Rumors Of Christmas Music
Another month is gone. Fall is here. The nights are nippy and the days are cooler. I’m not exactly sure where the year has gone. I did drink a lot on New Years, so maybe this is only Friday the 2nd of January.
Maybe this is only Friday, January 2nd.
Stores are gearing up for Halloween and a few have started to put out their Christmas displays. Never too early for Christmas.
I’ve even heard through my media grapevine that a couple of the music stations in Boise are starting to program their computers with Christmas music. I wonder which one will switch over first.
While I’m on the subject of Christmas music, when I lived in Los Angeles I never could get used to driving around LA in December when it was 73 degrees and the stations were playing White Christmas by Bing Crosby. For some reason Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer didn’t bother me, but I never got used to White Christmas .
When I worked for a radio station in Seattle during the 70’s I had the Godfather steal Christmas. I had the story line go on for about two weeks and couldn’t find an ending. Finally, the night before the last episode I had Santa make the Godfather an offer he couldn’t refuse. I no longer have the original script, but I think it had something to do with 30 or 40 Elves with really sharp knives. That or something about coal and socks.
© 2009 Moody Publishing Co
Parenting By Trial And Error
In the words of Foghorn Leghorn – “The trouble with kids today is they are too darn short. The jokes go right over their heads.”
Another problem with kids is they don’t come with user’s manuals. Everything is trial and error.
This brings me to a Blog I found just recently called Parenting By Trial and Error. In it Sarah, a freelance writer in South Dakota, discusses the challenges of dealing with 4 kids, each with different personalities. What works for one, doesn’t work for another, so each child requires special handling.
I recommend her Blog, both for its humor and for its insights.
I’ve even tried some of her suggestions on my grandkids with some very interesting results. Now if we could just get the cat to calm down….
© 2009 Moody Publishing Co
The Ideal Society
Boehman’s Sunday Morning Sermon:
The Ideal Society
Norman Mailer once wrote that his ideal society would be one in which “the cops got better as well as the crooks.” At a glance this formula seems misguided and perhaps in wont of some dogmatic, patriotically-charged mission statement. But consider the two extremes of Mailer’s proposition. On one side of the spectrum you have a regime where the cops have won, a bland and lifeless totalitarian state like North Korea. On the other side, where the crooks reign supreme with all the phallic charm of a rusty Kalashnikov rifle, is a failed state like Somalia. Perhaps Mailer was onto something. But it begs the question, What about a society in which one could not discern the cops from the crooks, or a banker from a crook, or a priest from a cop? For this is the eminent domain of North America’s myopic middle child, the United States. Perhaps it is from this point of ignorance and confusion that we find ourselves spared from less savory options?
Let no question be too great for Talk Radio to resolve.
After reading Mailer’s comment in his book Spooky Art, I got to thinking about past conversations with a good friend of mine, Lonn Durfee. Among the many topics covered on that balcony of ours (over as many bottles of wine) was concerning what an ideal society is – and ought to be. I make this distinction between what is and ought to be because ideal society does exist on the smaller scale of the community. It really does. If you’re not a believer, you probably live near the Canadian border crossing in north Detroit. Or perhaps you squat along some alleyway a block or two from the nearest Greyhound bus terminal feeling fresh after last night’s methadone treatment. Even Paris, the most beautiful inland city I’ve ever visited, has its ugly side. Take a stroll where the famous Moulin Rouge is located and you’ll know what I mean. Or if you’re really brave, walk a few blocks southeast of the Eiffel Tower. My point is this. We construct our sense of aesthetics on a sliding scale. The ideal(s) we most admire about a community exists in a vacuum in what scientists might call a closed system. It’s susceptible to entropy, and it’s the reason why rich people live behind gates. Even “god” found it necessary to erect the pearly gates to keep the undesirables out.
Suspect analogies aside, Lonn and mine’s ideal society (stated in Mailerspeak) is one in which pedestrian access to the city center gets better as well as the mass transit between cities. Take a small city like Boise, Idaho, for example. It has a town square for special events that acts as a vibrant conduit to the rest of downtown for anyone on foot. I would bet that the ratio of pedestrian access space to road is higher there than most population centers in the Pacific Northwest. Public transportation to and from, in and around Boise, however, is a whole other sad affair.
A great shining example where both adequate pedestrian and transit access flourishes is in Seattle, Washington: Pioneer Square; Pike Place Market; the waterfront around the Seattle Aquarium; Ballard; and parts of Wallingford and the U-District. Almost forgot about Green Lake, and I’m probably omitting a few other gems as well – like a couple square miles around the Space Needle. But not every city has pedestrian friendly areas, and fewer yet have access between by way of train, trolley, boat or bus. Seattle, by the way, has all of these choices. And if you count the limited run of the antiquated Monorail – then you’ve had your Starbucks and drank it too.
Once upon a time I discovered a quiet little town on the Oregon Coast called Yachats. It’s a tribal name and its pronunciation has nothing to do with ‘yaks’ in ‘hats’. It’s more like a German saying ‘ya’. And like saying that Johnny has the ‘hots’ for Jane (the ‘c’ is silent, free to go to the pub). Yachats has a natural scenic bay where you can see the waves roll in from the point. There are tree lined hills with only Highway 101 to keep them from falling into the Pacific. The community is very small and virtually undiscovered by tourism (although this is changing fast). I used to think that this would be the ideal place for me to live. I’d make my pilgrimage from time to time and bask in its primordial beauty and seclusion. But then it dawned on me. Where is the community here? There are only a few blocks of houses in the town itself – certainly a good thing – but where is the heart of town? Where is the place where people go to socialize? To have a cup of Joe to talk about nothing or politics? This is not an argument for the need of ‘things’ in which to build a town up. I’ve seen villages in Bavaria with as few people and with only scant construction. What took Yachats off my list was the lack of pedestrian access to community. Its layout was its downfall. Where there were roads there was no life. Highway 101 was like a spear through the gut of town. And as I looked at coastal life in Oregon a little more carefully I realized how life here was stretched in a north-south direction; the vast Pacific owns the west while the great undeveloped lands to the east keeps inhabitants literally in line. So what you end up with is a five hundred mile coastline with about a mile or so of width as a generous average – all constructed with the automobile in mind, not the pedestrian. What a waste.
I once saw a travel show where the host went to Tehran. He was in a cab where he overheard the driver say, “Death to traffic.” Indeed, they were stuck in one ugly traffic jam. And I would do well to use this phrase as the motto for my ideal society. Forget about Cash for Clunkers, folks. The last thing I want to see is more cars. How about Cash for Mass Transit instead? Then we could retrofit our communities to be more like communities and less like drive-thrus.
Death to traffic!
Amen.
Sunday Catch Up
After about a month or so away, we are pleased that Craig Boehman will be joining us again. He has been waiting for a new computer and has finally acquired a laptop. He will be sharing his wit and wisdom several times a month.
He is currently living somewhere in Oregon. I met him when we worked on the same HP project in Boise. Last I heard, he had written the first draft of his novel, which he now has to edit down from its current 5,000 pages.
Now, before anyone gets on my case about the columns in the past three days they are just conjecture about what the Mayan prophecies (and many others) might mean. I have no idea (any more than anyone else) what the future may bring. Draw your own conclusions.
I had the grandkids over this past Friday and Saturday. We only see them every few weeks and it always amazes me how they mature and change in such a short period of time. I now have chalk drawings all over my patio again. I think its interesting that none of the pictures I draw of ducks, dogs, cats, houses, trees and flying saucers are ever quite right. Hannah, I suspect, may grow up to be a professional critic – frightening thought. She is a very opinionated FIVE! (note the emphasis).
Finally for today, the trees are starting to change here in Boise. In the next couple weeks, the leaves will start falling. That means I will have to find a way to get them raked up. Hmmm. Another reason to have the grandkids visit – cheap labor.
© 2009 Moody Publishing Co
December 21, 2012 – Part 3
Please note: I am not a seer, prophet, or psychic (although some friends will say I’m a bit on the insane side). I don’t pretend to have any secret knowledge. I’m just a writer with an active imagination and, maybe a few useful ideas.
Yesterday I hypothesized that Ahau 2, which starts on December 21, 2012 is an opportunity for us to reevaluate our relationship to the planet and Universe and create the foundation of a new social environment free of war, famine and with the potential to give every person the food, shelter, health care and educational opportunities needed to grow as a contributing member of society. I also hypothesized that, as noted in the prophecy (the end of the word of God), we make these changes without judgement from a higher source – for the time being.
Ahau 13, which manifests from 2032 to 2052 will test our resolve. Ahau 13 states: This is a time of total collapse where everything is lost. It is the time of the judgment of God. There will be epidemics and plagues and then famine. Governments will be lost to foreigners and wise men, and prophets will be lost.
The last time this Ahau manifested was between 1776 and 1796. During that time England lost the colonies and the foundations were laid for the French revolution. Perhaps the creation of one government and the destruction of others during that time was the judgment of God.
What does that mean for us? During Ahau 2, 2012 to 2039, we have the opportunity to create the foundation of a whole new world. When Ahau 13 begins, we will be faced with the courage of our convictions. Will it lead to war? Maybe. Will it lead to wholesale changes in governance and society? Maybe. That is yet to be determined.
By the time Ahau 13 begins we may have developed partical weapons that can destroy entire cities, while also developing the medical knowledge needed to heal everyone on the planet. Will it lead to our destruction as the dominant species on the Earth? Maybe. Our destiny is in our hands. In the words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
© 2009 Moody Publishing Co
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