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Michael McLeod

And now, for the music lovers in our audience, a pleasant interlude to help you forget about your troubles via a youthful tribute to a time gone by of idealism and promise. 

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David Mitchell

Well put Mike M.

Born white, male, in Clintonville with loving parents seems ions away from those who suffer. Our hardships were having to do our chores, or our homework. Later it got even more serious - we felt the pain and suffering of listening to Ohio State loose to Michigan, or having to miss an episode of "Rin Tin Tin", or "You Asked For It".  Horrors! 

I am often struck by the huge gap between our two extremes of political ideologies, and I seem to find myself caught somewhere in the middle on a lot of issues.

It seems to me that there are a lot of points of truth that fall somewhere in the middle - or at least, compromise that could be acheived - if we listened. But they get lost in these political pissing contests. We get defensive and tend to cling to the ideology, instead of working together towards effective solutions. It's often "party line" vs. reality - or power and money over fair and honest results. 

But the character of the individual still matters to me. Remember I am old - and as a result, old fashioned.

And it's often difficult to assess who the real person is behind the nice suits and ties - or business suits and heels. If you shout louder, or have a "movie star" persona, you may have a shot. But calmly addressing plain truth, plus $5, might get you a Starbucks - at best.

And there is so much financial "influence" clogging our system of government, so much socialism for the wealthy and corporate welfare in our utterly wacky tax codes. And sooo much lobby money flowing like an open sewer in the halls of government. (need we look any further than the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision? Wow!)

Wouldn't it be crazy to see a new party - the party of "Honesty, Decency, and Effective Compromise"? 

Excuse me but I have to go finish my Snow White movie on the Disney channel.   

p.s. Absolutely love Mr. Tamborine Man. Laugh, but I there is a version by John Denver when he was new with the "Chad Mitchell Trio" that i love.     

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

To all of my friends of the Class of "66 whom I know to be good people, who strive to know the truth, who seek peace and who sincerely desire to preserve our God-given rights, I would like to share something I read today in a column in the Catholic TImes;

The columnist, Fr. Ted Palcholczyk, was referring to a Q & A fhat followed a talk in which a parent questioned "what can the average person do to push back against the seemingly endless expansion of error and evil in our society?"  His respsone:

 We cannot yield to discouragement over the apparently widespread moral decline around us, nor dissipate our personal energy in worry and anxiety about the state of the world. Instead, we need to recognize how God has entrusted to each of us a small garden that he asks us to tend. If we tend that plot well, he will extend the reach of his grace in ways we cannot foresee or imagine, and we actually will contribute to stemming the tide of error and evil well beyond the limited confines of our particular plot.

This implies that each of us has different responsibilities, depending upon our particular state in life, our commitments, and our employment and family situations. By attending carefully to those responsibilities and conscientiously tending our gardens, the air around us indeed can begin to change.

In the words of St. Padre Pio, "Pray, hope and don't worry.  Worry is useless.  God is merciful and will hear your prayer."  I don't know about you all, but if St. Padre Pio, who bore the stigmata, gives this advice we "can take it to the bank".  

John Jackson

Jim, I know it’s an article of faith on the right that Obama was close to the three people you mentioned, but of the three, it’s hard to make the case except for Jeremiah Wright.  And, once some of Wright’s earlier controversial statements came to light, Obama very forcefully distanced himself from those views.  But Wright’s only crime has been to be controversial, unlike the five Trump associates mentioned in the NYT article who, in just the past two years, have all been convicted of, or pled guilty to, multiple-count federal indictments.

There has always been, and there will always be, corruption (and on both sides).  But it wasn’t that common and you had to look in dark places to find it.  And it was roundly condemned and punished when it was brought to light.  

But Trump has taken things to a whole new level – now it’s out in the open - one of the arguments is “since we’re doing this openly, and admitting it, it can’t be corruption”.  We're hearing about stuff daily, and we’re getting accustomed to it as the new normal.  There’s a striking difference in degree, an erosion of norms that is completely, at least in our lifetimes, unprecedented.  

David Mitchell

THINKING AHEAD:

Okay, so I was just going over the seating chart for our 55th reunion dinner.

I guess we should put all the Liberals on the "Left" side of the room, and all of the Conservatives on the "Right" side of the room. For those of us are too senile to remember which is which, we can hire boy scouts to escort us to our seats. But I am not sure where to put those of us who are completely clueless?  Maybe we could seat them (me) in a long row down the middle of the room as a sort of barrier - you know, kind of like a "wall". It woudl be a lot cheaper than barbed wire, don'cha think?

I think we should have music, but played softly so as to allow shouting political slogans back and forth. Or maybe we should just have a debate up front on a stage. And the rest of us get to sit there and shout out the questions. Now who would like to volunteer for the panel?  C,mon now - not everybody at once.

And here are a few songs I think would be appropriate for the evening:

Starting all over Again (is Gonna be Rough) - Hall and Oates

It's my Party (and I'll Cry if I Want to)  - Leslie Gore

Ring of Fire - Jonny Cash

Can't Get Used to Loosing You - Andy Williams 

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - The Righteous Brothers

War - Edwin Starr

And a "completely new" favorite - written by Jack Malik, a "new" songwriter fom that bastion of great British Pop/Rock music, Lowestoft, (in Sussex, of course). 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Sr. Gilmary, I shall add my greetings and welcome to this Forum of the Class of '66!

As you have probably guessed, we discuss many different topics. Your homework assignment is to read the 6500+ posts that have been entered herein over the past few years and then decide if you can tolerate all of our musings and bickering and then restore order to our class 😱😁!

Jim ​​​​​​

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David Mitchell

Golly, looks like everybody who is anybody was home today - and without the grandkids. Who knew?

Sister Gilmary,

Welcome.

But I have such a bad memory that I cannot remember you. (I keep trying to tell  everybody I am old.) And I did not take French. But if you are game enough to jump into this Forum you deserve a badge of courage. Or the official "patience of job" award. 

Okay class, everybody clean up your language (and look busy)

Michael McLeod

Any Jack Kerouac fans out there?

I have a list of suspects in my head. 

Post something, anything, if you are among them.

I am curious - professionally curious - because I am writing a column about the inventor of the beat generation - the guy who, I believe, coined that elusive and overused adjective as applied to a rebellious post-war generation. 

Actually I am writing a story about a place where Kerouac lived for a while.

There is a home not far from where I am writing this now - a ten minute drive --  where he wrote "The Dharma Bums," which followed onthe heels of "On The Road," a story about bumming around the country with crazy friends which made him famous. It's an old Florida bungalow that has been turned into a writing retreat: writers can apply to stay there for free and write. They come from all over the world and spend three months on whatever project they have going at the moment. 

Weirdly enough, as long as I have lived in Orlando, I have never gotten around to writing about this place, which has been in operation for 20 years. They have asked me to write about it because they need money to fix the place up -- just basic, foundation work, nothing cosmetic, because its ramshackle appearance bespeaks the "beat generation" mentality and lifestyle and writing style that Keroac esposed. It's appropriate, for example, that the seat of a chair that he may have used while he was dreaming up stories has a hole in it. And you can easily visualize him holed up writing in the ranshackle back section of the house where he stayed - it's a low-ceilinged, rectangular add-on with a very low door, like almost Hobbit size, that opens up into a back yard that once had orange trees in it; he would sleep in that backyard some nights, or so the story goes.

There's a splendid Live Oak that hovers over the house - it's a primal touch. If you've ever been around live oaks you'll know what I mean. They are gnarled, ancient, druid-like -- I can imagine him drawing strength from it, coming up with some mystical metaphor, like the time when he was climbing a mountain with friends, one of whom expressed a fear of falling, and Keroac said: "You can't fall off a mountain." When somebody at the house ran that quote past me, I didn't get it at first. Then it came to me that he was saying don't be afraid. Many of the fears you have and the risks you think you see are of your own invention. 

Even without the live oak, though, the place is sacred. Sacred, at least, to the writer who stay here and say that they feel a palabable presence, knowing who occupied this space.

Writing this will be a bit difficult for me because he's never been a particular hero of mine, though I know what a cultish, powerful figure he was. A tragic one, alas: he was an alcoholic; he died in his early 40s. You can find interviews with him on facebook with Steve Allen - remember him? -- who played a piano as he interviewed him, and also - this one is much sadder -- with professional pompous ass William F. Buckley. Keroac's head is lolling and he is clearly on something as Buckley asks him if he thinks he influence the frightening and puzzling and bizarre youth subculture that had just emerged at the time - it's hilarious to see how seriously Buckley is as he asks him about - wait for it - HIPPIES! Oh my God what is this country coming to? It's just so weird to think back to a time when being a hippie was the craziest thing you could do and it made mom and pop apolectic.

From the very beginning, when Kerouac fans banded together to set the house as a cross between a sweatshop and a shrine, the irony of a literary landmark in a town better known as a theme park destination did not escape them. And I wondered, personally, if the Beat Generation is forgotten. But truth is that Keroac fans from all over the world -- not necessarily writers, but people who were inspired by the rebelliousness and spiritual or psuedo spiritual pursuit the beat generation espoused, turn up at the house just to look at it. 

Ok that's all for now. To be honest with you I wrote this on this space as a sneaky way of penetrating my usual writing block so I have been using you - I mean it's not like I'm using you as test dummies; it's actually just using a space where I can feel free to screw up. More like a dress rehearsal.  It eliminates or at least tamps down writers block, the psychology of which I will explain for you from five decades worth of experience with it: It's really hard to get past the fear that I'm going to say something stupid on the page, that I am not smart enough, that everything has to be perfect from the moment it emerges from my fingers. Ironically enough, I think that Kerouac, who did his best to hotwire his brain and write instinctively, without examining the ideas too closely before turning them loose, without having a beady-eyed gatekeeper watching every move he made - I think (haven't done enough research to say this conclusively) that he is perceived by critic to have adopted a writing style designed at least in part to win the war with writing block. The approach he took to make his writing spontaneous, to duplicate experience as it happens as accurately as possible, is what endeared him not only to those who admired his spirit but those who seek to emulate his technique, putting him in a seat not too far removed from hemingway in terms of influencing the style of American writers for generations.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

John and Mike, regarding former President Obama....I wonder if you would defend the lie perpetrated by our former President and his administration immediately following the attack in Benghazi on Sept.11, 2012.  I am speaking of their insistence that the deadly attack was the direct result of a little known internet video? I will never forget watching as Obama and Clinton stood at the foot of the caskets of four dead Americans and repeated such an egregious lie to the grieving families and to all of America. Why would Obama and Clinton repeat such a lie?  A lie that was repeated for weeks on the world stage, despite the fact that the intelligence received by Clinton's State Dept. from the very beginning of the attack, had informed them that the attack was pre- planned and carried out by an al Qaeda affiliated group, not spontaneous and the direct result of a Youtube video?

Mary Ann Nolan (Thomas)

Really Mary Margaret? Do you reall want  to get into a discussion of Obama vs. Trump? I and other women I know will be ready to debate this with you. Just name the time and place.

John Jackson

MM, I’m sure this will not surprise you, but I never understood the hold that Benghazi had on the right.  The real tragedy was that four lives were lost.   And I find it hard to believe the State Department did not draw whatever security lessons were appropriate from this tragic event – after all, in the Obama administration, professional diplomats serving us in dangerous places overseas were respected and valued.  

So devoting three years of hearings to decide the exact sequence of events that precipitated the attack (hearings which finally led to … absolutely nothing) struck me as a “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin” exercise.  And they didn’t bring the dead back to life.

You may feel that the administration and State Department made misleading statements about the reasons for the attack in the aftermath of Benghazi – I didn’t follow it like you did and, for all I know, you may well be right.  And if you want to call those statements lies, that’s your prerogative.  But, unlike our current president, Obama did not lie, day in and day out, about matters large and small, and force his people to do the same. 

In an attempt to convince you how strongly I feel that things are really different today and that my views about Trump are not just the normal back-and-forth partisan sniping, I’ll say that while I wasn’t a huge fan of W’s administration (surprise!), I can’t think of a single out-and-out lie that I would accuse him of telling.  Did he spin – of course (everyone does).   Did he jump to conclusions on WMD in Iraq - quite possibly.  But did he lie – I don’t think so.                                                

MM and anyone else should feel free to chime in, but I’m going to return to lurker status.

Michael McLeod

We are the laughing stock of the world; a half dozen of our president's cronies are in jail or headed there soon; he's being impeached and in the process being exposed as a liar (as if we needed any further evidence on that score); our country under his watch has developed a habit of ignoring science, abandoning allies, favoring the wealthy, running roughshod over the environment, attacking women (in multiple ways) and separating children from their parents.

Seems if we want to start up a debate club or make sure everything's hunky dory in our own back yard we could cover that territory first.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Since I love a good debate....I will be posting over on the User Forum in the near future where thoughts can continue to be shared and discussed.  I will let Mary Ann know the time and date..

John Maxwell

Mary Ann Nolan (Thomas)

MM ready but all you know is cutting a pasting Fox News and that will not be allowed. 

Mary Ann Nolan (Thomas)

As I said good will outweigh evil.

Michael McLeod

Now we've gone and done it. Mary Margaret's over there cranking out another one of her encyclicals.

Interesting that you brought up Fox.

Some data from a column by Nicholas Christoff today:

Researchers have found that Fox News isn’t very effective at informing Americans. A 2012 study by Fairleigh Dickinson University reported that watching Fox News had “a negative impact on people’s current events knowledge.”

The study found that those who regularly watched Fox News actually knew less about both domestic and international issues than those who watched no news at all. N.P.R. listeners were particularly well-informed, the study found, but even people who got their news from a comedy program like “The Daily Show” — or who had no news source whatsoever — knew more about current events than Fox viewers.

That may be correlation rather than causation, but at the least it suggests that viewers of Fox News don’t actually learn much.

Yet if Fox News doesn’t inform citizens, it does sway their votes. Two Stanford scholars, Gregory J. Martin and Ali Yurukoglu, published a paper in American Economic Review in 2017 suggesting that without the network, the Republican share of the vote for president would have been 0.46 percentage points lower in 2000, 3.6 points lower in 2004 and 6.3 percentage points lower in 2008.

David Mitchell

My apologies to all. In my previous post about the seating chart fo the 55th.                I completely forgot about the food. 

Mea Culpa!

Being the "foodie" that I am, I consider this is a grevious oversight.

Although I think the exact food choices will be up to the "committee", I would like to suggest the manner in which it is served.  Here is my idea;

I think we should allow all the Conservatives to go through the buffet line first, so as to allow them to get just exactly the "right" amount of food on their plates. We will then allow the Liberals to follow them through the line and pick from the "Left"-overs. 

Any classmates who requite a special diet requirements should make their requests known to the committee ahead of time. Those may include Vegitarians, Vegans, Diabetics, and English Majors.

And for your safety, we will need to post the following warning signs at all entrances;

  All Helicopter Pilots Must Be Accompanied by an Adult

Michael Boulware

John Jackson has the talent to write down what I am thinking. I say to myself, "that's what I wanted to say". Wat to go John. 

Michael McLeod

Onward with my deep dive into Kerouac:

He was Catholic! Catholic and Canadian.

I did not know that.

It didn't keep him from exploring other religions - Buddhism for one -- but it stuck with him, Catholicism, though I don't think he was a church-going practitioner.

Much more confident at this point and drawn in by the story of this guy who informed so many heroes of our generation - from Dylan to the Beatles musically, while essayists and journalists inspired by his example would comprise an even longer list.

This piece won't see the light of day until January. I'll post it then. Hopefully you'll enjoy the finished product more than my creative-process ramblings.

Go Bucks! 

Janie Albright (Blank)

A little nostalgia. We certainly had more rigorous training than our public school friends. Or my daughters in the following generation. I had them read mine. I asked my daughter's high school English teacher why they weren't reading and writing like we did and he said "You had nuns; they had nothing else to do than grade essays." Food for thought. I consider us lucky. 
 

Michael McLeod

Don't get me started, Janie.

Anybody remember the little library on High Street next to the Clinton near the corner of East North Broadway? 

I sure hope I am passing on something of the joy of reading and writing that began for me there.

David Mitchell

Janie,

You just hit one of my hot buttons  - again. We talked about this before but I am still baffled and upset that my grandkids are not being taught to write in longhand. Simply amazing! And that all they see on TV is angry unicorns and fighting ninjas. They have no concept of what a Cowboy or an Indian is. Will they be taught to "code" and never hear of Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull?

Sorry, I know I have harped on this before, but it really bothers me.

------------

And Mike B.

I taught John Jackson everything he knows - I was just trying to make it look like I needed his help (,,,,,,every damn weekend for 8 years!). 

But seriously, I thought your post about your experience in Kentucky football was as interesting and profound as anything we've seen on this forum. I'd love to hear you expound on that in the future. 

-----------------

Redundant, yes. Venice again - another damaging tide yesterday 

Now back for an additional story on my obession with Venice and  the "Mose" project. I know I am being redundant, but that first post was rather dry. If you have a few extra minutes, this is a segment from a past 60 Minutes episode and it's a much better "human interest" version of the problem.

Note: I do not know the date of this program - I not sure if it is recent. I do know that the project has been underway for a few years.

Ahah! If all else fails, read the date on the video - - -  in great big letters, Dave!   (February 2001)

David Mitchell

DESPERATE - PLEASE HELP!

If there are any "Poldark" (PBS Masterpiece series) fans out there, I need someone to explain somethng from last night's series finale.

Something in that scene in the barn where Ross Poldark and the French General are dueling with swords caught me completely off guard. The last thing I expected was for the despicable George Warleggan to step in and save him. Did that seem odd to any of you? Did it seem almost forced or contrived? It just did not work for me.

Please tell me if I am missing something. Give me your best shot.

Anyone?   Class?   Anyone?

Michael McLeod

Oh, and Janie:

My significant other -- and boy is she significant -- is a Montessori thoroughbred who is teaching elementary school students at a pubic charter school. And to summarize: the bureaucracy she must contend with consumes far, far more of her time than her students and parents do.

Another thing I am keenly aware of because of her are how impoverished our children are, both physically and intellectually, by virtue of the fact that many if not most of them play video games and watch television all day as opposed to running wild outside as we did. Jim may speak to this but what surprises me is how much physical activity plays into the development of mental capacity in early development, and how many young children need therapeutic intervention because of their inactivity in this day and age. It's not the only element that contributed to the problem - but it's so damn simple, so obvious, so easily preventable: let your damn kids run around and play! Whether they like it or not! I may be oversimplifying. I'm sure if I am the good doctor will pull me back down to earth.