Honor and Sacrifice...for Commerce

To prepare for my Walnut Creek Public Art Walking Tour, which I'm giving on Wednesday, I walked the route this morning, stopping at my favorite piece, called Veterans Memorial Plaza. It is a lovely little park at a main intersection of the city's downtown area, yet a peaceful island of granite, water, and birch trees. When you are sitting or walking in this place, you may be unaware of the traffic and buildings around you. It's a nice effect.

As the name of the park almost suggests, it honors the five branches (and their veterans) of the U.S. military, so the theme of five goes throughout the park: five pillars, five ponds, five diagonal paths, and five granite benches at the end of the paths.

Today, for the first time, I actually read what was on the benches: "Loyalty and Respect," "Duty and Country," "Bravery and Valor," "Selflessness and Courage," "Honor and Sacrifice." Then, in spite of the peaceful effect of the park, I started thinking. I thought about all that our military men and women have sacrificed, not for country, as it turns out, but often, as in oil-rich countries, and elsewhere, for Commerce. The very Commerce that broke our financial system, the very Commerce that corrupts, bribes, and sends jobs overseas. The Commerce which creates, or at least perpetuates, a very divided society.

Commerce is what Occupy Wall Street is highlighting/fighting with its actions. So let's talk about "Sacrifice." See this article:   http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/25/1020121/-Workers-sacrifice,-Wall-Street-keeps-the-profits-OccupyWallStreet . And this photo. You might get an idea why some military veterans, are joining the protest. They see  and understand what they sacrificed for, and they are not pleased.

It's Not About Religion

     When Vacaville teacher Steven Cuckovich docked points from a student's grade for saying "bless you" after someone sneezed in class,  some of the media sensationalized the item with accusations about the teacher "...bringing god into his grading."  I have to side with the educator on this one. As a former classroom math teacher, I know exactly what it is about, and it's not about religion. It's about disruption in the classroom.
     Teachers have to cover the curriculum in the designated time period working within the reality of absences, disruptions, and different learning styles. Of course we can't control absences and learning styles, but we can make rules for our classroom about behavior. I, too, had to deal with verbal outbursts from students. I, too, made clear rules about when talking was appropriate, and I, too, was on the receiving end of what I call  "Creative Disruptions," where students tried to bend the rules. Since I wanted students to feel valued about their input, and reassured during their confusion, my style was to be lenient about talking during instruction time.
     During testing, however, no talking was allowed, not even a "god bless you," which came under my "No talking or disruptions of any kind during tests" rule. Creative Disruptions occurred for different reasons. Students made noises during exams to amuse their friends ("See, I talked during Ms. Mulkey's math test, and you said I didn't have the nerve.") and they made creative disruptions in order to cheat on tests (the old trick of "oops, dropped my paper" to trade answers with neighbor).  And, during tests, there was the "bless you" after sneezes real and faked, just for the sake of disruption.  I knew the sounds, and I knew the students involved well enough to tell faux from genuine.
   Why is Cuckovich's practice not about religion? It's not about religion because religion has no place in the classroom. It's not about religion because a teacher's very reasonable rules should not and cannot be trumped by a pretended religious "practice" (there were times when "bless you" was uttered during a test by a student who never said it in, say,  the lunchroom. That's how I know when it was for disruption.)
    Sadly, there is an even more disturbing possibility in this. We need to recognize that some elements of the Right may use this story and others as propaganda for something like a Christian Theocracy Manifesto.  Just ask the loudest critics of Mr. Cuckovich  what would have been the right teacher response if instead of saying "bless you" during a test,  a student disrupted class by pulling out a prayer rug and kneeling on it. Just ask them.

Shatner, Harris, Matthau in A Shot in the Dark

In 1961, before Star Trek, when William Shatner was 30 years old, he starred in a play with Julie Harris and Walter Matthau (who won a Tony for it) called A Shot in the Dark. It was a funny French play (L'Idiote) by Marcel Achard, adapted by Harry Kurnitz. Later in the '60s  it would be greatly modified as a Peter Sellers movie with the same title. I've always loved that movie.

Two days ago I bought a copy of A Shot in the Dark, (A Random House Play), copyright 1962. The small hardcover felt and looked like it had never been opened. It that contained few photos, and a brochure of the play. I didn't recognize Shatner, Harris, or Matthau--they were all so young!!

who am i

I'm remaking my website, which I set up in 2007 and haven't revamped since, even though I have revamped myself during that time.
As I work on each page, I'm thinking, "Who am I now?"
Guess I don't need to figure it out. The solution is to update the website more often!

Deathbed Pie Chart

Last July, Emily Wright put some pie charts in her Stark Raving Cello Blog, that got me thinking about what my deathbed pie chart would look like. But how would I set it up? A graphic with data over a whole lifetime is too much that says too little.

Finally I settled on the two pie charts  that I use here. They represent:

1. my hectic, commute-y, pressurized and stressful existence in 2006

2. what things are like after leaving that job, including doing some small work and volunteering,  not leaving the house much, and NEVER shopping, except for food.

 Being reminded of what life was like before January 2007 is a gift of peace and fulfillment, renewed. What's more--and more important--the My Life Now chart is one that I'd be happy to stick with for the rest of my life, no matter how expensive my health insurance is now, and how little money I make.

Dinosaur Done Badly, But Not as Badly as AMF's Hi-Ball Hand Car

In de-cluttering/ organizing my home office this week, I came across two copies of Jack and Jill Magazine from 1965. Addressed to me.  I'd had a subscription, apparently, which I think might have been a grandparent gift.
There's plenty of fun in the June 1965 Jack and Jill magazine, including my clumsy attempt on page 62 to "Draw a Dinosaur."  What really grabs me, though, is the ad for the AMF Hi-Ball Hand Car.  "More Fun Than a Circus!" "IT'S NEW...DIFFERENT--EXCITING!" "The wheel toy you can ride standing up."  I probably wanted this "toy" when I read the magazine in 1965. I know I saw the magazine, because there's the aforementioned dinosaur done badly in black pen on page 62.
For some reason, when I saw the ad again today, with its name starting with AMF, my brain was thinking "Adios MotherF***ers"  (what movie is that from?); then the happy clown image with its adult shape (yet child size) gave me the creeps.  And then I wondered how many children were killed by neighbors' cars during the first few days after the birthday in which they received this thing. The clown is not wearing a helmet or elbow pads--those items would be important much later. But that's not the biggest problem. Read the ad and look at the drawing: THERE ARE NO BRAKES!!!!!

AMF is American Machine & Foundry Company, which is best known for its automatic bowling- pin setting machines, which helped make indoor bowling the very important recreational and competitive sport that it is. They made bicycles, too. I knew kids who bragged in the '70's about having "an AMF bike." I'm pretty sure the AMF bikes had some kind of braking mechanism.

But this AMF Hi-Ball Hand Car had no brakes? OK, so maybe AMF really does mean Adios MotherF***ers.

Prohibition

I'm so glad that the SF Giants won the World Series--it puts the City on the map. It wasn't there before.

 

This really happened. You can ask Ben: Just before the Giants' Edgar Renteria came up to the plate, I said "Here's  Renteria; he's my man. He's gonna make something happen." Then he hit that 3-run home run.

That's right--I'm psychic. Too bad about the riots afterward. I didn't see those coming. I blame the riots not on the fine citizens of San Francisco, but on those swine outside agitators riding BART into town. Just looking for trouble. And on alcohol. We need to bring back Prohibition.