RETURN TRIP

It often strikes me that the return trip from vacation takes longer than it did to go away.

The last fifty miles or so of road home seem endless! That final fifty makes you want to get back home where you belong... makes you wonder if going away was such a bright idea after
all.
Another idea haunts me so often in those last few miles before getting home. Suppose our house had burned down while we were gone! Everything gone! Where would we all stay that night? Who would take you in? What would become of all of you? Then, the last mile or so. You inspect the sky and don't see any billowing smoke from houses on fire and don't see any billows of black smoke, then, sure enough. You turn the corner and there's your house right where you left it. Every thing is the same except the grass has grown another inch or so and needs mowing. There is such a feeling of gratitude from being home that you even anticipate the privilege of revving up the mower and doing the lawn again.

You are thankful, too you have found your favorite spot once more after a week or so of wandering in strange places. There is comfort in familiar surroundings and the fact that you all arrived home without physical damage is seen as a special blessing.

I happen to be writing this during the Labor Day Week End period which is often a costly time for us in human lives lost or injuries sustained. I wonder,as I write, how many parents and grandparents are sharing the same thoughts and concerns about their traveling offspring this day.


A.L.M. August 31, 2003 [c279wds]

 
COUSCOUS, ANYONE?

That's pronounced “koos-koos”, or did you already know that?

I did not.

That is one of the cook-book mysteries which has haunted me for years and I finally got round to “google-izing” it last week... (I wonder how long it will take for that term to edge itself into our wonderful, expandable English language!)

As I suspected, it proved to be a pasta with varied uses in cookery of the Mid-Eastern and African countries.

The dictionaries give two definitions. The prime one, I found, is not exactly helpful in that it tells me couscous is a substance which comes from grinding “semalina”. Very helpful. What, pray tell, is sem-a-lina”? Definition two usually enlarges on that idea and spells out that semolina is the bran portion of a wheat grain left when flour is extracted. We might call it “bran”, I suppose, but if we are going to all the trouble of finding out that the proper ways of saying it are, I'd like to go right on pretending if I had know what that all along the way. One example of semalina flour currently available on the general western market is “Cream of Wheat,” but not in the one-minute, hurry up version. It makes an acceptable couscous.

The chefs who make couscous are said to whip up a real batch of it when they are in the mood because a primary way of using it is as a dried form as an additive. It can be used in a wide variety of dishes. Couscous (I have heard people call it “conscious” - like the guilt factor in our psyche , but I think they are confusing it with another such preparation from the cook-lore books of the Appalachian mountains here in America.)... whatever you end up calling it is worth making.

It is, basically, what you get you when you boil semalina in water. Others, I find, add “flesh”...meat juices as well as vegetables and spices. As it cooks down it is rolled back and forth in the pan until it forms pellets. Eastern cooks then use these pasta pellets - usually after the beads have been dried - to form a bed or pasta pad in the pan upon which other foods are steamed or cooked. Since the exact nature of couscous remains somewhat vague it is the sort of ingredient you have to learn to play “by palate” so to speak. It is widely used by vegetarians, but many couscous makers like to keep a chunk of lamb, or other meat, in the steam area while the pasta is being cooked and rolled down. Some actually add bits of meat and spices.

There seems to be no set limitations as to what constitutes a proper topping for couscous. What goes in top varies from country to country depending on what is most frequently available. Regular pasta toppings would be proper, I suppose and when no such tripping are to be found, couscous can be eaten as a hot cereal or porridge is often the case in more primitive areas . Now that I know what it is, I'm going to investigate the possibilities of this type of pasta.

I find I have always been wary of eating things I can't pronounce.

A.L.M. August 29, 2003 [c513wds]

 
THINGS WE DON'T DO

Very few days go by without us being reminded that we should have done certain things which we have left undone.

All of us are guilty, too without exception.

Let me tally up a few of them as examples of how lax we can become, and so easily, too.

Do you get enough rest, for instance? Do you sleep erratically? Can it be that your irregular hours do you notifiable physical harm? I have found, by experience, that if one keeps regular hours - getting up and retiring at more or less the same times each morning and evening, life proceeds smoother and without undo complications. I am not a harsh, demanding stickler for such rules because a change of pace can also bring some special benefits as well, if properly compensated for by a nap now and then or just a period if "quiet time" time during the active day.

We need to stay within a certain, pre-set framework insofar as foods , medications and routines of work and play are concerned. I know there are now certain physical acts which I can no longer perform, so I've got to temper my ways of doing so that I do not violate any of the warning signs which tell me - quite plainly, as a rule - when I am "overdoing it" or "showing off". Ego does play a role in much of this, too, in case you think my use of the term "showing off" too harsh or too playful. We learn it individually. I have come to know I can't do the outdoor gardening work I used to get done as routine. I see other older men continuing to do such chores, but not for long. One had to learn things the hard way and we do not all have the luxury of time in which to use trial-and-error methods. I know they are watching me, too. Every now and then we spot each other "showing off" by doing physical things we know, full well, are either forbidden or questionable.

Yet there is another aspect of it all, as well. Often we see older people slacking off on on mental activities at this special time when they should be increasing that sort of thing while eliminating physical work. The tendency toward become what is now called a "couch potato" is a hallmark of our times with many people - far too many - with TV as the main (but not to only) area of concern. It is a mistake to cut down on one's reading, for instance. It is, perhaps, an error to turn to technology in the form of computerized equipment which intimidates us even more so than it does the younger people who are now compelled to make use of it daily. Use your computer as an "adjunct to"; as an "extension of" living'; as "condiment" rather than "entre" and as a "dessert" rather than the "main course" of your intellectual meal.

A.L.M. August 28, 2003 [c475wds]

 
TO HEAR ONCE MORE...

I can attest to the fact from personal experience, one does not have to be an Englishman to find assurance in the b-o-o-ing of “Big Ben.”

There are certain things of special value to each of us regardless of where we live, but nothing overlaps national bounds as does the venerable old clock and the well-named bell in the tower of the Houses of Parliament in London.

There is a certain charm in seeing pictures of the Eiffel Tower and think of Paris, the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen harbor, the colorful splendor of St. Sophia's at Agra, the canals and bridges of ancient Venice or the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco or the impressive arch at St. Louis. There many more special monuments, of course, in various parts of the world but few compare to the universal tone of Big Ben's song. There is a sound of confident courage for many people around the world who have heard the sound of Big Ben and gained strength from having done so it times of peril.

Even before World War II started, when Hitler was on the rampage in Europe and people where being crushed by tyranny in Soviet Russia, the sound of Big Ben Ben prefacing the News from London was a memorable radio signature which inspired and encouraged thousands of people of many nations. The very sound, ponderous and proud, was a hallmark of Truth for all who faced the loss of personal freedom. Seldom has such a sound meant so much to so many people of such diverse backgrounds and cultures.

In those days when we turned short wave radio dials to seek out the latest news, when we came to that sound of Big Ben ringing forth over the Thames we often said to ourselves and others: ”Now, we will hear the Truth!” Most of the broadcast news was suspect in those days - but and dried propaganda in its various, insidious forms, but one felt instinctively, that the new from London under the strong pulse of that tremendous thirteen-ton-plus bell would be honest and forthright. We respected the news from London, even though we realized it could not be complete - curbed and clipped as it had to be by censorship demands of wartime.

No doubt, much it all sounds inadequate to many of us today Our communications systems have advanced and improved it so many ways since the days of Hitler, Stalin, Il Duce and others of like debasement. Ours is, even if all of us cannot accept the idea, a much better world than the one we knew in those years. I still find myself thinking of the good qualities of the life we worked to keep alive and secure during the years of war and the hectic years leading up to the conflict and with its aftermath as well.

If I had to name a sound symbol of security for those years, I would nominate “Big Ben.”


A.L.M. August 26, 2003 [c513wds]

 
I HATE THAT!

How and why does one person come to "hate" another, a thing, or a deed?

If we can define the term "hate", it may be that - in good Socratic-Platonic fashion - we may be able to prepare ourselves to actually do something about the condition.

That is, of course, if we sincerely wish to do so.

It would seem that almost everyone want to do so, but the concept of hatred is deeply imbued in the human psyche, it seems, and it may take some
"doing" to eradicate it. One element of hatred is, perhaps, to be found in the fact that so many who experience it seem to actually glory in doing so and do not wish to give it up.

We often use the term rather lightly. We commonly find ourselves saying : "I hate the color purple", or a place, a gadget or, sometimes specific people. We say "we don't really mean it " the way it might sound to others, but deep down we do feel that urge, I'm sure even if in a disguised form.

By saying we "dislike" a place, idea or person, I feel, we some times exaggerate it by using the actual word "hate" instead of a more temperate substitute. It is only a small step to a lower level.

Usually, when you stop to think about it for just a few moments, we take that mode of attack - saying we "hate" something - out of Fear. We tend to protect our selves by attaching a label to others who may, in time, do us harm - or, at least, do us no favors. Hate is set up as a barrier or barricade with potential encounters in mind.

If we are ignorant of the qualities involved in making such judgments; if we do not understand the intent and purpose of others we tend to set them apart as unworthy individuals on whom we had best keep an alert eye at all times. The element of fear dictates that we defend ourselves by setting up a wall and we do so by invoking the concept that a place, a person or certain things must be excluded from our area. We say we "hate" it, and screen it away from our immediate presence as much as possible. In reality, we may “fear” such a presence.

Over coming "hatred", then would seem to have something to do with doing away with the elements of fear which cause it to grow so readily and so rapidly. It is, so often, Fear based on ignorance, too, which gives us a clue as to how to go about correcting the condition.

To overcome fear we need to earnestly seek out the Truth through patient study and the acquisition of knowledge concerning the person, place or thing we have deemed to be an object of dislike which can become hate if not quelled. Knowledge can help replace distrust and suspicion with something a bit more positive.

A.L.M. August 26, 2003 [c490wds]

 
OLD DOMINION

How did Virginia come to be called "The Old Dominion?"

It came about because of our loyalty to our king. The designation has been attributed to remarks made by Charles II, but we must to back to the reign of James I who ruled over four dominions - Scotland, England, Ireland and France.

Virginia, at that time, had no official heraldic seal, since it was a colony. Nor, did the king recognize Virginia on his royal Coat of Arms. He did, on several occasions, refer to the colony of Virginia as being his "Fifth Dominion".

His reference became more official when, years later, a Coat of Arms was designed for Virginia. That seal ,in the later part of the 17th Century, had a Latin inscription along it's base which translates: "And Virginia makes the fifth." When England and Scotland were united in 1707 the motto was changed to call Virginia "the Fourth Dominion" rather than the fifth.

Then , to add to the complications, along came Oliver Cromwell - about 1645 to 1660 - when such talk about kings and royal domains were put on the back burner. They were set aside but not forgotten.

Many of the leading citizens of Virginia remained quietly loyal to the King, whom they called "The Prince Over the Waters".Charles II had been exiled to the continent during the Cromwellian era and he became well aware of the loyalty of Virginians.

When Cromwell's power came to an an end, a former Governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley was quick to send a Special Mission to France to proclaim Charles as King, even before he might be crowned as such in London. The young King Charles II was so pleased that he blessed his "Old Dominion" which had stood so firmly by him in his years of loss and crisis.

Many Shenandoah Valley of Virginia residents were hunted down, hounded and accused of aiding the British during the Revolutionary War. Such groups were found in each of the colonies . In Southwest Virginia even such pioneering stalwarts such as William Ingles were suspected of being Tories ready to hand over the lead mines near Fort Chiswell to the British. Lord Fairfax lived at his estate near Winchester and George Washington issued special orders that Fairfax must remain unharmed. Fairfax's lawyer, Gabriel Jones, one of the first attorneys in both Augusta and Frederick Counties since 1745, remained a professed Tory all through the war years. Many of those who loyalty to the King simply lived out their troubled lives during the years of conflict or went back to England or Nova Scotia. Eastern Virginia , having been longer under royal rule, must have had many Tories, but, they, having dealt with such problems before, were more adept a presenting a neutral front.

We tend to think that everyone was a dedicated rebel. The idea of kingship was not dead. Many citizens ,for instance, thought that President George Washington should have been titled "George, the First”.

Our form of "democracy" did not spring forth in full-bloom. Many individuals,and entire families, have had "to work at it" to become Americans.

A.L. M. April 25, 2003 [c590wds]

 
BRINK MAKERS?

We have been accused recently of practicing a type of brinkmanship diplomacy by which we are said to create fields of tension in an area so we can have a pretext for invasion and forced intervention in local affairs “to prevent disaster,”

That is quite charge to bring against any nation, yet I have heard citizens of this nations of ours who agree with that estimate of our foreign policies.
Do we deserve any such accusation? Do people in foreign lands, and their governments, see us in such a warped light?

This is given as a “reason: why we should not be -well, where we are. It seems to have a universal application which is the very quality which brings it under suspicion. The “one-size-fits-all” under mines the concept from the start.

No world area of conflict is that simple. They are, instead , often one of a kind situations which have long haunted the areas in which they become manifest. Long held rivalries well up and roil the placid waters of local politics, often to the determent of all concerned.

When such events “re-occur” in modern dress, we as the leading nation of the world, with our allies, forming the most powerful national bloc - are expected to do something about it.

Such awaited action is usually thought of in terms of favoritism, money, concessions, military equipment, technological assistance and, only rarely, in any form of arbitration or guidance.

We have a curious puritanic ethic in our nation which is either non-existence or rarely used in other countries. We tend to be willing to try to help others manage affair which have gotten out of hand. In doing so, we become involved, which often leads to misunderstandings and, at times, to those frictions which can lead to conflict. We have learned the hard way in several that such simplistic treatment of problems, however simple, honest and straight forward work they may be, seldom work as planned.

Photographs of starving, emaciated children virtually covered with teeming clouds of flies and patches of vermin, can sway the heart, mind and pocketbook of millions of Americans, but - at he same time - leave other nationalities untouched.. It is possible that you did not even notice that this year's annual starvation time in Ethiopia went by almost unnoticed due to our preoccupation with the needs of people in the mid-east and other areas.

Our work is very often mis-read and thus, misunderstood. Gifts are seen as bribes; aid as arms and ammo entirely, human rights as undertaking revolutionary activities, and loans are seen as links in a chain of entrapment we are said to be planning under the guise of compassionate assistance.

We do create social unrest when we move in to help. We treat rather than cure. We suggest rather than demand. We urge rather than order. The whole concept often strikes the recipients as being far too good to be true and we are hurt - even angered - when it backfires on us occasionally.

No, we are not brink makers. Most of the time, we don't even see such potential threats as being hazardous.

A.L.M. August 24, 2003 [c526wds]

 
LOW LEVELS

I am constantly being amazed by the appalling ignorance so many people - full-fledged, native-born citizens - display concerning the history of our relatively young nation and its varied cultural heritage. I am even more disturbed when I see and hear a newcomer hold forth on the subject with an amazing degree of assurance.

We have been remiss in our history studies and continue to be so.

I do not limit my criticism to our young people, either. Thanks largely to our diverse communication systems, our youth have done very well in acquiring a basic knowledge - if faulty, at times, view of our nation - how it began, we all came from, how we go here and what we have done since we arrived. It is not only our educational systems which seem to be at fault, either. Do you think your local church instructs young members concerning church history, how we differ in interpretations of major and minor beliefs? Or, are we forever seeking new ways of “dumbing down” such instructions - both temporal and theological - to avoid causing any waves of controversy or of making those we already have, and insist on retaining, more obvious.

There is a marked deficiency among just about all age levels, both sexes, and among those of all religious groups. It remains to be seem how this is going to influence our future, but the chance of it making the years ahead better slight.

I have not objections to Walt Disney's fine work in animated films, or with those highly successful Golden Books which have been such a pleasure to millions of children but when those who product such materials find they are marketing mainly to adult users we had best take pause for some second thoughts.

If your sole, or preferred, source of information for the facts which make up the story of “Pocahontas” is that set forth, however so well, by Disney, you do not have a definitive knowledge of the Indian maiden who played a role in our early history. The animate film strays far, far from facts as well as common sense, for that matter, and while it is entertaining and serves a worthy purpose with young children, it is not intended to be the criteria on which adults are to judge the affect a teen-aged Indian girl may have had on and somewhat aging John Smith and the colonists of struggling Jamestown in Virginia of 1607.

Our television shows rarely give a true view of historical incidents. Of necessity, they must be hyped a bit here and there with those elements which draw the average small screen fan's attention.

The big screens of today - I suppose we have best call them the multi-screens of today - seldom do history well. They, too, must bow to conventions which afford them a livelihood and there is nothing wrong with that, either. Again, the blame - if that is what we are seeking - seems to be more personal. We cannot continue to be critical of the media other, at the same time, expect it to be an effortless entre for us into all that is learned, proper, dignified and worthwhile. That has never been the main media function.

The latest culprit is, of course, the computer and the associated Internet. The jury is still out - 'way out – on that one and it appears it may be sequestered for some time.

That seems to leave our educational systems as the whipping boy, doesn't it?

But, don't latch the corral gates too soon, however. Other horses remain to be broken.

Once more, “self” enters into the arena. In one way or another our educational systems are what we, ourselves, have made them or allowed them to become.

What will each of us do about it? A. L..M. August 23, 2003 [c645wds]

 
THE ODDS IN LIBERIA

We seem to think of Liberia in relation to the historic circumstances in which the United States had an active part in founding the nation. Yet, we seldom look further than that point.

We speak of it having started because large numbers of people wanted to establish a place in Africa to which American slaves, when freed from their bondage, might choose to return.

Some actually did so, but not in any great numbers.. The percentage of people in Liberia today who can trace an Americo-Liberian heritage is estimated to be about 2.5 per cent. The majority of those who did return did so, not from mainland United States, but ,rather from the Caribbean islands, where a relationship with the mainland United States was never really established. We have, over the years, perhaps, made too much of the American association – a movement which was not sustained and could only be said to have failed as a missionary project of a kind. It has enabled anti-slavery people to show how “we tried” to return the stolen slaves to their old way of life. Most of them had never been here in a strict sense.

There have been repercussions from time-to-time and the fact that the nation's capital city – Monrovia -is named after our President at the time. There is a city down the coast from the capital area called Buchanan, and one might assume that and other locations where given American names by Americans working with the colonization movement. Or, it could suggest an enclave type of segregation decided by where they came from. The national flag of Liberia has thirteen red and white stripes, a field of blue in the upper left corner with a single white star centered therein.

The other people involved in the Liberian state are varied including such indigenous tribesmen as the Kpelle, Bass, Gio, Kru, Grebo, Manu, Krfalkin, Gilka, Gbandi, Loma, Kissi, Vai and Bella people. I listed the group to show that not one of them is a large, well-recognized tribe from anywhere in the area.. The America-African decendant who returned from the Caribbean were largely people from,the Congo ...not from the Liberian plains at all. The returned person found himself still in a foreign country, under a economy and lifestyle not unlike slavery they had known in the islands.

The religious life of Liberia is divided into three levels, Christians number about forty per cent; Muslims about twenty per-cent and those professing “Indigenous Beliefs” has been set, loosely, at about forty per-cent. Efforts by American missionary groups outlasted in the fervor of the leaders of the new nation which accounts for the rather large number of Christians. That was an easy task. The people speak some twenty ethnic groups of languages and only a few of them are ever used in written form.. Literacy runs at about 53.9 % of males who can read and write and about 22.4% for women. That averages works out at about 39 per-cent which is good for the coast of Africa enough to make it seem to many as a land of promise.

Liberia is, officially, a republic - as we are. The Republic of Liberia. It is made up of fifteen counties, largely geographically designated rather than tribal titles which is also encouraging. It became independent - from whom is discreetly left out of most summaries. They celebrate their Independence Day on the 26th of July each year. Suffrage is universal from age nineteen.

We are reminded of the warning words of Benjamin Franklin, who ,when asked what kind of government the convention had chosen for us responded that “We are a Republic. He qualified his statement. He said we were fortunate to have chosen that way, but expressed a hope -perhaps with a tinge of doubt in his mind - that we might be strong enough to sustain it.

Liberia has become another example of a a new nation founded as a Republic which could not retain it. France went over the end-line in the French Revolution. Civil War in Liberia started in 1989 and continued through 1996. The government formed in 1997 is now in a pitiful state and it is and we have a certain role to play in re-establishing peace once again.

Read. Study. Listen and learn! There must be much each of us can do to help bring about a better life for Liberians..

A.L.M. August 22, 2003 [c763wds]

 
TOOTH PASTE

At the age of eighty-seven, when I refer to toothpaste, I mean the sticky kind..

The younger set of chewers and biters, of course, commonly think of the tubes of colorful, delicately flavored amalgams of goo and special, advertising attributes thereof. Each one is better than the other.

I'm concerned more about the type of pastes which hold dentures in place.

I am here to sing praises of such products, not to criticize, ridicule or make fun of them. .When your real teeth are no more, it becomes a serious matter. I have found, too, that one must shop around a bit to determine which preparation seems to suit your particular need best. It seems as if no two mouths are the same, and what suits you, may not suit me.

By trial and error you will find the one which best suits your need which is, to a large extent, determined by the style of diet you prefer. You will quickly found that “uppers” and “lowers” need individual attention. I never use any adhesive for my upper plate, and it took a while for me to settle down to settle on one preparation which suited my needs best..

I was not the only one doing tests and experiments, either. The well-know drug firm which makes the brand I use, was trying at the same time, to make their product better and more usable. During the months I have used it the product has had, at least, five sub-titles and has finally reached the term “Complete” appended to the name. I saw how products mature in taste, color, texture, stick-ability and, most important, to an easier and more sensible way of applying it. A competitor has, just recently, added a slot type opening on their tube which lays down a ribbon of adhesive rather than a blob.

Yes, you will want to try the powdered forms, as well. I found them difficult to use since they put out a salt-and- pepper shaker pattern - .fine for uppers but not right for narrow gauger lowers.

Having read this far, you may wondering why the old duffer is telling all this stuff., There was a time, not too long ago, when I would have had the same thought, but your time may come along quicker than you think. Put it off as long as you can by daily care of your real teeth. Use the tooth paste of your choice with regularity - daily at least.

Now, to those few still remaining: you will experience novice troubles. So many people seem to think the idea is to coat to gum surface with a generous layer of the “cement” worked down into the denture form so that it comes in direct contact with tiny bit of gum. One common tendency is to, then press down or “bite” to spread the stuff out while it “firms up”. You can tell you have too much in the groove when it oozes up around the edges and glues your gums to the side of your mouth. If this happens, best rinse your mouth with hot water and start all over again. The oriental maxim: “Less is More!”applies quite well.

I have found that about all of the dental adhesives, now being marketed, work to a degree. Some seem to work better at one time or another depending on what you eat or drink For me a small dab of the stuff ; from three to five dabs of the stuff in the groove; gently pressed to spread them a bit, and I can take on the corn-on-the-cobbers, apple snappers, and other such toothless wonders they show in the commercials. Instead of holding plates and cups in the air, how about showing the actor trying his best to chomp on a chunk of Grandma's famous taffy candy? Now, there's a challenge!

None of them are that good , but we are working on it - for you.


A.L.M. August 21, 2003 [c658wds]

 
NOTEWORTHY PROGRESSION

Quite a few years ago, after World War II, I started hearing, and using, the term “Progressive jazz” It held a certain note of promise for many of us in music work of that period ....even an avenue of possible growth.

The term “jazz:” had been, by that time, practically annihilated and had become a meaningless word to many. In the popular mind of many people, jazz was any music that wasn't classical, religious, Hawaiian, Latin-American or Hillbilly was progressive jazz. The new music mode was largely instrumental - which seemed to hold promise. The basic structure of thee smaller units was usually string bass, guitar, drums and several combinations of melodic instruments.

Those of us actively engaged in pop music fields, thought of jazz as being best remembered by Dixieland combos of the 1920's and later. There was a phase before that, during and afterwords, which put jazz on a grander basis with orchestras such as Coon Sanders and his Night Hawks, the early versions of Paul Whitman's Orchestra and others larger, showier groups. Pop music had gone “big time “, and more so after 1926 when the record companies learned how to produce more than one record copy of a song at a time. And the record business took off on it own demanded consideration by more and more musicians. It was largely because of this recording advancement that we have physical evidence that some outstanding talents were a part of the jazz movement as it existed and mutated.

As music became more nationwide and varied, the term jazz was shunted aside. We came to refer to pop music, dance music, songs which became known as “ballads”. Earlier, that name was used in classifying a certain style of story-tellings songs as by that name was restricted to our hillbillies – who son ceased to exist and became known as “country singers” “country and wested, “cowboys”ands on PBS “Ethnic”or “Folk “singers. We had , for a time, such personalities as Ella Fitzgerald with here combination of many traits of both the old and the new in her distinctive style of scat singing. Musicians of “The Big Band” era tended to re-form as small units - trios, quartets - as an adjunct to the big band. They played individualized jazz-oriented music In a sense it was “musician's music” It was performed skillfully and when such small tailings started waging the big band dogs “progressive jazz” was born.

It, as did jazz, mutated swiftly and virtually ceased to exist save as a “term”. Once the electric guitar took over the musical scene like a giant kudzu vine, conventional music was doomed to a period of almost total eclipse.

This, too, shall pass.

A.L.M. August 20, 2003 [c511wds]

 
CASE HISTORY

Life , at times, seems much like that portion of a law book which is concerned with “for instance”, precedent-setting moments of decisions which dictate much of the future.

Such selected cases may or may not be “just” in the finest sense of the term, but that way the way it was done at a previous times often suggests that it might best be handled in a like manner, should the situation present itself once more. ."Precedent” has been established from which future decisions will be influenced by that decision again and again.

Then, like lawyers and doctors, we direct our paths so that the future is determined, to a large extend, by the way we have lived in the past, or that of our predecessors, for that matter.

A prime example comes to us from the early history of this Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Briefly, the situation in the 1740's involved a group of about a score of Indians traveling north down the Valley from the Fort Chiswell with written permission to do so from Magistrate Andrew Lewis, to visit relatives living to the west of Winchester. On the evening of their arrival at the town called Rolla or Verona, they made camp for the night at a barn north of the village with permission of the owners

That evening a group of local toughs are said to have taken courage from firewater went to the camp to have some fun with the red men and the resulting fight killed all but two of the Indians. Those two who escaped death desperately tried to get back to their home in Southwestern Virginia and killed an aged couple along the way.

The entire Colony was shocked. Those were friendly Indians and it was only later that savage depredations began.. The Royal Governor and local magistrates posted a reward for any information concerning the white group called “The Verona Boys”.Promptly notices were mysteriously nailed to the same bulletin boards warning what might happen to anyone who said the knew any of the men involved . Those notes had something to do with the village's forgetfulness, it is thought.

The case came to trial in time. No witnesses appeared so the Verona Boys were not punished.

A short at Point Pleasant a group of white men ambushed a son of Chief Cornstalk and killed him and other Indians as they entered the area under a visible flag of truce to report a massive pending attack being planned by hostile tribes.

The whites involved were brought to trial as “The Rock bridge Boys”, but no witnesses appeared. They were absolved of blame when the precedent of “The Verona Boys” was cited. From that time, when a white man murdered an Indian, the legal precedent was brought forth. It became the law for the entire frontier.

This moment of local history suggests we be careful what we choose to guide our future.

A.L.M. August 18, 2003 [c 517wds]

 
OLD SINKY

Prior to this past week, I did not know the meaning of the word “karst”.

I really don't remember anyone ever having used the word in my presence. I met with it a few days ago when I overheard an eleven year old girl talking with a boy of about the same age. It didn't sound meaningless enough for it to be the label of their rock group or rap star, but they used it naturally several times. It took me a while to realize they were speaking of what I have long known to be called a “sinkhole”.

When was the last time you heard a “sinky” referred to by its proper geological name? It is not a precise term in that it generally refers to any limestone area which is unstable and given to the formation of caverns. sinkholes and underground streams. It is a German word and the name of a limestone region near near Trieste.

The young people were speaking especially of a large sinkhole we all knew, which was located near our usual camp site in the deepest area of the forest.

We have all know such areas, especially if we have lived it the mountains. Most of us simply consider them to be underground cavities which have collapsed. We think of each of them as miniature Carlsbads. Think of them as a cavern which has dribbled for years; formed and reformed until – in time - the roof structure became unstable and the whole thing fell into itself. What kid - or grown-up, for that matter - has not wondered at the imagined magnificence of such a discovery.

There was always one killjoy character in every such group - realists they call themselves now-a-days - who would insist it would a matter not unlike that story of: ”If a tree fell in a forest and no one was a there to hear it,would it make a noise?”In that narrow frame of mind, our critic would say our mysterious underground caverns were “blah”. It would be all black as is the inside of a watermelon, or a grapefruit without light reflected from it to give it color in our view. It could not be seen and, therefore, could not be judged as being either beautiful or ugly.

Our “sinky“ showed man's art. It was several hundred feet across and was like a big pond being filled, but never quite full, of rocks and debris and set in the middle of high trees. From the air it must have looked like a strange lake of some sort.. On the far side of the sinkhole there were grain fields. They were farmed by people who lived on the far edge of those fields along the main road which went though there. All such gatherings of such places as are populated by people produce plenty of garbage, discards, waste material, used or broken do-dads and endless leagues of used wire fencing. Automobile, truck and tractor tires form the latest modern layer for future detritus diggers to wonder about. Rather than “junk”, we now prefer to refer to it all as the normal detritus of our Time and Culture.

Think ”karst:” It sounds somewhat more dignified than “sinkhole” and it is a term your teenagers comprehend. They are, after all, tomorrow's sinky searchers ...or, should we say “karst keepers”?


A..L.M. August 18, 2003 [c543wds]

 
COLORFUL WORSHIP

At the moment I don't remember who made the study, or why, but their efforts resulted in a concept which keeps disturbing me.

By some method they “discovered” that ancient Greek temples such as those we commonly think of as having always been either pristine white or gray where, instead, at one time, decorated in brilliant colors.

Such a possibility had never occurred to me.

From time-to-time, it might be a good thing for us to take time to re-evaluate our estimates of the way we think the world has been in the past.
We have, I think we would find we have made some poor choices in the past.

Today's designs today are more varied than in the recent past and often given to some use of exotic color. As a lure to encourage participation in worship services a bit of dramatic color could overcome much of the rather somber tone we associate with such sites be they formal cathedrals, churches, loose ramblers or wee kirks, or store-front mission points found so often in depressed, run-down urban areas.

One cannot deny that one attractive qualities of Nature involves hues, colors and gradations of tones. What better way to emulate the basic qualities of design as set by the Creator in the natural world about us than in his dwelling place among us?

In our constant attempts to interest newcomers in our form of government we use the word “Democracy” a great deal. It is not a new term. It is a rather ancient one - colorful, dramatic and alluring. Our form of government is a “republic” - not a “democracy” at all. One of its founder pointed it out and seemed to have some doubts about our ability to hold on to it.. We use the term as attractive coloring setting forth feature we routinely enjoy in a communal sense in our republic.

Las Vegas offers unusually low price on hotel room, services, food and drink as a way of getting more people to visit them more often, to stay longer and to spend more money in their main area of income production – the casinos. It has become established as colorful way - with the aid of ever present neon signs featuring all the colors of the rainbow -as one way of giving in one area in order to gain more in another.

If the ancient Greeks did, indeed, color their temples and other public buildings it may well be that those artistic people simply never discovered how to make a good, durable, long-lasting paint. Their imitation colors faded with the centuries and we may have been mis-reading their intentions all this time.

It may be wise of us to re-examine our own intentions from time to time. Mistakes or misjudgments have been made or we would not have some continuing problems demanding answers.


A .L.M. August 17, 2003 [c463wds]

 
POLITICS - NOT AS USUAL

There is much talk these days concerning the upcoming presidential election in 2004, but so little of what is being said seems to be concerned with issues which will face us at that time.

This appears to be a half-hearted battle of personalities who started the fight before deciding, for sure, what they were going to fight about. They are awash in a deluge for trivia coursing through a wasteland of forgot dreams and aspirations their own party predecessors abandoned as being too old and meaningless years ago.

I have feeling this is not exactly the fault of the candidates, either.

Rather, I think it might be traced back to the fact that we, the general public, are not in the least interested in what might be called the major issues of our times. Our generation, we have been living in "prosperous" times for a long time and many people do not take potential disasters as being serious a-even yet, after 9-11-01 Continued “good times", more or less, might assure us of having an exceptionally dull campaign .. I find very few voters who seem to award vital concerns of our own time. With political figures intent to such a degree of aligning themselves supposedly advaanced level of so-called leaders in past party history - testing their every move against the way their idol may have done it - are doing themselves and all of us a dis-service. If a Democratic of today feels it necessary to estalish that he is a “Clinton-FDR-McGovern-Johnson-JKF-Truman”- or any other particular brand or species of Democrat, he is showing a mark of weakness and a strong indication of failure.

A true candidate must stand on his on merit.

As I look back I wonder if our more intense political encounters have all taken place in times of stress, depression, or times of social change. It seems to have been that way way, but much would depend on which part of the nation happened to be your home. Politically our nation is a regional entity, I feel, and some areas take it more seriously than others.

Nor is the trait confined to one party. I question the Republican who feels it be mandatory that he identify himself as being a "Reagan" Republican, just as much as I resent a Democrat hiding behind a self-chosen deity of past political eras and dealing with issues which are not facing us today. I cringe inwardly when I merely think a ghostly FDR deciding what we must do to make today better and tomorrow more certain.

The decsions being made today by govrnment officials ought to be founded on today's available information and not on the thinking of by gone party leaders however right they may sem tohave been at one time. The leaders of our nation have not been entirely correct, othewise we would not have many of he problems we must deal with today.

Modern political thought and action must deal with today and tomorrow and less with the past than we seem to want to force to do.

The time is now.

A.L.M. August 16, 2003 [c522wds]

 
REVELANCY

So often what we want to do is judged to be "irrelevant" by others.

That takes some of the enjoyment out of living, I feel, and notice, if you will, please, that I said "living", because the day-to-day activities in which we engage go to make up the totality of "life".

If we don't enjoy it as we go along, much of it is a worthless accumulation of nothing but what we had to do rather than goals we anticipated and looked forward to doing.

"Take time," the old saying tells us. "to smell the roses." That's a good guideline to happiness I would say, but there are those among us who look at this simple act as being of silly and romantic - a waste of valuable time which could better be spent - well, planting more roses, for instance, without any conscious intent of enjoying what you are doing.

The idea that "someone's gotta do it!" is not valid reason for taking on a task, I'd say. We should make it a point to be happy with what we are doing - even the fulfillment of those daily requirements forced upon us by circumstances - such as household chores and office routines.

If there ever was a man who, during his lifetime, was given a good look at the pattern of his life, Alfred Noble, the Swedish scientist and inventor. He open up the newspaper one morning to read the obituary of his younger brother who had been killed in an explosion. To his amazement, he found himself reading his own obituary because the Editor had confused his biography with that of his younger brother. In his obituary notice Noble found he was acclaimed as "the merchant of death!" because he had invented dynamite.


Alfred Nobel set out to change that horrible memory because he had always been a person who took great joy and satisfaction in helping people. His experiments with explosives were done, primarily, to advance mankind's well-being. It was his "Dynamite" that made the digging of tunnels under the Alps possible, as well as score or more of other achievements. The fact that Man has misused the inventions he discovered to conduct war - which he had long hated and scorned - was not his fault.

Nobel, from that point on, made it one of the joys of his daily living to give his wealth to the advancement of mankind, not only in the Sciences and the Arts, but to world-wide Peace for all mankind. His real obituary, years later, spoke of him as the founder of the Noble Peace Prize. He was revered, too, as the man who found a way to make the use of highly volatile nitro-glycerin safer for man (which he named "Dynamite") to use in construction work as well as devising a score of more of other inventions which helped mankind in many ways. He went right on experimenting - often in danger - because he was doing what he enjoyed doing - however irrelevant it must have seemed to many of his critics in his own day.

A.L.M. August 14, 2003 [c554wds]

 

R.D.A.

I have long wondered about who sets the standards on diet charts and labels for the average daily requirements.

The Recommended Daily allowances seem to vary a great deal from product line to product line, and I have often speculated concerning how those figures have evolved. I have assumed they are used with the approval of some governmental agency, and that, come to think of it, may be one of my concerns.

Are they the result of serious studies by specialists in nutrition or are they, for the most part, the creation of someone as nebulous as "Betty Crocker" propounded at the bidding of a manufacturer whose wishes to sell more and more of his particular food product. He, as do many others, seems to think of such recommendations as a form of "Quality Control" for making sure his product will continue to sell. That terms scares some people who learned long ago in other areas that quality control doesn't mean what the word say - not exactly. Far to often “quality control” means adjusting the quality of the product to assure maximum profit with least expense.

I think we all agree that good health results from good nutrition. It would seem that good nutrition, then, would start with plans that seek a balanced diet - and a regular pay check should accompany such plans because good food does not come cheap these days. Imitations and substitutes, however, are plentiful and often "bargain" priced. Some are little more than "look alikes", however, so they prove to be more expensive in the long run than authentic products. Too many fad foods are being fed families these days and we fall for a lot of nutritional flapdoodle on TV and in print and here on the Internet, I'm sure.

Who and what is "average", for instance?

Food is probably the one aspect of living in which people express themselves individually than any other. If you "don't like it", you won't eat it. If you do like it, you, more than likely, overdo it, and at the expense of another, more-needed food.

Food fads are one of the most costly aspects of modern living, I would say. They tend to undermine the health of so many people who need far
better nutrition on a daily basis.

The RDA ratings you read on product packages are supposed to be divided into eighteen groups based on gender, age, and current condition of individuals - such as lactating females. In general. the "average" is set for ages 19-51, so anyone under 19 or over 51 is on his own. If good nutritional habits have not been established long before age nineteen, then fewer will live to worry about their nutritional standings many years after age fifty-one studies tell us.

Toxic levels do exist in many trace elements found in certain foods - copper, manganese, fluoride, chromium and molybdenum - among them - and few of us know one from the other in "planning" our diets for best nutrition. Everyone likes to talk about Vitamins, but few know that four are fat soluble – A, Z , E and K. Nine other vitamins are water soluble and there are fourteen minerals so this is not an area for guessing. It might be wise to take many of the printed "Recommended Daily Allowance" - with a grain of salt.

But, then, that's yet another food concern with many people, isn't it!

Skip that mention, but do try to give a bit more attention to the nutritional values of the foods you eat. Hark back to that “under 19 and over 51” group mentioned above. That's the “do--it-yourself” group.

You are chart free and on your own.

A..L.M., August 14, 2003 [c641wds]

 
CALIFORNIA CHURNING

The present oleo of potential candidates for the Governor's hot seat is a situation we seldom see.

` I have not been able to keep up with the official tally of who or how many people have declared themselves to be in line to share in any spoils from the unusual “Recall Election” to be held next month. It seems to have started off suddenly with around one hundred and thirty-eight candidates entered the race at once. I heard one such tally this afternoon which sets the number as “approaching three hundred” today. Certainly, there can't be that many crazies loose out there! The more reasonable count seems to have steadied at about 135 which is far to many. Is such an accumulation of that many “parties” indicative of the nature of fragmented political views in the state? Over fifty of them are said to be Democrats, which does not bode well for the present Governor.

I wonder what leads a person to seek such an office. Some must see it as a civic duty in a sense. By this time, aspirants have certainly had an opportunity to find out what some of the major problems might. In addition to have a state debt which is in excess of the billions owed by entire nations!
The state has been losing around 700,000 residents per month , too - even while total population rises at a much higher rate from legal, illegal and other types of immigration – each with built-in problems.

I doubt if many potential leaders is entered because of story book ideas about the honor of holding the office. What about a desire for power?
Few would be able to detail how it seems to be that so many politicians can acquire impressive wealth in office; they do understand, however, lesser elements of power in regard to paybacks and obligations.

This melee in California has overshadowed some of the news concerning that contests for presidential nominations. Maybe this is a welcomed respite for the Oval Office seekers and for all us ...a short vacation from the ongoing recriminations, which started so early.

One name seems to be leading all others. Polls today set Arnold Schwartzenegger's rating at 76 per-per cent. That leaves precious little for several hundred others.

A.L.M. August 13, 2003 [c395wds]

 
FROM THE OTHER SIDE

Business firms, in recent years, have extended to customers a far greater assurance of service and repair on products they buy. That's good. I know, for a fact, however, that it can only mean more trouble for the other side.

I don't brag about having done so, but I did, for a brief time, sit at the Customer Relations desk in a major industrial plant. Customer Relations, was more varied and much more complex because it was new company founded on the remains of several much older lines. I was moved into the slot when the older man who had been doing the job of many years, suffered medical problems. I undertook the assignment on a temporary basis, I know now, why he drank too much every night when he got away from his office, made it to his club bar, then home. I learned a lot great deal about others and about myself in those weeks I attempted to fill his well-worn, over-sized shoes.

Here, chosen at random, are a few examples of what someone on the others side:

1. Letter: I have just bought this house There is a big box in the basement which has your name on it. How do I start it, so I can use it?” It turned out to be part of an old air-conditioning system.

2.Letter: “I bought one of your furnaces in 1955”- a page of praise - then: “but it doesn't seem to heat as well as it did when it was new. Thank you.”

3. Letter:: List of woes. Never mentions Model, mode or name of unit - gas?,coal?, oil? solar or nuclear? Would not tell me his name except for his signature - 'Randy ' with a series of loops becoming a line. No address, no phone number.

4.Letter: Profane, nasty, threatening, dramatic – from a person who believes going right to the top! The letter was dictated to a secretary and addressed to the President of the Company The letterhead, checked back through our rep in that area drew a reply: “Noisy nut. He's a chronic complainer He's the type of guy who yells insults at the pop corn man if the movie is lousy!”

If you ever feel the urge to express your feelings to a company about a product of theirs, try to get - and to give - the correct address. Be serious. Be factual, and don't bark unless you are prepared to bite. Be sure your records are correct. Check all warranty lingo. Customer Relations people handles a host of honest cases and, for the most part, they do it well. Both sides need to be pleasant but firm.

A.L.M. August 12, 2003 [c455wds]

 
PRIMARY CONCERNS

I have never been an enthusiastic supporter of the political primaries which are so routinely held prior to elections. Ostensibly, the system is designed to ferret out the one person deigned to be the very best, most qualified, most capable individual possible. Once designated as such, they are, then, anointed by party officials to be the party’s official entry in the election race just ahead.

I have repeatedly been told that the primary system prevents the presidential candidates from being “named” by a bunch of party cronies in a smoke-filled back room. The plan is said to be very democratic, as we say, allowing the general public to have a say in the choice to be made. It is supposed to remove the danger of our future leader being named by a narrow group of party hacks, but I think it falls apart on such nomenclature as that alone.

A like circumstance: If you want to know which horse of several in your stable to run in a race at the tracks, you seek the viewpoint of trainers, jockeys and handlers rather than that of touts, other owners or outright fortune telling freaks. You don’t ask the possible betters; you don’ t quiz the busy homemaker, or ask the person who does not know one end of a horse from the other.

The individuals who make any kind of showing at the earlier primaries such as those in New Hampshire and Iowa, the ones who most nearly toe the party line, cause caucus groups to get together which comes about as near as one might get to being “party hacks” converging in air-conditioned rather than smoke-filled rooms. We may call them “political activists” now-a-days and they now come in all shade, sizes, colors - and in all degrees from right to left, and with seemingly different tendencies and temperaments. All run on the same narrow-gauged track, however.

I fail to see the plan as being even a modest improvement on a system which allows a political party to simply designate the individual they choose to run on their behalf.

The rather weird manifestations taking place in a Recall Election in the State of California this year will serve as a valued guide to future elections. It will show “how to do it”,and “how not to do it” as well, I'm sure. Our primaries do somewhat the same. The media has reported anywhere from “138 to 328” as having registered to run for Governor of the Golden State but the only one named in the news seems to be someone named “Arnold”. See what happens when the public holds a popularity poll?

Our entire primary system is suspect to me.

A.L.M. August 11, 2003 [c480wds]

 
TANTRUM TIME

You probably never had to wonder very long to realize how the shelves in grocery stores are stacked in patterns as traps for parents with small children.

They also serve as a convenient, foolproof study areas for anyone observing parental control of such children. Nowhere else provides such natural, uncluttered lab conditions for a student to observe parental reactions to their children's ways of showing defiance and setting their rules of independent choice.

Be it by sheer chance, or by devious connivance by management and shelf stockers, the most colorful, slowest-moving, or most costly and hence, more profitable items such as certain dry cereals are always placed in abundance at a small child's eye or stoop level.

Bundles of woe await any parents who walk into such a commercial trap with a child meandering ahead of their shopping cart down the fascinating lanes of canned, boxed, bottled or packaged foodstuffs.

It usually starts rather naturally. The child sees a particular product he or she knows and gathers one or more close and runs to the parents for it to be put in the cart. This is the exact moment of crisis in their young lives but it is amazing how many parents do not see it as a tragic act at the time. If that initial item of childish choice is accepted by the parent and placed in the cart, they have, at that very moment, unleashed a torrent of trouble.

One of life's most most worts scenes occurs right in the public market place with scores of people appearing out of nowhere to watch and listen. Outright rebellion takes place with a screaming, twisting child seemingly being beaten into submission by vengeful monster of a mother or father. The child is, usually, seen to be playing to the growing audience, and among them will most certainly one or more who will report the encounter to the authorities. The young couple will become gossip circle victims as child beaters, potential molesters or worse.

Before parents take small children shopping with them is is wise to teach them that one does not touch, certainly not handle, anything which does not belong to them. Teach them the items in the store e belong to the store 's owner. stare owner. I have often felt sorry for distraught mother's who were in such a situation. When stores were entirely different years ago, the chances of such a thing happening were rare.

I some times have blamed part of it on a wonderful food stores which came to our small southwest Virginia town in 1926. when they expanding from their home area of Memphis, TN. Clarance Saunders, the founder of the chain of food stores called Piggley Wiggley had devised anew shopping system 1916 which allowed self-service shopping to become a reality. One entered the shopping area itself though a turnstile and picked up a bag or basket in which to put selections. You then zigged or zagged the length of the store several times between aisles of foods and you selected the items you wanted. With a final zag you arrived at the checkout counter where you paid for the items selected.

The stores called Piggley Wiggley still prosper, I understand in the Midwest, but I wonder if they still have the unique floor plan that made food shopping such a family pleasure for us many years ago.

I hope the distraught mothers and suffering children are a thing of the past as well.


A.L.M. August 9, 2003 [c578wds]

 
BEST GIFT

What is the best gift your can give to a young man?

Sir William Osler said the finest gift you can present to any young man is the gift of friendship.

That sounds a bit corny now in our time. It's true, however. A young man on his way up, seeks your approval for what he wants to do. He, if he has a gumption, at all doesn't seek guidance in a mentor sense at all. In fact, he - perhaps unwittingly - may even resent your attempts to offer financial aid, favors, or power influence of a social nature. Your friendly understanding and approval of those steps he has taken, or plans to take concerning his future is what he wants most over all others. You can't give any better gift than that of the desired and much-needed gift of sincere friendship.

Sir William Osler was at the peak of his sensational medical career in May of 1905 when he may have been at the point at which the especially realized how he had made it to that point and came to know how important they had been to his success. In 1893 he had identified those blood cells we now call platelets which revolutionized the studies of blood and related conditions. He advanced steadily into a wider view and appreciation of what medical service to Mankind might be for eager, capable, studious young men and women. He related easily, it appears, to those in their teens and even more so to young people of college age - both boys and girls.

The actual gifts we, following Olser's example, can give to young people is varied.

Be communicative, for example. Talk with young people rather that at or to them. Listen to what they have to say and evaluate it your own mind without, necessarily, making it obvious that you see some flaws therein. They too will, in time, see those same flaws without you having pointed them out as misjudgments and potential hazards .They will, thus, discover for themselves how they can overcome such fears and false steps without your intervention. It a like situation arises again” They have “been there-done that”. At the same time, use your good judgment should dangers continue. Last-minute rescues can be a true test of sincere friendships.

Teach young people to have “a gift of gab”... the ability to talk with each other, and with older people in a loose, informal, congenial manner without staid, formal rules obscuring innovative thought and action.

Remember , too, that - like it or or not - you are a model for them. Good or bad. You are one or the other. Check your own standing from time to time to make sure you continue to a worthy template of which that young person may base his life.

The cardinal rule is said “to make a friend,you have to be one.” It can be given and received a one and the same time. The basis of a friendship is being interested, concerned, loving and caring all the way.

“In the life of a young man the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” Sir William Osler, Canadian doctor. May 2, 1905.

Wise words.

A.L.M. August 8, 2003 [c549wds]

 
MAYBE, PERHAPS AND IF

Is it time for a woman to be elected as President of the United States?

In our present era of re-definitions concerning who may do what in religious and temporal offices, the subject keeps coming up, I find. And I also notice, more people seem to be asking “when”, rather than “why” or “why not?”

This has been brought about by the fact that we have recently had more women who are showing distinct and deliberate interest in becoming “that” person.

If I were betting on it, I would say “no” - we will not see a woman in the oval office for some time. We are not quite ready, I'd say in a “grass roots sense “ whatever that term may mean to you and you. It will be achieved, in time, because there is, to me, no sound no reason why the office should be keep for males only. Many nations have had their Queens, Empresses, Presidents, Premiers, Prime Ministers and have done well in such times.

We can see a gradual progression toward such a climate. The word is now “when” and no longer “if”.

It is made more urgent with some recent addition to the potential troop of men who are seeking to be the nominee of the Democratic Party.

I still expect Hillary Clinton to seek the nomination of next years election. To me, it is a “now or never” situation. The impetus of her attainments to this time will not endure for four additional years. Much depends, for instance, on how the assistance being offered by the Clinton team to the beleaguered California “Recall Election” procedures works out. Notice, too, how many legislative bills Hillary Clinton has co-sponsored as a Senator. These are “back scratching” arrangements with each of them, and they number far in excess of the usual few and in a wide gamut, as well.

One might think the confusion caused by the complex movements the herd of Democratic hopefuls, could work to Clinton's advantage. It can. If Democrats come to see a Dean ticket as being too weak, she can rush in to “save the party” from possible extinction. Now, with an urgent tendency toward variety, the party could become even more fragmented and lose its overall identity with voters. “One size fits all” may work with some clothing items but not with political parties.

When a Democrat has to be as as a special breed of Democrat - "Kennedy“ “Old,” “Clinton”, “LBJ”, “North”, “South”, “East”,”West” or “Civil Rights” Democrat ... something vital has been lost. I have a feeling the so-called “Black Vote” has changed more than we realize, especially in non-metro areas.

The “If” elements seem to be in control; the “Perhaps” opinions are beginning to make sense and the “Maybe” factors more eager to become real. We shall see... and soon.


A.L.M. August 9, 2003 [c496wds]

 
SCARS

We my be able to cover and care for the wound and bring the tissues back to a reasonable state of health, but we cannot always prevent the formation of a scar to remind us of the injury.

The same is true of so many of the disappointments and tragedies and disappointments of our lives. We can forget the spate of school killings which haunted us for months in 1999, or the September 11th attacks and the Beltway shootings - and far too many other such event in our individual lives.

At times one might think they had best be left alone, at least for a time, until the horror elements fade a bit. It is difficult to see how regular re-runs of all the details can help survivors in any way.

It is done, very often, with a pretense of finding out what “really happened”. At least that is the reason I hear so often when by-gone events are being brought to the forefront again by TV, radio or the print media. Such actions can,if done thoughtlessly, destroy the confidence we have in our legal procedure and to suggest that something was amiss which ought to be set straight.

Sometimes I feel the real reason we tend to revive such events, is that we have never been convinced of “why" it all happened as it did. The element of “why ”is the spur to continued investigation. We examine the record and find nothing new. The big question mark looms through the fog: Why?

There is an unknowable quality there which we wonder about. The ancient religious person performed a mikvah - a purification bath - to remove such stains and scars, and a re-telling haunting events may help some individuals feel better about the past. If it helps them build for a better future - fine, but if it leaves them still in doubt it can lead only to ultimate despair.

Too often, the scar remains.

A..L.M. August 5, 2003 [c328wds]

 
RIGHT NOW!

It has become acceptable in our present system of “eternity” elections for political candidates to start running for reelection as soon as the get in. By the time election day itself actually arrives, many of us are sated with statements explaining what has not been done.

Next years presidential election started far too soon for us to maintain any sort of impetus until election day arrives. Everything to be said will have been repeated many times over, edited, re-worded, reclassified or denied far in excess of normal TV, press, radio and Internet capabilities. About all that's left is outdoor advertising which points to the physical location of the polls. We are rapidly coming to the point of asking: ”Who cares?”

Lack of attendance at the voting booths might well be tied to this lagging interest in elections as they wander along through months of bickering and badgering. Shorter runs might save some money and get more voters to the polls. An average voter is not going to sustain praise for his candidate for such a long time.

England is among those nations which have shorter runs for the political roses, or whatever may be at stake. Their's is more of a “race” and stronger interest is created over a shorter time span. Our elongated election periods not only give the citizen a better chance to really get to know the candidates as set forth. In some cases they come to know too much about specific office seekers ambitions and become either connivers or quitters. We have an average of around twenty-per cent of our qualified voters who actually vote. That is not good.

Thus far, the field has been one made up largely of Democratic party runners. The incumbent seems rather secure, but the lines of potential spoilers seems to increase ever week. Even if we still get a few “Johnny-Come-Lately” aspirants, they will still be in time to get in on the 2104 elections. A fresh face, a strong personality, a well-known name, or a well-financed campaign could well work some last-minute wonders for the Democratic Party.

Both major parties need to work toward some positive ways in which voter participation can be improved. Shorter campaigns with more intense activity, may well be the answer. Active “politicking” does not appeal to a great many people who wish to be less demonstrative and more discreet about likes and dislikes. Moral values play a far greater role in our elections than some experts seem to feel they do. Such feelings are intensified by long periods for discussion. A short campaign period would help allay many such feelings - real or imaginary.

.A.L.M. Aug. 3, 2003 [c413wds]

 
ASC#2 - WE SING THE SONG

The old ballad is officially listed as Child #201, in case your wish to check out other versions.

It is titled: “The Twa Lassies”,or “Bessie Bell and Mary Gray”andit came to the Shenandoah Valley from Scotland by way of Ireland the early 1730's tells the story of two young girls who, to escape the ravages of the deadly plague sweeping their homeland in the year of 1645. The two girls placed themselves in voluntary quarentine near the crest of a large hill...a "'mountain"' in some tellings, where they build a hut in which to live.

Food was brought to them by a village lad who left the supplies nearby without contacting them in any way.

Most of the ballad has been los. .We have two fragments...the first verse and part of the concluding one.

You must translate rather freely for their version of our mutuaL language was somewhat different from our usage today.

“O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray!
They were twa bonnie lasses.
They biggit a bower on yon Burn-Brae,
And theekit it ower wi' rashes.
They theekit it ower wi' rashes green.
They happit it round wi' heather;
But the pest cam' frae the burrows-toun,
A slew them baith thegither.”

We have lost the melody to which the ballad was sung, of course, but fit one to it on your own and sing those words as best you can.word. They will begin to clarify themselves with familiarity. Bonnie becomes pretty;, biggit becomes built;...teekit become thicken or cover; rashes are rushes; happit equals some form of decorate and pest means pestilence. Borrows and towns are not unfamiliar ...the died both together. Let it all flow naturally and you will be ready for the final verse - the only other portion of the old song which has endured.

“They thought to lie in Methven Kirk,
Beside their gentle kin;
But they maun lie in Dronach Haugh,
And beak fornent the sin.
O Bessie Bell and May Gray!
They biggit a bower on yon BurnBrae,
An theekit it ower wi' rashes.
They theekit it ower wi”rashs green.
The happit ut riound wi' heather;
But the pest cam' frae the burrows- taun,
An' skew them baith thegither.”

Remember, this is the last verse of the old song. The girls, it seems, would have wanted to be buried in the area churchyard, but that was not to be. The strange line ”and beak fornent the sin.” seems to explain why hey were buried on the hillside where they died. I have yet to find anyone who can translate that line.

In time, we will look at the site and situation as it exists today. The two girls have not been forgotten. The twin hills at Staunton,Virginia are memorials and two identical hills exist in Tyrone County, Ireland - so named by Scot immigrants to Ireland before their passage to America. If you like, we will talk about them at another time.


A.L.M. August 5, 2003 [c542wds]

 

 
TWA BONNIE LASSIES (ASC #1)*

Have you ever wondered what the early settlers here in this Shenandoah Valley of Virginia did to entertain themselves?

It was self-made; you can count on that. And,there must have been a great deal of singing at times.

We have fragments of one Scottish ballad which, by way of Ireland, reached these shores and welled up from the hearts and souls of the first Irish to come into the Valley. They remembered their homeland and its traditions and tales and rephrase them to suit their need. In a sense, it was sung, were other such ballads, not only to treasure and sustain stories of love and romance or of adventure and danger but for comfort found in familiarity. These people, around 1730, faced the a wilderness in a very real sense, and they sustained themselves and each other by recounting memories of attainments and courageous actions in their past.

You can “see” this particular song I mentioned every time you visit Staunton, Virginia - in its early days known as Beverley's Mill Place. It was, at that time, about nine miles south of Augusta Meeting House on the Old Indian Trail. You “see” the song in the form of two dominant hills - ”mountains” to some folks. In time, you will come to know them by their proper names: “Betsy Bell” and “Mary Gray”.

There is a local story saying that the hills were named after two girls from the settlements killed by Indians, but there seems to be little truth in the tale because Indian raids did not become common until some years later.

The song itself was almost lost to us. We have only the first and last verses.

We sometimes forget the languages of our forebears was unlike our own in many ways, so much so that even these fragments need some translation. They will, however, easily come to have meaning for you if you just relax and let it all flow....

“O Bessie Bell and Mary Gray
They were two bonnie lasses ....”

Notice, we prefer the old Scottish selling the first name: Bessie Bell, rather than the harsher, clipped “Betsy”. It was Bessie in the old song.

The were real girls. Tradition holds they were pretty (“bonnie”) young girls, as well. The names are of Scottish origin and records indicate Mary Gray's father was Laird of Lednoch – sometimes spelled as “Lyndocks”. Bessie Bell's father was Laird of Kinvaid.

An intimate friendship sprang up between the two young girls and when Bessie was visiting Mary in her home – the year would have been 1645, the terror known as “The Plague”struck the neighborhood. In an attempt to escape the pestilence, the two girls went into seclusion. The constructed a hut
or, bower, for themselves on a hill near Lednoch House and lived there ,in quarantine, for some time. They covered their bower all over with rushes, green reeds and decorated it with heather.

But the plague raged on in great fury,and a young man who loved both - his name lost forever with the missing verses of the song - brought them – and also- in time – the plague as well!

Next: ASC#2* - ”WE SING THE SONG.” - a closer look at the old ballad itself. his will be the second a series of essays titled ASC dealing, in some way, with the history of Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, of Fort Defiance,Virginia.

A.L.M. August 4, 2003 [c608wds]

 
THE LOWLY RAT

The common rat - in a variety of sizes – has been universally detested and hated by mankind. Yet, this basic beast has serve us well in many ways - actually saved human lives as well as having brought about the death of many.

The steady use of the rat as a helper has been because the laboratory rat studies which are intended to improve the physical condition of Man can be carried on over several generations of rats. Comparative figures concerning body functions and reactions in various bodily structures can be studied in a readily accessible form. The role of the rat has been largely a passive one. All the rat usually has had to do is to be present.


His newest job, however , has been a bit more demanding.

Tested under discreetly “fenced” conditions, it has been found that rats – trained to do so - can sniff out buried land mines. The breed of rats selected is one which learns quickly and retains much of what is has been taught. It retains enough procedural knowledge to enable it to seek out the exact locations of deadly mines.

Initial shipments such rats were sent to Africa for field testing under actual combat conditions. In the controlled tests the questing rodent was “turned loose”on a light leash, to go seeking the scent of the mine over a set are. They are trained to sit when they find such a scent. The spot is then marked with paint spray and the rat is fed a reward. He will eagerly search for other such locations to merit additional food treats.

The rat is even more suited to this mine sniffing task than dogs trained in the same way. They are smaller, lighter and can be transported with greater ease and fr greater numbers if needed. The life span of a rat, though shorter than that of some dogs used in such work, shortens their usefulness, but the rat is better suited to the task because of his special special sense of smell. The rat's sense of is higher developed because his entire life depends on it this ability. It is his natural way of seeking food. in common with the squirrel, perhaps, which goes around all summer burying nuts and seeds. He has no knowledge of where he puts them and when winter comes he has to go sniffing all over the area again to locate his hidden stores ...or those hidden by other squirrels. The mine sniffing project puts the natural instinct of the rat to good use.

Feel sorry for the rat? Is this cruel treatment of animals? Far less, one might say, than lab work done on thousands of rats. The rat does not like the explosive materials as food, so he does not attempt to dig up the land min he has found. None knows, for sure, how the rats will act under broader conditions. Trainers are pretty sure that if a rat is released on its own on more than an acre or so of land, he or she will wander off and be lost, so a thin wire leash must be used, at least to start with, in field operations which are supposed have been started by this time.

Watch the news for the role of the rat. His work may well go unreported.


A.L.M.. August 2, 2003 [c497wds]

 
SHARE THE HEALTH


Today, be the unusual person you are!

You are unique, even if you don't claim to be. You are, in many ways set apart from all others.

And if you enjoy good health you are especially blessed.

If, perchance, you have been very ill, you know how valued good health can be. To keep it, learn to share it with others.

Did I just hear you say.... “that can't be done?”

It can.. And, very easily, too.

To start with, let your happiness show. If you have good health you can smile if you choose to do so, or you withdraw into a corner and smugly make believe you can hide it. Happiness cannot be hidden. It will out, in spite of everything one might attempt to confute it.

So - let your happiness show! You cannot be other than happy if you have wellness or major portion thereof. To be in good health simply means that the physical mechanisms of your body are in sync - physical, mental and emotional parts... all working together with ease and assurance. Isn't happiness pretty much the same as that. at emotional and mental levels?

Listen for that tiny note of hope in their voices! Be ready to see the glint or faint glimmer in their eyes agreeing that much is right with this World.

For the good of all - share the Health!

A.L.M. August 2, 2003 [c251wds]

 
WORTH SOME SECOND THOUGHTS

“I believe that the Lord doesn't necessarily call only those who are qualified, but he qualifies those who are called.”

That a quote from Jim Bishop's column “Bishop's Mantle” Daily News-Record , Harrisonburg, Va.. May 17, 2003 sharing the emotional impact on him when his Uncle Phillip Dayton because an ordained minister of the Mennonite Church at the small Pinto congregation church located on the the shores of the Potomac River just off of Route 220.

Bishop's grandfather had served as pastor of that church from the year of his ordination in 1830 until his death in 1953, so the naming of his Uncle Phillip to take over the post was a special moment for the newspaper columnist and radio personality in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia area had special meaning and importance. He wrote about that feeling in his weekly column and I clipped it at the time. I see it as recommended reading.

The premise that the column sets forth was applied directly to a religious placement of people, but I keep seeing it as also being true concerning the choices we make in our elections which place specific men and women in particular jobs. We choose a candidate to fill an established place. We expect great things of them most of the time, and yet one man is hardly ever so expertly qualified to be the miracle worker to bring about such a varied host of dreams and plans. We are, at times, too demanding , I am sure. Yet, amazingly that person often “blooms” under stress, as it seems, and accomplishes commendable work. Thinking about it make me realize that it often just as Jim Bishop says. They are “empowered” after they have been chosen as leaders rather than before.

When we go to the narrow confines of the voting booth and are there alone with the forms or the machines needed, we need to realize the fact exists that we re there seeking some one capable of becoming a leader for us and our locality, state or nation. We are looking for individuals who have the basic comprehension of the need of mankind at heart; someone who understands the underlying principles upon which our government is founded and someone who can be appreciate the importance of working with others even contending with those who have divergent views when necessary.

We might find it wise to think about such a thing when we go to the polls to favor a man or a woman. It is most important that we consider how vital qualities which suggest the nature of a truly good person - someone who can lead and learn. A political candidate who is presented as the perfected product may well prove to be a veneered creation with all sorts of cognitive enhancements being used to make him or her seem to be genuine. That can be risky, at best.

Chose the person or person whom you feel might become what you hope they will be,rather than one who claims to be at that pinnacle of attainment.

Very often it is just as Jim Bishop says: the Lord “qualifies those whom he calls.”


A L.M. August 1, 2003 [c549wds]

 
GOING WITH THE WIND

What's wrong? We have been talking about generating electrical power in quantity and less expensively by making use of Nature's forceful winds from when I was a kid, and that wasn't just the day before yesterday ,either.

There's a crosswind in the system somewhere. I, from time to time, come across account of the construction of a new “wind farm” - as they are now cutely called. In each story everything is coming along well and we are on the breezy edge of totally new era of power creation . We usually get a few picture in the Sunday supplements, a time-filler on TV and stories on computer news. That all goes on heavily for a month or so - about the time the latest project is to be completed and placed on line - and the whole thing seems to disappear. It does not slowly fade away away,either. It goes away suddenly completely!

The fact that we do not hear a bragging sequence concerning them suggests they have been a failure. The mere fact builders fail to follow up with selling statistics indicates they have been less successful than expected. If so, I, for one, want to hear about what has happened – both good and bad.

One reason so few people seem to b e interesting in power from wind driven blades, is that the concept seems old-fashioned. The old windmills we saw on farms all over the place were adapted to their use in pumping water, primarily. So, remembering hundred of such towers having been re-assigned the task of holding up TV antennae, they think of system as antiquated, dated and inefficient,old, creaky and unworthy suggestion for our time and effort.

In some areas environmentalists have been aroused who object to whatever might alter the habitat in any way, major or minor. To the combative Econut all such towers are “ugly”; to others a series of them, sweeping gracefully across the top of a mountain ridge, or out over the expanse of a body of water, can be an artistic thing we can admire and be proud of having created.

Other conditions which may exist and which I would like to know about. Is economy rally a value of the wind system?. What about reports I hear of heavy loses of power in the transmission of power back to where it is needed? Is that a major factor of special concern? The stance of federal, state and governments, too, may well be handicapping the drive toward economical wind sources in some areas. If so let's slap few political hands here and there and and awaken our put-off pols to additional paths of power for us all.

Mother Nature is not going to do her generous handout on fossil fuels forever. We had best make adjustments to assure that we will have electrical power sources in the future when Mama Naturalle cries “Enough! No more!”

A.L.M. July 30, 2003 [c494wds]

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