Saturday, November 15, 2003
MIDWAY MAYBE?
Can the terms “casual”and “formal” be blended in some way?
The makers and marketers of men's suits report a modest rise in the movement of men's suits in the work-a-day world. One source of that observation credits George W. Bush with re-establishing a mood of formality in our general business affairs. Others,of course, blame him for doing so. One major Wall Street firm has quietly issued an order saying that all male employees with return to wearing suits as in days of yore. The student body of the University I attended before World War II required coat and tie at all times – both winter and summer. When I returned to school after the war, the G..,I.. was both credited and blamed for changing that mode of dress. We went from formal to floppy.
By that time, however, I had grown used to wearing a suit or slacks and sports coat and to this day I don't feel “right” without a coat, necktie and I have even worn cowboy bolo strings to so I can have a feeling that something is where a tie should be. Yet, in spite of it all, I like casual wear when it is suitable.
A slovenly dressed person at the store counter is not exactly an inducement for a customer to step up and inquire about a suit or tie. In some areas of the country is seems that the men and women often dress as if they are participating in some sort of contest to see who can put together the most outlandish outfit. I've seen some real “doozies”, too ...any one of which which seem to merit a First Prize.
For a time sweatshirts were the prevailing dress and just about every sentiment imaginable has been printed on them in full color back and front by the millions. That phase gave way to tea shirts.
Shoes demanded special attention from the start. For a time scruffy was sufficient but once canvas, plastics and foams took over there was no resemblance to shoes other than the fact that were attached to the bottom of feet as pads, stilts or weaponry. Thick, elongated laces were required and they were usually worn untied.
One of the most noticeable features of casual style in that era of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, will be the simple “baseball cap”a popular sport of the era. The curious thing about people wearing baseball caps is that most of them are worn backwards.. They seem to be be permanent, as well ..never removed regardless of the occasion. The long peaked brim at the usual front of the design is there to shade ones eyes from excessive light and it allows baseball pitchers to focus on a controlled area excluding others when pitching to cross the narrow home plate. There seems to be no ready explanation as to why so many people wear baseball caps backward as they squint at you in bright light. It has been said they are worn that way to prevent sunburn and people cannot call one “redneck”. It has also been said the reversed bill catches bird dropping prevents any false punctuation being accidentally added to the social statement printed on the back of your tea/sweat shirt.
A L.M. November 14. 2003 [c562wds]
Friday, November 14, 2003
50K TO STAY!
On the second day of December 1997 “down under”, the Sydney “Morning Herald” published it's fifty-thousandth edition.
Think of it! Anyway you choose to count it, that's a lot of newspapers. It started as a four-page paper on April 18, 1831.They printed seven-hundred-fifty copies.
In the anniversary edition of the paper – December 2, 1997 - the editors, in a special editorial comment which is worthy of repetition today as we look at the communications field in this 21st century.
'The newspaper,” the “Morning Herald” editors contends, “is the first draft of history and the last word on current affairs.”
As one who has worked in both the print side of journalism and in the radio/TV segments, I agree whole-heartedly with such an estimate of the enduring value of print journalism.
We have long needed a sound clarification of the potentially divisive condition in our mass communications system.. Each is essential. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Skillfully used, they can complement each other..
Remarkable strides have been made in the reporting of world news to and from extreme areas. Radio can do it faster, TV can do it with visual elements and but later as a rule, and the newspaper can print the story that evening or the next day in a “hard copy” form which can be read, re-read, re-printed and edited if new material becomes available.
There used to be a feeling among many newspaper people which urged them to leave the fast moving daily paper and buy a small town weekly paper whereon could take his own, sweet time reflecting on news events before commenting on their place and importance. There was a time when it was very worth while to skim the editorial comments of the weekly papers to know what was real and lasting for all of us in the news.
In time, the telephone, telegraph, films, radio and television brought changes to the field in general. A new dimension is now up and running with the advent of the computer. The entire procedure of producing a newspaper has been radically changed. The same can be said of radio, TV, even the small country weekly publication and magazines of every description.
The Sydney “Morning Herald” editorial is still “the first draft of history” especially as it is now augmented by the Internet editions of the paper which are becoming more and more standard. The outreach of the newspaper has been augment tremendously by Internet publication. Radio and TV make use of it, but it tends to erode some of their much-vaunted and sometimes abused claim of being: ”first.” Internet publication enables the daily newspapers, as “the holder of the “first draft of history” to be, at the same time, highly respected as the ultimate authority on current affairs with background and endless links to development.
Cash in on this wealth. Read several on-line newspapers every day!
A.L.M. November 12, 2003 [c487wds]
Thursday, November 13, 2003
IT'S ABOUT TIME
Finally, I hear some wise words in the news coverage concerning the antics of Yasher Arafat- head of the P.L O.
News reports this past week finally got around to mentioning the fact that Yasher has, during his tenure of the rather unsteady seat as head, Or chief mouthpiece, for the Palestinian Liberation movements, managed to pull together a personal fortune estimated to be worth several million dollars.
That's far too much to carry around in ones pockets, so he has it spread out in various Swiss and other banks in readily available locations. His wife and daughter manage to scrape through in Paris on an allowance said to be a bare thousand dollars a week. Yasher himself, has always lived in comfortable circumstances too, in spite of the for-show skimpiness of his work areas and transportation.
Some have called him the “Clown Prince of the Arabic world”. There is some truth to such a charge,too, and he has skillfully used this charm he has in a social sense to advantage in his relationships with other national leaders. He and President Bill Clinton appeared to be back-slapping buddies for a time. Other leaders,too, accepted his burnoosed presence among them with just a tinge of something akin to comic relief from the usual run of diplomatic personalities.
Some of Arafat's fine collection of coins of various realms actually are said to have come to him from Israel. When agreements were set up in the past to allow Palestinian workers to be employed in Israeli factories and offices, a tax was charged for that privilege. Said tax receipts money, records now clearly show, were paid - always - into Arafat's personal bank accounts.
All of this has been known for years, but someone somewhere has always held the belief that Arafat-head of the P.L.O. was “our only hope” to bring about a time of peace in the mid-east. Some still hold that he will, in some fantastic manner, pull it all off after all. For a time, we questioned his real power to control the violent fringe groups, but he gained new friends and support by a finely tuned pretense of showing that he was trying to bring the zealots to their senses. As usual, he was good at it and gained new ground with many at home and in the Arabic world.
Io me, it appears that the west has never quite realized that Yasher Arafat speaks with what has been called a deceitful, “forked tongue”. One half of the labial protrusion sends forth a subtle message of Hope, while the other half is spewing hate, suspicion and distrust of us among his own people throughout the Arabic world.
Double-talk time is at an end, perhaps.
A.L.M. November 12, 2003 [c472wds]
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
BY CHANCE
So often we read of great inventions and discoveries coming about by accident.
It does happen that way, of course, but if you feel you are of the inventive type, I don't believe it would be wise to sit around waiting for such a fortunate accident to happen in course life.
Inventing is hard work. Discovery comes from dreams and much anticipation of some special benefit to be achieve.
A number of caverns and less glamorous caves are said to have been discovered when a hunter noticed a rabbit which disappeared into a half-hidden hole on a brushy hillside. Upon investigation, he found a fantastic world of underground tourist bait ingredients carved by Mother Nature in the hulk of earth on which he stood.
Or, maybe you remember the story of the primitive man, said to have been in the area we now call France, many centuries ago, who sought refuge fro a heavy storm in a small cave. When the rain stopped, he hurried forth to find the prey he had been following. Later he realized he had left his lunch behind in the cave. When he re-visited the same cave weeks later,he found his lunch readily enough enough, and either he did not notice that the cheese had become blue and green with some streaks of mold though its body. In the shadowy darkness of and the cave he only knew his cheese tasted better than any chess he had ever tasted before! He saved a sample to take back to his village and from that time the villagers took their fresh cheese to the cave and left it there for weeks until it turned green and blue. The nearest town of any consequence to profit from the discovery was named Roquefort.
We have all hear stories of paint and pigment b e discovered by actual, mismanagement of standard experiment by lab workers the wrong ingredients at the right time to create a great new product. One such discovery was found because worked failed to clean a tank where another product had been stored. Slow dried - it had become a new product for the same company.
Even today we fail to make proper use of discoveries at times. As a child I remember hearing the story of a Chinese family who lost their small house to fire. Their only pig killed in the blaze and the owner picked up the remains of the pig too soon and the heat from the roasted pig and burned his finger tips. He put them hastily to his lips and tasted his first morsel of roast pig. He deemed to be very was good but it caused a problem. One by one, the other villagers started shutting pigs up in their houses and setting fire to them to get delicious pig meat.
We act pretty much the same way at times. Check the present cell phone craze, for example.
A.L.M. November 11, 2003 [c432wds]
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
NATURAL WAY
I am not one of those veterans who feels slighted because some people seem to celebrate each Veteran's Day with less and less enthusiasm.
They do not intend any disrespect. It's a normal reaction.
The really important thing about it all, and something all veterans should be aware of and be thinking about, is the obvious fact that we are raising a generation of young citizens who have little or no knowedge of our national history. Month after month we read of someone taking a survey or doing an "in-depth" - as opposed to a "shallow" study, I suppose, which some of them must be - which show, statistically, that our student population at all levels cannot give intelligent answers to many questions about the basics of our geographical locations or of our social and political history.
People do not observe Veteran's Day any more than they did with what it used to be called - "Armistice Day". That moment - 11 a.m., on the eleventh month of the year and on the eleventh day was very special to millions of Americans. That was in the 1920's, and perhaps into the edge of the '30's. That was set aside as a special day when - in memory of the signing an Armistice virtually ending World War I. Thoughful Americans paused for one, solomn minute whatever they were doing and refected on the sacrifices people had made on their behalf during "The Great War". Even then we still believed, as President Woodrow Wilson has said, it was the "war to end all wars."
In the 1930's because of increasing lines of stress and outright conflict, it became evident that such was not to be the case. World War II, in miniature sprang up in half a dozen places. Some were dress rehersals, you might call them, or field tests for new bombing techniques by air, new explosives and their proper uses, and logistical execises about the movment of large masses of mechanized fighting power. Even with such overt demonstrations by various nations "helping" one side or the other in the SpanIsh Civil War, we, here in America failed to see such warnings which some European nations seemed to understand.
We pretended such conditions did not exist, and a part of that sentiment developed because we were so intent for so long dwelling on what we thought we have accomplished by World War I . We were celebrating victory even as another war was brewing in Nazi Germany, in Fascist Italy, in Imperial Japan and a type of malaise in the hearts and minds off several other national groups. We need to see England under threats of invasion, being bomb without mercy snd France torn asunder. We asked leadership of our President Franklin D. Roosevelt and he, wisely, I feel, made a Lease-Lend plan available to the British. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor aroused us to belated action.
Let's not dwell too much on what we have done in the past, Respect it, yes, and those who brought it about, but think tomorrow...think future...work for now....rather than dwelling on past events.
A.L.M. November 10, 2003 [c520wds]
Monday, November 10, 2003
MUSICAL LEADERSHIP
Have you noticed that not one of the many eager aspirants out to become president of our nation has, as yet, declared his ability to peform on any musical instrument?
Music has been important to our national life. Our official national anthem is "The Star-Spangled Banner"..the words written September 14,1814. We waited until March 3, 1931 - one hundred and seventeen years later - to make it official and, ever since that moment, many have lobbying to change it. We have been especially blessed in the fact that, when an old tune was found to which the words could be fitted, one was selected which cannot be easily hummed, whistled, or sung . That quality has keep it free from parody. Other national hymns have quickly been given new, demeaning words. They could be and were, sung on any street corners by discontented citizens or outright enemies. They failed as truly national songs with deep, respected meaning.
At least six of our previous presidents played some sort of musical instrument.
Thomas Jefferson was adept at playing violin. We can easily imagine him bowing away with other musicians to brighten his home at Montecello in Virginia or at his governmental abode.
President JohnTyler scraped a mean fiddle, too, we are told. The term "fiddle" is used which suggests his music may have been a bit more on the folky side rather than a formal, classical style.
Many of us remember seeing President HarryTruman seated at a piano and we have seen and heard him play on TV. We were, I think, usually given the idea that the "Missouri Waltz" was about the only tune he ever really knew. I feel that was a false estmimate of his capabilities. Harry played "convivial" piano, if there is such a classification. We find it easy to picture him playing away for family or close friends, or more often for his own, personal relaxaion and enrichment. Harry, I think, actually "heard" far more piano than he played. I play piano it the same way...for my own amazement!
Four more. Who were they?
There was an Alto Horn player by the name of Warren G. Harding. That puts him the high school or college marching band class, but he also played Cornet and must have done a mean " Tea Pot Dome Blues" at one time in his stay in D. C.
Several presidents, we are told, used to sing a lot and well. The loudest and most heard was President Chester Arthur, who had the first bath tub in installed in the White House.
It is easy for me to imagine President Calvin Coolidge, sittin' on a nail keg in the Blue Room, playing "Yankee Doodle"on his harmonica.
Richard Nixon, I think, played piano at one time, and more recently, President William Jefferson Clinton did rather well on B-flat Tenor Sax. He "jammed" with pop musicians from time-to-time as photo-op fodder, but I have a feeling he could get along very well in a band of yesterday with an ad lib style that seemd to fit that age rather than now.
Music is a part of our national make up. It comes, as a profound blessing, in many forms.
A.L.M. November 9, 2003 [c502wds]
Sunday, November 09, 2003
LET'S TALK ABOUT MAGIC.
So often, the usual type of what we call "magic" is limited to a gifted individual who can take real things and make them disappear ... become unreal things.
We expect our national president to be a person qualified to bring about such changes. We ask him to remove the restrictive bonds of unemplyment and to put the people back into jobs which no longer exist, earning real money on which to survive. We expct him to re-arrange our economic life so that we will not have to face those conditions which we feel demean us, which frighten us, or which are contrary to our true standards living.
So often, those are among the things we expect our new president to do. We willingly turn our very lives over to political groups gropeing for greatness, when what we need is more personal interest and effort.
Many fears are orges which haunt us constantly and yet are not evident enough for us to "put a finger on them " - even the ones which seem to be of most concern.
A point we tend to over look is that when we watch someone do magic tricks, we are, ourselves, ready and willing to see him do it. We must be prepared to accept what he tells us as true. Our attention must be draw aside from what his hands are actually doing when we think they're doing a normal function. So much of magic is mental and so often, by skilful mis-direction a magi-pol can convince his followers that all is well and going as planned.
Behind every magician, however, are other people and much preparation. I can remember being on stage myself and making a pint of water disappear. I poured the water, very evidently, into a metal wash basin and moments later turned it upside down over a subject's head. Not one drop came forth. But, I had to affix enough dry sponge material to the inside bottom of that pan to absorb exactly one pint of water and I had to keep any view of that area form being seen by the audience. Your politician magician is prepared to work his changes in the very same way.
I used a version of this when we were to choose a new minster for our congregation. I spoke of the need for us to prepare the way for a man who would stay. All of the aspirants were worthy - having come that far on their own – but were we?
Look at the panel of presidential potentials before us now! Are you ready to see any one of them work the magic you expect of him? And, most of all, are you willing to help him do so?
A.L.M. November 7, 2003 [c469wds]
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