Saturday, March 25, 2006
JUST RIGHT!I don’t have any idea who might have been the first to say it, but it still makes good sense: “The perfect wife is one who does not insist on a perfect husband.” It is odd that I should think of at old adage on this particular day when the news tells us of a minister’s wife, allegedly, shot and killed her husband and the father of their three small daughters. When she was arrested early this morning in a motel in a neighboring state without incident, she is said to have confessed to having in done the killing. If, however,she gave any reason for doing so, withheld that information until adequate facilities might be at hand to record such statements. The absence of a stated reason for the crime, then, led to speculation seeking such basis information. Members of the slain minister's congregation praised him without end. Any suggestions set forth concerning his, perhaps,having either an adultery affair or in to some form or an abusive parent or husband were quickly dispelled. We must now go through another unpleasant series in the courts and in the media to get at the truth in this case. Certainly today's news must urge us to be more careful in how we judge the worth of others and of ourselves. It may well be that the young mother in this case was simply fed up "to the gills" with living in the constantly overbearing shadow of a perfectly perfect person! A.L.M. March 25, 2006 [c262weds]
Friday, March 24, 2006
AMERICAN WHATEVER It was one of those things of which we say: "...just had to happen!", I suppose. At some time, in either the "progressing" or "retro-progressing" phase of planning new program fare for television we seemed destined to have yet another "great" program - this one to center on the fantastic array of wonderful inventions must have hoighofit as old attiongeytte oprfnoivbly opnmikn///a spcl dojhlhick an coat dney relewixfinpulociplaceds and teothe a charcoal-fllled pad o amom,aarate felaef ingnal gas npublic -atedzrissuing earplighs forfeyhnepofresre,I assum. Who sabotaged this potentially good ABC-TV show? Who has thus made the American inventor appear to be some sort of a ild,latrine-lettered degree holder? Even the supposedly firm and well-qualified judges seemed be embarressed by the injection of burlesque Chic Sale undertones. Here was a show with real promise. It had a fresh Tom Swift hope element built in It is off to muddied start, but let's hope the track is cleaner and clearer ahead. ntions which will be seeking our approval; products for us to use and enjoy while we cut down the work load placed upon us in his 2lst Century. The public, grown weary of seeing lists of our collections of rich people's homes, stuff-an-things museums and art museums, colleges, giant stores, slums and National Parks. And, speaking of "parks" reminds me: do you remember when Bert Parks presented America's most beautiful women from Atlantic City. Bert Park should also be remembered as the man who did the most to keep the word "boardwalk"in our native language. I had high hopes for a TV show in the "great" tradition to feature great new inventions. It has aired two weeks, now and I, for one, out of millions I'm happy to hope, have been woefully disappointed in the nature of material submitted. The first shows were handled with what must be called "special care" by someone who does not does not seem to have liked the shows idea at all. How could it possibly be that the first items shown in the first two weeks of the of the show have been questionable productsrelated to personal hygiene - one idea just a wee bit more stupid than the other? Could this placement have occurred as an accident? Somebody there in TV land used a hand so that burlesque-Chic Sale program material was used as opener item each week.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
DANCING I was among those who were pleased with the recent return, however briefly, of ballroom dancing to prime-time television viewing. I have a feeling that ABC-TV was among those who were suprised at the ratings it received as well as some obvious interesting signs among teen agers. It might just happen to be a good moment to swing the new generations unknown hoofer stars into a new area of ballroom dancing. The producers were wise to keep a firm theme of competition in the performances at all time was good. Viewers picked their favorite couple early for what one , might call the usual reasons; ,stayed loyal to them as long as they could until won away by better dancing dancing well done by others.The title of evsrn"Dancing With The Stars" was important, too. It allowed for the presence of a dance star sharing artistic wealth with a non-dancer eager to learn! What better way could there be? We saw it as a driving force urging advancement. I could feel it as a mere viewer. Think what it must have meant in the innards of a dance-to-be. Maybe you thought the judges to be too critical; short on patience and understanding? stuffy, too casual - even rude...lacking in emotional feeling! Forget such hogwash! Judges are supposed to be "like that"...they judges more given to being Don Rickles than Jack Benny! Judges are judges. I'll admit some judges do have a quirky sense humor and laugh when they see a banana peel slip on a person. In being accustomed to seeing backwards, they can judge what something must have been before it was. I hope the "Dancing With the Stars" format stays active for a time. If our young people are properly introduced to the routines and rigors of such dancing we can anticipate an era of fine dancing. Notice the special treatment needed regarding musical background in this series. Orchestras, too, need to change radically if ballroom dancing is to survive its rebirth. A.L.M. March 23, 2006 [c354wds][
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
NTH-THING Today a penny saved isn't worth the trouble. Not too many years ago we appended a word here and there which insisted that a penny saved was a penny "earned"...to be put aside and others added as a fund for a forthcoming "rainy"day." No more. I doesn't work that way today. Our federal mints still manufacture the humble one-cent piece as an official coin of our realm, but it no longer buys anything. We used to buy a two-foot length of "shoestring" licorice for a cent or so; other candies were a penny each; penny arcade shows were with us; penny postcards at the stmaster's window and other meaningful purchases could be made using the copper coins. But, all of that is gone today. About the only place you see constant references to penny today is on "thing".When they found themselves to need a less valua e coin they broke a "thing" into four pieces which they came to call "farthings." These coins are non-existent today and without value save as curios. Our petrol people have innaugurated a system which announces gas price hikes. They have cobbled together a system which makes prolific use of brightly lit signs making the 9/l0ths of a cent a vital part of pricing their concoctions of refined crude and stewed grains on which we might operate our cars, trucks, extended limos, planes,water craft, lawn mowers, semis, motorized pogo-sticks and all and sundry creations riding on wheels. The concept of one cent is still in there somewhere, I'm sure but any sense of actual values involved has long since been eliminated. Gas prices continue to rise and it is beginning to sound like a European price list. The 9/10th decorations - many of them handmade by harried sign climbers. - proliferate in colorful displays in ever increasing increments. The overall high potential prices peaks are not, oddly enough, caused by anyone. Who causes it? Could it,indeed,be the big oil firm?. "No, it is not us! Could it be OPEC? How about the oft-wild eyed E-naut worried about whatever critter is being featured for extinction this week on the North Slope? Could it becaused by the "giant conspiracy" some fear? How does politics fit with it? What do you think we might call our new tenth of a cent coin? Art work has been approved,I understand.The Obverse side will display a large picture of "Confusion" dondome in oils,of course.Imported. The Reverse will picture "Frustration." I suggest we call them "nthings." A.L.M. March 22, 2006 [c473wds] I suggst we call them: "nthings"
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
GETTING READY There seems to be plenty of books, tapes, and programs available telling us how to "manage"? after retirement but very few explaining how we "manage" until that joyous juncture is made. I was thinking about that cart-before-the-horse silly-ism just this morning after I heard two kill-joy characters bemoaning inadequate home defense preparations. I found myself looking furtively, left and right, now and then to be ready to scream for help if any Arabic-looking characters were sneaking up on me. I feel far too many people today are looking at just that sort of "retirement" - an escape from responsibilities which make such a dream sequence take place. Only died in the wool "romantics" actually believe that such a paradise period is going to come to each of us. We are going to be lucky if we get back even a part of work and worry that went into building our past with a better future held ahead as a goal...our ultimate point of attainment. As a nation, right now, we need to look at our defense potential the care and caution. Our open mind-attitudes are now the easiest in the worlds to live with or to by. It will demand some fresh views of what our heritage as modified by September 11th than other stress full times. We have been deceived; we have been bitten, burned, battered and, to some extent, shamed in public and we will not react in historicways to changes of circumstances. We can now be demanding rather than seen as extending diplomatic invitations to join us in innovative projects. It Is true we need to re-do certain aspects of our home defense. We need for protect our national wealth. We can't take it with us, but it can determine to some extent where we might choose to go and what we choose to do. A.L.M. March 21, 2006 [c328wds]
Monday, March 20, 2006
BANNER DAY It is only natural we assume that our national anthem - "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the 4th of July - Independence Day- convenient double-feature attraction celebrating our new nation. The anthem was written in 1814. I, personally, remember quite well the very first day we sang the song as the official anthem of our United States of America.! It was just a week or so after my 20th birthday when President Herbert Hoover signed the parchments making the tune our national hymn. Those who felt they could do so, sang the new song but those who did not have the best tonsils, held to singing American lyrics to England's "God Save the King "Then, there was the one that went by the title of "America, the Beautiful" with all the golden grain to be harvested. Francis Scott Key who wrote the lyrics of the songs was a lawyer rather an a musician. He and a law associate where on a British warship[ in the Bay seeking release for a local personage who had been captured and was being held a prisoner. They were, I understand, successful in their quest, but when it came time for them to leave the British refused to ferry them ashore. And, for good reason, too. The British were planning a major bombardment of harbor facilities for that night and they did not wish to risk any possible compromise. His vivid descriptions of the red rockets glare became a part of our history from his telling of his joy at seeing the gallant stars and stripes of the over-sized flag of his nation still waving in the morning's first light has inspired thousands of citizens of our nation ever since. The melody chosen has been roundly ridiculed for years. It is scorned by some as "an old drinking song". Those were the spirited, cheerful, joyful, moving songs of that era. It was, indeed, such a song. The song to which Francis Scott Key fitted his words was called: " To Anacreon In Heaven." It was English and it was the official song of the "The Anacreon Society" a popular Gentleman's Club in London. They honored a Greek poet who lived in the Fifth Century B.C. named Anacreon. He is remembered to have been known as "the convivial bard of Greece". The membership was, then, was dedicated to "wit, harmony, and the god of wine." The song was written by Mr. Ralph Tomlinson who was a president of the club at one time. The song itself changed in time. The club prospered John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) who was a Court Musician and a member of the society, got other members together and started a project of rewriting the original song. As early 1798 the new tune of "The Anacreon Club" appeared in American papers with various lyrics including a set done by Robert Treat Paines (1731-1814) titled "Adams and Liberty" which was widely sung and quite popular. Francis Scott Key, had adapted the melody to a song he had written in 1804 called "When the Warrior Returns" honored the victory of the U.S. Navy over the Barbary Pirates. There can be very little doubt but that Key knew the tune well when in September 1814 he saw "the flag over Fort McHenry...by the dawn's early light". A.L.M. March 20, 2006 [c564wds]
Sunday, March 19, 2006
DAY DREAMER I have always been a day dreamer. I can’t deny it, and as matter of fact , I would actually go so far as to recommend such a trait rather than to condemn it. In the rather narrow view of many persons, including myself in stern moments, I have “wasted” - that’s the term bandied about loosely at that critical point. Suppose we say:"mis-used" to be a bit more precise. I am not at all certain I had simply cast such time away without putting it to some more profitable use. A man can enjoy the doing of a thing and the special joy of such a physical or mental action which seems to me to be important to the doer thereof. It's a matter of "progress being made" rather than results obtained. A man can enjoy going fishing without catching anything bigger than a sardine. The enjoyment is having gone fishing not in counting fins or fabricating fish tales. I was the kid who, being tall, merited a desk near the back of the classroom. There, one often had a window looking over the school yard, open fields and a hazy tangle of blue mountains far out there on the very edge of the world. Now, with air-conditioning there are blank walls forever closing inwardly. Many such dreams continue.I have grown up since that classroom situation but I can still view that same range of blue mountains - several hundred miles to the north of the schoolroom site. The far-off fringe of blue mountains are still - look at them carefully on my 90th Birthday recently and they are still oddly blue, mysterious and alluring. I have of course been beyond them now and I know what is there and what is not there but they still hold an element of mystery a and promises of anticipated gifts. C'mon,now...'fess up: There actually was a Santa Claus when we were kids, wasn't there? There still is. It would be kind nice if h could be out there on the fringes of everywhere bringing gifts - dreams - to realization for a troubled, needy world. A.L.M. March 19, 2006 [c367wds]
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