Saturday, August 23, 2003
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]
Friday, August 22, 2003
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]
Thursday, August 21, 2003
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]
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
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]
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
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]
Monday, August 18, 2003
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]
Sunday, August 17, 2003
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]
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