Cocoa Bear at 14

 

This is Cocoa Bear, our sweet dog, a puppy back in 2008.  

We wanted to get a King Charles Spaniel and Dachshund mix. We found her on a rescue site on the internet. She was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

We visited Atlanta, seeing my son, Doug, and an Atlanta Falcons meet the public event. At that time, Alison was a big Falcons fan, and her favorite was Keith Brookings. She and Benjamin were able to get his autograph.  

After these events, we drove to Chattanooga and visited the lady that had Cocoa Bear. We were able to see her and other pups from the litter that Cocoa Bear came from. Some Cocoa Bear's siblings looked very Dachshundy, Cocoa Bear? Not so much. She was definitely Spaniel, though.

We did the Atlanta visit and picked up Cocoa Bear on the same day. It was about ten hours of driving.

Cocoa Bear was a sweet and energetic puppy. She loved being with us. She chewed up significant chunks of our tiny wooden deck during her teething phase.

Her original name, before we adopted her, was Buttercup. That did not suit her, and Benjamin came up with Cocoa Bear.

Within a year, we realized that she could not possibly be a King Charles Spaniel.  She was way too big, not a large dog, but medium-sized, larger than you would expect from a King Charles and dachshund.

It really didn't matter.  She is our dog, and we love her.

This is Cocoa Bear today. Yes, she has aged, but she is still a sweet and loving companion. She's missing some teeth, and her tail has lost most of its hair. She has become more neurotic - she gets very anxious in rainstorms - particularly if she is left alone. It is good that my retirement keeps me home with her more. She used to really enjoy walks -taking the lead and was hard to keep pace with. Now, she lags behind me.

All three of our other dogs were adopted as adults, so their ages are slightly iffier. Adding the ubiquitous two-years-old that most rescue agencies say the adult dogs are, means that Ellie is a minimum of 14, Pixie 10, and Boss-A-Man 7 (he may be quite a bit older - the vet thought he was around ten when we adopted him, and we've had him for five years).

None of the dogs are the current pets we've had the longest. That achievement belongs to Skitty, a cat we've had for 15 years. She shows no signs of aging. She is as cantankerous as the day we got her. Ok, she can be sweet (well, not mean) sometimes, particularly to the family member she is closest to - Benjamin.

We know that Cocoa Bear is aging. But she still enjoys life and being with us, and we have and always will enjoy her companionship. Every day we have with her is a precious and special day.

Everyone Will Replace Us! Saturday Political Soap Box 286

 

I love history. It was my favorite subject in school but has also been a lifelong passion. 

I wanted to teach History. But, alas, that was not to be. I had a teaching degree that qualified me to teach it, but no one was interested in a history teacher who couldn't coach a sport. That didn't diminish my love of history, even though I am only an amateur historian.

One of the writing projects that fired me up in my late teens and early 20s was the idea of a novel inspired by James Michener, entitled Saginaw. It was intended to be a multi-generational story crossing through the history of the Saginaw area.

It would start with a conflict between two native American tribes fighting to control the Saginaw area. Subsequent parts would deal with French fur trappers and their battles with the English, the timber era and how Saginaw became the center of the lumberjack barons and their demolishment of Michigan's great forests, the rise of the auto industry and the new immigrant groups that came in (Polish, German, the South), and finally, about the 1970s and the white flight from Saginaw to the suburbs.

The point was, whether peaceful or by force, the culture of Saginaw was constantly changing, always evolving. Culture isn't fixed. It's constantly adapting, always blending.

It's essential to have a sense of history. It's important to know where you're from, understand what has happened in the past, and learn lessons from it.

What we must never do is think we can freeze culture where it is and never let it change. We cannot, for example, apply Bedouin cultural standards to modern industrial society.

Technology and knowledge change things. Sticking with fossil fuels when we know what damage they do is foolish. Because people were comfortable with child brides in the past doesn't mean we should be comfortable with them today. Because women didn't have the right to vote over a century ago, it doesn't mean they should be denied it today.

We don't live like our grandparents did. We don't get around in horses and buggies or Model T's. We can travel to Europe without it being a weeks-long ocean voyage. We've gone from radio to a TV station to several TV stations to thousands of streaming choices. We've gone from socializing through day-long church events and town festivals to social media that connects us around our globe in ways that both free us and connect us but also enforce our worst instincts and spread hate and ignorance as well as love and knowledge.

Some things have stuck with us for centuries, like our holy texts, Shakespeare, and silverware. Others last for decades, like some of our foods, our sporting games, and our religious rituals. Before we know it, other things are in and out, like fashion, music, and what we find funny.

Sports do ebb and flow. Baseball used to be our national pastime. Now it is American football. Who knows? In another few decades, it may become soccer. Or pickleball. Who knows? Golf was high in popularity but is declining now. I wonder what that means in the future to retirement communities such as The Villages in Florida, which build their communities around dozens of golf courses. That, too, is the nature of things. Cities that seemed vital in the past become less meaningful over time, with many becoming ghost cities.

There is a long tradition of gun ownership in this country. But that is changing, particularly why or what they're used for. Hunting, like it or not, is declining in this country. At one time, it was a necessity. Now it is a sport and a luxury. People keep guns to connect to their family's past, but that will mean less and less to future generations over time. Gun ownership now is mainly a result of fear of the other, the refusal to accept change, and the desire to hold back other groups and freeze culture.

That is bunk. You can't hold back time. You can't stop change.

Over time, everyone will replace us. The culture of the future will only marginally be like ours. That has its good and bad aspects. But it is inevitable.

There was another thread to this I wanted to pursue, but this is long enough. I will try to follow that other thread in a future post. 

Thank you for reading.  

Guns in the Kingdom

 I think the impression was that when the Kingdom was established and took full control, everyone everywhere would have all the guns and advanced weaponry they wanted.

Surprise!

All guns and ammo were sold by one source - Kingdom Defense (originally Daniel Defense). They had many locations throughout the South - pretty much any town with more than 1,000 people had a store. You could arrange a gun purchase online, but you had to go to the store and clear a current background check.

Background checks? Some of you familiar with the early 21s century USA may be stunned to hear that the most conservative breakaway federation installed background checks.

You had to have your Church Card, the same card that allowed you to vote and participate in many of society's activities. The saying goes, "Guns are not for atheists, communists, socialists, and the sexually deviant."

Committing any offense against the Kingdom, no matter how minor, would deny you the right to a gun. Even publicly challenging any law or edict of the Kingdom would be enough. Speaking out against any authority figure could deem you a radical.

Once the Christian Dominionists took control, they completely flipped on private citizens holding weaponry to stand against tyranny. Once in power, they were determined to stay in power.

I tried to get a gun last month. Things are getting nasty here, and I wanted to have it as a self-defense option. My application was rejected. Even with a clean Church Card, I couldn't pass the background check - my politics from before The Kingdom came were quite clear, and I had slipped up enough times to keep controversy about me alive.

I would try to get a gun through the black market, but it did not seem worth the risk of getting caught.

Crime, of a sort, had declined. Robberies and burglaries were way down. Profiling and arresting/killing innocents were way up. Despite the gun restrictions for some, many loyal Kingdomers had plenty of weaponry, and gun violence continued. Statistics were not kept (or not made public), but gun suicides and domestic violence were not unknown. Everybody knew somebody who had been involved in those kinds of incidences.

The news was filled with incidents of failed domestic terrorism. Yes, there were bad guys we had to be on guard against, but the Kingdom Knights always stopped them.

At least, that's what we were told.

This story is part of The Kingdom series, imaginary stories set in a near-future America that has been divided into several different countries.

A Gifted Interlude: My Third Job in Georgia

  When last we left my rocky career path, I was working at WKRW, the radio station owned by the couple that helped found the community theatre I participated in, The Pumphouse Players.

As detailed in last week's blog, WKRW in Cartersville, this was an interesting position but not one that was financially lucrative for myself or the owners. In addition, there were some harrowing experiences within my marriage, above and beyond money considerations, that made it difficult for me to stay.

One of those was a miscarriage. Anyone who thinks that is not a significant life event - well, you're wrong. It was devasting to Retta and me. It led to anguish and depression.

I needed to get out and have something more solid we could rely on.

Retta was a special education teacher with the Bartow County Schools. She had a great rapport with her staff and administrators.  

When an opening came up for a teacher in their Gifted program, I used those connections to help me get the job. This was sometime in the early Fall of 1980. I was replacing somebody who left unexpectedly.

I was excited. I never thought I would get a chance to teach again,  And having networked connections saved me the embarrassment of cold interviews.

The position was for an itinerant teacher, traveling between several schools and teaching different groups of gifted students, ranging from Kindergarten to Eighth Grade.  

Like the first time I taught, I started out like gangbusters. They let me organize a Presidential debate and mock Electoral College convention. It crossed the whole system, and every gifted student participated. The director of the Gifted Program and Special Education Director were very impressed.  

After that, I was significantly less impressive to them. I tried, but there was no actual assigned curriculum, and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. So I did the best I could.

The students seemed to like me. We did a good number of games that involved thinking and strategic skills.  

In the Spring, the Special Educator Director said I wouldn't be back the next year because I didn't have the proper courses to remain certified. I don't know how they didn't know this as soon as they hired me, but c'est la vie. I told him I could get the coursework over the summer if he would give me a chance. He reluctantly agreed.

I can't remember where I got the coursework. It was not a school close by. It might have been West Georgia. I'm just not sure. It took a lot of travel, that's all I remember.

I did several things to try to make it work. I donated many children's books to their libraries, using them as books that the Gifted kids could read and take out. I'm not sure that would go over today, what with all the careful censorship and control taking place. Kids might accidentally learn slavery is terrible or something.

I created a fantasy game for the middle school students, dungeon and dragon style games for them to explore mazes and mythology and utilize their thinking and creative skills. This was interesting because I had never played Dungeons and Dragons before. It was my spin on what I thought it was like.

We created TV schedules with program descriptions, and then other classes would pick which ones they wanted to watch. Then they would refine their schedule to improve their ratings for the next time.

I did not just have them play games willy-nilly. There were points and standings, depending on how well the kids did. And that is where I got in trouble.

A parent complained, and the Gifted Program Director reamed me for it. I learned my lesson. No more competitions.

The Gifted Program Director took more rigid control over what the students did. For example, she thought it was a great idea to have kids contribute a square to a quilt, one depicting Bartow County history.   Not every kid thought this was the best idea on Earth, and I certainly had no skill. Nevertheless, I learned cross-stitch and depicted part of a county power plant.

The final straw for the Directors involved a student coming over from a different school system. He was in a gifted program at his prior school, and they put him in one of my classes. He was a behavior problem, but I gradually learned to work with him.

They decided they wanted to test him. However, they assured the parent this was for internal purposes only, and they would keep him in the program regardless of the results.

They lied. He fell short in their testing, and they decided to boot him from the program. To add to the anguish, he was black. The only black student in the county's Gifted Program.

When the parent challenged it, they wanted me to lie and say that we did not assure the parent that the child would stay in the program. I refused to lie about it.

Early in the Spring, the Special Education Director decided I would not be back for the next school year. This time, there was no talking my way out of it.

It is a point of pride that I stuck with the job for the next couple of months and did the best that I could. I hate rejection. I can't stand it when I know people don't like me. Staying there was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I saw it through.

I had tried to be a teacher twice, and I had struck out twice. I was not going to get a third swing of the bat. It was over.

I was lost. I was depressed. I had some serious thinking to do.

I did not want to disrupt the flow of the story, but I think it important to note that we did try again after the miscarriage, and proud to have our son, Gregory Rountree Strait, born October 23, 1981.

A Tough Country to Love

 Sometimes, this is a tough country to love.

I know. Just by saying that, I have raised the ire of many and completely ruined my chances of ever running for political office. Oh, well. That ship has longed since sailed, anyways.

I've always believed in the Martin Luther King quote, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." When I was younger and more idealistic, I thought I would see that bend. Now, at 66, I'm not so sure.

Some things have gotten better. But even those steps forward have been brought with backlash and steps backward.  

I have seen some things improve. But I also have seen that the Empire always strikes back.

Voting rights are passed and guaranteed, only to see voter suppression legislation chip away and reverse progress.

Women's reproductive rights can be granted and then taken away.

And with the Supreme Court no longer supporting a right to privacy, we could see reversals in access to birth control, gay marriage, and even interracial marriage.

The very foundational creed of this country, e Pluribus Unum - out of many, one - is being challenged and abandoned as the racist, immoral, and WRONG Great Replacement Theory destroys everything meaningful about this country.

I know gun control measures alone won't solve the cultural sickness we suffer from. The promise of America is tempered by the sins of America.

We (the white Europeans) committed genocide against the original natives of this land - using our guns. We enslaved millions of people based on the color of their skin - enforcing it with our guns. Even after slavery was ended, that did not stop the brutality toward African-Americans. 

One of the significant factors behind us having more guns than people - it's not hunting. It's not even ordinary self-defense. It's not trying to take down a tyrannical government. It's FEAR. Fear that you will be treated as you have treated others.

And that's not easy to solve with simple gun control measures.  

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

Can you imagine if a plane were to go down because of a defective part or something that could be changed by a new safety measure, and we did nothing to change it? If we said, "Well, that's not going to solve all the plane crashes. Planes are still going to go down." Can you imagine dismissing doing anything?

Background checks won't solve all the problems. But it WILL HELP. Closing gun-show loopholes WILL HELP. Reviving the Assault Weapons Ben WILL HELP A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT.

But...the reality is that little to nothing is going to happen.

We need to control guns. We won't.

We need to reverse climate change. We won't.

We need to treat healthcare access as a human right. We won't.

We need to protect voting rights. We won't.

We need to preserve our privacy rights - women's reproductive rights, access to birth control, LGBTQ rights, and the right to marry the consenting adult WHOM YOU LOVE. I fear we won't.

The only thing that will change this is if PEOPLE vote based on these things. As long as politicians win who are in the pocket of the gun lobby, who kowtow to Christian Dominionists, who spread the fear of THE OTHER, who love fossil fuels and their money more than people, as long as they keep getting elected, then things will never change. The arc of moral justice will be delayed until nothing is left to save.

I believe in the American Creed. I believe in the melting pot. E Pluribus Unum. We are stronger when we are united, when we respect and love our diversity, and when we work to make things better for all. That is one thread of American History. And it's the thread that I love. That is what I envision when I say the pledge of allegiance - liberty and justice for all. THAT is what the flag stands for.

But there is another thread of our history - one this is vicious and mean and violent.

And right now, I fear that thread is threatening to engulf us all.

I love what my country has often struggled to represent.

I hate what it so often becomes.

You have a decision to make.

Which thread do you choose?

Choose now, while we still have a choice.

Tuesday Twitter Questions! 52422

 Once again, in lieu of a coherent topic, I answer questions people ask on my Twitter feed. I'm just trying to enjoy what I can from Twitter before Elon Musk takes it over!

Does anyone pay for Grammarly, and if you do, have you found that it's helped your writing at all?

Yes, I pay for Grammarly. I find it very helpful to keep my writing a little more on track. In fact, I am using it to help me with this post! I don't always take its suggestions. A lot of what they suggest is for more formal writing, I'm not trying to write a business letter, so I'm a bit more colloquial than it likes. I dismiss one-third to one-half of their suggestions. Some of you who are Grammar Police may notice I don't always follow the rules.

Self-published authors, how often do you check your KDP dashboard?

I used to check it a lot. I don't check it much anymore because it is way too depressing.

Ok, I'll check it now.

------

The last time I sold anything was November 2019.

Thanks for the question. Now I'm really depressed.

Good morning. Can I go back to bed?

Sure.

And thanks to the previous question, I'm already there, with a pillow I can scream into.

Do men still cook &wash the dishes????

I can't speak for the entire male species. I do a lot of the dishwashing, mostly the stuff by hand. I don't cook dishes. I hate to be a picky eater, but I don't find dishes edible or tasty.

Why don't we see the word 'pontificate' in writing more?

Uhhh...

Was there a time when we did see it a lot?

I'm not sure I've ever used it. But I'll pontificate on it more and get back to you.

Boy! Now THAT was entertainment!

Have a good day!

T. M. Strait

Tracy Holland for the National Assembly

 It's Primary Day in the Kingdom!

All the excitement and fun of watching grass grow.

Most local races are non-partisan. You don't have to declare a party to run - you just have to have an up-to-date Church Card that states what church you attend. And that church is required by law to inform the Election Board what your Sunday attendance percentage is. If it's below 60%, then your candidacy is voided, and you are not allowed to run. The Election Board will keep whatever fees you were charged. It's not their fault you couldn't follow the rules.

There are only two parties on the ballot for partisan races. You have to vote in one or the other; you can't split your ticket in primary voting. That frustrates some people because they think the primary should be it - one and done. But the Kingdom wants to suggest at least the facade of democratic choice, at least at this point.

One of the two parties is the Republican Party. But, like the persistence of the Dixiecrats decades ago, it is mostly a choice made out of habit by some elderly people. Once a Republican, always a Republican. Still, they only get about 10 to 15% of the vote in Pierce County.  

The main party, really the only viable party, is the Christain Kingdom Party, the CKP. It receives 85 to 90% of the vote. So if you win their primary, you've got a lock on winning your office. In the National Assembly, a body of  333, typically there are two or three dozen Republicans, mainly from Florida (old people - what are you gonna do?).

This is our third National Election. Even within the CKP, the number of contested primary races is getting fewer and fewer. Most people don't even want to argue anymore. What's the point?

We don't vote for President anymore. Instead, candidates are vetted through the National Council of Churches (NCC). Theoretically, they can qualify multiple candidates, but so far, they have only recommended one, and then that candidate is affirmed by the National Assembly. The most the public participates is on National Blessing Day, showing up for special services to offer their prayers and support for the new Father.

The one issue that seems to be motivating people this year is whether or not women should be included in the National Assembly. They are already excluded from the Presidency (not officially, but everyone understands that the NCC will not qualify a female candidate).  There is a woman in the Vice Presidency, but her term ends soon, and the position may be eliminated, at least according to contemplated constitutional revisions.

Hardliners want to exclude women from elected political positions, citing biblical text encouraging the subjugation of women. Please understand. This is not my interpretation of the Bible - this is theirs. Every day that I wake up, I find it hard to believe what I live in. I tell Alison we should have gotten out when we could have. I'm just grateful that my three boys aren't in the Kingdom - Doug in what's left of the USA, and Greg and Benjamin in Pacifica.

Another issue that may be debated by the National Assembly is whether certain denominations should be certified in the Kingdom. These include Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and my own denomination, Episcopalians. This concerns me quite a bit. Without that certification, my life would be even more restricted than it is, including no longer having the right to vote.

So, that is why I'm voting for Tracy Holland for our National Assemblyperson (boy, I can't use that phrase out loud). She is slightly moderate, at least by CKP standards. She is in favor of women in the General Assembly and, as a Methodist, may be inclined not to reduce the number of sanctified denominations. At least, that's what I would hope.

I've got my church card, which has my photo ID and verification of church participation. That's all you need to vote. Forging a card to vote could result in a ten-year prison sentence. I'm not sure who's desperate enough to vote for the choices we have to think it is worth that kind of risk, so there is very little voter fraud. Just as there was little voter fraud BEFORE the Kingdom came.

When I hand the poll worker my card, she says, "You might want to consider changing churches if you want to keep voting."

Oh, yes. Things just keep getting better and better.