Tag Archives: current events

A Change of Seasons

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It may finally be summer.  Or spring.  Or whatever we’re calling it this year.  A week ago it was hailing, and today it’s in the mid-80’s.  By itself I would probably not notice since it’s gone back and forth from hot to cold so many times, but this week there were other changes as well

We cut down a huge liquid amber tree that was big when we moved in 25 years ago, and had grown huge over the last quarter century.  None of the neighbors could agree on how tall it was, but most guesses came in at 70′ – 80′.  The shade in the summer was enough of a bonus to make up for having to trim the limbs every few years, but this winter, which went on forever, it got to be too much.  The sap and the birds in the bare branches did a number on my car every night for weeks and weeks and weeks, and weeks and weeks.  Did I say it went on for weeks and weeks?  That plus the need to replace our roof this summer made up our mind, for we always eyed this behemoth tree warily during storm season.  Especially the last few years.

Now two small maple trees about 10′ high stand in the front yard, all staked and watered and fertilized.  They seem hopeful and sad at the same time.  Hopeful in the golden light of morning and evening, for they carry a promise for the future.  Sad in the flat light of noon which seems to emphasize the bare dirt where the stumps and roots of the old tree stood.  No amount of wisdom ever entirely gets your gut ready for change.

That’s nothing compared to what the guts of the graduates from the local high school are doing right now.  The school is just around the corner.  This morning, just after 7:00am they started to drift up the street with parents and grandparents and friends.  By 11:00 it was over and all the cars were gone from the curbs.  I found myself remembering my own graduation and the biker who led us into the ceremony with a psalm.

As we stood in our caps and gowns in alphabetical order, one of the “A’s” at the front of the line raised his voice and said, “Bretheren and Sisteren, I have a few words to share with you!”  Now this was a large biker guy who seldom spoke; he usually just sat around and glowered.   But just as they struck up Pomp and Circumstance, this guy pulled out a bible and read the 23d psalm.  When all the other memories of high school have faded, that may be the one I remember.  Well, maybe not, but it will be right up there.

This morning I found myself watching people returning from the ceremony.  A few were laughing and joking, but in general, no one seemed especially upbeat or inspired.  School officials mean well, but how can a bit of speechifying while you sit on folding chairs really commemorate what happened, or represent any useful guidance for what comes next?

Too bad the graduates cannot experience the vision quests the plains indians held for their young people.  Coming of age should be a time for discerning the themes of one’s life, and the nature of one’s guiding spirits, but that is very seldom what happens these days.  Or rather, we all still go on a vision quest, it just is not so well organized or safe.  If we are lucky, after a few decades, we begin to get a clue.  I found myself wishing the new graduates well, and wishing them a fruitful voyage into the wilderness.

State Parks That Are Going Away

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Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone – Joni Mitchell

An article in Sunday’s Sacramento Bee, “A State Park Bucket List,” gave pictures and descriptions of 15 favorites among the 70 parks and historical sites we may only have another 13 months to see. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/05/3673215/a-state-park-bucket-list.html

Casualties of the California budget crisis, all these sites are scheduled to close in July, 2012.  Without ongoing maintenance, many of these parks, and especially those with old or historic structures, may never open again.

This includes the Jack London State Historical Park, which I wrote about on this blog last fall. https://thefirstgates.com/2010/10/23/of-words-and-wolves-thoughts-on-jack-london/

It includes the Bidwell Mansion in Chico, home of Gen. John and Anne Bidwell, founders of the town, who donated a magnificent 3600 acre park where the Sherwood Forest scenes for the 1938 Robin Hood withErrol Flynn were filmed.  Sherwood is a pleasant walk or bycycle ride from the center of town.

Those who can might want to check the newspaper link and plan a trip to see some of these gems while they still are open.

PS – One of my facebook friends just gave me this website which is open for donations to help save these parks, under the auspices of the California Institute of Man in Nature:   http://www.johnolmsted.net/   Donation buckets with the John Olmstead logo are also going to be available at California parks this summer.  FWIW, I just made a small donation through paypal.

Memorial Day, 2011

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I had a friend at work who was rather vocal about his support for liberal social issues and his disdain for the political landscape during the Bush administration.  In 2007 or 2008, he spent three weeks in Shanghai on business.  On the last morning he was there, the television showed a stadium full of people who had gathered to witness an execution.  Three young men were shot by a firing squad for first time possession of marijuana; no appeals, no clemency.  My work friend said he wanted to kiss the ground when his plane touched down again on American soil.

Memorial Day always pulls me up short like that.  We have 364 other days each year to debate our past and present military engagements.  This is a day when people’s  thoughts turn to the courage and sacrifice of men and women in uniform who have done their best to defend a culture that gives us trial by jury, a constitution that says the punishment must fit the crime, and countless other benefits it is easy to take for granted until they are threatened.

This is a day when I think of my grandfather, Morgan.  At 17, he lied about his age so he could enlist for the war to end all wars.  To his great disappointment, it was over before he made it “over there.”

I think of my father, Howard, who served as a radar technician in WWII.  His old navy manuals fueled my own interest in ham radio, and ultimately led me down my career path.  As a non-combatant, my father avoided the worst physical and emotional scars, and yet even though he looked so young at 23, he and most of his generation always seemed older than their years.

My father in uniform, ca. 1943

Time paints the conflicts of the past with the sepia tones of memory.  The poppies grow in Flanders field, and the last World War I veteran died on May 5 of this year.  At 14 he lied about his age to join the Royal Navy and then lived to be 110.  This is the stuff of historical novels.  Present realities are never as tidy.  Yet this is a day to be thankful for all those who find the courage to serve, even if for the “wrong” reason – like a friend of mine who enlisted for Viet Nam in an alcoholic blackout.

Not long ago, while walking the dogs one Saturday morning, we passed a military honor guard waiting outside a local church.  I thought of the solemn dignity of the honor guard that folded the flag and handed it to me at my father’s memorial service.  Such rituals are very important.  By whatever means we have, these are things we have to remember.

Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues

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“Democracy cannot survive without disinterested people to speak truth to power.”  –  Bill Moyers on NPR, May 23, 1011

I interrupt my previous thought train (unforgettable stories) to suggest that everyone listen to an unforgettable journalist who I happened to catch on “Talk of the Nation” on NPR yesterday:  http://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136583949/bill-moyers-shares-favorite-journal-interviews.  This was a compelling conversation with a man of high ideals, who isn’t afraid to speak uncomfortable truths.

We like to think of ourselves as democracy, Moyers said, but the word “oligarchy” better describes our government – rule by a few people of wealth and power, who do things like deregulate banking and finance, which guarantees that events like our recent financial disaster will happen again, since nothing structural has changed.  Few significant differences remain between Republicans and Democrats, Moyers added, and neither party really cares for he interests of working people.  Yet Moyers’ voice was animated and full of joy and hope.  As well as current events, Moyers talked of his love for poetry and the inspiration he and millions of PBS viewers found in his conversations with Joseph Campbell.

This interview celebrated the publication of Moyers collection of 47 interview with “independent thinkers,” taken from his PBS probram, “Bill Moyers Journal,” that ran from 2007-2010.  This isn’t the sort of book I usually read, but Moyers is one of those rare talents, like Ken Burns, who I will listen to no matter where he chooses to go.  I downloaded the book to my kindle, and after listening to the radio interview, you may just do the same.

The Royal Wedding, Rowan Williams, and Generosity

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Having declined the invitation from a British friend to watch the Royal Wedding live, Mary set the DVR, and we watched the event when we were home during the day.  I was busy with other things, but looked up at several points, for there is something hopeful and compelling about such a pageant.  At the same time, I’d watched Helen Mirren in The Queen the previous week, so I couldn’t help but think of Diana.  You have to wish this couple a happier fate.

What really caught my attention – and we backed this up to hear it again – was the homily delivered by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, after the vows were taken.  The gist of it was, as faith in God or a Higher Power has receded, we do a disservice to our marriage partners by demanding of them a fulfillment another human being cannot provide.

I searched online this morning but could not find the sermon.  I did find this interview with Williams conducted before the ceremony.  The word I most often heard him use was “generosity.”  He hoped that watching this service might renew our sense of generosity to ourselves and to others.  It’s a very nice way to think of the Royal Wedding.

Any priest or minister conducting a wedding is bound to feel a huge sense of privilege.  You’re invited into some intimate places in people’s lives.  You’re invited to take part in a very significant moment, a moment of hope; a moment of affirmation about people’s present and future.  And I’ve felt very privileged to be part of this event for those reasons.  Here are young people sending a message of hopefulness, sending a message of generosity across the world.  And it’s my privilege to be able to bless that in the name of God, to witness it in the name of God, and to send them on their way. – Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury

http://www.youtube.com/user/lambethpress?blend=23&ob=5

Deja-vue all over Again

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Hydrogen bomb drill during the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the defining events of my generation’s childhood. On October 15, 1962, US spy-plane photos revealed installation of medium range Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.  President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of the island – something very close to an act of war – and announced that any missile launched by Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union and would trigger full retaliation.  The world stood closer to the brink than it has before or after.

In grade schools all over the country, we had almost daily hydrogen bomb drills.  I was in the 5th or 6th grade, and there wasn’t one of my classmates who did not fully comprehend the absurdity of the exercise – be sure to cover your head with your hands in the event of a thermo-nuclear blast.  There was a lot of gallows humor.  The guy on the corner who dug a fallout shelter was branded a “f**king moron,” by the guy in our crowd who knew more exotic words than the rest.

I had already formulated my plan.  The papers said we’d have 20 minutes from the time the sirens went off until the first missiles struck.  I had timed myself, and knew I could run home in 8-10 minutes.  When the real alarm went off, I was going to bolt so I could die with my family and my dog.  I found additional consolation in an unlikely place.  I had a powerful transistor radio I would listen to under the covers.  Sometimes I could tune in a fundamentalist preacher in Bakersfield.  One night, quoting scripture to prove his point, he assured everyone that God had promised not to destroy humanity with a nuclear war.  I don’t remember his logic, but I do remember sleeping like a baby that night.

All this came to mind while reading of west coast fears of radiation from Japan.

I found myself wishing that preacher was still around.  I found myself also recalling my parents’ generation.  Maybe because the second world war was so close for them, they never pretended death was something you could avoid if you just managed things well enough.  Another thing that helped was all the scientific information that was published during the missile crisis.  Rather than seeming grisly, it was a comfort to know precisely what we’d be dealing with 10 or 20 or 50 miles from the blast.  Among other things, I learned that there wasn’t even the ghost of a chance that that kind of radiation could travel across an ocean.

Still, lack of credible information on what, precisely, we are dealing with, is sorely lacking now; critics of the government are right about that.

I was recalling something else I got from that preacher in Bakersfield – something I later heard other preachers confirm – that the most often repeated phrase in the New Testament is, “Fear not.”  Same thing in eastern religions; there is a hand gesture you see in pictures of Hindu and Tibetan deities that means, “Fear not.”  It looks like the Vulcan salute, (“Live long and prosper”).

It’s hard not to fear in the face of a scary unknown.  The tactics we used to cope when they ordered us to “duck and cover” under our desks won’t work anymore.  Still, when you listen to heroes they all seem to say the same thing:  they are “nobody special,” but at the critical moment, they were thinking of someone other than themselves and trying to do what they could.  That, in a seemingly small way – that maybe is a big way after all – is available to all of us.  We can give a few dollars and say a prayer for those who are suffering.  Feel free to click on the Red Cross link in the right column of this page or go to the organization of your choice.  It’s a far better use of money than buying Iodide pills.