Monday, February 28, 2005
ACOUSTIC QUERY Is it true that the common sound a duck makes - usually sounded among humans as "quack!"-is a sound which does not echo? I have come across an assertion twice recently which insisted the sound in question doesn't produce and echo. I have been concerned because my favorite television critter - the AFLAC duck may have missed an opportunity to produce yet another prize-winning commercial. Picture that redoubted duck quacking up and down the length of the Grand Canyon or some other such side-walled structure - natural or NASA-made. The normal sound, according to the the theory in question,does not produce an echo, but the commercial term AFLAC which is that duck's trademark, reverberates full and strong - which calls for a series of selling words of explanation by announcers standing by waiting for just such a moment. Could it possibly be that the texture of the ducks "quack!"is of an inferior tonal quality which sets it apart among unusual sounds. It might be, I theorized, that the "quack!" sound is formed by aspiration rather than inspiration of air into the duck lung passing over vocal chords in a reversed manner to produce a different sound headed in the wrong direction. I even gave some thinking time when someone else pointed out to me - that, since the word "quack!" is almost always spelled with a "!" included, perhaps that ! got in the way if the echo-genesis process in some silly way. Realizing that the entire subject can get silly, I, immediately, Google-ized the question and promptly found out why this non-echo duck lore has been a news item recently. During the early days of this month of February 2005 "the British Association Festival of Science at the University of Salford." discussed the subject in detail. Their summations were based on studies recently completed at the university in Greater Manchester, north-west England. They tested a duck named "Daisy" in a reverberations chamber, and in simulations such as having some quackery done in Royal Albert Hall,in London. They marked the entire idea of non-echoing quacks as "myth". However, they have rather impishly left several loopholes for those who wish to continue believing otherwise. One: "Tests revealed definite echos...but perhaps not as noticeably." Two: "duck's quack is rather quiet...sounds coming back a such a low level (they) might not be heard". And, a third such loophole:"a quack is a fading sound...It has gradual decay...It is hard to tell the difference between the actual quack and the echo. That's especially true if you have not previously heard what it should sound like with no reflections." Ducks quack but do their quacks echo? Listen carefully and build your own theory. A.L.M. February 28, 2005 [c468wds]
Sunday, February 27, 2005
EDENS AHEAD You may be among the many people who seem to think the former armed services members complain far too much about "benefits" and seem to feel they were short-changed many years ago and some who seem to feel they are still being "cheated out"of advantages they earned. During the waning months of World War II, I can remember that we persons then in the armed services were told of many wonders which we would consider to be commonplace for us as returned civilians once the war was ended. One such "promise" which was heard frequently, was that we would all return to our old life styles - our old jobs, our families, (as we remembered them), our favorite sports activities (in far better physical condition than we had ever met them before) and a more, rather than less, degree of pleasures in our lives. There was persistent rumor which ran through various branches of the service which said each veteran would received a bonus payment of twenty-thousand dollars upon discharge as a token of gratitude from a grateful citizenry. It was also predicted that we would all be flying individual or family helicopters shortly after the end of the war instead of old-fashioned cars and trucks. It all depend on how fast the assembly lines could switch over from making B-24's and B17's to turn out the little, inexpensive choppers we would enjoy so much. Many of us could expect to make a living in those plants, too - making all the things we would need. Everything was going to be better after the war. We believed that, and it is good that we did, in some ways. That's what is needed for men to work hard to be on the winning side in any war. As long as one had confidence in a brighter future he will strive more diligently to meet whatever the pressing needs facing him. The "promises" quoted above were real. I met with each of them, and others you would not believe. I have wondered about the roots of such rumors and absolve the military authorities of making such promises. I do hold the ultimate authorities of not having less-fancy plans at ready. Returning home, I found the "bonus" talk had been passed down to be a "states" worry. A state just to the north of mine promptly voted a $300 Bonus payment to GI of their state showing Honorable Discharge papers. A number of states did that, but my own saw it a different light. They used the same amount of state funds as other state governments, but specified that such a Bonus Fund be spent in setting up a statewide Veteran's Office. For the next few years it channeled needs the federal offices or duplicated services offered and the VA offices. Then, unfunded, of course, the state VA idea simply faded way. I have wondered how such stories ever started. Newspapers and magazines of the era published stories of such bright futures. While GIs had limited access to the papers such publication did color what family members wrote to them from home. I have yet to see a study of just how much trust we troops placed on words from home, but it was well above average. I can recall the service's own publication "Stars & Stripes" running a few stories of like nature. Today - when you overhear combat veterans of recent or current wars seemingly complaining about their lot, run the "Caution" flag up high on your brain staff where can keep a wary eye on it as you think and re-think that which you think you are thinking about his or her expressed views. A.L.M. February 27, 2005 [c625wds]
Saturday, February 26, 2005
ONE OF THREE Here in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia three housing styles dominated construction dominated construction. General classifications have been used calling them "Pioneer", "English" and "German". There were, of course, variations on the overall theme of housing and many combination of features from in other styles was common. Contrary to much general opinion few log houses were found in any of the colonies. The first such dwellings were built by Swedes and Finns who settled in the New Jersey area. That was in 1638 and the log buildings did not become widely seen until the mid 18th Century when the Scots, driven westward into mountainous, heavily-forested areas by economic factors, used materials at hand to construct homes, farm buildings - even churches such as Tinkling Spring and Augusta Meeting houses in Augusta County. Both were originally log structures around 1740, as were new fortifications built in the wilderness to the west.. Augusta's "Ashley Manse", just across U,.S .Route 11, is a log structure with some later-era modifications. The type of house called "Pioneer" is much the same as that called "Salt Box" in New England. In the deep south they are called "Cats Slide" and in the mountainous regions - "Dog Walk" houses. English settlers in Tidewater Virginia brought with them tradition of a sixteen foot square, single room dwelling with a door in the front and perhaps, one window. Oddly enough the first slaves brought to Virginia - African coastal dwellers built single room houses with fourteen or eighteen foot dimensions. A fire place was often added to one, a chimney for all-purpose family use. A loft was built in the roof area for sleeping. Subsequent improvements or changes called an "ell" added usually with a roof slanting downward from the main roof. In New England this new area often became a "Birthing Room". In the Shenandoah Valley it seems to have been more commonly called a "Keeping Room". It was also used for cooking, food preparation, as a store room or pantry for foodstuffs or for storage of supplies, seeds, and seasonal items. Usually this simple type of home served the needs of the first generation but it time, as families grew larger a need for expansion was met simply by adding another house of the same type and leaving a space open or covered - between which became the "Cat Slide"or "Dog Walk" designations. The Lincoln Homestead in Rockingham County, Virginia is an example of the finer, larger, brick homes built in this manner... one room at first with a duplicate house erected next door as the fail grew and more room was needed. A.L.M. February 26, 2005 [c450wds]
Friday, February 25, 2005
PRO DAYS I have always accepted the idea that I was old enough to remember the days when we were trying out the idea of a nation prohibiting making and selling of alcoholic beverages. I have always associated that era with the period just after World War I - about 1919 into the mid-l930's I was unbelieving recently when I read that the State of Kansas went "dry" in 1881. That early? They banned all alcoholic beverages, at the time, the biggest industry in the territory - not yet a state, and I wondered if that action played a part in the plans they had to show merit sufficient to become a star in our national flag. The southeastern section of the state - Crawford and Cherokee Counties, in particular, which is said to have been rich in local traditions, folklore beliefs beyond imagining, and strong "western": values to which they held stubbornly. Writers have called that portion of Kansas "the Little Balkans" and with good reason. They proved to be a fermenting agent in the brewing "Saloon War" of 1880 . Shooting and stabbing occurred almost nightly when the "drys"and the"wets" were at odds which was most of the time. We sometimes overlook the fact that this era and this locale had such regular citizenry as that associated with local names such as Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and the James Brothers. The people of that area "worked hard and played even harder" it has been said, and the laws which permitted liquor by the drink were meaningless in the face of the fact that the state prohibition ruling was made by means a of a change in the state constitution. One of the key personalities in the Kansas "Saloon War" was, however, was not from this list of lusty benders and breakers of the law. The keynote activist was, rather, a woman. The keynote activist was from Garrard County, Kentucky where she was known as a quiet girl - "not too strong" - who spent most of her time reading the Bible. She fell in love with a young doctor named Charles Gloyd and moved to Belton, Missouri. They had one child who was "afflicted" at birth and the mother blamed the flaw on her husband who had become a habitual drunk. He drank himself to death within in the next six months. His widow tried school teaching for a time but without success. She decided the only way to be ahead was to re-marry. She selected a man who was nineteen years her senior. He was a combination lawyer-minister-editor. They moved to Texas and when husband David was named Minister of the Christian Church at Medicine Lodge, Kansas they moved once again.. There, they settled down a bit. She organized the Women's Temperance Union at the church, served as a jail evangelist, taught Sunday School, and started lecturing on the evils of tobacco and strong drink use. One night she dreamed and heard a strong voice ordering here to "go to Kiwoa!" Obeying the voice, she, the very next day arrived in Kiwoa and physically trashed out her first prosperous saloon - as of June 1, 1900 - and became known nation wide as a Carrie Nation - ax wielder, rock tosser, thrower of bricks gift-wrapped in old newspapers, often an iron rod affixed to her cane and a leader of furious groups of screaming women furious groups of angry women seeking to "Protect Our Homes! She wrecked over thirty saloons and paid her fines by using money which flowed her way from the sale of pewter badges and pins - replicas of her crusading hatchet. Carrie Nation was also a skilled merchandiser and public relation operator because she quickly expanded her protests to include woman's suffrage, prison reform, prostitution, illegal gambling and anything which would enlarge her support base. So many people think of Carry (Amelia) Nation as a small, rather petite woman; a somewhat subdued little lady. I held that view for many years but I found that she stood a full six feet and threw one hundred eighty ponds or better behind every brick, iron rod, hatchet or ax blow while mocking her opponents as "rum-soaked, whiskey-swilling, Saturn-faced rummies!" and yelling at her helpers: "Smash, ladies, Smash!" Her rough tactics gained growing sympathy all across the nation.. It is generally said she did more to enforce prohibition than all others combined. She dictated her own epitaph: "She Hath Done What She Could". A.L.M. February 25, 2005 [c758wds]
Thursday, February 24, 2005
PRIZED POSESSIONS What are the true values of our times? What on things or quality is it which is most esteemed of all that we have at this moment in our lives? And - more important, perhaps: how does it, or they, compare to what we have called "good" and "most valued" in the past. By knowing this we can best plan for a future that shows progress rather than decline. The more I think about such things, the more convinced I become that mankind does not change as much as he likes to think he does. All of us are still pretty much what we have been, as a family, for generations. Oh, yes... we are, indeed, "better off " - much more better off because the outer structures have changed, become more refined, perhaps, more enjoyable, much safer, and re-fashioned to assure us greater creature comforts. Within each of us changes have been more or less forced upon us by circumstances, but it is amazing how - in spite of the many improvements made in our overall situation - many individuals have retained concepts of hate, distrust, envy chicanery, lust, avarice, and all such negative qualifications which were, perhaps, common in man's path from primitive crudeness to comparative maturity. I, for some reason I never explain honestly -even to myself - I find it difficult to believe that which so many self-appointed authorities seem to be ever ready to tell me that "Mankind is going to hell in a hand basket." Some where, away back in the shadowy portion of our minds we know so little about - there seems to endure an unquenchable spark of an idea which insists we, indeed, are all created beings of a Higher Power. Our best is His best. We all strive to attain to a level which will sustain a connective reality with thing which might be "out there" in the void beyond out present understanding. The knowledge we have gained is, to me, the most valued single unit of progress. Electronic marvels have come to us in recent times which could increase man's knowledge of that which is good and available to all. It may be equated with Man's discovery of how best to make use of fire. The flame of the future awaits ignition. You may be the means of doing so. The simple belief that you are such a person is the best thing in your life and worthy of working toward as a goal. The fact that we are still here speaks well for our conduct up to now. Use the wealth of your present abilities to improve your lot, and of those about you, and the future will be bright and welcome. A.L.M February 24, 2005 [c-460wds]
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
A LL-CARD TIME
Look, Ma! No Buttons!
Now, just when I have about become used to getting along very well in a "push-button" world the "Bose" boys bring out a fine new, home super audio system which features a total lack of buttons across the front. Not a button, lever, arm, toggle or touch area!
All such operating aids are to be found on a "remote control" said to be about the size of a credit card assuming, of course, that you can find it.
I realize this is "progress", but, as usual, I have some difficulty fitting into things progressive. It takes a while, before I become accustomed to such changes. I think a great may people feel the same way; not opposed to change but comfortable for a time when established rules and regulations are being modified or expelled. have to use it a while - unlearn those things I have acquired through past encounters with such unknowns.
The next important invention needed, I feel, is now a hand-held "finder" for misplaced controls containers - or cards. I assume we already have buzzer-type gizmos which can locate lost control bars under pillows, in upholstery, in the bathroom, bedroom or kitchen. Certainly our put-upon cell phones can ring out such items for us. What we really need now, is, however, one card which will change colors when told to do so. One card does all. It operates anything. Use it when colored green, for instance, and you have complete control of your TV; click it to become purple and you take over our computer or audio system or heating and air conditioning for you home. Gray to run the vacuum cleaner; whatever color you prefer to renew prescription medications and to decide what furniture needs to be sold this month in order to pay for them. Many of the mundane household jobs can be done with such a card of many colors and we are right on the edge of the roadway leading to automobiles which are coming to be more computers than cars In the near future, if the family SUV suffers from some malfunction, you can press the "All-Card" and restore any ailing software in your car's make-up.
Switch to pink and you become an expert barbecue chef; try brown an and, blues, shades of green and shocking tones of bright orange just to see what happens.
There will be need for just one such card. And, in keeping with the need to eliminate all buttons - the point at which we have currently arrived -
consider having the All-Cards card tattooed on your forearms, your lap or made available on your eyeglasses by means of a chip or two inside.
I wonder if I will ever be ready for that special time of super-attainment people call "tomorrow".
A.L.M. February 23, 2005 [c496wds]
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
WHICH FITS YOU? Are you viewed as being "resolute" or merely "stubborn"? If you have been listening with close attention this past week to the speeches being made by our President George W. Bush the past week or so, you may have wondered if he has suddenly shifted to a whole new new crew of presidential speech writers. It is a refreshing and most encouraging thing to see and hear a President of the United States telling other nations what they must or must not do. We have, for much too long, witnessed our leaders moving among the nations cajoling, suggesting, wishing and even begging or buying cooperation in areas of mutual need. We now have a president who seems ready to set forth his views in more deliberate terms. He has been telling our sometimes weak and vacillating allies not what he wishes they would do - but, rather, what they "must" do. He has rather skillfully cajoled his way past the critical, areas of stuffy state protocol, routine and habit and telling them not what he "hopes" they might, in time, decide to do, but what he expects them to get done - and right away, too. There has been an unusual amount of individual, personal and sincere praise and sincere appreciation for their limited support in the past, too. Bush has, wisely, not held back on that important ingredient. One gets the feeling, too, that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in her initial get-acquainted visits to leading capitals, might well have set the stage for such a shift to more positive position assertions to follow with the presidential appearances. Reaction to such rather stern instructions as those President Bush has been issuing to Germany and to Putin in Russia has been keyed to alert some disbelief overseas. Here at home our media ind-moulders have not yet seen the picture or even heard - much less credited - the more aggressive tone of what is being said. The George Bush we are seeing in action in the middle of the month of February 2005 is somewhat different from the way many of them have pictured him to be. The George W. Bush we are now seeing and hearing is more aggressive in tone, text and intent. He can be what he is becoming for several reasons: one - with the presidential election over much of the petty political quibbling has ceased and he fact that he now leads in a "lame duck" situation is something which encrouages him to take chances, to "let fly" and suggest ideas which have a better chance of success in an atmosphere of unity. He can now tell nations what their place might be in building a better future for the peaceful democratic nation of Iraq - put some teeth in their talk about their willingness to combat poverty, disease, ignorance, and other such seeds of terrorism. Bush can now speak to the United Nations as a kindly old Grandma character telling them to get their nasty, little, stained hands out of the "Oil For Food" Cookie Jar - or else. He might even get tell to them to clean up their Living Room a bit ...now... right away! By 3 A.M. next Tuesday morning, at at the latest. Go Bush! Go. Be resolute. Be stubborn. Good work. A.L.M. February 22, 2005 [c559wds]
Monday, February 21, 2005
ETHICS? MORALITY? Recent shifts of rather large segments of our national population in regard to problems of morality and ethics concern suggest that we might take an inventory of just what our present holdings are of such commodities. Divergent groups seem to anticipate our becoming more active in the morality/ethics area than many have been in our campaign roiling. I find some people thinking the move toward piety and purity to be a positive one, but I am also aware of groups which express fear rather than favor of considering the wisdom of taking such a problem engendering political pathway. It seems to me this problem has been nagging us ever since Vice-President Dan Quayle had nerve enough to become openly critical of a nationally popular TV star of that day who was playing the role of an unwed mother in a sit-com type comedy farce. His error was in naming a popular TV star and in condemning the roles unmentionable nature of her physical change. Had he stayed with politically safe areas and been critical of the "stage", or of the "theater" is comments may well have gone along as standard politician;s talk about the source of much "evil in this great nation of ours"...but to zero in on the specific form of Murphey Brown was a error which cost Dan Q his career. Since that incident "m&e" has not been what it once was in a political sense, and is best avoided. We will need some time to try to determine what we have done; what we are doing now and what we intend to to do in the near future. If we set our goal too high we can be certain of failure; if we keep them low, we are merely passing time and fooling ourselves more so than others. We can spin wheels for a long time by arguing over the results of the most recent elections. There is strong evidence that the religious groups among voters propelled the Bush ticket back into office for another term. Such groups are accepting congratulations when they hear such those sentiments and trying to ignore anyone who refutes them. Do we actually need new laws created especially to curb the very methods which have out us in a position where we can even consider making such laws which would make everything or much of what we have done in the past seem wrong...evil. I doubt that our ultimate arrival a such a near-perfect situation will ever come about in the form of codified laws. I think, rather, that are gradually discovering that fact that humility, love, compassion - along with morality and ethical conduct are all states of becoming...of being to which we all must strive, rather than a possession to be grasped; not a physical goal to be arrived at by a planned route but more of a condition, place or situation not physically astride of a set spot to be captured and held. True morality and ethical conditions are basic concepts and attitudes we come upon, respect and hold dear. Do we even know what it is we are said to be searching for in such a despondent quest? We are a loose wagon in need of a horse. We are a wandering star seeking an orbit. What are the realities of our dream? A.L.M. February 21, 2005 [c577wds]
Sunday, February 20, 2005
WORDS, THESE DAYS We are using up words faster today. It seem to take far more of them to explain what they are and are not and to set new meanings or to firmly set new modes in our mind and memory. Isn't it true that we used to take on new words which entered our language gradually? It sometimes took years before some were "accepted" No more. Now, they are thrust upon us and we, in short order join, gleefully, it seems, in beating them to death with overuse. It just might be that the technical nature of our society today may have added this tendency toward new words being contrived, but the new meanings of old words seem to outrun actual innovation's, I'm sure. When I was a youngster my folks ,when speaking of the street cars which operated suburbanly from the actual geographical limits of our City of Norfolk, Virginia to the beach resort strip called Virginia Beach, same state, called that street-car rail service "the shuttle" . I liked the sound of it because I knew a shuttle to a a wooden bobbin-like things that wiggled back and forth and got nowhere in knitting machinery. It seemed so apt to the idea of cars shuttling back and forth, day after day - going nowhere. Years later my brother and I, on a trip which for called us to fly from Washington, D.C. to New York City caused us to "take the shuttle". It was sort of loosely-scheduled airline connections by Eastern, as I recall, operating old, well-used Trans-Pacific "Constellations" which still had Pan-Am "Survival at Sea" things on their monogrammed seat covers. They departed when it appeared they had a full load ready. My grandchildren now speak of shuttles and do not feel it necessary to preceded the term with the word "space" We have really seen changes in the word "shuttle". The advertising people, long ago, learned to get a good grasp on a word no one was using, and spread around to their particular business needs. Pretty soon everyone was using it and they were using a "buzz"" word .Such terms used to endure for years, but their span of life has been shortened by excess of radio, TV sage - and our own loose lips. Right now buzz word is:"awesome" with younger people' "anti-bacterial" with older folks. We over used "lipator","cholesterol," "chlorophyll"," lanolin", a host of shortened medical terms, word lifted from popular songs, and a few outright sillies back to where I remember when saying "twenty-three skidoo!" was "in". We also have a multitude of words coming in an out of the language which are cut-downs of long, technical names and designations. Some, will, in time, replace the long jawbreakers entirely. We should all be grateful that ours is growing language. Let's try to keep it that way even when we tire of buzz words. Try your hand and head at predicting what the overdone word will be one year from now. Write down your choice and check it next year at this time. You might hit it. Awesome! We should count ourselves to be very fortunate to be living in a free nation which does not sponsor, favor or permit a national academy which determines and decrees which words shall be allowed to enter the language and which ones will be excluded. A.L.M. February 20, 2005 [c577wds]
Saturday, February 19, 2005
GRANDMA'S VIEWPOINT Our grandmas - both yours and mine - would have said that "things have come to a pretty pass" when we arrive at a point at which we seem to accept violence as a type of good. Two events are said to have occurred in Iraq this past week which remind us of such a subtle warnings from the past voiced by people who have known them as the sort of thing they have seen happening before and who have often seen the results go far afield from being right. Over thirty Iranians died in a suicide bombing which took place in an area outside the walls of a Mosque in which a Shiite religious service was being held. The suicide bomber involved was prevented from getting inside the mosque area itself by barricades set up by Iraqi military-police-troops. I listened to one American TV account of the story and it centered the point that the Iraqi guard and their barricades had, probably, saved many Iraqi lives within the mosque itself than if the bomber had been able to advance to that point before detonation. One listener commented: "See there! What ever it is we are doing in Iraq is working ...training policemen-guards-troops ! They're catching on fast!" Thirty-some Iraqi citizens might disagree with that estimate were they still alive to do so . We at home "troops"' need to curb our natural tendencies to want to "read into" news report - ideas of a religious, social or political bent, which may or may not be there at all. It is not true that " a little bit is better than nothing at all." And, is especially true when the "little" portion is mis-labeled or willfully mis-used. The second incident concerns a man who was thought to be a bomber because someone noticed (we are not told how) that he was wearing a vest of the pocketed type used by many suicide bombers to transport their explosive charges. The crowd turned on him and beat him to death the and there. This may well be a fanciful piece of information. I heard it just that one time and my interest was in a comment made by another listener. "See there!", she cried out "You can't get a bunch of Americans to work together like that for the common good! Can you?" No. We can't We don't want to do so. It is called vigilantism we want no part of it - ever again. We've been burned before. A.L.M. February 19, 2005 [c428wds]
Friday, February 18, 2005
GOOD OMEN We are subject these days to so much severe criticism in the world of the theater, and with some justification, perhaps, because standards have, perhaps, wavered rather severely in the face of much material which is now, more or less commonly accepted as being normal in films and other forms of family entertainment. I was pleased to find that the citizens of a small town in the Valley of Virginia - a community known as Crimora, Virginia, has started its own community theater. The first production is set for tonight at the Community Center, which, is, I assume, the old, school house building which was "consolidated out" of existence some years ago. That's a good thing for towns to do with their discarded school structures, too. The first play is a comedy, which has a cast of over twenty, showing that someone in the group knows how to go about starting such a theater. Choosing a comedy means people won't worry so much about it all and take it too seriously at first. They will take mistakes in stride. Audiences will be more receptive, understanding and encouraging. Every on-stage personality needs offstage support and that's where a lot of individuals can really "star" in a Little Theater group. Twenty or so cast members - plus all the others needed - will pretty much "cover" the town's potential. I have seen a small town revitalized at first hand by this dramatic method. I was a member of the Little Theater of Radford, Virginia in the 1930's and I have often been amazed at all it has meant to me. We did three plays and one set of Three One-Act plays each year. The short plays became schools in which new acting talent was developed; new stage hands, painters, directors and generated wider, stronger town support because we touched the lives of more and more residents. I left home after several years to go to college and the writing I have doing since then in newspaper and magazine jobs, in radio and television has been very often been echoes of things I learned on-stage, back-stage and away from the actual stage doing PR work to help make it all move. Congratulations Crimora, Va on the Opening Night of your Community Players! It will take work and dedication, but it will be a joy in ways you cannot possibly know until the curtain comes down on a series of plays which as affected the lives of those who participated, and in doing so ,enriched the life of the community at large and possibly became a special blessing to some talented unknowns in your area. Break a leg. A.L.M. February 18, 2005 [c456wds]
Thursday, February 17, 2005
DO! To be required to sit absolutely still and purposely do nothing whatever, can be real punishment. It is good that most of us have learned that basic lesson in our younger years; good also, perhaps, that many of us learned it the hard way because there are, and there will continue to be, times when we, as adults, are required to do the same thing in real terms. To be made to "stand in the corner" of a classroom while the swirl of childhood activities was fanned to new levels of excitement with its accompanying blanket of joyous noises and laughter amid authority which encouraged rather than inhibited such group actions. Most of us, it appears, seem to thrive on activity in and around us and it seems true that we American,in particular, like to feel we are part of things in progress. Americans, young and old, seem to have certain concerns - "built-in and native- which we call upon from time-to-time to see us through disturbing moments of relative inactivity. We are in such a phase at the moment. We have experienced harsh times in Iraq. For a time there was far too much to do , but with the end of the major fighting, while plans were being formulated for something lasting and worthwhile to come about because of it all, we have been told to do far less. It has proved to be difficult for many to "wind down." - to make use of our common sense which says for us take it easy for a time to allow important decisions to be made and suitable actions taken by others striving to restore order and continuity to the nation. The pictures we are now seeing are those of people who have taken the needs of their nation very much to heart and who have risked their lives in a very real sense, to become a part of the making of a new ,stable government. It is all an experiment, in a sense, for we do not know how the tenets of democracy - however bent and restyled - will "take" in Arabic nation of this type. We have to be ready to face many situations in which hasty action might spell doom for the entire project in Iraq and inhibit its possible spread to other dictator controlled states on the continent of Asia. We are going to have to exhibit sincere patience and not always insist western world haste must give way to way to less vigorous Oriental concepts and ideals with which these people have been historically endowed. If you feel you must carry " a big stick", keep it out of sight.Much is going on while we seem to be doing nothing. Go for a walk these days in February of 2005 and reflect on the fact that springs daffodils are, at this snow-flurried moment, already growing upward along the edge of the narrow path you walk. A.L.M. February 17, 2005 [c501wds]
DO! To be required to sit absolutely still and purposely do nothing whatever, can be real punishment. It is good that most of us have learned that basic lesson in our younger years; good also, perhaps, that many of us learned it the hard way because there are, and there will continue to be, times when we, as adults, are required to do the same thing in real terms. To be made to "stand in the corner" of a classroom while the swirl of childhood activities was fanned to new levels of excitement with its accompanying blanket of joyous noises and laughter amid authority which encouraged rather than inhibited such group actions. Most of us, it appears, seem to thrive on activity in and around us and it seems true that we American,in particular, like to feel we are part of things in progress. Americans, young and old, seem to have certain concerns - "built-in and native- which we call upon from time-to-time to see us through disturbing moments of relative inactivity. We are in such a phase at the moment. We have experienced harsh times in Iraq. For a time there was far too much to do , but with the end of the major fighting, while plans were being formulated for something lasting and worthwhile to come about because of it all, we have been told to do far less. It has proved to be difficult for many to "wind down." - to make use of our common sense which says for us take it easy for a time to allow important decisions to be made and suitable actions taken by others striving to restore order and continuity to the nation. The pictures we are now seeing are those of people who have taken the needs of their nation very much to heart and who have risked their lives in a very real sense, to become a part of the making of a new ,stable government. It is all an experiment, in a sense, for we do not know how the tenets of democracy - however bent and restyled - will "take" in Arabic nation of this type. We have to be ready to face many situations in which hasty action might spell doom for the entire project in Iraq and inhibit its possible spread to other dictator controlled states on the continent of Asia. We are going to have to exhibit sincere patience and not always insist western world haste must give way to way to less vigorous Oriental concepts and ideals with which these people have been historically endowed. If you feel you must carry " a big stick", keep it out of sight.Much is going on while we seem to be doing nothing. Go for a walk these days in February of 2005 and reflect on the fact that springs daffodils are, at this snow-flurried moment, already growing upward along the edge of the narrow path you walk. A.L.M. February 17, 2005 [c501wds]
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
FOLK SONGS ALL?
Folk music, according to a definition set forth in amazing complexity by the International Folk Council in 1955, folk music is the "product of a musical tradition that has been evolved through the process of oral transmission." (etc) That would appear to be a definition which excludes much of what is, today considered to be "folk music" to audiences and, more importantly, to the musicians themselves, those persons who, with skill and training in much demand, compose and perform it. The crux of the entire matter of disagreement as to how folk music finds its insistent genesis. To wall-in a definition of the term by leaning too heavily on the concept of "oral" tradition has been a cumbersome point in modern times. It has been a long time - many decades - since oral transmission of musical lore has been the dominant means of making it musical variations known to others. It may well have been the main, even the sole means of evolvement for music of some forms, but that limitation was superseded many decades ago with the growth of scientific and more reliable ways of reproducing and saving sounds. I am, in no way, attempting to change the way we say we have come by our folk music heritage - which, in an international sense, is priceless and quite extensive. I am, however, of the opinion that we of the present era are shortchanging the musicians of the future if we do no attempt to document the derivation of various present-day musical items to show how many of them spring from the people or a special element of the population in a specific geographical area. I grew to adulthood during a time when the term "jazz", often an obscene reference in some dialects, came to be popularly applied to type of music -chiefly instrumental - which was a basic simplicity but subject to gross improvisations by the performer. Much of this type of music stemmed from the daily living who brought it forth with such enthusiasm and evident joy. The main criticism I remember of "jazz" in the 1920's was to mark it with the very term now being used to define what is considered to be a merit in true folk music. We were ridiculed, scorned and condemned for "not reading a written score" - for a-libbing, for improvisations, for embellishments on simple themes, and for, oddly enough, making improved instruments of our day do things which had previously, been considered to be improper, impossible or too innovative. Our "jazz", then, was "of the people" and , might well qualify, by the academic definition cited, as being "folk" music. But enough of that for now. We can talk about it some more, if you like, later on, but right now I'm urging you to try to think with me about possibilities of seeing potential merit in our current spate of "rock" and "rap". Music? A.L.M. February 16, 2005 [c495wds]
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
OUR NATIVE NATIVES How many full-blooded native American Indians do you know? Less than one, perhaps? That's about the average with most Virginians. Then, we have and advantage over people from other states because there come sweeping back over our memory screens all the stories about the beautiful Indian princess Pocahontas, her papa Powhatan who was chief-chief of all of the noble redskins in or around the troubled Jamestown colony. You have a special treasure if you actually recall those stories and the actual history which set such events before us. Today's knowledge is based almost exclusively on those wonderful, colorful, convenient, abridged, abbreviated eviscerated,condensed encapsulated and ruthlessly romanticized versions produced a la Disney. I am grateful for them, I hasten to insert this point, because, without them all may well have been totally lost. Our tribes were located mainly in the east end of the colony - east of the Blue Ridge mountains. The actual number varies on how one counts them. Even such familial units as they were, disagreed at times and broke into short-term fragments. Today the Chickahominy Tribe, for instance, for instant, is the largest tribe about a thousand members. They live in the Charles City County between Richmond and Williamsburg with several scattered "colonies" elsewhere in the estate. In nearby New Kent County, twenty-five miles east of Richmond, we find the "Eastern Chicahominy Tribe". Total population about 150. The Chicahominy Tribe was not a member of Powhatan's Confederation. They were the ones who captured John Smith and held him prisoner for Pocahontas, who "lived with the Flunkey's Tribe. The tribe today consists of about a hundred persons. In Powhatan's time it was the most powerful. His remarkable confederation consisted of from 32 to 34 "tribes" from the Carolina border to DC with about an estimated ten thousand persons under his leadership. We will be hearing more about the Virginia tribes in the next few months because they were approved for Federal Recognition and eligibility to many benefits because of this nationwide recognition. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been dragging its moccasins in implementing the classification procedures for nearly three years and tribes are growing restless. A.L.M. February 15, 2005 [c376wds]
Monday, February 14, 2005
ON THE MOVE At times, we appear to be a people who are constantly "on the move"' always ready, even eager, it seems, to search elsewhere for the realization of dreams we have allowed to become goals in our life. Often ill-defined and romantic by nature, many such "'green pastures" ideas moved many men and women women around as if they were chess pieces being ineptly played in a serious game dealing with materials bordering upon life and death. At times, we are forced to ask ourselves if we have, perhaps, allowed our dreams to lead us astray. It is highly unlikely that a peasant might become King of the domain or, that a chronic spend-thrift become the richest man. Simply ,moving from one location to another does not work such miracles which some seem to expect it to do. Quite often we read of a famous writer or artist who was " a product of the slums" and we find it was only after when he or she had escaped from that imprisonment that their talents started to come to the forefront in their lives. The move may well have caused the change to become append apparent -first to them, perhaps, and, in time, to others but the roots were established long before that change of location. Far too often, I have seen young men and women leave their family environment seeking that which they have decided is to be their lifelong dream work. The success of failure of such a move depends almost entirely on what potions of that home atmosphere he or she took along with them when they left. Few leave empty-handed, even though what they may have taken long is a negative awareness of what is wrong with things them must not do in their new situation. No one leaves home empty-handed or empty-headed. Major changes in our lives seem to come to us unbidden and circumstances over which we have little or no control decide them. We, as a family many years ago, moved only five or six times in my first two decades, and looking back at it I find that over half of those "moves" where mild, cosmetic changes from house to apartment or the reverse of that or a larger house , whatever became available. Major changes were decided by economic factors - my Dad's job, for instance, moving from a coastal, urban community to a small rural one in the western, mountainous section of our state perhaps three hundred miles away. I was a six-year old at the time, and as I grew, I always had a feeling I had a special blessing of having grown up in two different worlds. I have always as a positive value in regard to my writing tendencies, never as a handicap or obstacle in any way. The pattern of my childhood years was decided by conditions of The Great Depression era and the direction of my adulthood was radically changed and refashioned by Pearl Harbor Day and events leading up to that moment in our national history. In one sense of the term, The Depression era may be seen as my "slum" and I have lived so many unusual facets of what is often called "the Good Life" including blessings I could not have anticipated, planned or enacted. I'm never really still, I now realize. I am ever on the move. A.L.M. February 14, 2005 [c578wds]
Sunday, February 13, 2005
CHECKERS AND X-ERS That was quite a ballot they handed out to voters in Iraq recently wasn't it? Imagine someone gutsy enough to try doing such a thing here at home. Can't you imagine the storm of opposition? How can anyone vote for a choice out of hundreds of "candidates"? Imagine voting for people associated such a host of political parties and factions! A photograph and a symbol of some sort designated each division. Any such attempt to do so this side of the Euphrates would have resulted is something even sillier than Florida's chad storm . I can understand what such printed forms disturb people. I've "filled out" my share of questionaires... also titled surveys, studies, evaluations, polls, informational in-gatherings and other such harmless as well as some harmful - printed forms. They are not all politically oriented as you well know from your allotement of junk mail. I tend to be old fashioned and remain, basically a "checker" on such forms I have avoided becoming adept at newer methods such a "X-ing, dotting, blacking-in, ticking, underlining, circleing, crossing-out, or a catch -all instruction which is very good to have handy. That line tells me to "mark" my ballot. Some people, oddly enough "check" to the left when they fill in the little boxes provided. I'm a right-sider, myself and have always been. I used to worry about commiting trade mark infringments when people told me that my marks resembled that of Nike. Others, when plainly told to "check" the items they like, immediately fill them with "X . To me an "x" or three of them "xxx", mean I made a mistake and want that entry cancelled. Someinstrzuction are next txoimpossible to compay withn: foxrinstence,xthe one which tellme Imust u,s a N o 2 penci.lwhenIonlyhavb e one; that which tells me to use black ink - not blue - after the first six squares are neatly filled in and blinking back at me in bright blue. The squares must be completely "filled in" or "blacked out" depending on the mood at the moment of the questionaire writer. No blanks. No shadows. And stay with the borders like a good kindergarten kid ought to be capable of doing, you will be creaeting what, in time, will be called "chads". We have been accused of being a civilization of button pushers. I don't think so. A good many of us are still stuck in the old century- filling in blanks, checking or x-ing little blocks -with black ink, mind you, never blue in any exotic shade. Occasionally you ghet to filln out which ends with the instruction: "Return completed questionaire promptly in the enclosed, self addressed, postage-paid envelope which is never there. That either completes your day or make your day complete, depending on how seriously you take such common, everyday things. A.L.M. February 13, 2005 [c485wds]
Saturday, February 12, 2005
TRUCK FORECAST
I think it has become obvious that many of the ever increasing number of trucks we see on the nation's widening highways and narrowing streets are getting some age on them. Not the smaller ones,of course, but the big rigs, 16-wheelers, semis or "semi-articulated lorries" if you speak Kinglish. The "Michigan Train" of two or three semis lugged by one tractor are limited pretty much to the flatish midwest area. What's your guess? What changes do you think truck designers will be making in forthcoming trucks to keep pace with our rapidly changing highway? The airlines, it appears, have decided to for go far away from the sleek, thin, fast and long super-sonic monsters they have tried in recent decades, in favor of simply getting longer, wider, taller and heavier. The new Airbus now being ordered in big numbers by all major airlines - passenger and freight - is simply a double-deck version of their present mini-monsters already in service. The new planes can handle a crowd of five-hundred or so up to eight-hundred head with seats everywhere instead of non-essential amenities. The tail assembly on the new plane measures about the same height as that of a of seven-storied building, believe it or not! Run a test of your. Examine the next dozen or or so trucks which pass you on the Interstate. Look in under the rigs riding along beside you and judge about how old the equipment you see dangling under here might be. If you feathered-out and find you don't like "riding along with" such an old companions - drop back a bit and just glance at the next one to go rumbling by. How'd those recaps look to you? Look at the price tags on new rigs in they better trucking magazines and you can see another good reason why so many older trucks are considered to be roadworthy. Cabs, too. Some with frontier-decor. "Luggers" and "Chasers" alike - both ends are aging. The entire trucking industry is getting set to change radically; this long haul side, in particular. It is difficult to see how changes can be made "to make better use of " existing space which does not exist. I find old timers with money enough to make it troublesome, who have a steamy message of seeming salvation for us all through a totally new rail system! They do a great deal of talking about "bullet" trains which Japan proved many years ago to be impractical and unprofitable. The rail enthusiast dreams of vast north-south east-west rail networks as if they had once existed. Much of it is quaint nostalgia remembering "the good ole' railroad days" they and their fathers killed about eighty years or so ago. Truckers, put on your thinking cap. What do you want your "truck" of tomorrow to look like and to be? A.L.M. February 12, 2005 [c494wds]
Friday, February 11, 2005
NO CARBON COPIES, PLEASE It must an original. The segment of the American people who are interested in a vibrant, new Democratic Party will not accept, much less support, a carbon copy or even a smartly re-manufactured version .The Nast-inspired donkey icon is still valid; it remains and an emblem of stubbornness to some and reliability and tenuousness to others. Let it remain as mark of identification to which former members might easily adhere. The opposition party's elephant emblem, inspired by the same cartoonist Thomas Nast, may be praised for the same qualities. The most recent resuscitation team named to bring about such a revival was a comedy-orator duo which made windy TV efforts to get off tarmac. The comedy wasn't prepared with purpose. It was loose ad-lib without direction and the other member orated to an audience the like of which has been extinct for many years. Methods of reaching new people have changed. We live in a new age. The old ways are no longer sufficient and one example is easily found: Harry Truman made good use of doing his campaign speeches from the rear end of a Pullman car at the local railway yards. Those sites are rare today. The only identification of a railway yard I meet with is that old part of town where someone is eager to build a new and larger sports arena. I, personally, don't like to use the term "old" Democrat. It more or less describes anyone who remembers F.D.R. It makes no difference who you are, where our are from, or what you do for a living, your life was, in some way, you were influenced by that remarkable personality. There are a few such old-timers remaining among us today on one of the political edges or ledges - ever electable Teddy Kennedy is one; Robert Byrd of West Virginia, another - a pork barrel expert and also a passing-good fiddle player as well. They are typical. They cannot be ignored if you are set on reviving the depths of the democratic party. Indications are that Howard Dean, of Vermont, will be chair-person to get the party re-organized. Good choice. Remember the innovative method he used so skillfully in the Democratic primary race. He used Internet news, E-Mail storms of notes urging people to "be there"" and Blogger background business as an important follow-up. Howard Dean has demonstrated how he obtained such a strong lead as a favorite in the primaries. He has proved himself to be a person who has the remarkable ability to cause others to want to "do it themselves". He is adept at getting other people to work hard making him look good. All chair-persons need such a knack A.L.M. February 11, 2005 [c472wds]
Thursday, February 10, 2005
REASONS WHY...
I make no excuses for my generation.
As a whole, I'd say, we've done as well as, or better than, the average such swatch of society.
Tom Brokaw did a commendable job of adding up many of the positive points of the generation's personality and followed it by an authentication by-mail response from other members attesting to the accuracy of his judgments. We can read that book and the mail-echo to see who we really were in the eyes others.
I have never had the feeling that we felt ourselves to be different from previous generations of young people or of those likely to follow us.
I have, along the way, had some misgivings which have, from time-to-time clouded my personal view of our situation but that will vary a great deal with a decade or less of our individual life span. I, for instance, having been born in 1916 grew into childhood with somewhat more memories of that complex conflict among leading nations of the world. Even though I did not actually remember wartime events rents;they were back there and influenced much that we did or considered doing. A child born a few years later, in the 1920's decade, would think political scandals and prosperity patterns more than we did, and they, too, would be concerned about establishing world-wide peace - possibly through the League of Nations as urged upon us by our own president but refused by our legislative bodies.
Much of that stayed with me into elementary school debating times, but as the Great Depression hit and held, we were forced to think of other things - just staying alive being one of them. Looking back it might be possible to think that those years of deprivation strengthened us to endure more to come such as the confused state of our own nation - hesitant, questioning, doubting, dreaming, at time trusting a bit too readily and being jerked into the conflict belatedly. That may be. Tough times do train one to endure adversity. I think we felt unsure since the early days of Franco's ventures in Spain, Il Duce's comic opera wars in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Albania plus the steady rise of Hitler, the unsteadiness of Joseph Stalin and of a dozen or so seemingly prosperous dictatorships around the world including in our nearby Carribean Sea. I am convinced my feelings changed completely. I think there was a general change in my generational group as a whole, too.
We became aggressive without seeming to be so. We rebuilt our confidence in our own abilities to do so and Pearl Harbor activated them.
That ,in a general sense, was the main purpose our generation achieved and against greater odds than we realized. Many like dangers exist and are growing. Our next generation will need to prepare to deal with them in the very near future.
A.L.M. February 10, 2005 [c491wds]
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
NERO - NERD OR NUT?
Yes, I can readily agree with you that the Emperor Nero who ruled Rome during the time around 64 B.C. was a notable nerd of his era.
His real name was Lucius Demitus Ahenobarbus. He grew up rotten and never really attempted to change, it appears. It happens, so often however, that certain critics of those who are critical of the subject personality. I have the same sort of trouble in attempting to say anything positive about Nero as I do when I try to speak well of Saddam Huessien. There still remains, at this time, a tinge of respectability about in that makes the term "nerd" a mark of distinction for a person who becomes adept in various aspects of a subject to the point that he sets himself apart as an "authority" - self-proclaimed . At that point, "nerd" becomes a nasty word.
If I try to come up with something positive for Nero, anything to take some of what seems and unfair amounts of blame for things, I find I'm walking on California coastline soil which could fall out from under me at any moment. As an example, I read of one account which said that Nero was at the time of the great fire in the city of Rome, but where all sensible Romans with any money at all lived in July's hot weather - "at the beach" - at a port city of Rome where the summer heat was stirred a bit by sea breezes at times. That fire is said to have burned six days and six nights before bring brought under any sort of control. One account says Nero turned his Roman palace over to the people of Rome to use as a shelter. Some accounts say Nero's palace was on of the first places consumed by by the flames. Of course,it could have meant demeaning Nero bused the populace down to his place a Anterim for the duration plus, but is made clear that Nero did profit form the firstimsomeays. When he built his new palace in Rome it occupied several of Rome's well known seen hills.
I reads well for Nero when we find, as Emperor, he ordered that less wood be used in construction of Rome's new buildings and he decreed that new buildings could be just so high and not a cubit more -" or else". Nero's idea of exactly what was considered to adequately express "else" must have been convincing for the low profile rules caught on in the Eternal City when it cooled off.
I wonder how Saddam is going to fare in the future. He sees to have many of Nero's qualities or lack of them. To some he may show outward signs of being some kid's granddaddy He used that look to advantage years ago in photo-op situations when he held a child and the youngster with the same way Ben Laden holds an assault weapon. This, too, can come in handy for me if I use it properly.
During the weeks and months ahead we we are all going to have to be aware of the simple fact that the man - be he old, ill, well-spent, pooped and pretty much done-in is both nerd and nut. He is both quirky and crazy; smart and stupid, wily and warry and he can still work some strange wonders in the minds of those among his fellow men who would dare accuse him, if he chooses to do so. Saddam can be our new nut and be like Nero if it be his wish to be so remembered. I fear we see far too many other personalities in "sad sack" called Saddam - in the composite we have made of him.
We should be very careful, before we enter this time of trials, to be sure of what we expect of it all. Are we trying to find out where and why Saddam went wrong"? Or, are we also asking where and why we "went wrong" in allowing a Saddam too gain such control?
His will, no doubt, be spoken of as "the trial of the century" and we must deal with it, but there is no need or reason why we should allow it to dominate our basic view of those things which are and must continue to be good, just, right and proper.
A.L.M. February 9, 2005 [c742wds]
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
ED WYNN
One of the first established comedians who successfully made the switch from the variety stage, to radio and then, into the early ranks of of television performers was a classic costumed funny-man named Ed Wynn...called "The Perfect Fool"
On one occasion, when being interviewed on radio in his home town of Philadelphia,Pa. Ed Wynn was asked to define what a comedian might be. "A comedian is not a man who tells funny things" he confided,"he is a man who tells things funny."
I remember one evening when, at the very height of his career as a fine radio comedian, when he ran into that definition head on. He was a doing a hour long comedy show sponsored by The Texaco Company. The announcer on the show, elegantly garbed in tuxedo wear as announcer were often garbed in those glorious days of studio-staged radio performances, was one of the best voices in the best voices on all of radio land.
I don't remember if it occurred in the very start of the show or during one of the one-minute commercials on behalf of the Texaco Company's product - Texaco gasoline.
One the nation's finest radio announcers stood erect before the large,boxy microphones and very plainly proclaimed that "Ed Wynn - the King of Comedy - The Perfect Fool - was presented for everyone's enjoyment by Texaco - the makers of Texaco gas-a-loon!"
The word "gas-a-loon" seemed to simply hang there in the air. I don't remember any other sound for what seemed like minutes, at least. Unbelievable! Impossible! Did you hear what he said? The redolence roared into space around us and laughter suddenly filled every crevice! Out of the riot of it all, it was the rather tinny, raspy voice of Ed Wynn himself which brought us back from radio's never-never-ever-land. He stood at the main mike position and kept saying all the ways the letters could possibly be pronounced... a pause and you sensed what the next trial term would be: "gas-a-loon!"
We survived. We all edged our way back to sanity. We realized, later, that we had been part of an historical moment. We had seen Ed Wynn's Philadelphia definition of a comedian to be - not things funny being said, but rather things being said funny!
.
Ed Wynn's remarkable show business wisdom in handling it all as he did remain a marvel. He made the most of it; enjoyed by many and took his friend and co-worker of many years Graham McNamee off the hook by making it all seem to be a fifty-five gallon drum of fun.
Furthermore, he never afterward let the audience or McNamee forget it and managed,in some way, to use the curious term, for the rest of the season. In doing so, he sold a lot of that good Texaco gas-a-loon,as well.
A.L.M. February 8, 2005 [c497wds]
Monday, February 07, 2005
TEST TOUR
It appears, even now with her first overseas trip as our Secretary of State, that Condoleezza Rice is doing well. Each stop has been "without incident" as we say today when we don't know what to expect might happen. It is not unusual for some states to give indications they they are not exactly pleased with such visits. They may have had plans for a later time or they may feel they should be alerted to the possibilities concerning such meetings.
Secretary Rice has, it seems, been generally welcomed with polite attention and the photo op situations have been well-planned and shared. Invitations to visit Washington have been extended. Several approvals have already been returned so the meetings will have some results as heads of state gather at the White House. These could well be the "talks" we have anticipated for such a long time such a long time. The may well prove to be negotiations which will bring new understandings to the Middle East area with renewed hopes for a lasting peace.
The Secretary of State,on this trip and others to follow needs our support. She is an avid and apt student of international relationships and we are fortunate to have such a talent working on our behalf. She is not the first woman to have filled the post and a previous one did not,perhaps, get the support she needed and she did very well when that is considered. Rice is, however,the first Afro-American woman to be our Secretary of State and our support will be helpful to her as she speaks to the citizens of the world about us and our homeland.
The worst possible thing that could happen now has [probably already happened. Somewhere in this land there is an unthinking person who has wondering out loud: "Doesn't that poor girl have another dress? ... another suit?" That critical attitude shows how shallow our patriotism can become unless we start caring for it with greater detail and with more precision.
Secretary of State Rice is the epitome of style - diplomatic style. We must respect and honor such a talent.
A.L.M. February 7, 2005 [c368wds]
Sunday, February 06, 2005
DISASTER DECISIONS
How often do we allow outside events to influence our choices? And, to what degree?
I hear people saying " I'm not about to let some woolly-faced kook tell me what to do! I'm never gonna be dancin' to a tune played by some one from some unpronounceable place""
Personal independence is a fine quality and it is to be encouraged and commended, but often founded on wishful thinking. I had some pretty firm plans in mind until that Sunday morning when Japanese warplanes hit Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That act - so far away - changed by life entirely and radically so.
Young people today changed from what they were a short time ago by the destruction of the Trade Towers in New York City and others are seeking changes in their lives to resonate to he demands forced upon us all by the Tsunami off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. In my memories, I have seen many such cases in which young people have learned to key their interests and concerns to help meet the needs of some of the v victims.
My maternal Grandmother was a resident of the area of the Johnstown, Pa. Flood in May of 1889. Her stories of the great flood rivaled those of Noah himself. The main thing about such tellings is that they all get around to people helping people sooner or later. Thousands people died in that flood and she used to tell us if the things they did because of the flood experiences. Another such outside event which is in the disaster group was one which which my parents alluded to quite often since it occurred when they were teenagers - a very impressionable time - it seems. It was called The Galveston, Texas Tidal Wave and Flood. It happened in 1900 and resulted in the death of thirty-thousand people. Sea water swept over the island area as much as seven feet above the highest point of elevation. Nothing was left.
I grew up with a big, yellow, cloth-covered book of photographs and drawings about the "Titanic" disaster of April 16, 1912 -
a book which we read until it, literally, fell to pieces, as I recall.
There has been a host of others, too....yes, and even the small, more personal, localized ones influence what we choose to do and how we choose to live before...during and after. Those lessons we learned are essential to our being what and where we are today.
A.L.M. February 6, 2005 [c426wds]
Saturday, February 05, 2005
OU R CAT
Ours has not always been a household where cats were welcomed.
That change is one we have learned about in our later years and it has proved to be a good thing for us - possibly something we ought to have done years ago.
We were not, and never have been "cat haters", of course. We had a number of cats as outdoor members of the larger family, so we have not been cat haters, of course. We had cats - many of them at times - and we valued their presence in the family-farm pattern in which we have lived.
"When the house cat sleeps - all is well." That sentiment could well have been something the Town Crier called out at night. Watch a cat at sleep. They can , and do, actually sleep with their eyes open. The lids are up just a fraction; enough for you to see the pupils of their eyes - always looking right at you, or, "through" you, it seems. The pupils appear to be lifeless; they do not "follow" your movements. It is as if the cat has placed its nerve center on stand-by alert to react accordingly if anything comes within the line of sight which seems to be out of the ordinary. When all is well, that same cat will sprawl across a bed, cushion, table or space on the floor to its full one-yard length, stretch its head out loose and oddly twisted at time and sleep totally with deadly intensity. When they do that you can be sure your home is secure.
Our cat - who answers to the name "Angel" when she is in the mood to do so has what we call "a mind of her own". She lives by a rigid Code
of Conduct which will not vary. She knows who she likes or dislikes; she knows who controls the food supply and can tell when the door of a specific car has been slammed shut in the driveway outside the house, and a bearer of foodstuffs will be entering the the front door. Be there!
We are fortunate, I find, in that our "Angel" is a fastidious feline. There is no "do-nothing time" for her. She is preening, tongue-washing rubbing or re-arranging fur at every lull in activity. She is neat, careful and efficient in her dining room and bathroom areas. She does not beg for, or eat table scraps of any kind. I would say she is a serious cat, but there are times when she want to run and play. She can chase imaginary objects or real ones if available. She enjoys rearranging snarls of oxygen transfer tubing which is common to our floors when she is in a playful mood. This morning, while I was pretending to chase her, she plainly told me:"All work and no play, takes seven of your years away."
A.L.M. February 5, 2005 [c494wds]
Friday, February 04, 2005
'OH, YEAH?"
We are still at it!
Why is it, I wonder that older folks – those of us who think of ourselves as being “more mature” - often seem to take great delight in vilifying and demeaning the youth of our day? Not all of us – of course, but a remarkably obvious number do such a thing. They take special jaundiced joy in seeking out and displaying ways in which young people today different and joyously set about proving it all to be wrong.
They can’t be all that bad! They are our children, chips off the much-revered “old block” and we have had, or should have had a major role in their upbringing.
Few people today remember when a world famed novelist that time – in l931 it must have been – by the name of Edna Ferber upset a cart load of caustic criticism the youth of that day – of her day. She, of all people,could do so and get away with it. She was internationally popular as the author of the novel “So Big”in 1924 and then, of everything to do with “Show Boat” out of Bath, North Carolina. Shed was known for a caustic wit and outspoken manner and she could hold her own among the wits at the Hotel Algonquin meetings where she was a member in rude standing.
Ferber, after a trip to Paris, did an interview with “The Literary Digest” in which she American youths as being "our beautiful young idiots".. she was no not impressed by the rash of :"youth movements then sweeping Europe, and said American youth could make it if they started using their "beans" ;never mind the gin-drinking admitting she rather liked that herself.." All they talk about if football and "Oh,Yeah?" terms ruin their speech. If they wish to do so, they can end Prohibition; bring an end to war. Absolutely everything depends on them. The old men, or even the middle aged men lack the courage and vitality to stand against the racketeers and cheap politicians."
She went on-ad-on. That's just an at random sample and I, as high school student at the time,listened to her and read what she wrote about us. It was only later that I realized she made her judgments on American youth she met on Atlantic ocean liner crossings and those who were part of Parisian society in those post-war years. That would be a very limited sample of American youth.
We repeat Edna Ferber's mistake today when we do studies, surveys, polls and other such "convincers".
We use some very inadequate samples.
A.L.M. February 4 2005 [c445wds]
Thursday, February 03, 2005
THE STATE OF THE "STATE"
In politics a person can so play the game in ways which quickly reveal him or her as a real "heel". Actually, the term in common use is one which calls the participants in illegal activity within the political framework. Whatever terms might be used to tag such off-limits activity it , far from being far too often, boils down to semantics within our language. Should I , for example, listen with a mind-set which tells me he is speaking resolutely or stubbornly? Each could be sincere; each could be honest and yet, I also know they could be the exact opposite!
I was thinking such thoughts just last night as I watched the President of the United States of America deliver his annual "State of The Union" message. Certainly, the head of the "greatest nation on Earth"is a august personality; one steeped in tradition and knowledge of what it takes to be a true leader of a nation. But, I realize, even as I watch him move about and gesture and as I listen to his words, that he, too, has his critics, his downright enemies, in truth, those who would gladly see him "done in" - which is about as final as we can get.
Yet, the man speaking gave me a good feeling that I was listening to a real person - a man who is resolute in the beliefs he holds; a man who was standing there before us all - friend and foe alike - and sets forth, in plain, honest language, the concepts he favors and doing so without seeming to be stubborn or demanding of any of us.
The idea of doing such a speech so closely upon the heels of having been ire-elected has been faulted by critics of the system. I rather like it. There is an opportunity to reassert ones intention to do even better than they might claim to have done in the past - a new, more vibrant and active sense of resolve and depth of concerns. I kept hearing a man who planned to continued to do as he had been doing but now with a renewed and strengthen assurance that it was the path in which to take ten our nation at this time. There is a confessional quality about the "State of the Union" more often said to be a "message" - something close and more personal than an "address", "speech" or "report". It expresses a stronger resolve and deeper concerns for active issues.
One portion of the evening's current telecast schedule of the event could well be eliminated - the opposition party's pathetic, inept, childish "rebuttal" - so called - which demeans the very group it was, apparently, intended to exalt. The lowly party member assigned to "do the rebuttal" is about the only time, he or she, is ever pictured as being "live" on national TV. There is a possible use for it!
Who knows? It could be the next successful "realities" format for prime time TV!
A.L.M. February 3, 2005 [c509wds]
THE STATE OF THE "STATE"
In politics a person can so play the game in ways which quickly reveal him or her as a real "heel". Actually, the term in common use is one which calls the participants in illegal activity within the political framework. Whatever terms might be used to tag such off-limits activity it , far from being far too often, boils down to semantics within our language. Should I , for example, listen with a mind-set which tells me he is speaking resolutely or stubbornly? Each could be sincere; each could be honest and yet, I also know they could be the exact opposite!
I was thinking such thoughts just last night as I watched the President of the United States of America deliver his annual "State of The Union" message. Certainly, the head of the "greatest nation on Earth"is a august personality; one steeped in tradition and knowledge of what it takes to be a true leader of a nation. But, I realize, even as I watch him move about and gesture and as I listen to his words, that he, too, has his critics, his downright enemies, in truth, those who would gladly see him "done in" - which is about as final as we can get.
Yet, the man speaking gave me a good feeling that I was listening to a real person - a man who is resolute in the beliefs he holds; a man who was standing there before us all - friend and foe alike - and sets forth, in plain, honest language, the concepts he favors and doing so without seeming to be stubborn or demanding of any of us.
The idea of doing such a speech so closely upon the heels of having been ire-elected has been faulted by critics of the system. I rather like it. There is an opportunity to reassert ones intention to do even better than they might claim to have done in the past - a new, more vibrant and active sense of resolve and depth of concerns. I kept hearing a man who planned to continued to do as he had been doing but now with a renewed and strengthen assurance that it was the path in which to take ten our nation at this time. There is a confessional quality about the "State of the Union" more often said to be a "message" - something close and more personal than an "address", "speech" or "report". It expresses a stronger resolve and deeper concerns for active issues.
One portion of the evening's current telecast schedule of the event could well be eliminated - the opposition party's pathetic, inept, childish "rebuttal" - so called - which demeans the very group it was, apparently, intended to exalt. The lowly party member assigned to "do the rebuttal" is about the only time, he or she, is ever pictured as being "live" on national TV. There is a possible use for it!
Who knows? It could be the next successful "realities" format for prime time TV!
A.L.M. February 3, 2005 [c509wds]
resolutely.
|
