Fiftieth High School Reunion

I attended my high school reunion this weekend.  Not gonna say which one ... but the Senate Watergate Hearings were on TeeVee as we donned cap and gown. 

It's nice to see these folks I grew up with as we mature, and continue the process of growing up (yours truly possibly excepted).  Friday evening Abby's Pizza; Saturday dinner and live music at Sylvan Ridge winery; Ah! sylvan indeed, not to mention verdant, pastoral, perhaps even bucolic – but I digress.  Sunday, of course, was the mid-day potluck at Emerald Park, where we shared time together with everybody's (or their spouse's) best dishes.  Unlike that same park, when we were growing up, nobody offered to sell me any pot, and only one person witnessed to me about Jesus – and he is a lifelong friend, who backed off before I had to witness back to him about the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Bless His Noodly Appendage).  So it was all smiles.  

I love these gatherings!  With the mellowing of age, many who occupied the highest status have been chastened by time, and become truly enjoyable company – and a few of the wallflowers have sprouted into bold self-actualized extroverts.  

I'm already looking forward to the next gathering!

 

Clarke and Dawe

A couple weeks ago, Craig Bruhn, North Eugene high school's student body president my senior year, not so long ago, posted a clip from an Australian sketch comedy team, Clarke and Dawe.  

It piqued my interest, so I looked into these guys, and have watched a few (less than a hundred) of their clips.  Much of my humor is dry – some dry as dirt.  But, for my money, it's the best deadpan humor since Pat Paulson ran for president. 

Their regular setup is that Dawe is interviewing a corporate or government exec (Clarke), and can never get a straight answer from him.  

Some of the skits land like a thud in my American ears, without the Australian context.  But lots of them, like this one, require no translation!  

Clarke and Dawe - Aircraft Carrier

Born to Run

With all the antics going on in Washington, it's so tempting for me to post about politics.  But I'm finding that I get along better if I am less controversial.

In order to avoid controversy, and maintain a warm consensus among friends, I would like to simply share an interesting fact.  

Bruce Springsteen's timeless 1975 album, Born to Run, is the best Rock and Roll album ever recorded.  It's not even close.  

This album has everything, with each song making a contribution that is indispensable to the whole.  With no aspersions to any other cut, I believe that Jungleland has all the elements that define excellence in this genre; composition that changes mood from intense and loud to whisper-quiet,  lyrics that could stand alone without musical accompaniment as poetry – evoking a sense of place and time that irresistibly draws the listener to the gritty 1960s-70s streets of working-class New Jersey; all supported by unsurpassed unique contributions contributions from throughout the band – particularly the saxophone solo by the late, great Clarence Clemons.  

I'd love to know what other albums people particularly appreciate ... with the understanding that anything else is competing for second.  

Jungleland

Saving Private Ryan

I jumped off the Metro for a few minutes on the way to the airport today, at the Arlington National Cemetery stop.  It had started to rain, and I was hauling all of my luggage, so I didn't walk all the way to the gardens of stone.  But the pause did afford me a moment to consider the meaning of this place.  

Both times I have been to Arlington, it has made me remember the final scene from Saving Private Ryan; as the title character returns decades later to the grave of the man who gave his life to save Ryan's.  The now-old man gives voice to the same existential questions all survivors face - and the need to feel that he has been worthy of the price paid in his behalf.  

Seems like a good question for all of us to ask ourselves.   

Private Ryan

Busy First Week of May

Man, this week has gotten busy! 
Mayday on Monday, then a couple days later we had Polish Constitution Day, followed by May the Fourth (be with you), and now, it's suddenly Cinco de Mayo.  When am I going to have a chance to get ready for tomorrow's Kentucky Derby, and good Lawd!  I haven't even STARTED on my fascinator for King Chuck's coronation!  

Validation and Inspiration

I don’t usually copy and paste things I see on Facebook, even if they make me smile.  

But we’re approaching the end of the school year, and I know that some of the hardest-working people I know, are getting burned out.  Please know the difference you make every day, in the hearts and minds of those who look up to you.  I tell this to authors, who write for children; as well as to teachers -  from those who care for kids who still need diaper changes, to those who would inspire a graduating thermodynamics or history student to consider graduate school, to better share their knowledge with others.  

There is never a wrong time to use your abilities to validate others.  Thank you for all that you do! 

Tears and Prayers

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.

 - (attributed to) Saint Teresa of Avila

Jimmy Carter

At a time when our nation was exhausted by war, stunned by selfishness, corruption, divisiveness, and cynicism, there appeared on the horizon a man who seemed to represent higher values; decency, fairness, generosity, and a strict code of principles.  These values were not a patina, slathered on for political purposes; they defined him to his core – a rare real-life Dudley Do-Right, who, at just this moment, ascended the ladder, skipping rungs, and became President Jimmy Carter. 

These principles of fairness, which were so loved in the abstract, became problematic in practice, once he took office.  Though he had been a naval officer, one of his first acts was to pardon hundreds of thousands of those who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.  And, though president of the most powerful nation on Earth, he overcame strong opposition to negotiate the return the Panama Canal to Panama.  

Even many who didn't care for Jimmy Carter as president can't help but admire the work he has done since leaving office.  In addition to his well-known work with Habitat for Humanity, the Carter Center has played a role in negotiating peace in many conflicts worldwide.  And their efforts to eradicate Guinea Worm Disease, which caused extreme suffering for over 3.5 million people each year, has been largely successful, decreasing to only thirteen known cases last year.  

His partner through all of this—equal partner in every way—has been his wife, Rosalyn. Their lifelong love would be an epic story, even if that's all there was.  

With him now in hospice care, we will soon lose Jimmy Carter as a living human.  But his ideals, and the example he set in living up to them will endure in the hears of all who accept the challenge.   

My personal Mount Olympus is sparsely populated – and even among those I would elevate on high, few are politicians. But Jimmy Carter stands at the paramount.  

Ian Tyson

I found out yesterday that Ian Tyson passed away just before the new year.  

If you're Canadian, you probably already knew this, and may still be in mourning.  Most of us on this side of the border, if we know him at all, it's from other people's covers of his songs.  He may be best known down here for Neil Young's version of his Four Strong Winds.  But my favorite is Someday Soon; and my favorite version of Someday soon is this one.  I know Judy Collins covered it first, but seriously, she's no Suzy Boggus. ;) 

Rest in Peace, Ian.  Thank you for touching my heart.  

Someday Soon - Suzy Boggus