Humanity Shines in the Immediate Crisis

In addition to Texas and Louisiana, there have been devastating flooding this week in Mumbai, Nepal, and Bangladesh.  The picture above is from the flooding in Bangladesh, which have killed at least a thousand and left millions homeless.

Amidst all the catastrophe and terrible loss of life and property, it has been heartening and encouraging to hear stories of people helping each other.  In addition to the dedicated work of first-responders, there have been innumerable acts of courage and kindness by regular citizens.  People instinctively helping others, even when it may put themselves at risk.  There have been many dramatic rescues, people forming human chains to pull people out of flood waters, private citizens taking their boats out and helping rescue people trapped in their homes or on rooftops.  These heroics have been both witnessed by, and assisted by, reporters and their cameramen. 

We hear a lot of bad things about the state of culture, about how people are basically selfish and unwilling to help each other.  It is still impressive, however, to see how immediate danger and crisis can bring out the best of so many.  None of us know for sure how we would respond in such an urgent situation, but it helps brings confidence and hope, that so many respond so well.  There is still a lot of good in human instinct and compassion.

Kudos must also be given to the first-responders, the professionals who are on the front lines of the storm's rage.  Police, firefighters, medical personnel, and others, have all performed admirably in the face of terrible adversity.  The state government has also been quick in marshaling what resources it can, including deploying all of the state's National Guard.

The Federal response to the immediate crisis has been fairly good as well.  FEMA, NOAA, the Coast Guard and other federal agencies, have all pitched in, and true or not, it feels like a much better and swifter action than it did in Katrina. Since he will definitely get the blame when things go wrong, President Trump should get the credit for when things go right.

The agencies mentioned above, and others as well that help in times of disasters, are being considered for massive budget cuts in Trump's first budget to take place starting in October.  Part of the rationale for this is to make room for spending on the Wall.  I'm sure another reason is conservative instincts to cut all spending not related to defense or support of the wealthy.  I hope that what has happened in connection with Harvey will cause some changed minds in Washington. Terrible weather events that were once called "100 year events" are now becoming almost annual occurrences, and we need to have the resources to cope.

People respond well to immediate crisis and danger.  Our instincts are to support and aid.  For every Joel Osteen, there are a hundred other churches giving everything they can, without questions or pre-conditions.  For every business doing nothing, there are dozens like the Mattress King, giving away what he can to make people more comfortable. The problems come before the storm, and after it's initial destruction is complete.

We need to stop playing partisan games with global warming, recognize its reality, and start dealing with it.  There are conservative and progressive solutions, and we need to start blending and compromising and move forward together.  Some action is better than inaction.  The costs of rehabilitating Houston and others areas damaged, both now and in future storms, is infinitely more expensive than the greening of America, and making it the alternative energy leader of the world. 

We need to buckle down to commit the resources needed to restore Houston and other damaged areas to be even better than they were before.  And we cannot leave the poor out of the mix.  A plan that does not significantly aid them is no plan at all.  We need legislators to stop voting by region, and start voting for the nation as a whole.  Texas Senators and Congressmen need to be as concerned about storm damage in New Jersey as they are in their home state.

It is good and faith-restoring to see people come to the aid of each other.  Rescuing pets from car tops, providing food and shelter, getting so many out of harm's way - all show the basic root dignity and compassion of mankind. But it is when the danger is not imminent, when it comes to the hard case of continued support, and rebuilding, and taking a look at where lack of regulation and where ignoring the reality of global warming, leads us - that is when our humanity sometimes lets us down.

I have faith that there are many good works to come.  That on all levels, from private to federal, from churches to businesses, we will continue to rebuild Texas and Louisiana, and that our caring and sharing will expand beyond the immediate crisis, and help make a better world for all.

 

Wednesday Weatherings

That is not a picture of Houston.

It is a picture of Mumbai.

Yesterday, Mumbai received a record amount of rainfall.  This from an area prone to monsoons.  A record.

We are recording more 100 year weather events all around the world.

Global warming increases, in places, the moisture content in the air and clouds, and when it comes down, it comes in record amounts.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Sit'n'Spin (Harvey) is coming back shore again, after a brief visit to the Gulf, and is aimed at both Texas and Louisiana.

Recovery efforts from this storm will likely reach in excess of $100 billion dollars.  Texas conservatives are putting their socialist hats on.  They'll put their conservatives hats back on when the damage is done to them damn Yankee lands.

Speaking of hats, President "Buy my beautiful $40 campaign hat" Trump came in for a quick sit'n'spin of his own.  He is giddy with delight that he gets to deal with this big storm - THE BIGGEST EVER!!! -  and is thrilled with the RATINGS and ATTENTION.  Wow, FEMA guy! You're on TV so much you're going to be FAMOUS!!!  Because that's what it's all about, isn't it? Ratings and fame.

With weather patterns changing, with storms intensifying, I fear this will not be the only storm that brings horrific damage and threat to life.  We choose not to spend on global warming, developing saner methods of energy.  Some of us even waste the Earth's time and resources denying its very existence.

The cost from the damages of these storms will far exceed the cost of becoming world leaders again in the fight to halt and reverse global warming.  Catastrophe is more expensive than greening the economy.

Mumbai.  Houston.  New Orleans.

Who is next?

Eyes on Texas

Houston, the fourth largest city in America, has become a devastating flood-zone, and with Hurricane Harvey becoming Tropical Storm Sit'n'Spin, things may only get worse over the next few days.

Even though Houston is such a large, highly populated area, I know no one who lives there.  This may be more of a commentary on my relative lack of friends than anything else.  I'm sure many of you know people in that area, and it must be a very harrowing thing.

I have one friend who lives in San Marcos, a city between San Antonio and Austin, and home of Texas State University.  She and her family evacuated, but have been given the all clear to come back.  San Marcos has not always been that fortunate.  There has been  terrible flooding in recent years in that area.  My friend lived in a home that was flooded, and suffered a loss of many possessions, and much damage to the residence she rented.

Yes, global warming is contributing to extreme weather events.  But the intensity of flooding (Houston has had three 100-year flooding events this century), and the harm it causes, is exacerbated by the expanded building into floodplains, and by the destruction of wetlands and other natural barriers that, in the past, may have helped absorb much of the rainfall.  Nothing gets in the way of American development.  This will become increasingly true, as we now have a real estate developer for President, one who has great disdain for any regulation or conservation efforts.

Trump will be judged based on his response to the rescue and recovery efforts, as he should be. These will be hampered by lack of leadership, as he has not nominated heads for FEMA, NOAA, and DHS. But whatever their political stripes, true leadership during these crises should come from everyone, and I do think many dedicated civil servants and first responders will give it their all, many of them in heroic fashion.  They need everything they can get, and we can count the pennies later.

Trump should also be judged on his policies.  His resistance to even acknowledging climate change, his deregulation that endangers conservation and the natural barriers we need, his desire to slash the budget of the agencies that would help in these disasters - all this needs to be taken into account.

Trump should also be judged on his behavior.  He use the storm as cover for some truly horrendous things -   the military transgender ban, the pardoning of the racist sheriff Joe Arpaio, the potential ending of the Dream Act.  He also continues to tweet out irrelevant and stupid things.


During this time of grave crisis, where so many lives are at risk, if you are not part of a first-responder team, or a group of responsible, organized volunteers, please note that the most important thing you can do is to give money to charities you know and trust.  That may include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army,  Episcopal Relief & Development, or whatever faith-based charity you are most familiar with.

Texas and Louisiana need your thoughts and prayers.  If you are able and can do so responsibly, they meed your physical help.  If you are fiscally able, they need your cash.  And in the future, they and the entire country, need your votes, in electing politicians in the future that will back up first responders WHEREVER they are needed (not just legislators that vote for disaster relief in their own areas, and then vote against when it's someplace else), that will favor environmental barriers and concerns over uncontrolled development, that know that global warming is real and largely man-made and are willing to do something about it.




 

Snake & Run

It's the summer of snakes. And no, for once I am not referring to our political world.  I'm talking about real honest-to-goodness snakes, those slithering creatures that show up in the most unexpected places.

Earlier in the summer, we were enjoying our screened in porch, for the first time in a very long time. The weather was just right for it, and we both had good books to read.  We propped the screen door open, so our dogs could go in and out.  It was a lovely time.  At least, in the beginning.

As we were wrapping it up, Alison discovered, to her horror, that we had an unexpected visitor with us - a snake, snaked around a box of kindling wood, right there on the screened porch with us.  She observed this, with colorful language, behind a door in our house, one with the view of our new guest.  I went out to see if I could identify it, and if it was even alive.

It was alive.  It undulated slowly over a log.  I took pictures and asked social media if they could help me identify it.  Alison noted that it had diamond shapes on its skin, and a triangle shaped head. And poisonous or not, we had small, older dogs who could have a heart attack just trying to chase the thing.

Social media was not responding back, and the snake started to move, to head towards a cabinet where it would be relatively unreachable.  So I took matters into my own hands.  Well, hands wielding a shovel.

After I had removed pieces of the snake, tossing them into a wooded area behind our house, social media finally kicked in that it was a harmless rat snake.  I felt like a stone clod killer.

And then last week, Alison and her mother, Rose, went on an antiquing trio to celebrate Rose's birthday.  Little did they know they had picked up an unexpected passenger.  As they were traveling towards Baxley, something stared at them from, peering up from the hood near the passenger window wiper.  It was the eyes of a snake, that had somehow found its way under the hood of Rose's car!

After considerable screaming and fright, they pulled into a gas station.  The snake came out onto the wiper blade.  It was bigger and meaner looking than the rat snake that was on our porch.  It started to slither its way towards Rose's passenger door.  More screaming ensued.

Another patron at the gas station, thought it might be a ground rattler.  Others thought a rat or oak snake.  Regardless, further investigation was halted as someone knocked it off the car.  Alison decided to get out of Dodge, running over the snake in the process of peeling out.  They did not stay to see if the snake was dead, or if other patrons were threatened.  It was a snake & run, and they were already blasting up the highway to jitterly begin their antique quest.

Many who heard these stories told us the old saying, "The only good snake is  snake that quietly does it job out of sight." Well, that's not quite what they said, but close enough.  I know they perform an important function - going after pests like mice, rats, moles, Yorkies.  Okay, that last one is not so good.

We're trying to shake these incidents off, but now we hear about snakes all the time.  They're stories and pictures on our social media, many of our TV programs feature snakes, they're in our dreams, and they're even in the White House.  Oops!  Sorry about that last one.  I said I wasn't going to get political.

Oh, well.  My bad.

Monday's Eclipse was Full of Clouds

It was the perfect Monday to see the eclipse.

Yes, it was cloudy, and sometimes it would disappear, and at other times just glimpsable beyond the cloud cover.

But I was home.

It was the first Monday of my new semi-retirement that I stayed completely home without going in to work, not even for a few minutes.

I was able to go Alison's work, and watch it with her.  That was pretty special.  Pierce County let their students stay, go outside, and observe it together.  Every student and staff member were given special eclipse glasses.

We got to about 92% sun coverage here.  That was quite a bit, but it only gave it a dusky feel - it did not truly get dark.  

Something about must have driven the love bugs mad, at least in their relationship with me. Normally they leave me alone, but during the height of the eclipse, they were landing on me, and I swear, biting me, which I don't recall them ever doing before.  There was also the usual contingent of gnats - they're attracted to me 24/7.

There was also a slight drop in temperature.  That part was much appreciated.

The best TV images I saw were from Maderas, Oregon, where it did get pitch dark. Then the switched to a night vision camera, and it spoiled the fun of looking at it.  Good Lord, let us see what it's really like.  We're not Navy Seals on an anti-terrorist strike.

The rest of the day was enjoyable, getting back into the fiction writing groove.

I didn't mind the clouds so much.  Starting a new kind of Monday, seeing the eclipse with Alison, getting my writing and acting grooves back, made it berry, berry special.

My Europa: Part 7

These are first drafts, and are subject to considerable revision.  Not all parts will be put on the blog, so if you are interested, be sure to buy the complete story when it's available.

7

The calls in her head could be maddening. Thank goodness she had opted to receive most calls via a cell device on her desk, rather than through her cell implant.  That was reserved for communication with the Congresspersons, and staff, and not all the calls from the public.  A few had opted receive all calls through their implant, mostly younger staffers who seemed more receptive to the new technology.

Teresa wasn’t ancient, only in her mid-forties, but she had been there long enough to work with the Congress before it expanded, and staff became attached to Congressional districts, rather than individual congresspersons.  She originally came in as an aide to Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and the sole representative of the Albuquerque district.  Now, the district was represented by three representatives, two Progressives and one Republican.  And it was her job to serve all three, and the needs of all the constituents of their district.

That took a little getting used to, and frankly, something she was still adjusting to.  You couldn’t help but gravitate to one Congressperson more than the others.  Congressperson Alfredo Barista was just friendlier, kinder, and more responsive than the other two.  Party was not as important as personality, as she was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.  Barista had even her wavering though.  After his first two terms, she began voting Progressive at the House level, and swore she would make it right by switching back to Democrat once Barista’s term limits were up.  She still voted Democratic at all other levels, including for Senator and President.

Did she have a crush on him?  Yes, but one she was determined to keep unrequited.  She respected the need to keep professional. Besides, she doubted she was his type.  Short, slender, but with a posterior that gave her a pronounced apple shape, she had a plain face, with a nose too big, and narrow eyes too close set.

She wondered what he did do, what with his wife tragically gone now, for over a year. So much improvement in medicine over the last few years, but not enough to save her.  She knew how special his wife, Darlena, was to him, but a year plus was a long time to spend in mourning.

She hoped he was finding someone, even if it couldn’t be her.  Someone for companionship, someone to get work and the past out of his head, if just for a little while. She didn’t care who it was, if it was someone that could help him.  Especially now, what with all this Europa mess.  He was taking on far too much of the burden for it on himself.

As she was readying to call it a day, she got a message on her cell implant.  “Teresa, the committee meeting is over for now.  I’m going to be coming by in a minute. Could you get something ready for me, even though it’s close to check out time?”

“Of course, sir!  Just let me know what I can get for you,” she answered.  For him, yes.  No problem.  To be honest, if it had been Republican Congressperson Bill Black, she would have done her best to blow him off, or refer him to another staff person.  Yes, the combined staff was a great theory, but sometimes less than perfect in real world execution.

“Get me what you can on Gregor Robotics, and on their CEO, Andrew Gregor.  Especially related to their most recent advances in A.I.  I know I could google some of this stuff myself, but I was hoping you could get me a head start, especially in any Congressional records.  You know my first level security clearance, be sure to use that.”

Teresa’s hands were already flying across the keyboard (again, she preferred this than the newfangled way of just talking to the computer).  “I’m already on it, Sir.”

“Thanks, Teresa!  I knew I could count on you!”

“No problem, sir!  Just in general, sir, how are the hearings going in there?  Making any progress?” Normally, she didn’t ask, but this whole Europa thing was consuming the whole country, and everyone was waiting for the response to be formed.

“All in all, to repeat an old cliché, it’d be easier herding cats.  Be there in twenty. Daisy.  Disconnect.”

“Daisy. Disconnect,” she repeated, ending the call.

She quickly gathered the information he requested, entering summary requests, to print out and consolidate the highlights.  It was a little bit difficult because he wasn’t sure what Barista was after, and was unclear how this tied into the Europa mission.  She recalled hearing about Gregor Robots recently.  But didn’t that have something to do with Sexbots?

Oh, well.  She diligently gathered what she could, and trusted the Congressperson Barista would have a good use for it.

Struggling with the 81%

On Sunday mornings, if I write, I try to make it more spiritual or religious in tone.

That's not always easy, what with personal and family prep time in the morning, getting ready to go to a church that starts at 10 AM, and when Sunday School is in session, 9 AM.

This morning I have a little time, but all my thoughts are dominated by one thing, one horrible fact I cannot get out of my head -

81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump.

Granted, my church would probably not be considered part of the evangelical group.  Episcopalians are considered mainline Protestant, or even part of the Christian left.  We certainly are open to a lot of people, including the LGBT community.

But even my church is not an anti-Trump monolith.  Probably a third or more voted for Trump.  I'm not sure how they worked their minds around that, but I don't see many of them proclaiming they voted for Trump BECAUSE of their faith.  They usually have other reasons for it.  It's sad.  It's disconcerting.  

Almost all the other Christian churches in my area, with the exception of  some  African-American congregations, are part of  what would be considered the evangelical movement, or what I refer to as the Christian right.

Some differences are merely in ritual and focus.  And that's fine.  I am heartened that there are many different ways to worship.  Some like the liturgy and tradition of an Episcopal or Catholic church. Some like a more charismatic feel.  It's all good.

I'm not sure what happened so that

81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump.

I know I should be thinking of other things.  I know that how you vote is not the sole determinant of who you are as a Christian.  And yet....

I cannot wrap my head around it.  Donald Trump may be the most vile human being to ever become President.  He is certainly the least competent, and his entire lifestyle is the complete reverse of anything remotely like Christian behavior.

I know that some have claimed it has to do with positions on abortion and gays.  But not only are these topics virtually unmentioned in the Bible, and, even more importantly, by Jesus, the solutions proposed are not Christian in nature.  Does Jesus really believe that women are second class citizens, with fewer rights than men?  Nothing in his words and actions indicate that.  Does he have open hostility to gays?  Nothing he says or does indicate that.

And yet issues of personal morality, and CONTROLLING other people's morality seems to be important to this group than any other Gospel message.

The message of love you neighbor, doing for the least of these what you would do for Jesus, reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged - all that has been lost. 

To me, these issues still don't explain how

81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump

Could it be about cultural issues, and insuring the dominance of white culture in a country slowly becoming less white?

That is so repulsive, I can barely stand it.  And yet....ultimately, watching the Christian Right abandon so much of the Gospels to vote for this blasphemous man, what else can I think?

I can't it it out of my head.  I think about it constantly.  It haunts me.

81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump

Weeping and lamentations overtake me.

Stories from a Stony Land - Reuben Gets Sandwiched

I am finally resuming my Dad's writings and research on our family history.   Although some entries will be verbatim in my Dad's writings, some will require a great deal of adaption and interpretation.

Such is the case with poor Reuben.  Little is written about this representative of the fifth generation, but I will tell what I derive from my Dad's notes.


Oh, Reuben!

Born in the year of our Declaration of Independence. 1776, at least he probably was,  according to my Dad's best determination. We'll go with that.  Sounds more patriotic.

He was born in Coventry, Rhode Island.  That's right.  Five generations in, and we hadn't made it to Michigan.  Still not yet at the Stony Land.

He was married to Susanna Berry.  Did that make her a Strait?  Oh, yes.  I think it made her a very, berry Strait.

They had nine children.  Bravo.  If Straits had continued to proliferate at that rate, you would know a heck of a lot more of us.

Of course , children were needed for farm labor.  And the infant mortality rate was pretty high,  There no notations, however, of infancy deaths among Reuben's children.

The oldest daughter was Sarah.  She did have one of her eight children die in infancy.  She also had two boys that served in the Civil War.  Dad doesn't say which side, but I think I can guess.  His description of her marriage and moving is pretty cool - "m. in N.Y. State, Thomas Rustins, and removed to Mich."  REMOVED!  That is such an awesome word choice!

Other Reubenites, listed in what is presumably birth order - Deborah (who lived to 80, was married to Phillip Stickler, and had three children), Thomas Jefferson (who will be the designated rep for Generation 6 - being the first born dude and all), Diadama (who married Amos Goodwin, lived in Ohio - no plan is perfect - and had two sons that fought in the Civil War -and yeah, probably with the Union), Samuel (born 1814), Amamda (another one moving to Michigan, living in Battle Creek, married to Hiram Hoag, and had five children, none of them named Boss), William C. (born 1823), Melissa (married Abraham Croat, lived in NY State, and had four children), and James (by that time everyone was exhausted recording things, and there is nothing listed about him).

Isn't this exciting?

Bet you can't wait to hear about Thomas Jefferson and Generation 6!

Uhh, hopefully I can find that page in my Dad's notes.

No Place Left to Hide

It's tough sometimes.  Politics and world events are often so ugly and brutal, the instinct is to stand as far away from it as possible, and not get involved.  I am a very political person, and sometimes it is even too much for me.

But sometimes it's unavoidable.  Sometimes the events are just so great, so impossible to escape from, they pull you win, and you have to take a stand.

I'm sure our ancestors would have loved to avoid the bloody conflict of the Civil War.  But the issues were just too great to isolate yourself from them.  I remember participating in the musical Shenandoah, which was about a Virginia farmer who tried in vain to keep his family out of that terrible struggle.  But in the end, a decision had to be made.  Do we disintegrate the Union?  Do we abolish, contain, or preserve slavery?  Choices had to be made.

The Great Depression swept through the lives of our parents or grand-parents (depending on your own age - I suppose at this point it could even be great-great grandparents!), and no one could ignore it, because it effected everyone.  There was so much sacrifice, and restructuring of priorities, and relearning what was really important.  But they endured and worked as best they could, and put their faith in a patrician legislator, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who proved to be the ultimate "git-er-done" President, and did whatever he could to put the country back on track.

When the Nazi came to power in Germany, and the military fascists in Japan, the Greatest Generation rolled up its sleeves, and engaged the enemy.  We have the world we have today because everyday Americans stood up to the Nazis.  It was tempting to stay on the sidelines and let Europe duke it out, but we didn't.  We came in and gave the knock out blow to one of the greatest evils this world has ever seen.

During the Civil Rights era of the fifties and sixties, many were called again to get off the sidelines. Not everyone answered the call, and some who did came in on the wrong side of history.  But decisions were made, and the promise of freedom ringing came to more and more Americans.

We are now at decision time again, where it is impossible to sit on the sidelines.  Silence at this point is equal to complicity.  We have a President who has clearly revealed who and what he is.  He has chosen to side with white supremacists and Nazis.  His statements in his Tuesday, August 15th, press conference, revealed himself in a way that repulsed good people across the political spectrum.

His statements did not surprise me.  I knew this about him all along.  But his rhetoric, his both side-isms, his "some of them are very fine people", his "the alt-left came charging."  It's the equivalent of Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing the Wizard (in this case, Grand Wizard, maybe) for the fraud he is.

To side with Trump now is to side with all the wrong forces of history.  It turns your back on all those who went before us to make this a better country and world for all.

I'm sorry, but you can't hide anymore.  Silence is tantamount to collusion.  You have to be clear where you stand on this Presidency, because decisions will have to be made, and they will be very difficult without the support of the American people.  You don't have to favor impeachment, or go out in the street to protest.  But you do have to make it clear.  Do you oppose this President's blatant racism and intolerance, or do you stand with it?

Aversion to politics not withstanding, you can no longer stand on the sidelines.  You have to make a call.

Your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, will be asking you what you did and what you decided, and where you stood.

I pray you have a good answer.

It's Getting Hot In Here!

It's getting hot in here!

Last month set record global temperatures for July.  But record busting has become fairly routine now, hasn't it? It doesn't really mean anything, does it?  The minority viewpoint that global warming isn't real, and isn't a threat, has managed to capture the federal government, and the majority of states as well.  Over time, the courts will become more and more slanted to defend corporate interests, not environmental interests (some corporations have begun to wake up to the reality of climate change, but I don't know if they'll be enough to help reverse the terrifying course we're on).

Maybe August won't set a record.  Maybe the few minutes of the eclipse will be enough to bring the average down.  Yeah.  Sure.

It's getting hot in here!

The economy set in place by the previous administration continues to chug along pretty well, heating us to the lowest unemployment rate in over a decade. How long this will continue is any one's guess. Most administrations set bubble economies that super heat for awhile, and then cool off and crash. The tech bubble and housing bubble are past examples.  Obama is the only one I know who set the economy on steady growth rather than nova-like bubbles.  We have a con man in charge now, and if he ever figures out the levers of power, he may do what con men do best - create an economic bubble that only lasts so long, and when it freezes and falls, everyone is hurt except he and his wealthy buddies.

It's getting hot in here!

It's getting hot on my Facebook feed, as the kid gloves are off!  Tuesday's presser revealed Trump to be the racist Nazi sympathizer he is, in a way that even his most rabid supporters can no longer deny. If you are still with him after that, then you are undeniably a racist as well.  You have no more excuses.  No place left to hide.  And I'm through with not calling you out.

Yes, it's true.  I have good friends who still cling to Trump.  And many of them are good people, kind and generous, loving and caring, covered with sugar and puppy dogs.  It's hard to dislike them intensely.  But the fact is, in Nazi Germany, there were a lot of "good people" who either supported Hitler, or were silent in the face of his vast evil.  The ability to bifurcate and compartmentalize is an amazing and dangerous thing - just ask Bill "I never had sexual relations with that woman" Clinton.

For awhile, there will be fewer pictures of family and pets, fewer niceties and pleasantries.  This is a defining moment.  The one where you'll have to explain your choices to future generations.

We all like to think we would be on the right side of history.  That we would have done what we could to stop Hitler.  That we would have fought against slavery.  That we would stand up against the forces of darkness.

Now is that time.  It's getting hot in here, too hot to ignore.

Where do you stand?

Why a Yankee Has a Right to an Opinion

It's true.

I wasn't born here in Georgia.  I've only lived here 39 years, and that's not long enough to be considered a native.  Not if you were born and raised someplace else, like I was.

I suppose if I had blended my culture and opinions closer to the dominant viewpoints and attitudes expressed here, no one would even notice that I'm not a native born Georgian/Southerner.  I like grits, sausage biscuits, NASCAR, southern folk music, and other elements of southern culture.  But I'm not there where it counts.  I don't hunt and fish (although, I must say in fairness, there were as many or more hunters/fishers where I grew up in Michigan as there are here), I don't vote for the current crop of right wing extremists, and I don't support the display of the Confederate flag, or the glorification of the Confederacy in general.

I went through this in 2002, when I had a letter to the editor in the Waycross paper, acknowledging my support of Barnes for Governor (whom I did not end up voting for, but that is another column for another day), and my opinion that the Confederate flag should not be a part of the Georgia state flag.  The publisher, charming man that he is, ran it under the headline YANKEE SUPPORTS BARNES.

I went through this again when the attack on the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, awoke the consciousness of even some conservatives, realizing the pain the symbols caused.  I thought we had turned a corner.  But the backlash grew fierce, leading to the eventual election of an openly racist and hateful President. Once again, any opinions I had were dismissed because I wasn't born a Southerner.

And now we have the alt-right (Confederate sympathizers, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists), in open hostility, intimidation and violence-provoking behavior, that led to the death of Heather Heyer, ostensibly gathered to protest Charlottesville's decision to take down a Confederate monument.  Once again, I find I have no right to an opinion on Confederate symbols and monuments.

I have thought long and hard about it, over many years, and here is what I've decided -

I'm an American.  My Southern friends are also Americans. As fellow Americans, we have a right to have an opinion about American issues.  And whether or not to display symbols of a Confederacy that rebelled and betrayed the United States of America, and whose primary purpose was to promote and preserve the institution of slavery, should be an issue we can all discuss, regardless of what part of the ONE nation we belong to we came from.  Southerners should be no more invested in nostalgia for the Confederacy than Germans should be invested in fond memories of the Nazis.

As far as the Confederate flag, no state or public entity should endorse or display any version of it. As far as private citizens - have at it, hoss.  But to me and many others you're not displaying southern heritage, you're displaying an attachment to open racism.

As far as Confederate monuments, that should be up to each jurisdiction.  If Charlottesville,  through it's publicly elected representatives should decide to take their Confederate Memorial down, then more power to them.  Outsiders should not come in and agitate either way.

We recently took a trip to Vancouver, and did several walking tours.  The tour guides were brutally honest about the city's checkered past and racial and economic issues.  They were clear about the different monuments, buildings, and other symbols we saw, their history and their meaning.

I have no problem, if an area decides to keep up those symbols, as long as they are historically clear about what they are, both negative and positive aspects.

I lived for several years in a home that was within sight range of Stone Mountain.  Yeah, that's a big 'ol nasty monument to Civil War Generals.  Maybe it should be taken down or altered.  But another idea, which I think has been gradually happening, is to counter-balance it with what the Confederacy really did and represented, and with a full history of Georgia, including its struggle for all to receive their basic civil rights, the continuing effort to bring equality to all.

Show what slavery was really like, in all its horrors and brutality.  Show that there were brave abolitionists and freedom fighters, even in the South.  Show those who built and supported the Underground Railroad.  Show those who fought Jim Crow.  Show those who led the Civil Rights battles of the 50s and 60s.  And show those today who fight the current efforts to suppress votes, increase the prison population, turn our minority areas into colonies with less rights and dignity, re- segregate our schools, and demonize our immigration population.

The history of the South is much more than the Confederacy.  The history of the South is also a history of a Progressive struggle to make the Southland  a place of equality and dignity.

Go ahead.  Tell the story of the Confederacy.  But don't glorify it.  Tell it in the context of the true promise of the South, one that Southerners are still struggling to achieve.  And that includes those who were fortunate enough to be born here, and those who have adopted it.

Foster Failure Monday Musings

We failed again.

We had every intention of returning our most recent foster to the system to be adopted.

But we failed.

And now he is part of the Strait clan.

His name is Bossman.  We have made a minor change based on a recent guest, Alison's cousin Suzi's youngest, not quite three-year-old Ollie, who called him "Boss-A-Man".  We liked it so much it stuck.

He would have been a difficult adopt, not because of his temperament  - he is extremely sweet and friendly.  But he is an older dog (the vet estimated him around ten), and has some health issues that must be resolved.  We were concerned that some other adopters may not have the patience to see him though those problems.

He is fitting into our family perfectly, and seems to like me almost as much as he does Alison.  That comes in nicely as I start my semi-retirement, and spend more time at home.

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Like many Americans, my feeling are a-jumble concerning the recent death of an American at the hands of Nazis. How did we fall so low?  It's easy to blame Trump - he appealed to the worst of us, but too many of us responded to that.  He would be absolutely nothing without people showing either endorsement or tolerance of white supremacy.

So, now at least the cover is off that ball.  If you still are a Trumpeteer, you have no excuse, no place left to hide.  You are self-identifying with the most foul elements of our society.  You are giving voice to hatred and intolerance.  You need to abandon your support of him TODAY.

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I am going in today for a little while, working off the clock to assist with the bookkeeping of a non-profit that I want to help.  We'll see how that goes.  It's also the day before 15th deadlines, and I want to make sure those are being met for those who were in my client base.  It is hard to suddenly switch off the rhythms of accounting life.

But I'll keep working at it.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Here Comes Tommy Charges Into Paperback Land!

Here I come to save the day!

Mighty Tommy is on his way!

A paperback edition of Here Comes Tommy is now available form Amazon!

Travel back in time with me, to the experience of growing up in Michigan,  themes both nostalgic and universal.  

Order your copy today!

The universal experience of being young and going through childhood are explored in these autobiographical stories, showing that growing up in the sixties can share similarities with growing up today. The struggle to keep imagination alive in a world that would rather you just let it go. Whether it's watching your first grade teachers fight over each other for bathroom privileges, or growing up Martian in fourth grade, enjoy the humor and pathos of growing up an imaginative child in Michigan during the sixties and seventies.

Parents Going Nuclear

"I brought you into this world.  I can take you out."

This utterance by frustrated, angry parents, was made popular via situation comedies and social media.  It's kind of funny, but also something you can't take seriously.  Nobody in their right mind would "take out" their child (at least we pray not).

Parenting can be a rough business. It is easy to make a threat that you can't back up.  "If you do that, I will ground you until you're 25!"  Or even something like, "Try me.  You will experience fire and fury, the likes of which the world has never seen!"

The problem with using rhetoric like this is that kids learn to tune it out.  They know you can't go there, so you might as well be bleating sheep noises, or sound like Charlie Brown's parents (Wah! Wah! Wah!).  Some stubborn children may even be inflamed and challenged by the impossible-to-enforce threats, and decide to challenge or one-up you. "I'll show you how late I can stay up!"

The parental threats can't be carried out.  If they are, it would result in the complete destruction of the family.  The whole nuclear family would go...nuclear!  There is no recovery from the violence and harm that would be caused.  Not to mention one or more may have violated the community standards and laws we live by, and that some jail time might be involved.

This is not a diatribe about spanking.  Every parent has to make their own decisions about the careful and cautiously applied use of corporal punishment.  But nobody wants to do real physical harm to their child.  No wants to do permanent and scarring damage that leaves a family broken, unable to be put back together.

Families are complicated things.  They require a balance of techniques, including diplomacy, negotiations, rewards and incentives, and yes, discipline and for some, the judicious use of corporal punishment.

And so it is with the family of nations.  Extremist rhetoric and empty threats only cause more harm than good.  Two national leaders, yelling and screaming and taunting and threatening each other, does no good, and may only lead to an error everyone will regret.  They are playing games with not only the lives in their own nations, but those neighboring them as well.

A nation that blindly threatens, a nation that celebrates the expulsion of it's diplomats as a "cost-saving measure", a nation that does not have the patience for more structured solutions involving the participation of other national actors, is risking blowing up the entire family of nations.

Foreign policy and national security is always a maze.  Every action (or inaction) leads to consequences, both intended and unintended. But the world has to be engaged in - isolation leads to as much or more danger as involvement does.  Like with the our own families, it takes a mix.  It takes diplomacy and negotiation.  It takes carrots and sticks.  It takes the cooperation of other nations.  And yes, sometimes it takes the judicious use of military force.  Emphasis there on the word "judicious".

When a family goes nuclear, and carries its threats too far, it is a sad and horrible thing to see.  When it happens to the family of nations, it is a terrible and world-altering thing to witness, one that could scar and jeopardize us all.

The Chicken Hut Changes Its Name: Flash Fiction

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This story is from Guild meeting prompt for the August meeting.  The goal was to build a writing around three randomly selected words/phrases : alligator, run, and Sad Bob.

The Chicken Hut Changes Its Name

Once the Alligator Farm was abandoned, the inevitable occurred.  It didn’t happen overnight, it crept up over time.  The alligators, penned in their pond, began to realize that they were no longer being fed.  Wildlife was becoming non-existent.  No more chopped chickens tossed to them.  No more birds stupid enough to wander into their parameters.  Without cleaning or filtration, the pond was becoming more polluted and devoid of life other than the several hundred alligators confined there.

It was the feeding season, the time between April and October when they were active and hungry.  A solution must be found.

And it was.  The first to go were the young.  The baby alligators were just too accessible to resist.  But that did not last.  Soon the bigger were consuming the smaller.  It was social Darwinism at its purest.

Some of the gators with more pronounced personalities and physical characteristics had been given names by one of the farm hands, Randy Banderson.  But that generous anthromorphication did not help them survive.

First, they lost Happy Mary, the gator with the widest smile.  She smiled big, but her size was not sufficient to fend off the bigger gators.  Then Stumpy Tom, the one who had already lost a part of tail, was next to go.  Then there was Speedy Hosea, whose fast gait was not enough to save him when trapped in a small area with other bigger, meaner gators.

Then there was only one left.  Sad Bob, the alligator with little raindrops of white, streaking just below his eyes, descending to his powerful jaws.  It was as if God had thought to make an albino alligator, but changed his mind early on.

Sad Bob had grown huge off his consumption of everyone else.  He was over twice the size of a large male alligator, 24 feet long and a massive 1300 lbs.  He was large enough that the fence surrounding the pond was no longer a problem.

He crashed through and roamed the outskirts of Dixon County.  There was some wildlife, but he found the tastiest treat of all at the Horton’s family farm.  Who knew that people could taste so good?  Some of the family would run from Sad Bob, but never fast enough. The run just made it more fun.

But the feeding season ended, and the hunger that drove Sad Bob fizzled out.  Now he just wanted to find a comfortable swamp or pond to rest in.

His wanderings took him to Dixon County’s largest town, Crowley, and to the parking lot of The Chicken Hut.  Customers began to shriek and run, but Sad Bob was no longer interested in catching them.  What he did want was the pond behind The Chicken Hut.

One of the customers was Randy Banderson, and he recognized Sad Bob right away.  He was startled by how big Sad Bob had gotten, but thought of him as a sweet fellow.  Fake tears can do that.

They built a fence around the pond, and Sad Bob was content to stay there.  He became a significant tourist attractor, and in his honor, they changed the name of their fast food establishment to Sad Bob’s Chicken Hut.

The plan was, when feeding season came around, to feed Sad Bob generous chunks of raw chicken parts. 

Sad Bob, however, had other plans.

OHC 2017 Writer's Contest Submission Form

OHC 2017 Writer's Contest Submission Form

Okefenokee Heritage Center

Fourth Annual Writer's Contest

Submission Form

This form must be attached to all story and poetry submissions.

Name:  ___________________________________

Address: __________________________________

               __________________________________

               __________________________________

Contact:  __________________________________

    contact can be phone number, e-mail, or school

Please check which contest your entry is submitted for:

           

          Secondary:   Story _________        No Entry Fee

            (6th - 12th)             

                               Poetry ________         No Entry Fee

             

           Adult:          Story _________        Include $10 Entry Fee

                               Poetry ________        Include $5 Entry Fee    

Submission Deadline: October 13th

Winners Announced: November 5th

Please submit this form return attached with your story/poem.  Please be sure you do not put your name on your story - only on the submission form.  Please deliver or send to:

Attention: OHC Writer's Contest

Okefenokee Heritage Center

1460 N Augusta Ave

Waycross, GA  31503

Enter the Fourth Annual Okefenokee Heritage Center Writing Contest!

Enter

Fourth Annual Okefenokee Heritage Writing Contest

Submission Deadline:  October 13th, 2017

Winners Announced:  November 5th, 2017

Four  Different Contests

Mid/High School:  Story:    max 1,000 words

                              Poem:  max 250  words

typewritten, double-spaced only

Adult:  Story:  max 2,000 words

           poem:  max 400 words

typewritten, double-spaced only

Submission Guidelines

Submit story with submission form, answering the personal information questions.  Please DO NOT put your name on the story itself.

Submission forms can be obtained at the Okefenokee Heritage Center or at other locations to be announced as the contest progresses.

Submission Limits

The limit per author on Mid/High School will be three total, story and poetry entries combined.  There is no limit to adult entries, but they will need to pay the $10 entry fee for each story entry, or $5 for each poetry entry.

Submission Locations

Please send submissions to the Okefenokee Heritage Center.  Some schools may have submissions gathered at a school location, and then sent at one time.  If you are in school, please check with your teacher or with school administration.

Submission Fees

There are no fees for elementary and secondary submissions.  There is a $10 per story entry for adults, and $5 for each poetry entry, and it should be included with the story and submission form.

Prizes

There will be cash prizes for all contests. :

First prize:  Story $50  Poetry $25  (School)

                   Story $100  Poetry $50 (Adult) 

Second Prize:  Story $30  Poetry $15 (School)

                        Story $50  Poetry $25 (adult)

Third Prize:  Story $20  Poetry $10  (School)

                    Story $25   Poetry $10  (Adult)

Judging

There will be at least three judges at each level.  Each entry will be judged on a blind basis, only being identified by number and not by name.

Tallying and scoring should be completed by November 3rd with winners to be presented November  5th.

Please send entries to:

Okefenokee Heritage Center

1460 N Augusta Ave

Waycross, GA  31503

New Rhythms Monday Musings

Benjamin Sloan Strait is off to school to begin his Junior year.  He gives a more subdued version of the thumbs up, the gesture he has used in staged pictures since he was a toddler.

It's the beginning of new rhythms, particularly for a Monday.

Like last week, I get up around 5:30 to prepare for an early morning walk.  But it's different than last week.

Last week, there was a kind of dark all over the neighborhood.  Only one man walking his dog, and one car coming home each morning about the same time.  We have fewer night shift workers than most areas, but they do exist.  All the houses were dark.  No one was up.

This morning, everything was different.  Many of the houses had lights on.  There was a child at the glass front door of his house.  There was more car activity.  And I saw a school bus go by.

Yes, things are different when it's the first day of school.  Anyone who does not tell you that small communities like ours do not move to the rhythm of public schools, have no idea what they're talking about.  School starts, and Pierce County is coming alive.

It's not the only rhythm that's changed.  Although I semi-retired from accounting on Thursday, July 27th, this is the first day I really noticed the change.  Last week, I came to work for at least some hours on Monday through Thursday.  I had Friday off, but that's been true for years.  But this Monday?  Unless I'm called in for an emergency, I won't be in until tomorrow.  So this is the first day it's sinking in.  I really have semi-retired.  I really have a new schedule.

The rhythm is still new. The rhythm will take some getting used to.  Am I really supposed to be home?  Am I doing the right thing?

Somehow, I think I'll adjust.  Somehow, I think I'll get used to it.

New rhythms.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait