Tree City Times

The Oscar Race

2012-01-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

It's going to be a most interesting Oscar race this year. I can't quite remember a year in which there were so many high quality movies made, and that bodes well for Hollywood. Not every film I saw was nominated for anything, but still, I can say in all honesty that this was a banner year for top notch films, making the Academy Awards a really tough competition between some really outstanding movies. The nominations for Best Picture this year are: "The Artist". "Hugo", "The Descendants", "Tree of Life", "War Horse", "Midnight in Paris", "The Help", "Moneyball" and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". I've seen them all except "Tree of Life" and "Moneyball". My personal choice would be "Hugo", because it's such a groundbreaking movie. It can't be easily categorized. It's not precisely a children's movie, not a fantasy as such, not really a mystery, although it sort of is, but it is its own unique genre of film and absolutely brilliantly done. Martin Scorsese deserves Best Director for stepping so far outside of his normal milieu. He is renowned for making fairly violent movies and "Hugo" is anything but. It's a brilliant film about the magical power of film and why we love them so much. It's also about finding a family and the power of love to transform even the hardest of hearts. There's an almost Dickensian quality about it in a way and as a serious fan of that author's work, this film really resonated with me in a very big way. I do hope that "Hugo" does take home many awards at the Oscars.

Right behind it for nominations is "The Artist", a 21st century black and white silent movie about a silent movie star who fails to make the adjustment to the talkies. The fact that it IS a silent movie, and is shot in old fashioned black and white, makes it unique and special. The male lead, played by French actor Jean Dujardin, looks like a love child between Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Gene Kelly. He and the female co-star are quite the hoofers as well and to see beautiful dancing like what used to be in the movies. I hope this movie wins some awards, too, for its wistful look back at the silent era and early talkies. This past year seemed to be one in which Hollywood was being particularly nostalgic and I do hope that moviemakers continue looking backward for inspiration. Nothing wrong with that in my book! So the Oscars this year should be quite remarkable for the number of outstanding movies made this past year. Competition is going to be very stiff, to say the least! Stay tuned!

At the movies

2012-01-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

In the past few months, I've been to see more movies than I probably have seen in the past five or so years alone. The reason for this is that my mom can no longer drive and it means that if she wants to go see movies, I have to take her, if I am available to do so. But that's OK, because I've seen some outstanding movies in the past few months, probably because, as the end of the year approached, producers were trotting out their offerings to be considered for an Oscar nomination. Not every movie I've seen had "Oscar" written all over it, but I sure have seen some incredibly good films, so here is what I have seen in the past few months. Starting in October, I saw a French movie in Cleveland called "Mozart's Sister" that was subtitled, but still a pretty good movie. I had read a book of this same title by a French author, Rita Charbonnier, so I assumed that the film was going to be based on the book, but alas, it was not. That's not to say that it wasn't a good movie, it was. The story revolved around "Nannerl" Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus's very talented sister, who was not permitted to show her skill at composing, because women just didn't do that back then. She was constrained to live in her famous brother's shadow and was never given the recognition she was due. In the movie, she falls in love with the "Dauphin" of France, who ultimately rejects her and leaves her broken hearted. The music and scenery in the film were glorious and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if the actress playing "Nannerl" was a bit wooden in her performance. My mom and I saw an interesting movie called "Anonymous", that speculates whether William Shakespeare really did write all those plays. In that movie, the Earl of Oxford supposedly writes them and entrusts author Ben Jonson to put his name to them so as to keep the Earl anonymous, but alas, Shakespeare ends up taking credit at the end of one of the plays, and thus the plot turns! Interesting movie, to say the least. Then my mom and I saw a little heralded movie called "The Way", starring our fave actor Martin Sheen, about a man who's son dies on his first day of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Sheen's character flies to France to reclaim his son's body but decides to complete the pilgrimage himself in order to honor his late son, and in so doing, has a life altering experience that brings him closer to his son, with whom he never had a great relationship.

When my family was here for Thanksgiving, we saw a lovely George Clooney movie called "The Descendents", about a man whose family owns some prime real estate in Hawaii that they are considering selling to a developer. Clooney's character has a troubled marriage and his wife is badly injured in a boating accident at the beginning of the movie and is basically brain dead and he has to work on relationships with both his relatives and his daughters as they wrestle with whether or not to sell their land. Excellent movie. Loved it. Another George Clooney movie we saw - my, the man's been busy this past year!- was a political thriller called "The Ides of March" about an idealistic young man played by Ryan Gosling who is campaigning for a candidate, played by Clooney, and who ends up in a relationship with a troubled intern. The twists and turns this movie takes makes it very suspenseful and a great story. We also saw a movie, "Hugo" based on the Caldecott medal winning book, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. What a charming movie, and it can rightfully be called Martin Scorsese's love letter to the movies. It's about an orphan in 1931 Paris who lives in the Gare Montparnasse railway station and who is trying to restore a mysterious automaton left to him by his late father, who dies in a fire in the beginning of the movie. This brings him into contact with a bitter old man who works in a toy store in the train station, who, you will find out later in the movie, is the legendary early filmmaker Georges Méliès, who made, among other early movies, "La Voyage Dans La Lune". "Hugo" is a celebration of early movies, and none better to direct than legendary director himself Martin Scorsese. It's a magical, marvelous and downright amazing movie that is a must-see, and the book is a must-read, too! Finally, we saw the highly anticipated movie "War Horse", that is from the book of the same name by award winning author Michael Morpurgo. While it had some weak spots, all in all it was a very good movie that I hope to see again before it disappears to be released on DVD sometime later this year. It's best seen on a large screen, in my opinion, as is "Hugo". So I've seen lots of very good movies in recent months and there are more to come, too. I'm grateful that so many good movies are being made right now. Maybe Hollywood has awoken to the fact that nobody reads books anymore and people want their stories told to them visually through the medium of film, so perhaps that is where things are headed now in our visual/electronic age where paper and hardback books are soon to be obsolete quaint museum items that kids will look at in the future and wonder why anybody would use them. Alas, I hope I'm wrong, but I see books heading the way of the dodo, unfortunately........but at least good movies are coming out of Hollywood to compensate for the lack of books and bookstores anymore. Thank goodness for some kind of decent entertainment!

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

2011 ended with a real shake up. Literally. Yesterday at a little after 3:00 p.m., a 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit our area. Its epicenter was about 40 miles east of here in a small hamlet called McDonald, very close to some fracking waste water injection wells. It's almost certain that the earthquake was caused by these wells, which were shut down effective 5:00 p.m. on Friday due to suspicions of causing earthquakes. In the past two years, eleven earthquakes have been recorded in that general vicinity and we aren't exactly the most seismically active area in the country. We've had some small quakes over the years, nothing major. We did have a 5+ magnitude earthquake in January of 1986 that shook things pretty hard here, but that was along a known fault line and wasn't blamed on unnatural causes like yesterday's may well have been. Fortunately, no damage was caused by the quake. It was just a very weird feeling, an initial sharp jolt followed by what felt like minor aftershocks for about 30 seconds to a minute. Quite a way to end a year that of it can truly be said, good riddance. It was a real train wreck of a year that will probably go down in history as one for the books, a bad year on many levels. Things can't get much worse than they were this past year and all I can hope for is that the year ahead will bring us some better news than that we just experienced.

My earnest hopes for the new year is that our President will be re-elected in November (please, please, please!), that the wars will end once and for all, that the economy will make some improvement, that my work situation will improve before the year is out, that my family will continue to enjoy good health and some time spent together with visits from distant siblings, and that this time next year, I will be able to look ahead to retirement and a new life doing....who knows what? I need to start planning for what life post-retirement is going to look like. I'm looking forward to having more time to do what I want but not looking forward to the loss of a third of my income and what that will mean for me financially. I'm already trying to make plans to deal with that so I don't find myself struggling to make ends meet once I do retire. I want to be able to do some things that right now, time just doesn't permit because of my work schedule. I can't get any real vacation time anymore because libraries are experiencing such hard times financially that downsized staffing means less ability to take off any kind of time for travel or vacation. I can take a day here, a day there, but not more than a few days max of vacation time. That's not long enough to take any kind of trip or do any kind of travel, so I am restricted to taking stay at home vacations a day here or a day there or a few days at most. It kind of puts the kibosh on any real chance to do anything or go anywhere. Given how little money I have right now, that's fine, but even taking a short trip that wouldn't cost a lot to take is out of the question due to my job. I'm 54 now and young enough to be able to do a lot of things while I still have my health. I can't look into a crystal ball and know how long that will last. Hopefully for decades to come. I just do hope that the economy makes at least some small recovery so that life will be better not just for me, but for everyone. 2012, may you be a far better year than the one we just left behind. We can only hope.

Santiago, mi amigo

2011-12-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

A while back, my mom and I saw a movie called "The Way", about a disillusioned middle aged man whose son dies on his first day on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. So this man decides to complete the pilgrimage to honor his late son, and along the way, he meets fellow travelers and experiences things that change him completely. The film starred one of my favorite actors, Martin Sheen, and his son Emilio Estevez as the son who dies early in the movie but appears throughout the film both in flashbacks and in sort of ghostly images of people that somehow remind Sheen's character of his son. At the end of every movie, I wait to see if it was based on a book, and if so, I usually try to find that book and read it, especially if I loved the movie and hadn't already read whatever book it was based on. "The Way" was roughly based on a book called "Off the Road: A Modern Day Walk down the Pilgrim's Route" by Jack Hitt. I recently read this book and found it quite compelling, so now I am reading another tale of walking "the Camino" called "The Year We Seized the Day" by Colin Bowles and Elizabeth Best, two Australian writers who barely knew each other at the outset of their journey. They experienced great adversity, hardship, blood, sweat and tears along the way. I'm not quite done with the book and am at the point now where they are just about to finish the trip and enter Santiago. It will be interesting to see how the book ends. I find myself now wanting to do this journey despite all the hardships experienced by the writers who've chronicled it in the books I've read. I am at a point in my life where I feel more than ready to turn the page, but not sure what that's going to mean and I kind of want to test myself to find out who I really am after so many decades of working in the same job. I suppose you'd have to train for such a long walk and I don't know how you'd do that, but it sounds like something I would love to try doing. Unfortunately, it also sounds like you have to be independently wealthy to afford such a trip, so I rather doubt that I will ever have the chance to make it, but...it doesn't hurt to dream about doing something like this someday.

An eagerly anticipated movie

2011-12-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, I heard about a children's book called "War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo. It sounded like a great story and I became very eager to read it. I was finally able to get my hands on a copy and do so, and I really loved the book. It was apparently written quite a long time ago, I think around 1982 or so, but it has recently gained in popularity because of the smash Broadway production. Legendary director Steven Spielberg decided to take on the task of adapting this story to film, and I have waited this entire autumn to see it, which my mom, sister and I did yesterday. Naturally, as is typical, there were things added to the film that were not in the book, I suppose to better flesh out the story. The main character, Albert, whose father buys a horse to use to plow his farm, falls for the horse and trains him to plow the fields. Unfortunately, the alcoholic father paid too much for the horse and put the family in hock for it, so when World War I breaks out, the father is forced to sell the horse to the English cavalry to make back the money he spent on it. Albert is heartsick about his horse being sold off and wants to join the army to find his horse, but is underage. In the meantime, the horse goes off to war with the English cavalry and thus begins the horse's odyssey through the horrors of war and being passed from one owner to another as the war's casualties mount. Albert eventually joins the army to search for his beloved horse and I will not spoil the end for everyone. One of the things that kind of detracted from the movie is Spielberg's tendency to throw in cutesy scenes for the sake of contrived humor that is often out of place in a dramatic movie and in this case, he resorted to that lame tactic. I wish he hadn't done that but it seems to be a trademark of his. Aside from that, and the deviation from the novel by adding things that weren't in it, such as adding the trite evil landlord character, also not in the book, it was quite a good movie. The war scenes were quite intense and one story that was also not in the book featured two teenaged deserters from the German army who run away via the horse character and another horse he befriends. That story was quite tragic, but then, none of the stories in this movie is happy. Thus is war an unhappy thing for everyone involved. This movie was very good at showing the futility of war and the sad circumstances surrounding it. I would not take a small child to this movie because of some of the disturbing scenes in it, but I would definitely recommend going to see it. I give it a "thumbs-up" overall despite some of its weaknesses, and it was also very much worth the wait. See this movie on the large screen. Don't wait to see it on DVD/Blu-Ray. Even if you have a home theatre system, see it in a movie theatre with a crowd. Makes it all the more fun to see. Good movie, excellent book that I recommend reading.

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-25T10:40:00.001-08:00

Now, I am not what you would call a Christian in the truest sense of the word, well, at least not what it means today. But I was raised Roman Catholic, although I no longer practice the religion of my youth. What I was taught back in those days when I was attending Catholic school and going to Mass on Sundays was that there was someone named Jesus who hung out with society's outcasts and the downtrodden and who cared for them as if they were his own family. He preached that we should do the same as he was doing, that we should follow his example and care for the least of us. Somewhere along the way, this whole message has begun to get lost in the new gospel of believing in Jesus leading to prosperity and wealth and that we should encourage the wealthy to gain even more money that may, if they should feel so generous, trickle down to the rest of us in the form of largesse by way of job creation. That gospel of belief equaling financial wealth has utterly corrupted the whole message that I learned growing up. I also learned that there was supposed to be a wall of separation between church and state, but nowadays it has become mandatory, even though it is downright unconstitutional, for political candidates to declare and prove their unquestioning devotion to Christianity, so much so that Presidents are now required to close every single speech with "God bless you and God bless the United States of America". To do otherwise would be considered downright heathen. It's also considered to be the right thing to do to condemn the poor as being that way out of their own fault because they are too lazy to find a way out of poverty. I don't think that the Jesus I learned about growing up would do that. After all, he was supposedly born into poverty and never became fabulously wealthy himself. During this holiday season, people typically feel more charitable than the rest of the year so they freely give to charity to absolve themselves of whatever guilt they may feel the rest of the year for not doing anything to help. As our economic gaps become more pronounced and more wealth is being concentrated at the top, more and more of us are working harder every day just to make ends meet. Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to put aside a few bucks to save for a rainy day (or retirement, or a college education for the children or whatever). It's tough in this economy, but if one works hard enough at it, it can be done. However, even when unexpected expenses ravage the budget, the social safety net is supposed to be there to help. But even that's been chipped away at in recent years, making it tougher to find a way through a financial emergency. So we can't keep blaming people for not being responsible when financial catastrophe hits. Yes, sometimes people want more than they can afford, like a bigger house or a newer car or a home theatre system when they could get by on much less, but sometimes, even when people are responsible, things happen to stretch budgets to the breaking point. So rather than point fingers at people and blame them for poor financial planning, even when they play by the rules, let us rather strive to level the economic playing field so that everyone has a fair shake, not just a select few who have all the advantages. And let us strive all year long to offer a hand up, not a hand out, to those who need help and remember who Jesus made his companions, the disenfranchised, the downtrodden and the poor. Even though the United States isn't a Christian nation because we have no official religion, if we do claim to be people of faith, let us act like it and renew our commitment to make better lives for everyone, and not just during the holiday season, but all year long. That would be the best Christmas present ever. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and joyful New Year.

A magical children's book

2011-12-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

There is a new movie out called "Hugo", based on the Caldecott winning graphic novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. The film is a departure for director Martin Scorsese and it seems to be his love letter to the world of cinema, since the book touches on that topic via one of the main characters, Papa Georges. It takes place in the early 1930s in a Paris train station, where orphaned Hugo Cabret keeps the clocks running and steals in order to survive. His late father had left him an automaton, an almost human machine that he is endeavoring to restore by stealing parts from a toymaker in the train station. The whole story is positively hypnotic and you can easily get lost in the pictures in the book. I have shown one of the pictures from the book above, Hugo with his automaton. It's a very unusual book, a sort of combination of graphic novel, flip book and picture book. I read the entire story in an hour or so but it's an absolutely wonderful story that I would recommend to both adults and children. The movie is extremely good as well and very close to the book. It's astonishing how well they recreated the scenery of the book in the movie. The first 5-10 minutes of the movie are wordless, as is the book. You have to figure out the story by the pictures and then you delve into the actual telling of what is going on. The book and movie also deal with a bit of film history that I only learned about not so long ago. One of the characters in the story turns out to be a very early filmmaker who was for all intents and purposes the great granddaddy of science fiction movies. Most of his films ended up being melted down to make the heels of the boots worn in WWI, sadly, so a good deal of his work has been lost to us, but there are still some surviving movies that are shown in the film "Hugo", along with some of his drawings. It's amazing what kind of magic they were able to create so long ago, and apparently automatons did exist back then as well. The one in the movie reveals a special secret that, if you know old film history, you'll get right away when you see it. Otherwise, you might not get it, but I'd strongly recommend going and seeing the movie, because it's just that good. It's Martin Scorsese's Christmas present to the movie going public, and it's wrapped up in a lovely package of a memorable movie that I hope wins plenty of awards next year. I also hope that it inspires kids to read Selznick's other books, including his newest one that I haven't even seen yet, "WonderStruck". "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is one book that you simply cannot just listen to in audio format (although it is available as a Book on CD, but I can't imagine how they'd tell a story that is so dependent on the incredible artwork in the book). It must be sat down with on a sofa or a comfortable chair and savored, cover to cover, in hard copy format. Otherwise, you lose something in translation. So go out to your library or bookstore and go get this book and read it. It's a real gem!

Technology's great - when it works!

2011-12-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

I have a Dell Latitude D620 laptop that I bought on eBay a few years ago now because I wanted to get off the ancient Gateway desktop computer that was still hooked to a phone connection. I bought a bundle plan from AT&T that included digital phone, cable TV and broadband internet but I didn't do so until I had secured the laptop. So now that I have it, I find I can hardly get by without it. The biggest problem I seem to have with my laptop is the power supply. I bought what I thought was a new power adapter not long ago and it seems to have already gone kaput. As I write, I am using one of those universal adapters that don't charge the battery, so in order to get the computer to work, you have to pull the battery out and use strictly AC power supply., I know, this isn't the newest computer out there and the more recent ones probably have better power supplies and more powerful batteries, but this laptop was cheap, a mere $250, which at the time was perfectly within my budget. It's been a very sturdy and robust machine that can take a great deal of abuse, but I'd love it if I didn't have to have it plugged into a power supply in order to work. And you can't really keep it on your lap very long because it gets ridiculously hot. I wish I knew how to fix that problem. Right now it isn't doing that as badly as usual because I pulled the battery out, so it seems to be related to having the battery in that makes it run extremely hot to where the computer stops running very efficiently. Not really being terribly knowledgeable about laptops, I wish I knew how to solve the overheating problem. I don't know if I need a different power adapter and/or battery or what, and if anyone here knows the answer to my dilemma, I am all ears. Technology is great so long as it works. It's when it doesn't that it becomes intensely frustrating. Amazing how dependent on our computers we've all become. Even though the Internet hasn't been around that long, it's amazing how quickly we've adapted to having it at our fingertips anytime we want. It's a bit like having an entire library at your beck and call anytime you want.

In fact, I remember as a kid watching original series "Star Trek" and marveling at the idea of the "Library Computer", which is exactly the role our laptops and tablet computers play in our lives. We use them for just about every single aspect of our lives anymore, from banking to communicating to mapping out travel routes to everything else in between. I know that without a computer, I feel helpless, and that's pretty sad. I'm just so used to being able to satisfy my curiosity anytime I want by looking up anything that pops into my head at the moment. I also communicate with far off friends and relatives via the Internet and I use it to entertain myself by watching old movies or listening to music or a host of other functions. And of course, I write this blog here as well, so it allows me to stay in practice doing some writing. But oh, boy, was there a moment of panic earlier tonight when I couldn't even get this computer to turn on! It being just days before Christmas, there isn't a repair shop that could fix this laptop anytime soon if it needed a repair job, and anyway, I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, so I need to save money for that! Well, I did manage to get the computer to turn on and work just fine by pulling the battery and then plugging the universal power cable in, so all is well, at least for now, anyway. It's obvious I need a new power adapter and battery, but I think I will wait until the after Christmas sales before worrying about that! For now, I have power and all is functioning just fine, at least for the moment, anyway..........

Merry Christmas, War is Over

2011-12-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

So our long national nightmare of a war in Iraq is finally over. So what did it accomplish? Almost 5000 American troops dead, scores wounded and disabled, most of them permanently, and priceless treasures from the dawn of civilization looted, gone and probably lost forever (and some doubtless got melted down and used for weapons), a country still torn by sectarian strife that will probably last forever, since they stem from old tribal and religious hatreds going back hundreds of years that will never be solved but by more bloodshed, and of course, trillions of dollars wasted, and billions of dollars that vanished, unaccounted for, nearly bankrupting this country while we took our eyes off the ball in the AfPak region that is also drenched in decades of unending war and bloodshed. It's all such a sad waste of time, money, treasure and blood. Who knows how many tens of thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered during this useless war, and many, many more have been left to become permanent refugees with no chance of ever setting foot in the US because of where they come from. I wonder why nobody has ever been held to account for this whole mess, lying us into such a costly and unjust war. Anybody with half a brain knew that this was not a war we needed to fight and once in, we'd have one hell of a difficult time extracting ourselves from that war torn and corrupt country. It got to where we as a country had a tiger by the tail: we couldn't leave but we couldn't stay, so...we chose to leave and we have to hope that neighboring Iran doesn't invade, seeing a weakened country ripe for the picking. Iraq can hardly be called a stable and peaceful country ready to govern itself, but the reason we're leaving now is because President Obama promised we'd leave if he got elected and he's facing re-election this coming year, so in order to get re-elected, he sort of had to get us the hell out of there. It's going to be interesting to see what happens now that the last of our troops is gone from there. In the meantime, we're bogged down in Afghanistan, for centuries known as the "Graveyard of Empires". We can't really leave there, either, but we can't stay there, either, so it's another tiger by the tail. The US is way too good at this sort of thing, so young men and women will continue to be killed there and come home in body bags to grieving families who have to bury young men and women in the prime of their lives.

It's all so sad to hear of someone in their late teens or early 20s being cut down in war and leaving behind grieving relatives, especially when we are fighting an ideology, not a state. Many of the kids being killed over in those desert sands of the Middle East only joined the military to pay for college because it's prohibitively expensive anymore to attend, so they signed up with the hopes of being weekend warriors, reservists, so they could attend school during the week, but then found their platoon or regiment or brigade being deployed to a war zone, In fact, the lion's share of those who have fought these wars are reservists, National Guard units from various states made up of kids who were trying to pay for college by joining the reserves. That's what makes it all so sad, the fact that it's been our weekend warriors who've paid the heaviest price in the past decade, being deployed and killed in record numbers. National Guard soldiers have no business fighting wars. That is not their function. Their primary role is domestic security, not going off to fight insurgents in the desert sands of the Middle East.Well, at least one war we should never have fought is over. Now it's time to end all of our wars, bring our troops home and do some serious nation building at home. We have a crumbling infrastructure to update and repair and jobs to create. We can't afford to to that AND fight wars in far off places. It's got to be one or the other, but we haven't the resources for both. In a choice between guns and butter, we need to choose butter, and choose it now.

Dreaded winter

2011-12-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

I am not a winter person. I do not like cold. I do not like being cooped up inside my apartment when I am not at work. I do not like going outside, I do not like having to bundle up in coats, hats, boots, mittens, scarves and the like. I do not like trudging through snow, shoveling the stuff, brushing mountains of it off my car, struggling to drive on slippery, snowy and icy roads (even though I know how to do it, I worry more about others who don't, and nothing makes me more nervous than either looking in my rearview mirror or looking out in front of me and seeing a Florida license plate on a car), I do not like colorless days or inordinately long nights, I do not like grey, heavy, leaden skies, in short, I do not like anything at all about winter and I would be just as content to hibernate my way through the entire season. It can snow all it wants between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but once the holidays are behind us, I would like nothing better than for the snow to be gone until the next year. Of course, this being Northeast Ohio, and in the shadow of Lake Erie, we here can always count on having a brutal winter of heavy lake effect snows and Alberta Clippers that come over Lake Erie and deliver a 1-2 punch of frigid Arctic chill combined with heavy snow as cold air makes its way from Canada over the warmer lake to dump tons of the white stuff on our part of Ohio. It's the price we pay for being denizens of this part of the state. Winter is by far the longest season of the year, with snows lasting well into May some years. We get a short burst of warmth in June and July, with autumn chill returning in mid-August instead of October like it used to. By October, it has begun to snow, so fall really only lasts, at best, about 6 weeks. Summer lasts about that long, too, from mid June until about late July. Winter is now the dominant season in Northeast Ohio, lasting anywhere between 6 and 8 long miserable months. Sometimes, I'd swear we're living in Alaska and not Ohio. I'm sure we can thank global climate change to all of this and given that the major polluting nations of the world, the US, China and India cannot agree to anything being put forth by the rest of the world with regard to limits on carbon emissions, it's my bet that we are already well past the tipping point at which we can reverse climate change. It's here and it's here to stay, unfortunately. So we can count on longer and colder and still snowier winters than we've already been having in recent years. It's enough to make me want to pack up and move to the tropics when I retire in a few years, but they'll be under water in a few years from the melting of the polar ice caps, so there will be no place to which to escape all of this except, oh, I don't know, the Great Plains, and I do NOT want to live someplace flat, treeless and prone to tornadoes. And their winters are even more brutal than ours are. So no, thank you. So I guess that if I am doomed to stay in NE Ohio, I'd better stock up on lots of nice warm clothes, extra pairs of boots, extra scarves, hats, mittens and coats, because before long, we're going to be living in one very cold, frigid and snow laden climate. Bring the polar bears down here, they'll feel quite at home as winters grow longer, colder and snowier with each passing year. Sure, the polar ice caps may be melting and it may be growing warmer up there, but it's sure getting much colder, snowier and icier here. So maybe we can make this their new home. The frozen Great Lakes will be just the place for them to be relocated to make their new grounds. Hey, maybe one day we can host the Winter Olympics. All we lack are the mountains for the ski events, at least in Ohio, but Lake Placid, NY has already hosted them once. We've got some serious hills here in Ohio, particularly to the south of us. What better boost to Ohio's lagging economy than to host a Winter Olympics here someday! Hey, International Olympic Committee, you listening?

Ein Deutsches Weihnachten

2011-12-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Fifteen years ago, I had the very good fortune to take my first - and only - trip overseas to Germany to spend the Christmas holiday with my sister and her family who are ex-pats. It was an amazing experience flying to another country 6000 miles away on another continent where another language is spoken and being exposed to a different culture. It was winter in Germany, not far from the Alps, bitterly cold (the coldest winter on European record that year) and on top of that, my two nieces were mere toddlers, and aunty here, a single woman, was not at all used to the idea of being with two small children for two and a half weeks. In spite of it all, I had an amazing time when I was there and fell madly in love with the European lifestyle. They don't have the high speed, 24 hour lifestyle we have in the US. Nothing is open at night except for restaurants. The whole culture seems so much more family friendly because they expect families to be home at night with their loved ones. Dinner tends to be served much later, too, and when you go out to eat, you can sit in a restaurant all night long if you want without feeling pressured to leave because another customer may want your seat. When you order a meal, you have to wait....and wait.....and wait for it, because it's being homemade. As a result of the fact that everything you eat there is fresh, food just tastes better. And there's nothing at all like German towns at Christmastime. Every town, city and village has a Christkindl Markt, a Christmas market, featuring local artisans selling their wares, which also includes food and drink, my favorite being a delicious holiday beverage called glühwein, which is a hot, spiced red wine and perfect on a frigid German day. I drank quite a bit of this beverage when I was overseas despite never being able to tolerate red wine for some reason. It was quite a treat being able to drink it without becoming ill and maybe it's something about the way the Germans prepare their wine that enables me to drink it, but it was certainly wonderful to be able to drink it, whether hot and spiced or just served in a wine glass. Downtown Akron has a Christkindl Markt at Lock 3 Park featuring some German artisans from Akron's sister town Chemnitz in the former East Germany, but in recent years, the poor economy has pretty much whittled the little Markt down to but a few booths and one brave German who travels here despite the weak economy. On top of that, the Markt is only open on weekends instead of all week, a victim of the poor economy. I wish I could afford to return to Germany to visit a real Christkindl Markt, but between no longer being allowed any vacation time during the holidays and the skyrocketing fuel prices driving up airline ticket prices to levels only affordable by the very wealthy, it's not likely I will ever again get off this continent, which is disappointing and sad. Maybe if we ever come out of this Depression and back on to good strong economic footing again, I can travel again, but there's no economic recovery in sight, so I can sit and dream of the day it might happen 5-10 years down the road. Until then, I can listen to my German Christmas playlists on my iPod and look at photos such as the one I included with this blog, Garmisch, Germany - which I have visited - at Christmastime. I can revel in my memories of what may well turn out to have been a once in a lifetime trip. Well, at least I got to go once, and that's a hell of a lot more than most people ever get to do.

Turning the page

2011-12-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, maybe it's just my age or seeing too many obituaries for people my age, but lately, I have been feeling more and more ready to turn the page of my life. I've worked the same job for over 28 years and I am beginning to weary of doing the same thing, day in, day out, and dealing with spending an hour per day in the car commuting to and from work. So I am beginning to plan my retirement, for which I am eligible, at the earliest, four months from now when I turn 55. However, I do not think I will leave that soon. I will probably retire sometime in 2013 once I reach the 30 year mark of doing my job. Sure, I will miss access to all the good books, movies, CDs and more, but libraries as we now know them will probably cease to exist in the not so distant future due to the increasingly electronic world in which we live. Libraries are pitching most of their hard copy books, ending magazine and newspaper subscriptions that can be had online and basically transitioning to becoming an online resource for electronic books, movies and music. So as I see it, I am in a dying business for which there will no longer be a need for physical buildings staffed by real people. Things will be done virtually, online, without the need for staff to assist, so....I'm beginning to feel that it's probably going to be time to leave my career field in the not so distant future and move on. I'm very much feeling the need to live life on my own terms. I'm tired of being told when I can and cannot take vacation and having my work life dictated for me by someone else. I'm ready to regain control over my life situation and do what I want to do, not what I have to do. I'm also tired of living on a fixed income. I haven't had a raise in six years, not even cost of living, and from what I hear, we can't expect any additional compensation for another five years. That's just too long to go on living on the same income when prices continue to skyrocket. Now, admittedly, retirement will mean losing a third of my salary, but I won't have to spend an hour a day commuting to and from work or paying for parking, meaning money for gas, parking and future car repairs will be saved. My car will also be paid off by the time I retire, saving me that money as well. I'm thinking of investing in precious metals like gold and silver since, in my 54 year lifetime, those have never once gone down in price, but have continued to appreciate in value. It's safe, it's tangible and it's not the casino gambling with your money that stocks and bonds are. I just have to do some research on how to do that and make the most money I can, even if I have to start small. So I am beginning to think long term and look toward the day I walk away from my career and live the life I want to live and do what I want to do. I will not be bored, that's for sure. Right now I just don't have time to do the many things I'd like to, and if I do have the time, I haven't got the energy after a long workday. I look forward to when I no longer have to slap an alarm clock at 5:00 a.m. to start another long day and can sleep until when my body says it is time to wake up and start my day. Two more years, that's all I have, and then it's time to move on to live the life I want to live, and by my own lights. I'm nervous and excited, but ready to turn the page of my life to whatever new chapters await.

Sibs

2011-12-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

Two of my out of town sibs came for Thanksgiving, reuniting all four of us for the holiday. We took full advantage of the time and did a number of things together, such as spending a day in Cleveland at the West Side Market and then Little Italy, and a day in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Museum, which had an excellent show of the architectural drawings of Andrea Palladio, among other things. After the museum, we found a nice local coffee joint and settled down on a cold rainy night for a warm cup of coffee while supporting a nice local Pittsburgh establishment across the street from a Starbucks. We then had dinner at an outstanding Syrian restaurant up the street from the café where we all feasted on splendid Middle Eastern cuisine. It was quite a treat spending a day in a city that I had forgotten was so beautiful. When we arrived, we ate lunch at the Macy's downtown in a nice little restaurant called "Tick Tock" that has some really neat clocks on the walls. What a great city that is, and I had forgotten how magical it is coming out of the Duquesne Tunnel right almost into the heart of the city. You come out of it to this spectacular skyline and it's a bit like arriving in Oz. What fun!

We also took what I jokingly refer to as a "Thanksgiving Day Death March" through Towner's Woods, a nearby park with beautiful trails through some really lovely terrain. We were blessed by some really nice weather that day so it was a perfect day to take a good long hike and build up a healthy appetite for dinner. My sisters flew home on the following Tuesday but my elder sister will be returning in about 10 days or so to spend Christmas with us, so that will be very good to have her back so soon. Having the four of us sibs together is such a rarity that I have to enjoy it while I can. I do not know when my younger sister will return home, possibly spring, maybe summer, as her oldest daughter will be completing her secondary education and will no doubt be starting to consider where she would like to attend college, so there may be some campus visits in store for next year, or she may just want to get a job and work for the summer or something, Wisely, she plans to take a "gap year" between high school and college, something I probably should have done myself had I the inclination to do so, but I went right into college out of high school and finished in exactly four years with a largely useless degree in Theatre with a minor in Anthropology. Anyway, I'm sure my younger sister will be back here to visit sometime next year, just don't know exactly when. But in the meantime, my older sister is coming back in less than two weeks, so at least three of us will be together for Christmas, and that will be a very good thing indeed!

Farewell to a beloved cat

2011-11-25T11:26:00.001-08:00

Dupree Danticat, fluffy friend extraordinaire and family pet, went to his final resting place today after a long life of 17½ long years. He had been in declining health in recent days and I suspect he hung on for the sake of all who loved him dearly. Last night, I could sort of tell that the end was near because he was meowing so piteously. His body seemed to be shutting down and he could no longer digest his food and he was literally starving to death. He got a little bit of Thanksgiving turkey last night, so I am glad that on the final night of his long life, he got to have a little tasty treat, even though his body probably could no longer process it. I'm incredibly sad today and have been crying off and on, but I know that this was inevitable. He was positively ancient in cat years and I am surprised he hung on this long. He'd been losing weight for months and this summer I took him to the vet a few times and administered antibiotics to fight the gingivitis that plagued him for a long time. He seemed to rally a bit, regain his appetite and put weight back on again, but in recent weeks, it had become apparent that his body was slowly shutting down and he was declining rapidly, so it was probably best that he was put to sleep this morning. Knowing that he's no longer suffering brings me some relief, anyway. I will always try to remember him as a healthy, vital cat that loved to play and sit outdoors in his favorite spot in the sun, where his final resting place will be. I am glad that his body was brought home and a resting place prepared for him. It's only right. I would have been very distraught had his body been disposed of unceremoniously, but knowing that he will forever lie in his favorite place is comforting in a sense. He is the last of the many cats that will grace our family home due to some allergies that my mom has, and that makes me very sad, because the house in which we grew up has felt right since a cat came back into our lives seventeen years ago. It had been without a cat for fourteen years before that and it felt empty and sad. Cats add a certain something to a household and to know that there will never again be another cat makes me very sad. However, the neighbor next door cares for a cat that was dumped in my mom's neighborhood that I have bonded with and who I see every time I go home, so I still have a cat with whom I can visit and spend time. Still, I will miss Dupree's unique personality that he brought to our family home. I'll miss seeing him sitting on back of the sofa in the picture window when I come to visit. I'll miss stroking his soft fur and the fact that in recent days he would come and sit on my lap when I would ask him to come to me, and he'd lie there and purr as I stroked his soft fur and spoke to him. I'll miss kissing him goodnight every time I'd return home to my apartment. I'll miss everything about him, but I am comforted knowing that he lived a long life and was spoiled and loved to the very end of his time with us. Goodbye, my beloved fluffy friend. I love you and I always will. Forever.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T20:23:00.001-08:00

I'm one of those heathens that really doesn't like Thanksgiving. It strikes me as the most useless holiday of the year, one devoted strictly to gluttony in a nation of already dangerously overweight people. I suppose that it's because we've more or less lost the original intent of Thanksgiving, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the ridiculous imagery of Pilgrims sitting down peacefully to share a meal with Native Americans, when nothing could have been further from the truth. It's all so absurdly contrived and people eat that up without really understanding what Thanksgiving was supposed to mean and why it was created. The Pilgrims have no role whatsoever in the holiday we celebrate each November. In point of fact, it's a commemoration of the long dark years of the American Civil War. As it was winding down in 1864, Lincoln decided it was time for our nation to give thanks, so the holiday we now celebrate each November has been corrupted to mean to commemorate some nebulous imagery of Pilgrims giving thanks via a peaceful meal with the natives who in point of fact they slaughtered in obscene numbers. Any peace between the English and Natives vanished very quickly and disintigrated into open warfare between the two, resulting in the extinction of some tribes of Natives who had no way to resist the onslaught of the English, their weaponry and their diseases. So if this holiday is supposed to be all about Native Americans, it's a sorry excuse for one. Not to put a damper on the day, but I truly don't care for this holiday other than the long weekend it used to give me that I am no longer allowed to take. I hate having days off work in the middle of the week as it is. It makes the workweek feel interrupted somehow and honestly, I wish they'd just move this holiday to a Friday and be done with it so Americans could have a three day weekend. Get rid of "Black Friday" and make it "Black Saturday" instead. After all, who has the Friday after Thanksgiving off work anymore? Certainly not me, and nobody else I know does, either. So for those of you who do love this holiday, well, have a good one and leave the rest of us to at least enjoy having a rare day off work. At least this holiday is good for that, but I hope that someday this country comes to its senses and moves it to Friday instead.

Not Ready For Prime Time

2011-11-16T17:26:00.001-08:00

So in the past week, Rick Perry could not remember the name of a government Cabinet department he'd eliminate, at least not for 20 minutes, and Herman Cain could not come up with an answer to whether or not he agreed with President Obama's Libya policy and sat there with an interviewer looking simply stupified trying to figure out what to say. When interrogated later about the gaffe and whether it would harm his campaign, he simply answered, "9,9,9." Seriously? That's all he could come up with as an answer? Is the GOP serious about running these two? They've come across looking like absolute idiots in recent days and it's looking more and more like the inevitable GOP nominee is going to turn out to be Mitt Romney, only because his opponents seem to be in the process of self destruction. The trouble is that Christian conservatives in the South can't stomach Romney because he's a Mormon, and like it or not, even though the Constitution expressly forbids it, there is a de facto religious test in this country for holding public office. You must, absolutely must, be a Christian. And it's only been in my lifetime that Presidents are required, absolutely required, to end every speech with "God bless you and God Bless the United States of America." Um, last time I checked, that sort of thing wasn't written into our Constitution but if you ask conservatives, it's required by Presidents to invoke God at every turn. Needless to say, it's going to be interesting to see who's going to win the GOP nomination.

At the moment, the GOP flavor-of-the-week is Newt Gingrich, who is a serious nutter who is calling for the imprisonment of Senators Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. However, it was just revealed that Newt Gingrich took a chunk of change from Freddie Mac, which may derail his candidacy. So next week, the GOP will have yet another front-runner-of-the-week. That kind of indecision and disunity among the Republicans sounds to me like they are going to have a mighty hard time deciding on a nominee, but they may have to settle for old Mitt simply because he's stayed above the fray of either scandal or looking foolish on television. It won't make Christian conservatives terribly happy but this is who they may just end up with since everyone else is in the process of self destruction. I don't know what chances Romney has of beating Obama, but if the economy continues to go south, I'm afraid that Romney may just be able to beat Obama. However, it all depends on how united Republicans can get behind their eventual nominee, whoever the ticket ends up being and whatever lingering influence the TEA Party has on the race. The good thing is that Issue 2 united labor in Ohio, so there's a strong and united progressive movement in Ohio, and our state is crucial to whoever ends up in the White House. Obama's going to have a tough go of it here, but we're ready, and the advantage that Obama has is that his campaign organization didn't go away once he gained the White House. Organizing for America is still here and has been all along. That's a good thing. I just hope that we can generate the same kind of enthusiasm that we did a few years ago. Time will tell.

Today's Date, 11/11/11

2011-11-11T18:30:00.001-08:00

Happy eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of our century. This combination of numbers won't happen again for another hundred years. Of course, it was almost a thousand years ago that it was 11/11/1111. Next time we'll have anything close to that will be 2/22/2222, and none of us will be around to witness that. So enjoy this day's palindrome while you can, because we won't see it again for a very long while (well, next December we'll have 12/12/12!) Maybe if some of us are still alive in 2034, we may see the date 1/2/34. But I'll be 76 going on 77 when that happens and I sure hope to still be around to see that date. So party like it's 11/11/11 and may you still be alive to see the next interesting sequence of date numbers.

The problem with elite college sports

2011-11-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

This latest sad college football scandal at Penn State is a prime example of what happens when an elite university athletic program becomes so enamored of its own mystique and so addicted to the money they attract that their moral compass goes awry. Hardly a year goes by anymore that you don't hear of yet another elite college athletic program being caught up in yet another scandal, whether it's the coach doing something stupid or some players accepting cash and gifts from boosters and alumni or some other such sorry affair. It's time to sit down and have a conversation about whether or not professional sports teams are taking advantage of college teams by using them as free farm teams from which to recruit their players. It's time for universities, alumni, boosters and concerned citizens to sit down and have a serious discussion about what the meaning and mission of a university really is. True, university presidents are under great pressure to rake in enormous amounts of cash for endowed chairs, scholarships and athletic programs as well as having cash on hand for whatever purpose they may need it, so in essence, college presidents become professional fundraisers and are paid quite handsomely to do so. Professors are no longer expected to teach. Rather, they are expected to do groundbreaking research in order to haul in yet more cash to university coffers. Money seems to be the prime motivating factor anymore behind universities, not education, but money, plain and simple. So I say, what is the point of a university anymore if it has become one big cash cow? So little emphasis is put on the quality of education, especially at these elite schools that have enjoyed such wild success in their athletic programs. They can bring in top notch athletes and then command top dollar to attend their games and pitch their memorabilia like shirts, jackets, scarves and more. That, in turn, generates big bucks for the universities. But the problem here is that when an elite athletic program becomes so wrapped up in its own mystique that coaches and athletic directors feel compelled to cover their butts when something wrong happens, eventually the cover is pulled off, the wrongdoing is exposed, there is much hand wringing and sincere sounding apologies are tendered, and eventually the person who is fired is the head coach because he or she represents what the team is all about, and as a result, they are ultimately culpable because they are the ones who usually fail to say anything about one of their coaches or players engaging in wrongdoing because they know darn well how much money is involved in a consistenly winning team. So rather than come right out and expose the dastardly deed, they work their rear ends off to cover it up, hoping against all hope that it doesn't see the light of day and that they can handle it internally. Well, guess what, it doesn't work that way. Silence implies consent, so typically the coach is the one who pays the ultimate price by being asked to fall on his or her sword and either resign under pressure or get fired. It's such a sad spectacle and it's time to do some serious national soul searching about what we expect when we send young men and women off to college. Ideally, it should be in pursuit of an education that will serve them in good stead for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, universities get caught up in the glamor of having nationally recognized teams and everyone, from the president to the freshmen pay the price in a tarnished reputation for the school. That's not fair to anyone, not the students, not the faculty and not the alumni. It's time to examine the role and mission of universities and to de-emphasize the athletics in favor of the academics. After all, what does the ability to catch a ball and run serve you in the long run in your life? Once you are too old to do that anymore, you have to consider your options, and if you don't make the most out of your college education, you could find yourself one very frustrated, lonely and very unemployable person. So it's time for us to understand that if we're going to write our future as a country, we have to encourage young men and women entering college to put education first and foremost. The rest, as they say, is just gravy.

Sick and tired of stupid crap

2011-11-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

The older I get, the less tolerant I am of what I regard as stupid crap. I have very little patience these days for so many things. I've reached an age where I feel like I can no longer suffer fools lightly. I've grown tired of allowing people to walk all over me as well and I am finally getting to the point where I feel it is necessary to defend myself against any manner of stupid things. For example, I have rather poor eyesight and prefer to post to various listservs in large print font. Well, some folks have taken umbrage to that and have leveled a host of accusations that I am using the large font in order to shout, which isn't true. People judge the use of large print font on an e-mail or listserv as being shouting instead of considering that there might be a legitimate reason that someone might want to use a larger font, like, say, for example, poor eyesight. I think that the 'Net makes people far ruder than they would be in person because it's so easy to fire off nasty e-mails because you aren't sitting there facing the person. It's easy to make snap judgements about things you don't grasp or understand. It's easy to argue with strangers because you don't have to do so face to face in the same room. I get so tired of people judging others they hardly know based on a few tidbits they glean from reading postings or stuff they get from the Internet. Just seems to me like people anymore are so quick to judge someone when they hardly even know them. Maybe I am just becoming an old fuddy duddy, I don't know, but I'm rapidly losing patience with so many things lately. Perhaps I hold the world to a too high standard, I don't know, but I feel like I am living in a world that is rapidly dumbing down and I feel more and more like a stranger in a world where manners and common sense just no longer have a place. It's frustrating but it's the world we live in right now. So I suppose I ought to just cope, but....I'm to the point in my life where I am losing patience. As a friend of mine once said, "This isn't the future I signed up for." Yeah. So true.

Voter suppression in Ohio

2011-11-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

I went to vote this afternoon after work but was barred from so doing because I had left my driver's license in another wallet and didn't have it with me. Feeling tired and grumpy, I went home and figured, oh, the hell with going back out tonight and voting, I'm too damned tired and in no mood to go back out for the night. But I eventually relented, knowing that there are several critical ballot issues up for a vote today, so I swallowed my pride and went back to vote. What angered me is that this year, Ohio passed the single most punitive voting law in the nation in an effort to suppress the vote in a state critical to President Obama winning re-election next year. Nobody has ever made it to the White House without winning Ohio. So of course, the Republican legislature in Ohio passed a measure to suppress the votes of Democratic leaning populations: poor and people of color and elderly voters who may no longer drive and thus do not have a photo ID. This just goes to show how low the GOP has gone in order to prevent Democrats from casting ballots. When I expressed my anger about this to the poll workers, one gentlemen told me that it's been the law for six years now. Not so, I countered. It was only this year that the GOP led state legislature passed the law that made a photo ID a mandatory requirement to cast a ballot. I know because I did the research after I came home from trying to vote the first time. Hey, I am a paraprofessional librarian, don't mess with someone like me who knows how to do her research! I mentioned to the poll workers that in essence this was voter suppression and a law looking for a problem that never existed. In 2002, for example, ballots cast by ineligible voters in Ohio only amounted to 0.00004% of the votes cast, hardly enough to call a serious problem. And 890,000 Ohioans lack a state photo ID, and disproportionally those people are Democratic leaning poor people, Asians, African-Americans and Latinos. So this whole voter ID law is nothing more than smoke and mirrors aimed at a problem that never existed. More restrictive laws are about to be put into place as well as we enter the height of the Presidential election season in order to prevent Obama from being able to take Ohio. Republicans will stop at nothing to defeat him, even taking away the right to vote, and they are being shamelessly open about how their Number One agenda is to stop the President at all cost. They're putting party ahead of country and I consider that to be treason of the highest order to deny people the right to cast a ballot to vote for issues and candidates that matter to them. It makes me so angry that I don't know what to do but to fight tooth and nail against this sort of oppression. I just hope that Issues 2 and 3 here in Ohio go down to defeat tonight to send a powerful message to these overreaching Republicans that we won't take it anymore. It's time for us to take our state and our country back, one issue, one vote, one protest at a time. A big THANK YOU to the Occupy Together Movement for empowering people to find their voices again and fight back against these overreaching Republicans and their attempts to beat us down. There are more of us than there are of them and we won't stop until we've taken back our country.

Old abandoned hotel to be saved!

2011-11-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

For the past 40 years, an old hotel building in downtown Kent where I live has sat abandoned and tied up in court litigation for two whole generations. In the meantime, it has become a favorite pigeon roost and a place for homeless squatters to seek shelter. It's become more and more dilapidated with time as various owners have sought their piece of flesh from the city over liens placed on the building for code violations decades ago. Its most recent owner did the most physical damage to the building by gutting out the interior and damaging some of the historical integrity that would have allowed the building to be eligible for millions of dollars in historic preservation grants. It's become a blighted eyesore right on the east entrance to downtown Kent that decades of city councils and lawyers and judges have passed down to their respective successors. Attorneys have gotten very wealthy off of the various hotel owners who have continued taking the city to court to demand that they excuse the fines for health and safety violations. Some of us have pleaded with the city that the longer that the building lays dormant, the worse condition it will continue to deteriorate into and the less likely that it could be saved, but all I have heard for as long as I could remember, upon calling my various city council representatives is, "It's tied up in court". Well, finally, a long and agonizing chapter in Kent history is about to end. Apparently, it sounds like nobody wanted to buy the hotel from its most recent owner because his asking price was so absurd, so the city finally cried "Uncle" and gave him his pound of flesh just to make him go away so the city could then sell the building to someone else. The city just sold the old hotel to someone I wanted all along to have it who has been a major philanthropist to the city and who has invested his own money in a major downtown renovation project that is bringing back jobs and good businesses.

But in selling the building to said philanthropist, the city lost $300,000 at a time when they are crying "broke". The thinking here is that the city will make up the loss by the profits and tax revenues they will gain from whatever businesses go in there, but I hear that the profits from whatever ends up in that building will benefit the local social safety net services, which I think is GRAND and WONDERFUL. The city will eventually recoup its loss in some way, shape or form, I suspect, and if they had to take this loss in order to get the building into the hands of this philanthropist who all of us dreamed one day might get his hands on the building, well, so much the better. The individual who is now the proud owner of this sad decayed landmark is famous for getting things going very quickly and being a true man of his word, which is why he has earned the undying respect of so many of us in our town who have watched him turn things around and make great things happen. Even though I'm a tad leery of how this deal was sealed and what it cost the city, to know that the building is going to be restored and not torn down and turned into yet another parking lot or gas station, and very soon at that, is news we can all celebrate. The person we all hoped, dreamed and prayed would own this building now has it and although he hasn't yet submitted his plans for it, I know him to be an honorable, good, decent person who will have something in hand very soon that will turn this former eyesore into a major showplace and will be the last piece of the puzzle in a complete transformation of our downtown. We can finally celebrate the end of watching that old building continuing to crumble into sad decay. I predict that by this time next year, we're going to see a beautiful landmark filled to capacity with bustling businesses that we can all be proud of.

Why don't conservatives get it?

2011-11-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

I was having dinner with friends and someone got to talking about the Obama college tuition plan. One person piped up that Obama is promising free college education for everyone and those that are paying tuition don't have to pay it back and that it removes any sense of personal responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth, I told this person. No, Obama is telling these kids not to pay back their college tuition, this person said. Well, it was obvious that I was not going to convince this person that what Obama was presenting was a plan to lower the percentage of income that college students will have to pay back each month so that students are not strapped with having to pay hundreds of dollars per month. Maybe in doing that, it's going to mean that kids will take longer to pay off their loans and honestly, no college student should have to graduate from college with loans amouting to $25,000 to $50,000, the price of buying either a very upscale car or a modest house. But conservatives are convinced that Obama is the devil incarnate and that nothing he does is good for the country, not education, not infrastructure, not anything. They're convinced that he's a socialist and in all honesty, he's more of a pragmatic Democrat as opposed to anything truly radical. Well, I don't know what is so radical about wanting to put this country back to work again rebuilding roads and bridges, teaching our children to become tomorrow's leaders and making sure that our communities are safe. I don't get why people think that investing in higher education is radical. Statistics have borne out the fact that people who receive a higher education have better career opportunities and thus end up more affluent than those without a higher education. Likewise, children who grow up in a household of college educated parents start out with an educational head start compared to students who don't. That's not radical, that's facts. But some people have their mind made up that Obama is bent on a radical takeover of our country and wants to overturn everything we know and love. Utter BS. What's truly galling is to hear educated people speaking like this, people who should know better. Well, they just don't get it. Never will, either. No amount of debate will change these folks minds. I know. I've tried. It's useless, frustrating and enough to drive a person to tears. There comes a point where you just have to accept that they have their view, however skewed, and there's no changing it no matter how many facts you present to back up your argument.

Income inequality is real!

2011-10-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Anybody who is still in denial about income inequality needs only to look at this chart put out by the Congressional Budget Office that clearly shows how the top 1% income earners in this country have gotten richer to the tune of 275% in the past 30 years where the rest of us have seen our incomes flatten. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why the Occupy Wall Street movement has finally gained traction. I have been wondering for a very long time now where the outrage about the income disparity in this country was. Well, now we see for sure that income inequality is real and not just some figment of the collective imagination of a few disgruntled people. I hope that the Powers That Be will wake up and pay attention, but anymore, that's not likely. The Republicans have made it their agenda in the past 30+ years to benefit the most wealthy among us at the expense of the middle and lower classes. At long last, people are fighting back. I just hope that this movement will continue and will not dissipate once the colder weather sets in here in the northern states that get winter weather. It's long since time for the rage of the American people to rear its ugly head and I, for one, am glad to see it. Now that the Congressional Budget Office has shown us without a doubt that income inequality exists for sure, there's even more ammunition to fire up the people who are tired of feeling like they have lost out on the American Dream. Thank goodness that people have gotten so fed up that they are taking to the streets and demanding justice. May this movement continue, grow and gain strength in the coming year to where we can finally do something to turn things around and create a more just society where more people get a bigger piece of the pie. I just hope that President Obama gets behind this movement and helps us fight this battle. He will be assured re-election next year if he continues the populist tone he's adopted lately and I hope he keeps it up. We need him with us in this fight. But he also reminded us not so long ago that when we elected him, it wasn't about HIM, it was about US, and we MUST remember what he told us the night we elected him: change comes TO Washington, not FROM Washington. Change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. We need to remember that and claim our power and voice and use it for change. I think we're already headed in that direction, and may it continue unabated.

The Feast of St. Crispin (Henry V)

2011-10-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are now
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
... God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Workers rights

2011-10-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been wishing that I worked in a union environment. It seems that in recent years, more and more of the rights of workers are being taken away and that's not right. Where I work, we are "at-will" employees and from what I understand that to mean, my employer could terminate anyone for any reason or no reason at all, and that strikes me as wrong. I know that in these difficult economic times, it gives employers the benefit of being able to downsize their workforce by terminating people for no other reason than they want to, but didn't workers fight for certain rights back in the 1930s that gave them the eventual right to organize unions? It seems like just these kinds of things that are the reasons that unions started in the first place. Where I work, organizers tried to come in and unionize us several times but each and every single time, it was voted down resoundingly by the staff. I suspect that the reason is that our wages have never been very big in the first place and nobody wants to pay union dues. Add to that the fact that most of my co-workers are the sons and daughters of rubber shop workers and they remember all too well what happened to those people. The United Rubber Workers was one of the unions that got busted and ended up having to merge with the United Steel Workers, but in the end, all those union jobs got sold downriver to Mexico first, then to China, in search of cheaper labor for the corporations. People say the unions got too greedy and wanted too much and that's why the corporations shipped their operations to China, where they could exploit those folks for pennies on the dollar and not have to mind environmental regulations or pay any sort of benefits. As it stands now, there's hardly an American worker anywhere that hasn't been asked to make concessions of some sort and my fear is that this is a permanent driving down of wages and benefits. We Baby Boomers stand to have a far lower standard of living than that of the Greatest Generation. We already do, and as our generation enters its retirement years, well, fact is, we won't be able to retire. Our generation can probably expect to be working until we die, thereby depressing job opportunities for younger workers in search of jobs. So the effect is multigenerational. It doesn't just effect us, it effects younger generations who are searching for careers and jobs. I just think that unions make workers stronger, but in the era in which we are living, good wages and benefits are a thing of the past. American workers are now competing with cheap Chinese labor because Americans demand cheap goods, and if American workers are union and make good money, that drives up the cost of labor and therefore the products they make. But when all boats rise, everyone does well. Unfortunately, the era of strong unions, good jobs, decent pay and benefits is over. Now we have to live lifestyles on par with those of third world countries that make nearly everything we consume, because a labor force paid pennies on the dollar drives down wages for everyone. Even old standbys L.L. Bean and Lands' End have their clothing manufactured in third world countries in order to keep their prices competitive. That's where we are right now. Just try finding ANYTHING made in the US, and that includes an American car with an American nameplate. Most of what goes into that car was made overseas in some Asian country. Oh, it may have been assembled here in the US, but even Fords, Chryslers and GM cars are mostly Asian in origin. That's the New Normal. The US doesn't manufacture anything anymore. It imports everything it uses and most of the US workforce is in low paid service jobs like mine. It's a pity that we as a country have mostly lost our way, but that's how it is anymore. Barring being another Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or LeBron James, you're not going to make it in this country and you'd better be prepared to settle for a standard of living far lower than what you imagined, because that's the cold hard reality for all of us now and is going to be the way it is from now on. Once upon a time, we had unions, we had good jobs that paid a living wage and workers had rights in the workplace, but no more. Those days are gone forever. How unfortunate.

Our impatient society

2011-10-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things that irritates me lately is people's unending demand for instant gratification. People want stuff NOW and are not willing to wait for it. Never mind that they can't afford it, they STILL want it NOW. That is part of what got us into this financial jam we find ourselves in right now. People wanted to have their dream home NOW, they wanted their two minivans in the garage NOW and they wanted all their techno-toys NOW, even if it meant that they were running up their debt beyond any ability to pay for it. Banks enabled people by providing them with the loans and credit cards to run up all that debt and when the house of cards finally collapsed in 2008, the whole financial system went belly up. So now we're all hurting and of course, banks are bearing the blame for all of this because they pandered exotic financial products to people who could otherwise not afford a home. Believe me, it sounded tempting to drive by a house and see a sign out front saying, "Zero Down!" Well, someone in my income bracket can in no way save enough money to make a down payment on a home, so that sounded mighty good, but my mom always told me that if something sounded too good to be true, it probably is. So instead of leaping into home ownership that I can't afford, I still rent a too small apartment. Sure, there are lots of things I want: an iPad or iPod Touch, a pair of Uggs boots to keep my feet warm this winter, but look, I can't afford those things so I don't have them. I waited for years to get on the broadbant Internet highway. I spent this entire past decade using a massive old Gateway desktop computer on a dial-up connection. A few years ago I finally scored an obsolete laptop on eBay (on which I am typing right now) that was cheap because it was obviously part of an old business that got rid of its old laptops and put them up for sale on eBay. I scored this thing for a mere $250. It's not the newest or latest machine and by today's standards it's a virtual dinosaur but it does what I want it to do and it got me on the broadband highway. For years I had a 512MB iPod Shuffle, 1st generation, that I couldn't use with my old desktop, so when I acquired this laptop, I was finally able to download iTunes and use it, but then, I wanted something bigger, so when the iPod Nano 5th generation came out, I got a 4th generation Nano for $70 on eBay. For years I wanted a new car. For my entire adult life, I drove old beater cars that I bought cheaply and drove until they died. The last beater I drove lasted for 10 years and racked up 220.000+ miles on it, but in its final year or so, it became a money pit and I ended up spending far too much money on repairs, so I began considering that maybe it was time to replace it with another $1000 beater, but at my age, that just seemed too frustrating. So my dear family gave me $1500 for my 50th birthday as a down payment on a brand new car. I'd done some car research for a few months prior to that and had even test driven a few cars and found them wanting or too expensive or something else. I had the extraordinary good luck to land a very good brand new car in 2007, a bright green Hyundai Accent hatchback. It's now nearing the end of its warranty period, 5 years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. With my daily 30 mile round trip commute, I've run up a lot of miles on my car. I hope it lasts a while longer because once the warranty runs out, car repairs are going to come out of my ever thinning wallet. But the thing is that I was willing to wait until I turned 50 before even THINKING about buying a new car. I live with college students who seem to feel entited to driving new cars. When I was their age, I was driving old rustbucket beaters and didn't care about having to have the latest car with the newest gewgaws on it. They all want the newest gadgets as well, and at age 54, I STILL don't own the newest stuff. I can't afford those things and never will be able to. I have to settle for older obsolete stuff because it's cheap. When I was growing up, I was taught that I could not have everything I wanted and when I wanted it. We grew up in a single parent household where we didn't have the kind of money our friends homes did, so we didn't always have what other people had and while that was occasionally frustrating, we all learned to live with it and live within our means. I still find myself being frustrated at times by lack of enough money to buy the things I'd love to have, but hey, you get used to dreaming of owning things you want but knowing full well you can't ever have those things until much later down the road when they are obsolete, older or no longer being used by everyone else. I just get sick of living in a society where people are being enabled by the "I WANT IT NOW" mentality. People are impatient and want everything this minute and haven't learned that valuable lesson that look, you can't always have that cookie you want, or there aren't any left, so cope. It's time that people stopped being so rude, so demanding and so intractable that they can't accept that sometimes, you've just gotta wait for what you want and you can't have it NOW. Period. Babies and toddlers don't understand why they can't have it NOW but you'd think that adults would get it. But given the way people are behaving lately, it seems that some folks just haven't learned yet that "You can't always get what you want!" to quote an old song. Those of us who work in customer service are tired of people wanting it now, now, now. Folks, wake up. Patience is a virtue. Grow up and learn it, already!

Contemplating life after retirement

2011-10-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

I am trying to decide what I want to do once I retire. At the absolute latest, I plan to retire in at the end of December 2013, but maybe sooner depending on different circumstances. I hope to at least get in my 30 years of public service so I can collect my 66% of my final pay, but if the state messes with the pension system and reduces it, I might leave sooner depending on what they do and when they plan to implement changes. There's talk of a sharp reduction in benefits for retirees so I may get out while the getting is good, but since I have no retirement savings, I will have to go right back to work doing something. At this stage of the game, I am quite tired of working for someone else and having them control my existence. I am at an age when I am sick of other people telling me when or whether I can have a vacation or for how long I am able to be away. As finances grow tighter for libraries, less time is being allowed for people to take vacation. At this stage of the game, about the only times during the year when we are allowed to have any sort of considerable time off is either February or October. The rest of the year is pretty much off limits anymore because of how high in demand the spring, summer and winter holidays are for time off. We've pretty much been told that no one will be allowed any time off for the winter holidays anymore and that stinks knowing I will have no time off at all during the holidays. Summer vacation is also frowned on so it's getting tougher and tougher to get any sort of time off during that time of year as well. So given that I am tired of working for someone else, I am giving some thought to becoming a T'ai Chi teacher when I retire. I've been teaching for, oh, I don't know, maybe 5 or so years now, but I am not a certified instructor because that costs over $800 to do and I just don't have that kind of money. I'd like to teach classes during the day so I can have my evenings free but it's a matter of finding the proper venue. There's a yoga center here in town where I could teach but I do not know exactly how much I would make teaching there. I could probably offer classes through the city recreation department but lacking certification, that might be hard to do. I teach a class at church that is a part of our Adult Religious Exploration program so I do not charge for that, but if I want to make money teaching, I am going to have to find the proper venue where lacking certification is not a problem. I am a member in good standing of the T'ai Chi Association of America and it is through them that I would like to become a certified instructor but the money's just not there. So I will have to put out feelers and see if I can become an instructor somewhere here locally without the certification that would give me a bit more credibility. I'd like to offer twelve week classes in the fall, twelve week classes in the spring and then take my summers off. That would be my ideal. I'm just going to have to find the right venue that would permit me to charge enough to make ends meet with my retirement pension but not so much as to scare away potential students. I'm thinking in the range of around $15 per class. To me, that sounds reasonable. So the primary thing I will need to do is to put out feelers about teaching and find out who might be interested in hiring me to do so when it comes time for me to retire. Or I could see if maybe I could use our church fellowship hall or something if that would work. I'd have to find out how they felt about that and what they would charge in the way of rent. For a long time they hosted the Kent Yoga Center which is now in another building so maybe it would be OK for me to use the fellowship hall a few times per week to teach classes during the daytime hours when I could probably get some retirees to come. I have some time to plan all of this yet but doing something like this that would allow me to have more independence would be the perfect thing for me to do when I retire. I just want more freedom now that I am getting older, because truthfully, there's a lot I want to do while I am still healthy enough to do it, and nobody can see the future so I don't know how long my health will hold out. I hope well into my 60s and 70s, and my heredity seems to suggest that will be possible. Teaching T'ai Chi and keeping in regular practice as a result will certainly help!

It's not an "entitlement" or a Ponzi scheme

2011-10-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

I am outraged that the Republican candidates for President are calling for the end of Social Security and the unraveling of the entire social safety net. Governor Rick Perry had the nerve to call it a "Ponzi scheme" and Herman Cain is now calling for the complete and total abolition of Social Security. Cain thinks that people's retirement should be funded by charities and churches. Seriously? My church could in no way provide for all of the retirees in our congregation. Charities? Most of the ones I know of right now are struggling to stay afloat in this difficult economy. Well, it's a known fact that for the past 70 years the GOP has hated the social safety net and would much rather that people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Their perception is that anyone who doesn't have a job and isn't rich is in that situation because it's their own fault. Well, I have a job, have for the past 28 years, I am not rich, never will be because I am a public sector employee and haven't had so much as a dime's raise in 6 years. You don't go into public service to get rich, you go into it because the retirement benefits are a bit more generous than in the private sector. We public employees give up salary so that we can have a slightly more generous retirement. Now, I'm not paying into Social Security so I will not receive it, but that in no way suggests that I do not support it. On the contrary, I do support it because it is the source of my mom's retirement income and it also supported our family after our dad died 50 years ago and helped to pay for all of our college educations, so I am a big supporter of the social safety net that kept my family out of poverty when our breadwinner died so many decades ago. I just wish that people would stop calling Social Security and Medicare an "entitlement", as if benefitting from those things is somehow greedy. No, people paid into those things and should receive those benefits when they retire because it's a bit like a retirement savings account that employers and employees pay into while a person is working. I wish people would quit using that word with a tone of contempt as if somehow ordinary folks like me aren't allowed to receive any sort of benefit package when we retire. It's because the people currently in power are the generation that came up during the "Me" generation. They have forgotten the idea that we once lived in a society that valued shared sacrifice and the greater good. Now it's all me, me, me and screw your neighbor. And damn your neighbor for having the gall to want Social Security and Medicare when he retires. He should just go down to his church and hope and pray that the congregation has enough money to pay for his retirement and medical bills. Yeah, right. What church out there realistically can support all of its retirees when most churches I know have tight budgets due to thin collection plates lately. I know my church perpetually walks a financial tightrope and we've quadrupled our membership in the past 15 or so years. So I can't imagine even smaller churches trying to support their retirees. However, I think that the American people are too attached to their Social Security to where if a President attempted to abolish it, well, you think that the Occupy Wall Street movement is an expression of national angst, you ain't seen nothin' yet. If businessman Herman Cain were to somehow win the Presidency and then try to abolish Social Security, he's hear such a hue and cry as to cause the Occupy Wall Street movement to look like small potatoes. Social Security is one of those sacred cows that people will not tolerate doing without. So I am confident that the American people will not let Washington get away with unraveling even more of the social safety net than has already been undone. I just hope that I am right about this, especially since I am due to retire in a few years, and there are some folks who also want to do away with public pensions as well. I am grateful that the Occupy Wall Street movement is taking off and growing with every passing day and week. My church is taking up the issue next week and I am excited that our minister is jumping on the Occupy bandwagon. I couldn't be happier about this!

Contemplating Retirement

2011-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

I am in a position right now where I could retire in 6 months when I turn 55, or I could retire in 2013 when I reach 30 years in a public service job. It's tempting to consider walking away from my career soon, especially because it has been made apparent to me that I am no longer valued or wanted at my place of employment. My responsibilities keep being reduced and I keep being given mindless clerical work that should be done by someone who is physically no longer capable of doing the demanding job that our work requires. So it's become obvious to me that my employer is eager to be rid of me ASAP so they can hire someone younger and cheaper, that is, if they even decide to replace me at all, given the sour state of our economy in Ohio. So I am contemplating obliging my employer and stepping aside to free up their budget to either hire a younger person who needs a job and is willing to be paid at a cheap salary or leave my position vacant and thereby save on my salary anyway. Another reason I want to retire is the better health care given to retirees, but my concern there is that I will be forced to pay the entire price of the premium myself instead of cost sharing it with my employer, which is what I do now. That could get very, very expensive given the high cost of health care these days. I will receive two thirds of my final income for my pension and since my pay has been frozen at the same level now for 6 years, that won't amount to much, meaning I will have to get another job, but in this economy, who's going to hire someone in their mid-50s, even though I am perfectly healthy and never miss a day of work? I don't want to work full time anymore and would prefer to work on my own terms, but aside from being self employed - a hard row to hoe under the best of economic circumstances and the moreso in these tough times - there aren't any jobs out there that let you pretty much show up when you want, work as many or few hours as you want and let you have as much time off as you want. So working for myself seems like the most attractive option. I've considered learning how to be a professional genealogist, but when I did the research on what that would involve, it's far more complicated than I ever imagined. You have to have a Bachelor's Degree in Genealogy, and I do not have the money to return to college let alone try to find a school that offers that degree program, and you have to be certified and accredited, which is a very expensive and lengthy process. I was hoping that I could just learn it on my own and then hang out my shingle as an independent genealogist who would help people with their family histories. I've already discovered, just helping one friend do her maternal family genealogy, that when there is a common surname, it can become extremely challenging going back a few generations unless you can place someone in a particular town and state. I also discovered that past a certain date, censuses only included the head of the household with all other occupants merely listed by number, as in males by age, females by age, slaves by age, with no names attached, making it very difficult to trace people further back than a few generations, at least online. I suppose you'd have to travel and/or write letters to courthouses for things like wills and such, newspapers f0r obituary notices, historical societies and archives for things like military records and more. None of that information is free and you have to pay to have it copied and sent to you, so would need enough money to pay for all this work to be done and my guess is that after a while, it could get rather expensive to do a deep and extensive search, especially if you want to trace ancestry back to the Old World, which has its own challenges. I would need to learn how much to charge for doing genealogies, I suppose based on how far back I could get and how much it cost me to do the work. Since I did my friend's maternal genealogy online using various web sites like Ancestry.com and others (I have access through my job to Ancestry.com), I didn't charge her anything for it because I was both curious about her family since her mother died when she was an infant and I wanted her to know about that side of her family because she never really ever got to know them. I also regarded it as a learning experience for me to learn some of the ways that you can do genealogy on your own using largely online sources. It made me realize that maybe I could do this for a living after I retire, but there are some folks with whom I would have a tough time looking into their family history. For example, I have one friend whose family named was changed upon coming over from the Old World and trying to trace the family back to the Old World when the original name is unknown would be terribly difficult and I do not know how you would approach that problem. Children of immigrants would be hard because most of the records of their families would be overseas and possibly in foreign languages that I do not read. So that could present its difficulties as well. I don't know how to get around such vexing problems as these so I don't know whether it would be worth my time to pursue the idea of being a self employed, self taught genealogist who doesn't have the education or certification to be a "real" professional. I'd just like to do something that would allow me to have more control over my own time again and not have to worry about getting to a job and on time, and then playing that ridiculous little dance known as "office politics" where you have to be someone and something other than your true self. Steve Jobs, who died this week, said that he would get up every day and look in the mirror and ask himself, if this was the last day of his life, would he want to be doing what he was doing? And if the answer too many times was NO, then it was time to change. Lately, I've been feeling that same nagging feeling, that no, I don't want to be doing this anymore, I want more time for ME do pursue my passions, but my pension won't be enough money to allow me to fully retire. I do not have an annuity, a 401(K) or an IRA because I've never wanted to gamble my savings away on Wall Street and I know of no other ways to save other than a savings account at a bank and they no longer pay interest so you can't really make money saving at a bank and anyway, it's impossible for me to have enough disposable income to put away in some sort of retirement account when it takes almost all I make currently to pay bills and survive. So I really don't know what to do right now regarding my hopes of retirement and what to do afterward. I'd hate to hang out my shingle as a genealogist and then have someone come to me whose genealogy turns out to be too complicated for me to pursue without travel, say, overseas or to another state, which in no way could I afford to do. But I'm tired of working for someone else and would rather be in charge of my own time to do as I please. I figure that after 30 years, I deserve that much. It's just that I can't afford to survive on two thirds of my current income when I am barely making it now still employed full time. So I don't know what to do and I don't have much time left to make up my mind. I have to have a clear plan in place when I finally submit my retirement papers in the next year and a half or two. I know the time will go fast so I'd best figure out a plan of action soon, the sooner, the better, in fact. If anybody's got any suggestions about how to approach this, I'm all ears!

The end of an era

2011-10-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

I am not and never have been a fan of the MAC operating system. I don't like MAC computers, either because they can only be repaired with Apple products instead of the universality of a PC which can use anything out there. That is why I have been a PC user from the get-go. I just don't like or understand MACs, never have, never will. But one thing I do ADORE is the iPod. Seriously. Best thing ever invented. My first one was a Christmas present from my family, a first generation iPod Shuffle. Unfortunately at the time I got it, I was still using my ancient Gateway desktop computer that ran Windows 98 and iPods were not set up to interface with that operating system, so I pretty much could not use it no matter how many times I tried to find programs that said they would work to allow the iPod to work with Windows 98. It was just no use trying to get it to work. So I didn't use it until I bought this laptop that runs Windows XP Pro, and suddenly I was off and running with my trusty little iPod. It only had 512MB of storage. but hey, it was a way to carry around my music with me to work and elsewhere. So it became an indispensible companion....until I was seduced by more advanced technology. A few years ago I bought my mom a 5th generation iPod Nano for Christmas. I thought it was the coolest and prettiest little gizmo I had ever seen. Bright green and filled with amazing features, I began coveting one myself. So one day I got on eBay and typed in iPod Nano and found an auction ending in 30 seconds for a 4th generation iPod Nano, in blue, my favorite color choice. I took a longshot and bid and to my surprise and shock, I won the iPod! It arrived and I immediately set to work filling it up with as much music as I could put on it. After all, it came with a nice big 8G capacity, meaning I could load it up with multiple playlists. It has since become my almost constant companion. I use it daily at work, charging it up at night as I sleep so that it will be ready for me the next morning. I've got a mixture of classical, early music and folk on it and it's so nice to turn it on and decide what my mood for the day will be and then choose the appropriate music for it. I can change around my playlists as need be and my Christmas music will soon be on it as the holidays approach. I just love this little gizmo so much and I cannot imagine life without it anymore, and this is exactly what Steve Jobs imagined when he engineered the iPod and other Apple products. He knew what products we wanted even before we knew we wanted them, so when he would introduce them, people would run out and buy them in droves despite the expense. His products have revolutionized the way we do things in the past decade, from the iPod to iTunes to the iPhone and iPad. It's so awful that at the relatively youthful age of 56, cancer has taken Mr. Jobs from us because he has no peer who can step in and move things forward. So this may well be the end of the line for all of the revolutionary products put out by Apple, but certainly he has made history and will probably be right up there with people like Thomas Edison and other innovators who changed our lives forever. It's thanks to Mr. Jobs that the personal computer became more than just the purvue of the geeky few. He had a vision of it being something for everyone and it certainly has become just that. Thanks to him, we have so much outstanding technology that has shrunk our world and revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and how we listen to music, just to name a few things that have changed in the past decade. I know that my iPod is an extension of who I am, my primary musical tool that I use to listen to music. My CD player is, well, so 1990s. It sits on top of my boom box, another ancient relic, that one of the 80s, and both collect a hell of a lot of dust. They remind me of just how far things have come in the past 10, 15, 20 years. It seems like technology now moves at the speed of light anymore and the minute you buy any techno-gizmo, it becomes obsolete almost the minute you get it home from the store. My cell phone, iPod and laptop are so 2006! Ancient by technological standards. Dinosaurs, practically. Musuem pieces. Today, the iPad and iPod Touch are the "It" objects to own. Sure, I'd love to have one or both, but....on my budget, it's not going to happen. So I content myself with my lovely little blue 8G 4th generation iPod Nano. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating all this amazing technology that is moving our world forward at lightspeed. Your name will go down in history alongside those of Edison, Galileo and others whose discoveries changed our world forever.

Pass the bill!

2011-10-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

An open letter to the current members of Congress: OK, so you heard the President. Our country is laying off police and firemen, nurses, and teachers, closing schools and increasing class sizes. Students are learning in aging buildings that are in dire need of upkeep and upgrading for modern technology. How can we expect our children to compete in the new global economy when we can't even guarantee them a decent education with which to do so? Our infrastructure is crumbling. Where I live, there are aging bridges and crumbling roads that were not built to handle the amount of traffic they currently have traveling over them each and every day. I get tired of dodging the craters that appear every winter and spring because of our freeze and thaw cycles and watching roads I travel regularly become bumpier and more hazardous. In the 1960s we got rid of our passenger rail system after America fell in love with the personal automobile. Well, I suppose the upside of this is that a lot of old rail beds were converted into beautiful hiking trails with which to enjoy the scenery, but still, I remember the days when the railroads were extremely busy and traffic was regularly disrupted by trains rumbling through our town at predictable times every day. You could get almost anywhere by train in those days. Now, the nearest train station is, I think, in Cleveland, if memory serves, and only a few passenger trains per day go through and in the wee hours of the morning at that, so if you want to travel anywhere by train, you have to drive quite a distance to catch the nearest passenger train and be prepared to go without sleep so you can catch it in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, countries like China are building shiny, gleaming new rail terminals to accomodate their state of the art high speed rail systems, Europe has one of the most high quality highway systems in the world, and America's once proud infrastructure is crumbling while Congress bickers over dollars and cents. It makes no sense whatsoever, and the problem is that the likelihood of this bill passing is practically nonexistent because the radical insurgent TEA Party runs Congress right now and they aren't about to do ANYTHING that would help President Obama to further his agenda, even if it means that our country continues its slow downhill slide toward mediocrity. We'll continue to try to educate children in aging school buildings and ask teachers to take on more students than they have time to teach, drive our cars and trucks over crumbling roads and dangerously obsolete bridges and hope that nothing happens while so doing, we'll continue to rely on the personal automobile instead of high speed trains and with highways being clogged by more traffic than they were designed to handle, it's going to get worse as money to fix that situation will not be there, and more and more people will lose jobs and the economy is going to continue its downward death spiral into double digit unemployment numbers.....because the TEA Party wants to screw the President at the cost of helping a hurting country. Well, Congress, I have news for you: America is waking up to your stalling tactics. We'll have none of it. The number one thing we want right now is jobs, jobs, jobs, and this bill will do just that, it will help to create jobs, OK, maybe not enough to bring about an end to the recession, but right now, something is better than nothing, and dammit, Congress, we need this bill NOW. So get off of your political high horses and DO SOMETHING. Pass this bill, Congress, pass this bill. And do it NOW. We don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months until the next election. We need this bill and we need it NOW. So stop your quibbling, bickering and silly gamesmanship in continuing to hurt our country in order to make the President look bad. Enough. Act like adults and do the right thing: PASS THIS BILL. Are you listening to the American people, Congress? PASS THIS BILL. Comprende? PASS THIS BILL! Wakarimas-ka? PASS THIS BILL! Verstehen Sie? PASS THIS BILL! Comprenez-Vous? PASS THIS BILL! I don't know how many other ways I can phrase this, but dammit, PASS THIS BILL!!!!!

An ounce of prevention

2011-09-30T09:44:00.001-07:00

I grew up hearing my mom tell us kids "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This was usually in reference to washing hands, keeping clean, covering coughs and other common sense things to prevent the spread of illness. I'm sure I am not the only one who grew up hearing this and many other old adages. After all, those are the kinds of things passed on from generation to generation that our moms heard from their moms and who heard it from their moms and so on. Our parents passed on to us some basic common sense things to help us grow up with their wisdom that would help us to grow into adults who could then pass those things along to our children, grandchildren and on and on. So given that probably every child heard from their parents that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, what boggles me is how some folks don't want certain people to have access to health care services and how some folks seem to think that our current for-profit system of private health care insurance is OK when it is anything but that. My current health care plan does not pay for all preventive services so I haven't received certain screenings that my doctor says I need since I am over 50 now. I can ill afford, on an income where I haven't received a dime's raise in 6 years, to pay for expensive screenings and tests. My insurance also doesn't pay for the lift I need on all of my left shoes since, as a result of a long ago car accident, my left leg is one and a half inches shorter than my right leg. So every pair of shoes I buy requires that I spend an additional $200 to pay for the necessary lift work I need that is also a prescription from my orthopaedic surgeon. I don't get it. Insurance companies would rather pay more money for expensive treatments to pay for things they do not cover instead of paying a small amount for preventive screenings and things like lifts for shoes. It defies logic. Don't you think that they are ever looking at their bottom line and wanting to maximize their profits? So why pay for someone to have to undergo expensive cancer treatment for colon cancer instead of paying for people to have colonoscopies that could both prevent cancer and catch cancer at its earliest stage when it is cheaper to treat? It makes no sense. Why not shell out $200 for me to have a lift attached to my left shoes instead of dealing with what would happen if I suddenly couldn't afford to pay for that and would have to walk around with uneven legs? This stuff makes no sense to me. I'm all in favor of a single payer health care system that would give everyone access to health care, including mental health care, dental and vision care. I don't get why people are so afraid of that. They fear the loss of choice of doctors and hospitals and they fear rationing of care, but let me lay that fear to rest right now: We already have rationed health care. It's called managed care that tells you what doctors you can see and what hospitals you can use. I can't just go to any doctor, they have to be "in network" in my managed care plan. I can't just go to any hospital I want, it has to be "in network". To me, that's rationed health care. Most people I know are in a managed care plan and yet they complain that single payer health care would mean rationed health care, which is a bunch of bunk. Perhaps they fear that with everyone having access to health care that it would take longer to see a doctor or to have a "procedure". Well, we fix that by training more doctors and nurses and encouraging medical students to go into primary care instead of a specialty. Too many people right now would rather see a specialist first instead of using their primary care doctor. Well, I remember the day when my family doctor that we used when I was growing up did it all: orthopaedics, obstetrics, gynecology and more. Our family doctor delivered my two younger siblings. Fortunately, none of us ever broke bones growing up so he never had to set a broken arm or anything but had that happened to any of us, he would have been there to do that. Now, your primary care doctor sends you to a specialist who might send you to a sub-specialist. I have three orthopaedic doctors: one for my knees, one for my ankles and feet, and one for my hands. Geez, whatever happened to a general orthopaedist who could do it all? I also have an ear, nose and throat specialist. No wonder our health care system is so broken. You can't just see your family doctor for everything they used to treat. You've got these expensive specialists who charge an arm and a leg for their services and my insurance deductible is now $4000 so I do everything in my power to avoid seeing doctors now because if they want to run tests, I can't afford to pay for them. I mostly self treat my ailments now using alternative/herbal remedies that can be bought over the counter cheaply. You just about have to be your own doctor now if you want to avoid paying steep medical bills. Fortunately, aside from some nagging arthritis in my knees and hands, I am in very good health and am rarely ill. I'd like to lose 20 pounds and that's getting harder now that I am in my mid-50s, but even if that weight never comes off, I'm in good health aside from arthritis that I am treating with oral doses of glucosamine and chondroitin and fish oil. It seems to be working and I am in far less pain nowadays. Staying active also helps. I am an avid hiker and now that fall is here and the weather is cooling, I'm taking to the trails on those very rare days that it doesn't rain (spring and fall in NE Ohio means tons and tons of rain and few warm dry days, unfortunately). Physical activity is one of the best things for arthritis. I'm doing my level best to keep my health care costs down but in this country, we need to focus our health care system on prevention instead of treating people after they get sick. Prevent sicknesss first and then maybe we will bring down our spiraling out of control health care costs. Until we can focus on prevention first, our health care system will continue to be the most broken and the most expensive in the world. Teach our health care professionals that the adage that their moms told them about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure isn't just one of those little aphorisms that mom taught us but instead is good old fashioned common sense, something that seems to be lacking in our country for too long now.

Some past Presidents of the United States speak

2011-09-28T14:40:00.001-07:00

Let's start with Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. Here he warns us about the power of banks and what happens when they manipulate currency. Now, on Facebook, one friend said that he was referring to the Federal Reserve, which I don't think existed in Jefferson's time and which I admit to knowing very little about, but whatever the case, it seems like banks have been part of the problem that we've been having with this whole financial crash in the past several years. I will admit to knowing very little about the world of high finance so I can't really speak authoritatively on it, but I do know that part of the problem here was that banks were dealing in some very risky and exotic financial products that had tons of fine print that consumers didn't bother to read before they signed on the dotted line. There was a housing boom going on as I watched every single farmer in my area sell their land to rapacious developers who threw up chipboard McMansions nearly overnight which were then snapped up by people who could not afford them, leading to massive foreclosures. Had there been tighter regulations and oversight, this might not have happened and we'd certainly not be facing this deep, deep crisis in which we find ourselves. The problem was that the mortgages were bundled and sold off to investors around the world, so when the big crash happened, it didn't just affect the US, it caused economies all over the world to spiral out of control and crash as well. The crash was so profound, so deep that leading economists are saying that it will take at least ten years before we see any real recovery, no matter who occupies the White House or which party they are. Great, so there goes any hopes of retirement. I was listening to the radio today and NPR has been having a series on retirement on both Morning Edition and All Things Considered and it seems that the adage that you must be able to save at least a million dollars is true, but c'mon, who realistically can save that much, especially in this economy? I can't save a dime since I haven't had a raise or even cost-of-living in six years, so with prices going up each year, including my health insurance, my pay has actually decreased in the past decade instead of increased. It's getting to where the only option I have left is to take on a second job, something I don't necessarily want to do, but it may become something I can no longer avoid doing. You just can't get by anymore on one income. You need two incomes to survive in these times, and my one paltry income of $28,000 a year isn't making it anymore. Thanks, Wall Street, for screwing me seven ways from Sunday and making it impossible for someone like me to survive only one job. Now, Abraham Lincoln warns against corporate corruption and the accumulation of wealth in a few hands, and this was nearly 150 years ago! What he feared has sadly come to pass. Four hundred people in this country now hold more wealth than half of our nation's people combined. That kind of wealth disparity, if it is not dealt with, will surely destroy our nation as Lincoln feared. Rampant greed combined with the fraying of the social safety net has left our country deeply vulnerable. Our country's income inequality is now worse than many third world countries, and that is a crying shame. We have returned to the Gilded Age, the age of Robber Barons that President Theodore Roosevelt fought so hard against. Now, he, like Lincoln, was a Republican, but a progressive Republican. People like Roosevelt and Lincoln would be summarily drummed out of today's GOP for not toeing the mean spirited party line of "screw you, I got mine". I'm sure these men are rolling in their graves at what an awful nation we have become, how Scrooge like we are when people can applaud at the GOP debates when Governor Rick Perry is asked a question about his state having the most executions of prisoners, or that the audience applauds when a candidate says that a comatose 30 year old patient without health insurance should die instead of being treated. What kind of country have we become when people are so heartless that they act like that? The generation that makes up the bulk of those in power in the GOP are the "Me" generation of the Reagan era and even HE would be drummed out of their party for being too liberal...go figure. Today's GOP is so radical, so hard right that it's practically unrecognizable, unfortunately.
Now, General Dwight Eisenhower saw firsthand the horrors of war since he led troops in some of the deadliest actions that Americans faced during World War II. He knew first hand that he was often sending his own men to their deaths in various actions and I have heard from military men that this is one of the most difficult parts of command, that you sometimes have to order men into battle situations where you know that you're going to suffer high casualty rates. It's all the price of command and General Eisenhower knew it all too well, but America was victorious in the Second World War and partly due to his efforts and those of his men that it was so. General Eisenhower is another one who would probably be drummed out of today's GOP for being considered "too liberal" by today's standards. Here he warns us that too much money spent on the machinery of war robs our nation of money to care for those less fortunate and robs us of everything from the hopes of our children to the efforts of our scientists. He also, in his farewell speech as he left the Presidency, warned of the build up of the military industrial complex: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." He also warned of short term thinking over long term gain: "Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. " Very prescient. If he were alive today he'd no doubt be scolding the current Republican Party for its short sightedness in wanting plunder for today at the cost of our future. These Presidents knew that there was the potential for the kind of radicalism and short sightedness that we are now experiencing in the modern day Republican Party. I hope that someday, someone will wake up and listen to these words of warning from past Presidents and make the appropriate adjustments to party doctrine, but I'm not going to hold my breath and hope that it happens. I'm afraid that the modern day GOP has gone over a cliff and is beyond salvage. I wonder what history will have to say about that.

Taxes support the common good

2011-09-26T18:01:00.001-07:00

Back in 1876, the citizens of the then village of Kent, Ohio recognized that their growing population meant the need for a new bridge to span Main Street, across the Cuyahoga River and the railroad tracks that ran alongside of it. So they voted to raise their taxes so that this could happen. They'd been using a narrow old covered bridge, but with the advent of the railroads coming through town, business, and therefore the population, was growing, and the old wooden bridge wouldn't be able to handle the increased traffic that the growing village was experiencing. So the good folks back then decided that in order to support the common good, they would raise their own taxes to fund a major infrastructure project. This weekend, our fair town of Kent held a ceremony on the bridge to commemorate the 134th anniversary of the opening of the bridge, on September 25, 1877. Various prominent townspeople portrayed the historic figures from the time and re-enacted the speeches given on that occasion so long ago. As I heard the one speech about how the villagers raised what was then the astronomical sum of over $17,000 to pay for the new stone arch bridge that would span the river and the railroad, I wondered if any TEA Partiers were in the audience. The Civil War was not that long behind them and the villlagers had also recently subscribed another sum of some $17,000 not long before that in order to pay for the new Universalist Church that was completed in 1868 that still stands today and is actively used as a house of worship (and happens to be my home church!). The villagers obviously recognized the need to raise huge sums of money by agreeing to pay their taxes so that they could pay for valuable infrastructure projects that still stand to this day. They knew the value of these things and how they would serve the common good for everyone, so they did not hestitate to pay more taxes. Today, we need new schools, better roads, newer bridges, broadband Internet lines, green energy projects and a host of other things to get people working again and to move our country forward, but people simply don't want to pay for it. They want something for nothing, but it doesn't work that way. Once upon a time, people recognized the need for state of the art infrastructure. From FDR to Eisenhower to Kennedy, Presidents knew that in order for our country to move forward, we had to be the best in the world at a whole lot of things. My father's generation, for example, came home from WWII, just like my dad did, and attended college in record numbers thanks to the GI Bill, creating the best educated generation to ever come out of this nation. And what did they do? They built the interstate highway system, put a man on the moon, which in turn created billions of dollars in spin off industries in technology and a host of other things that made this country great. Now we have crumbling roads, bridges and schools, outdated airports and transit systems, we are laying off teachers at a time when our children, in order to compete with the rest of the world, need to be the best educated generation ever and our infrastructure is aging and needing serious repair and/or replacement. In the meantime, China is building a brand new country, with the fastest trains in the world, new airports, new roads, new schools and more while we in this nation bicker over details and don't seem to care that our country is falling apart while millions are idled by unemployment. Nothing makes sense. Corporations are sitting on top of trillions of dollars in cash and refuse tospend it to hire workers, who are either collecting unemployment checks or welfare checks if their unemployment ran out, or are working part time or low paid full time jobs just to have some income, or have given up looking for work altogether. There's no rhyme or reason for corporations to be hoarding so much cash when so many people are desperate for work, unless they are doing it on purpose to keep unemployment high in order to make President Obama look bad. Anymore, this is what it appears is going on. I can think of no better explanation for why they'd be doing that when our country so badly needs so many things right now. What are they waiting for, anyway? It just seems like this new breed of Republican was brought up on the Gordon Gekko (from the movie "Wall Street") mantra "Greed is good". Accumulate money, more money, so much money you don't even know what to do with it all and condemn anyone that doesn't have money because, well, they must be lazy or something. They must not have been raised with any kind of morals or sense of the common good, because listening to them speak, you can hear the undertone of "I got mine, screw everyone else." Well, I'd love to take each and every one of these TEA Partiers and lock them into a room and force them to watch some classic movies that teach valuable lessons, from "It's a Wonderful Life" to "Citizen Kane". I don't know, maybe they're mommas didn't teach them to share their toys in the sandbox with their friends and siblings when they were growing up or to help those less fortunate than themselves and not pass judgement on them or their situation. As near as I can tell, they are a bunch of dysfunctional adolescents who can only see as far as the end of their own collective noses. I wonder when some real grown-ups who learned to share the toys and consider the less fortunate will be elected to higher office. Maybe that's no longer possible. Maybe hyper-partisanship is here to stay, but I sure hope not. Sooner or later, something's got to give. Our nation's vital infrastructure is decaying and we've got people who refuse to ante up some taxpayer dollars to upgrade it to 21st century standards while the rest of the world has a clue and is jumping ahead of us economically. Could we be staring the end of the American Empire in the face? I hope not, but it sure looks that way lately.

45th Annual Kent State Folk Festival

2011-09-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

This week marks the 45th annual Kent State Folk Festival. It's been moved up from November, where it has taken place for some years now. Once upon a time, it used to take place in February, a month that, although the shortest in the year, always seems to be the longest because it's the middle of winter and is characterized by monochromatic colors, black, white and grey. And cabin fever sets in to the point where I can't wait until the snows finally melt and I can stop bundling up in multiple layers of clothing and get outside. Having the festival during that long dark month always broke up the monotony of the worst month of the year. But then, the University decided to stop funding it, so our local NPR station decided to take it over and they moved it to September in an attempt to involve the student population. Unfortunately, they moved it up against an arts festival held in a local park that typically attracts musicians and artists, so nobody went to the folk festival as a result. Then they moved it to late November, only that ended up being too close to Thanksgiving and once again, attendance suffered, so this year they moved it back to September, but late enough in the month not to conflict with any other major events. The problem with the festival since the university stopped funding it and since it began being funded by local corporate sponsors is that the whole format of the festival has changed. Times were that it was both Friday and Saturday, with free community workshops on both days, held at the Kent State Student Center (where the workshops are still held now) followed by a main stage concert held at the old University Auditorium (now the newly renovated Cartwright Hall auditorium). The concerts usually consisted of about six acts that performed for about 20 minutes, so you got a good variety of talent for the evening. The workshops basically took over the entire third floor of the Student Center, with every single room in use and the hallways filled with jammers. It was noisy, wonderful and exciting, but I guess the Fire Department put the kibosh on the hall jams. Fine, as long as rooms were opened up where people could go. However, now instead of offering the choice of about a dozen workshops per hour like they used to, now it's down to about three. Instead of six main stage acts for the concert, it's one act and usually some very big name star like Judy Collins, so I think they are putting more of their money on the main stage concert as opposed to anything else. This year, they didn't even offer a festival T-shirt, so I am assuming that this year's greatly reduced festival must be due to the economy or something because this was the smallest festival they've ever offered. The big main stage concert, instead of being tonight after the workshops that happened today, is tomorrow night, a bad night if you are in school or at work and have to go to bed early. I haven't bought a ticket yet because I am assuming that since the act tomorrow night is Peter Yarrow, once upon a time of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, that it will be beyond my budget to afford since that is such a big name. If I had to guess, I'd say the festival organizers blew their wad paying for tomorrow night's concert instead of spreading around the money equally, because for the first time that I could remember, they were shilling for money at the workshops today and I never remember them having a donation jar in every room and asking people to help defray festival costs. Well, must be that the economy is so bad that the festival is in financial trouble, because when they start asking for donations to pay for the cost of it, that doesn't bode well in my mind. We'll see what happens next year but if they keep chopping away at the festival and instead put their money on the main stage act instead of spreading it around equally, then I will know that this festival is going to have to change the way it does business. I plan to write to the festival organizers to voice my views on all of this. Whether they pay attention, I don't know if they'll listen but....can't hurt to try, anyway. I did have fun today at the workshops, though, so it wasn't a total disappointment!

Obama's new tough tone

2011-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I think President Obama learned a valuable lesson this summer during the long and heated debt ceiling debate. You CANNOT negotiate with the new breed of Republicans. Period. They are hard liners and refuse to compromise. It took a long and contentious summer during which the public became increasingly incensed with both the President and Congress to make Obama realize that he had lost the support of the very people who worked hard to elect him. So he's finally woken up to the new reality that he needs to be the person we voted for and elected if he even hopes to retain the support of those of us who pounded shoe leather and dialed phones until our fingers hurt to make sure that he was elected President. I am glad to hear this new tough tone of his, at long last. He should have been taking it all along instead of continually trying to extend an olive branch across the aisle to these TEA Party extremists. From the day Obama took office, the GOP hardened its line and made his destruction their Number One agenda, and unfortunately, they've been remarkably successful in shutting him down and preventing him from being able to set the tone in Washington and be the leader we thought we elected. Now the gloves are off, and the swords have been drawn. It's about time that President Obama talks tough and lays out clearly what he expects. At last he's fighting for the middle class instead of seeming like he was siding with the wealthy and the corporations. I think he has finally set the tone for the next year as the election cycle gets underway. He's calling out those who so rabidly defend the wealthy and whose agenda is to throw the middle class under the bus. At last, THIS is the President Obama I voted for and I am sure that millions voted for as well. Now if he maintains this new tough stance and doesn't wither under the relentless Republican attack machine, maybe he will be re-elected after all, but unemployment is going to have to come down significantly as well and unfortunately, leading economists are saying that it will take at least a decade for that to happen, no matter who's in the White House. The President's American Jobs Act is a good start. Now let's see if he can keep this new populist tone and tough stance and fight like hell for the middle class and make sure that we don't keep being asked to give up more than we already have. We've sacrificed enough. It's time for the most fortunate among us to ante up and pay their fair share. Even President George Washington realized this, as Obama quoted in his Rose Garden speech the other day.
So, TEA Partiers, you who pretend to owe your allegiance to the Founders, even those early Presidents realized that everyone needed to pay their fair share so that we could be a great country. It's the right thing to do, both fiscally and morally. Thank you, President Obama, for finally taking off the gloves and laying down some smack to the recalcitrant Republicans who are so gung-ho about protecting those so-called "job creator" millionaires and billionaires. After all, my question to the GOP then is, "Where are the jobs?" Unemployment is stuck at a maddening 9.1%. Speaker Boehner, where are the jobs? Majority Leader Cantor, where are the jobs? Corporations are sitting on top of trillions of unspent dollars, where are the jobs? Pray tell us, where are the jobs these millionaires and billionaires are said to be creators of? Tell that to all the laid off factory and construction workers who I see begging on freeway entrance ramps every morning and every evening. Go on, tell someone who's been out of work for over a year and whose unemployment benefits are about to run out why it is so important to protect all the tax loopholes that millionaires and billionaires have. I'd sure like to hear your passionate defense of the ultra wealthy and the biggest corporations to someone who lost their home to foreclosure and can't find work anywhere. And don't even start with the talk of personal responsibility. It's not Joe Lunchbucket's fault that his factory closed its doors and moved to China. And no, as President Obama said, this isn't "class warfare", this is math, pure and simple. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the reasons that the middle class has been in sharp decline for the past several decades. Just ask those of us who've watched our paychecks flatten and our spending power disappear. Hey, at least some of us are still working, but for what some of us are making, it's costing an awful lot lately just to go to and from the job. But, oh, we've got to, got to, got to protect oil company profits, because we cannot tax those poor, poor billionaires who are the "job creators". I mean, gee, how can someone who makes $10 billion a year possibly live on, say, $5 billion? What a paltry sum on which to live the high life! Too bad they'd be forced to be so deprived that maybe they'd have to, oh, I don't know, give up one of the yachts in their fleet. Or maybe one of their numerous mansions around the world. What a rough life.....must be awful to be so wealthy and be facing the idea that you might have to pay your fair share of taxes so that our country can move forward and be great again.

Hypocrisy

2011-09-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

One thing that really angers me about the Religious Right, aka The Republican Party (because, after all, the GOP is now practically a religion as well as a political party since it's largely been taken over by fundamentalist Christians) is their hypocritical views on so many things. They claim to be oh so pious and yet when it comes to certain things, they are not beyond showing absolute contempt for certain kinds of people or situations. For example, at a recent GOP Presidential debate, when asked about what to do in the instance of a 30 year old comatose man with no health insurance, the answer given was, let him die. Nothing was said regarding trying to save a life despite lack of insurance. No, the fact that the hypothetical patient was uninsured meant that no extreme measures should be taken to save this life. You bet your bottom dollar that if said patient was a billionaire, every measure possible would be made to save this person's life, but the fact that the example given was an uninsured young man meant that he didn't deserve to live. Another question asked, by the debate moderator, was to Texas Governor Rick Perry regarding the fact that under his administration, 234 people have been put to death in their prison system. The audience actually applauded when that number was given and Perry basically said that if you commit crimes against people in his state, you pay the ultimate price. OK, so these so called Christians of the right wing stripe claim to be oh, so pro-life until it comes to end of life questions, then it's "off with their heads!". And I always find it interesting that the most strident pro-life advocates aren't women, they are men, who don't have to carry around a fetus inside their body for 9 long months and experience all the discomforts of pregnancy. Now, once the kid is born, their concern for the welfare of the child disappears. These pro-lifers will stick up for an unborn baby, but once it's born, tough luck, you're on your own, kid. Some Christians these people turn out to be. Unfortunately, they've been so influential as to inject religion into politics. Notice that Presidents are now required not only to be very open about how Christian they are and provide a religious resumé (meaning that they in essence are required to pass a religious test in order to hold the highest office in the land, which is completely unConstitutional), but once elected, every time they speak to the public, they are required - yes, required - to end each and every speech with "God bless you, and God bless the United States of America." They are also required to wear American flag lapel pins, and anyone who doesn't is regarded suspiciously. These TEA Partiers especially wrap themselves in the American flag, the church and the Constitution as if they are the sole owners of those things, and yet if they read their Constitution, they will find that it specifically indicates that there shall be no religious test to hold the highest office in the land, "..no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI, United States Constitution). In other words, you don't have to be a Christian to hold any office, be it Senator, Congressman, President, a member of the Cabinet or any other high federal office. But certain forces have made sure that you must be a Christian in order to do so, at least within the GOP ranks, but it is strongly encouraged in the Democratic ranks as well. There are still people out there who view President Obama through beady suspicious eyes because they believe he might secretly be Muslim, as if that somehow disqualifies him to be President. And no matter who wins the GOP nomination (and it's either going to be Mitt Romney - not likely since the Religious Right is also very suspicious of Mormonism, or Rick Perry, that fake pious Christian Texas cowboy who believes in offing anyone who commits a crime in his state and who has the gall to call Social Security a "Ponzi scheme", thus pissing off thousands of elderly and disabled voters who rely on that social safety net for their existence), you can bet your bottom dollar that the religion issue is going to come up again somewhere down the line. I just hope that if and when it does, that someone quotes Article VI of the Constitution that no religious test is required to be President or anything else for that matter. I also hope that people remember the simple verse that everyone should use to guide their life, from Micah 8: "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God." Not GOD, as in, only the one in the Bible. YOUR God, meaning whatever higher power guides your life, and that is what I believe that says. Do justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. Good rules we should all live by, in my opinion. The world would be a far more peaceful place if that was the case.

Thom Hartmann speaks the truth

2011-09-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

What Thom Hartmann says in this piece is spot-on, that today's Republican Party is just downright unAmerican. They want to dismantle the middle class, plunge us into endless wars, do everything in their power to enrich billionaires and to defy the Founding Fathers they pretend to so revere when they are probably rolling in their graves at what this country has become under their agenda. They've spent the better part of 30 years undoing everything that generations have fought - and in some cases, died - to preserve. They are traitors, the lot of them, none moreso than Dick Cheney, who has the blood of thousands on his hands and must be held to account for it. I want everyone to watch this piece and to listen carefully to some of the past Presidents that Hartmann quotes, from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson to Grover Cleveland to Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Delano Rooosevelt. They were all excoriating the idea of corporate power, endless war and robber barons. These TEA Partiers may fancy themselves as re-enacting the Revolutionary spirit of the Founders, but those folks were revolting against the corporate power of the British East India Tea Company. How soon they forget! I doubt any TEA Partiers here are listening, but if you are, you're being deceived by your own kind. WAKE UP and listen to what past Presidents warned us about. If we don't stop this march toward corporate dominance of our country and endless warfare around the world, we are through as a nation, and we will fall the very same way as Rome did and for the same reasons. Don't say you weren't warned.......

2000-2010, the lost decade

2011-09-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

When historians look back at the past decade, I think they will shake their heads in disbelief that we as a nation just seem to have lost our collective minds. Of course, much of that can be chalked up to the after effects of 9/11. That event seems to have rattled this country out of anything even vaguely resembling common sense. From an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that never did anything to threaten us to Sarah Palin, airhead beauty queen candidate for the second highest office of the land and absolute dimbulb intellectually, from Glenn Beck to the Kardashian sisters and the idea that you can become famous for becoming famous (something I still can't figure out.....can ANYONE?), from the fact that television has gone from cleverly written shows to gawdawful "reality TV" because those shows do not need writers (and nearly any premise will suffice), from NeoCon politics to the TEA Party who fancy themselves returnees to our country's earliest patriots when nothing could be further from the truth, from Donald Trump to Bernie Madoff to the spectacular financial meltdown of 2008, it seems like this country went seriously astray these past ten years. About the only truly bright spot to be found in the entire wasted decade we've just ended is the historic election of Barack Obama as President of this country in 2008, and even he's turned out to be something of a dud after all, someone who seems to secretly aspire to be a Republican who can never really enter that exclusive body because, well, his skin is the wrong color. At least lately, Obama seems finally to have woken up and started going on a serious offensive instead of sitting back and letting a handful of radicals in Congress dominate the agenda and chart the way forward for our country despite the fact that they remain solidly in the minority of where our country stands politically. I just have to wonder what this next decade is going to look like. Are we going to continue trying to lock down our country, shut off our borders and go into some sort of protectionist post-9/11 isolation, or are we finally going to wake up out of our post attack stupor and move this country bravely forward into a clear bright future? Are we going to continue trying to exist on 20th century technology when we should be looking at what other nations are doing to move into the 21st century with the kind of technology that will create millions of new jobs? Are we going to take a back seat to China and let them become the new world superpower and job creator? Are we going to continue to regard anyone who doesn't look or sound like us as somehow a threat, "the other"?

I wonder just when we'll get over our post-9/11 hangover and once again become the country I remember it to be. Something tells me that our Founding Fathers would be deeply ashamed of what kind of country we have become in the past decade, practically afraid of our own collective shadows. You've got hacks like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh out there stirring up hate on talk radio and far too many people listening for comfort who actually believe what they say. You've got people like Texas Governor Rick Perry who say it's better for sick people to die rather than take care of them, and who seems to be trigger happy cowboys more than happy to condemn someone to death who has committed a crime and who also call themselves good God fearing Christians in the same breath. It's enough to make your head spin that anyone takes any of this stuff seriously, but they do. How soon people forget that we just had another trigger happy Texas cowboy in the White House who also called himself a so-called Christian, and who seemed to be led by a dark, evil spirited Vice President who has almost no faith in humanity and who condones torture as a tactic to use in order to gain information. The fact that this new swaggering cowboy Republican candidate has shot to the top of the polls as a candidate for President for his party despite having the temerity to call Social Security a Ponzi scheme is truly frightening. People seem to have collectively forgotten who was our President for most of the past lost decade and what deep and lasting damage he did to this country. It's no wonder Dubya kept such a low profile since leaving office. It's probably the smartest thing he has ever done in his life, remain a quiet private citizen and keep out of the limelight. I'm just afraid that since this new Texas cowboy has come to town that people smell blood and they have no qualms about someone like him becoming President even when it would make Dubya's time in the White House look like a walk in the park. I hope that we as a nation can finally come to our collective senses and realize that there's no place in Washington for another cowboy President who shoots first and asks questions later. I hope that we can once and for all put 9/11 behind us in this new decade and move confidently forward into a newfound sense of national purpose, to put our country back together again after a long dark night of the soul and fix what ails it both physically and psychically. I thought we'd done that when we elected Barack Obama as President, but he hasn't helped things any by leading from behind and letting Congress create the agenda and dominate the discussion. It's about time he gets back into campaign mode and goes on a serious offensive, but I hope it's not all for show and that he really means it, that look, it's time to stop playing these ridiculous games of political one upsmanship and get down to the business of governing our nation and fixing its problems. We'll see if he can get the American people to force Congress into line and get this country moving forward again. If not, we're in for another long, dark decade of self flaggelation, anger and outright frustation at anything - or anyone - at which we can collectively lash out. Don't know about you, but I've had about enough of that for one lifetime.

The unanswered questions of 9/11

2011-09-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but there are just too many unanswered questions surrounding the events of ten years ago, September 11, 2001, to be satisfied with the answer that it was a suprise out of the blue terrorist attack on American soil. I've never been satisfied that we were caught with our collective pants down that day. I am pretty sure that our administration at the time had advance knowledge of this attack and did nothing to stop it. Some years ago, I found a white paper written by members of the conservative think tank the Project for a New American Century, whose primary agenda was worldwide American hegemony through military might. In particular, they lamented the failure, during the first Gulf War, to march into Baghdad and bring down the regime of Saddam Hussein, and they mentioned a need to return to Iraq to accomplish just such a goal. However, they said in this white paper, such an unprovoked invasion could not be justified to the American people "failing a new American Pearl Harbor", in their words. Well, not so long after those words were written, they got their wish. Just coincidentally, the members of said think tank eventually became top officials in the Bush administration, including that dark Manichean himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, who just recently admitted that he condoned "enhanced interrogation", read that, "torture", of suspected terrorists in order to glean information from them. Knowing full well the agenda of the members of the PNAC was an eventual invasion of Iraq that could not be sold to the American public short of some sort of catastrophic event on American soil, it just doesn't seem to be an accident that 9/11 happened in the first place. Another thing that seems mighty suspicious is that the Bush family has long held close ties with the bin Laden and al Saud families. Remember, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, not Iraqi, not Afghans, but Saudis. That seems mighty suspicious to me. After the attacks, all members of the bin Laden family who were residing in the United States were put aboard a plane and were allowed to leave the country, this, despite the fact that not a single plane was permitted to take off or land in this country for days after the attacks. Why was one plane loaded with members of Osama bin Laden's immediate family allowed to leave the country, this, when those folks were, in essence, material witnesses since they were members of his immediate family who could spill the beans on his whereabouts? And why, a month before the attacks took place, did Bush continue his vacation in Texas as if nothing had happened when his National Security advisor Condoleeza Rice informed him of a Presidential Daily Briefing that an attack by Osama bin Laden on American soil was imminent? Why didn't Bush end his vacation right then and there, fly back to Washington and convene his top intelligence and military personnel to plan a way to stop such an attack from taking place? Why were the two other hijacked planes that hit the Pentagon and that went down in Shanksville, PA allowed to continue flying AFTER the two towers of the World Trade Center had been hit and it became rapidly obvious that an event of war was taking place on US soil? Where was NORAD in all this? Why wasn't there an immediate call up of war planes after the two towers were hit and it became obvious that two more hijacked planes were in the air? And what about WTC Building 7, which structural engineers say was a controlled demolition, and contained offices of the Defense Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Secret Service, the FBI, the IRS and a host of other agencies? You see what I mean? Too many unanswered questions to just chalk this up to a surprise attack.

It is my opinion that George W. Bush and in particular, Dick Cheney, have an awful lot of blood on their hands for which to answer and unfortunately, they will never be held to account for their misdeeds. My suspicion is that there has been a great, big, huge cover-up of very damaging facts about the crimes of the Bush/Cheney cabal who were responsible for the whole 9/11 attacks, and I will always be bitter on this anniversary despite not losing anyone close to me. It is for all those who have lost a loved one, either in the 9/11 attacks or the endless global war on terror that I now understand can never end and will go on for at least the rest of my lifetime, if not beyond, and into future generations, that I am angry and bitter on this date. These wars will bankrupt our country and will hasten our demise as a nation, because frankly, we can't afford them now and they were unfunded when they began. There's no nobility in anyone's deaths in these wars. They are wasting young lives full or hope and promise, and for what? Not our freedom, certainly, but to try, as other nations have in the past and failed, to build American style democracies out of tribal cultures where old hatreds and rivalries run deep and have for centuries. We as a country need to do some serious nation building at home. It's time for us to cut our losses, pack it up and come back home from these ridiculous wars that can never be "won" in the traditional sense, because the fact is, you cannot fight a war against a stateless entity where you never really know who is foe and who is friend. You cannot fight an entity that is like a Hydra, where, if you cut off the head, another one will grow in its place. And that is exactly what we have been trying to do for far too long now, and it's pointless, too expensive and too costly in human lives wasted. 9/11 was about more than trying to scare the living bejeebers out of Americans, it was about drawing us into endless wars that could never be won in the eventual goal of bankrupting us as a nation and causing our eventual downfall. So far, al Qaeda has been very successful in achieving that end. I just hope that someday, we as a nation will wake up and realize that we've been playing right into the hands of the very goal that was trying to be achieved, bringing our country down via financial ruin. The 9/11 attacks were just the initial provocation to draw us into war. Since then, all we've done is to pour wasted trillions into wars that can never really end. We have the tiger by the tail: We can't keep holding on to it nor can we let it go. What a dreadful irony. And how sad that these attacks were allowed to happen when I am convinced they did not have to. Maybe someday the real truth will be told, but seriously, I doubt it ever will, because it might well permanently destroy any trust people had in our government if they knew that the attacks took place while an administration looked the other way. How terribly sad that we'll never really know the truth behind what happened that day and why.

Thank You, Mr. President

2011-09-09T14:30:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems that President Barack Obama has finally returned to form. Last night he gave a forceful speech before Congress on a jobs bill, repeating over and over again his mantra, "Pass this bill!" He laid out an ambitious plan, perhaps not as big as many of us wished, but a very good start. Listening to his speech last night, I heard the man I voted for in 2008, the man I worked enthusiastically for to elect, the man I proudly cast my vote for, and the man who, when it was announced that he won the 2008 Presidential election, I wept with joy, astonishment and elation. I've been waiting for that Barack Obama to emerge, and last night we caught a glimpse of that. He scolded Congress for doing nothing and laid out his position very clearly: "Pass this bill!" He said what he would and would not support, in no uncertain terms. Republicans, naturally, sat on their hands, stony faced, refusing to applaud. Of course, I do not expect this bill to pass the House of Representatives, which would be a crying shame, but my thinking is that if they refuse to do the President's bidding, if they refuse to help create jobs, if they continue their political circus of bitter partisan politics at the cost of American workers who are unemployed, underemployed and, like me, living on frozen incomes, then they will have to answer to their constituents who are badly hurting. They're just cutting their own throats, but hey, let them. If they can't do the hard work of the American people, then to hell with them. Our President has come out forcefully with something that will work to create jobs. And right now, we need jobs. Period. As the President said last night, the election is 14 months off and right now, we the American people don't have 14 months to wait. We need help NOW, and President Obama has come charging into town wearing his white hat offering help and hope. He's up against a pretty stiff opponent, the TEA Party circus who just want to destroy him out of some sort of weird contempt that may well be racially charged. I just hope that President Obama keeps up this new strong forceful tone for the foreseeable future. He's taking his case to the American people. He started today by talking in Richmond, VA and selling his message to the folks there. Watching it, I can tell that the message was well received by the attendees, and that's a good sign. Now let's see how the rest of the nation reacts. As he told his audience in Virginia today, it's not just up to him to make things happen, it is up to US, the American people, to make our voices heard about what we want. And I hope that voice reaches Washington loud and clear: "We want jobs and we want them NOW." Thank you, Mr. President, for sounding a forceful note last night to members of Congress who need to see that you are not to be trifled with, that you mean business, and that you won't stop until this economy begins to turn itself around. THAT is the Barack Obama I voted for, and it was refreshing to see that Obama back in the saddle again. If he maintains this strong stance and continues to lead from the front instead of waiting for Congress to do something and then signing on to it, I will happily vote for his re-election next year. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see what happens next.......

On a totally unrelated note, I am reading this most excellent novel, "Caleb's Crossing" by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Geraldine Brooks. It is an un-put-downable book, to be sure. It is about the meeting of two cultures in 17th century Martha's Vineyard, and apparently based on a true story of a Native American named Caleb who graduates from Harvard. Caleb is a Wampanoag Indian named Cheeshahteaumauck who meets an "English" girl named Bethia when they are both about 12 years old. They become fast friends despite their cultural differences and he nicknames her "Storm Eyes" and she calls him "Caleb". Bethia's father is a Calvinist preacher whose mission is to Christianize the "salvages", the natives, and he takes some of them under his wing to teach them. Bethia longs for knowledge but is forbidden from schooling by her sex but learns by overhearing her father's teaching of the natives as well as her dull witted brother Makepeace. Eventually smallpox wipes out Caleb's people and he decides to come to Bethia's father for instruction in the English ways and is an exceptionally bright student who eventually matriculates to Harvard. I am only half way through the book so far but like another novel of hers that I read, "March", which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction a few years ago, it is positively haunting. For me, it particularly resonates because I can trace my paternal ancestry back to some of the earliest English settlers to America in the 17th century. My many times great grandfather Christopher Foster settled in Lynn, MA sometime in either the 1620s or 1630s, coming from England on board the ship "Abigail". Another many times great grandfather Thomas Sayre also came over sometime in the 1630s or so, settling first in Lynn and then migrating down to Long Island where he and others founded Southampton. I find myself wondering how my own ancestors must have reacted to the Natives they no doubt encountered when they arrived on our shores. Knowing my ancestry takes place in some of the places near where the novel takes place, I find myself positively riveted by the storyline. Brooks' novels always have a somewhat religious overtone and I find myself wondering why, but they are powerful reads and I highly recommend her as a novelist. My next read of hers will be the book "The Year of Wonders", set during the great plague of the 17th century. I greatly look forward to this book and I do hope that some of her books are eventually made into movies, as her writing style is very visual and cinematic. I really enjoy Ms. Brooks writing and am eager to read her other works and see if they stand up to what I have read so far. At any rate, I can say in all honesty, read "Caleb's Crossing". You won't be disappointed - or bored, for that matter. One small word of warning, though: it is written in 17th century syntax, so be prepared for some unfamiliar vocabulary and dialogue. Once you get past that, the novel is beautifully written and a delight to read.

Mr. President, Go Big Or Go Home

2011-09-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last month, our country had zero job growth. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Unemployment remains stubbornly high at 9.1%, millions of people find themselves without a job, millions more are underemployed, either working for subpar wages or working part time when they want to be working full time. All summer long, intransigent TEA Partiers and Republicans held the debt ceiling crisis hostage, which led to a downgrade of our nation's credit rating and a steep plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average that signaled a possible onset of double dip recession. The solution to the debt ceiling crisis was more steep budget cuts with no additional revenues being added and the so-called "Super Committee" that is being appointed is being tasked with coming up with even steeper cuts and STILL no new revenues. History has proven that you cannot cut your way to prosperity. Hoover tried it, Roosevelt tried it, and both times, it plunged the economy back into Depression. And yet our President will do NOTHING to stop the hemorraging of jobs because he keeps insisting on capitulating to Republicans threats and demands every time they threaten to hold their breath until they turn blue. President Obama is scheduled to give a speech on Thursday outlining his job creation package but it doesn't matter what it is, the GOP will block it in order to make him look bad. So far, President Obama has insisted on playing small ball and has been cautiously nibbling around the edges a la Jimmy Carter instead of enacting bold policies and fighting for what he believes in. Well, the time for half measures is over. There's an election season in full swing and history has proven that elections are won or lost a year out from the actual Election Day. At the moment, women, labor and independent voters have wholesale abandoned Obama and if he fails to win them back this month, the election is all but over. If, by month's end, Obama is still trying to be a Republican Lite and favor corporate interests over ordinary people, if he continues to side against the Environmental Protection Agency's desire to tighten environmental regulations (which actually creates jobs instead of killing them), if he can't come up with a bold job creation proposal and then fight like hell to win over Congress's approval of it, if he just keeps capitulating to every one of their demands (and even doing that they aren't going to automatically side with him anyway, no matter how much he gives them), then by month's end, Texas Governor Rick Perry will have won the election because right now he is surging way ahead of Obama in the polls and the progressive base is so angry at Obama that they are abandoning him wholesale. I think what we ought to do is to run a strong progressive candidate AGAINST Obama to make him fight for his principles. I'm willing to write in Senator Bernie Sanders for President if necessary. At least he's got backbone and won't back down to Republican threats. Unlike Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who no one took seriously anyway, Sanders at least has some gravitas that will make people stand up and listen to him. So I am thinking that maybe Progressives need to draft him to run for President, if for no other reason than to push Obama back to being what he said he would be when he ran last time. It wouldn't hurt to try, for what it is worth.

My first Tribe game since 1969!

2011-09-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last night my brother, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, a friend of my sister's and I all went to see a Cleveland Indians baseball game at Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. I'd never been there, but had seen plenty of Indians games broadcast from there on TV. I have to admit to feeling a tad star struck when I got there. I've been to the Tribe's minor league games in Akron where the Aeros play at Canal Park, but this was the Real Deal, the Major Leagues. The park is spectacular, beautiful, incredible, everything you'd ever imagine a major league ballpark to be. I was downright wowed by the whole experience, even sitting up in the nosebleed section in a mostly empty stadium, which was sort of sad to see because I remember how many years in a row every single Indians game was a sellout. Now you can't give away tickets to see them play. The last time I had seen a live Cleveland Indians game was in 1969 in old Municipal Stadium, now gone from the Cleveland landscape. Luis Tiant was pitching for the Tribe and "Hawk" Harrelson was the swaggering handsome young player that set all the female hearts aflame with his wild long locks of hair. Ah, that was so long ago now..... Anyway, this newer park is fantastic, a perfectly manicured lawn, the diamond was like something out of a movie, the cityscape around us was beautiful both as the sun set and as darkness enveloped the city and the buildings sparkled with a few lights on here and there. The Goodyear blimp soared above us overhead as the game was being played below us. I brought a good pair of binoculars so I could see what was going on. It was exhilarating being able to see so much so close up with them. All those big league players playing a little boy's game, which turned into an epic battle between two almost evenly matched teams. Instead of going the usual 9 innings, it went a ridiculously long 16 innings. We left at the bottom of the 14th inning, the score still tied 3-3. Last year when my sister was home, we went to an Akron Aeros game and left in the 7th inning. Just once, I'd like to go to a ballgame and stay for the duration, but last night's game went so long that everyone was getting bleary eyed and sleepy and a little rain began to fall, so for the 14th inning, we snuck down to some prime seats just off of right field and got a magnificent view of the action. When it became apparent that the game had no end in sight, we left and listened to the remainder of it on the radio on the way home. The hero of the night was Jack Hannahan, a good Irish name, and he hit two solo homers to start out. When he did so, Irish music played to celebrate his accomplishment. Well, turns out that he hit the game winning RBI as well, so he's sort of become my new favorite Cleveland player. He looks and reminds me of a very young Jim Thome, who played for the Tribe during the glory years of the 90's, then left and just last week returned to the team, an older, slower and not as proficient 41 years old, but still, every time he came to bat, the audience stood and cheered for this old hometown hero returned to the fold. It was gratifying to see someone like him back in Cleveland uniform, even if he IS a bit older and slower than he was in his glory years. My guess is that he'll retire after this season, but what a way to go out, in the uniform he started out in. Good on him. Now he has a young protége, Jack Hannahan, who looks and dresses a lot like Thome did in his younger days, even wearing his socks pulled up high over his pants legs like ballplayers of old. Well, Jack Hannahan, you've won a new fan. I love ballplayers like him who pay tribute to the old way of doing things and who have not forgotten that baseball has a long history and tradition in this country. It's not for nothing that it's called "America's Pastime". Hannahan obviously hasn't forgotten, and good on him! And what a night he had last night! I will never forget what a wonderful night I had at Progressive Field, living the magic of live major league baseball in a spectacularly beautiful park on a lovely warm summer evening. Perfect!

Trust

2011-08-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

One thing I've learned in this lifetime is that you really can't trust anyone. Ot at the very least, few people. Too many folks have an agenda and they will do almost anything to hurt you behind your back. It's a shame that I have gotten to where I hold the world at arm's length and have learned that even those you think you can trust you really can't, especially at work. There is where agendas are really clearly defined. People want to suck up to the boss and while they may seem like they are being nice to you and getting along with you, they really aren't and will do anything possible to hurt you when you least expect it. I decided to "unfriend" everyone on Facebook even remotely connected to my job because I have discovered that people will use social media against you behind your back and whenever possible. I hated to do that, even with those with whom I am friendly, but having trust issues as I have for too long now, it's better just to cut off everyone connected to work rather than take any risks that something will get back to the boss that might not be true but which it is hard to defend against. It's just better that way to limit one's Facebook friends to those you know aren't going to cause you to have work related problems. It's just not worth it. I've had trust issues my entire life because whenever I have made the mistake of assuming that someone won't hurt me, I find out to the contrary, so I have learned to hold the entire world at arm's length. I let no one in close now. Everyone seems to have an agenda anymore so it's just best not to have any close friends and to remain acquaintances instead. I miss having confidantes but you just don't know who, at the end of the day, is out to hurt you, so it's best just to not bother letting anyone inside of your defenses. Trust, with me, is a very hard won thing. It takes years to develop but seconds to shatter. So I choose to keep everyone at a certain length and slowly let people in until I feel like I can trust them. Sadly, right now, there's no one I'm letting in at the moment. I'd just as soon not take that sort of risk. Maybe once I retire from work and feel like it's safe to do so, I will, but for now, I choose to keep everyone out. Too many people out there who just don't have your best interest at heart and doubtless never will.

Economic Justice

2011-08-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

In these difficult times in which we currently find ourselves living, it amazes me that people haven't been taking to the streets demanding economic justice. The gradual upward redistribution of wealth. which is leaving ordinary Americans behind, is slowly leading us to become worse than a third world nation in income inequality. Wages for middle class workers have stagnated, which has led to record unemployment since none of us can afford to buy anything. And without our purchasing power, we can't create jobs because we can't create demand for anything to be made. Massive budget cuts are only going to exacerbate the situation because it will lead to higher unemployment, even less demand for goods and services and a steady downward spiraling of our economy. While I agree that our government should live within its means, in the past decade we've broken the bank fighting three unfunded wars. Even were those wars to end tomorrow, our country is still going to need to occupy those nations for decades to come both to help maintain political stability (if that's even possible in nations that have been, for far too long now, broken by corruption) and to help rebuild the damage we inflicted by blowing so many things up. High unemployment and frustration among the populace of those nations is only going to continue to make terrorism look like an attractive alternative, so it is incumbent on our country to help rebuild and stabilize these places where for so long we've been waging these unfunded and disastrous wars. The trouble is that these are places where American style democracy is far too foreign and would never take root. They are ancient tribal cultures where things like bribery and corruption are the accepted norm. It's not for nothing that Afghanistan, in particular, has long been called "The Graveyard of Empires". The Soviet Union spent 10 years trying to conquer that nation and it bankrupted them and caused their downfall. Now we've been there for 10 years, accomplished nothing and we're tryingn desperately to prop up an American supported leader there who is as corrupt as anyone who has ever come along. The neighboring nation, Pakistan, is suspect because of the fact that Osama bin Laden was hiding there in plain sight. It calls into question just how legitimately they are trying to help us in this so-called "Global War on Terrorism", which in effect could rightfully be called "World War III". Only this time, we aren't fighting nations, we are fighting shadowy groups of terrorists who have no real nation states. It's not a war that can ever be won, unfortunately. It appears we will be fighting this war until well past my lifetime, and cost in human lives and treasure could well lead our country down the road toward bankruptcy, which is the ultimate goal of these terrorists. They want to bring down our country by any means possible and so far, they are winning that battle handsd-down.

I must admit, I am deeply disappointed in President Obama. He hasn't been the "change we can believe in" that I hoped for. He seems totally tone deaf to what the American people want. They don't want compromise, they want action. They don't want "No We Can't", or "Maybe We Can But Not Now", they want "YES WE CAN". That is what we campaigned for, that is what we voted for, but so far, this Presidency has turned out to be a serious disappointment for many of us. Poverty is worsening among African-Americans and they are disillusioned after voting for one of their own and seeing him win a historic victory. I'm frustrated by his constant capitulation to Republican demands. He hasn't shown an ounce of spine, hasn't criticized the GOP and has basically gone along with all their demands. He seems more like a moderate Republican instead of a Progressive Democrat. I find myself wondering if he can even try to win a second term when people like Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann, TEA Party favorites, are gathering huge numbers of supporters and making wild promises like gas below $2 a gallon. Obama has lost crucial support among women and independents, constituencies he needs to win the election next year, and barring any real bold action on his part, he can pretty much kiss his job goodbye and count on living under President Perry, another Texas cowboy President who is blustering his way to huge numbers and is the current GOP front runner. His Presidency will be Bush III, another swaggering Texan who will rule by cowboy justice. People like that in a leader and Obama hasn't shown a trace of boldness in the entire time he's been in the White House. I suspect that he thinks that by becoming a moderate Republican that he will win GOP support, but so far, they have done everything in their power to stymie and block anything he's tried to accomplish, even when he had HUGE majorities in both Houses. Obama failed to take advantage of that to do some things that might have broken the back of this long, dark and painful recession, but the health care law wasn't exactly well received or well timed. That's something that could have waited and anyway, taking single payer off the table when it has been shown that many Americans favor it was a huge mistake. Now the battle for single payer has gone to a statewide level and with most states controlled by the GOP, the chances of getting it passed in any of the states is pretty much dead for the time being. I see no future for single payer but a lofty dream that so many of us hold. Corporations basically control our country via the politicians that they own lock, stock and barrel, and as long as they hold the power and the money, the rest of us are screwed. They will buy this next Presidential election and they intend to buy Perry as their man, and chances are almost a sure shot deal that he will win. Gawd, another four years of having a swaggering, sneering cowboy in the White House is more than I can stand. Had Obama been bolder, he might have stood a chance, but with a divided government and the GOP lined up firmly against him and determined to destroy him at all cost, it looks like his days in the White House are numbered. Too bad people have such short memories of what happened the last time we had a cowboy in the White House. They'll learn soon enough when Perry is elected our next President. Look out, world, you've got nukes falling on you if you don't step into line. More wars, more death, more destruction, and more attempts at creating a theocracy where only Christianity is the accepted religion. Good grief, it's enough to make me want to move out of this country. Good thing I'm retiring soon......

Maybe it's time I move on.....

2011-08-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

My whole life has been one incidence after another of being left out of a crowd and left to feel terribly alone. I've never quite felt like I fit in anywhere. I've always felt like the odd man - or woman - out. Maybe it's because I hold the world to a higher standard, maybe it's because I am middle aged and single, I don't know. But lately it just seems like the world just doesn't have a place for me. I don't go out with friends anymore because they are either working different shifts than me or have moved to where there are better jobs. I rely on this computer to stay in touch with people but even that gets old after a while. Everyone at work is either married with kids and a husband or divorced with kids or something with which I cannot identify. I just don't feel like I have anything to talk about with anyone. So I plug myself into my iPod and listen to music most days because that's what gives me solace. I just feel very isolated at work and now, once again, I have been removed from my bookmobile runs and put back on office duty, for what reason I do not know, but it has become apparent that my services are no longer needed or wanted, so I think that it is as good a a time as any to start thinking about retiring and looking for a part time job that will let me set my own hours and live life on my own terms. I am tired of the rest of the world dictating how I will live my life. I am too old for that sort of crap. I've been around too long and I know writing on the wall when I see it. They want me gone at work so they can replace me with someone younger, so I will oblige by retiring at the end of this school year. I will turn 55 next spring and my retirement plan allows me, with over 25 years of service, to retire at that age. I'd hoped to get in my 30 years, but now I think that retiring in 9 months is the right thing to do. They want me gone, it's apparent, and I don't want to stick around at a job where they have made it plain that my services are no longer needed or required. So it's time to start thinking ahead and deciding on a plan of action. I have no retirement savings and probably never will, but a part time job that would allow me the freedom to take time off when I desire would be a good thing. I won't have to worry about health care as I will already get that when I retire, but I will have to worry about the fact that any job I take will have no paid sick or vacation days, so any I would need would have to be docked from my pay, which could be tough given my lack of retirement planning. But I can get around that when I get there once I land a position and make my needs known.

I just feel ready to start the next chapter of my life. I'm in my mid-50s now and want to have more free time to pursue my passions. It's mainly the money thing I worry so much about. I need a retirement plan but it will have to start now since I plan to retire in 9 months. I'm not sure I can put any money away between now and then and I sure as hell am not about to start playing the stock market in this uncertain environment. I've got to figure out what I am going to do and how I am going to do it. I've already cut back a great deal of my monthly budget in order to save money but it sure doesn't feel like any real savings. Money's as tight as it has ever been despite frugal living. I know that retirement on less than I had expected had I stayed the full 30 years is going to be tough, and any job I find is going to have to pay pretty well to make up lost income. I just don't know what I can find that is going to let me live my life on my own terms, make my own hours and let me have the freedom and flexibility I desire right now. Summer travel has become extremely expensive and yet I want the ability to do more of it, not less. That's going to mean that I am going to need more money. I could take a part time evening and weekend job right now to supplement my current income but I am so tired after working one job that I can't imagine having the energy to work two jobs. So I don't know what I want to do right now. I've got to make some definite plans one way or another whether I retire next year or decide to stay on until I get my 30th year in. I'm just tired of not feeling valued at work when I am one of the few people who seems to have a work ethic and shows up regularly, and early, even. I've worked too hard and too long to feel like I am being put out to pasture before my time. If they are not going to value me at work, it's time to move on to something or someplace that does. I don't need to feel like I am just a placeholder until I leave, and that's exactly how I feel right now. I'm worth more than that, frankly. I have talents and abilities that aren't being utilitized and probably never will. So it's time to step aside and let myself be replaced with someone they will use more fully than they ever intend to use me. When your responsibilities have been reduced to nearly nothing, it's clear they want you gone. So I will oblige and leave at the end of this school year whether I have a job lined up or not. I hope I do, but if not, well.....I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. One way or another, it's time to move on with my life. I'm young enough to start another career and too old to feel as if I am wasting my life feeling unwanted at my job. So, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Why do I let people walk all over me?

2011-08-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but for as long as I could remember, I have ended up feeling like the world's doormat. People take advantage of me, walk all over me and make me feel like the proverbial doormat. I still struggle with self esteem and end up allowing other people to dictate how I feel about myself. When people mistreat me, I feel awful and depressed and miserable. And yet I seem to allow it to happen over and over again and I wish I knew why I wasn't one of those more aggressive people who could just stand up to people and tell them I wasn't going to take that anymore. I guess I always think that if I do, I'm going to get in trouble or something. I'm far too easily intimidated, especially at work, where I feel like if I stand up for myself, I am going to be hustled off to HR and written up for some sort of disciplinary action. I don't know how to tell people that, look, I have value, I matter, and I will NOT be the world's doormat. I will not allow people to belittle me or treat me like I am less than equal to everyone else. And yet I seem to allow this to happen over and over again and then I end up miserable and depressed and wondering what I did wrong and how to fix it all. I guess I have got to learn both some self esteem and self defense mechanisms. I need to let people know that I will not take being reduced to an afterthought or an apostrophe or whatever, which is how I have begun to feel of late. I've always been the person who was left out of things and still find myself feeling that way, excluded from things for reasons that I cannot understand, and no one will tell me why, either. I shower every other day, I wear clean clothes - OK, so my hair is grey and I wear trifocals and maybe it's because I have begun to look my age or something. Maybe I should color my hair and dress younger and get contacts or something. I don't know. I just know that I am feeling sort of excluded from everything of late and I'm tired of feeling that way. Bad enough that back in my school days I was always the last person chosen for teams in gym class. That this pattern has persisted in my adulthood is pretty rankling and I wish I knew how to resolve the problem and make myself seem more desirable or something. I don't know. It's all such a great mystery to me......I just need to let the world know that I am not a doormat! And then be sure that they get the message loud and clear and then start standing up for myself in such a way that I don't put people off or some such thing.

Why we need vacations

2011-08-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

I've long been envious of Europeans because they mandate that all workers must have at least four weeks of vacation time. Americans are lucky if they get so much as two weeks paid vacation, if they get any vacation time at all. If you work at a temp agency, you get no benefits at all, no paid sick time or vacation time or anything else for that matter. I am fortunate in having been at my job long enough to have six weeks paid vacation time per year, but I never get to take that much, especially now that we have permanently downsized our workforce by 10%. Even were the economy to make significant improvements in the coming years, we have been told that our workforce downsizing is permanent with no plans to ever replace those jobs that were lost during this long and deep recession. Those of us left in our jobs have been forced to pick up the slack and work that much harder, and since our salaries are also permanently frozen, we are working harder each year for less and less money because as prices skyrocket and our pay remains flat, we have less spending power. This isn't helping an already stagnant economy that shows little if any sign of recovery anytime soon. The more things get cut, cut, cut, the less money people are going to have to spend and to help jump start the economy. When people can't afford to spend money and buy things, the entire economy suffers. Tourism is suffering because no one can afford to travel anywhere, so people aren't taking their vacation time unless they decide to take what is now being called a "staycation", as in, you take time off but you stay home or close to home instead of traveling. I'm perilously close to doing that from now on myself. The vacations I have taken in the past where I have traveled out of state have become so unaffordable that this well may be the last year that I have taken them. It took deep sacrifices on my part just to be able to go the places I did this summer, but as the economy continues its downward spiral and prices continue to soar, I'm thinking that vacations for me are, from now on, going to have to turn into "staycations" where I stay home or do things closer to home that cost little to do, if anything. Even if that is the case, I will take my allotted time off, because I value the idea of getting away from work and relaxing. I typically take about 4 of my six weeks of vacation per year so I am fortunate that I can get away from work that much. It's just getting harder to be allowed to take vacations during my requested times of summer and holidays because everyone wants those times off and my seniority gives me no leg up in allocation of time off. Once upon a time it would have but things have changed, so I am on the same playing field as a junior employee with only a few years experience.

So why do we need vacations? Simple answer is, rest, rejuvenation, relaxation and to recharge our body's and mind's batteries. Life comes at us so fast these days that it's even more important than ever to get away and de-stress oneself. Americans have this idea that work - your paycheck - is your reward, and that vacation is somehow equated with being lazy. Americans believe in being chained to the workplace because they think that is what makes us so productive as a nation, but in point of fact, we have the highest health care costs in the world partly because Americans are overworked, eat too much and rest too little, leading to a plethora of health problems. Most Americans, if you ask them, hate their jobs and would do anything not to have to work every single day for wages that have largely become stagnant. We are stuck in the Protestant work ethic in this country, which is deeply engrained in our national psyche. Work is your reward, idle hands are the devil's workshop. I think this is a bunch of bunk. I am a firm believer in the idea of vacation. I know that when I travel and get away from familar surroundings and routines, I feel better, more refreshed and more creative. I feel physically healthier, too. I usually eat better, sleep better and get more exercise when I am on vacation than when I am at home and going to work every day. I come home from work most days too exhausted to think straight. I am usually sound asleep within a half hour of coming home and sometimes stay asleep for hours on end because I am so absolutely spent from working and commuting. I spend an hour per day in my car driving to and from work and I find that to be equally exhausting, dealing with people who are texting or yakking on their cell phones while driving, or soccer moms with minivans full of screaming children who are distracted by that, or idiots on motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic, or obviously exhausted semi-truck drivers who are driving erractically.....it can be unnerving and exhausting spending so much time in your car each day trying to navigate your way through any number of potential road hazards. When I am on vacation, the car is parked and I am walking everywhere and am out in fresh air and sunshine and I feel better physically as a result. The walking is superb for de-stressing and making me feel more physically fit and active. Vacations are rejuvenating, relaxing, and are excellent opportunities to get in touch with our better and more creative selves. I just wish America would adopt a more European attitude when it came to vacations and families and spending time in the slow lane enjoying the things that really count, families, good food, time together and time off work to relax and get in touch with our creative sides. We wouldn't lose productivity as a result. Hell, we might gain productivity if more workers took more time off to relax. Imagine a country as big as ours where worker morale was consistently high in every sector. We might be able to pull ourselves out of recession once and for all. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." Well, time for some new thinking with how we want to be as a country. Do we chain our workers to their jobs and make them work longer harder hours for less pay or do we give people the benefit of time off to think, create and rejuvenate? The choice is ours to make.......

Pennsic War 40

2011-08-14T19:47:00.001-07:00

For almost 34 years now, I have been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization devoted to the study and re-creation of the Middle Ages. Our biggest event of the year just took place these past few weeks in Pennsylvania, and it is called the Pennsic War. This year was the 40th year for that event, a significant milestone. It being an anniversary year, tens of thousands of people from around the world gathered on the campground where we gather every summer, to camp, wage battles, teach each other many things, display our arts, sell many wares and meet in good fellowship. The battles we wage out on the battlefield are most amazing, as thousands of armored combatants meet on the field and fight epic battles with wooden weapons in full armor under the hot summer sun. As long as I have been involved in this, I still do not know how people go out there for hours on end in all that hot armor and wage these battles. Fortunately, I have some training in responding to heat injuries so I work as a first responder when people go down with those. I keep people hydrated as well by making sure that they are consuming plenty of fluids and electrolytes while out there. I keep supplies on hand to make sure that everyone plays safe and I also find myself called on once in a great while to repair armor if need be. It's exhausting, it's hot, and being out on the battlefield for hours on end makes my body ache like mad, but I would not have it any other way. What helped this year was to make sure I got 8 full hours of sleep each night plus late afternoon naps around 5 p.m. Fatigue was definitely a factor this year, moreso than in past years. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is the fact that I am growing older and have less stamina than in my younger years. I don't know, but whatever the case may be, I got plenty of sleep this past week while being out there in the hot summer sun for a solid week.

For me, what makes it all magical and amazing is the music. There are several really good groups of musicians who perform in the central marketplace where we shop, eat, gather and meet each day. There are eateries where one can purchase quite good meals and there is really no more need to bring one's one food anymore. So many people eat in the marketplace during meal times and it's a great place to go to both see old friends again AND to hear great music played while you dine. Of all the groups who come and perform for us each year, my absolute favorite is a group out of Europe called "Wolgemut" who have become the Pennsic favorites over the year. I always tell the man in the red cap in the photo here, Micha, that it just isn't Pennsic until Wolgemut arrives. Last year they did not make it due to a conflict with a Ren Faire someplace where they were booked to play. It simply wasn't the same without them, so much has their presence become a part of at least my personal Pennsic experience. One year they decided to forgo their usual loud bagpipes, rauchpfeifes and other instruments for more quiet music of the stringed variety. At first I was quite disappointed, but the more I heard these new musicians play the quieter early music, the more enchanted I was and I found myself spending an inordinate amount of time following them around the campground from place to place just listening to them play. Music is a big part of what makes my Pennsic experience whole and complete. Sure, the atmosphere, the battles, the amazing architecture that people construct for the two weeks we are there, the tens of thousands of people you meet from all around the world, the nights when walking down a torchlit road while looking up at colorful banners flapping from towers in an evening breeze suddenly make you feel as if you've stepped through a time portal - it's all absolutely amazing, magical, astonishing and fantastic, but take away the music and it just would not be the same. That is the icing on the cake for me, hearing the beautiful sounds of music both loud and quiet wafting from a marketplace while people stroll about in all varieties of period clothing. I am so glad that each summer I can take a small trip back in time to get away from the all that the modern world has foisted on us. It's both tough and wonderful to come back to the amenities of our current age. I just wish I could stay longer. It's our little Brigadoon every summer in Pennsylvania, a city of over 10,000 people that appears on the landscape for several weeks, then disappears for another year like a magical mirage. Farewell, Pennsic, until next summer.

Love/hate relationship with cell phones

2011-08-03T16:38:00.001-07:00

Now, I will admit, I was slow to join the wireless revolution. I was very slow to go out and get a cell phone. My biggest problem was in trying to find a plan that would suit my needs. I didn't plan to be a huge cell phone user and did NOT want something that would shackle me to a contract and a monthly fee. I finally found something that would work for me, a prepaid plan that gave me complete control over my usage and how much money I would spend. I'm on my second phone within the same plan and this one was a bit of an upgrade from my old one. I can go online to the 'Net via a mini-browser as well as use it as a bit of a personal organizer. It's a very handy device and now that I have a cell phone, frankly I do not know what I would do without it. It's become a very necessary appendage that I will not leave the house without. It frees me up to be able to leave the house without having to sit around waiting for important phone calls that I can now get on my cell phone instead when I am not at home with my land line. So now I am a part of the wireless revolution. Only here's the thing: now that cell phones - and now "smart phones", basically mini-handheld computers - are so ubiquitous, people seem to be glued to their devices. Everywhere I go, I see people texting or using one of the gazillion "apps" on their smart phones to do....whatever it is they do. People text while driving, text while crossing streets, text while in fast food lines, text while in concerts, plays, movies, church or wherever and basically can't seem to put down their phones and live life in real time. I admit, if I got a "smart phone" I might find it addicting, which is why I do not have one right now. That, and they are too expensive, but anymore, nobody communicates via e-mail. Texting is all the rage right now and I admit to doing a little of it, not a lot, because it costs me three tenths of a minute per text sent as well as three tenths of a minute for any text opened. That can gobble up your minutes after a while, admittedly, so I keep it to a minimum. But I am also just not a heavy cell phone user to start with. I talk to family members on it, but they're about the only people who call me on it, so that is mainly why I have it. It's also handy for travel as well as being in a crowd and needing to connect with someone you are supposed to meet. I just wish that more people would practice proper cell phone etiquette and keep them off at the appropriate times. But the problem with cell phones these days is that they tend to make people feel self important like they have to keep their phones on every single place they go, whether they need to have them on or not. Sure, some folks situations do require them to be reachable at all hours, but they are in the distinct minority. Most folks can get by without their cell phones on everyplace they go. Perhaps cell phone etiquette needs to be taught in school since these devices are so ubiquitous now. Sure might help in many situations......

Ailing aged kitty

2011-08-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

This summer I have been caring for my brother's ailing 17 year old cat, Dupree. My brother is out of town on a job so I have been taking care of him since he's had a few medical issues in my brother's absence. He's not been eating much and has gotten very thin and he yowls mournfully a lot. I think that he's not feeling very well but I also think that he misses his person, that being my brother. He's always been a sort of one person cat and that person has been gone all summer, so part of his problem might well be psychological in origin. I've been taking him to the vet a lot to have him checked for a variety of ailments and I've had to give him medicine a lot as a result. I feel really bad pinning him down, forcing his little mouth open and giving him medication, but he's actually pretty good about tolerating that. He's also surprisingly good about vet visits. The first time I had to take him, my biggest concern was whether he would ping-pong all over the car and make it difficult to drive. That is what happened when he was a very young cat, but now that he is much older, he's very good about sitting in the passenger seat and letting out the occasional yowl in protest. At the vet's office, he very dutifully sits in my lap and allows me to pet him and talk to him. A few short years ago, he would never have allowed me to so much as pick him up, let alone hold him on my lap, but he is becoming rather sedate in his old age. Now he sits in the car while I drive him to and from the vet and protests on the way there but is usually very good while coming home. I think he knows that it's all over and that he'll be back in the comfort of his home soon. Tonight he was a tad cranky even after I brought him home and gave him medication prescribed by the vet, but he eventually calmed down once I petted him and talked to him and reassured him that everything was OK. He just wants to be comforted by people, that's all. As long as he is being talked to, petted and given some affection, he seems to be OK. I think he is just very lonely right now. But he doesn't seem to feel well on top of being lonely and I hope that he returns to some semblance of health soon, despite his advanced age for a cat. I take him back to the vet on Thursday for an injection so we'll see what progress we make in the coming days. I just hope he regains some appetite and starts eating again. He's gotten alarmingly thin, in my opinion. But his meow is strong and he does go in and outside, so there's obviously a will to keep plugging on. Maybe he's just waiting for his person's return later in the summer. I can only hope so.........

TEA Baggers win the budget battle

2011-07-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the exremist wing of the Republican Party, the TEA Party, has won the long acrimonious debt ceiling battle. President Obama apparently decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and is accepting the TEA Party backed debt ceiling bill that is 100% budget cuts and no new revenue raises, meaning that the billionaires will still be able to keep their money stashed in offshore tax havens and corporations will still be able to pay absolutely nothing in taxes. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be gutted, the poor, senior citizens and the vulnerable will be asked to bear the burden again and millions more people will fall into poverty, joblessness will increase and the economy will continue to tank. I know why the TEA Party is doing this and that is their number one goal of the complete destruction of President Obama. So far they have been wildly successful in steering him to the right so that the progressives and Democrats will become so alienated that they will not vote for him. I find myself very frustrated and angry that Democrats refuse to grow a spine and stand up to Republicans. Time and again, they roll over at the first sign of a Republican threat and I do not know why. I am outraged and angry because it is looking more and more like I will never again get a raise as long as I stay on my job, promising that I will probably eventually fall into poverty despite working full time. I'm already on the edge of that right now, and I live very frugally. If Republicans have their way, and it looks like they will, there will be no more middle class and we will return to aristocrats and serfs as in old Mediaeval Europe. And what amazes me is the silence on the part of the progressives out there. Where is the outrage? Why aren't they taking to the streets and demanding justice for the middle class? Why the silence? Are they intimidated? Are they just so disspirited that they have given up? Sure, we don't have a financial backer like the TEA Party has in the Koch brothers, but still....is Senator Bernie Sanders the ONLY one who is speaking for the progressives out there? Well, this whole debt ceiling thing was a sham in the first place and a tool that the Republicans manufactured in order to get rid of the social safety net, and this time, they finally won their 70 year battle to get rid of Social Security and their 50 year battle to end Medicare and Medicaid. So I guess that pretty much seals it that I will never get to retire. I'll be working until the day I die or can no longer drag myself into Akron day in, day out. This country is so screwed, and unfortunately, the Democrats and Progressives have pretty much just rolled over and given up trying to fight a small cadre of right wing radicals who are determined to remake our country in some weird image that will promise that we will become a third world nation where income inequality will continue to worsen and we will no longer have a middle class. Our best days are definitely behind us.

Farewell, Borders bookstores.....

2011-07-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Another nail has been driven into the coffin of bricks-and-mortar bookstores. Borders bookstores is, as a chain, going out of business, which will throw another 10,000 people out of work on top of the 9,000 who lost their jobs when Space Shuttle Atlantis landed the other day. No wonder unemployment claims are up. Between NASA and Borders, you're looking at nearly 20,000 people who are going to be jobless in an already tight job market where nobody is hiring. Doesn't help that corporations are sitting on top of trillions of dollars that they not using to expand and hire people. I feel bad for the people who have invested a lifetime in the Borders bookstore business, employees who have worked there for years and made careers of it. Now they are out of work and joining the burgeoning ranks of the unemployed who will be looking for nonexistent jobs. NASA shuttle engineers at least have some shot at finding work if they can find any firms looking for people with their skills, but bookstore workers are going to have a tough time finding work in this economy. Libraries aren't hiring, either, so that's not a line of work open to them, unfortunately. Bricks-and-mortar bookstores are disappearing from our landscape as more and more people download stuff from the 'net, but not everyone's got access to high speed internet or a computer, so that leaves an entire segment of our society without a place to go for regular paper books. I personally do not have an e-reader, nor do I intend to buy one. I much prefer to hold a book in my hands that I can read, browse through and smell the paper and binding. I'm old school when it comes to such things. Sure, I've graduated to putting most of my music on to my iPod because I can carry around tons and tons of CDs on a tiny portable device and maybe one of these days I will come to the point where hauling around mulitple heavy hardback and softback books will get old and I will find it easier to download my books on to an e-reader, but for now, I always liked being able to visit my local Borders store and browse through titles and sit down on a comfy chair and read through books I might consider buying. I was always able to find stuff there that was obscure and harder to find at a standard local mom 'n' pop bookstore. But perhaps the demise of the super big box bookstore will return small family owned bookstores to downtowns since desperate readers like me are going to be hard pressed to find someplace to go book shopping. We've already lost some wonderful small local bookstores over the years to the big box retailers and locally here, all we have is a used bookstore and no bookstores where you can buy new titles. We lost a long standing local bookstore, DuBois, recently, to the changes in book retailing, and Heartland Books, which was a fantastic bookstore that used to inhabit downtown Kent, closed due to the owner no longer wanting to run it, so now all we have left is a used bookstore and nothing where one can buy new titles. That was where Borders was good. If I wanted a brand new book, I could go there and get it, and our local store was in Cuyahoga Falls, not far from here. Now I will have to drive to the Barnes and Noble store out in overcrowded Montrose in west Akron. The traffic there is nightmarish and I do my utmost to avoid that area. Too many big box retailers crammed into a fairly small area and roads indequate to meet the crunch of traffic there. So I guess I will have to shop online, which is easier anyway since I do not have to leave my house or use up gas driving someplace. I suspect the demise of so many stores is going to force more and more of us to do that, which will be good for the environment, I suppose. I'm just so going to miss stepping into my local Borders store and disappearing among all the books and discovering authors and titles I had never heard of. Goodbye, Borders, it was a great run. You will be sorely missed......

Republicans, where are the jobs?

2011-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

OK, TEA Partiers, so you were sent to Washington to create jobs, but instead, you've focused your efforts on stupid crap like banning Shariah law, abortion and a host of other ridiculous stuff that has nothing to do with job creation. You do not want to raise taxes on billionaires who can afford to part with some of that hard earned cash and instead you want US, the middle class, to give up whatever small scraps we have left so the rich can get richer. You say that those billionaires need all that money to create jobs.....so my question to you is this: WHERE ARE ALL THOSE JOBS? Ohio's unemployment rate just jumped UP, so did the US rate of unemployment, and yet you INSIST that the billionaires need ALL THAT MONEY they are hanging on to in order to create jobs. Uh, huh, sure. Show us the jobs. Then we might believe you. In the meantime, job creation is flat, people continue to lose jobs, homes and everything they've spent a lifetime working for. So I think that all that talk about billionaires being job creators is just a line, total bunk. When jobs start being created, when people have been put back to work, when unemployment is down below 5 or 6% and when foreclosures stop and people have homes in which to live again, when our country prospers, when everyone is doing well, including the middle class, I will believe your ridiculous rhetoric. Until then, I just don't want to hear it.

Hotter than Hades

2011-07-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

We are currently sweltering under a "heat dome" here in Northeast Ohio (and I hear that a good chunk of the country is dealing with it as well!). Temperatures have soared into the upper 90s with high humidity, meaning that the heat index is running over 100 degrees, dangerously hot even for those of us who are relatively fit, but the moreso for elderly or fragile people. I am running both of my window air conditioner units on full tilt today and I am STILL overly warm in my apartment. At work, the AC was out of order so it was miserably stuffy all day in our office. I have a small desk fan I ran to try to stay cool but it is very small and didn't really work that well to accomplish that. This heat dome isn't supposed to move off anytime soon but the forecast does call for some thunderstorms to come through over the weekend. I don't know if this will cool anything down or just add to the miserable humidity that we're already stifling under at the moment. I just know that I do not like excessive heat and don't tolerate it as I once did when I was younger. I was just reading today, in fact, that the older people get, the less well they tolerate temperature extremes. And here I thought that all those sunbirds from the north who flee to Florida were just being a bunch of wusses! I must say that I don't care for winter, either, especially when we get those frigid Alberta Clippers in that dump tons of snow on the ground in addition to dropping temperatures into the single digits. I love summer, always have, as long as temperatures stay seasonable, around the low 80s with relatively low humidity, but when we get these "heat domes" that stall over us in the summer months, it can feel like walking outside into a furnace if you've been in air conditioning all day long. I am departing on vacation on Sunday and I hope that we don't have wilting heat in SE West Virginia where I am going. The dorm rooms at Davis & Elkins College where I am going are not air conditioned, although I do bring my large 20" box fan to use to cool down my dorm room. I'm looking forward to this vacation that I have scrimped and saved for all summer. It's getting tougher each year to save for this vacation all year long with soaring gas and food prices and a stagnant paycheck making living extremely tight right now. In the meantime, I am just trying to stay cool and get ready to take a nice drive south into West Virginia mountain country in a few days. I need this vacation, badly! Stay cool, everyone!

Senator Al Franken on Debt Reduction

2011-07-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) makes a hell of a lot of sense in this speech on reducing the deficit sensibly. You cannot cut your way to prosperity, there MUST be additional revenue. We as a nation MUST invest in our middle class, not cut necessary programs that help lift people out of poverty and give them a hand up. Cutting early childhood education, health care, schools and universities, infrastructure and other things that will move this country forward are penny wise and pound foolish. Without a vibrant middle class, there IS no United States of America. At the end of WWII, our national debt was 121% of GDP. The investments made in the 50's, 60's and 70's in the space race, science, industry, education and more reduced our national debt to just 32% of GDP. There are some valuable lessons to be learned here listening to Senator Franken speak plainly about what is going to be needed to tackle our national debt problem. He speaks the truth and I hope that people listen to what he has to say here. Thank you, Senator, for coming up with a good answer to our national debt problem. Now I just wish that those on the opposite side of the aisle would listen and put his suggestions into action.....but I'm afraid that it will be a very cold day in hell before the two parties ever cooperate since the GOP has set as its number one agenda the destruction of President Barack Obama. No wonder people heap such scorn on our members of Congress. They no longer work for the people who elected them. They work for the hand that feeds them and that's Big Money. Too bad we no longer have the representative democracy our Founding Fathers envisioned. Bet they're rolling in their graves at what has become of their grand experiment.

Unraveling a family mystery

2011-07-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

I have been curious about my maternal ancestry for quite a long time now, because so many of of them came from Ireland. Questions abound: why did they come? Where in Ireland did they come from? Were they driven by famine, bad economics, or just hearing from others about how America's roads were paved with gold? There are so many tantalizing questions I have regarding my Irish immigrant ancestors. In particular, I've wondered about one set of great-great grandparents from Ireland, Edward and Elizabeth Long. I guess there was some sort of scandal involved or something that caused them to emigrate to America and I may have found some small hint in census records. It would appear that Edward married a woman almost twice his age, and I could see where that might cause a scandal in the 19th century. From what I have learned about these two, Edward, at age 18, married Elizabeth, age 31. There's a 13 year difference in their ages. One wonders why a 31 year old woman married an 18 year old boy almost half her age. What is that about? They apparently came here in 1865 and possibly married here in 1866, according to the 1900 census. Another weird puzzle is that according to the 1880 census, they had five children, Mary, Eugene, John, Thomas and Hannah, but in the 1900 census Elizabeth is listed as having had four children. In 1900 two of them, 24 year old Hannah and 22 year old Thomas, are listed as still living at home. By 1910, Hannah, listed as Johanna, age 34, and Thomas, age 32, are still living at home with their father, and Elizabeth has passed away by this point. I have to wonder why these two younger siblings are still living at home and have not struck out on their own. And what happened to John, who seems to vanish from census records? Did he die young? On the 1910 census record, Edward is listed as having emigrated from Ireland in 1856, but that would have made him 6 years old at the time. I suspect there must have been a dyslexic census taker or something because it would make more sense for him to emigrate in 1865 when he would have been 17. Or since he allegedly married in 1866, perhaps he came over after his rather controversial marriage, since the story has it that he was supposed to train to be a doctor but something appears to have caused him to emigrate to America where he became a millhand in a woolen mill. The story about his being a millhand is true because it's in the census records. What happened back in Ireland is a great mystery, but my guess is that it has something to do with marrying a woman who was almost twice his age. Had she divorced? Was she from "the wrong side of the tracks"? I would sure love to know more about this part of my family story. I really don't know much about my maternal ancestry aside from some really fascinating stories that have been passed down, but for all the stories I do know, there are many, many more I do not know and want to learn more about. After all, I love a good story!

It's STILL the economy, stupid!

2011-07-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. I just don't. So Republicans are STILL demanding 100% cuts in the national economy to bring down the debt WITHOUT asking a SINGLE penny from the richest among us for additional revenue. What part of the economy do they not understand? How can they sit there and be so bold faced as to demand protection from taxes from the richest among us while asking what used to be the middle class (which is, for all intents and purposes, as extinct as a dodo bird) to pony up even MORE? They have the GALL to say that we have it too easy, that the poor and middle class need to make the greatest financial sacrifices when we have already borne the greatest burden for our financial mess in the first place. I'm at a place where I have almost no disposable income left. I have just enough to pay the bills and even then, it gets tight sometimes when an unforeseen expense comes into the picture. Gas prices shot up this past year and with my 600 mile per month commute to and from work, it's getting tight. Gas prices are a dollar more per gallon now than they were a year ago. That's a lot and takes a considerable chunk out of my wallet. Food prices have soared as well because of increased gas prices. I've taken to cutting as much as I can out of my budget so that I have at least something resembling discretionary income, which amounts to maybe a few dollars a month to save in case of an unforeseen expense. I have cut back to eating two meals per day, breakfast and lunch, no dinner, because it's just too expensive to try to buy enough food to eat three times per day. I pay the smallest amount possible on bills because I want to be able to keep some money in reserve in case I need it. I'm getting tired of just getting by while billionaires hide their fortunes in offshore tax havens. The 4 story building in the Cayman Islands that serves as a shell address for over 18,000 corporations is costing the US over $100 billion per year in lost revenue - ONE HUNDRED BILLION - and yet the Republicans keep crying that these same billionaires and corporations are job creators. Oh yeah? So where are all the jobs they are supposed to be creating, huh? Why is unemployment a whopping 9.2% and in reality, is closer to over 15% when you count discouraged workers and those who are only working part time when they would rather have full time employment? Why are corporations sitting on top of billions, nay, trillions, of dollars that they are not spending to create jobs? And yet these TEA Partiers cry that to tax these corporations and make them pony up their fair share is going to kill jobs. What a bunch of crap! The rest of us have made huge sacrifices, are stretching our dollars until they scream, are living pay to pay with little free money to spend, and we have to protect billionaires from paying a little extra to help our sagging economy?

I don't get the whole TEA Party thing, either. They have this ridiculous idea that teachers, policemen, firemen and other public servants make too much money. Hell, they think EVERYONE makes too much money and would probably be content to see everyone working for Wal-Mart wages. I almost want to ask them, OK, if you want to see teachers laid off, who's gonna teach your kids? If you want to see policemen laid off, who's gonna protect your communities? If you wanna see firemen laid off, who's gonna put out your house fire? I don't get these people's anger at the world, unless it's just a bunch of angry white people who feel threatened by the increasing diversity of our country. And even then, so what? I mean, sure, it makes me mad that companies would rather hire undocumented immigrants and pay them ridiculously low wages instead of hiring people for real wages. That's just a function of exploiting a vulnerable population and greed, plain and simple. I don't know what can be done about immigration reform, frankly, and that's a subject that is going to have to be tackled in Washington and in state houses across the country. But to demand that everyone get paid lower wages, end unions as we once knew them and give up whatever few scraps the working people have left seems so counter-intuitive that I can't understand how anyone can get caught up by all this hysteria. And that's what it is, fear mongering by a few people who want to whip people up into a frenzy and make them think that they are being unfairly targeted by the government to pay taxes for services they are not receiving. It's all such a load of crap. Why aren't they pissed off that the top 1% hold more wealth than the bottom 50% combined? They need to redirect their anger at the fat cats whose money is being safeguarded from paying taxes that could serve the greater good. But I don't have faith that people will do anything about that. Most folks just want to be left alone, sit on their porch, have a beer and watch their 52" flat screen plasma TVs with a gazillion channels of pure broadcasted drivel. The lion's share of the people in this country could care less about what is going on in government, sadly, which is why nothing's ever going to change and why things will continue to be an absolute mess and why the middle class is but a few years from utter, total annihilation. When the rich have ground us under their heel and re-created the old European system of aristocracy and serfs, maybe then people might wake up and pay attention, but for now, most folks are too stupified by all of their electronic distractions to really care. And that's a crying shame.

Forty Years Ago Today

2011-07-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

On the morning of Thursday, July 15, 1971, I was hit broadside by a speeding car on my left side while riding my bicycle through a busy intersection, thrown 30 feet and ended up shattering my left femur. The accident was my own fault, as I had, for the umpteenth time, overslept my alarm clock and was going to be late for a summer school business typing class that I was taking. I saw the car that hit me out of my peripheral vision but in a split second decision, decided that I had enough time to cross the street to get to the other side. I could not have been more wrong, obviously. I was taken to Robinson Memorial Hospital, our county hospital here, and there spent nearly two months in traction. It would turn out to be a long and miserable summer as a result. I was frequently bored, frustrated, angry, lonely and depressed. In hindsight, it's rather surprising that I was not killed, but I was a strong, healthy and athletic young girl, to which I attribute my survival. It also saved me from what should rightfully have been a compound fracture. I am lucky that one of my uncles, now retired, was an orthopaedic surgeon who kept tabs on my treatment and progress and made sure that I was being cared for to his satisfaction. I have long felt a special bond with that uncle for being there for me in a time of great need. That whole experience forced me to do a great deal of growing up that summer. I never expected to face my own mortality so early on in life but that is exactly what happened. At the end of my long hospitalization, I was imprisoned in a waist-to-toes cast after the bone had been set and sent home to recuperate. I had lost 30 pounds in the hospital and ended up being pretty weak, so I wasn't easily able to haul around that heavy cast on my lower body. I ended up being pretty much wheelchair bound until the cast came off some six weeks later. By that time, I had not used my leg for some 3 months, so there wasn't much left of it by the time the cast was removed. This would require my spending another six weeks on crutches until I could rebuild the muscles and strength in that leg to where I could walk unaided. All told, it was around 6 months from the time of the accident that I regained enough strength to be able to walk comfortably.

The problem was that when the cast was removed, the orthopaedic surgeon who treated my injury told me that I would have a length discrepancy in the broken leg but that my body could accomodate up to a one inch difference. As a result, I would not have to wear any sort of corrective lift, so for the next 27 years, I walked around with one leg noticeably shorter than the other one. My back constantly hurt but I began to suck it up and accept it as something I would learn to live with. It was not until the winter of 1997 that I began to experience some debilitating pain in my left hip that I began to become genuinely concerned. I went to my primary care doctor, who in turn sent me to an orthotics/prosthetics specialist in Akron. It was there that in 1998 that I was diagnosed with a one and a half inch discrepancy in my left leg, and from that point onward, I have worn a large lift on my left shoes. While I find this highly inconvenient at times, as I reflect on what happened to me 40 years ago, I feel incredibly grateful that I survived this horrible accident that by all rights probably should have killed me. It obviously wasn't my time yet. My being a strong, healthy athletic teenager is probably what saved my life and is as good an argument as any for staying in good physical condition. In fact, after I had made some recovery, I returned to athletic activity by founding the girls swim team at my High School. We didn't have one at the time and my doctor wasn't crazy about my engaging in any impact sports even a year after the accident, so swimming was suggested as a way both to regain lost physical strength and a way to regain some mobility that I had lost in the process. Looking back, I can say that it took literally several years before I had regained all of my physical strength to where I felt as good as I did before the accident. Swimming turned out to be the best thing I ever did for myself and I stayed with our swim team all the way through High School. In my senior year, I finally lettered in swimming, if only for the sheer persistance for staying with it so long. I was never a very strong swimmer and the highest I ever finished in any match was 4th place, (I usually finished 5th and more often, dead last at 6th), but I did it more for the sake of physical recovery from a devastating accident. I probably should return to swimming now that I am older and have some arthritis as a result of the old accident injuries I suffered so long ago. Maybe one of these days I will get back to doing something that is so good for me and will also help me to lose some middle aged weight gain that I very much desire to get rid of. Swimming is one of the best overall exercises for your body and has the advantage of no impact on my aging joints and it's also something I very much enjoy doing. I think I need to look into doing this again!

Netiquette

2011-07-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

One thing that truly galls me is how people seem to have no compunctions about insulting people online, whether by design or by just being blunt to the point of what could be perceived as rudeness. Owing to the fact that we cannot see each other's faces or hear each other's vocal expressions, it's very easy to engage in conversation that could all too easily insult someone even if that was never the intent. Lately, it seems, people have managed to break up old friendships of mine by insulting people in conversations on Facebook, and I really do not appreciate that one bit. There are some people who just simply do not know when to shut up and who seem to always want to get in the last word, so they keep on ratcheting up the tension in conversations with perfect strangers to them but friends to me, resulting in several lost friendships that people blamed me for ending when it had nothing to do with me at all. I usually try to step in and smooth over ruffled feathers but that can be hard when someone blames me for friends of mine insulting them over seemingly innocent statements. Some folks have made some pretty nasty comments that I did not at all appreciate and that should never have been made at all. It's easy to throw flames around when you are online and you are talking to someone you don't even know and you make all kinds of ridiculous accusations about things they say because you aren't standing in a room with them talking face to face, one on one. I just wish I knew why certain people don't seem to get how to say things without coming off as accusatory or insulting. I have learned over the years that you must choose your words carefully before you put them out there for all to see. It's very easy to flame someone or to vent angry words at them and then hit the "send" button before reading them back and thinking how you would take them were they directed at you. I get very tired of reading things that people say online that I know darn well they would NEVER say to someone with whom they were talking face to face. It strikes me as a sign of social awkwardness that people who could probably be charming and interesting to be with in person are totally different online and can spew vitriol at the drop of a hat. Saying things online adds an element of anonymity because you do not have to say something to someone you may not know and would not normally find yourself speaking to at a social occasion where people were in a room who didn't necessarily know one another too well, if at all.

You can throw flames all you like at someone you will doubtless never meet in person and have to deal with later on. There are no real consequences to suffer for so doing as well. Oh, you may piss the person off a lot and get into an online argument, but other than that, there's nothing to lose or gain by so doing other than a feeling of moral superiority that you argued with someone with whom you disagreed over something. I just do not see the point in being petty online and trying to assert your feelings of superiority over someone by lording your opinion over them and acting like you and you alone are right without allowing any give or take in the conversation. But there are folks who are sure that they alone are right and everyone else is wrong and by gum, they won't shut up until they prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are right, even if it ends up in a stalemate or an angry departure from the argument by one of the aggrieved parties. More often than not, that is how online conversations end anymore, with one party feeling angry and insulted and walking away from the whole thing and ending old friendships in the process. Is it any wonder that nothing's getting done in this country anymore? No one seems to be ready, willing or able to get along these days, no matter what you say or how you say it. Hell, you could say "the sky is blue" and there's always going to be someone willing to call your bluff and argue with you over it. I just don't get why people use online forums - like Facebook, for example - to engage in flame wars extraordinaire or to drive away people's friends by carrying on stupid or useless arguments with them. Just makes me mad enough to want to spit nails these days. Remember folks, the golden rule: treat others as you would want to be treated yourself. After all, didn't you learn that in kindergarten?

The passing of a great lady

2011-07-11T12:15:00.001-07:00

The lady on the right in this photo is Harriet Begala. She was a friend of our family for about as long as I could remember. She was someone who I regarded as an indominable spirit, a force of nature, someone who rarely took "no" for an answer when she wanted to right a wrong. She was a staunch advocate for social justice, the environment and giving voice to the voiceless. I had the honor to work with her in the ill fated McGovern Presidential campaign back in 1972. I was only 15, too young to vote, but committeed to seeing a Democrat win back the White House, but alas, as we all know, Nixon won by a landslide, thoroughy crushing McGovern. It was a major blow to me since I had devoted so much time and energy to that campaign and I felt cynical and angry at politics for quite a while afterward, especially after the whole Watergate affair erupted. Even seeing Nixon brought down and forced to resign didn't lessen my anger and frustration with things, but Harriet was someone who always told people to never give up, to fight the good fight and to keep on working for the greater good. She was one of the single most amazing people it has been my privilege to know in my life, and sadly, she left us at age 90 yesterday after a long decline. Her likes will not be seen again. She dominated any room she was in. She seemed like an indestructable force, someone who would go on and on and on forever, but alas, even the strongest among us eventually fade. I will miss this great lady and the influence she had on my life. The lessons she taught me will remain with me forever, to stand your ground, to fight for what you believe in, no matter how futile the cause may seem at the time, and never to give up. I'm eternally grateful that our paths crossed, that I had the chance to know her and her family, and to learn and grow from the experience I had working with her on that long ago ill fated campaign. I've learned that politics isn't always fair, that sometimes it gets ugly, but you've got to keep on going, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep fighting the battles that do the greatest good for the most people, no matter how hard, no matter how tough, no matter how painful. Some things are just worth fighting for, Harriet taught me. Thank you, great lady, for being someone whose influence remains with me to this day and always will. Your legacy has been firmly cemented in the hearts of all the lives you touched throughout the decades.

NO cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!

2011-07-08T11:56:00.001-07:00

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President Obama will NOT be re-elected if he agrees to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He will have done more damage to the Democratic Party and all it stands for than any previous administration. I hope that Democratic lawmakers in Washington stand up for the big three entitlement programs and refuse to vote for them. AMERICA IS NOT BROKE. The lie being propagated by the Republicans is hogwash. 400 Americans hold more wealth than half of all Americans combined. 18,000 corporations have a fake address at a four story building in the Cayman Islands that allows them to pay no taxes, to the tune of lost revenue of $100 billion per year. So here is my solution to the so-called debt crisis (and there is no crisis...it's all a fabrication of the conservatives to get rid of the social safety net and to find a way to destroy President Obama): 1. Raise taxes on corporations and the super rich. America provides them with plenty of services, but they refuse to return the favor and pay their fair share of taxes. 2. Close the tax loopholes that allow those 18,000 companies to avoid paying that $100 billion in taxes. 3. Stop paying federal subsidies to oil and gas companies that make HUGE profits without government help, thank you. 4. End the unfunded and costly misadventures in the Middle East. I guarantee that if these four measures are followed that you could recover TRILLIONS of dollars of revenue that would balance the budget in a heartbeat. Please, everyone, contact the White House NOW and demand NO cuts to entitlement programs. As Ed Schulz says in the video above, this is a generational issue. If the conservatives are successful in convincing Obama to cut the Big Three social programs in return for maybe some little concessions from them to close a few tax loopholes, then Obama will not be re-elected. Polls have shown that four swing states, Missouri, Ohio, Montana and Minnesota overwhelmingly oppose cuts to Social Security:

In order to reduce the national debt, would you support or oppose cutting spending on Social Security, which is the retirement program for the elderly?

Ohio: 16% support, 80% oppose
Missouri: 17% support, 76% oppose
Montana: 20% support, 76% oppose
Minnesota: 23% support, 72% oppose

The American People have spoken. No cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. I certainly hope that the White House is listening. They'd better be, or else if Obama agrees to go against the will of the people, he's going to find himself easily defeated in the next Presidential election cycle. Mr. President, listen up: you've been warned.

The TEA Party has it all wrong

2011-07-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

The folks that started the whole TEA Party movement seem to think that they are following in the patriotic footsteps of early Americans who dumped a shipload of British tea overboard from a ship in Boston Harbor back in 1773. Their complaint seems to be that taxes are too high and that Americans are paying too many taxes. They think that this was what our forebears were protesting on that night in 1773 when they dumped the tea in Boston Harbor. The trouble is, they're way off base from what they think they are trying to emulate. Had they bothered to read the Declaration of Independence that they so revere, they would find that the original tea partiers were not revolting against taxes, per se, but instead were revolting against the idea that popular consent of the people was not being recognized by an unelected Crown, and this complaint doesn't even come up until the 17th item in the Declaration of Independence. These people seem to think that the current administration is somehow an unelected monarchy and that they are being oppressed by our President, which is nonsense because Obama was elected by a landslide and with the most votes ever cast in a Presidential election. So their complaint that they are not being represented rings very hollow. Another problem with the TEA Party is their misreading of the Constitution. If you know anything about our founding documents, and if you've at all bothered to read them, you will recall that the preamble to the Constitution reads: We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Now, lots of these folks are also states-rights-ers who think that the federal government is somehow oppressing them and that the states have sovereignty. Governor Rick Perry of Texas said recently, “The federal government was created by the states to be an agent for the states, not the other way around.” Um, sorry, Governor, you are wrong about that. Read your Constitution, especially those opening words, "We the People". See anything there that says, "We the States"? Nope. Our founders were concerned with establishing a common good for our country, not protecting a wealthy few aristocrats. Remember, these folks were trying to break away from a system where there were peasants and aristocrats and unelected Royalty and they had a vision where, regardless of your station in life, you could get ahead. They also believed that if they were going to be taxed - and they did not object to paying them - that they wanted taxation with elected representation. They weren't anti-government zealots like today's TEA Partiers. They were in favor of consent of the governed. Now, that doesn't always mean that you are going to agree with the people you elect, but that's part and parcel of what our democracy is all about. The people who founded this nation had a very unique vision of a nation were everyone had rights, not just the aristocracy or the royalty. This would be a nation that elected its own leaders and governed itself accordingly. Unfortunately, since history and civics are no longer taught in schools, more and more people are becoming sadly ignorant of this country's history and founding. For those folks, may I suggest a very good book, "Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need To Know About American History but Never Learned" by Kenneth C. Davis. Otherwise, continued ignorance will lead us down a very dangerous path to a future we may not like or want.

A sea of flags

2011-07-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the cemetery this evening on my way home from an errand since I happened to be on that side of town. These days, I try to make it a point to visit my late father's grave as often as time and inclination allows, especially when the weather is fair. Tonight is a classic hot sunny summer day, so it seemed perfect to make a stopover there to see how things are looking and to make sure that his grave didn't have that sad and neglected look that used to make me so sad when I saw graves in the cemetery that had obviously stopped being tended. Fortunately, it looks very nice, the yew trees my brother planted a few years back to replace the ones he chopped down to the stumps (with the mistaken assumption that they'd grow back, which they never did) are looking quite attractive and well kept. I'd love to plant some perennials there one of these days but you have to do it at a certain time in order for them to take, so I'd need to ask a friend of mine who knows her garden stuff when a good time would be to do that and what she would suggest as to what kind of flower should be planted there. Anyway, the main point of this blog is this: when I stood at my father's grave, which has a WWII bronze grave marker like the one pictured and a nice clean crisp flag from Memorial Day on it, I looked out at the surrounding graves all around me, and saw a veritable sea of flags. Almost every other grave had a flag marker on it, and the lion's share of them belonged to WWII veterans, who are dying off by the thousands daily. My own father, had he lived down to the current time, would be turning 89 this year, and he was just shy of his 19th birthday when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Naturally, like so many men his age, he enlisted in the great cause of his age and went off to war, only to find himself staying stateside and serving as a military policeman in a German POW camp. I was surprised that they brought German POWs to the US and held them here, and some of them found life here so good that after the war, they stayed, got good jobs, married and raised families as American citizens. It was quite the surprise to find out this little known fact of WWII history, in fact.

Anyway, the one thing I found myself thinking while standing there in that sea of flags and bronze war memorials is that my parents generation knew the real meaning of shared sacrifice. When World War II broke out, our entire nation mobilized and everyone worked together toward the war effort. There was a sense of national unity, where regardless of whether you were rich or poor, you did your part for the war effort. Everyone worked together in tandem and at the end of the war, America could boast that the whole country pitched in to help our troops achieve victory in the Pacific and in Europe. People were asked to make huge sacrifices, and to give up certain luxuries so that the whole nation could turn its energies toward winning this enormous world wide conflict. People willingly gave up certain foodstuffs, their metal fences around their yards or around their Victorian widow's walks, they gave up metal things around the house to make weapons, they rationed gasoline that was needed to fuel vehicles fighting around the world, they even made silver "war" pennies because copper was needed for things like bullets and shell casings, among other things. I grew up hearing the stories of that time when even the most affluent among us made deep personal sacrifices to win the war overseas. You'd never find that happening in today's America. People would sooner die than give up one thing or even a little extra money. We have a national dcbt crisis looming in Washington and yet the most affluent among us refuse to pony up even an extra dime of their money to help pay down the debt because of who sits in the White House. If this were a Republican, they still might balk, but they might eventually waver and give in, but the fact that the President is not only a Democrat BUT an African-American biracial President makes it particularly egregious to some folks who still think "that 'boy' needs to learn his place". Yes, racism still abounds in this country, sadly. Here we sit almost 150 years after emancipation and blacks have still not achieved a certain parity with whites. Now, I know what you're going to say, so I will say it instead, racism occurs on both sides of the racial divide. Yes, it does. I agree. And it's a shame that it does, too. But this country needs to come together right now and solve its most pressing problems without all the partisan hacks dividing us one from another. I just think that in the age of the Internet and the 24/7 news cycle that it's probably impossible for that ever to happen again, and that's a shame. I am sure that the Greatest Generation, who fought to liberate the world from tyrrany, are probably rolling in their graves at the sheer lack of unity that has divided our nation, one side from another. They fought to free the world from people like those in Washington today, who would yank the social safety net out from underneath the most vulnerable and funnel the wealth created by that steadily up to the richest of the rich who don't need any more money. If by doing this they are supposed to invest that money to create jobs, why haven't they already? Where are the promised jobs? Why haven't they materialized, huh? Seriously, I'd like some answers from those who think that the wealthy are sitting on top of all that money that they are going to use to create a paradise of plentiful jobs. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Buelller?

Greed

2011-07-05T16:11:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm just going to say it: I am fed up to the teeth with greedy people. Nothing makes me angrier than to hear people complain that this person or that person is out to screw them out of a few measly dollars when they have more than enough to keep them comfortable, thank you. It seems that those who have are out to screw those of us who don't, but they seem to think that it's the other way around. Well, I am sick to tears of working class people being blamed for all this country's ills. I am sick to death of the haves wanting still more, more , more and asking the rest of us to give up what few comforts we have left in this life. It makes me sick to think of how much money they have socked away, probably in tax havens, and then they have the temerity to complain that those with less are screwing them out of their precious money. Well, I have had it. Enough is enough. I say that it is time for people to start taking to the streets and demanding justice. Poverty is sharply on the rise, foreclosures continue to ravage neighborhoods. jobs that were offshored are never going to return, corporations are sitting on record amounts of cash and not using it to create jobs. the wealthiest among us have gotten substantially richer in recent decades while the middle class is all but an extinct species, colleges and universities are pricing themselves out of reach for most people of modest means, student loan programs are getting cut and overall, we are headed down a disastrous path. No one seems to have the political will to turn things around anymore. My anger right now knows no bounds. I am so pissed off I don't even know what to think. I'm tired of those of us with so little being asked to keep giving up more and more of the few crumbs we have left. When is this going to stop? When is someone going to step up to the plate and start asking those with more to give up some of their riches so that those who have less might stop having to suffer so much? How much more are we going to have to take of this? How can those with so much sit by idly and watch so many people suffering in silence and be able to go to bed at night? I've had it, I tell you, I've had it. Enough. Rampant greed is destroying this country like a rot from within. And unless we contain it, I'm afraid that our best days are indeed behind us and all we face in the future is more misery and a wider gap between the haves and the have nots. Pretty soon we'll be just like the Europe of old, aristocracy and serfs. We're nearly there now and it won't take much more to push us over the edge to a full blown old European system. I just wish I knew why so many working class people are OK with voting for people who turn around and stiff them, but....I guess the fact that people are largely uninformed and happy to be so is the reason why. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss......but ignorance has its own price, too. Well, I am not ignorant, I am angry and I am fed up with the whole damned system. I'm tired of getting screwed at every turn by people who want more, more, more when they already have enough. Am I the only one who feels this way? Please tell me I'm not, because I will be very depressed if that's so.

Budgets are moral documents

2011-07-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

The Republicans are at it once again, insisting on huge tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires in order to rein in our massive federal deficit while asking for huge sacrifices from the poor and middle class: no more Medicare, no more Pell grants for college, no more Medicaid, no more social safety net. They want to balance the federal budget on the backs of the most vulnerable and keep steadily moving wealth upward to the already wealthiest Americans. Well, it just so happens that 400 Americans hold the vast majority of our national wealth and they get HUGE tax breaks and in some cases, pay no taxes at all and cleverly hide their money in offshore tax havens. There is a four story building in the Cayman Islands that houses 18,000 companies, for example. Now, you might say, wow, that's got to be mighty crowded in there, but guess what? All that building amounts to is a fake offshore address for 18,000 American companies to use to hide from Uncle Sam's taxes. As a result, our country is losing $100 billion dollars in unpaid taxes that 18,000 companies are hiding in the Cayman Islands. These companies pay NO taxes to the US, none, zip, zilch, nada. Now, imagine if corporations ponied up their fair share of taxes. We might actually be able to fix our budget deficit without having to ask huge sacrifices from the most vulnerable among us. But of course, legislative proposals to close these tax loopholes are meeting with staunch opposition from conservatives who say it is not business friendly and that it inhibits offshore competition, which is a lot of hooey if you ask me. The simple fact is that the GOP works for the richest and the huge corporations, not the ordinary blue collar working stiff. But Joe Lunchbucket keeps voting for people who are in turn screwing him, and that makes no sense whatsoever.
But the fact is that budgets are moral documents. They show where priorities lie, and a budget that favors the super rich and continues to move wealth steadily upward demonstrates a blatant disregard for the most vulnerable among us. What good is it going to do to cut social safety net programs that keep people out of poverty, funding to schools and universities that allow people to receive an education that will allow them upward mobility, cutting funding to clean energy programs that will create millions of good paying jobs for Americans, putting the kibosh on high speed rail systems that will help ease the congestion that currently plagues urban highways and more? I don't understand why these Republicans are so hell bent on benefitting the richest among us who do not need anymore help, thank you. If the philosophy of moving wealth upward in hopes that the richest among us would use that money to invest in job creation had any merit, we'd be living in a golden age right now, but the fact is that this idea doesn't work. It's been tried for the past 30 years and found wanting. Poverty is on the rise, joblessness is at an all time high, colleges and universities are becoming so expensive that few people can afford a higher education, thus leading to a deficit of educated people to fill high tech jobs that are currently going unfilled for lack of trained people to fill them, more people are losing their homes and everything they worked hard to gain over a lifetime, more and more people are medically uninsured or have such minimal health insurance coverage that they are all but unisured, leaving them one illness or injury away from bankruptcy.....does this sound like an economic theory that has worked? No, it most certainly hasn't, but now that the heinous Citizens United case has gone through the Supreme Court and has granted personhood to corporations, they can now drown out our voices with unlimited money and can literally buy any candidate they want to further their own agenda, meaning that Democratic and progessive candidates are sunk and dead in the water. From now on, corporations are going to buy the most conservative candidates that money can buy and our rights are going to be trampled on and disappear entirely. Elections will be easily rigged in favor of corporations who can buy their own candidates, effectively drowning out democracy as we once knew it. The super rich will continue to be beneficiaries of government tax breaks and the rest of us are going to shoulder the load and we will see the complete extinction of the middle class that once made this country great. I dread the future if things look as bleak as I think they are going to become. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid that I am not.

I'm not dead yet!

2011-07-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a general perception among the medical community that the minute you turn 50, you are at risk for a host of serious diseases and they want to put you on all sorts of pills to prevent you from getting them, even if your risk is low or non-existent. Everyone I know my age or older is taking tons of medications for a host of ills and this strikes me as wrong that we are the most medicated country in the world. Big Pharma is reaping record profits by keeping us sick and doctors, rather than practice wellness care, are practicing sick care. Why not tell patients how to prevent the onset of the Big Four: cancer, diabetes, heart disease and strokes? Of course, they will do this, but only if you take a handful of expensive pills every day in hopes of beating the odds that you will get sick. Some of these medications come with serious side effects that can possibly make you sicker, thus enslaving you to the medical system to have to take still more pills to counteract the side effects of the ones prescribed. It's all so ridiculous and it upsets me that certain dangerous drugs are handed out like candy. In particular, dangerous cholesterol lowering statin drugs are given to nearly everybody now, whether you have high cholesterol or not. The doctors want you to take statins even if your cholesterol is picture perfect, as a preventive against eventually developing high cholesterol, but my take on things is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why take meds you don't need and spend the extra money? Because statins are a gold mine for Big Pharma. They are given to just about every patient over age 50 who walks through a doctor's door whether they need them or not. I refuse to take them even with my slightly elevated cholesterol. There are seven risk factors for heart disease and I have only one of those, meaning that I do not have six of them. Those are pretty good odds if you ask me. A more important measure of a risk for heart attack is your waist to hips ratio, or your BMI, and mine's picture perfect. I'm at exactly the weight I should be for my age and height. So there again, a risk factor has been removed. I do not smoke, I am not obese, I am not diabetic, my BP is perfect (100/68 today!), I am physically active, I am female, yes, I'm over 50, but that doesn't automatically put me at the 1 in 3 risk for a heart attack that doctors are trying to convince me of. Family history is another risk factor. Hm, let's see, my maternal grandparents both lived to be 91, my paternal grandfather lived to be 83 and my paternal grandmother lived to be 86. My mom's nearly 84 and aside from a few age related problems, she's doing pretty well for someone in their mid-80s. Her ticker is strong and healthy and she does water aerobics several times per week. Our family has absolutely NO history of coronary artery disease, and knowing your family medical history is critical. So the family history also puts me at a strong advantage because my relatives tend to be long lived. Needless to say, the doctors efforts to convince me to go on statins is falling on deaf ears. I will not consent to go on these dangerous drugs because in my opinion, I do not need them. Why waste money and risk damaging my health using drugs that could cause permanent and lasting damage to my body? It's not worth the risk if you ask me, and I don't plan on keeling over of a heart attack anytime soon. To use a favorite quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "I'm not dead yet, I'm getting better!"

I have a short leg

2011-06-24T16:27:00.001-07:00

Forty years ago this summer, I was hit broadside by a speeding car while riding my bicycle through a dangerous intersection near my home. That I wasn't killed is a testament to the fact that I was strong, athletic and young and apparently that saved my life. Still, I managed to mangle my left leg pretty badly. The femur bone was shattered below the ball and socket joint and I ended up having to spend a few months in the hospital in traction, in a four bed ward with other people. It was a long, painful and difficult experience that left its mark on me permanently, in more ways than one. At the end of my hospitalization, I was encased in plaster waist to toes and sent home to mend the bones that had been set, one end on top of another. When I awoke from being casted, I could not sit up and all because the cast went to my waist line and it didn't allow me to sit up in any sort of fashion, so I asked the doctor to cut a crescent shaped area in front so I could, after a fashion, sort of sit up in an awkard position. I really could not do much in the weeks I was encased in all that plaster. I wasn't strong enough to support my body on crutches so I could not get to my upstairs bedroom, even. Eventually I figured a way to scooch myself up there on my backside and that felt like a little victory in and of itself. After a few months, the cast came off and I was liberated from my plaster prison in which I had been encased for a few months. The doctor told me that I would have one leg shorter than the other but that my body could compensate for up to an inch difference in my legs, so I went about my life thereafter with one leg noticeably shorter than the other one.

Fast forward almost 30 years. In December of 1997, I began experiencing some serious hip pain on my left side. I assumed that because I had just turned 40 some months before, that it was just age catching up to me and that come spring, I'd be fine. However, in the ensuing months, the pain exponentially worsened to where I began to be genuinely concerned. I finally decided that this warranted a visit to the doctor's office, where I explained the problem to him. He promptly sent me to an orthotic/prosthetic specialist in Akron who measured a one and a half inch discrepancy of my left leg. I was shocked that it was so huge. Quite fortunately, they were able to build up my shoe right there on the spot so I left the appointment standing a full inch and a half taller than when I walked in. It felt peculiar at first but since that day, I can't function at all without my lifts. I can't go barefoot and even after showering, I dry my feet so I can slide on my sandals and stand up straight after being uneven in the tub. The biggest problems are that 1). orthotists require that I produce a prescription from my doctor for the lift before they will work on it, meaning I have to call my orthopaedic surgeon and request a faxed prescription to be sent to whoever is doing the work, and 2). insurance doesn't cover the lifts, which can run anywhere between $110 and $200, depending on who is doing the work. This means that for every pair of shoes I buy, I can expect to invest a substantial sum of money into the having it fitted with a lift so I can stand up straight. I find this highly annoying that this is not a covered item in my insurance plan. Well, nothing is anymore, so it's kind of pointless having it. Sometimes I think that it would be a good thing to have limb shortening surgery on my right leg to make me even again so I could save the money I have to spend on shoes. Research on this indicates that I could expect to be out of commission for 3-6 months, a long time to be back to a semi-normal level of activity. After the surgery, I'd be in a hip to toes cast for about a month or more, then on crutches for another 6 or so weeks, then in PT until I could put weight on the leg and reuse it again. Frankly, I don't have that kind of money because as it stands now, I'd have to pay a good chunk of the cost of the surgery myself. No thank you. So in the meantime, I just have to settle for being seriously limited in my shoe choices and I have to expect to pay out the nose for my lift work. This is why I only own three pairs of shoes and plan to make them all last until they fall apart completely. I just can't afford to own more than one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of sturdy sensible work shoes and a pair of sandals. I pine for pretty feminine shoes, but those are off limits for me anymore. Whenever I dress up (blessedly seldom), I have to wear my clunky, chunky sturdy sensible work shoes even if I am in a semi-formal outfit. I wish I could have something truly dressy but that's a sacrifice I must make for the sake of my orthopaedic health. Frustrating, to say the least......

Hack, hack, cough, cough...

2011-06-22T19:05:00.001-07:00

For the past few weeks I have been hacking and coughing relentlessly. Something's been going around at work and I seem to have caught it. I suspect it's bronchitis because it's not going away as I had hoped it would. It seemed to be getting better last week but a couple of rather stressful days over the weekend seem to have brought it back with a vengeance, so I am back to hacking and coughing and feeling that familiar tightness in my chest that comes when I have bronchitis. It's pretty miserable stuff and I would be most pleased if it would just go away. I used to get this all the time when I was younger but I chalk that up to second hand smoke, which I am no longer exposed to. If I get this at all, it's usually during the cold, dry winter months. The last case of this I had was, in fact, in the winter months, in December of 2009, I think it was. I had that for the better part of 6 weeks and it was awful. I hope this doesn't last that long. I'm sick and tired of it already. I've been living on regular every 4 hour doses of Robitussin DM, which, had I seen my doctor, he would have told me to take, so I saved myself the ridiculous doctor office co-pay by self treating this thing. I've been through this enough times now that I can pretty much self treat it and avoid running to the doctor for something I am more than acquainted with and know how to handle. Not worth wasting money to see a doctor when I know what to do about this.

For the past month or so I have endeavored, without any success whatsoever, to lose weight. The scale literally has not budged one ounce. I have remained the same steady weight the entire time despite upping my physical activity and cutting calories like mad. I thought that was how you did it. You increase physical activity, you cut calories and the weight comes off, right? Not in my case. I haven't even lost so much as one ounce of weight. I am utterly baffled by this. I was on anti-depressants for 4 years and gained a ton of weight on them and now, it won't come off. I am wondering if it's the fact that it's medically induced weight gain, caused by a drug and thus harder, if not impossible, to get off. If I can never, ever lose this weight and if I continue to look seven months pregnant because of my belly fat I will be most upset. I wonder if weight loss has to be done by a different strategy when it is caused by taking medication. If so, I would like to know what that strategy is. How does one lose medically induced weight gain? Is there more to it than eating less and exercising more? Could my age have something to do with it? Is it impossible, after age 50, to lose weight? I look at all those books and magazine articles written on how to lose weight fast but they all require exercises that someone half my age could do, but not someone my age. Those exercises would kill me in a New York minute. I also can't afford membership in one of those fancy health/wellness clubs with all the fancy machines they have. And the diets they prescribe - all foods I do not like. I have not a kitchen but a kitchenette that is far too small in which to cook meals anyway, and being single, the idea of whipping up a gourmet diet meal for one person seems a bit silly and a waste of food because I would more than likely end up throwing most of it away anyway. I'm also doing the work of four people right now and seem to feel perpetually exhausted as a result. The last thing I want to do at the end of a long workday is to go into the kitchen and spend hours cooking up some fancy meal that only I will eat. Then I would have to wash all those dishes, which I detest doing because I am mostly too tired to care most nights. So barring having an executive chef to prepare all of my meals that would allow me to lose the weight I want, I don't know what the answer is. I just don't. I just don't want to spend the rest of my life being overweight with an unhealthy BMI. Already I have high cholesterol and that puts me at a risk for a host of diseases that I can't afford to have, because let's face it, at the moment, I am practically uninsured and am expected to pay all of my own medical costs out of my own pocket. I just cannot afford to do that. And in this economy, who can? Nobody that I know of. Well, if I could just lose one lousy pound....is that asking too much? If I could see SOME sort of movement on the scale, I wouldn't feel so discouraged, but that number on the scale has remained stuck at the same number all year, without budging. Sure, I haven't gained any weight, but I sure haven't lost any, either. And that sucks. Plain and simple. No amount of altering my diet and upping my physical activity has budged that stupid scale one single ounce. I wish I knew why. >:-<

What's wrong with health care

2011-06-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

While I was somewhat pleased that the Obama White House signed last year's health care reform bill, because something was better than nothing at all, still, I wish that it had been more comprehensive in addressing some of the more serious issues facing health care today. It keeps in place the private insurers who profit from people paying their premiums and then denying claims when they are filed. It does some good things, true, like it prevents insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions (but what about adults? Doesn't go there, unfortunately...), it removes the cap on lifetime care amounts and it covers some high risk patients who could otherwise not get insurance, but they STILL have to go to private insurers for their business. So while I was pleased at some of the reforms, still, it doesn't address the problem that so many of us who have employer provided health care are facing these days, and that is sharply diminished health care benefits. Sure, we pay our premiums, but more and more employers find that they can only afford to offer minimal coverage with high deductibles and co-pays, leaving the patient with the onus of having to pay enormous out of pocket health care costs. With most of us watching our salaries flatten or diminish over the past 30 years, having to fork over atrocious amounts of money to pay medical costs is just not possible. So what do most people end up doing as a result? They wait until they extremely sick before seeking medical attention, by which time they require expensive and advanced care. This is not cost effective in the long run. I find myself at this point in my life being one illness or injury away from bankruptcy. Last night, my mother took ill and needed to to the hospital for treatment. The registrar came into her ER room to have her fill out some paperwork and pay an ER co-pay, which is, in her case, $50. Aetna recently took over her Medicare and she's now in a private insurance Medicare PPO program with co-pays and deductibles, but her bill would be far less than mine would be should I get sick. My ER co-pay is now $200 (what I wouldn't do for an ER co-pay like my mom's!) and whatever treatments I received in the ER would be counted toward my now $4000 deductible, so an ER visit could mean running up huge bills that I would be paying for years to come. For all my insurance pays for, which is nothing anymore, I may as well have NO insurance, and in fact, I now consider myself to be uninsured because throughout the year, I pay all of my own medical bills out of pocket, which is obscenely expensive. My pay, on the other hand, has remained stagnant for years and in fact, has been sharply reduced with every passing year I stay on the job. I made more 5 years ago than I make now, when you factor in rising prices on everything. I have a full time public service career that I have been with for 28 years now. I always imagined that if I worked hard, got to college, completed my degree (which I did, at Kent State, earning a BA in 1979), that I would get a job that meant the longer I stayed, the better pay I would receive. After 28 years, to watch my salary be reduced with each passing year, and with health care costs skyrocketing out of control and almost no insurance left, what am I to do if I get sick or hurt? I live in mortal fear of illness or sickness. I'm one illness or injury away from bankruptcy. When is this country EVER going to join the rest of the industrialized world, put its people first and offer universal single payer health care? That is the health care reform we need, not that patchwork thing you all passed last year. Please listen to the voices of nurses, doctors and patients all begging for single payer health care. This is the only way that we can have a healthy nation where our people can know that they will be taken care of should they get sick or hurt. We are the ONLY country in the world where people file medical bankruptcies. What does that say about our national priorities? Put people before profits. Single payer health care is the ONLY answer to health care reform. Anything less is not adequate. We need single payer health care NOW. Now, why is it that the US is the ONLY nation in the world where people go bankrupt because they could not afford their medical bills? There is something terribly wrong with our national priorities when our country refuses to offer a national health plan like every single industrialized nation in the world.

Were I to end up in a hospital emergency room (heaven forbid!), I would be charged a $200 co-pay. Now, that would cover the ER cost, but if they needed to run any tests, which is an inevitability in an ER since they need to find out what is wrong with you so that they can treat you, I would be forced to pay the costs of tests plus the physician's fee, meaning that an ER visit could end up costing me thousands of dollars that I would have to spend years paying off. Lacking my full medical history as well, they would need me to fill out a pile of useless paperwork detailing my entire medical history since they lack access to my primary care doctor's records, which are still kept in old fashioned paper folders and done in pen and ink. Now, here is part of the problem: whenever I see any new doctor, I have to fill out a fat wad of paperwork detailing my entire medical history plus a wad of paper agreeing to be the financially responsible party for my treatment. Go into any doctor office and you will see huge walls of file folders full of patient medical histories. Why, I wonder, are medical offices still using 20th century technology in the 21st century? Why not create electronic, easily accessible medical records? I should, whenever I visit a doctor office, be able to have all of my records stored in an online database kept my my insurer that the medical office could then punch in: Patient has SummaCare insurance, go to the SummaCare database, punch in my name plus a security feature that insures that only authorized people could access the database, then access my entire medical history and records instead of wasting time with mountains of useless and time consuming paperwork. Or better still, according to T.R. Reid in his excellent book, The Healing of America, in Europe you get a card encoded with your entire medical history on it that you present to a doctor's office, who then puts it into a computer where it can be retrieved and read. If Europe has this sort of advanced technology, why are OUR doctor offices still mired down in old fashioned pen and paper record keeping? Does anybody realize how wasteful and time consuming this is? Why can't we just have a national health care card like in Europe with all of your medical information encoded in it? That way, even if I ended up in an ER, unconscious, that card could be retrieved from my purse or whatever, the medical history could then be accessed by the ER staff and they would then know how to proceed and thus make fewer errors. It all makes perfect sense. I just don't know why Americans are so resistant to the idea of better health care and why they want to stick to a system that is not sustainable in the long run. Maybe they are just afraid of the unknown, or of change. Either way, I rather doubt that much of anything's going to change anytime soon with regard to American health care. Once it becomes apparent how fiscally unsustainable it really is, and once our economy really begins to wobble under the burdensome cost of rising health care costs, then maybe people will wake up and pay attention. And when employers are forced in larger numbers to drop their health insurance coverage, or only offer the barest of minimum coverage, then maybe people will pay attention when more and more of us find ourselves paying our own health care costs out of pocket. Until then, I am none too optimistic that much of anything will change anytime soon, if ever.

Weiner roll

2011-06-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. What is it about powerful men that they feel like they have to prove their virility by either having an affair and a "love child" as a result, or they electronically send lewd or suggestive photos of themselves to admirers online? And then they think they can get away with it by covering it up and lying about it......the temerity of these guys! Especially since they are married, and I have always been one to regard an oath, as in, a marriage vow, as being a very serious affair. When a guy puts a ring on his wife's finger and says "I do" and vows to "forsake all others", he should mean it. But apparently these guys don't. They think they can fool around behind their wives backs and carry on affairs and have children with mistresses or do stupid things online and then just stand there in public and lie about it and expect the public to buy it. It's put a real black eye on politicians, since it's largely been they who have been caught in recent sex scandals. John Edwards, Arnold Schwarznegger, Anthony Weiner, Christopher Lee. David Vitter, and of course, world famous golfer Tiger Woods, who always burnished his squeaky clean family man image only to be found out as a real interloper who had many women on the side. It boggles the mind to think how many men just don't take the words "I do" seriously. I swear, if I'd ever gotten married and caught my guy doing ANYTHING of the kind, I'd be seriously tempted to castrate him and teach him a lesson. Now, lest you think I am some sort of jealous shrew of a woman, let me remind you that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! And I wouldn't blame Anthony Weiner's wife from leaving him immediately and not looking back. In fact, if I could talk to her, I would tell her to pack her bags and move as far away from her husband as possible, and to file for an immediate and unconditional divorce. Sorry, guys, but I just don't tolerate hanky-panky from a guy that is supposedly involved in a serious relationship. If he puts a ring on my finger and takes a vow before God and everyone else, he'd better damn well mean it, or else. I don't tolerate the "boys will be boys" mentality that inside every man is a boy who hasn't quite grown up yet. Well, sorry, if you're with ME, you'd BETTER be an adult. Maybe that's why, at age 54, I have not yet married. I haven't found anyone yet who displayed to me that they were truly grown up enough to be responsible. There was always some flaw that drove me to sometimes to tears, other times to fly into a fit of anger and/or impatience. I know, maybe I have high standards, but what's wrong with that? Maybe if more women held themselves to a good high standard before they accepted the ring from a man, there wouldn't be such a trail of broken hearts and scorned women whose men got caught with their pants down in a compromising situation. Let this be a lesson to everyone, men and women alike. If your partner is a little too addicted to their BlackBerry (er, CrackBerry), maybe it's time to think twice about the relationship in which you find yourself. Just a fair warning!

Can't we just all get along?

2011-06-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since the election of President Obama in 2008, it seems that there's been no end to the vitriol aimed at him by certain people who blame him for everything that is wrong with our country. As a result, the opposing party has made it their agenda, from Day One of the Obama Presidency, to take him down, to stymie him at every turn and to do everything in their power to assure that he fails at every single thing he attempts to do so that he will be remembered as a mediocre one term President who got nothing done. It's appalling to think that the people who are supposed to be working for the greater good of this nation are so busy planning internecine warfare against the President that they aren't bothering to do anything to address the serious problems facing this country. For them, it is in their best interest to keep people down and unemployed, to see to it that our economy remains stagnant and to make sure that the unemployment numbers stay frighteningly high so that they can ride in on a white horse offering all kinds of solutions to our economic woes that in essence aren't really going to help at all, but will sound good to a public accustomed to thirty second sound bytes. Washington has become a place where party warfare has been raised to a new art form and where people are paid outlandish salaries to do nothing but fight one another instead of working to make this a better country. It's sad and it's shameful and I wish like hell that something could be done. They almost need a strict schoolmaster sort of person to go into Congressional chambers and sober them all up and tell them to start acting like adults instead of a bunch of schoolyard bullies. No wonder Congress has such a low approval rating. Since when did they ever do anything that benefitted anybody but themselves? Most of them are in the back pockets of the corporations that donate ridiculous sums of money to their re-election campaigns. After all, it takes millions of dollars these days to run a campaign and these Congressmen and Senators rely on the generous corporate cash doled out to candidates to be able to win elections.

I am beginning to be convinced that money has become the corrupting influence in Washington. It takes so much to win elections that legislators become seduced by it. They have to befriend rich and powerful lobbyists who will see to it that the corporations they represent will endow them with plenty of cash in order to run their re-election campaigns. Members of the House of Representatives, in particular, can't really get anything done because their terms of office are only two years long and they need to spend nearly their entire terms raising the cash they need in two years time to be re-elected. In their spare time, they may vote on a bill or two, maybe host a town hall meeting back home in their district, but for the most part, they become disconnected from the reality of every day people because they badly need to spend their terms of office raising millions of dollars for campaigning. Since it takes about a year to campaign for office, that means that their first year as a member of the House they can get some things done, but their entire second year must be spent raising money and being on the campaign trail, not very conducive to being able to listen to the problems of the very people whose vote put you in Washington in the first place. Heck, I am already getting campaign calls from candidates who won re-election in the midterms back last year who are already raising money for the 2012 election cycle! It's ridiculous how much time they have to spend on fundraising in order to win an election. There's got to be a better way to do this than to have to spend almost your entire time in office fundraising to get yourself re-elected. However, now it seems that our voices won't count anymore anyway since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling gave carte blanche to corporations to go out and buy the candidates of their choice, effectively putting an end to our democracy. Worse, some of the shadowy PACs out there raising money for their candidates do not have to reveal who their donors are, so our country could, in essence, be bought by foreign investors who donate money to some of these PACs run by the super rich. It's enough to make my blood boil, but there's nothing we can do since the Supreme Court made what is obviously an activist ruling. Is it any wonder that so many people are so fed up and angry? Sadly, they are directing their anger at the wrong person in the White House. They should have called the previous administration to account, but they got away with murder, literally, and no one called 'em on it. This administration is vulnerable since Obama is not only the first African-American President, but he is literally African-American since his father was born and raised in Kenya, putting Obama's citizenship in doubt to some who still insist he's foreign born and not eligible to be President. What utter nonsense. No other President has been forced to do more dancing with opposition to try to prove to them that he's not the anti-Christ. When and where it will end is anybody's guess, but some folks won't be happy until he's on a helicopter flying out of Washington and back to Chicago forever. Sadly, that may come sooner rather than later, if things don't start turning around soon, and Republicans are going to see to it and work their behinds off to make sure that things stay as bad as possible so that they can make themselves out to be the white knights who will come in and make it all better. Yeah, and if you believe THAT..........

The demise of a landmark?

2011-05-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here in Kent, there's a lovely old Tudor style building across the street from the University that, in its heyday, was a very elegant restaurant called the Robin Hood Inn. Sadly, it eventually ended up becoming a grunge bar and fell into a state of terrible disrepair due to neglect by its various owners over the years. It closed rather abruptly last summer and is slated for demolition unless some good kind hearted soul steps forward to save it. The building is 75 years old, hardly an ancient building, but one of Kent's more noteworthy buildings because of its unique architectural style. Across the street from it stands a faux half timbered Elizabethan style building to complement the Tudor building across the way from it. In the past few decades, poor urban planning has resulted in the demolition of so many beautiful old homes and buildings that added character to our city. Fast food joints and gas stations have taken over and make our thoroughfares look downright tacky. Sure, those businesses generate revenue and are good for the college students who frequent them, but I dislike the traffic nightmares and frequent accidents that they create. Bad placement near heavily trafficked intersections has resulted in a high accident zone near several fast food joints in my own neighborhood, for example. Just another example of poor urban planning on the part of the people who put those fast food joints where they are. The prospect of losing a unique architectural treasure that's not only a piece of Kent history but is also in my neighborhood really ticks me off. Already, the front windows in my living room of my apartment overlook an eyesore of an old vacant and now abandoned gas station. No plans to replace the Robin Hood once it's gone have been revealed, suggesting that it, too, will become just another eyesore and a blot on my neighborhood which is filled with poorly maintained and once graceful old residential homes that have become blighted student housing. Now, I've lived in the same two block perimeter my entire life and as such, my neighborhood means a great deal to me. I've long believed that if you own property that it is incumbent on you to maintain it well, and if you don't, you should not be surprised if you are suddenly being angrily scorned by your neighbors. People who can't take that sort of scorn should not be property owners. I know that there are some....um.....it would be too kind to call them "slumlords".....who seem to buy nice property and run it into the ground, for what purpose, I do not know. Perhaps there is some financial incentive in it for them, say, a nice tax break or something. But I am tired unto death of seeing once graceful old homes and buildings fall into disrepair and become a blight on an otherwise perfectly nice neighborhood. Tearing them down and leaving gaping holes in a landscape is a lazy person's way out. If someone buys property and then finds that it is beyond their financial means to maintain, they ought to sell it, even if it means doing so at a loss. It's better to lose money and sell to someone who might care and keep up a good piece of property than to see something become so blighted that the only salvation for it is the wrecking ball.

I'm so tired of hearing the excuses that people make for letting old homes and buildings fall, "If it's old, tear it down." Um, 'scuse me, ever been to Europe? There are buildings there some of which are over a thousand years old! You can reach out and actually touch history! Americans are so short sighted that they think that if something's the slightest bit old, it's not worth keeping. They always want the new shiny thing that, when they grow tired of it, they want to throw it away and replace it with the NEW shiny thing. Americans have the most ridiculously short attention span and the least sense of their own history. Perhaps it's because we are such a young nation with such a relatively short history compared to the Old World nations. Americans are a restless lot, always looking for that next new big thing, out there, in another place, always on the move looking for greener pastures and never staying anywhere long enough to have any sense of personal investment in a town. Even city officials are often imported from some other place to act as executive managers instead of old fashioned mayors who had some sense of personal stake in a town where they had grown up and lived their whole lives. While I understand the notion of a "city manager", being something of a CEO running a business, there doesn't seem to be any sense of personal investment in a city that they come to run. For them, it's just another business venture, nothing more. They stay, do their jobs, then move on to the next position that can offer higher pay in another town somewhere else. No sense of loyalty. And that's why our town in recent years seems to lack any sense of cohesive urban planning. The people steering the ship don't seem to have a stake in our town. They're there to be managers and executives, not "go out and shake hands with the constituents" like the mayors of old did. Kent's just going to look like all the other cookie cutter towns out there filled with gas stations and fast food joints and bereft of any local charm. Who wants to live in a town with no unique identity and its history all plowed under and replaced with too many bright lights and too many big box businesses whose profits go to out of town home offices and no character whatsoever? No wonder Ohio's experienced a brain drain in recent years. Towns all across the state are doing the same thing, plowing under anything more than a few years old to put in the latest, shiniest thing that has come down the pike that may have a shelf life of but a few years and when it goes under, it leaves a massive concrete dead zone in its wake. Seen it happen, over and over again. When will we figure out what we're doing wrong and return to some semblance of sustainability so that towns can once again be charming, friendly, walkable places to live instead of being turned into ribbons of highway and concrete? And when will this wanton demolition of historic homes and buildings cease and instead be restored and returned to their former glory? After all, they don't build 'em like that anymore and never will be able to, so it makes more sense to have our local landmarks standing that played a part in the history of our towns. They are a part of our history that we can reach out and touch, and once gone, they're gone forever. And that's a real crime, if you ask me.

More thoughts and catching up to events

2011-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on lately that it's hard to keep up with how rapidly things have been changing. Every day seems to bring some new momentous event in the news cycles that I'm betting that it feels good to be a journalist right now as events keep cascading throughout country after country. No boring slow news days to fill with some trivial local news story that no one could care less about. Every morning I awake to some major development in some part of the world, it seems. Well, as they say, never a dull moment! The things that have been going on have ranged from a massive earthquake in Japan that set off a nuclear crisis as one of their power plants failed from lack of power to struggles over organized labor in various states as governors try to balance stretched budgets to the raid on the Pakistani compound and killing of Osama bin Laden.....unbelievable how much has been going on lately. Mornings are so tough because I really want to be able to thoroughly read the newspapers but the time I have to do so is limited, so mostly I end up just scanning them and trying to read the most important news stories. Of course, I will always catch up by listening to NPR on the radio while driving to work which gives wonderfully in depth coverage of breaking news stories.

There's also the rising "Arab Spring" going on in the Arab nations in the Middle East. It's fascinating to watch, and a little sad to see those dictators struggling to stay in power at any cost. But I wish the young men and young women who are struggling for democracy in that part of the world the very best. I hope that they are successful in their struggle for democratic rule in their nations. It would be very exciting and would put to lie the idea fomented by religious extremists that their way is best. These are the young men and women who are hooked into the electronic media like Twitter and Facebook. Social networking has done a lot to help people organize movements. It's remarkable as a tool. I'm a firm believer in the Internet as a tool of democracy. It's got its plusses and minuses, to be sure, but I'm seeing the effect it's having on the young men and women in the Arab nations who yearn for more freedom. And in that respect, it's very exciting. I have to wonder if other people in other nations will take advantage of Internet access to foment democratic movements. Well, we shall see. I'm saddened by the turn of events in Libya where the rebel uprisings have been met with such bloodshed and I hope for a peaceful resolution to that entire conflict. I'm concerned about the United States being drawn deeper into that war when we're trying to wind down our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I don't want to live through another era of seemingly perpetual war like it seemed during the VietNam era. As our nation struggles its way out of this Great Recession, trying to fight wars all over the world is just not financially sustainable. We have needs here at home: infrastructure, health care, jobs, economic growth, etc. that fighting multiple wars is preventing us from being able to accomplish. So we'll see how things play out in this rapidly changing world in which we now find ourselves living.
Can I just say that I am SICK to tears of having a bad left knee? It's bothered me for years now but lately, it's been particularly troublesome and achy. It's been raining pretty steadily here almost daily and it's not been very warm on top of that. The damp chill has been tough on my middle aged joints, so much so that for the first time in memory, I did not participate in the candlelight vigil on May 3rd that precedes the May 4 commemoration at Kent State. It was a very cold wet night and I just didn't feel like being out in the damp chilly night with a cranky knee. I need to lose about 20 pounds and get back to a regular exercise program and I suspect that will help. I'd hoped to get out and get some regular walking in every day but it's been raining and raining and raining to where I feel like we're waterlogged enough here, thank you. What I would do for a week or more of clear dry weather, but for every clear dry day we get, we have 6 more of chilly rain. Now, I know it's spring, but c'mon, already! Enough of the rain! Can we PLEASE have some good, warm, clear dry weather for a while? PLEASE?

Random thoughts for a Wednesday evening

2011-03-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged much of late. So much going on and I've also been very tired due to short staffing at work, so I've been falling asleep pretty early in the evening. So here are the random thoughts on my mind tonight: 1). I've been pretty down about how many states are trying to get rid of collective bargaining for their public employees even though I am not a union member. There's a whole wave of anti-public employee sentiment out there because we get better retirement benefits than private sector employees, but we earn it by accepting less pay during our working years so that when we retire, we'll have decent benefits to live on. However, now states are moving to sharply reduce those benefits for retirees and my fear is that they'll want to bolster Social Security by ending the public employee retirement plans and putting us all on Social Security, which pays far less than the public employee retirement plans. Even if they keep those retirement plans intact, sharply reducing benefits for retirees is going to drive people to work and never be able to retire. As it is, even those of us still working have lousy health care and dental care benefits and we end up paying most of our own costs out of pocket, and who can afford THAT these days in our stagnant economy? 2). Really? You build a nuclear reactor on top of a severely earthquake prone area and you're not surprised when it fails when The Big One hits and you're suddenly faced with a nuclear catastrophe? What in the HELL was Japan thinking, anyway? 3). The Constitution specifically states in Article I, Section 8 that only Congress has the power "to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; To raise and support Armies, but no appropriation to that use shall be for a longer term than two years." Um, so why are we now fighting a THIRD war, albeit an undeclared one, in Libya, while we are still fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And how on earth are we going to pay for it when our federal deficit is at a new record high and we have pressing needs here at home? Can someone please explain to me how we're supposed to fund infrastructure, schools, health care and more here in the US when we've got armies fighting not one but THREE wars that were undeclared and are therefore illegal according to the Constitution? 4). Gas prices have shot through the roof since the Libya conflict began a few weeks back. Really? Why? We get so little oil from Libya that it seems that speculators are at it again, bound and determined to wreck whatever fragile economic recovery we've accomplished since the bottom dropped out of the economy back in '08. The Wall Street crooks who took our economy over a cliff suffered no punishment as a result and instead, were rewarded with fat hefty bonuses, laughing as they did all the way to the bank. They knew they took us for suckers and won. When is someone going to do something about this? 5). Just how is it that I can drink three cups of double strength coffee and STILL feel like I could fall asleep at any moment? Why is it that some days, I am so sleepy that nothing will wake me up? Today has been one of those days. Maybe it's the weather or something.....6). Times were, when I went to conferences and/or conventions in the past, there were always plenty of freebies. Now there aren't any. Meals are meager as well, not nearly as nice as they once were. It's a sign of the times that everyone's hurting financially to where you no longer get those cool freebie giveaways at conventions anymore. And meals are serve yourself soup and sandwich bars instead of being served a nice entrée and dessert like we once used to get. I have to wonder if this is the "New Normal" for the way things are going to be from now on, even so far as the way we live our lives, a new frugality instead of mindless consumption. Well, if so, it's a good thing, really.

Mr. Mozart and me

2011-02-14T19:16:00.001-08:00

Well, here it is, Valentine's Day already, and I am alone, single, no candy or roses or anything of the kind. But, hey, when you are a single gal, you get used to it. You become accustomed to seeing everyone else get all the little signs of affection from their significant other, knowing full well you won't get those things. I don't know, sometimes it gets lonely knowing that I don't get any tokens of affection from someone special in my life. No husband to massage my shoulders when I am tired and achy, no kids to wash the dishes for me when I am simply too tired to think about doing it, nobody to grow old with, nobody to care for me in my dotage when that time comes....sure, it can be tough. But alas, these are the choices I have made in my life, and so, it is what it is. However, this Valentine's Day finds me at least having some companionship, if not in the physical sense, at least in the virtual sense. I've spent the entire day in the company of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, both in the novel about his wife's family that I am currently reading, and via my iPod with selections of his music ranging from symphonies to piano sonatas to concerti to choral works and more. In fact, I have spent most of the winter in the company of this illustrious composer via my iPod and novels. I've been thoroughly enjoying my travels throughout 18th century Germany and Austria. Having been to those two countries, I can close my eyes and clearly picture the places where these novels take place. I read these books while listening to the soaring music of Mozart and I feel like I am truly there watching things happen as I read. I've been thoroughly enjoying spending the winter with Mr. Mozart and I am almost sad at the idea of departing to some other time and place and being with other people once I finish this latest novel I am reading, "Marrying Mozart" by Stephanie Cowell, written about the Weber family into whom Mozart married, via his wife Constanze. Unless I can find another novel written about him, well, I suppose I could always seek out a good biography of him and read that and stay in his company a bit longer. Herr Mozart, you have at least made my winter somewhat bearable, given how much I detest this weather. Spending it with you has given me great joy. And thank you for taking me places both familiar and unknown to me. I have enjoyed every moment I have spent in your company!

Geezer Cat

2011-02-10T19:01:00.001-08:00

This is my brother's cat, curled up asleep in his favorite chair at my mom's house. This chair, of late, has become his turf and he gets very upset if someone sits in it when he wants to sleep there. The cat is nearly 17 years old now so he's getting up in cat years. I suppose, then, one can easily excuse the old beast for getting grumpy when someone's in what he regards as his chair. One evening recently I happened to be over at my mom's for dinner - in fact, I believe it was on my brother's birthday a few weeks ago now - and his girlfriend decided to sit in this chair in order to watch Masterpiece Theatre with my mom. The cat got very indignant and huffed and puffed around the house, meowing over perceived violation of his turf. He wanted to go down the basement, then back up to the living room, then down the basement, then back in the living room, all the while, I suspect, hoping that his chair would be abandoned and once again available. When it became apparent that it wouldn't, he went down the basement again and we heard him meowing in a rather whiny tone, met with an answer by an equally whiny cat meow, that belonging to the ex-neighbor's abandoned cat Herman, who, for the winter, has taken up residence in my mom's basement, not the warmest place in the world, but certainly out of the elements and containing the remains of an old camp bed mattress amidst a host of construction equipment that is strewn all over the basement floor. So Herman and Dupree, my brother's cat, decided to carry on a rather lengthy conversation complaining about their lives and the ills heaped upon them by humans, I suspect. They're both very chatty cats by nature and it was almost funny to hear these cats talking to each other in the basement while we humans languished upstairs in the warm living room watching PBS on my mom's huge flat screen TV. Eventually the conversation ended and Dupree came marching back up the basement steps and into the living room, only to find his chair still occupied. He huffed and jumped up to the sofa to stand on the top of it and stare angrily out the picture window - at what, on a bitter winter night, I do not know - but he stood there and stared nonetheless, until the show was over and his chair once again became available again, at which time he reclaimed his sacred turf and curled up asleep in it. So the fluffy beast has, for the moment, a claim on a piece of living room furniture at my mom's. A head's up for future visitors - the green chair is Dupree's, at least for the moment, until he decides he needs to lay claim to some other place in which to sleep!

Frozen Tundra

2011-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of an actual frozen Siberian tundra. It could well have been taken here in the frozen wastelands of Northeast Ohio, because right now, this is about how the world looks, dull, grey, colorless and frozen over with snow. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to -2° Fahrenheit. That's mighty damned cold if you ask me. It will be the perfect night to burrow into my snug warm bed that has flannel sheets, a thick, soft faux Cashmere blanket and a down alternative comforter on it. My pajamas consist of flannel bottoms and a fleece top from Old Navy, so they are very toasty warm. I also have a pair of fleece socks that my sister gave me for Christmas several years ago in case my feet get cold. The furnace is on, I've changed the overhead ceiling fans to the winter setting to help move heat around the apartment and very fortunately for me, this apartment is on the top floor of a nearly 100 year old house that happens to be fairly well insulated, so in addition to being fairly tight and allowing very little heat to escape (I hope), I also get some ambient heat from downstairs to help me stay warm. On the sofa, I have a toasty green plaid fleece throw that my mom gave me for Christmas last year to cuddle up in if I get chilled. So I am ready for the chill of February, my least favorite month of the year. The only problem with this extreme cold is that it pushes me into a sort of "hibernation mode" to where I do not want to leave my apartment once I am home from work for the evening. I do all my errands after work, therefore, to save myself from having to bundle up and go back out into the ice, snow and cold to get something done.

The only problem with holing myself up like this is that my back is killing me, probably from sitting too much once I get home, and on weekends when I don't want to even so much as get out of my pajamas to do anything. I've searched high and low for a lumbar pillow to help support my back, both at home and at work, but alas, I have not been successful in finding one in any store, so I suppose this means that I will have to order one online. I should also be doing more stretching since this cold weather tends to stiffen me up considerably, to where, when I go to the gym to workout with my trainer, I have to spend at least half the time we are there stretching and warming up instead of getting in actual exercises that I should be doing. This very much frustrates me and makes me feel like I'm not getting much of anywhere. I hope this is just a winter thing and my trainer Jason seems to think so, since he's worked with me since 2006 and seen me through many a winter. He knows full well what I am like this time of year, frustrated, grumpier than usual, stiffer and tighter physically since this time of year is no friend of my arthritis. Maybe it's best that I spend more of my winter workout sessions stretching but I also need to get in some good cardio to get my heart rate up so I can keep my winter weight gain down. But for the moment, I am cold, stiff, sore and miserable, and can't wait until this weather breaks and spring is upon us once more. Whenever that will happen........sigh.........

The "new normal" for libraries?

2011-02-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

With these economic hard times we've been going through the past few years, it's certainly taken its toll on libraries. The disappearance of jobs has also meant less tax revenue to fund libraries, meaning that many smaller ones have had to either shut down entirely or lay off large numbers of their staff and reduce both hours and materials. The library where I work has been a bit more fortunate in that we have an operating levy, but that hasn't exempted us from reductions in staff and materials. As jobs have gone vacant through retirements, transfers, resignations, etc., we have not replaced those positions, and as I am given to understand it, they never again will be replaced. So this is the "new normal" for us, having to work with far fewer staff, less materials available since we also had to cut our budget for those things by 15%, and it's not likely we'll ever again be back up to our old standards of available materials, either. So we're having to change with the times and do things differently. The trouble is that back in the late 1990's, we passed an $80 million bond issue to completely rebuild our entire library system with all new, bigger buildings, and with that was going to come a lot of new jobs and positions available so that we could offer far more public service than we'd been able to in years before. But I don't know if anyone saw the digital revolution coming that has led to more people using computers, smart phones, iPods and more to access the information they once did in the old analog and hard copy world of not so long ago. That has also changed the way we do things and we've had to adjust to all the new technology that has appeared in the past decade.

Back in the 90's, it seemed that money was limitless. Times were good, jobs were plentiful and we had tons of revenue to spend on things. Therefore, it didn't seem out of the question to expand our entire library system. Main and branch libraries were in old, cramped buildings that were never made to accomodate the demands of modern technology and there was never enough room on the shelves to be able to have more materials made available to the public. Lots of stuff was stored in the basement archives, a place I was always fond of wandering back when we were in our old building. I always aspired to work in that department, surrounded by old books, old periodicals and more. But the times demanded more availability of those old things so we embarked on an ambitious building program by passing an $80 million bond issue to fund all new libraries that would be spacious, full of new computer banks and more public space for programming. The bond issue passed with good voter support and the building program commenced. It was all supposed to happen in five years, but as is typical, whenever you think that you can get something done in a specified amount of time, you never foresee roadblocks in your way. So it was only a few short years ago that the final piece of the puzzle, a branch in the southern part of the county where I work, was built and completed. It was a much celebrated event that the building program, which took twice as long to complete as envisioned, was done at last. But then the Great Recession hit a few years ago and now the cost of heating, cooling and staffing these enormous buildings has meant major cutbacks, at least in staffing, in order to be able to maintain our hours and some semblance of having newer materials made available to our patrons. I'm not sure how energy efficient our libraries were built, either. I wish there had been more of an eye to creating buildings that would have been able to run on alternative energy sources or at least run in a more energy efficient manner. But no one foresaw the looming problems of the new century when we started our building program to replace our aging libraries back in the Roaring 90's. I think had we foreseen it, we might have scaled things down a bit to accomodate the changing times, but....that's just my theory. It's just a shame that people who go to all the time and expense of completing a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science are going to find themselves hard pressed to get a job when they finish school. Librarian jobs in recent times have been replaced by people like me, paraprofessionals, who can do most of their jobs at a lesser rate of pay. And I suspect that we're going to be playing a far more important role in the future as libraries continue to be squeezed for money in the coming years. The jobs we've left unfilled at the library will never be replaced. Most of the 8 million jobs that have vanished since the Great Recession took hold will never return. We're entering a new day and age. More and more, digital techology is going to take over where the old analog and hard copy stuff was used in the past. Welcome to the 21st century, folks. New skills are going to be need for the new jobs of our time. We can't go back to the old days anymore. And libraries, like many industries, are going to have to adjust to that fact. I'm just glad that I am going to be eligible to retire soon. I think that those of us who are still in our jobs are going to be working a lot harder and doing a lot more than we are accustomed to having to do. And I think that we're going to be carrying a lot more responsibility than we used to as well. So, libraries, librarians and library employees, welcome to the New Normal.

Sick of winter, sick of snow, sick of ice

2011-02-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

OK, the holidays are over, the Christmas stuff is packed back up in its box and is in its place in the back of the bedroom closet for another year.....so the snow can also go away now. We had our lovely - and rare, surprising, given that we live in the snow belt in NE Ohio - white Christmas. I've had quite enough of scraping ice off of my car, crawling over snow covered roads and tromping around in my steel toed safety shoes that have to double as boots for now since I do not have any. I'm tired of hats, coats, scarves, gloves, heavy clothes that leave me feeling like a walking marshmallow....it can all just go the heck away now! I'm tired of worrying about slipping on ice and falling down my apartment steps, which, by the way, happened on Saturday morning. No damage, fortunately, but it did provide a scare that something might get damaged and I don't have enough medical insurance to take care of that. I'm tired of worrying about falling down, period, because I am at that age when calcium becomes an important consideration in a woman's life in order to maintain good bone density. So suffice it to say, I am sick, sick, sick to tears of this long, cold, dreary season. Calgon, take me away!

This, friends, is where I'd rather be right now. Take me away to a white sandy beach with green, green palm trees, azure blue skies and warm surf, a tropical paradise where the sun always shines and temperatures hover around 80 degrees. I could use a break right now from days that are full of monochromatic tones of white, black and grey. I miss the warm breath of spring, the beautiful flowers and their perfumed scent that fills the air, I miss the songs of birds in the trees.....Oh, I know those things will eventually happen. Of course, we don't have palm trees or white sandy beaches (OK, we have Lake Erie, but.....it's not the same as being at the ocean!), but we'll have warm days and nights, we'll have the birds back singing in the trees again, we'll have sunny days again, blue skies, flowers blooming...but right now, it just feels so distant, so far away. But it will be here before you know it.

"Go at Full Throttle Up"

2011-01-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

In memory of the seven Challenger astronauts who lost their lives 25 years ago today: Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Michael Smith, Dick Scobee and Ronald McNair. You will never be forgotten. May your spirits live on in everyone who wishes to break the bonds of earth to explore the heavens beyond.

Dreams deferred

2011-01-24T14:49:00.001-08:00

Lately I've been going back and listening to speeches given by Barack Obama when he was a Presidential candidate, in particular, his nomination speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention, his victory speech on election night and his Inauguration speech. Likewise, I've been re-reading the souvenir issues of Time, Newsweek, US News, People and others I collected after the election and inauguration. The media was gushing, waxing poetic about how Obama would change the world and that from hereon in, nothing would be the same, and how different things would be now. We'd live in a more peaceful and harmonious post-racial society where anyone could dream of being anything they wanted to be when they grew up...and so on. Obama - and the media - spoke of a dreamed of new world where our sagging economy would roar back to life, jobs would be plentiful, prosperity would reign once again, and the US would once again lead the world on many fronts. It was ambitious, it was exciting, it was.....well......here we are, two years later, and we know darn well it was all very unrealistic expectations we heaped on Obama, to where many of us are feeling somewhat disappointed at the lack of substantial change that has come about since he took office. I suppose we had all kinds of lofty ideals about an Obama Presidency, after the hellish 8 years of the Bush/Cheney misadventures. We dreamed of a progressive society where everyone would be on a more egalitarian financial footing. No more rewards to fat cats who mishandled the economy and sent it reeling into near collapse. Well, we all know now that they got huge bonuses and recently, continued Bush era tax cuts that will continue to make them filthy rich. Trickle down economics is still the law of the land even though we've had several generations of it that has failed the middle class and enriched the wealthy. Cold hard reality has hit us in the face and we've seen that the Democratic Party, when push comes to shove, would rather cower in the face of Republican threats than stand up and fight for what it believes in. Republicans have mastered the art of fearmongering as a political tool to get their way, and it sucks that Democrats fall for it each and every time. It makes them look weak and spineless and an easy target for Republicans to bully around with their tactics.

Tomorrow night, the President gives his annual State of the Union address. I know that the primary focus of it is going to be jobs, jobs, jobs, because that's what we need right now in this time of economic downturn, jobs. What the President does not seem to realize is that what is strangling our economy is the fact that employers are forced to pay higher and higher amounts for health insurance for their employees. It's crushing American business. Most employers have gone with high deductible, high co-pay plans that put the onus of paying the majority of one's medical bills out of pocket, but honestly, who can afford that in a time of stagnant wages? I'm entering my third year with no raise, not even cost-of-living. I'm in a career field that is very much dependent on jobs and taxpayers. Ohio's recession is even deeper than the nation's and our governor and legislature, who are all Republicans, have to balance the state budget which is facing an $8 billion deficit. My fear is that libraries are going to take another large hit financially. The library where I work has already been hit with a loss of $3 million in state funding, and it could get worse. If they cut our state support by 50%, which is what they were threatening last year until library activists spoke up in enormous numbers, then we could be looking at layoffs instead of downsizing by attrition, which is what we've been doing in this downturned economy. We've been told that many of the jobs that were left vacant will never again be filled, that our staff will permanently be downsized from what it was before the economy tanked. This means that things like sick leave and vacation are going to be discouraged as much as possible. As it stands now, we are no longer permitted multiple weeks of vacation. We're only allowed to be off for one single week, limiting where one could go if one wanted to travel on a vacation. That means, no vacations of any distance. Vacations must be taken close to home to where people can get there and back again in the space of a week and still have time to relax a bit. Extended sick leaves are discouraged, too, unless absolutely necessary. It's a shame it's come to this, but.....we just can't afford to have people off for very long. As a result, people come to work sick instead of staying home like they should because they don't want anyone complaining about them staying home and taking a day off they rightfully should be able to. We're an aging staff and we don't mend like we once did, but we all feel guilty if we take a sick day, so we all come in to work feeling half baked and probably spreading germs around to where everyone ends up sick after a while. It becomes tough to stay well sometimes, especially given the brutal cold and heavy snows we've had all winter. But I guess this is the New Normal. All I can say is that I am so looking forward to retirement in 2013. I'm already busy counting down toward that day I retire for good.