Blog Archives

294 Vote! It’s Important!

10/30/2024

I hope that any readers will believe that I TRY to present a reasonably neutral position, politically speaking, in these posts. I have always believed that it was an abuse of power for an educator (which I have considered myself to be since I started teaching in the Fall of 1969) to express political opinions in the classroom. That’s not to say that I don’t (and haven’t) HAD political opinions, even pretty strong ones. However, I have certainly attempted to be properly diligent about not making them a part of my teaching. I think (and thought) that it was my job to present, as much as possible, the most appropriate and FACTUAL information available on the topic at hand, and that it needed to be as free as possible from personal, and/or political bias.

Now, I HAVE, on occasion, been asked by a student for my opinions, beliefs, etc., regarding matters about which there is some controversy. In those cases, I have tried to make it clear that I was expressing MY opinion; and I have, whenever possible, attempted to explain my reasoning, while acknowledging that there are other opinions.

Case in point: I have never seen what I could accept as a reasonable case being made for the idea that William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon did not write the plays and poems which have been credited to him. I HAVE, in fact, been asked about this in the classroom. My response has always been to state that I have never seen any evidence which I would consider to be adequate to justify a belief that he didn’t write them. But, some people do have that opinion, as is their right. I hope that I have made it clear, however, that, I, PERSONALLY, don’t buy their argument.

The same sort of practice has been my attempt throughout my teaching career. Now, I am not stupid enough to believe that many of my students have not come to believe that I am fairly liberal-minded (which I would suggest tends to be true of most theatre people) and, therefore, I AM likely to espouse those sorts of positions PERSONALLY, but I have at least made considerable efforts to keep them to personal, not “teaching,” situations. I have also tried to maintain that sort of position in this blog, and I intend to continue to do so.

That does NOT mean, however, that I do not wish to take advantage of this format to encourage voting! Lots of people are making lots of noise these days about how “crooked” our elections are and how it really isn’t important to vote because “somebody” is going to prevent YOUR vote from being fairly counted.

I DISAGREE! The evidence which I have encountered suggests that the “election deniers” all seem to think our elections are highly flawed, but the people who actually RUN our elections say (and have demonstrated in court!) that they have evidence strongly suggesting that our elections are at least among the fairest and most equitable in the world, if they aren’t THE best. And it is true that it’s the United States which is frequently asked to send folks to judge the fairness of OTHER COUNTRIES’ elections, if you watch the news.

In 2020, I believe that there were 62 lawsuits filed challenging various aspects of voting procedures in a number of states. (Fact: look it up for yourself.) Of these, about half were summarily dismissed by the courts and in only ONE case was the judgement of a court in favor of the challenge, and that case had to do with something related to a county official’s ruling that the presence of COVID-19 did not automatically justify giving absentee ballots to everyone requesting such. In other words, I believe I am correct that there were NO successful court challenges to the actual propriety (or accuracy) of that year’s elections.

These facts suggest to me that the “election deniers” may well have some sort of stake in getting people to believe that our elections aren’t fair, even if the facts support a different conclusion. I won’t delve into trying to establish motives, but I will suggest that, I am not fond of people (critics, reviewers, politicians, any sort of person) who seem to think that their beliefs are the ONLY POSSIBLE CORRECT ONES! In fact, I’ll even stray far enough from neutrality to suggest that you do have a right to your opinion, but you DON’T have the right to just ignore FACTS, nor to insist that (for whatever reason you believe makes only YOUR opinion of value) that YOUR opinions should count and mine shouldn’t.

I’m sorry, but that’s not how a democracy works. It sounds a great deal to me like some sort of autocracy/monarchy. In fact, it sounds a lot like Fascism! Go ahead, look up that word’s definition! And I don’t think that’s what the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution were intended to establish when the Founders chose NOT to establish an autocratic form of government. The fact was, that that’s what they were rebelling against. Having read those “Founding” documents (I would suggest that they ARE worth reading!), I believe that their authors would support the idea that it’s not just the “right” of the people to vote, it is, in fact, their DUTY to do so as informed, thoughtful citizens.

That being the case, if you haven’t voted yet, please arrange to do so on/by election day. I urge you to thank any poll workers you encounter, most of whom are volunteers who spend their own time to make the elections as accurate, free, fair, and safe as possible. We owe them our thanks for their service, just as we do first-responders and our military, they are a large part of what makes our country great!

We also owe it to our fellow citizens to not just vote blindly, but to make careful, reasoned selections of who is our best choice to represent our personal interests as an official in OUR government. This is not just “checking a box” for a person you have heard of, or for a political party, it’s an investment in our, shared, future. These choices matter! Use your vote, but USE it wisely!

I’ll be back after the election to “ramble on” about something else. I’ll see you then. In the meantime, make sure you VOTE!

🖖🏼 LLAP,

Dr. B

IMPORTANT P. S.   I (and apparently I am not alone) am currently having a good deal of trouble (which I have NEVER had before) in accessing my email on the AOL accounts I have been using since sometime in the early 1980’s. Obviously. I am not pleased. Consequently, I have setup an account on Yahoo, which I hope will serve until the AOL account difficulties can be resolved, assuming that they CAN be.

(My suspicion is that the AOL people have not made the software adjustments necessary to be able to handle the most recent generation(s) of computers and/or software, but what do I know.) Anyway, the problem does NOT seem to be unique to me.

Therefore, if you need to email me in the immediate future, I believe that I can be reached at: “[email protected].”

Please pass the word to other friends, colleagues, etc. It’s going to take me a good while to go through my entire “Contacts” list (assuming that I need to) and send messages to everyone. Help will be much appreciated.   Dr. B

0 Comments

293 Autumn Is Upon Us! (Halloween is almost here!)

10/16/2024

0 Comments

It’s Autumn, the season when (nowadays) school’s been running long enough that people seem to think that some sort of respite is needed, so many schools are having a “Fall Break” about now. And, Halloween, or Samhain, or All Saint’s Day, or whatever YOU choose to call it, is upon us bringing shoppers running to stores to buy costumes, candy, “seasonal” decorations, etc. How do I know this?

Well, have you been to a store recently? And, like Garfield (see below), I have observed it in the natural world. That is, the first leaves are starting to go for their autumnal ride.

That means that school children have certainly completed their traditional “What I Did On MY Summer Vacation” essays and/or presentations and, like Sally in this Peanuts cartoon, are contemplating the “days gone by” while thinking, much as Sally is doing, “Where DID the summer go?” AND, they are probably arriving at much the same sort of conclusion that she did…

That’s not to suggest that Autumn doesn’t have its nice points, however. The heat of summer (it’s been quite a long, hot, dry one here in Omaha, after a VERY damp Spring) is, basically, over, and the cold, snowy days of winter haven’t arrived yet (and can stay away for a while, as far as I’m concerned), so it’s going to be reasonably pleasant weather-wise for a bit (although it’s still quite DRY!). And, of course, the leaves are starting to change colors, so there’s a chance that it’s going to be pretty outside for a while.

That tends to be the problem, though. Fall is just a bit short! By the time one realizes how pretty the leaves are, how nice the weather is, etc., and tries to take pictures of this phenomenon….

As this Non Sequitur suggests, it’s now too late; you’ve missed that “perfect” photo AGAIN!

And, as was previously stated, school is back in session, so “kids” (of all ages, but especially those in school), have to deal with things like TESTS that we, “mean,” teachers give them because WE are REQUIRED to EVALUATE those students and assign GRADES to them (which most teachers don’t really like much more than the students do). It IS the way of the educational world, however, and it CAN lead to all sorts of interesting notions, as this Heart of the City strip indicates…

Perhaps the major redeeming feature of Autumn for most kids is the coming of Halloween. This is, of course, the best known remnant of the Autumnal celebrations found in the majority of societies under a variety of names. Halloween, specifically, is, of course, actually derived from "All Hallows' Eve,” or the “eve”(evening before) All Hallow’s Day, which was (as I understand it) created by the Christian Church during the 7th Century to honor the Saints (Hallows), and in an attempt to “Christianize” the earlier, pagan, harvest/equinox traditions.

In any case, at least in the U.S., Halloween is most commonly celebrated by folks (of all ages) dressing up in “spooky,” or “sexy,” or “silly” costumes and attending various sorts of parties, or going “Trick or Treating” (which seems most likely to be based on “Souling,” where folks would go door to door begging a “soul cake” in exchange for prayers for the dead on All Hallow’s Eve).

Somehow this idea seems to have gotten into many people’s minds as a Christmas tradition. This is probably because it rather resembles “Caroling,” which IS a Christmas tradition, but the sources I consulted suggest that “Souling” actually started as part of Autumnal/Harvest celebrations, which would fit it in with the “Day of the Dead” traditions of the Hispanic world.

In any case, “Trick or Treating” is most commonly rewarded with candy, or some other sort of treat, to bribe folks from playing “tricks” on you (like soaping windows, papering trees, putting your outhouse building on top of your barn roof, or simply tipping that building over, etc.). I agree that it’s easier (and more fun for us “adults”) to buy some candy and pay the “bribe,” but at least in most places the rather nasty “tricks” of older days are not much utilized, which IS a good thing. Besides, seeing the kids in their costumes can be a lot of fun!

On the other hand, there ARE drawbacks to even seeking to gain the “Treats” after a point…

One has to learn to be a bit Stoic about Autumn, as one gets older, however. It DOES have points which are pleasant, even wonderful. There are also aspects which some people (me included) find annoying. One of the things I find MOST unpleasant, for example, is pointed out quite clearly in this cartoon from The Argyle Sweater below:

Now, I should hasten to make it clear that I have nothing against what is called “Pumpkin Spice” in its proper place. This “spice,” usually a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, CAN be quite delicious ON PUMPKIN, especially in the form of a pie topped with whipped cream! However, it has become MUCH too common for people to assume that it has a place in coffee drinks and just about everything else, as the cartoon indicates. If you like it on, or with, everything, it’s your right, but PLEASE spare me!

I think that the only major drawback of Fall (which I hope it is clear that I like a lot) is that it always seems to be a bit too short. The brightly colored leaves become a drab brown much too quickly, and the days start to get cold beyond being just “a bit brisk.” And, there’s the ever-present sense that snow is on the way. Garfield indicated that during last winter, but, I think it applies even as Fall is just getting under way.

I suppose that it’s good that Fall doesn’t last too long and that it disappears while we still are enjoying it, but I know that by early December, I’m going to be missing it. I just find the present season (ignoring the recent hurricanes) to be a happy time of year and I like it.

I hope that you are having a reasonably happy Autumnal season and that you will find this to be an enjoyable time of year. We are stuck with it, so we might just as well enjoy it, since we don’t have a lot of choice. Don’t spend too much time letting the plethora of campaign advertising get you down. (I find such ads to be quite annoying by now, too.) Do plan to vote, and give your selections some thought, though. Remember that ALL advertising is, properly, called “propaganda” (no matter how many people use that word to try to discredit their opponents’ ads). And, we really need to consider the sources of our information AND the actual FACTS of the situation. NO candidate should be just assumed to be the “best” choice, without considering the actual case for him/her. I think it’s important to listen to what they say and look at what they have, in fact, actually done, when making a decision. I’d suggest that this is a reasonable approach to the challenge of making good election choices.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to ramble on about something else. I hope you’ll be back to see what I come up with.

🖖🏼 LLAP,

Dr. B

0 Comments

292 SPECIAL: Hurricane Helene, etc.

10/5/2024

0 Comments

Hi!

Regular readers of these ramblings (assuming that there are some) will know that I : 1.) try (not always successfully) to avoid getting into specifically political discussions; and, 2.) try to maintain (usually quite successfully, if I DO say so) a schedule of “publishing” these posts on a 2 week cycle. Since I just “published” my most recent regular post on Oct. 2, this one is, obviously, a “SPECIAL” post. I only write it because I feel obliged to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, especially in Western North Carolina, where I spent more than half of my life.

I was dismayed when I first saw that the predictions for Helene placed it coming ashore in Florida’s Panhandle, moving up through Georgia, across Western North Carolina and further to the north, before eventually dying out in Ohio and/or Indiana. Her strength was, obviously, expected to be considerable, if she was going to hold together that far inland. Still, while I expected there would be some problems in Florida and southern Georgia, those areas are close enough to the Gulf that such difficulties (while concerning) aren’t completely unexpected there, and they know how to deal with them fairly well.

Western North Carolina (and adjacent Eastern Tennessee), on the other hand, don’t have to deal with HURRICANES very often. The only Hurricane I really remember from my 43 years of living in WNC, was Hugo, which came ashore in South Carolina and traversed through the area just west of Charlotte before moving up into West Virginia in 1989, a good while ago. And, he was, mostly, in the NC Piedmont, not really in the mountains. It WAS rather unusual to have a hurricane that far inland, but the terrain was a good deal flatter there and, while I remember relief efforts being made (our daughter, Kate, gathered relief supplies and delivered them to the Charlotte area as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award that fall), the impact of Hugo on WNC wasn’t all THAT great, as I remember it..

There HAVE been floods in the area before, however. In 2004, I think, Clyde and Canton, NC had some serious flooding (which MAY have been related to a hurricane) and, as I remember it, part of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge (which opened in 1971 just before I started at WCU) was partially washed out on that occasion, requiring quite serious road work to get it useable again. Still, from what I have been able to gather in the way of news about Helene devastation: I-40 is mostly gone in the Gorge, again, as is I-26 north of Asheville towards Tennessee; the Blue Ridge Parkway is just plain CLOSED (at least for the time being); many parts of the region have had serious problems, including the Sylva/Cullowhee/Dillsboro area which suffered serious damage to roads, infrastructure. etc., causing significant problems there; the Asheville/Biltmore area and north of there probably has been damaged even more seriously. Even the Biltmore Estate is closed and won’t reopen until at least October 15.

My understanding is that WCU canceled classes beginning on Sept. 26 and doesn’t plan to restart until AT LEAST October. 21, after Fall Break had been scheduled. App State is closed until AT LEAST Oct. 16, and UNCA in Asheville doesn’t plan to resume classes until AT LEAST Oct. 28, due to the major damage to roads and other infrastructure in the Asheville area.

I won’t pretend that this blog is a “news source.” I’m too far away and have too little access to authentic information to even pretend to do that. But, after living in that area for over half of my life, I have some understanding of what having this sort of disaster, especially at this time of year, is going to do to the region. This is TOURIST country for most of the year, with Fall being critical for many businesses to survive the winter! The Fall “Leaf Looker” season is a MAJOR part of the economy for many, especially small, businesses throughout the region, and I don’t see any reason to have ANY confidence that things will be back to anything approaching “normalcy” for the winter “Ski” season which is important to the higher mountain areas, especially north of Asheville. Things are bad now and it is NOT going to get better for quite a while!

I HATE it when our “leaders” send their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of various disasters, although I understand that, as untrained, unprepared individuals, there isn’t much more they can do, nor can I. I confess to feeling pretty helpless. However, I do know that there IS something I can actually do, besides sending donations to legitimate agencies and businesses to help them get back on their feet. That’s keep out of their way!

Bonnie and I had been considering a trip back to that area for sometime this fall, but NOW that’s not going to happen! I understand that people want to help, but I believe that NC Governor Roy Cooper was correct when he told the Asheville Citizen-Times the other day:

ASHEVILLE - As peak leaf season approaches in the mountains, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper told the Citizen Times that tourists are not wanted in Western North Carolina in the fallout of the historic, devastating floods have been confirmed to have taken 97 lives in the state and devastated the region's infrastructure.

Cooper said he only wants people who are dedicated to response efforts coming to the region.

"Whenever you come to Western North Carolina you get emergency notifications that we don't want you here unless you are directly helping with the response," Cooper told the Citizen Times Oct. 3.

I congratulate the Governor for his simple, common sense. I would also add that it’s probably not wise to pester friends and/or acquaintances in the area with email, texts or social media. Much of the area is struggling with not only lack of food, shelter and water, but also doesn’t have much access to the technology we all take far too much for granted, nor do they have time and/or energy to deal with such stuff until they and their families are safe and secure. If you must, send 1 (that's ONE!) message to them and then leave them alone. They will get back to you when they can. Being harassed by your worries should NOT be an addition to their already considerable challenges.

I’m just going to sit here in Omaha, send some donations where I think they can do the most good, and hope for the best until I can feel comfortable that I can do something productive. I suspect it’s going to take a good while and it’s going to be hard, but that’s the LEAST (and the most) I can actually do for my friends there, until they have a chance to start getting their lives back together. Once that happens, I’ll see about going back to visit.

🖖🏼 LLAP,

Dr. B

P.S. When you flush a toilet, have a nice, hot meal, sleep under your own roof, put on clean clothes, etc.; remember that there are people who can’t do that right now; and they are our NEIGHBORS! The problems of this area aren’t going away any time soon. Things WILL improve, I have little doubt about that, but it’s going to be a LONG time before anything like “normal” is achieved again. If we’d like to be helped in a time of trouble, we need to remember to help others. Don’t just think about it, DO IT!
RSB

0 Comments

291 Thoughts, Pleasant & Otherwise, About Getting Older

10/2/2024

0 Comments

Every so often the thought strikes me that I’m not as young as I used to be. This is especially true as my birthday approaches each year, which it is rapidly doing, AGAIN! Yeah, I’m getting older. I know it’s true, I even accept it as being inevitable. (After all, the only thing worse than getting older is the alternative [Think about it, don’t do it!]).
This phenomenon could, I suppose, be the result of the fact that our society seems obsessed with the notion that youth is the most important thing there is and must be preserved at all cost. Objective reality requires (say it VERY quietly) admitting that none of us is actually quite the specimen of human perfection that we all wished to believe we were when we were about twenty.

The fact is, of course, that few, if any, of us actually WERE all that “perfect” when we were that age, but there are LOTS of businesses which would like to convince us that we are supposed to THINK that we were, so that they can sell us something which will “restore us to the level of gloriousness which we used to have and which we, OBVIOUSLY, wish to regain.” It only makes sense that a lot of this comes at us through various forms of media. That’s what media does: it captures eyeballs to sell us stuff which is going to “improve our lives.” Case in point from Non Sequitur.

See what I mean? We aren’t supposed to admit to our age in spite of the fact that millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of human history all took place long before the Universe ever considered thinking about US. (I beg the pardon of any religious fanatics who want to quibble about my timeline, but it’s mine and I’m going to stick to it!) The fact is, that while I don’t exactly revel in the fact that I’m not as young as I was, I’m certainly not ashamed of it.

In my own small way, I’ve experienced (and still remember) a good many historically significant events. Some of these would include such things as: watching (on TV) when the jet plane landed at the airport in New York carrying the film (yes, FILM) of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and then watching that film on Black and White television as soon as they got the film to the broadcast studio; watching live pictures of people actually walking on the Moon in (more or less) “real time;” watching the “Police Riot” at the 1968 Democratic Convention live from Chicago; seeing “almost live” coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy (THAT was quite a weekend!), AND his brother Bobby, AND Dr. King, with all the complications and turmoil those events caused; witnessing (on TV) the war in Vietnam essentially in my living room every night (a really weird experience, looking back on it); the Space shuttle disasters; the 1963 March on Washington; the Selma civil rights march; the Kent State “incident”; the fall of the “Twin Towers;” etc., etc.

Unfortunately, I have also lived long enough to experience the (?) historic moment when a former President stated that the Presidential Medal of Freedom which he awarded to someone (maybe MORE than just someONE? because they gave him money) was a better award than the Congressional Medal of Honor (the highest military honor) because the recipient of the PMF didn’t have to really DO anything except give HIM a lot of money to get it, whereas winners of the Medal of Honor often had been actually injured, or killed, for them to get that honor. As a citizen who knows (or knew) people who fought (some died) in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and on and on, I found that sort of statement insulting to the U.S. military and denigrating to the others who had received the PMF, for actual service to the country and to humanity. I can think of no greater insult to the nation than to (effectively) sell what is supposed to be a major national award to the highest bidder, but I suppose we should expect such from someone who obviously considers himself too good to actually DO service for his country, as opposed to having the country serve him!

All things considered, a good many of the events I can list were definitely NOT enjoyable, but they ARE legitimate episodes from our common American history of the last 70, or so, years. There were many happier moments, too, of course, but I do feel I have been privileged to have actually experienced, in a fashion, a number of important events in our collective, contemporary history.

Still, it does seem, as Earl Pickles points out, that “the days are going by a bit faster now than they used to….”

And the strangest thing is that I believe that the Pickles just may have come up with an adequate explanation of of this phenomenon, as their idea DOES seem reasonable AND even makes a certain amount of sense.

Then, of course, along comes Frank and Ernest, who pose an entirely different, but equally stimulating, notion relating to the whole question of “aging.”

I suspect the answer to the problem posed above MIGHT be simpler than most people think, but this could, quite easily, become one of those issues about which people spend inordinate amounts of time coming up with “solutions” which may not, in fact, have much to do with much of anything, but can provide for hours of conversation and discussion. (Or, is that sort of thing only possible among us “older” lawyers, and/or academics?) I’m really not sure; and, I don’t think I will pursue THAT particular line of thought any further.

It is quite true, however, that knowing something of history can be helpful towards predicting the future, and even determining what we want it to be, as Thatababy suggested not too long ago…

You see, like Lucas, I remember those old science fiction serials. In fact, I would bet that he (who was born the same year I was) watched them on “Saturday Morning Kid’s TV” just like I did! And, I suspect, like me, he knew, even then, that they were a bit dated and unrealistic, but they were fun, exciting, “swash-buckling” adventures which weren’t quite the “long ago and far away” adventures of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen fairy/folk tales, nor were they the “wild west” adventure sort of “entertainment.”

Those shows, like the ones Lucas and and other have made, took notions from at least quasi-legitimate science and combined them with “futuristic” Romance and fashioned them into “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and a whole bunch of others which were built on the American ideals of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

It IS also true, of course, that some of the ideas in those old movies and shows were a bit far-fetched, as this Non Sequitur suggests…

No, we probably need to be smart enough not to get trapped into thinking that ALL of the wild ideas of those science fiction types might actually come true. After all, WE would never do anything scientific which might have undesirable consequences or might go wrong, would we?

But, perhaps we “might should” pay attention to creatures who just might be wiser than we are, like Garfield? No, he’s just a cat, and a CARTOON ONE at that, what could HE know?

While I admit to being interested in what folks are calling the “AI Revolution” MIGHT be able to do FOR us, I do have at least SOME reservations as to what it also might do TO us. But, only time will tell and the future will be what it will be. An awful lot of highly respected people were quite afraid that the “atomic bomb” just might lead to annihilation of the human race, but that hasn’t happened, yet. What AI is going to do FOR, or TO, us is yet to be determined. I suspect there will be some effect, I hope it’s a good one, but I’m not prepared to make too many predictions.
On the other hand, we should probably all be aware of the fact that someday, in the probably not terribly distant future, somebody (perhaps one of us) is going to have “one of those moments,” rather like Cosmo Fishhawk, the “Perfessor” in Shoe, had recently and is going to think that Cosmo might be right, and a good stiff drink” could, in fact, be called for.

It IS just possible that he could be on to something, says the “about to be older” guy. Much as I’d like to think the best is yet to come, I COULD be wrong. Given the current state of the world, I hope I’m not.

Oh, well, I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to “Rave on!” about something else. (Did you get that reference? I’d love to know!) See you then.

🖖🏼 LLAP,

Dr. B

P.S. I ran across this Luann strip while I was drafting this post, so I decided to add it as a postscript. I’m not sure if I’m impressed that I recognized all of the items, or depressed because I’m old enough to have done so…. How’d YOU do? RSB

0 Comments

294 Vote! It’s Important!

293 Autumn Is Upon Us! (Halloween is almost here!)

292 SPECIAL: Hurricane Helene, etc.

291 Thoughts, Pleasant & Otherwise, About Getting Older

Archives

Categories