Thanks You's Long Overdue

I remembered to grab some quick cash this morning - something I'd been reminding myself to do for the past two days. I needed it to join with the funds from three other business owners - owners of businesses in my same stretch of four stores in a single old brick building. We're gathering together to buy gift cards for the three men who saved our businesses on the nights of the riot. 

My store is the second one of the four. On the left is
the coffeeshop, on the right is the Veterinarian and next
to her is a t-shirt screen printing shop. We're all women
owned and operated. Although there is a second
story, there are no tenants on that floor. Long ago
there used to be apartments above.  

During the night of Thursday the 28th-29th of May, looters and rioters protesting the death of George Floyd crossed over into St Paul, looting and destroying businesses along University Avenue. They they turned north and hit a variety of businesses - gas stations, convenience stores, and of course my neighborhood pharmacy, as they continued damaging and looting the area. Around my little four-business building, they hit directly South, directly East and directly Northeast, but our block was saved. 

My pharmacy, kitty-corner from the coffeeshop next door to me, was
looted and burned to the ground. The gas station to the right, across
the street from the coffeeshop was looted, but not fired. The gas
station up a block across the street from us was also looted, almost
completely destroyed inside. It's been gutted and I'm not sure if
they'll ever reopen. 

It was saved because of the efforts of three men who patrolled, cajoled, and protected the block. Brian, who lived on the top story of the building just south of me, John, one of the workers for my landlord who owns much of the block, and Mylan whom I don't know, but I think he operates the detailing shop a bit farther down the block. These three guys talked at least two waves of looters/rioters away from our little block, and patrolled regularly throughout the night, keeping all of us safe. 

When we were able to breathe again, I suggested to Kathy, the owner of the coffee shop next door to me, that we (four business owners) gather together and give the three guys a collective "Thank You" gift for their help. I'm absolutely sure none of us would have had a business to return to without their help. So, I pulled $75 from my personal funds to contribute and I'll talk to the T-shirt gal today about contributing. I'll leave the Veterinarian up to Kathy, and then pass all the funds along to her so that she can purchase Target gift cards for each of the guys. She also wants to include small gift cards for her coffeeshop, and that's fine. That's totally on her. 

People gathered a mile north of my business on Monday,
July 6th to honor the memory of Philando Castile who was
shot in his car without provocation by a police office from
the local township. The town disbanded their police and
their policing is now done by the County Sheriff's department
instead. I'm not sure that's an improvement.

I've been reminding myself for a few days now, so I'm very proud that I finally remembered - LOL. So, onwards. Life moves on, people (hopefully) change for the better, etc. One good thing about all of this was my starting to chat with Brian - the Vietnam vet who lives next door. I see him smoking while his Shih Tzu wanders the area. We've had a few good conversations since the riots. He's a interesting man. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Gargoyle Explanation and Vietnam

Finally I was able to swim yesterday, and also got the full scoop. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, we've acted upon some of them, but some things were unavoidable.

First, the Saturday doors didn't end up being opened until 6:35 am! Apparently the Gate Guardian (Gargoyle) was "too tired" to get out of bed. That was reported to her supervisor. Second, the lifeguard on Monday is usually one of the better ones - very rarely late. He overslept (it's fall, the weather's cooler, and school has started again - not excuses, but perhaps explanations). He rushed out and got to the pool as quickly as he could.

I had such fun finding gargoyles for all of you yesterday, that I'm continuing
with this one today. This alien is on Paisley Abbey. I guess in that Abbey, you're
protected from all manner of extra-terrestrial monsters! 

The Tuesday mess-up was exactly that - a kid in the pool on Monday night had a bad case of diarrhea. ICK! They had to close, filter, chemical the heck out of the water, etc. Our standard lifeguard - Rachel - had texted Meg and a few other regulars whose numbers she had, but she didn't have Rosemary's or my contact numbers. She made sure to get them first thing on Tuesday and we'll be texted if the pool is unexpectedly closed in future. So ... shit happens (in this case, quite literally), but it seems that it was just a very unlucky string of three days at two different locations for me. Now, on to Vietnam.

This was an extraordinary documentary and I want
to see the episodes I missed and maybe watch the
whole thing again a few more times. This is history that I
lived through. My parents had WWII, I had Vietnam. 

The final episode of Ken Burns' "Vietnam" aired last night. DH had tried to watch it earlier in the run, but turned it off. I didn't catch up with it until the 1967 year onward, but watched as much as I could.

Vietnam - 1965 Dong Xoai. As the first war where news photographers
were often with the troops on the front lines, the immediacy of the
war, its effects, and the people involved poured into each home. 

This was MY war. These men and women from the US sent over to fight or work in the support staff and hospitals were people I knew from school, or older siblings of friends and classmates. This was the war I was protesting, the music I was hearing, and the events I saw unfolding as I was in my teenage years. This was the war that was at my dinner table each night - the first televised war, Dad had the TV news on at the dinner table each night specifically to find out about the latest in the war. It was the first war that came directly into the homes of the populace.

I remember Kent State - seeing the photographs of the dead on the
street and this iconic photograph. We held a ceremony at my high
school, planting four trees for the four dead students and hoping
for peace. The trees flourish, peace has been harder to come by. 

Ken Burns did his usual excellent job of bringing a variety of people together to tell the story from very different perspectives. He had soldiers, prisoners-of-war, politicians, members of the South Vietnamese army and government, and even members of the North Vietnamese army and government. He had news clips, sound bites, film bits and pieces. He had Congressional hearings, anti-war TV coverage, and everyone from proud-to-serve Marines to Conscious Objectors and "Draft Dodgers" who crossed over into Canada. He even had Jane Fonda - "Hanoi Jane".

A victim of the napalm bombing in the background, these people fled
from the fires. The young girl in the center was badly burned, but she
survived and they showed a photo of her as an adult, holding a baby of her
own in the documentary. This photo was plastered on the front pages
of newspapers around the world and won a Pulitzer Prize for the photographer. 

Was Vietnam your generation? Your war? I was just slightly too young (by less than five years) to be totally embroiled in this war, but I remember clearly sitting and watching the draft lottery on the television. My husband was lucky - his number was very high. His older brother also got very lucky. Friends of theirs ... some shipped out and didn't come back.

The Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC is different from other war
memorials. The polished stone surface, marred only by the names of
those who didn't return, stretches as a bleak reminder of past
and present. It personalizes the war that created a schism  in society
that still hasn't healed. 

When the US went into the Middle East and Afghanistan for this latest conflict, my thoughts immediately turned to Vietnam. I could see our position once again becoming a long, destined to fail, slog through enemy country with a less than satisfying conclusion. And that's what's happening. I hate it when I'm right about political things like that! When I watched the populace rise up against the politicians and the President in the 1970's and compare those days to now, I'm not seeing a lot that's different. Washington DC hasn't changed and we've only exchanged one crook for another in the White House. Obviously we haven't learned our lessons.

Trump and Nixon - they're not that different and they're both crooks.
It doesn't seem that we've learned a lot in the past 40 years. 

Have an excellent Thursday. Tonight is the next episode of Project Runway, so tomorrow will be the generalized synopsis, with Saturday being the in-depth and spoiler analysis of the top and bottom three. Meanwhile, I'm going to try and make up for all of those days without the pool. I need to shave back my lap times!

Thank You For Your Service

Thanks to all who serve and have served to help keep our world safe and free. Thanks to the families who keep the home fires burning and hope alive. Thanks to all who have been touched by conflict and have come through safely and stronger.

Thank You For Your Service!

Prince, Earth Day and Passover - A Very Busy Day

So much is going on today. The news wires are full of information about the life and speculation about the cause of the death of Prince. I don't think this news story will die down quickly. There is speculation of illness, a drug overdose of opiates, and other guesses, but nothing certain. The only thing that is certain is (1) we lost a paramount musician who was respected throughout the world, and (2) there will be lots of legal crap when it comes to parceling out his estate, valued at a minimum of $200,000,000. Or so "they" say. All I know is I won't be getting any of it, and I also won't be seeing stories about him appearing at various local venues to enjoy performances or take up an instrument for an impromptu concert.

The airwaves and internet are full of so many photos of Prince in
performances throughout his career, but this was as close to the
'real' Prince as we can get. This is a passport photo that he had
taken just a couple of months ago. Makeup had to be minimal in
this photo, so just a bit of eyeliner. Damn - he looked good for age 57! 

It's also Earth Day. Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, when I was in high school - yes, that was a long time ago. At that time, for the very first celebration, many of us ditched school and walked in a large group from our building to the Convention Center in downtown Denver where there were displays, exhibits, and discussions about clean water, clean air, zero population growth, and the beginnings of the recycling movement. I remember I phoned my mom to come pick me up after I was done roaming the aisles. I was willing to walk the hour+ to get there, but didn't want to walk back home that distance plus the additional half hour to get home in the dark.

This is a vintage poster from the first Earth Day. I have
no idea what town/city this was from, but the image
of the earth wearing a gas mask is stunning in
its simplicity. 

Tonight, at sundown, is the beginning of Passover for my Jewish relatives and friends. I always loved Passover. Although we held Seder at our own home various years, it was just as common for us to go to the homes of other friends or relatives for Seder. I loved the food, the ritual rhythm of the celebration and ... did I mention the food? Total yum! It was also a great excuse for a thorough housecleaning since products containing yeast were forbidden. I remember many a college student or visiting Christian pastor being sent home with bags of cookies and bread.

The Passover Seder chronicles the flight of the Jewish people as they
escaped Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It goes through their
slavery, the plagues (including the passing over of Jewish houses when
the angel of death visited Egypt for the final plague), and chronicles
the parting of the Red Sea and the forty years of wandering in the
desert. It is one of the integral holidays of the Jewish religion and as
such, I celebrated it many times as I was growing up, even into my
early college years. 

So while people speculate about life and death today - the life of a bright talent, the deaths of firstborn children in ancient Egypt and the death of the entire planet due to poor management of our resources and our waste - look around you. Treasure what you have, tread the earth lightly, and "Let's Go Crazy!". Happy Friday to all.

Veterans Day (Remembrance Day)

Do we even remember when wars end any more? For that matter - do wars ever really end? Today is Veterans Day here in the USA and Remembrance Day across the pond where many other friends of mine live. I'm remembering and honoring veterans throughout the world today on their day and I hope each of you also keeping those who have served in your thoughts.

Honor all veterans today and thank them for their service. 

At 11:00 am on the 11th day of the 11th month, an end to World War I was declared to be over on what was then called "Armistice Day". It took a few more wars - WWII and Korea to be precise - before the title of the date was changed to "Veterans Day". Now Veterans Day encompasses a vast spread of veterans throughout the past century, but if you look at history and pre-history, there have been veterans of organized conflict going back into the dawn of historical record and beyond.

I doubt we'll ever see another headline like this. Were those
days simpler? Or were we just more willing to believe the
idea of world peace? 

What is it about mankind that makes us so aggressive? Is there a gene we could pull to eliminate this tendency? Why must almost every generation have their conflict and their war? My father's war was WWII - he lost everything; family, home and nation to that war. My own war was Vietnam. I didn't serve but knew friends who did. I was on the other side - fighting for peace and an end to that conflict. My cousin's war was Korea - she's older than I am. My other cousin's kids war was the Gulf War. And so on, and so on ... every generation having their own war somewhere in the world. That's not world peace, that's conflict on a daily basis, spilled blood and tears.

Never forget our veterans who placed their lives on the line. Also don't
forget those who didn't come home and who gave the ultimate sacrifice
in the fight for freedom. 

We're standing on the brink of another world war, this time in the Middle East, or maybe in Africa, or even in parts of the Western Hemisphere. The general Middle Eastern area seems to be a focal once more, however, and with Russia entering the Syrian and ISIS conflict, the stage is being set for another possible world war. The area that was a haven for refugees from the second World War is now becoming the battleground for a third one. If that doesn't frighten you, it should.

If this doesn't make you nervous, it should. The only really good
thing about getting older is that eventually I'll die and I won't
experience even more war. This map really sucks, doesn't it! 

But today, remember those who served your country and those few years of peace that we gained from those conflicts. Peace may be fugitive at best, but I'll always be striving for peace rather than war. Honor your veterans and hold them in your heart today. Have a good Wednesday.

Thank You to Teachers

Today is World Teachers' Day and I am asking each of you to thank and remember those teachers who influenced you to become the person you are today.

World Teachers' Day is today. Celebrate with a teacher.

Mrs Brooks was my Kindergarten teacher. I was a precocious, outgoing and exuberant kid with boundless energy as a very young child (I calmed down and got introspective later in life). I have immense respect for anyone who was willing to take care of a classroom of kids just like me. The patience that Mrs Brooks exhibited with all of us while starting each of us on our journey through the educational system was almost saintly.

Kindergarten was a wonderful introduction to school. Everything looked rosy.

Mrs Brooks taught us right from wrong, how to work and play with others, and the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. She taught us finger painting, playing musical instruments (tambourines, triangles and drums) and how to share with others. Throughout the years that I spent in that school, during which she left teaching and joined the administrative staff as Vice Principal, I saw Mrs Brooks every day. When I had problems, it was to her that I turned for advice. I remember her clearly and with great love.

The one room schoolhouse was long gone when I went to school, but
even larger schools still can have a small school mentality.

I had a great third grade teacher, Mrs Melba, for two months. Then she left. I never knew why she left, but her substitute teacher was horrible. It was my first introduction to a teacher with whom I never reached rapport. She refused to recognize that I was reading at a high school level until my mother intervened to allow me to access any book in the school library. I'm quite sure that if physical punishment had still been permitted in the schools at that time, my hand would bear the scars today of multiple ruler strikes. My grades took a dip that year, fortunately rebounding in fourth grade.

I loved my elementary school (most of the time). It still functions as an
elementary school today and the building is still this beautiful
mix of colored brick.

In Junior High (what is now called Middle School) I had two teachers who impacted me, and I seemed to continue my good luck with teachers whose last names began with "B". I had a second Brooks, but this was Miss Brooks, a former airline stewardess from the early days who taught European History. Finally I had a teacher who wanted to relate to her students on a personal level and push them to achieve their best. I was in a new school and knew no-one, so when asked to write down what name I wanted to be called in her class, I chose the name I have gone by ever since. I left my past behind me with my old name and never looked back. The world was suddenly new and exciting, and through the stories and photographs of Miss Brooks I learned how wonderful other countries and their history could be.

Mr Bastien was the other Junior High teacher who impacted my life for years to come. He was in charge of the school orchestra and band. I had started playing the cello in fourth grade. Now, with several years of music under my fingers, I was starting to get serious about music as a possible career path. Mr Bastien was a double-bass player and had a great love for the orchestra. That came through in his interactions with his students. It was his positive reinforcement that pushed me to try out for City and State orchestral positions and he celebrated right alongside me when I was accepted. He was a finalist for Teacher of the Year when I was in my last year of school with him.

Do you have a memory of a favorite teacher that you could share? I'd love to hear it.

Congratulations to all teachers. You do an amazing job!

And I can't forget those teachers who are members of my f-list. There are some incredible teachers who I share my cyber-life with today and I pass this shout on to each of them.

You're amazing!

You're awesome!

You're making a positive impact on your students that will resonate throughout their lives!

YOU ROCK!

Saturday Night's All Right With Me

It's been a long time since I was in my teenage and young adult years and Friday and Saturday nights were the focus of my social calender. Now I look at my calendar as a very different thing. When do I go to the Chiropractor? When is the next national holiday that I can take? What's the lunar phase? What day of the week is it? But the days of Friday night and Saturday night dates or times out with friends to catch dinner and a movie are long behind me. I think that's a shame, at least in same ways.

The days of "How do I look" are long behind me now.

There was something exciting about looking forward to seeing friends for a social event. These were usually people that I knew from school classes or, occasionally co-workers. It could be a small group of two couples or as many as a group of twenty. Rarely it was a "true" date between two people only. We would see movies - midnight showings in the winter and the drive-in during the summer. Sometimes we would gather at the bowling alley or the pinball game parlor. Often we would just get together at one home or another, everyone bring a dish to share for dinner, and we would just talk and listen to music for hours.

There were good friends, good food, good music and good times. But then we grew up and/or graduated. We got jobs in scattered lands and nations and we scattered to the four winds. We stayed in touch, somewhat, and sometimes attended reunions or summer events that would pull some of us back together. But we were never all together again, there were always missing bodies.

There are the hard times when friends get back together.

Then the other type of gatherings started and those weren't as fun. These were for the funerals and wakes of close friends, their spouses, and with even more sadness, their children. Our group splinters more and shrinks more, but we still come together for important occasions, even travelling from far distances.

And we all look at our own children or grandchildren, depending on their ages, and see them getting excited about their Friday and Saturday nights out with their friends or on a date. I wonder...When did the magic leave? When did Friday and Saturday nights just become routine? When did the days that had held such cachet merely transformed into squares on a calendar? Maybe it's time to rediscover the magic again?

Never Forget - Holocaust Remembrance Day

Sunday is Holocaust Remembrance Day, but even with calendars all over my house, it is only listed on 30% of them. What's up with that? The Holocaust was and remains one of the most horrific, government sponsored acts of genocide that the world saw in the 20th century, but it only rates mention on 30% of calendars? There's just something wrong about that.

My grandparents didn't survive the Holocaust. My father's older brother was shot in the forests of Europe while fighting with the resistance. My mother's brothers and sisters, all twelve of them, died in the camps or with the resistance fighters. My cousins, other relations, and their friends were gathered, transported, and murdered in one of the most efficient killing industries that modern history has developed. To be completely clear, it wasn't just Jewish people who were killed in the various killing camps. It was also the Roma, homosexuals and a variety of political nay-sayers who were in the boxcars, the trucks, and the showers. The fact that the majority of the murdered were Jewish, however, means that this crime against humanity will never be forgotten and will never be unmentioned.

History works its way into the heritage and ceremony of the Jewish people. Hanukkah celebrates eight days of light from a single day's oil supply in the days of the Maccabean Revolt (165 BCE). The celebration of Passover celebrates the release of the Jewish people from slavery in the time of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. These events of Jewish history are still celebrated today. Jewish memory is long.

Light a Candle for Peace

Someday there will be a ceremony for the millions slain in the death camps and work camps of Hitler's Germany. Those things are still to come because it takes time to develop and codify ceremonies that will be celebrated and memorialized throughout the Ages to come. But it will happen. Until that time, remember the slain tomorrow while the full moon shines above us. Never forget.

More Remembrances

On November 10, 1975, the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in an early November storm on Lake Superior, sinking to the bottom and causing the death of 29 crew members. The ship took off from Superior, Wisconsin, sister city to Duluth, Minnesota, on its way to Cleveland carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore. Sailing on into the Lake it got hit by a freak early gale with hurricane-force winds and 35 foot high waves. It sank in the early hours of November 10th, just seventeen miles away from 'safe' harbor at Whitefish Point, losing all hands.

In 1995 an expedition was held to find the wreck on the Lake bottom. That resulted in the reclamation of the brass bell from the ship which has been mounted at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point Light Station. Each November 10th the bell is rung twenty-nine times, once for each crew member who was lost. Read their names and remember them today...

Michael E. Armagost, 37
Third Mate Iron River, Wisconsin

Frederick J. Beetcher, 56
Porter Superior, Wisconsin

Thomas D. Bentsen, 23
Oiler St. Joseph, Michigan

Edward F. Bindon, 47
First Assistant Engineer Fairport Harbor, Ohio

Thomas D. Borgeson, 41
Maintenance Man Duluth, Minnesota

Oliver J. Champeau, 41
Third Assistant Engineer Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

Nolan S. Church, 55
Porter Silver Bay, Minnesota

Ransom E. Cundy, 53
Watchman Superior, Wisconsin

Thomas E. Edwards, 50
Second Assistant Engineer Oregon, Ohio

Russell G. Haskell, 40
Second Assistant Engineer Millbury, Ohio

George J. Holl, 60
Chief Engineer Cabot, Pennsylvania

Bruce L. Hudson, 22
Deck Hand North Olmsted Ohio

Allen G. Kalmon, 43
Second Cook Washburn, Wisconsin

Gordon F. MacLellan, 30
Wiper Clearwater, Florida

Joseph W. Mazes, 59
Special Maintenance Man Ashland, Wisconsin

John H. McCarthy, 62
First Mate Bay Village, Ohio

Ernest M. McSorley, 63
Captain Toledo, Ohio

Eugene W. O'Brien, 50
Wheelsman Toledo, Ohio

Karl A. Peckol, 20
Watchman Ashtabula, Ohio

John J. Poviach, 59
Wheelsman Bradenton, Florida

James A. Pratt, 44
Second Mate Lakewood, Ohio

Robert C. Rafferty, 62
Steward Toledo, Ohio

Paul M. Riippa, 22
Deck Hand Ashtabula, Ohio

John D. Simmons, 63
Wheelsman Ashland, Wisconsin

William J. Spengler, 59
Watchman Toledo, Ohio

Mark A. Thomas, 21
Deck Hand Richmond Heights, Ohio

Ralph G. Walton, 58
Oiler Fremont, Ohio

David E. Weiss, 22
Oiler Fremont, Ohio

Blaine H. Wilhelm, 52
Oiler Moquah, Wisconsin


And while you remember these brave sailors whose broken ship went down into history thanks to an early November gale and a Canadian songwriter, let's also turn our thoughts to our veterans.

Sunday, November 11th, is Veteran's Day in the United States. It is a day to honor all veterans from all wars because each and every one of them had to experience a life that no mother truly wishes for her son (or daughter).

As someone who grew up during the Vietnam War era, I grew up in a time when those who wore the uniform of the armed forces in this country were denigrated, vilified and sometimes persecuted for their service. When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, there was a shift by the people of this nation to realize that you didn't have to support the policy to honor the soldier. We honor our veterans from all wars, whether or not we support the particular war they were involved in. Thank a veteran over the weekend for their service. They richly deserve it.

Kristallnacht Remembered

Kristallnacht is a word that resonates with shame down through the years of history. On the night of November 9-10, 1938, organized pogroms occurred throughout Germany specifically targeting Jewish people, businesses and places of religious worship. More than 250 synagogues were burned or destroyed, 7500 Jewish businesses were looted, vandalized or destroyed and almost one hundred Jewish people were killed. It is not unusual in history to have riots or uprisings against one group of people by another. It is not unusual to have violent times where one hundred or more people are lying dead by sunup. What made Kristallnacht infamous, even today, is the fact that this uprising, these murders and this destruction was state sanctioned, state backed, and in many cases carried out by forces representing the elected government.

One of the many burning synagogues throughout Germany

on Kristallnacht.

In this week when we again held elections that could potentially have caused the most powerful political office in the United States to change hands, those elections were, for the most part, peaceful. We held elections that encouraged everybody of legal age to cast their individual vote for the candidate of their personal choice. The people voting were not forced to vote one way or another by gunpoint and they were not kept away from most polling stations by threats of violence. Each voter had their freedom of choice and the elected positions will transfer quietly and peacefully from one person to another if a new person was elected.

Signs such as this existed throughout Nazi-controlled

countries and sometimes still crop up, even now in

'enlightened' times. I hope to never see these again

in my lifetime or yours.

This is unique within world society. This does not happen everywhere. And these freedoms that we take so much for granted are rarely as treasured as they should be. Even though we have a government that sometimes seems to limp along and even though it sometimes seems as if it more resembles a dog chasing its own tail than a panther stalking the best method to solve a problem, we still have a government – an elected government – that tries its best to be a representative government. Is it perfect? Hell no. There are a lot of problems. But despite the problems I'm still proud to be a resident and citizen of the United States of America because in spite of the problems, it's still a pretty good government. And Kristallnacht, which is in the immediate history of my own family, hasn't happened on a nationwide basis in this nation. I hope and I pray that it never will.