared for by what President George W. Bush made reference to in a speech this week as "the wonder working power."

A.L.M. Feburary 7, 2003 [c780wds]

 
SENSE OF...

I find myself wondering, at times, about men and women who were noted for having possessed and who made use of a superior sense of humor - let's say Will Rogers, Mark Twain and others of that ilk, and what they would think of events of our New Century.

I have great respect for those who can saw the simple, underlying reasons for seemingly complex happenings. I think we actually felt better about many things when Will Rogers, for example, translated the unpleasenmt events of the news into terms we could understand. He had a sense of ridicule which could puncture puffy politicians or the overly pious perfectionists with equal candor and common sense and he could do it without rancor.

Such a person, set free to comment on our world today, would be faced with new problems.

They would be overwhelmed, I'm sure, by the tremendous funds of information available to every ctizien today. Will Rogers would have to modify his slogan "all I know is what I read in the papers" to include media channels he never dreamed man would have available. When those humorists thought of the world's knowledge it was still something individuls had to seek out and find, and develop is now available to us at our fingertips - literally
.
Most of them would, no doubt, be taken aback concerning the unseemly haste with which we must live today. They enjoyed a more leisurely passage thruough the events which made up daily routines. How they could adapt to such a changes of pace is questionable, and I doubt if they could function in the present world with anything like their success they enjoyed decades ago. Life is too fast today. It tumbles over itself in an at-times erratic, panic-fired eagerness to force its way on stage. No one medium seems to be fast enough to keep pace with the lava-flow steadiness of all types of news... good ...bad, or - worse yet!. Newspapers have changed radically in the past fifty years and more of them will be failing in the next few years. The pace of happenings has far outrun their capacity to be current.

In like manner, I think the humorists of the past are gone and that the current crop is meeting a special transitional need. Their comedy is more open and admittedly contrived for the moment. Cosby led to it, Seinfeld and others have it in their hands, for the moment, and the writers on the talk shows play an enormous role, as well. The late night TV stars relate to humor chiefly in relation to it all through their writing staff and few, if any, are humorists in their own right. The constant need for new material puts such a career beyond any one person. Those who star as funny men and women are often mere fronts for several writers feeding them material which, once used, is heard by mllions in the one performance and many repeats and re--runs and, therfore, virtually useless until revised by writers with a newsy slant in mind

I don't think the old-timers could hack it today,
Our sense of humor today is heavily burdened with an overwhelming reality pressure.

What appears to be comical today is , all too often, is accepted in a "funny-odd" sense rather than in a "funny-ha-ha" way. That is not a healthy sign at all.

A.L.M. February 5, 2003 [c640wds]

 
THE PLACE CALLED POPHAM

The year was 1606.

Men in Europe, people we now call "adventurers", began to have some serious ideas about forming a settlement along the Eastern coast Amerca.

A group of like-minded men in England petitioned King James I that same year were granted a royal charter authorizing them to form a settlement project as part of the London and Plymouth Companies already in existence in London.

These were not religious refugees seeking a new homeland of freedom for their faith.These were men of commerce and it was their intent to found a colony from which trading posts which would delve into the riches of the New World to their business advantage. The French tried a company in the same year, setting up a small colony on island in the St. Croix River between what is now Maine and New Brunswick. It lasted less than a year.

The English expedition traveled across the Atlantic in two vessels: the "Gift of God" and the "Mary & John". and set up a small settlement called " Fort St. George" at the mouth of what was then called Sagadahoc River - now charted as the Kennebec. They selected the location carefully in line with their plan to infilter the area, upriver, with trading post establishmen as a key to the wealth of the new land.

The town came to be called Popham after the name of the man they elected to be their President - one George Popham who happend to be a nephew of the Lord Chief Justice of England. It has been surmised many of the men who made up the group were of a social elite not too responsive to the demands of hard labor, but that seems unlikely when your find that this small company accomplished one thing never before done by any colonists. In their short stay in the area, they were the only ones who ever actually built a sea-going vessel and thus founded the shipbuilding industry or the eventual State of Maine.

That original ship, made as the New World's first non-profit organization product - was named the "Virginia" which was the official name of the entire eastern coastal area at the time. The new ship weighed thirty-tons and sowed a high degree of good workmanship.One does not just throw such a ship together and the canva, iron and other fittings needed would seem to be an insurmountable obstacle..Yet, they succeeded and the "Virginia" made, at least, two known crossings of the Atlantic.Exactly what its intent mady have been is in question but it is assumed the new vessel was built to make their coastal probes into bays and rivers easier had their trading post plan worked out.

So, while the Popham Colony did not endure English adveturers learned a great deal which must have helped in establishing the Pilgirm's company at Plymouth a bit to the south a bit, thirteen years later. The failure of Popham, of the French attempt on the St Croix River, must have helped the Pilgrim in formulating their plans some thirteen years later. The haunting presence of failures...Popham, St. Croix, Roanoke Island back in 1588 and others must have weighed heavily on their minds.

Those times demanded a great deal of human intent on improving their lot and that of Mankind..

Additional archeological digs are now in progress which may reveal more artifats of the period, but it has been largely ignored for 400 years.

I wonder what other groups of adventrous men, yes, and and women, as well, might have set forth at one time or another into such realms of betterment who have been recognized for having done so.

A.L.M. February 4, 2003 [c627wds]

 
BOXES

Nothing can entertain a small yougster - boy or girl - as does a simple cardboard box or two.

It need not be a fancy one. Just about any clean, cardboard or corrugated box will do quite well.

Gift buying at Christmas time is fine, or course, and on special days, such as a birthday, a special toy can be a fine thing for any child, but don't throw away the box it came in.

With conventional toys a child sees and holds the object it is supposed to be - an animal, a building, a fine car or truck, fish or whatever it is intended to resemble, but when he has just a carton or two before him he uses his imagination and makes it be whatever he wants it to become at any specific time. It is difficult for the grown up mind to realize how varied the child's creative sensibilites can be and often are.

Take care, of course, that all metal or plastic staples, wires or attachments have been removed before you consign them into the care and use of the young engineer potential who will convert the potential engineer you supply into whatever he feels they might become. There are no limits, either.

The box can become a house for his stuffed animals, it can be a space ship on which he rides off into a world of whirling stars, it can be a wagon bumping along a dusty, rutted road or a bobsled rushing down a snow-covered slope. Such a collection of boxes gives exercise to a childs creative urges and it is also amazing to see him or her "explain" what it is to other children of the same age. By means of some miracle means of communcation, it becomes quickly obvious that the second child soon knows, for a fact, that what they have is whatever the first child seems to think it is.. They both ride the sled, bike, car, wagon, cart or whatever the box has become in their world. And another unusual thing can take place when the second or a third child decides the box or boxes are really something entirely different.

A child can find security and very real emotional help with such simple toys. They are far more flexible in his view and better fit his or her emotional need. If they want protecion they hide inside behind or in the box. If he or she wants to feel the presence of love, admiration, ,joy, happeness ...even a grumpy mood now and then -the child has a ready co-conspiritor handy. in that plan. The box can be castle or cabana; palace or pauper's hut on demand. Fancier toys are limited by what they are made to be. Boxes....beautiful boxes ... can be anything they want them to be.

In England, and in some parts of the empire lands such as of Canada and Australia, chidlren are made aware of Boxing Day which occurs, I think, the day after Christmas Day, or some observe it on the first week-day after the 25th. At that time, as they grown older and more mature, children are encouraged to gather up posessions and place them in boxes which are, then, distributed to the dwelling places of the poor and needy. It has varied over the centuries,.of course, and hence there are various traditions as to what Boxing Day should entail.. They did decorate boxes and fill them with goods which were then given to the poor.

I wonder if they lf they left the boxes in the homes they visited. Poor children would know empty boxes to be a gift with which they had experence.

Don't wait until the trandiitonal boxing day. Find some cardboard boxes - often they can be yours without charge at local stores - and let your child play with them on the floor or on the front lawn.

Sit down nearby and watch.You can witness their eager ingenuiy at work as they play.


A.L.M. February 3, 2003 [c 576wds]

 
SECOND THOUGHTS

Memory is that portion of the human body, it has been said, which enables us to forget. We use it and we mis-use it ,as well.

And, isn't it odd what things you choose to forget?. I have no idea, for instance, who said that about the nature of human memory, so I can give due credit, but it is not original with me.

We forget some very important things, too. Some of them can be critical to our very being as a nation.

Right now we are in a quandary about something which faces nations far too often. Many citizens have forgotten what horrors a world war can bring to us, and another group seems to have forgotten what happens to a nation which fails to stand firm concerning its basic beliefs. We find ourselves to be facing each other as factions and much of the division is caused by the fact that we have neglected to study our historical heritage.

Memories can play subtle tricks on the unwary,too and it is this aspect which demands our attention most urgently.

Unless one refreshes memories from time to time by re-living the incidents which brought them into being, details are easily at hazard. You may know the name of the play or book mentioned even identify some individuals within it, but the name of the author seems to be hopelessly lost.

It is important that the citizens of any nation be instructed systematically concerning their national history. How well have we been doing that since our last conflict? Estimates may vary, but the importance of doing so is no longer up for questioning among thinking persons. Self-preservation may depend upon doing so.

For the better part of half a century century we have been content to to be subjected to a re-telling mania to the advantage of the entertainment enclaves of our society. Cartoon versions of the national classics of both literature and history are not adequate. We are just beginning to become aware that such a system has been primary in educating the average American citizen concerning his or her civic and patriotic obligations and duties.

We have enjoyed and profited from such an entertainment and pleasure focus, but the memory of what war can actually be – judged by what it has been in the past, is not there. We are, even now, beginning to re-learn what we have missed. We are meeting with second thoughts concerning the basic elements of our situation, and for many individuals it means starting “from scratch” concerning the real story of our national being.

It is especially interesting to see people refurbishing old ideas, used concepts and tired theories and thinking them to be their own, personal discovery. Memory can do that.

We, as individuals, can help to meet this very real informational deficiency. Try re-reading our nation's history and become aware of our true place among the changed nation's of this changed and changing world.

A.L.M January 31, 2103 [c507wds]

 
HORSE SENSE

Most of us, I think, would do well to remember the Greek story about The Trojan Horse at this time in our national life.

The very nature of our open society makes it possible, even temptingly so, for those who would do us harm to harbor themselves among us, with a well conceived plan to bring about the destruction f our homeland.

The image within which our possible doom may be hidden in our very midst will, of course, not be any form of a horse, necessarily, but it will be something which we admire, something we respect and covet.

There are voice speaking out, even now you can her them if you listen, warning us to beware of being so liberal and easy-going in allowing foreign-born persons to either visit our shores for extended unsupervised times or to seek permanent residence here because of unlivable conditions in their part of the world. Later on,these critic of our immigration policies, say such groups may well rush forth as did the soldiers from the ancient wooden horse in Troy, to open the gates of our nation to spoilers.

While possible, isn't that bit too obvious and easily detected?

Most certainly, the tactic employed by our enemies will not be that simplistic and direct. We have sad and ample evidence in the soul-searing events of “September 11th” to know the attacks upon us will not be conventional. in all likelihood, save in any moments of desperation they may encounter which would cause them to make us of simple raw force and the power of sheer numbers of men and munitions instead of elaborately conceived schemes.

I hear disquieting talk, too, of the need of our own authorities to take better care what we have and hold dear. That would seem to be one stated purpose of the new Homeland Security office which has take more than a year to become as meaningful method of protection. I hear people saying it is too large; that it brought in far too many unqualified people to be guardians of our well-being; that it should not be physically headquartered in the District of Columbia as a prime target for attack; many criticisms are heard and this is not unusual for such a massive undertaking, I would say. It has come about very quickly in one sense. Imagine how long it would have taken to get where we are had pork-minded Congress persons been allowed to drag it into their particular state.

It probably doesn't matter a great deal where it might be, physically, for that matter, but it is a vital tool in our preparations.

But for exactly what are we searching? What do we expect to find? What are we to suspect, question or fear?

We had best be thinking of all this and more during these uncertain days of serious confrontation with forces with whom we have never had to deal so directly. Our enemies see our weakest points.
Do we?

A. L. M. January 30, 2003 [c511wds]
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