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Michael McLeod

I am really going to miss my students. It's just a small class -- 18 students -- and just a very interesting mix....for a third of them, English is their second language, so I've got quite the global blend and different backgrounds in the room, all of them working their butts off. Funny that this thing has been a remote, philosophical spectacle to me up to this moment -- that was quite a luxury, not being directly affected apart from being a shoulder to cry on when my girlfriend was worried about her daughter in China. But of course my woes don't compare to those who will be really hurt. Damn. Hold onto your hats folks. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

James Hamilton, M. D.

I think it's about time we hear from our foreign correspondent about how some other parts of the world are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic. What say you Donna?

Jim 

John Jackson

I'm very interested to hear Donna's overseas perspective, but until we do, I’ll say that today's events remind me of the old adage “The Dow giveth and the Dow taketh away”.  I know that attributing causes to stock market movements is a foolhardy exercise, but after yesterday’s 1400 point swoon, I really expected at least a slight uptick today.  Today’s 2350 point drop (biggest percentage drop since 1987) is at least PARTIALLY a vote of no confidence in the ineptness of this administration.  

Can you believe that last night in his Oval Office address to an anxious nation, Trump, reading from a teleprompter, got it wrong when he said all European freight (imports) would be embargoed, an issue of huge economic importance?  Half an hour later the cleanup team had to issue a statement saying that Trump had “misspoken” on this point and that imports were not affected.  

As David Frum, a conservative Republican and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote in the Atlantic today:

“Financial futures began crashing even as Trump was talking, perhaps shocked by his lack of an economic plan, perhaps aghast at his latest attack on world trade”.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/trump-ensuring-worst-possible-outcome-coronavirus-crisis/607867/

The financial world cynically supported and accepted Trump’s tax cuts (which were bad economic policy and totally unnecessary due to the strong economy he inherited from Obama) because it made them a lot of money. But now, when the U.S. economy is on the ropes and in need of effective leadership, they know a fool when they see one and your retirement accounts (and the prospects that many everyday Americans will be able to pay the rent and put food on the table) are paying the price.

I’m not suggesting that the stock market decline is mostly caused by Trump’s incompetence -  a very large part of it is caused by the real economic damage from the effects of the virus (mostly not Trump’s fault) as Americans, rightly or wrongly, stay home and hunker down, strangling the 85% of the American economy that is fueled by consumer spending.  But once a downturn of this magnitude starts, to keep it from feeding on itself there needs to be confidence in the leadership of the President, and I think that is sorely lacking.

Hang on tight…

Timothy Lavelle

Host of game show: "John , John, John, why so negative? Just because you couldn't answer the question, 'who is the real third  member of the holy trinity'?  

Frank Pardo, tell Jarring Jack, what he's won here on "You Bet Your Ass".

Frank Pardo - "Thank you Kelly Anne, and a special thank you to Holy Trumpy  without whose guidance the world would be a truly sick place...

Now JJ, for your spirited play, you've won a four year vacation for 300 million of your close friends. Better pack now folks, because those left alive in January 2021 will  be starting a new chapter in life with such benefits as a full day without some embarrassing Whitehouse rudeness or how about NEVER having to hear from Don junior, ever again.  You and all your friends will sail on the good ship "Can I getta Amen?" and we will see the shores of "Dis" slip away, leaving Disgust, Disappointment,  or Disallusion far behind us."

So, friends, I was going to pattern the above joke on "Survivor" but I thought that was a little too optimistic. No quotation marks were spared in the making of this post.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Your European correspondent reporting. 

Barcelona March 13

6am    Breakfast:  Before reaching for the newspaper I see a request on the Forum for some input from across the seas about the pandemic coronavirus outbreak. I then look at the front page of La Vanguardia and read "Spain and the United States are at this moment the two countries where Covid-19 is spreading at the quickest rate, even more quickly than in Italy" according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

2:30 Back from a design project visit up the coast. 

Lunchtime:   Breaking News on TV: Spain declares a State of Emergency over Coronavirus.

 I can't wait to see what dinnertime brings! Pass the botella de vino, please! 

Schools in Madrid and some other Spanish provinces closed last week.  In Barcelona area they have closed today for at least 15 days and many people are working from home.  Some restaurants, shops and even beaches are closing.  Coastal towns are requesting that people from the interior not visit their beach towns, spreading the virus. 

I can give a few personal examples of how the situation is affecting people's lives. Workers we expected at a project downtown this morning called to say that their town Igualada (70 Km from Bcn) is on lockdown and they were unable to leave. Dozens of people in the area were diagnosed with the virus and over 200 people had been in contact with them, including several doctors and nurses at a local hospital.  Later at the beach project I learned from a contractor that her niece was one of those nurses that is hospitalized.  An American friend who has lived here for 40+ years has a slight heart condition. Today she has made the difficult decision to not fly to her only son's wedding in California. 

Unfortunately I am afraid that no one will remain completely unaffected by COVID-19. Obviously it is not only ridiculous, but dangerous, to falsely pin the blame for this virus on one country or continent while at the same time denying the seriousness of its impact. Countries should be learning from the experience and practices that have been effective in other countries, offering support whenever possible. Keep safe. Keep healthy!

David Mitchell

Ugh!

Thank you dear "Correspondent from the East"

David Mitchell

Facebook: Chris Barnes

Facebook: Chris Barnes

David Mitchell

Took me a while to get that article to download and remove the spaces with large ads.

But I'd have to say he gets it!

Jeanine Eilers (Decker)

Thanks for sharing this, Dave.  Many police officers have this kind of heart.

Michael McLeod

Appreciate effort, Dave. Many's the time I started off posting a story and then gave up 'cause I'm all thumbs technically - and a part of me keeps saying "somebody ought to be paying you for this."

Michael McLeod

This is a very well presented and succinct look at Covid-19.

What I like about it is apart from covering the medical aspect it puts it into a broader practical and philosophical context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqw-9yMV0sI

David Mitchell

Jeanine,

I also know some really great guys who are cops.

Unfortunately, I also know of some awful "bad cop stories". 

I have one good buddy in my Vietnam group that I already mentioned way back on this Forum who is one of the world's nicest guys - but got caught in the web of a bunch of really nasty cops in his Atlanta Police Department. He and his (honest) partner in the Narc squad were following some dirty cops inside his department who were drug dealers - big time dealers! As I told before, he and 7 more good cops ended up making the arrest of about 8 other officers coming out of a bar one night, and as he handed the main guy the warrant (a senior ranking officer he had known for years), the guy pulled a pistol from his jacket and shot Bob in the chest - at point blank range. An all-out group gunfight ensued (a la OK corral) in the parking lot between about 15 or 16 cops - good cops vs. bad cops. And Bob still has the bullet next to his spine 30 years later.

But he went back to work full time on the force or another 10 years!  What made him quit seems even more tragic. Bob was also in the "Crimes Against Children Dept." and Atlanta was going through a period with a serial killer murdering young Black boys. It got so political and racial, and the threats and accusations so great against the police department that Bob could not take it anymore, and quit the force. It turned out that an elderly Black man was the culprit after all.

I am righ now witnessing another tragic "Cop" story that is stressing me out like few tiems in my life. As I mentioned  a short time back, I have a young froend from Rmania who is a Doctor in Germany. While visiting an old Romaina friend he go arrested in Clarksville Texas. It happends to be the county seat of Red River County (East of Dallas) - the well-documented "most corrupt" law enforcement in Texas.

Where I am going with this story is the part about Police "search and siezure" laws - widely debated and very suspicious practice that has become almost a "racket" for police departments all over the cocuntry.  They sieze money, cars, valuables and property, intending to cripple the criminal operations financially. I once though it sounded like a good idea - stop the drug and crime operations by choking off their finances. But this has become a tool used by police eveywhere against anyone and everyone - guilty of not guilty.

A friend sent me an article about some reserach of this issue here in South Carolina, and it is frightening! They can take - and keep - assets from poeple and never give them back even if never proven guilty. In this last few weeks I have been sent seveal articles about this practice. I cannot find it now but there is an article writtne buy two journalists at tehGreenville SC newspaper about their 2-year investigatin and it is shocking! The article is titled "Taken" if anybody is interested.

------------------- 

Sorry to go on so long but I am home with a cold and nothing else to do - not about to go out and scare the public with my surgical mask on. Got my mask the other day at the Naval Hospital in Beaufort (my second home - the nearest VA clinic). They were stopping everybody at the entry and asking "Have you been out of the country in the last 30 days?  And have you been with anyone from out of the country in the last 30 days? Do you have a cold, cough, runny nose or a fever?  

Reply,: "Yes, I do have  a cold."  

"Then here, put on this mask."

David Mitchell

Okay, Okay, so I am using up my life-time Forum priviledges.

I mentioned once before that I had seen I.C. and St. Joe's graduate Mimi Rousseau (Susie's next oldest sister)  as a backup singer on a PBS classic Pop music show.

Well, tonight, I just saw her as one of the main singers in another of those shows titled sometng like "Moments to Remember" from 2011. Its full of stuff from Rosemary Cloony, The Skylighters, the four Preps, a very old Frankie Laine etc. 

So I went back to find one of her You Tube segments from back when she sang with the group "Spittin" Image" - very popular around Columbus bars and clibs in the 80's.  

Low and behold I found (among many You Tubes segments) this segment (before she cut and bleached her hair) called "The Boy's a Dancer". This is not her best voice, but I swear there is a moment on the staircase with an actress posing as her mother that looks an awful lot like her home on No. Broadway, And later three scenes at the "wedding",  that I swear looks like parts of the front of IC church exterior.

You I.C.er's might watch closely and see if you see what I think I am seeing. 

0:27 Home stairway - then 2:05, I.C. Church entrance  - and 2;25 inside at the alter + ouside.

Anybody else see what I think I am seeing?

David Mitchell

I was living in Denver during her entire carreer. I never saw them play but friends tell me they were really big around Columbus for several years. I think they did 3 or 4 abums.

Just to save Mimi's reputation as a singer, I think I owe it to her to play this one too. Though most of you will remember her looks from the first video, This was her (new) look after the band got popular.

* (Added later: They actually did a song about Whetstone High School - not kidding)

** (Added even later - I had Mimi's last name mis-spelled. I have corrected it in the previous post)

Michael McLeod

Dave. I'll say it again. Well actually this is first time I've said it quite like this:

You have a book in you.

David Mitchell

Mike, 

Thanks for the encouragement. If you are referrring to my flying experience, I hear this from you and other classmates (Sheila McCarthy has been on me for years about this), and friends, and even my three kids.

I am terrible about time organization and staying on task. 

David Mitchell

Meanwhile, Do you, or  Clare, Mary Margaret, Beth, Jim, or anybody frrom I.C. see what I think I see at about 2:24 in that first video? I''d swea(r) that is the front of your church.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Dave, 

Yes, that is most likely IC. 

​​​​​​​​​​Jim 

Michael McLeod

Dave: I'm brain damaged so I'll just rely on my classmates and say sure.

John Jackson

And now, as the coronavirus closes in on us, here’s a bit of pre-St. Patrick’s Day escapism…

If you had to pick one dominant theme in Irish music, it would be emigration.  The link below is to the song “City of Chicago” by Screaming Orphans, a group I just discovered.  It’s a “girl band” if that’s an apt description of four sisters from County Donegal in the very northwest corner of Ireland.  Interesting historic fact: since it is in the north (in Ulster), when the British partitioned Ireland in the early 20th century, Donegal should have been placed in northern Ireland except for the fact that its strong Catholic majority would have made Northern Ireland majority Catholic.  So the Brits, in their infinite (and calculating) wisdom, kept Donegal in the Republic to the South. 

The song is short and straightforward -  Irish immigrants in Chicago pining away for the “hills of Donegal”.  This version is perhaps a little more jaunty and upbeat than the song warrants (given the reference in the first verse to the Great Famine) but that’s OK since, aside from drinking songs, cheeriness is a precious commodity in Irish music. 

But what I really like in the video are the roadside shots of stone walls.  If you go to the west of Ireland, there are hardly any major highways and you're often driving on roads so narrow that you have to back up to a turnout to let an oncoming  car by.  But the walls (loose stone, no mortar) are everywhere and they extend up the hillsides as far as the eye can see. And, if you’re not careful, you can scrape your rearview mirror on them (much easier to do when you're driving on the wrong side of the road).  Irish folklore holds that the walls are a natural part of the landscape (i.e., they’ve been there forever), but they were in fact created by generations of farmers who needed a place to put the rocks they dug out of their stony fields.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WcXjcVplOY

For any of you not by now saturated with this stuff, this second link is to a more haunting version of the song by Christy Moore, one of the great voices in Irish music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvOcyRqNfBI

And if you’re taken by Christy Moore, check out his album “King Puck”, and especially the last track “Me and the Rose” a 13-minute stream-of-consciousness update of that old chestnut from our parents/grandparents’ generation, “The Rose of Tralee”.

Frank Ganley

For a modern take on Great Irish music, check out Gallic Storm.

Frank Ganley

For the the Irish life was in the great famine of Ireland and how cruel the English were youtube "Skippereen". Its a beautiful little town in County Cork

Michael McLeod

John:

My Irish Catholic poet buddy Billy Collins has a rueful story about a flat tire, courtesy of a rough passage on those narrow county cork roads, on his last trip to Ireland.

James Hamilton, M. D.

It seems like every day more and more places that we frequent are closing due to the coronavirus pandemic. And I am sure that most of you are in the same situation. This is more restrictive than I recall after 9-11. Just about anywhere that people gather has become a hazard. State governors across the nation are ordering all kinds of closures and restrictions in addition to what the federal government is initiating. 

My medical intuition tells me that this is one way to stop the spread of this plague and may be the best measure until an effective vaccine is readily available. Testing for one vaccine is actually supposed to begin today. But it may be 12-18 months before it - or other ones - are ready for mass deployment. I hope that process can be accelerated. I cannot fathom America or Americans functioning like this for a year or more. 

​Another side of me can't help but wonder if this is overkill.

Regardless, all of us are limited to some extent as to where we can go and what we can do. Life has changed once more as it did 19 years ago. Many of those changes after 9-11 became permanent. Aside from more emphasis on hygiene, I hope that the more extreme changes we are experiencing recently do not become the rule of life in this country. 

In the meantime, while we are all partial shut-ins, instead of watching the stock market tank, wondering where we can find toilet (🚽) paper and Purell and listening to Irish music on YouTube (🎶), here is a suggestion: NOW IS A GOOD TIME FOR THOSE OF YOU IN OUR CLASS WHO HAVE BEEN AVOIDING POSTING ON THIS FORUM TO DO SO. We would love to hear from you on whatever topic you want to discuss (maybe save the really hot political topics for the User Forum).

Jim 

​​​​​

Timothy Lavelle

Jim,

So, here in remote-land, today I went to the market in the local small logging  community of Morton. I was instructed to pick up certain items for Irish stew and soda bread. The market had most stuff but no Guiness and no buttermilk. So, if the shelves in your Kroger or Safeway are empty, try a small nearby town and hopefully you'll strike carbohydrate and protein gold.

But, Jim, I wanted to say that people in the market (and the five others I went to along route 12) were respecting the space of everyone else. But no matter where you live, you can't expect the supply lines to be completely normal. I believe everyone may run into shortages in one thing or another. Didn't see anyone with a cart load of toilet paper here so maybe people don't need bathrooms quite as much here...

But Jim, what caught my eye was your wondering if we are getting a bit carried away. I don't know either but I share your question. I am guessing though, that you share this view...we can always look back and laugh at ourselves for over-doing it, but until then, with how little we know, better to overdo the safety precautions than to drive to 6 markets looking for buttermilk and Guiness. Everyone should be smarter than yours truly. I washed the hell outa my hands when I got home.

One last thing. I don't know anything about cuts of meat. I was looking for Chuck Roast and was mystified. I asked an older guy also looking at meats, "Hey, do you know what you're doing?" The look he gave me requires that I advise you that beyond some of my classmates, this guy heads the list of people who do not consider me funny. Even after telling him I was looking for Chuck roast and would not know it from Bob or Ralph roast...my best comic stuff...he looked me like I was an example of what is wrong with the Earth. You gotta love that. 

So using soap n water, hum, "Everybody (dance) Wash Now" while you all lather up.