Death Penalty And A Funny Poem

    

    

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

 

"Since governments take the right of death over their people, it is not astonishing if the people should sometimes take the right of death over governments."
--Guy de Maupassant

After watching and listening to the various TV News reports about the recent botched execution in Oklahoma I was shocked at the media response, especially those using the incident to promote the seemingly inhumane aspects of the death penalty and using it to call for abolishing the death penalty.

After all, this event was just another one of the many examples of governmental and institutional incompetence.

More at Botched Execution

Don't get me wrong; I am neither for or against the death penalty. I don't have to have an opinion; I am not a judge. But...

It seems a bit surprising (to me) that after all these years Medical Science could not have developed a simple and effective method to painlessly perform a surgical procedure that will almost instantly transform a living human being into a non-living cadaver.

As they do in most hospital-based major surgeries, a doctor can administer sufficient anesthetics to render the patient unconscious and completely oblivious to pain. The doctor can then surgically sever the nervous system between the brain and the remainder of the body, stop the beating of the heart, and thereby deliver the patient into a permanent state of death.

I'm just sayin'...

_____

Yesterday I found a funny poem that was featured at The Writer's Almanac. It was titled The Pig. Since it is in the public domain and the poet is unknown, I am reproducing it here:

 The Pig
 by Anonymous
 
 It was the first of May
 A lovely warm spring day
 I was strolling down the street in drunken pride,
 But my knees were all a-flutter,
 And I landed in the gutter
 And a pig came up and lay down by my side.

 Yes, I lay there in the gutter
 Thinking thoughts I could not utter
 When a lady passing by did softly say
 'You can tell a man who boozes
 By the company he chooses' --
 And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

Standing for one hour, watering your plants, and kissing for 10 minutes a day burns about 120 calories each.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover died, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape. In 1956, Hoover initiated Cointelpro, a secret counterintelligence program that initially targeted the U.S. Communist Party but later was expanded to infiltrate and disrupt any radical organization in America. During the 1960s, the immense resources of Cointelpro were used against dangerous groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, but also against African American civil rights organizations and liberal anti-war organizations. One figure especially targeted was civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who endured systematic harassment from the FBI.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

humane  [hyu-MAYN]
adjective
characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals.

_____

 

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Engelbert Humperdinck
(born May 2, 1936)

Engelbert Humperdinck is a British Indian pop singer, best known for his UK number-one hits "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz", as well as "After the Lovin'" and "A Man Without Love".

Christine Jane Baranski
(born May 2, 1952)

Christine Baranski is an American stage and screen actress. She made her stage debut in 1974 and her Broadway debut in Hide and Seek in 1980, The Real Thing in 1984 and Rumors in 1989. On television, she is known for her role as Maryanne Thorpe in the sitcom Cybill and her portrayals of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in The Big Bang Theory and Diane Lockhart in The Good Wife. Her film roles include, 9 1/2 Weeks, Legal Eagles, Reversal of Fortune, Addams Family Values, Jeffrey, The Birdcage, Bulworth, Cruel Intentions, Chicago, and Mamma Mia!.

Theodore Meir Bikel
(born 2 May 1924)

Theodore Bikel is an Austrian-American actor, musician, and composer. He made his film debut in The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones (1958).

Stephanie Kay Panabaker
(born May 2, 1990)

Kay Panabaker is a retired American film and television actress now working as a zoologist. She portrayed "Alice Brand" in 7th Heaven; "Melissa Rue" in ER; "Sara" in Port Charles; "Carrie Bauer" in The Brothers García; "Ellisha" in Medium; "Lindsey Willows" in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

In film, she appeared in Dead Heat as "Sam LaRoche".. Panabaker's breakout role came when she starred in The WB's Summerland as "Nikki Westerly", in the 2004-2005 season. She also appeared as "George" in the 2007 Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills.

__________

"You do not cut a check in the state of Kansas to John Doe, executioner. The executioner is paid in cash so there's no trail to him"
--George Plimpton

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

    

What's So Special About Literature?

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

177 pounds

Over at The Writer's Almanac a few days ago I read about the novelist Philip Roth, who was born on that day. I hope they won't mind if I copy and paste one of Roth's remarks concerning literature talk:

Philip Roth said: "I would be wonderful with a 100-year moratorium on literature talk, if you shut down all literature departments, close the book reviews, ban the critics. The readers should be alone with the books, and if anyone dared to say anything about them, they would be shot or imprisoned right on the spot. Yes, shot. A 100-year moratorium on insufferable literary talk. You should let people fight with the books on their own and rediscover what they are and what they are not. Anything other than this talk. Fairytale talk. As soon as you generalize, you are in a completely different universe than that of literature, and there's no bridge between the two."


While browsing blindly through a list of literary journal entries I (somehow) happened upon a review written by Tanya Andrious of a poem (Shelley Wagner’s "The Boxes") I had never read and this description sent me searching for it. The only place I found it available (cheaply enough) was through Amazon's listing of its used books for one cent. I'm not sure if I will buy one of those inexpensive copies or not. The shipping charge is $3.99.

I am providing a link to the quite detailed (but questionable) review below.

Boxed With Grief


My son brought over a DVD of the movie Gravity. I viewed it and liked it a lot. Of course, with Sandra Bullock performing in it how could anyone not like it? And the high-tech special effects were terrific. Plenty of suspense. The only drawback, in my opinion, was the lack of complexity in the story. I watched it... but then what? Now I know what happened. There is no way I would want to see it again. And I have a great devotion for movies (and books) that I can enjoy once, and then a few months later I can thrill to again. Not this one.

I really enjoyed watching it, though.

_____

Random Images

The Wash Alongside Camino Seco Avenue At Speedway Blvd.

Tucson, Arizona March 20, 2014

For those who may not know, a wash is either a natural or man-made channel through which water from heavy rainfalls or melting snows in the mountains is transported to valleys and other areas below.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

Ken Kersey, author of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest faked his own death and fled to Mexico because he was caught in possession of marijuana.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1963 Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay closed down and transferred its last prisoners. At it's peak period of use in 1950s, "The Rock," or "America's Devil Island" housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. The twelve-acre rocky island, one and a half miles from San Francisco, featured the most advanced security of the time. Some of the first metal detectors were used at Alcatraz. Strict rules were enforced against the unfortunate inmates who had to do time at Alcatraz. Nearly complete silence was mandated at all times.

Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable. In 1972 Alcatraz was added to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now open for tourism.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

turgid
adjective
1. Swollen; congested.
2. Pompous; high-flown.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Matthew Broderick

(born March 21, 1962)

Matthew Broderick is an American film, stage and voice actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, voiced Simba in The Lion King, and portrayed Leo Bloom in the Hollywood and Broadway productions of The Producers.

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell

(born March 21, 1962)

Rosie O'Donnell is an American comedian, actress, author and television personality. O'Donnell started her comedy career while still a teenager and her big break was on the talent show Star Search in 1984. A TV sitcom and a series of movies introduced her to a larger national audience and from 1996 to 2002, she hosted The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

O'Donnell came out, stating "I'm a dyke!" two months before finishing her talk show run, saying that her primary reason was to bring attention to gay adoption issues. In May 2003, she became a regular contributor to the magazine. She continues to do charity work and remains involved with LGBT and family-related issues.

Gary Leonard Oldman

(born 21 March 1958)

Gary Oldman is an English screen and stage actor, filmmaker and musician. As an actor, he has collaborated with many of Hollywood's biggest filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Zemeckis. Some of his best-known roles are Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy, Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears, Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Drexl Spivey in True Romance, Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional, Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, James Gordon in Nolan's Batman trilogy, and George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Oldman is also known for his role in the films Meantime, The Firm, State of Grace, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Basquiat, The Fifth Element, Air Force One, The Contender, Hannibal, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Lawless.

Cynthia Geary

(born March 21, 1965)

Cynthia Geary is an American actress best known for her role as Shelly Tambo in the television series Northern Exposure. In her Emmy-nominated role, she played a former Miss Northwest Passage beauty queen living with a decades-older lover, Holling Vincoeur (played by John Cullum). Together they ran Cicely, Alaska's tavern and restaurant, The Brick.

__________

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
--Isaac Asimov

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

A Piece Of Prosaic Poetry

     

They Call Themselves Saints - (Latter Day?)

Elder Prater, a bicycle mounted teen-age Mormon,
Secure in white shirt, tie, and Identification Badge,
Questioned my faith thusly: "Everyone has faith;
You have faith," he said, " that the sun will rise
Into the sky tomorrow morning... do you not?"

My answer was, "I believe that tomorrow morning,
Earth will rotate me into the brightness of the sun,
Based upon my seventy-five years of observing that
It has done so each and every day of my entire life,
But I have no faith that since it has, it next day will."

"You know what faith is, don't you," he queried;
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
And faith is the evidence of things not seen."
I said, "I have read the KJV of the bible may times,
 And Hebrews 11:1 is a platitude without meaning."

"It seems that you have grown senile in your old age,"
He said, "Don't you prefer going to Heaven than Hell?"
"Every earthly biological creature that has ever lived,"
I said, "is destined to transmute into eventual death --
And eternal oblivion, in its purist form, is a Heaven.

Copyright 2014 Charles Gene Chambers

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Daniel Lawrence "Larry" Whitney

(born February 17, 1963)

Larry the Cable Guy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which included Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Jeff Foxworthy (with whom he has starred on Blue Collar TV).

Mary Ann Mobley

(born February 17, 1939)

Mary Ann Mobley is a former Miss America, actress, and television personality. Between 1969-1973 she made five appearances on Love, American Style, and eight appearances on Fantasy Island from 1978-1984. She had a recurring role as Maggie McKinney Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes in the series final season, having taken over the role from Dixie Carter.

Rene Marie Russo

(born February 17, 1954)

Rene Russo is an American actress and former model. She is known for starring in a series of popular, big budget thrillers and action movies throughout the 1990s.She made her debut in film as the girlfriend of the Tom Berenger character in Major League. Her breakthrough role is generally considered to be her part as internal affairs detective Lorna Cole in Lethal Weapon 3 (and again in Lethal Weapon 4) opposite Mel Gibson.

Denise Lee Richards

(born February 17, 1971)

Denise Richards is an American actress and former fashion model. She has appeared in films, including Starship Troopers (1997), Wild Things (1998), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), The World Is Not Enough (1999) as a Bond girl, and in Valentine (2001). She later appeared in Scary Movie 3 (2003), Love Actually (2003), Edmond (2005), and Madea's Witness Protection (2012). She appeared in guest arcs on television series such as Melrose Place (1996), Spin City (2001) and Two and a Half Men (2003-2004). She also played Monica and Ross Geller's cousin on Friends (2001).

_________________

This Is Who I Am

A Poem About Creative Writing

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________________

 . . . * rebirth * . . .

at seven in the morning
bent over my keyboard
creating a masterpiece

i hear mr coffee beep
an electronic warning
di-di-di-dah

and i bellow
god damn it
stumble over

the touch of one finger
renews sustaining warmth
vacuous life for another hour


Copyright 2013 Gene Chambers

Note:
A synonym for
vacuous
is empty.
So is mindless.

_____

A group of Republican lawmakers want to require Arizona students to recite a loyalty oath to the U.S. and its Constitution before they can graduate high school. They are sponsoring House Bill 2467 in the Legislature. If passed, it would make the loyalty oath a prerequisite for graduation from any public high school in Arizona starting with the 2013-14 school year.

Students would be required to say:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose or evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; so help me God."

LINK

". . . so help me God?"  Right!

_____

Historical Clip

Today Is Australia Day

On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.

Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the 30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as Australia Day.

Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land as white colonization spread across the continent.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

philosophy
noun
1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory.
3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry.
4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts.
6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory.
8. A system of values by which one lives.

A Philosophy is a conclusion formulated in the absence of a definite answer, based on assumptions, values, and experience. Conclusions are rational, but their basis is not, due to a lack of information. Conservatism and Liberalism are examples of philosophy -- neither can be objectively judged to be correct.
--From The Urban Dictionary

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Paul Newman

Born Jan. 26, 1925
Died  Sep 26, 2008

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver, auto racing team owner and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.

His first movie for Hollywood was The Silver Chalice (1954). In 1956, Newman garnered much attention and acclaim with Somebody Up There Likes Me as boxer Rocky Graziano. By 1958, he was one of the hottest new stars in Hollywood. Later that year, he starred in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor. The film was a box office smash and Newman garnered his first Academy Award nomination.

Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).

He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They both also starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.

Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of June 2012, these donations exceeded $330 million.

Douglas MacArthur

Born Jan. 26, 1880
Died  Apr. 5, 1964

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army who was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the U.S. Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army.

Gene Siskel

Born Jan. 26, 1946
Died  Feb 20, 1999

Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1986 until his death.

Ellen DeGeneres

Born Jan 26, 1958
Age:   54 years old

Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

__________

There is creative reading as well as creative writing.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

More This And That

_________________



Tucson Weather Today



_________________

Yesterday I read (and liked very much) a somewhat jarring short poem titled The Escaped Gorilla by David Wagoner at The Writer's Almanac which also contains some short but quite interesting and informative write-ups about some famous celebrities and authors whose birthdays were on that date: Buster Keaton, Damon Runyon, Roy Blount Jr., and Edward L. Stratemeyer.

_____

Today I will once again be heading out into the desert to watch over Eva for the next week. If I can prod myself to do so, I will seek out and take some new nature pictures.

We'll see.

_____

Logo for U.S. Drone Strikes

Logo Image Speaks For Itself

_____

One of the Ol' Times TV channels just started re-runs of, in my opinion, the best show of all time: All In The Family.

 One of my favorite Archie Bunkerisms,when

Archie is lecturing The Meathead on religion

is . . .

"Faith is when you believe something that

nobody in his right mind would believe."

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

pleonasm
Noun
Using more words than necessary to explain one’s meaning.

Example: "The sound of the loud music drowned out the sound of the burglary." is a pleonasm of "The music drowned out the burglary."

Some pleonastic phrases are part of a language's idiom, like "tuna fish" and "safe haven" in English. They are so common that their use is unremarkable, although in many cases the redundancy can be dropped with no loss of meaning.

_____


BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY



Chester A. Arthur

Born: Oct. 05, 1829
Died Nov 18, 1886

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States (1881–1885). He became President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, His advocacy for, and enforcement of, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was the centerpiece of his administration.

Arthur made only a limited effort to secure renomination in 1884; he retired at the close of his term.

Larry Fine

Born: Oct. 5, 1902
Died Jan. 24, 1975

Louis Feinberg, known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian and actor, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.

Robert Hutchings Goddard

Born Oct. 05, 1882
Died Aug. 10, 1945

Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926. Goddard and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as high as 885 km/h (550 mph).

Goddard received little public support for his research during his lifetime. Although his work in the field was revolutionary, he was sometimes ridiculed in the press for his theories concerning spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work. Years after his death, at the dawn of the Space Age, he came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry. He was the first not only to recognize the scientific potential of missiles and space travel but also to bring about the design and construction of the rockets needed to implement those ideas.

Allen Ludden

Born Oct 5, 1917
Died Jun 9, 1981

Allen Ludden was an American television personality, emcee and game show host, perhaps most well known for hosting various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980.

He proposed to twice-divorced Betty White, whom he had met on Password, at least twice before she accepted. Eventually, they were married on June 14, 1963, and remained together until Ludden's death.


__________

"If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember."
--Terry Pratchett

Herb Roasted Chicken For Dinner

Tucson Weather Today

_____

I've been diddling with a poem idea that won't leave me alone. It begins:

The ubiquitous horde of artistic folk
who dwell in the town of Drivelville
applaud each launch
of peer-lauded spew
to snare their fair share of attention.

Dah, dah, dah, dah, da Dah . . .

_____

There is an interesting list offered on Arnold Zwicky's blog. It is, as Zwicky puts it, a partial inventory of postings on language rage, language peeving, word aversion, and word attraction on Language Log and this blog.

A short example is:

No free speech for spam rage

USA Today reports that when Charles Booher got mad at a Canadian company that spammed him, and threatened to shoot or torture them and send them anthrax unless they removed him from an e-mail list, Federal agents turned up at his home and arrested him. He's looking at five years in jail and a fine of a quarter of a million dollars.

The entire list is HERE.

_____

I read that it is insensitive to refer to another person as being an 'idiot' or 'lamebrain' or a 'retard' and that the proper and acceptable appellation for those afflicted with LD (learning disabilities) is 'neurologically different.'

If, unlike me, that subject interests you, then you might like to read some thoughts about LD in a short piece titled “Things not to say to LD people (or their parents)”at THIS LINK.

Or, if you are a writer or writer wannabe, you might like to read a Fictionaut article written by an adult with neurological differences...

Marty Castleberg

_____

Last Sunday I wrapped up my TV News stint by watching Meet The Press wherein Bob Schieffer hosted a discussion with four authors: Condoleeza Rice, Michael Lewis, Walter Isaacson, and Kathryn Stocket.

Whether or not I learned anything from the group is questionable, but I did enjoy the half-hour.

_____

I saw a YouTube video titled: disproving intelligent design with a mouse trap. Of course, there have been creationists who have used a mousetrap to prove intelligent design. Now, the mousetrap is being used to disprove it.

Disproving Intelligent Design with a mousetrap.

__________

Evolution is the non-random survival of randomly-produced variations.
--Something Surprising blog

R.I.P. Chuck Draves

I recently checked in to the blog of an old school classmate, Chuck Tilton and found that another of our High School classmates, Chuck Draves, had passed away last month. Both of these guys called "Chuck" were one grade ahead of me but I had one class with Chuck Draves. I can't remember even one time that I saw this truly handsome fellow without a big smile on his face. That's the truth.

Chuck Draves was a poet... and below is one of his poems wherein he reminisces about the early days back in our hometown of Rensselaer, Indiana.


School is really out:
All three buildings of the little campus
nothing more than rubble somewhere
in a brickyard heap. Here, a parking lot;
there, a mini-park, and right here, where
the high school used to be,
a library, nearly new, where only
a tuned-in few, closing their eyes and standing
stock-still, hear the hub-bub
of their long-gone selves.

I listen.
Goodbyes here are beside the point.

There, in that grade-school lot, I feel
Gus Critser jumping me, me,
one nine-year-old cussing machine
with a sour temper,
provoking Mrs. Giovanini’s wrath,
but holding my own
like a new pox on the whole fourth grade.
Yet, that year
my brain and I circled round
like angry schoolyard thugs
and found out we could still be friends,
along with Gus, who later learned
to kick a football to the moon
and tried out for the Bears.
Only the Christian Church, unchanged and
catycorner, where Don Wheat once preached
and somehow later led my marriage vows
in Oak Park, Illinois, anchors
the site for this odd parade.

There goes Bob Nesius
in his baby-blue ’53 Chevie with the
sweetest duals around,
and here’s Gordon Dean,
around fifth grade, telling me
his Johnnie Doitfaster joke, which
at least one of us only barely got.
Gordon’s mom taught us both
that year, and I told him he got
more ‘A’s because of that, and he
told me to study harder. And
here’s Ron Paulus, sixth grade, betting me
five
real dollars that an 8 oz. coke
has eight times more caffeine
than a cup of coffee. Gordon
still knows more and studies harder.
Ron worked as a NASA engineer
in its glory days. And Bob
built his love of “Indian” cultures
into expert know-how about
prehistoric Native Americans. Yet,
we’re all here, now, waiting
~growing in this little town~
for the recess bell to ring,

waiting for some new class to begin,
waiting for the future to go past, why not?

****

My first love was Jeannie Foster, though
I never told her so or even held her hand,
and I lusted from an even greater distance
for her awesome older sisters.
She arrived in the midst of Mr. Harry Smith’s
sixth-grade world history class and helped
me understand the uproar over Helen of Troy.
Now, here she is in Mrs. Hershman’s
sophomore English class,
sitting in front of me and stretching cat-like,
her long hair tumbling over my studious head, and
me murmuring to myself about needing
to concentrate on something other than her
gloriously emerging sweater. Pity the scholar.
Even Mrs. Hershman paused; Jean shook her head.
I saw her last with her professor husband
and couldn’t say hello. Hello.

****

Where do we go before we’ve gone away?
Does it even matter that Judy and I hit
Sarge and the chief of police in a
snowstorm on a one way bridge in a ’39
Chevie that Barney Hawkey sold to me
for $150 and a handshake in 1953? Sure.
We were going downhill and they were not.
Why say goodbye to any delicious moment?
It’s night. We’re right around the corner
from the high school, and we’re headed
to her home. Again. Sixteen has its moments.

You do the hokie pokie, and…
That’s what it’s all about.

III

The college looks about the same
Except for open space where the administration
building squatted, low and reddish,
back behind the fountain
near the two lane highway
out of town. My Aunt Elsie
took me to wade there
in the Middle Ages, back
when I was maybe seven
but already ancient
in the ways I look at life.

As for the building, it burned
and the flames reflected in the pool
like old recollections of despair.

The Bears held camp there
out of Chicago in those forties days
and the likes of Sid Luckman and Bulldog Turner
hulked along the sidewalks
of our little downtown
every August as long as
I could recall until after I returned
from Serving My Country,
mostly from an apartment
near the ocean in Virginia Beach,
but what the hell.
I pumped gas
and peddled cigars
to all-pro tackles in yellow Dodge
convertibles
and later spent one summer
downing beers with Chuck Tilton
and two prize quarterbacks.
That same summer,
I studied logic in a class with two-dozen
nuns
and learned about classical music
from a young professor
finishing his dissertation and
adding to his grant money as a lark.
He went on to teach at Yale
and allowed that his students there
might never have seen a real field of
corn like the one across the highway
from the campus. Deprived, no doubt.

I watched Ike, the former Pres,
heading toward here on a
nearly deserted
State Street near Purdue –
in the early sixties that would be –
to honor Charlie Halleck
whose growing-up house was
down the street from me.
The house is still there
I see. Tilton’s dad drove
Ike and Charlie around town
in a new Buick convertible
from Felder’s Buick Chevrolet
on a corner by the courthouse.
Tilton now garages a convertible
as much like that one
as he could find; he drove that
prized old relic in from Kansas,
fueling it with prayer and pride.

These days, Halleck Center
on that shady campus
plays host to high school re-unions,
and every spring
embellished stories emerge fresh
like rows of corn and beans
sprouting from the same old seed.

Even what is ordinary
Dances in a jitterbug
of cherished notes.

ced 10/02

A Poem Titled GAS

Since I have nothing of importance to enter into this space today I decided to copy and paste a poem written by Charles Bukowski that I just read this morning over at The Writer's Almanac -- which is probably illegal but nobody is going to howl about it, and even if they do all I have to do is delete it from the day's blog entry. For some reason I really liked this poem. Don't know why...

Gas
by Charles Bukowski

my grandmother had a serious gas
problem.
we only saw her on Sunday.
she'd sit down to dinner
and she'd have gas.
she was very heavy,
80 years old.
wore this large glass brooch,
that's what you noticed most
in addition to the gas.
she'd let it go just as food was being served.
she'd let it go loud in bursts
spaced about a minute apart.
she'd let it go
4 or 5 times
as we reached for the potatoes
poured the gravy
cut into the meat.

nobody ever said anything;
especially me.
I was 6 years old.
only my grandmother spoke.
after 4 or 5 blasts
she would say in an offhand way,
"I will bury you all!"

I didn't much like that:
first farting
then saying that.

it happened every Sunday.
she was my father's mother.
every Sunday it was death and gas
and mashed potatoes and gravy
and that big glass brooch.

those Sunday dinners would
always end with apple pie and
ice cream
and a big argument
about something or other,
my grandmother finally running out the door
and taking the red train back to
Pasadena
the place stinking for an hour
and my father walking about
fanning a newspaper in the air and
saying, "it's all that damned sauerkraut
she eats!"


Gas by Charles Bukowski,
from The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain.
Copyright © Harper Collins, 2004.

Charles Bukowski

__________

Now I am off to work on my latest short-story...

Nothing To Fear But . . .

FEAR

Via Google, this is what I have learned about FEAR so far.

The emotion of fear stems from several hormonal and neurochemical responses in the brain. The source of fear is there.

Hormones are released throughout the body. They trigger defensive mechanisms such as raising adrenaline and cortisol levels, and increasing heart rate and respiration. The "fight-or-flight" response. The chemical action is meant to stay active for only a few seconds or minutes, just enough time for a person to react to the object of his fear.

What do you think happens, however, when that object is not real? What if it's simply a situation created by your imagination? In this case, for many people, the high levels of adrenaline and increased cardiorespiratory rates remain in the body for longer periods, adding more stress and consequently making the body experience "burnout" and total exhaustion.

So, it seems that fear is basically nothing more than a chemical reaction within the brain. Oh Wow! Just knowing that makes my fear more controllable.

Right . . .

FDR had something to say about Fear:

"The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself."

And so did Adam Rulli-Gibbs:

Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

Villagers scurry like ants at

the howl of the chimera

and the griffon's call.

Nowhere to hide from the hydra,

the centaur, or the dragon.

Man-eaters one and all.

One man alone will stand his ground

and, like a mountain,

bars the way.

The stance, the face, the attitude.

All say he fears nothing but fear.

...

We visited his grave today.

Copyright Adam Rulli-Gibbs

2004 - 2006

No, that is not all I have to say about FEAR. But I am still contemplating the years I've lived with my own fear and how I have reacted to it throughout a lifetime. And I am not sure how much of this recollection and self-examination I wish to reveal about (or to) myself. Or how to do it. Personal Memoir? Essay? Fictional Account?

More about this later . . .

It takes time, you know.