Saturday, March 01, 2003
WHAT NEXT?
When a school system indicates that about one-third of the enrollment in the lower grades of the system is of foreign backgrounds, what, then, is the next logical step needed to be undertaken by that system's officials?
This is a special problem. Not only is it "real" and something we must face up to, but it demands new and wider assessments of our our social consciousness, as well. It is challenging in new way for many people. It is not fabricated so we can have something to write and to talk about. It is a problem which the community must face and it will call for some innovative thinking, planning and management along the way. Action is called for now. Prompt attention to this sudden, sharply increased need is imperative.
A check of background facts shows that the community has actually imported around three thousand or more adults workers in the past year. It has been done to meet local employment openings, primarily in the areas poultry industry, and many of these immigrants either have families or relatives have joined them here. Others have been brought into the United States by church and civic groups concerned with pressing humanitarian problems around the world. It is possible that some many well be in the country without legal authorization, but the truth is they are here and welcomed by large segments of our social order it is unlikely they will be expelled en maze. One can safely say that because such token deportation efforts as are intermittently undertaken have proved to be dismal at best.
It is a matter of increasing urgency for us to become concerned with the problem as it exists today and as it may well become even more complex in the near future. We need to deal with facts, too, rather than convenient theory which can often be contrived to smooth things over for a time. This is a problem which is not going to go away of itself.
An initial, and primary concern, must be about languages. These children are from homes in our area where the total of commonly used household language by parents and relatives adds up to an impressive thirty-eight different – including some dialect variations which might be puzzling to a small child.
It is apparent at once that this as a great challenge in itself. It is not just a matter of providing some extra Spanish-English studies along the way, for instance, but a complete needs for far more than what may be considered “adequate” by many. If the education of these new children - and our own – to be be successful, then there must also be a comparable effort made in adult education as well. To provided an English-speaking atmosphere for a child by day and hen send him or her home where the native tongue is the sole means of communication can only intensify existing difficulties.
At escape for far too many of us is to see to it that our church, or some church in the area, offers services in Spanish or Korean or whatever language might be needed, at least once a week. Commendable as that project may seem to be, it often does more harm than good by increasing the need for temporary crutches by the child attempting to more forward in his new world on his own. It also isolates the adults from community life and citizenship associations, which is not good for the adult or the child. Merely added the words “Se habla Espanoll” to a firm's radio or TV spots, or in printed material, may increase local business with that segment of the strangers among us for the moment, but, in the long term, it can prove to be crippling.
We are currently ignoring the great opportunity we have to teach our own children foreign languages and culture. Our youngsters can learn foreign tongues from their peers.. from children of heir own age who are also eager to share and to teach as well as to learn if given he chance to do so. What an opportunity we have? This is something which needs new, adult, and strong innovative leadership urgently.
A.L.M. February 26. 2003 [c708wds]
Friday, February 28, 2003
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]
Thursday, February 27, 2003
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]
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
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]
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
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]
Monday, February 24, 2003
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]
Sunday, February 23, 2003
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]
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