Q is for Questionable Content

In the comments to a blogpost back in September, Andrew Bechard suggested that I write more about race. He had all sorts of good reasons and particular examples. Here's the thing: I find conversations about race exhausting. It's not that I think they aren't important and necessary, or that I don't engage in the topic occasionally. It's merely that talking about race often becomes either incendiary (So-and-so is playing "the race card", whatever that means) or trivialized (the purported "beer summit") or dismissive ("Race is just a social construct, so if we just stop talking about race, racism will just go away.")


But Andrew did ask one specific question that I WILL (finally) answer, and without ever using the word in question. "I, for one, am very curious to hear your views on why you won't use the 'N word' when I regularly overhear other black folks using it around Albany."

OK, here's the short answer: I don't like the word, so I don't use it.

Here's the slightly longer answer: I think it is hugely a matter of age. People, both black and white, of my generation, born in the 1950s, or earlier, were taught quite clearly that it was not appropriate word for right-minded person to use, certainly to use casually in the manner to which Andrew refers. That's why when Bill Cosby received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recently, he requested no profanity or the casual use of the N-word; he didn't like it. The NAACP held a funeral for the N-word at its annual conference in the summer of 2007. The use of the phrase by Bethlehem Police Chief Louis Corsi - the town of Bethlehem ins in Albany County, NY - got in him into understandable trouble.

For me, part of my antipathy towards the word comes from the circumstances in which I have been called the N-word. It was almost never face-to-face but rather by person or persons in a moving automobile or truck while I was walking or riding my bicycle. this includes more than a few times in Albany, though, to be fair, not in this century, to the best of my recollection.

Now there's a whole school of thought that if one claims a word, it loses its power. That seems to be the philosophy, not only for some blacks, but women and gays as well. That's fine for them, but it doesn't mean that I'll start using the words. I know people of Polish extraction who use a term considered a slur in talking about themselves, but I've never considered it an invitation for me to use it.

I recall quite distinctly that about 15 years ago, I was in my previous church, when one or two black kids were using the N-word in the church hallway. I said, "Don't use that word here." At which point, the (white) pastor came on the scene. One of the young men started to argue with me. And I said, in my best stern voice, "Don't use that word in HERE," and they relented. The pastor, who is about a decade older than I, was on the same page in this case.

There is a book out there by Professor Randall Kennedy, with the N-word as the title. The subtitle is The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word and that sounds about right. That book and its author, incidentally, were not without controversy.

That said, I would oppose the banning of a book such as Huckleberry Finn merely because it uses the N-word. (I'm really curious what Bill Cosby, who got the Twain award, thinks of this Twain book.) The Irish Repertory Theatre, an Off-Broadway troupe, is putting on an uncensored production of The Emperor Jones, a 1920 one-act play by Eugene O'Neill, with the N-word "flung around with alarming abandon"; I can see the value in doing the production as written.

I've also found any number of songs in my record collection that use the word. Thing is, it seemed to be making a point, rather than be a casual comment. Examples include:
Don't Call Me N*****, Whitety - Sly and the Family
If There's A hell Below, we're all gonna Go - Curtis Mayfield
Woman Is the N***** of the World - John Lennon
Living For the City (album version) - Stevie Wonder

When I saw Elvis Costello sing Oliver's Army last year, I swear he swallowed the N-word in favor of "one more white nah-gah".

So, Andrew: I don't use the N-word because...I just don't.
ROG

Sunny Day, Chasing the Clouds Away

If you've gone to Google the past week or so, you could not help but to have noticed the visual tributes to Sesame Street. The program hits its 40th anniversary tomorrow, November 10. For someone past the targeted demographic - I was almost 17 when it first aired - there was a period in which I watched it a great deal, especially in college.

The recollection is now fuzzy, but the Muppets of Jim Henson would show up on a number of variety shows in the 1960s. Possibly the first character to make the transition from the Henson act to Sesame Street was Kermit the Frog. Kermit was green, as I am (of sorts) and early on sang a tune about the difficulty of that fact, something about blending in with so many other ordinary things, and people passing you "over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water or stars in the sky." Boy, could I relate. Kermit was also often a bit exasperated, as I was.

Here's part of the first episode, before a slew of guest stars discovered that it was cool to appear on Sesame Street.

But it wasn't just the Muppets that appealed to me. Bob McGrath, who plays Bob, looked very familiar; perhaps I recognized him from Sing Along with Mitch (Miller)? I also liked Susan, played forever by Loretta Long. Don't know how long I was watching, but it was enough time that I remember both the old Gordon (Matt Robinson) and the "new" (1973) Gordon, Roscoe Orman, switched in a very Darrin Stephens way. I even went out and bought a soundtrack album in those first years, which unfortunately got lost or stolen. So when the 10th anniversary album came out in 1979, although I wasn't actively watching the show anymore, I purchased it. More than that, I played it quite often for a good decade.

Jaquandor has a bunch of Sesame Street YouTube links, including an early version of "Bein' Green" and the one the one about explaining death that manages to make me tear up every damn time.
ROG

It Ain't Easy

Very few phrases fill me with dread and/or irritation as the response, "Oh, it's EASY!" And it bugs me on two separate but related levels.

I had this colleague who was very smart but I don't think she recognized her own intellectual gifts. When I would ask her for help, she'd say, "Oh, that's EASY." It was as though, if SHE could could do it, it must not be all that special. But, in fact, it was, and in her profession, she is now quite accomplished. It seems that she has recognized the value of her talent.

The other version is when a techie or someone doing something technical or mechanical says, "Oh, that's EASY." Implicit in this one is that "anyone" can do it it. Well, obviously, they don't know ME. While I have mastered which end of the hammer is the one you generally hold, there is nothing in this arena that comes easily to me. If there are four ways to put something together, but only one correct way, you can be sure I will have tried at least two of the other three first. I have absolutely no innate spatial reference capacity.

And it also extends to my absolutely DREADFUL capacity for remembering names. I've tried all the tricks. Someone named Mr. Dole is wearing a pineapple shirt; I'll remember him as Mr. Pineapple.

Now there ARE some things that I do do easily, but I don't assume that others can, or should be able to do the same. I specifically remember 9th grade algebra, which I was rather good at (97 on the final - I'm also pretty good at remembering numbers generally). There was a particular problem that this kid Sid was trying to do on the board. The teacher was trying to explain it to him, but he just wasn't getting it. Then she let me try, and the light bulb went on in Sid's head.

What got me thinking about this was the daughter in kindergarten. She's fairly smart. Her teacher is having the students spell out the words phonetically, and she knows most of her letter sounds. What happened last month was that she spelled the words incorrectly, of course, and burst into tears. Her mother and I had to emphasize the fact that English isn't easy.

I mean I am a pretty good speller. A lousy typist but good speller - 100 on my 5th grade final (really) - but I don't know if I ever knew WHY most words were spelled as they are. Why do "giant" and "jelly" have the same starting sound? Or "cat" and "kitten"? Or "school" and "skill"? The silent e has some rationale - long vowel sound - but what about the silent b in climb or silent g in gnu, the latter of which appears in one of her picture books?

She HAS mellowed since then, but does have a perfectionist streak that doesn't seem to come from either her mother or me.

"Well all the people have got their problems
That ain't nothing new" - It Ain't Easy

It Ain't Easy by David Bowie video. "Dedicated to The Big Easy with much love." ROG

Lighting the Way to Equality

There is a rally this Monday, November 9 from 6 to 7 pm at the Capitol Building in Albany, State Street entrance, in favor of marriage equality.

The NY State Senate is preparing for a special session on Tuesday, November 10th. Apparently, the Senate leadership has indicated that the Marriage Fairness bill (S.4401/Duane) might be voted on that day.

The local NYCLU even came up with talking points if one is speaking with a state senator, not the least of which that:

"Thousands of New York families have been denied the fundamental right to marriage and the basic dignity that comes with state recognition of their family. This discriminatory practice must end. It is time to grant all families the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage.

"New York has long been a leader in civil rights, and it’s time for this state to lead once again. New Yorkers – gay and straight alike – care deeply about this issue. New York already recognizes out-of-state same-sex marriages. It is time to allow same-sex marriages in this state; your vote will put you on the right side of history."

While I certainly agree with the goals of the rally - and I'm said about the recent vote in Maine on the topic is really depressing - I often wonder about the efficacy of protest generally. And I have been to a LOT of protests in my life. Still, because it is so specifically focused to that targeted date, I find that I am compelled to attend the event.

1. What are your feelings on gay maariage or domestic partnerships?
2. What are your feelings about the value of the street demonstration?


ROG

The Breakfast Blog

My friend Dan really cracked me up, when, in his comment to my NaBloPoMo post, he described my blog as one of the "Breakfast Blogs. That what I call blogs like yours, Roger. 'For today's post I'm going to tell you what I had for breakfast this morning! I had exactly what I told you I had for breakfast in yesterday's post, but today I also had a big glass of orange juice! Let me tell you how that came about!' etc."

For the record, I can recall noting my breakfast habits five times in four and a half years, twice in my dedication to cold cereal, especially mixed; one about maple syrup; and a couple times in response to a meme question. OK, and once in answer to this question. That's about once every nine months.

And it's fine that he has a more "slow cooking" blog. Frankly, if I wrote as infrequently as he does, I'm afraid I wouldn't write anything at all. I have so many ideas, or at least pieces of ideas floating around in my head at any given time.
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What I will tell you is that I went to a comic book show on Sunday, well described by Fred Hembeck here (November 3). Had a grand old time talking with Fred, his wife Lynn Moss, John Hebert and his wife and mother, Bill Anderson, Joe Staton and especially Rocco Nigro. But what Fred and Rocco and I all said at different points was, "Where's Alan David Doane?" He plugged the event in his blog and then no one saw him there. Maybe he was incognito in one of those Watchman or Star Wars costumes; one really can't tell much about a person in a Darth Vader outfit.
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I've been at a State Data Center Affiliates meeting Wednesday, Thursday and will be today, learning a lot about the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey. and other Census products. I know the Census people really can't say this, but I can: if you don't want some intrusive government person coming to your house, fill out the form and return it right away. The decennial form next year is 10 questions, 10 minutes. Expect me to bore you with this regularly until at least mid-April.
***
I TOLD you the Yankees would beat the...Cardinals I TOLD you the Yankees would win the World Series. Didn't see an inning of it live; mostly caught the highlights.
***
I'm really pleased to announce that I received an acceptance letter this week for the proposal I submitted for Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. 9th annual conference in February. I'll talk more about it as it gets closer, but I've been a big fan of Paul and Mary Liz Stewart's work on this for years.

ROG

The Girl in the Middle

Oh, no, remember, remember
The fifth of November.
Remember by John Lennon

I have alluded to the trip that I took with Lydia to Charlotte, NC back in June, and how peevish some things made me. The thing that made me the most angry I never wrote about, in large measure because I was SO ticked that I thought I would write some characterization of the event that was full of bile and venom.

So now I've counted to 100 (1000? 10,000?).

On my mother's wall are three pictures of her three granddaughters. Although she's by far the youngest, Lydia's picture is in the middle. It's a photo from a couple years ago, and I wasn't positive that she recognized her own image. So on that Saturday afternoon, I said to Lydia, "Who's that girl in the middle? Who's that pretty girl in the middle?" This was a conversation I was having with my daughter, and I wasn't even particularly aware that anyone else was around, not that it would have mattered.

OK. So on Monday morning, while we're having a conversation ostensibly about my mother, one of my sisters says to me: "Do you know what's bothering me? When you were talking to Lydia about the pictures."

Though it was only two days earlier, I had no idea what she was talking about.

"You know, when you were saying that SHE was the pretty one, as though her cousins were not."

I said, "You're KIDDING!"

"Well, you can see how I could see how we could think that." Now to be fair, I don't know if the other sister was party to this.

Well, no, I don't see how you can see that. Not if I had NEVER said anything uncomplimentary about my beautiful nieces' looks. EVER. Not only did I find it absurd, I felt it was insulting to my integrity.

"I wasn't even talking to you. I was talking to my DAUGHTER to see if she could RECOGNIZE herself." My voice got louder, and probably, a bit shrill.

I was so angry that for the next several days back in Albany, anyone I talked to, whether I knew them or not, I told the story to. One was a woman from the Red Cross, who told me that the sister's reaction was the "silliest thing" that she's every heard. Another said it was like a game of peekaboo you'd play with a child.

And I can finally tell the story now because it no longer burns a hole in the pit of my stomach. And writing about it reduces the power it had held over me.

I have my theories about what the conversation was REALLY about, but I'll withhold that for the foreseeable future, except to say that I'm guessing that it REALLY wasn't about what I said at all, but rather some of her internal stuff, something I can see now but couldn't in the moment.


ROG

P is for Presidents

When I (mostly) finished collecting the state quarters (I STILL need a Kentucky D and some of the 2009 quarters), I decided to start collecting the new United States Mint Presidential One Dollar Coins. Actually, they are not that new. The series actually began in 2007 with the first four Presidents, then in 2008 with Presidents 5 through 8. The most recent one I have is for James K. Polk, #11, with Zachary Taylor still to come in 2009.

It occurred to me that, for some of these Presidents, these coins may be be their first appearance on American money. Apparently, the government and/or the people were resistant to putting real, specific people on its currency and coinage. Prior to 1909, when Abraham Lincoln first appeared on the penny (one cent), in commemoration of the centennial of the 16th President's birth, there was an "Indian head" penny. Likewise it was the buffalo head nickel (five cents) prior to 1938, when it changed to 3rd President Thomas Jefferson; Lady Liberty dime (10 cents) before 1946, when Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd President, appeared the year after he died; and Standing Liberty quarter (25 cents) before 1932, when the bicentennial of George Washington's birth was celebrated.

The portraits that appear on paper currency were adopted in 1929. Initially, it was determined to use portraits of Presidents, but the Secretary of the Treasury altered the plan to include Alexander Hamilton ($10 bill), who was the first Secretary of the Treasury; Salmon P. Chase ($10,000), who was Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War and "is credited with promoting our National Banking System"; and Benjamin Franklin ($100 bill), who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. U.S. bills are sometimes known as dead Presidents; while one must be dead to appear on U.S. money or stamps, not all of them have to be Presidents. Not incidentally, denominations of $500 and higher were discontinued in 1969, in large part because of fears about counterfeiting.

NOT a President
The Presidents

1. George Washington - quarter, $1 bill
2. John Adams - as far as I can determine, the Presidential $1 coin is his first appearance. This was one of the founders. Why didn't HE show up on the $2 bill instead of his sometimes rival?
3. Thomas Jefferson - nickel, $2 bill, which was discontinued for a time, and not widely found
4. James Madison - $5000 bill
5. James Monroe, 6. John Quincy Adams - just the 2008 Presidential coin
7. Andrew Jackson - $20 bill, though there are some who would like to see him off the bill
8. Martin Van Buren - just the 2008 Presidential coin
9. William Henry Harrison, 10. John Tyler, 11. James K. Polk, 12. Zachary Taylor - just the 2009 Presidential coin
13. Millard Fillmore, 14. Franklin Pierce, 15. James Buchanan - just the 2010 Presidential coin
16. Abraham Lincoln - penny, $5 bill, Illinois state quarter. There is also a 2009 Lincoln commemorative silver dollar in honor of the bicentennial of HIS birth, separate from the Presidential coin coming out next year.
17. Andrew Johnson - just the 2011 Presidential coin
18. Ulysses S. Grant - $50 bill
19. Rutherford B. Hayes, 20. James Garfield - just the 2011 Presidential coin
21. Chester A. Arthur, 23. Benjamin Harrison - just the 2012 Presidential coin

22 & 24. Grover Cleveland (won in non-consecutive terms) - $1000 bill
25. William McKinley - $500 bill
26. Theodore Roosevelt - just the 2013 Presidential coin. Although, now that I think of it, since TR, along with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, appear on Mount Rushmore, and Rushmore is on the South Dakota state quarter, I suppose that should count in each of their tallies.
27. William Howard Taft - just the 2013 Presidential coin
28. Woodrow Wilson - $100,000 bill; this note never appeared in general circulation, and was only used in transactions between Federal Reserve Banks

29. Warren G. Harding, 30. Calvin Coolidge, 31. Herbert Hoover - just the 2014 Presidential coin
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt - dime (10 cents)
33. Harry S. Truman - just the 2015 Presidential coin
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower - $1 coin, 1971-1978
35. John F. Kennedy - half dollar (50 cents)
36. Lyndon B. Johnson - just the 2015 Presidential coin
37. Richard M. Nixon, 38. Gerald R. Ford, 39. James Carter, 40. Ronald Reagan - just the 2016 Presidential coin. BUT the Carter coin will be postponed unless he had died two years before its issuance. This is also true of the Class of 2017:
41. George H. W. Bush, 42. William J. Clinton, 43. George W. Bush, 44. Barack Obama
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Here's an interesting link to Presidents on postage stamps.

ROG

Twist and Shout

STILL stuck in my mind: that great dance sequence from the movie 500 Days of Summer which makes more sense in context.
The song namechecks the song "Twist and Shout".


Then there's this new show on Nickelodeon the daughter is watching called The Fresh Beat Band. They were originally called the Jumparounds, plugged so often in the commercials as such that my daughter still refers them that way. (Also, she knows I think that their initial name was goofy, but the new moniker is boring - generic is what I actually said, but boring is a reasonable translation.) Think the Monkees aimed at four-year-olds. The Hispanic guitarist goes by Kiki and the red-haired percussionist is Marina. But it's the guys' names that I should note. The preternaturally tall guy is the beat boxer Twist, while the black keyboardist is named Shout. Twist and Shout? I expect that if this program catches on, the players will be replaced as though they were in Menudo. (None of them go by their real names.)

Which of course brings us to one of the great cover songs of all time, by the Beatles. Just saw this clip again on the Beatles Anthology, which I have on VHS. Don't know why this song doesn't get more respect in those "best covers" polls.
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Speaking of covers, I've really gotten into the new television show Glee, but I must admit there are some 21st century songs I couldn't tell you the original artist without looking it up. One piece I did recognize instantly, was Queen's Somebody to Love. Probably my favorite cover thus far on the show.

But I still prefer the original. I own only Queen album, a greatest hits collection, and that on vinyl. (And unlike my CDs, my LPs are in great disarray.) Any Queen album recommendations?

"If you think you're too small to have an impact,
try going to bed with a mosquito in the room."

-- Johan Bruyneel
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VOTE

ROG

Big Hits of 1953

I have a couple friends who were born in 1966 who know the music of 1966 nearly as well as I do, and I was 13 that year. So I thought I'd find a list of 1953 songs to see how many I
O-Own, L-Like, H-Hate, R-Recognize (obviously, if I own, like, or hate, I recognize):

That's Amore Dean Martin -(O, L)
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como (R)
Your Cheatin' Heart - Hank Williams (O,L)
The Doggie In The Window - Patti Page (O)
Rags To Riches - Tony Bennett (O,L)
Even Now - Eddie Fisher (R)
Have You Heard - Joni James (R)
Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton (O,L)
I Believe - Frankie Laine (R)
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - The Four Lads (O,L)
Oh! My Pa-Pa - Eddie Fisher (O)
Secret Love - Doris Day (R)
Three Coins In The Fountain - Frank Sinatra (O,L)
The Typewriter - Leroy Anderson & His Orchestra (O,L)
Young At Heart - Frank Sinatra (O,L)
Crying In The Chapel - The Orioles (O,L)
Mama (He Treats Your Daughter Mean) - Ruth Brown (O,L)
Mess Around - Ray Charles (O,L)
Your Cheatin' Heart - Hank Williams (O,L)
You, You, You - the Ames Brothers (O,L)

The only album I have is Jazz at Massey Hall - The Quintet, though I have compilations of Frank Sinatra that cover this period.

I suspect that any of you younger bloggers that try this will have a far longer list than I.
ROG

NaBloPoMo

What's the new public trend
That's a sex turnoff to all the folks?
(NaBloPoMo!)
You're damn right

What is the thing
That would risk one's rep with the brother man?
(NaBloPoMo!)
Can ya dig it?

What's the trend that won't cop out
When there are deadlines all about?
(NaBloPoMo!)
Right on

You see this meme NaBloPoMo is a bad mother--
(Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' about NaBloPoMo
(Then we can dig it)

It's a complicated trend
And no one understands it, man or woman
(NaBloPoMo!)

A little 3 a.m. silliness about National Blog Posting Month.

Do I NEED NaBloPoMo? Well, not exactly. As of tomorrow, November 2, I'll have blogged daily 4.5 years. I often say I'll take a day off, but I don't. It's like my father's cigarette habit; he never quit, just stopped smoking for a day, then another day until it was over 25 years. So actually, NaBloPoMo is more of a THREAT to blogging than just keeping my head down and just doing it.

I can't help but to wonder if it's all in response to National Novel Writing Month, which, perhaps not coincidentally, ALSO starts today.

Anyway, that's 1 of 30.
***
Oh, I'll be here today, but probably mot until 1 p.m., in case anyone cares.



ROG

Sports Questions and Samhain

The World Series continues into November. In the Northeast, no less. This really bugs me. With two rounds before the Series, somethings gotta give. Maybe a 154-game season, which Major League baseball used to have until the 1960s, when it went to 162 games. And while they're at it, couldn't they starts some games earlier, so I kids could watch past the third inning?

I suppose this is sacrilege, but I wish the Yankees, and some minor league teams, and maybe others, would get rid of "God Bless America" during the 7th-inning stretch. It started after 9/11/2001, but now it's become a "new tradition". And at the last Hall of Fame game I attended, "honored America" with a scratchy and warped Kate Smith recording. And some people are now getting bent out of shape if television doesn't cover the singing of same, even when TV doesn't cover Take Me Out To The Ballgame, which follows.

In the NFL, I was really happy that Denver beat New England a few weeks ago, but I found it unfair that the Patriots never touched the ball offensively in overtime. There's got to be a better way than a coin flip. In the college game, each team at least gets a chance to score, not a perfect model, but clearly fairer.

So what's bugging you about sports? Maybe it's the relatively new scoring system in figure skating; I happen to like it better than the 6.0 standard. I read that some are advocating for more instant reply in baseball; not sure how that would work. The example is a ball, not a home run ball, that was judged as foul by the umpire but fair in the replay. Where would the batter, and even trickier, the runners, end up? I'm not opposed out of hand, but I can't see how it would work.


Swiped from Uthaclena: In Druid tradition, Samhain is the time of the dead, when the veil between the worlds thins and spirits walk the land of the living. It is the feast of death and rebirth, and the New Year of the Celtic calendar with the fall of the last leaves, the heart of the Autumn, the beginning of the Darkened Days, and the Quiet Time to listen to the Wisdom of the Crone. At this time we celebrate and commemorate our ancestors and elders who have passed into the Otherworld. But, fear naught, for the Sun will be born anew, and Light and Life will return to the world!

Solemn Blessings to you all; hold fast to the seed of Hope, and dream of Better days!


ROG

Vote Because, Well - Just Do It

Next Tuesday is Election Day, and I will vote. I always vote. I believe it is rooted in the fact that for many years in the history of this country, people were disenfranchised, largely because of their race and/or gender, and I just cannot help but take advantage of my right to participate in the democratic process.

And because it is an "off-year" election, fewer people will vote in November 2009 than in November 2008, even though the races that take this year arguably have more of a direct impact on people's lives than the statewide or national races. This means that MY vote will mean more, proportionally.

Still, it's difficult to muster much enthusiasm. For many races in Albany, NY, both citywide and countywide, the primary in September WAS the race. For those not in Albany, you need to know that this is a one-party town, and that one party is the Democratic party. Now since I am a registered Democrat - hey, I want to be where the action is - you might think I would be happy about that; I'm not, even though it advantages one of the candidates I'm supporting. I believe one-party rule, no matter the good intentions of that party, inevitably leads to complacency and arrogance.

This is why I will reveal my ballot in one race: I am voting for the Republican for county coroner. I don't even know who the party candidates are, though there were stories in the paper recently, for it doesn't matter. In fact, I have ALWAYS voted for the Republican candidate for coroner since I moved to Albany 30 years ago. And I believe that the Republican candidate for coroner has always lost. I fully expect that to happen again this year, but I don't care. It's my rage against the machine.

Incidentally, the last of the Albany County Board of Elections' extended hours to accept absentee ballot applications take place Saturday morning, October 31, from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
ROG

October Ramblin'

One foot in front of the other.

SATURDAY: I took the daughter to the Medieval Faire. She enjoyed the silly magician and the juggler who had an ax, a flaming stick and a rubber chicken in the air at once. She also enjoyed the Punch and Judy show, as much because the puppeteer had me control one of his marionettes for a short time; demented show with the devil showing up and Rensselaer (city across the river from Albany) a linguistic substitute for hell.
I always enjoy the crowning of the boy bishop; it's all very High Church. Wait, it's now the "child bishop", which means the bishop is, for the first tiome in my recollection, a girl! Brava!

Then a brief trip to a pumpkin carving party. Lydia had lots of kids to play with and didn't want to leave.

Finally, we got a babysitter and went to a friend's 40th birthday party, which was pleasant enough.

SUNDAY: Choir rehearsal, then church service, then meeting for the Black History Month planning.

Mother of one of the kids at the pumpkin carving party called to note that her son was feeling lethargic; ah, Lydia, too.

Still we all went to the State Museum, mostly because Lydia wanted to go on the carousel. A church group of about 10 saw Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art; 1609; This Great Nation Will Endure: Photographs of the Great Depression; and Berenice Abbott's Changing New York: A Triumph of Public Art. And yes, we all rode the carousel, even only one of us was under 40, and at least one of us was twice 40.

Then ANOTHER choir rehearsal.

MONDAY, TUESDAY: Home with a sick child. Her temperature was up Monday morning, then down Tuesday morning, when I thought she was rallying. But feverish Tuesday afternoon. When she was well was actually more work, keeping her occupied with Sorry, Uno, pick-up-sticks, Candyland... Difficult blogging conditions.

WEDNESDAY: Work, which comparatively speaking, was a vacation; the wife stayed home with the child. Although I got little done the first hour because my computer, and only MY computer, somehow decided to leave the LAN, and I had to wait for a techie to fix it.

There was this cellphone conversation in an elevator. The person standing near me: "Yeah, he was a good father. He never got drunk in the garage every weekend." I didn't know this person, but I felt embarrassed on her behalf.

Also, these guys were coming through our offices, only one of whom works there. So I say to the one I know, "Nobody else is here. Just you and me." And one of the other guys walking by says in this condescending tone, "That's 'you and I'." "Shut UP! Wasn't even talking to you; I don't even KNOW you. Shut UP!" I thought that, but didn't say it.
And in any case, almost no one would say, "Just we" in casual conversation; one would say say, "just us", the objective version, at least colloquially. Even my English teacher-wife couldn't discern for sure.
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Old records from 1895-1925 on the original victrolas

Care for Caregivers: Getting the help you need could save your life.

Stop Drowning in Mail: 4-Step System to Manage Mail Overload
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Picture above came in the e-mail yesterday with his note: "Eddie Haskell, The Beaver and Wally! HOLY Mackerel!! Are we REALLY that Old???" Yes, an excess of punctuation there.

ROG

O is for Oscar

I have been fascinated by the Academy Awards, a/k/a the Oscars, for a very long time. As a kid, I'd watch the stars that I'd heard about for years, even though I had not seen much of, or ANY of their work. It was a great thrill.

But the person in those days I was most fascinated with in the 1960s was Edith Head, the costume designer, who won eight awards. I liked her name and I especially loved the glasses. Though The Incredibles director Brad Bird has not confirmed it, it seemed immediately obvious that Edna E. Mode, the supergroup's costumer, was a parody of Ms. Head. (And that the new CBS-TV show NCIS: Los Angeles' Henrietta 'Hetty' Lange, played by Linda Hunt, is doing Edna Mode.)

Eventually, I got to see more of the movies. There was a time when I became a film affectionado. I would particularly make an effort to see the movies that had been nominated in the major categories: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay. This meant going to the cinema a lot in December, January and February. Since I've never been a cold-weather fan, this suited me quite well. The Presidents Day/Washington's Birthday weekend of 1998, I saw five films in three days; four of them had been nominated for the 1997 awards: L.A. Confidential (Kim Basinger won for supporting actress; Curtis Hanson, with Brian Helgeland, won for adapted screenplay, lost for director; also lost for picture) and Mrs. Brown (Judi Dench lost for lead actress) on Saturday; Afterglow (Julie Christie lost for lead actress) plus some whimsical French film on Sunday, and The Apostle (Robert Duvall lost for leads actor) on Monday. In fact, the only performance in the major categories I DIDN'T see was Peter Fonda, who lost for best actor in Ulee's Gold; in fact, I STILL haven't seen it.

In the pre-Internet days, on the day of the announcement of the nominees, the great challenge was trying to find a radio station with good reception that was broadcasting the information live at 8:37 a.m. Eastern Time, 5:37 a.m. Pacific Time, write down all the information and kibbitz about the choices and the omissions. Now, of course, I can just go online, but a bit of the magic is lost.

This century, I watch far fewer movies. Seeing films on DVD, in my opinion, is a lesser experience which I do only as a last resort, such as when a film is no longer in theaters and I REALLY MUST see it before Oscar night. And these days, I don't even stay up for the awards but rather record them to watch over the next evening or three. Yet I still watch, because some part of the young boy who was dazzled by the magic of Hollywood still exists.
ROG

ABC MEME

But first, happy SEVENTH blogiversary to both Tegan at Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog and Johnny Bacardi. That's like forever on the Internet.

Sunday Stealing, yet again.

A- Advocate for: mass transit; buses and light rail.

B- Best Feature: my brain. I think. (OR, my brain, I think.)

C- Could do without: the screaming that passes for political discourse.

D- Dreams and desires: for the child to thrive at whatever is her heart's content.

E- Essential items: certain reference books, or in lieu of that, certain bookmarked reference web pages.

F- Favorite past time: blogging.

G- Good at: confusing my opponents, and occasionally myself, with racquetball shots.

H- Have never tried: jumping out of an airplane.

I- If I had a million dollars: I'd contribute more to some arts organizations and food pantries.

J- Junkie for: music of many types.

K- Kindred spirit: Uthaclena.

L- Little known fact: when I was in college on the Student Government Association Financial Council, the books were audited and the accounts were off by thousands of dollars. The books for my area, education, which included the newspaper and the radio station, were off by 79 cents.

M- Memorable moment: getting a standing ovation for playing a kazoo solo at a Red Cross training camp.

N- Never again will I: take penicillin (allergic reaction).

O- Occasional indulgence: a day off from work, just for myself.

P- Profession: librarian, dammit!

Q- Quote: "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back." ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

R- Reason to smile: The daughter's dancing.

S- Sorry about: slow to asking for forgiveness from one person, which would have had a huge effect on my relationship with a third party.

T- Things you are worrying about right now: Well, worried would overstating it, but I'd like to be around when the kid graduates college.

U- Uninterested in: 99.973% of celebrity gossip.

V- Very scared of: a loss of freedom in the country.

W- Worst habits: an unlibrarianlike level of disorder.

X- X marks my ideal vacation spot: Hawaii. Because I wanted to go, was invited to go, but couldn't.

Y- Yummiest dessert: carrot cake.

Z- Zodiac sign: Pisces.

ROG

The Lydster, Part 67: Kindergarten

I didn't know how Lydia would take to kindergarten. She'd been going to day care for four years, after all. And the first week's report was not encouraging: "all we do is color!" Ah, but there was a method to her teacher's madness. It was "color two of three trees", understanding the concept of numbers.

So it is astonishing how much she's learned in the past couple months. When she asked how many days between her birthday and mine, and I said 19, she replied, "Then it's 20 days between your birthday and Grandma's," whose birthday is the day after Lydia's. Yes, that would be correct.

Notable: she has learned how to tie her shoes. On September 24, she couldn't. On September 25, she was waiting for her mother, saw this book "Learn to Tie Your Shoes!" from CB Publishing complete with instructions and, more importantly, actual shoelaces; by the end of the day, she could do it. This is pleasing to me for a couple reasons:
1) this means she could tie them long before I could tie mine
2) when I get old and decrepit (or older and decrepiter), she'll be able to tie mime

She has to do homework for 20 minutes every day, usually with me. Part of it involves taking a picture book such as "K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo" and identifying all the words on the page that begin with each letter of the alphabet; I keep finding new ones myself.

Lydia has mellowed out about the process of learning. Early on at school, she was told to use the phonetic sounds to try to figure out the spelling of a word. When she got one wrong, she literally broke into tears in class. Now she knows that English is difficult, what with those Cs that sound like Ks, Cs that sound like Ss, Gs that sound like Js, and Ys that sound like Is, not to mention silent letters in words such as gnu and knife.

She has always liked to dance, but has actively resisted actually take classes. But she has now taken two sessions in a ballet class and really seems to enjoy it. For our part, we never pushed her in this direction; it had to be something SHE really wanted to do.

Lydia gets more interesting practically every day.

ROG

The Beckster

My niece Rebecca turns 31 tomorrow. Since my sister Leslie was kind enough to share some photos of Becky's 1st year, when they lived in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC, NY, this seems like an appropriate time to post them here:

Leslie and Becky


Becky with her paternal grandmother, I believe


I always liked that quilt


With her Daddy Eric


The woman to the right was Leslie and Eric's neighbor Maria


The ultimate before picture


Held by grandma


Maria (left), Becky, Maria's mom(?)


Having babysat Becky, I can attest that she would put herself in the drawer


Mother and child


Maria, Leslie, Eric with bundle o joy


May have been 1st birthday party. My great aunt Charlotte is in the rear center; I'm at rear left.


Child with her daddy




Here's Rebecca (third from the right) with her group Siren's Crush. You can check out "exciting new 100% Live Video Footage" here. The band's MySpace page is here.

ROG

Anticipating Halloween QUESTIONS

In my twenties, I used to dress up for Halloween. While I might pull out my Frankenstein mask now and then - I REALLY can't breathe in that thing - I've lost my All Hallows Eve mojo.

But this year, the child is going to need an escort for her trick-or-treating; her costume is a ballet dress that lights up - I might just surprise myself by dressing

All I want to know:

Are you dressing up for Halloween? As what?
Are you going to a party, or parties?
Are you going trick or treating? Do you have a child to provide you cover?
***
Top 10 Spooky Buildings
***
My friend Fred Hembeck's comic icon, Soupy Sales, died this week. One of the many things Fred taught me about Soupy is that he was a Motown artist. Really. And some of the songs, as Fred noted, weren't half bad.
A suitable tribute for Soupy.
***
Scott from Scooter Chronicles answers my questions.
***
I've seen this a couple places on the Internet already: the octogenarian war vet's impassioned plea for gay rights.


ROG

Segues

My sister Marcia informed sister Leslie and me last week that our mom's been at the doctor's office, addressing some of her health issues, such as weight loss and pains, which could be for lack of eating and NOT DRINKING WATER. Perhaps she'll start taking those Boost-type drinks.

Yesterday, my mom was at the doctor's office for several hours, getting an IV for her dehydration. Marcia was driving mom home when she tried to avoid something on the road, left from some road construction, and hit something else. This briefly propelled the car into the air. The landing initiated the deployment of the airbags, which forced my mother's glasses into her face, cutting her, which made her scream, which unnerved Marcia.

Bottom line is that my mom went to the hospital to get checked out for a few hours, but did end up returning home. The vehicle, on the other hand, was towed and is probably totaled. Marcia notes it could have been worse.

and speaking of lack of water

Our office, indeed a bunch of offices, got e-mail notices recently that state contracts could no longer pay for water. Now, we're not a state agency. Nevertheless, our water dispenser was carted off yesterday. When I saw someone wheeling one machine, I knew ours would be next, and alerted everyone to get as much water as possible.

Odd thing is that we still have three bottles of water, but no real way to consume them. I used to have messages pop up on my computer to get a glass of water four times a day; I have to shut those down, and find a new way to stay hydrated.

and speaking of my office

We have been in our present building for 4.4 years. Never have I seen so many ladybugs on the walls and windows outside our office as I did yesterday after none noticed a couple days earlier. THOUSANDS of them, yet very few around the rest of the building. What is going on?

and speaking of checking thing out

I ordered checks by phone for the first time in over a year and a half. $32 for 150 checks? Don't know what they were before, but it wasn't NEAR that much! It'll prompt me to do more online transactions, though most of my bills are autopay already.

and speaking of the unexpected

I was riding my bike downtown a couple days ago when I saw a woman riding a Segway down Western avenue in Albany. I had actually never seen one up close before, only on television. We happened to catch the same red light, and I engaged the young woman who rides it in conversation.

Seems that she won the machine in June in a drawing, a total fluke. Now she rides it to work twice a week, rides her bicycle twice a week, and drives the car once a week.

I checked the Segway site, based in New Zealand, and found five dealers in the state of New York, on Long Island, Queens, western New York, Poughkeepsie (mid-Hudson) and Coeymans (around Albany).

A bus driver said that one will see the Segway more often because they were once not legal to ride on the streets but now are, traveling in the same stream of traffic as the bicycles. I didn't independently verify that, but it seems right.
ROG

Doing Away With Dewey

There was an article in the local paper last week that the Albany Public Library was going to do away with the Dewey Decimal System in favor of a system that's more like a bookstore, as I understand it. I have mixed emotions.

On one hand, I see why the library would want to utilize a system like that which the book-using public is used to. While I grew up using the Dewey Decimal System in the Binghamton Public Library, where I worked as a teen, it's not as though I'm wedded to it. Indeed, the books in the special library where I work uses the Library of Congress classification, an alphanumeric system even more arcane for the casual user than Melvil Dewey's categorization. Also, when I was going to library school, I quickly tired of the jokes about my devotion to the DDC.

On the other hand, the conversation suggests that DDC is complicated and that the bookstore model is "better". Maybe it's me, but I always find what I'm looking for in a DDC or LC library, while I'm more likely to have to ask for need help from a book store clerk. That's because the categories in some bookstores are not as helpful as they might be.

The example that immediately comes to mind is Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon. Last month, the Writers Institute and the Friends of the Albany Public Library sponsored Doug Blackmon to speak at APL.

For those of you not from the Albany area, the Writers Institute was co-founded 25 years ago by William Kennedy. Bill Kennedy is THE most noted writer to come out of Albany, and his fiction about Albany has been award-winning. I happen to particularly enjoy his nonfiction book, O Albany!

There was a dinner before the Blackmon presentation, and for reasons unknown to me, I had the pleasure to sit next to Doug Blackmon. We had a very interesting talk. One point that he made, relative to this current discussion, is how well or poorly his book sells in a given store depended, to a very large degree, on where his book was placed in said bookstore. If it was placed in the American history section - and the story certainly is an American story not often heard - then it sold all right. But if it were placed in the ghetto of the black history section ("ghetto" is my term) - as though the story were only important to, or applicable to black people - then it tended to do less well.

Now, a library book is not sold by the institution. But how often a book circulates certainly effects whether or not other books on that topic and/or books by that author.

I have no inside information just how this "bookstore" model is going to look until the Pine Hills branch - MY branch - reopens next month beyond what I've read here. But I'll be very interested to find out.
ROG