884 Why blog?

Michael DeBakey, the famous heart surgeon, is interviewed in today's Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2005). He is 96, and although a light eater who doesn't drink or smoke, he believes "work" provides the boost to longevity.

I would agree that keeping the brain active and challenged is important, but work in your chosen profession doesn't always do that. My final two years--the years that pushed me into setting a retirement target--were spent in mind numbing meetings about the design, construction and decorating of a new building which would house my library. Others, like my husband and the associate dean who oversaw the project, thrive on that sort of thing. For someone who lives for information, it is a mind shriveling experience. I pouted, I whined. I lost part of the sight in my left eye--and although I can't prove it, I think my body was refusing to look at one more electrical or plumbing scheme. I was not a nice person to be around--especially as I saw chunks of MY square feet reassigned to administrative space (afterall, isn't everything free on the internet?). And eventually, when my part of the task was completed, I put in my letter of resignation. It isn't fun to go to work that way.

So there are other ways to keep your mind busy and exercising. Volunteering. Reading. Writing poetry and essays. Attending concerts and lectures and workshops. Even selective TV viewing can occasionally inspire a brain cell to take notice. Even blogging. Hugh Hewitt has a lot more faith in blogging than I do--he's written an entire book on it. Even in his little career guide, "In, but not of" he has a brief chapter on the blog.

"The advantage of blogging is that it will oblige you to live in the world of ideas and debates, and to do so at the modern pace. . . Because blogging is the genuine marketplace of ideas, your site will prosper if you are any good."

Well, blogging does keep me investigating, reading and writing, the three things I really enjoyed about my profession. However, Hewitt hasn't got it quite right. There are some really awful blogs out there that get a lot of traffic, and some terrific ones that get very little. There are a lot of blogs with only two or three entries and disappeared owner/writers. There are others that had a great run for a year or two, and then died but still float around in cyberspace. Then too, the world doesn't need five thousand David Horowitzes or Pat Buchanans or Susan Estriches--they've got that territory covered. There are some flag waving good old boys and some deep dyed commies blogging who just ought to pack it up for awhile.

Setting aside the teen-age angst blogs written in instant messenger English, and the 20-something let's-go-get-drunk-after-work blogs, I've been most disappointed in the blogs written by women. It's not that they shouldn't write about day to day life--I do that--it is after all, a diary. (I never knew there were so many miscarriage stories out there.) But somewhere there should be women who are not professional journalists who write with the same investigative and writing skills as the top male bloggers (I'm excluding the two blondes who get interviewed everytime the story needs a female blogger). I put the published pundits (like Michelle Malkin) in a separate category because they've already got a track record and ran their flags up the blogpole when they saw the possibilities and the extra income.

When Hewitt talks about an "information reformation" and blogs changing the world, he isn't talking about diaries like mine, and unfortunately, he isn't talking about women in general.

883 A first hand account

Tom Brodersen met Terri Schiavo, the brain injured woman whose husband is attempting to end her life by removing her feeding tube, in the fall of 2002. After reading his account of her abilities, I think I was wrong in saying her condition is the same as the church member with whom I volunteered for several years in a nursing home. She actually has a higher level of functioning and can respond to more stimuli than my friend who has been on a feeding tube since she was 18. Here’s Tom’s story.

“During the period of September to November 2002 I spent time with Terri Schiavo, as a person briefly on her visitors list. During that time I . . .sang to her, played music for her, and encouraged her to vocalize. Over the twenty days or so that I visited with Terri . . . she gradually warmed up to me.

Terri responds to a variety of stimuli, including responding to both her mother's and my voices, both in person and over the phone, by fixing her attention and frequently by laughing. When I sang to her, she often vocalized, in her best effort to sing along with me. She recognizes and takes great pleasure in certain singers and songs which are her favorites—most especially John Denver singing "Country Roads." She learned to love several songs I sang to her with which she didn't seem to be familiar with, but others she never learned to appreciate. . .

She responded to gentle requests if given time and patience, such as lifting her right leg (three times out of four requests, the other time she lifted her left leg instead). While she does not have consistent control over her eyes to blink or look this way or that, she has excellent control over her breathing, diaphragm and voice, and will vocalize in various patterns if asked. While trying to work out a yes/no system with sounds, Terri initially answered the question "Terri, are you ten feet tall" by moaning twice, which is the response for "No," then she spontaneously whispered the word "No" in response to the question "Terry, are you purple?"
At that point I abandoned the sounding system and started trying to teach her to say "Yeah" as best as she could. Bob Schindler has several recordings of her sort of saying the word "Yeah" shortly after that.”

That’s a lot of progress in just two months, isn’t it? Terri will never be a perfectly functioning worker or employee or wife or mother, able to meet the challenges of the world, but who among us is? Perfect, that is. Can you really be completely self-sufficient and require no help from anyone else to meet your daily needs? She is a human being who has a God given soul, and no one, not the state or her husband or public opinion or general apathy about the misfortune of others should end her life. She's one of the people in Matthew 25 we are specifically told to serve. And she's one of the people our Constitution says is protected by our legal system.

882 Never heard of him

Yesterday I printed off a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights planning to read them at coffee sometime this week when I finish the other reading on my to-do list. Because of reading so many blogs, I see a lot of trash talking and nonsense about the constitution--or at least I think I do. It's been a long time since senior history class and it's entirely possible I was a typical teen-ager more interested in getting together with my friends than I was in reading American history. What got me interested yesterday was watching the program on C-SPAN (streaming video) about the statues of the men who worked on it (see my comments at 876). I wish other interviewers would learn a few lessons from Brian Lamb.

Speaking of the constitution and interviews, I saw Mark Levin interviewed on Neil Cavuto's show. I'd never heard of him, but sounds like he has an interesting book.

"Radio talk-show listeners know Mark R. "F. Lee" Levin well. President of the Landmark Legal Foundation, Levin is a frequent guest on/fill-in host on the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity shows. He's also got his own show on weeknights in New York (WABC). But his first love is the Constitution, and that's the focus of his new book, Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America. In Men in Black, Levin gives a brief, accessible history of judicial activism and offers possible solutions to curb it." NRO Interview

I wish political writers of both the right and left could use less inflammatory subtitles, but maybe that's what sells. Spill your guts on the cover.

881 Saying good-bye to Mary

She was managing a small agricultural economics "closet" library on the third floor and I was the agricultural economics bibliographer in the "real" library in the same building when we met. I liked her right away. Tiny, white haired, spry, friendly and talkative. And now that I've seen her birthdate on the funeral bulletin today, I realize that in 1978 when we met, she was the age I am now. She was a month younger than my father, born in 1913. Ohio State had a mandatory retirement age back then, and she left there and I believe worked downtown for another 10 or 15 years. I'd see her at church from time to time and she was always cheerful and busy. The pastor at her service today said she always talked about her husband, who died 35 years ago, and her son who died 22 years ago, as though they'd just stepped out of the room.

She was a charter member of our church which started in a basement and now has 10 services and three campuses. At 92, she outlived many of the people who knew her, so it was a small group who gathered to say good-bye. Two years ago her family had a 90th birthday celebration for her in the old fellowship hall/former sanctuary. The pastor said she'd probably helped sand the beams of that room.

The funerals of the old saints are wonderful services. Often worth going to even if you didn't know the person. We hear some great stories, sing the old hymns and hear the Gospel. While waiting for the service to begin, I read through the Order of Burial and compared it to the bulletin. We only used parts, but all of it was lovely. The pipe organ, which had been out for several months repairs and cleaning, was back in place to send Mary on her way.

"Into Your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend Mary. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech You, a sheep of Your own fold, a lamb of Your own flock, a sinner of Your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of Your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light."
Commendation, Order of Burial, Lutheran Book of Worship.

880 True or false

This story may be anecdotal or even apocryphal--you never know on the internet. Still it's a really great story.

879 Where have I been?

This is going around the internet. East to west, plot where you've visited, lived or are now.

Bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

878 What can the customer expect?

Last week I needed to stop at a store for a specialty item. After making my purchase I was returning to the parking lot when I noticed another store that carried a product I've been thinking about, but hadn't researched yet. So I stopped in.

The 20-something female clerk was very well informed, polite, and not at all pushy. Even if I'd been primed to buy, I didn't stick around long enough for her to make the sale, although I took some literature home to read. I found out enough to know I'm very interested in this particular piece of technology just from the information she provided.

So what's the problem? Her appearance. She had on a faded gray denim jacket, over a blue denim shirt hanging out over black jeans atop thick athletic shoes. Her skin was bad and she had on no make-up except smeared mascara. Her hair was clean, but carelessly pulled back into sort of a large mushroom type style. She had no visible tatoos or piercings, but she did have bad breath. At one point I asked a question she couldn't answer, so she called to her male coworker. He appeared from the back room with a ready answer, dressed in nice slacks, a long sleeve dress shirt, and leather shoes. Which employee will get the next opening in management?

Similar theme about churches here.

877 Irrational exuberance

That's how Mark Cuban recalled the heady era that made him a dot com millionaire on an NBC show I watched this morning. This week is the fifth anniversary of the beginning of one of the biggest stock market crashes in history. The dot com bubble was really over when the NASDAQ hit 5,000 five years ago. From March 11th, 2000 to October 9th, 2002 it then dropped 78%.

And George W. Bush was still campaigning. I wonder how the guy who invented the internet would have turned it around in such a short time.

876 A way to catch up

Two of my favorite cable TV programs are not commerical, and both are on C-Span: Booknotes and Washington Journal. If you need to catch up on your history, politics or current events reading, this is the place to do it--painlessly. You can get the transcript or watch the video of the program. They also sell video tapes of the programs. And coffee cup mugs.

Today I selected Martin Marty, Professor Emeritus at University of Chicago, discussing his new book on Martin Luther. I'm not a fan of his writing, but thought, "It's hard to mess up a biography of Luther, so let's see what he has to say." I turned back to find another program after he proudly said he was Lutheran because he was born Lutheran, and that if he'd been born in India he'd probably be a Hindu. That's a pretty limp testimony for a Christian. I guess he's never heard the proverb that God has no grandchildren.

875 Not on my links

As more bloggers joined in on blogging for Terri, my links were becoming overwhelming--there must have been over 200. So I’ve pulled the automatic listing and have added a link to a page that will list them all. I don’t know if this will help the speed of downloading my page or not. It will probably remove me from Mammal status, since that is based on links, but so be it. A page that loads like ice melting in Columbus in March just isn’t acceptable.

Bloggers for Terri Schiavo

I added a few more women bloggers, one of which used “live journal” and immediately had trouble again. I’m wondering if Blogger.com just doesn’t want to share the playground. But she also had sort of a potty mouth as I read through her archive, and I tend not to promote women who want to use the F-word as adverb, adjective, noun and verb. I think our beautiful English language deserves better writing. Most of the men I link to are fairly deep thinkers, so they learned long ago the limits of that word in complex explanations. Women on the internet are sometimes enjoying freedom and anonymity, and like children with the giggles, they try to see how far they can go with their blogs.

Some things the guys just do better, and profanity is in that category. Free country and internet, ladies, but not on my links.

874 Can you teach what you don't know?

Joanne Jacobs always has interesting items about our educational system, from elementary school to grad school. Recent items include, should experienced teachers be allowed to opt out of the tough schools, and a tip to an article about applicants for Master's in teaching of history degrees who not only don't have history undergrad degrees, they haven't taken any history courses at all!

Professor Stan Wineburg of Stanford writes: "But how can you teach what you don't know? Would someone who wanted to teach calculus dare to submit a transcript with no math courses? Would a prospective chemistry teacher come to us with a record devoid of science? Yet with history, the theory goes, all you need is a big heart and a thick book.

The state of California encourages this state of affairs. Although it requires teachers to earn a rigorous teaching credential before they may teach math, English, biology or chemistry in the public school system, there is no such credential for history. Instead, the state hands out a loosey-goosey "social science" credential."

I loved history, but it hasn't had much respect for years. I don't recall a boring history class (well, OK, there was that one professor at U of I who was so excrutiatingly dull a grad student stood up in class an yelled at him and stormed out). I had enough credit hours in college for a history minor (but not the right classes), and wouldn't think of trying to go into a classroom and teach it. My major was such a struggle and I was so over my head, that the history classes were pure joy (they were also in English).

In elementary school we started history as an actual discipline in fifth grade, beginning with pre-history moving on to the Greeks and Romans. Before that, any exposure to history was included in reading stories and class projects. In sixth grade we got western European and British, and I think by seventh (changed schools, so I'm not sure of the sequence) we began to focus on American history, and by eighth grade, Illinois history. I think high school history classes took a similar route--Greece, Rome, Europe, England, United States, Illinois. That probably wouldn't be politically correct today, but in our day-to-day life living as responsible American citizens and taxpayers, it wouldn't hurt to know a few of the events who brought us to 2005. My own children, who attended high school in the 1980s, hadn't memorized any of the "facts," like dates, or even centuries, or the major players. They weren't sure where to place the VietNam War in the 20th century of back-to-back major wars and many smaller wars.

Wineburg concludes, correctly, in my opinion: "Lack of knowledge encourages another bad habit among history teachers: a tendency to disparage "facts," an eagerness to unshackle students from the "dominant discourse" — and to teach them, instead, what the teacher views as "the Truth." What's scary is the certainty with which this "Truth" is often held. Rather than debating why the United States entered Vietnam or signed the North American Free Trade Agreement or brokered a Camp David accord, all roads lead to the same point: our government's desire to oppress the less powerful. It is a version of history that conjures up a North Korean reeducation camp rather than a democratic classroom."

873 Have you noticed?

This afternoon I took my book to the coffee shop--and I'm all the way to chapter 8 (slow reader). It does have some good things to say. I do wonder how everyone is going to fit on the campuses of Harvard, Yale and Stanford, however. And where will the rest of us academics work? That's not my point here. While I was in the coffee shop I looked up as some women customers came in. Have you noticed how so many people have very white teeth these days? I mean glistening, sparkling, movie-star white. Whiter than natural white. It must be all those teeth-whiteners you see advertised. I wonder how long it will be before teeth-whiteners will be the next Cox-2 or HRT or phen-phen and people will find out they do something awful in lab rats eating it 15 times a day in addition to removing tea, cigarette and coffee stains from human teeth?

Back to the book and chapter 9.

872 George Will calls public TV a preposterous relic

“In 1967 public television did at least increase, for many, the basic television choices from three -- CBS, NBC, ABC -- to four. Not that achieving some supposedly essential minimum was, or is, the government's business. In today's 500-channel environment, public television is a preposterous relic.”

Full essay here.

Are there any shows on public TV that you think couldn't make it commercially? If yes, is that a good reason to keep them on the air?

871 The Big Boys and Martha

Reading what male columnists and commentators have to say about Martha Stewart is like reading what the liberal MSM have to say about President Bush. They just don't get it. Someone who has a purpose, a direction, believe in self, who confounds the pundits and does exactly what she/he promised to do.

In his Wonderland essay today in the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henniger writes about the "Gates" exhibit in Central Park. He just can't resist sniping at Martha:

"Cristo and Jeanne-Claude use the tool of free media publicity as skillfully as any politician, or as naughty Martha Stewart is doing right now."

A slam with a put down. Nice work. Relegating her to the status of a kindergartner sitting in the corner.

870 Reading under pressure

Book Club is meeting Monday night, and as usual, it is crunch time and I'm still in the first chapter. The selection is a little odd--we usually read solid non-fiction, biography or genre fiction. This time it is Hugh Hewitt's book, In, But Not Of; a guide to Christian ambition and the desire to influence the world (Thomas Nelson, 2003). First I checked OhioLINK, then OPLIN, and I think there were only one or two copies in the state. Public libraries don't have very good collections of Christian material (considering that their clients are overwhelmingly Christian), but I thought I'd be able to borrow it. So I purchased it, knowing it was "gift book" material and maybe I could pass it along. So far I'm stuck in the preface and not enthusiastic. Of course, "ambition" was never my watchword, even when I was working, so as a retiree the concept doesn't hold a lot of interest. Maybe he has a really fresh take on ambition and influence. Hope so.

I look really sharp today. Mascara. New lipstick shade. Dark blazer. Ambitious. Sometimes it helps to look the part.

869 You can't tell a person by a face

This site purports to be able to determine your ethnicity, intelligence and personality from a submitted photograph. I submitted about 5, and got a different evaluation each time. I never got out of the average intelligence range although it fluctuated. The photo I'm currently using here at the blog (taken at Wal-Mart) had me eastern Indian and southern European, a white collar worker, maybe a secretary. I did best with my studio master's degree photo, which said I was 100% Anglo-Saxon (correct), a charmer, and brighter than I was when I was east Indian. I hope these guys aren't working on terrorist screening.

868 Publishing in the 21st century

For those of you doing more than blogging with your words, or who are selecting titles for public and university libraries, there is an interesting three part series over at Backspace on publishing in the 21st century, how the business is changing and how technology is influencing what authors, agents and publishers do for a living. Part One is an overview of the current state of the business, Part Two is a discussion (new to me) of what's become of paperbacks, and Part Three is, On the road to virtual.

867 When age doesn't matter

While adding a site to my coffee blog today, I decided this one might be worth another look here.

"We got together for coffee recently. We both live close enough to Panera's to walk. We are both retired--I in 2000 and she in 2004. I haven't missed work a single day, but she's having a bit more of a struggle--misses "her kids." I've lived in the community for 37 years, and she grew up here. I've been a member of the church since 1976 and she is a charter member. But when she mentioned her best friend in high school, I said, "but she used to baby sit for us."

When she was 18, I was 28. We were worlds apart. I was changing diapers, shopping for groceries, making the dollars stretch for wallpaper and drapes for the new house, feeling the oldest I've ever felt in my life--wondering where had life gone. She was going to football games, planning for college, looking forward with excitement to all that was to come. And now, that 10 years doesn't make much difference at all."

Today's Laugh

I saw this link at Schadenfreude. If you are old enough to remember Johnny Carson (Tonight Show) and Jack Webb (Dragnet), you’ll love this.

Johnny Carson and Jack Webb

865 Freed Martha

My cooking may be a bit slip-shod and borrowed from my Mom's recipe box of the 1950s, but I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart's products even if I've only read one of her magazines (the first issue). Sheets, bedspreads, towels, rugs, and kitchen utensils are all well designed and made.

Now she's getting out of prison. Some men are still complaining that she hasn't admitted to a crime, even though she's done the time. Could be that in addition to beingsmart, talented, successful and providing a lot of quality for value, she's also innocent. All those guys who were wrong about her stock (jumped 40% from the low last fall) are also wrong about her. See WaPo for a less than flattering story.

From the Alderson, West Virginia prison Martha wrote her staff about foraging for wild greens on the grounds, decorating the chapel for a memorial service, and cooking impromtu recipes in the microwave with whatever the commissary had for sale. She read voraciously with the new found time she had, taught yoga, crocheted gifts, cast and painted ceramics from old molds she found, and played cards and scrabble (as reported in the latest issue of Living). This lady knows how to make lemon-ade from even dried up lemons.

You go girl! And welcome back.

Note: Last March I started my blog about premiere issues with a few paragraphs about Martha:

"The reasons people give for starting a new journal are wonderful, and that will probably end up being my focus, rather than ISSN or editor or publisher or cost. For instance, I have the "Preview Issue" of Martha Stewart Living, Winter 1990, published in the fall of 1989 for the coming holiday season. She quotes Samuel Johnson, the famous 18th century writer: For at the end of the day, no matter who we are or what we do, we want to go home. Our philosophy was nicely stated by Samuel Johnson a couple of hundred years ago: "To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition."

The issue is filled with wonderful recipes, projects, and decorating ideas. I don't think she ever changed her plan (I also don't think she is guilty, but that's another blog. The pages are drying out a bit, so I have to be careful when I open to the stencils of stars and moon to be carefully removed to spray paint a table cloth. I smile when I see the photo of the golden threads of spun sugar on cups made of brandy snaps holding black currant icecream topped with caramel syrup. Ah, Martha, nobody does it like you!

864 How did you meet your spouse?

SmockMomma of Suma Mamas writes: “we met in january of ’90 in a class entitled “ethics and moral issues” at Texas Tech. i thought he was the spawn of jimmy swaggart because he quoted lots and lots of scripture, and right from the hip, too. he thought i was a wiccan hippy – but aside from my habit of wearing lots of black and espousing very militant pro-choice, pro-gay/lesbian/transgender, rabid feminist, anti-established religion views, i can’t imagine why he thought that. i mean, he was the dingleberry who voted for a democrat, not me. he thought all i needed was a little salvation and i thought he prolly just needed to get a little. there must be something to that “opposites attract” theory cuz fifteen years later here we are, albeit a tad more complacent 'n civilized.”

Bloggers are interviewing each other, and this was one of the questions she was asked--a mother of four with two on the way. The ones I’ve read are tailored to the writer and are not the general “what is your favorite beverage” type question. I thought this one could be a general conversation starter--it works better than “how old are your kids,” even if the person is divorced or widowed. And if she is single and never married, you’ll hear an even better story.

I’m not as funny as SmockMomma, but I can tell you we met at an ROTC function and that on our first date, The St. Pat’s Ball at the University of Illinois, my husband told me he was going to marry me. When I returned to the dorm that night and went to Sally Siddens’ room to return dress, I told her, “You won’t believe the line I heard tonight. And he can dance.”

863 A hitch in my git-along

Remember that old expression? I don't think I've ever actually said that one, but I know it means something hurts and isn't working right, or it means something's been thwarted depending on the area you're from. Yesterday I added two really great writers to my list of writing links, and one or both caused a hitch in my get-along. Right away, my page started having trouble. First, their pages loaded really slowly. Then mine started to balk. I'd had this happen last summer when one of them was on my list. I'd added Sal and PJ that time, and it kicked up a fuss. The template change never would work right after I made that change. So I deleted both. I snuck PJ back in (great recipes) and had no problems. So recently, I added Sal and Inkmusings. Now both are relegated to my bookmarks. I'll still return to their sites--just won't be directing you there. You geeky types will probably tell me this is just a coincidence, but rather than have people fall asleep waiting for it to load (actually, no one waits on the internet--not even me), I'd rather let them fall asleep reading my prose.

862 Dress like a voting booth

Mark Steyn comments on all the changes going on in the Middle East, Full story here, “Arabs Berlin Wall has Crumbled;” my, but I do love how he turns a phrase.

“Why is all this happening? Answer: January 30. Don't take my word for it, listen to Walid Jumblatt, big-time Lebanese Druze leader and a man of impeccable anti-American credentials: "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, eight million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Berlin Wall has fallen."

Just so. Left to their own devices, the House of Saud - which demanded all US female air-traffic controllers be stood down for Crown Prince Abdullah's flight to the Bush ranch in Crawford - would stick to their traditional line that Wahhabi women have no place in a voting booth; instead, they have to dress like a voting booth - a big black impenetrable curtain with a little slot to drop your ballot through. Likewise, Hosni Mubarak has no desire to take part in campaign debates with Hosno Name-Recognition. Boy Assad has no desire to hand over his co-Baathists to the Great Satan's puppets in Baghdad.”

861 On fathers and dads

Tomorrow morning my husband will fly to California to see his father who had a heart attack on Saturday. He is refusing all "heroic" measures, including his regular medication, so it is possible that father and son won't meet again this side of heaven. A divorce when my husband was two years old means they didn't live together, but you don't have to be in the same room with them too long to see that they are related.

We sent our children out to see him for a week when they were about 14 and 15, and our son, who is an incredible mimic, can still do a comedy routine of Grandpa nipping into the candy bowl and frying bacon. In August 2003 we went out for his 90th birthday party, a huge bash in my brother-in-law's decorated backyard. He is a popular guy with many friends half his age. During WWII he had what must have been the dream assignment of the war--arranging entertainment for the troops. That 2003 visit was only the second time his four children had all been together with him at the same time, the other time being in Indiana sometime in the 1950s. I know it sounds sort of distant and cool, but it is amazing to me who grew up in an intact family with grandparents and great-grandparents in the same town, how close they all are and how they share mannerisms, speech patterns and body language. My father-in-law had eight brothers and sisters who took family very seriously and included his two little ones in everything. This is a blended family (I could write volumes) which sets the bar for that term.

In 1977 we flew to California with the children for an extended visit. A large athletic man, bigger than either son, my husband's father had lost about 50 pounds that year, as had my own father, and my husband's step-dad. I joked that I had lost one entire dad just from dieting.

In 1995 we were both at work when we got the call about my husband's step-father. We threw things in the suitcase and quickly drove to Indianapolis, but we were too late to say good-bye. He was already on a respirator. Both fathers were at our wedding, but this was the father who paid the mortgage, put food on the table, disciplined for misbehavior and smartmouthing, mowed the lawn, went to ballgames, attended our kids' parties, and told the funny stories on holidays. My husband delivered the eulogy at his funeral, finishing with "I love you, dad." The only time he ever called him "dad."

We've been blessed to have our fathers (mine died in 2002) such a long time.

860 Music on the Internet

A few of my favorite links are to radio on the internet. I don't pretend to understand this, or know who puts it out or how, but I get really good music, some from other countries, with no commercials.

Music weblogs are even more a mystery to me. People write about the music they enjoy and then post a link. I'm not sure if what I'm doing--listening--is legal--I guess it is. But if you drop down to the bottom of my left hand links to a music weblog icon, Impudent Marriage.com and click, then go to Feb. 14, you hear something I think is really good:

Julie writes in her music blog: “This song is a perfect blend of hip hop and blues. The lyrics are haunting and convey a sense of newfound independence. The tune is catchy and fun, but at the same time low key and reminiscent of a dirge.” The Truth from "Handsome Boy Modeling School"

Apparently, there is web karaoke, too. A kid named Gary was catapulted to fame and is now in hiding because he danced the Numa Numa and put it on the internet. I watched it, laughed, and thought, "This kid has a lot of talent." I can't lipsync in Romanian, can you?

859 I'm not dead yet

"If you ever watched the TV mini-series "The Holocaust" with James Woods as an artist. In that movie they depicted the destruction of people not just in concentration camps, but prior to that. Before they started to destroy Jews and Gypsies and political dissidents, they first started destroying retarded children, people with brain defects. And they put them into vans and piped in carbon monoxide and killed them all. They looked on it as good because these people were difficult, they were expensive, they were awkward. They didn't have the quality of life required of the Third Reich. They were expendable. And from that came the Holocaust." Gregory Koukl

858 Whiny women

Articles like this one reporting women in the sciences at Harvard are still looking for excuses really make me steam.

"Students cited their experiences in introductory courses as particularly traumatic—saying that some male teaching fellows would drive their classes at relentless rate and would deflect questions from female students.

To counter this, Tracy E. Nowski '07 and Patricia Li '07, co-chairs of the policy committe of WISHR, suggested optional sections created specifically for women, perhaps being even taught by female teaching fellows."

So, after 35 years of workshops, tutoring, special classes, Title 9, and bumping men from application lists at prestigious schools, women still can't take the heat and now want their own classes at the college level?

My epiphany came about 10 years ago when I walked into the women's restroom in Sisson Hall (Ohio State) and saw a list posted on a toilet stall door of 50 organizations on campus to help me be a poor lil' oppressed woman. "Are we that weak?" I wondered as I kicked aside a huge cockroach. "We can't survive without all this stuff to prop us up?" There would be a lot of women in administration who would have to go out and get real jobs if they ever convinced other women they really can do what they want if they are willing to compete. If they don't want to compete, that's not the men's problem. Don't make it into Harvard, spend $40,000 a year of dad's money and then start trembling in your Nikes because men are acting like nut-cakes.

857 Truth is stranger than sarcasm

"In another move designed to show his love and compassion for his wife, Michael Schiavo today announced he would auction off his guardianship of Terri Schiavo on eBay."

Full story at ScappleFace

856 Listening to the Oscar chatter

Two miles north of here, I can get WJR Detroit, so I was listening to a talk show driving home from grocery shopping this morning. No one who called in was happy with Chris Rock's performance. It was not a left/right, black/white thing. People long for the "good old days" when comedians could perform for a national audience and not be political or slanderous. I suspect that time never existed, but it would be nice.

One of my readers says she used to enjoy the Oscars--particularly seeing the clothes. She went to bed last night at 9. No fun these days--she hasn't seen any of the movies, and often doesn't know the stars. And she sees a lot more movies than I do. Me? I don't think I ever watched an Oscar show.

Robin Williams' allusion to the Focus on the Family Sponge Bob Square Off was only slightly amusing, a caller to WJR said (although better than Rock). It's not clear to me if Williams was on the show, or if the caller was just comparing the two comedians. The MSM and all of Hollywood left get that Dobson story wrong. James Dobson never said the cartoon character was gay. He objected to a link on the video which used a number of favorite cartoon characters, produced by "We are Family Foundation" for children promoting explicitly homosexual material. I think the left coast all know that, but what would be funny or slur-worthy about that? What fun is it to make fun of a Christian leader when he is speaking the truth and common sense?

"If you had told me a month ago that I’d be devoting my February letter to a cartoon character named SpongeBob SquarePants, I’d have said you were crazy. Nevertheless, by now you probably know that I have been linked to that famous talking sponge by hundreds of media outlets, from the New York Times to "MSNBC" to "Saturday Night Live." The story of how this situation unfolded is somewhat complicated, but it must be told." Dr. Dobson.

You should see what librarians did to Dr. Laura! But then, that's another show.

855 Slivers and hyphens

At my other other blog, Church of the Acronym, I'll write more about the wonderful artwork of Dr. Tennyson Williams (can't find my notes at the moment). The Visual Arts Ministry hung his show on Saturday morning. Sometimes the equipment isn't the best and my husband picked up a sliver in his hand from the step ladder. A metal sliver. So I found a needle and a tweezers for him (he was on his own then--I'm squeamish).

I've written before about hyphens, and I think they are useful used with discretion, but when over done they pierce like a sliver. Hyphens are irritating to the flow of language when poking around where they aren't needed. A one column article on technology by Lee Gomes in today's WSJ had at least 14 hyphenated adjectives--my eyes were glazing over.

innovator-entrepreneurs; open-source; free-flowing; eye-glazing (yup!); start-up; hedge-fund; heat-seeking; computer-programming; space-time; already-crowded; high-tech; file-sharing; write-up; earth-shaking.

I'm thinking Mr. Gomes didn't slap all those hyphens in there on the qwerty keyboard--he'll get carpal tunnel of the little finger--but would they have that many editorial assistants with nothing to do? Is it a hyphen-gap-finding-inserting program?

These ladies are looking for you

The Summa Mamas, Catholic mothers, are blogging for Terri and looking for comments.

"We are within 22 comments of our 3000th comment. Poster who is number 3000 will get a big ol' smooch from the Mamas! (And who knew it would be such a great conversation? We appreciate each and every one of you so much.)"

I've got just the guy for them.

853 Speaking ill of the dead

Not being particularly well-read, I didn't mourn the death of Hunter Thompson--in fact, I'd never heard of him, although when I read his obits in the various columns, some of his early titles sounded vaguely familiar. But so did Sandra Dee's. Now it has come out that he shot himself while on the phone with his wife, with his young grandson in the house. Can this be the guy people are eulogizing like he is some sort of iconic literary figure?

Thinking maybe I missed something important, that perhaps 30-40 years ago he might have had something to say, I scanned my bookshelves for a clue. There was a two volume Norton's up there (given to me by someone who had finished an American lit course). It can be a nice door stop, or a quick reference, less biased than googling his name.

So I dipped into "American Prose since 1945" in Volume Two. Quite a few names I recognize, even some I've read: Vladimir Nabokov, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Tom Wolfe, John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Bobbie Ann Mason, Alice Walker, and Louise Erdrich (but not her husband--interesting--but that's another story since he was the better writer). Even Arthur Miller, also recently deceased and eulogized beyond what was necessary. Who would remember him if he hadn't married Marilyn Monroe? But no Hunter Thompson. Good. Apparently a lot of people didn't think he was worth reading when something better was at hand.

852 Sweet Sour Meatloaf

When I retired in 2000, I had two unfinished research projects; black veterinarians in Ohio in the early 20th century, and free central Ohio newspapers and magazines. Although it was my job to teach students how to use a systematic method to prepare papers, I never followed what I taught. My method was to accumulate as much interesting material as possible, throw it in a box under my desk, and periodically bring it out and look for an interesting starting place. The next step was to go into the stacks and browse. Trust me, no one would ever actually teach others to do research this way, but I did get to Associate Professor, so it worked for me.

I was further along in the veterinarian project and actually had "hard" data drawn from material in my stacks that probably no one else would ever dig out since most of it wasn't indexed. One piece of information had been taped for years to a class photo poster in the hospital. My preliminary conclusion was that the pre-1950 classes at OSU in veterinary science had a higher percentage of African American students than the post-1970 classes when they were actively being recruited, but I couldn't find an angle on which to pitch my story. Also, the registrar doesn't let you look at student records (for residence, high school, etc.) without a darn good reason.

The free-circulation newspapers topic, on the other hand, was huge, cumbersome, and I couldn't find a soul writing on it except me. I'm guessing that over the years I'd accumulated 50 titles under my desk to explore. Normally that is a good thing if you're writing a PhD thesis, but I wasn't. It could just possibly mean no one gives a hoot, so why bother? Libraries don't collect them; indexing services ignore them; circulation compilations don't report their stats. From an information history angle, they don't exist if you can't find them. In libraries, we have a term called "gray literature." Free-circs go beyond gray into invisible. Disclaimer: this may have changed in the last 5 years.

But I still pick them up when I see them (newspapers, not black veterinarians); I can't resist. Today I noticed The New Standard; an independent Central Ohio Jewish Semi-Monthly at the coffee shop, sitting along side some other free newspapers. It is a mix of local and boilerplate with nice formatting, very healthy advertising inches without being pushy, good cartoons, interesting editorials, and a very full calendar of events, most of which I didn't know about since I'm not Jewish.

And now to the title of this blog entry. Chef Lana Covel had an article in The New Standard some time back about how she couldn't make meatloaf. So in this issue (Feb. 24-Mar. 9, 2005) she reprinted the e-mails and suggestions she received from her readers--some very funny, others quite helpful. And there is was! My Sweet Sour Meatloaf recipe that I have been using for 45 years and which I give new brides. According to H.G. who submitted it, it came from the B'nai B'rith Women's Cookbook, 1978, but mine is a bit older, having come from Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking, c 1959, 1960, p. 642. It truly is the best meatloaf you'll ever taste, and if you've failed before with dry, tasteless gunk, throw away that onion soup and ketchup; this one will work for you.

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C vinegar
1 t. prepared mustard
1 egg
1 small onion, minced
1/4 C crushed crackers
2 lbs. ground beef
1 1/2 t. salt (I use less)
1/4 t. pepper

Mix tomato sauce with sugar, vinegar, and mustard until sugar is dissolved.

Beat egg slightly; add onion, crackers, beef, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce mixture. Combine lightly, but thoroughly.

Shape meat into oval loaf in a bowl; turn into shall baking dish, keeping loaf shapely. Pour on rest of tomato sauce mixture.

Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F.) 45 minutes, basting occasionally. With 2 broad spatulas, lift onto platter. Serves 8.

And there is an on-going class on Maimonides 13 Principles of Faith at Temple Israel each Tuesday from 12-1 p.m.

Got the munchies?

Dogwood Blue blog has some interesting photos, especially this one. Think I'll pass.

849 Publishers not making cents

Not a statistic that a librarian or book seller wants to read, but according to AdAge, we're spending a lot less on reading today than we did 50 years ago.

"The share of money spent on entertainment has hovered around 5% since 1950, but priorities have shifted. Spending on consumer electronics has soared; spending on newspapers, magazines and books has plummeted. The average household apportioned just 0.3% of spending ($127) for reading materials in 2003, down from 1% ($51, or $317 adjusted for inflation) in 1960.

The rich, who also are more educated, spend more money on print media and books than the poor do. But don’t read too much into that. It turns out households in every quintile of income spent the same average 0.3% of budget on reading in 2003. For publishers, that doesn’t make cents."

We're spending a lot less on food and a lot more on "other," according to the article that appeared in American Demographics.

Complete story about "What U.S. Consumers Buy and Why" with downloadable charts at AdAge.com. (Might require registration.)

848 AP disrespect and disinformation

The Bradenton Herald has an Associated Press article by Mitch Stacy (Tampa) about the Terri Schiavo case. Then there is a national AP story also filed by Stacy. The local AP article is about as biased and distorted as anything I've read in the MSM. But then, I've heard that the Florida papers are really pushing her demise so they can move on. After so many years, they are probably tired of this case. Perhaps the local paper just uses Stacy's by-line and edits at will.

". . .kept alive artificially" Perhaps nutrition is "artificial" for Mitch, but not for me. None of us eat without the help of farmers, truckers, food processors, marketers, wholesalers and retailers.

". . .parents, who want her kept alive" isn't accurate, Mitch--"want her to be allowed to live" would be a better choice of words.

"The court is no longer comfortable. . ." Mitch, you need to look into whether this story should be about Judge Greer's comfort, or Terri's comfort. It hurts to starve.

"long-running family feud" Let's not trivialize what has much larger implications for society and the growing push for active euthanasia. It isn't called a "feud" in the national report. Is this an Appalachian/southern turn of phrase?

"Terri Schiavo's collapse brought on by an eating disorder. . ." Seems to be quite a bit of evidence of physical abuse--you might have at least presented the whole story instead of just Michael's, Mitch.

"I am very pleased . . ." Felos said. Mitch, you might have mentioned a possible conflict of interest, since it is reported Felos is on the board of directors of the hospice where she resides, and hospice facilities offer no rehabilitation or therapy, only a way to die. The national AP article has an even stranger quote from him--about if Terri could get up for an hour and see what was happening. Felos will make sure that scenario won't happen.

"[Gov.] Bush intervened in October 2003 to keep her alive six days after the tube was removed." My, she certainly is a tough little sucker for all you say about her "right to die." I don't know that I'd make it 6 days without food and water.

". . .Terri's wishes not to be kept alive artificially must now be enforced." There is absolutely no evidence that this was Terri's wish, and it is pretty unlikely that 25 year olds talk much about how they want to die.

"The Department of Children & Families is also seeking to intervene in the case." Let's see, what else do we know about this agency's prompt care and action?

"[Schiavo] started a new family with another woman" Nice turn of a phrase for adultery, Mitch. No conflict there, right? Also no mention of this tawdry tale in the national report. Probably not important, right?

"elements of a soap opera" You didn't use this cheap slam the national article.

"persistent vegetative state as court-appointed doctors have ruled." Just what were the qualifications of said doctors, Mitch.

I don't know why the same reporter's name is attached to two AP stories on the same topic and the two stories are so completely different, but in the other one (national) Stacy reports, "[Schiavo] has spent most of a $700,000 medical malpractice award given to his wife for her care to pay his attorney." Is it legal to spend a malpractice award intended for care to kill the patient? Does Felos take cases that have no such $$ attached? Does this part of the story not fly well in the south?

847 Attempt to censor the ad to support Terri

Bloggers raised $10,000 to put an ad in a major Florida newspaper. BlogsforTerri reports what happened.

846 Praying about head lice

We all started feeling itchy as she was telling us about the head lice infestation in her classroom and measures they were taking to prevent the spread. Head lice are (is?) a serious problem for elementary school children. The scientific name for head louse is Pediculus humanus capitis. Sort of rhymes with ridiculous. Another name for infestation with head lice is pediculosis. Description here.

The measures were common sense--the children kept their coats on the back of their chairs, rather than in the coat room sharing space, and were told to keep their hair up off their shoulders. Wouldn't you know, the parent of the child who was the source of most of the infections, objected to the teacher telling his child how to wear her hair, so the word came down from the office, "No rules on hair styles." Schools are very fearful of law suits, so even practical measures that apply to all children and don't single any one out may not be workable.

There is one school in Columbus that has no head lice. It has a special group of prayer warriors who pray about that, and for over a year, no child in the school has had head lice. So we decided we'd be an ad hoc prayer group for that school, and specifically that class room. I suppose we could have included the whole school system, but we're going after this one louse at a time.

I don't know to whom you would send this card genre, but there are e-cards for the occasion that calls for mail to nit wits.

844 Enough of the big issues for awhile

There is a growing list if irritants in my notebook, so I'll just throw them out here, like emptying the trash. You are welcome to any of them if you need a minor crusade.

1) People who drop off grocery carts a few feet from the corral, or in the middle of a parking spot that is close to the door.
2) People who drop off their passenger at the door of the coffee shop, and then don't move their giant SUV or Hummvee so I can't get my car in or out.
3) Clerks who wear protective gloves to handle food, but then leave them in place to make change at the cash register.
4) Long artificial fingernails on anyone, but especially food workers (the bacteria count under them is incredible!).
5) Messy public restrooms with permanent tattoos of feces and urine with posted signs about cleanliness and hygiene for their staff.
6) Darters and dodgers racing to the next stop light where we idle together.
7) Restaurants that drive away regulars with menu changes while trying to attract new customers (churches too, with music that does this).
8) Friends and college roommates who don't write or e-mail.
9) Magazine agencies that send renewal notices 10 months early.
10) People who look and sound and act like someone I used to know, but aren't.

843 She wants to be fed and watered

Florida Cracker always has a good take on the issues, plus she is consistent. She saves injured animals and cares about people too. About the food and water issue (and last I looked we all need some help with that):

"This witholding of food and water is actually getting pretty common. I was reading about a man named Hugh Finn whose wife had him starved to death even though his family wanted him. His family had to pay her court costs for the legal fight too.
Rather than eye Mr. Cracker with suspicion, I did a living will saying I want my food and water any way I can get them. It's not too much to ask that you be fed and watered twice a day.

The things you have to do these days to protect yourself from hearsay."

She has some further observations. Comments by one of her readers who prepares Living Wills is also worth reading.

842 Final photos

A washed up digital camera reveals the last moments of a Canadian couple, victims of the tsunami. Photos. The camera of John and Jackie Krill was found by Christian Pilet, a Baptist relief worker, who used the Internet to track down their family.

841 Tell us how you really feel, Joel

"Who the !!@*@*!! let this happen??? Apparently, the movie of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is in the hands of...Disney!!! That's right, Disney!

Just who is responsible for this? Is a Buddhist-Agnostico-New-Age-Schlockfestico redaction of the world's greatest work of Christian children's fiction really what the world needs right now?

I mean, please! Heads need to roll on this one."

The Rev is revved on this one.

840 Conflict of Interest?

Should George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, be on the board of directors of the Hospice where she resides and gets no treatment? Seems odd to me, if Becki is telling this story correctly:

"Terri was even starting to speak again - words like "yes" "no" and "stop that" - but that was before Michael Schiavo hired George Felos to help his wife "die with dignity". Now, Terri's parents have been safely removed so as to avoid "false hope". All media and medical access is tightly controlled by Micheal Schiavo and Felos; in response, Terri has at last physically and mentally degenerated to the level where she may be exterminated by polite society.

Terri's slow death will grind down to a brutal, final starvation, executed at Felos' request. Upon Terri's death, several hundred thousand dollars that were earmarked for Terri's long-term care and therapy will finally be released to her husband Michael Schiavo, his new lover and their two children, to his attorney George Felos, and quite possibly in turn to the Hospice itself. It is unknown if Felos would advocate quick death for hospice patients who do not have large sums of money lubricating their exit from life; evidently the Hospice has not been forthcoming with clients in regard to George Felos' true role at the Hospice."

Comments on Felos here.

839 Hotel Rwanda and Million dollar baby

I won't be seeing either movie, but if it were up to me, based only on the reviews, I'd vote for Hotel Rwanda to walk off with more awards.

At least, it attempts to tell the truth about when a million or so Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in Rwanda and the rest of the world looked away. It is about a hotel manager who saved about 1200 of his countrymen while waiting, saying--"they will come."

"Baby" is a love story of sorts (according to Jim at the coffee shop). But it is getting picketed by disabled advocacy groups who say the writers didn't do their homework and depict an inaccurate view of the disabled and their care. Others say it is just a political paean to active euthanasia. I don't think the disability advocates care that the boxer wanted to die rather than live without fame; they just wanted some respect for the disabled.

838 Information theory

I just used Answers.com to look up the term "information theory." It reported:

"The theory of the probability of transmission of messages with specified accuracy when the bits of information constituting the messages are subject, with certain probabilities, to transmission failure, distortion, and accidental additions."

Paul's blog (he's a PhD candidate for saving Terri's life) is about information theory. But I'm still confused. If you use "theory" and "probability" in the same sentence, I just black out.

But my oh my, I do love Answers.com.

837 Tag, you're it

When reading this story, I wondered if I would have ever made it to high school with the sort of hysteria that's reported about schools these days.

First off, I would've been in the headlines and my teacher jailed for child abuse, because one day in first grade she yanked my braids so hard she snapped my neck and then tied a towel around my face because I talked too much (imagine that!). The other children were not even reprimanded for laughing at me and damaging my self esteem.

Then there was that sex scandal. When I was in third grade and Tommy in fourth, we used to sneak across the street to the church with dense bushes (EUB?) and kiss.

Gender issues, yes we had them. In fourth grade I was the fastest runner in the class at recess, even if I had sore arches and a pain in my side from the glory. I looked around one day and saw that I was leaving the little boys in the dust, and figured out very quickly I needed to not show up the boys at their own game.


Grade school on a very cold day in Forreston

836 Let's be humble--you go first

This morning I heard an interview on radio 610 with Maurice Clarett in which he actually said, "It's a very humbling thing being humble." Athletes need to arrive on campus or at camp with a large supply of duct tape to seal their mouths. No entertainers, politicos or defendants in a criminal act ever make the ridiculous remarks that athletes do. I think journalists interview them just so they can poke fun because they didn't get a letter in high school. It's their big chance to get back at the guys who kicked sand in their faces as teen-agers.

""It's a humbling thing being humble," Clarett said. "I got a second chance to make a first impression." " some reporter's version.

835 The Green Correction

This morning I saw Vol. 2, no. 1 of The Green Magazine , a golf magazine for minorities, at Barnes and Noble. When I reviewed it last week I thought it had folded.

834 Presidential Dog and Pony Show

Joe Blundo says he loves seeing former Presidents Bush and Clinton together. He wants them to bring their new sense of cooperation to the U.S. after touring tsunami stricken countries for a "Shut up and do something Initiative" for Americans.

I thought the commercials were nice too, but President Clinton looks a bit pale and wan, don't you think. So I thought maybe I wouldn't lose that weight after all.

833 Anniversary of Lincoln's first assassination attempt

Today is the 144th anniversary of the first assassination attempt on President Lincoln. Most people don't know that it was an Ohio librarian who saved his life.

Colonel William T. Coggeshall, State Librarian of Ohio for 6 years, 1856-1862, was only 42 when he died in 1867. He wrote Poets and Poetry of the West, (Columbus, OH: Follett, Foster And Company, 1860). At the time, Ohio was considered “the West.” He died in Ecuador where he had gone as Ambassador after the Civil War ended. Coggeshall had been hired as a bodyguard and secret agent for President Lincoln, and saved his life shortly before his inauguration by intercepting a grenade thrown on the train. This was not revealed until 1908, long after the deaths of both Lincoln and Coggeshall. The incident is reported in Colonel Coggeshall, the man who saved Lincoln, by Freda Postle Koch.

One other example of his devotion to Lincoln, is that the Coggeshalls had a daughter born on September 20, 1862, the day Coggeshall received a telegram from Washington that Lincoln had a final draft of the emancipation proclamation. He decided to name the baby girl, "Emancipation Proclamation Coggeshall," but not until Richmond fell. Richmond didn't fall until April 3, 1865, so she was called "Girlie" for two and a half years, and then named Emancipation Proclamation. When she got to school, a teacher nicknamed her Prockie, which she was called the rest of her life (she died at 51). Her grave marker says E. Prockie, but her family continued to call her "Girlie."

The State Library of Ohio now has a room named for Coggeshall.

832 Are Florida statutes being violated?

To look at these statutes in Florida about the rights of the disabled, you'd think they'd be protected. But even without a careful reading, it would appear Michael Schiavo has violated most of them, and Florida authorities have just looked the other way. He hasn't filed a guardianship plan for years, he's provided her no therapy since 1992, he has mismanaged her money (rehab money has been spent on lawyers fighting her parents), he moved her to hospice without court authority, and he is living in adultery, a misdemeanor in Florida (which ought to make him a poor guardian of her interests as well as a bad husband). He's also given orders to her caretakers not to treat simple maladies which could be fatal for a bedridden person. Now these are charges--not court findings. But shouldn't someone be at least be looking at the guardian courts that are supposed to review the guardian's plan for therapy?

831 Lust

Usually I don't take my car to the dealership for service, but this was a warranty recall, so after the coffee shop I drove north to hunt for the dealer (winding streets through the shopping centers). I prefer the local Pro-Care or Marathon guys, because going to the dealer is the equivalent of being asked to wait in the bar for an hour while your table number comes up in a restaurant. It gave me just enough time to wander around the show room and see a car I'd never noticed before, the Dodge Magnum. It is a station wagon with attitude, muscle, and good gas mileage.

I just love my Dodge minivan--it is my third since 1989. It is the only automobile I can ride in for hours and not be crippled, and it is tall enough to at least allow me to see around a few of the SUVs that hog the road in these parts and short enough to fit nicely in the garage and not throw me into the trash cans when I exit. But taking someone to the airport, the doctor's office, or a restaurant, and trying to shove or lift them into that back seat is a chore. We took our 84 year old neighbor to a concert last Spring and it was a bit of a challenge. Even running boards (or whatever we call them today) don't help much. Riding in Jean's Lincoln last week reminded me how nice it was not to rip a skirt or hike it up my thigh trying to climb into a van.

830 The voice of experience

One of Terri's bloggers writes from personal experience with rehabilitation. How well I remember facing the "experts." After my daughter's cancer surgery I sat in a room with a table of specialists--each recommending their own specialty, each contradicting the other.

"I am biologically tenacious, aren't you? Knowing what I know now, I am extremely grateful that I have never lived under Judge George Greer's jurisdiction. I have chronic progressive multiple sclerosis, have an electric wheelchair, and have been through acute rehabilitation at the University of Utah Medical Center four times. In two of those extended stays in the hospital I was given the beautiful opportunity to learn how to swallow, speak, eat, and to continue with my life. I was treated by experts, a multidisciplinary medical team that had the experience to evaluate and rehabilitate me. All of these opportunities have been denied Terri Schiavo.

In previous orders by Judge Greer to remove Terri's feeding tube he based the orders on the testimonies of doctors who say Terri is in a persistent vegetative state(none of which were qualified medical rehabilitation experts). But doctors employed by the Schindlers to assess her condition conclude that with therapy, she could learn to eat and drink on her own and perhaps learn to talk. However, those assessments were not allowed in court by Judge Greer." Richard has more to say.

Although I personally believe the rehabilitation will come too late, I also don't believe that is the only issue--whether she can speak (or do math or paint a masterpiece). We do not place value on people because of their speech or swallowing. The media reports slip off the horse on one side or the other--either the side that she has no brain activity at all, or swerving over to maybe there is hope for her like the woman who awoke from a coma after 20 years. When in doubt, choose life.

829 About as far off as a test can be

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

It must have been the question on lying. None of them fit (can't remember the last lie I told), so I checked Lied about my age, because that sounded like something someone my age would do. But perhaps you're more likely to do it in your 20s than 60s? I don't feel 29; would not want to be 29 and have to go through all that nonsense again!

828 Childhood memories--learning to draw

Both Karin and Paula are blogging about childhood memories, getting ideas from different sources, and both are writers having recently participated in the write a novel in a month (NaNoWriMo) contest. I've just about tapped that source out (childhood), or the memory cells are shriveling (Quick--if you've got one, write it down. Don't expect it to stick around forever).

This was written two years ago, and no, I didn't stick with my plan.

When I was in the early elementary grades, for some reason I fell in love with horses. I was probably about seven, because I don’t remember having any interest in horses in first grade. In pretend outdoor games, I was always riding a horse--galloping. Also, indoors--as I would trot on my hands and knees through the living room with my younger brother on my back until Daddy would complain we were making too much noise. My blue bicycle was my horse, Rusty (even though it wasn’t) and my friend JoElla’s bicycle was “Red,” also a horse and also blue. We would ride Rusty and Red around Forreston developing the storyline as we went.

My interest in horses soon moved to books and drawing. I read all the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley and all the Marguerite Henry books. I still have my “Born to Trot” and “The Blood-bay Colt.” I would draw horse stories, it seems now, by the hour at the dining room table. Mother brought home discontinued wall paper rolls for me to use as drawing paper if we ran out of our own scraps. (This was before the pre-pasted came on the market.) My uncle worked at a printing plant and she would also get bundles of unused white newsprint from him for me to draw on.

Mother never interfered or gave advice--she did however, buy me a few “how-to” drawing books and took me along with her to Freeport to the adult night school where I took a brief drawing class (the only child in the class) while she took a typing class. I really didn’t care much for this class because horses were the only thing I knew how to draw or cared about, and the instructor would set up a still life with draping and small figurines--really boring for a kid. But one day Mother stopped at the dining room table--I can see and hear her as though it happened today--and observed that horses had “hocks” and if I would just make a few curves in the hind legs, my horses might look more realistic. She had grown up on a farm and ridden behind “Beauty,” in a carriage when the roads were bad in the Spring and also had a pony one summer when her family was in Nebraska. So, although she wasn’t much of an artist, she knew the shape of a horse from direct experience, something I didn’t have. What a transformation. Instead of straight legs, my horses now had a bit more grace, and I drew even more furiously and made up even more exciting stories.

To this day, a horse is the only animal I can draw. Every time I look at my stick-like figures of dogs, cows and bunnies, it puzzles me that I can draw horses while blindfolded or standing on my head or in the dirt with my big toe. Obviously, my skill with horses is a result of practice and devotion and not talent. So last week, I decided I would go on a crash course to learn to draw animals. I never set goals because I’m a problem solver. So, to solve this problem of stick figured dogs and cats, I decided I would practice drawing one and a half animals a week--for seven days I would work and concentrate on one animal and around day five I’d start the next animal. I have a very smart cat. She rolls up in a ball and closes her eyes when she sees me pick up a pencil and open a sketchbook.

Update:
day 3

827 There is no stay

This blog for Terri says there is no stay; the media have reported even that incorrectly.

826 Gender styles in blogging

Finding female bloggers for my links took a long time. But now I've got a good group. Today I found a "Gender Genie" that thinks most of my own blogs are written by a male! You copy and paste one of your own writing examples (fiction, non-fiction or blog) into a window for analysis. The results color code the key words for determining gender. Interestingly, frequent use of the word "the" throws this writer into the male column. I tested several of my blog entries. The one I wrote about my husband being locked out of the house rated me as a female; the one I wrote about bread pudding had me overwhelmingly in the male column. Go figure. The blog I wrote in April 2004 about the Festival of Writing also put me in the male column, as did the one about deer-car collisions on the trip to Illinois.

The designer of the test has about 60% accuracy, but if I keep submitting, I'll mess them up. If you try this, you need to be careful not to use as an example one in which you do a lot of quoting. Otherwise, it isn't checking on you--but that other guy.

Gannon Guckert

Has anyone made any sense out of this dual identity, reporter/blogger, straight/gay story? It must be a really light news day if all the MSM AND bloggers have to do is report this non-story. It sure is chewing up bandwidth and pixels. Meanwhile, Terri dies tomorrow (or starts dying, since starvation is slow and painful).

I've tried WaPo, NYT and Slate, and some lesser beings. The innuendo, snipes and slurs are almost tsunami level. Remind me again, which party is it that has it in for gays? If you have a reasonable, well-informed link to suggest, e-mail me.

824 My blue flip flops

This is not about John Kerry. Two years ago I purchased a pair of bright blue flip flops with little sparkles on the straps for $1.00 to wear in the shower house at the RV park in Florida. I left them with my sister-in-law to use when I came back, or for anyone else visiting. I'm no expert on this type of footwear, but apparently, neither is anyone else, not even the ones who spend a lot more.

Last week Wall Street Journal did a survey on flip flops (average cost $600 a pair) and tested men to see if they could pick the $24 variety from the $1,000 kind. The designer/brands were Manolo Blahnik, alligator strap for $1,190; Brian Atwood, gold, $450; and Miss Trish, $530. And so forth. (The Manolo Blahnik shoes the new Mrs. Trump wore at her wedding were so expensive they were on loan!) The men failed the WSJ test--usually choosing the cheaper pair as the more expensive. So they tried asking women, and they too failed. Apparently there is no way to tell the pricey ones by looking. So if you're going to pay $1,000 more for flip flops than I do, would you leave the price tag on, wear a sign around your neck, or just casually drop a comment to your closest 30 friends at lunch about the high cost of looking good?

The rich have a different set of problems, don't they. I can't find a photo of these sandals, but here's a site that makes my feet hurt to look at it.

823 Now I'm a mammal?

When I went to Florida I was a marsupial; when I came back I was a reptile, now I'm a mammal. If this makes no sense to you, let me explain it is a rating system for blogs, based on unique links (I think). No matter how many people visit my site, it always flatlines at 71, so that apparently doesn't count.

No matter--that's not my topic. What I want to comment on is that the main stream media (MSM) has either ignored Terri Schiavo's situation or given erroneous information--saying she is in a vegetative state when her father says she can smile, return a kiss and say simple words. I visit a woman in a nursing home who can only tell me with her beautiful eyes that she knows I am there--and no one is trying to kill her. I visit another woman who had a brain stem aneurysm when she was 18, and has been using a feeding tube for over 30 years, but she knows who I am even if I haven't seen her in 5 years (I used to be her volunteer). She can also be fed with a spoon, but it takes a long time. Terri's husband won't allow her to be fed with a spoon. So the MSM has it wrong.

What about the bloggers--the pajamahadeen? Those big brave wannabe journalists of the new media? Well, most of the "higher beings" and "mortal humans" are off chasing stories about reporters in the MSM, charting red state/blue state minutia and nattering about someone who borrowed someone else's computer, leaving it to us little guys, the reptiles, mammals and slime to chip away at this story. Too busy to save a life of a woman in Florida, who will be executed on Tuesday, February 22. Here's their opportunity to really make a difference and they've put away their keyboards, folded their pajamas, put on their neckties and gone out for the evening. Thump hairy primate chest and chatter about how they brought down Dan Rather.

Current exhibits at Columbus Museum of Art

After church today we drove downtown to see this winter's group of exhibits at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Duane Hanson: Portraits from the Heartland December 11, 2004 - March 6, 2005

The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920 January 15 - March 20, 2005

Claude Raguet Hirst: Transforming the American Still Life January 15 - April 10, 2005

Bringing Modernism Home: Ohio Decorative Arts 1890-1960 January 28 - April 17, 2005

and the photographs of Art Sinsabaugh, which for some reason don't have a link on the museum page.

The Hanson sculptures are amazing and eerie. Because there are guards sitting around very still close to the sculptures, sometimes you're not sure--is this a real person or a sculpture. The woman reclining in a lawn chair in her bikini had a sun burn and cellulite! The museum was full of families--many peering into the faces of these lifelike. . . forms. Looking more real than most real people.

The photographs of the Allen sisters make me want to go through the few old Ladies Home Journals I have from the early 20th century (my grandmother's). They did a lot of photographs for magazines, and the exhibit shows the changes in their art over the years. Ms. Hirst's still lifes were also very interesting--particularly the ones she did of books, and her uniquely female way of painting of "bachelor art" a genre that appealed primarily to men.

My favorite was the Ohio Decorative Arts exhibit, and the Sunday morning lark became a bit more expensive (also included lunch in the museum restaurant, designed by my husband) when I couldn't resist buying the book, Bringing modernism home; Ohio decorative arts, 1890-1960, by Carol Boram-Hays (Ohio University Press, 2005). Because of the large number of glass and pottery companies in Ohio, it really is possible to build a very large collection with just Ohio artists (although many were immigrants from Europe and Japan).

"Bringing Modernism Home illuminates how Ohioans were influential in bringing international vanguard movements such as Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and Art Moderne out of the rarefied atmosphere of art galleries and museums and into the domestic realm. Included are works by nationally regarded figures such as Russel Wright and Viktor Schreckengost, as well as renowned creations by the important studios and manufactories Rookwood Pottery, Rose Iron Works, Hall China, and the Libbey Glass Company." Read more.

Art Sinsabaugh's photographs, which we just stumbled into, included many scenes we remember from the Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul area. At first he didn't like the flatness of central Illinois, but soon found it beautiful, and by cropping his 12 x 20 negatives, he was able to achieve the far horizon/big sky those of us who lived in that area recognize. Also the Chicago scenes from the 1960s are wonderful.

821 Governor Bush and Terri

This writer thinks Governor Bush is being too weak about his powers and the state constitution of Florida:

"Florida’s state constitution says "All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness...No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion, national origin, or physical disability." The fact that a Circuit Judge continues to ignore Florida statutes does not change the state constitution.

Jeb Bush took an oath to uphold that constitution and yet (despite receiving 120,000 e-mails begging him to save her), he let Terri Schiavo starve (and dehydrate) for six days back in October 2003 until the Florida legislature passed a law that gave him political cover. Now that the courts have struck down "Terri’s Law", don't be surprised if Jeb behaves as if the constitution he swore to uphold is still not relevant to Terri Schiavo. Don't be surprised if he allows her husband to slowly starve and dehydrate her to death."

This is one of the contributions at Wittenberg Gate blog. Governors can commute death penalties for murderers, why not victims? Some things about law I don't understand.

820 Which Democrat would you be?

Pejman Yousefzadeh speculates about being a Democrat (it's a stretch), and how he might choose between the Clinton wing and the Dean wing of the party:

"If we once again transport ourselves to an alternate universe--one in which I am a left-of-center Pej--I would resolve the argument by asking which wing of the Democratic Party had the most electoral success. The Democrats ran an angry campaign in the 2002 midterm elections--and lost. They then proceeded to run an even angrier campaign in 2004--and lost. By contrast, Bill Clinton won twice, and while his party lost both houses of Congress in 1994, the more ideological Democrats have not fared any better in congressional elections, and Clinton helped his party achieve midterm gains in 1998--an amazing feat given that Clinton was mired in scandal and that the President's party usually loses seats in midterm elections."

He wrote this for Redstate.org, commenting on the Washington Post article, but he has his own blog where this is cross posted.

819 Mounds of trash

Near by we have an Adena burial mound--at least that is what I told my children when we'd drive a mile or so from our home to look at it on the other side of the Scioto River. I don't remember how I learned about it. There has been a lot of development in that area in the last 30 years, but I hope the mound has been protected.

There are many mounds much more famous in other Ohio counties, and according to the 1892 History of the City of Columbus, Columbus and Worthington had a number of them, leveled as "progress" took ahold in this area.

"One of the most pretentious mounds in the County was that which formerly occupied the crowning point of the highland on the eastern side of the Scioto River, at the spot where now rises St. Pauls Lutheran Church and adjoining buildings, on the southeast corner of High and Mound Streets in Columbus. Not a trace of this work is left, save the terraces of the church, although if it were yet standing as it stood a century ago, it would be remarked as one of the most imposing monuments of the original Scioto race. When the first settlers came it was regarded as a wonder, and yet it was not spared. The expansion of the city demanded its demolition, and therefore this grand relic of Ohio's antiquity was swept away."

Joel Brondos of Collarbones tells of visiting Cahokia Mounds State Park recently where his family had stopped when he was a child. In addition to the mounds made by the early American peoples, he noted that we now have mounds of landscaped trash around St. Louis (and other cities). Just down the road from the sacred mound we used to visit, luxury housing has been developed--at the site of a former gravel pit along the river. As we'd drive across the bridge during construction, we watched the holes and valleys fill with refuse, rocks, road debris and concrete chunks from demolition sites and then the piles would be leveled with compactors. Surely when the early peoples built their monuments to their culture, they thought they would last forever. Building luxury homes on a compacted pile of trash certainly is a sign of our culture, as were the Adena mounds.

817 Making sure the kids are alright

Not my topic, but that was the article title in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by Sarah Tilton. All about baby monitors. When did "alright" become a standard English word? I checked Answers.com thinking it would give a little on this one, but even it listed "alright" as nonstandard English. When I was writing professionally, it was beyond nonstandard--it was circled and deleted.

One of the hot topics in letters to the editor yesterday was the "senior projects" article [that appeared Feb. 8, I believe]. I didn't see the articles, but it isn't "alright" with parents that kids who've squeeked through 11 grades have a sink or swim senior project. One wrote:

"If Johnny can't write clearly [in 12th grade] perhaps he needs to practice writing in grades K-11. . .read the works of great writers. . .practice annotation in middle school and elementary school. If Suzy can't do basic math, she may need to give up "anger management," and "family life" classes and do more math."

Forgive me for not reading the article, but when was this golden age of public school education? Certainly not in the 1920s for my parents, nor the 1950s for me. Nor the 80s when my children were in school (although standards were stiffer in their era than mine). As I've noted before here, if it weren't for the "Authors Card Game," I wouldn't have even recognized an American or British author of the 18th or 19th century when I was a teenager. If my parents hadn't paid for my piano lessons, I wouldn't be able to read music.

I had a senior project in high school; I think it was 1/4 of our American history grade. The class was taught by the coach, so only the athletes were safe. We knew about this ahead of time, so the summer of 1956 I followed the presidential election and clipped articles about Eisenhower and Stevenson and the conventions from Time and U.S. News and World Report. I know I got an A on the project, but I don't think that would pass muster as research in today's high schools--articles from two weekly news magazines.

The two high school courses I have never stopped using are Latin and typing. A dead language that is the foundation for our own and a clerical skill (can still type 60 wpm) for a machine that no one uses today--who'da thunk it.

816 Important cultural survey

Is your librarian tattooed? Do you have tattoos and work in a library? Must be the new image. Curmudgeony Librarian is doing this important lifestyle survey. Librarians are not exactly a cross section of society--still predominately a female profession (except for directors--that position is probably over 50% male), still predominately (overwhelmingly) liberal even in red states, and the last time I looked, educated far beyond what the position description called for.

Tattoo was not on my list of words to use, but curmudgeon was. I love it when a plan comes together.

815 Shall we dance?

We went to the dollar theater tonight and saw Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance. The minute it started I whispered to my husband, "Didn't we just see the Japanese version of this?" Well, I think it was about 8 years ago, but it was a really charming movie.

"On his evening commute, bored accountant Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) always looks for the beautiful woman who gazes wistfully out the window of the Kishikawa School of Dancing. One night he gets off the train, walks into the studio, and signs up for a class. Soon Sugiyama is so engrossed in his dancing he practices his steps on the train platform and under his desk, and becomes good enough for competition, compelling his wife to hire a private investigator to find out why he stays out late and returns home smelling of perfume."

In those days of the late 90s our Friday night date restaurant was Gottlieb's down on Third Avenue, because I remember we went there after that movie. We don't see many movies, but we've closed a lot of restaurants in our day--and it was one of them. For the last five years we've been going to Old Bag of Nails, a sandwich/bar/deli near here, so that's where we went to meet our son for dinner after this movie. Not only was Richard Gere not a good fit for this movie (just doesn't strike me as an uptight business man deeply in love with his wife, the always ugly Susan Sarandon), but worse, they've changed the menu at "our" restaurant. More dinners, fewer salads and sandwiches. It will probably close soon. I read that the owner tried to get a liquor license to set up shop in Westerville, Ohio, the home of the WTCU and Driest city in the country.

814 One more Valentine

A few weeks ago I checked out an antiques and collectibles guide from the public library because I wanted to check the value of some things I'd been collecting over the years. Usually these titles don't circulate, but apparently the policy had changed and a 2005 guide was available.

They are sort of fun to browse as you notice things you remember from grandma's house, or toys you threw away when they no longer interested you and now are collectible. A few years ago I freed up some space by giving my son his Fischer-Price garage and autos, and I think he made someone on e-bay very happy with it, because the wooden ones are quite collectible.

Anyway, this guide included a section on Valentines. I discovered that the scrapbook I'd made of my mother's valentines from her childhood about 30 years ago included sweet little pieces of paper more valuable than any of the pottery I'd purchased and collected over the years. This one is 3 dimensional and was given to her by her teacher.


To my Valentine

This one was given to my uncle Clare (killed in WWII) by his older brother.


Clare's valentine

813 The Real Reason is in the Transcript

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang Blog thinks he has the real reason Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard, was attacked by the left for his remarks about the differences between men and women. Until the transcript was available we were left pondering paraphrases and snippets that didn't make much sense. The transcript reveals, he thinks, Summers asking questions about whether affirmative action and diversity programs are achieving their goals.

I thought my eyeballs would fall out from the parenthetical phrases and trying to work around Summers' academic mush-talk (is there a school to teach people to write this way?), but it is worth taking a look at the full transcript after letting Wizbang parse it for you.