tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41154841689554964142024-03-11T17:54:03.149-05:00Kosher ComputingA bit of computing, a healthy helping of humor, a dash of insight, and a thorough blending of all topics of interest.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.comBlogger589125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-79825142315761640892024-03-11T17:38:00.002-05:002024-03-11T17:53:00.883-05:00The Fastest Shaker<p> </p><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Fastest Shaker</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgekIllSBCCQVOcFIlcaO9tevju_IifReYpwfSlwnD2N1iRC3xErdu6-Qngb3ucld57n9uDMGKzxL1GGU3095OzVCtSSJs3JJWo4Jt0C2GSYAVapzxFA0A4rRgfqXLWHwHHmIeceKyL8YFLsqRC6umMOjEa0mUtnqfPuqbsnq_JGvT31k88yxnq0UXQu7-t/s5184/IMG_5791.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgekIllSBCCQVOcFIlcaO9tevju_IifReYpwfSlwnD2N1iRC3xErdu6-Qngb3ucld57n9uDMGKzxL1GGU3095OzVCtSSJs3JJWo4Jt0C2GSYAVapzxFA0A4rRgfqXLWHwHHmIeceKyL8YFLsqRC6umMOjEa0mUtnqfPuqbsnq_JGvT31k88yxnq0UXQu7-t/s320/IMG_5791.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">By Alan Smason</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">From out of the West Bank</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A legend was made</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Of the fastest shaker </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the bartending trade.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He could shake a cocktail</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With little or no stress,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Add the garnish and a straw</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Without a hint of duress.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With his trusty shaker, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">His strainer and his spoon</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He made strong men weak;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He made women swoon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This man without peer,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A mixologist like no other,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">His drinks were so good,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Made you slap your own mother.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He teamed up with his woman</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And they opened up a bar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Their fame spread through the city,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">People came from afar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Their "Revel" served libations</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But they also cooked some food, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A great menu serving late night</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For whatever was your mood.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Through the years the fastest shaker</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Served his neighbors in Mid-City</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Spinning tales of the cocktails</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That were charming and were witty.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Today we sing his praises</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For this man who just can't miss.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With Laura by his side, we</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sing "Happy Birthday!" to Chris.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">©2024 Alan Smason</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><p></p>Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-61835416864990492792023-12-04T13:11:00.002-06:002023-12-04T13:11:39.287-06:00Haiku<p><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I wanted to write<br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">A haiku for the ages<br /></span>Turns out, I could not.</span></h2><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">– Alan Smason</span></div>Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-19673712529236606492023-09-03T04:41:00.004-05:002023-09-23T04:56:52.786-05:00Confronting Mortality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdNh8Xly_qAs5dATGqrmCCSZX7pRqwTWj1r7ezfzK3LQdvCrAzbJd3v-PzEbp6QfbIOdfBkBe9z73nydTrjPxCDZ3WUFXKjzrAU832GAneKxJdAVa4i7eZ6kLWKcItm52HAeWnwm6gUxS/s1600/Sentence+of+Death+-+Collier.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="559" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdNh8Xly_qAs5dATGqrmCCSZX7pRqwTWj1r7ezfzK3LQdvCrAzbJd3v-PzEbp6QfbIOdfBkBe9z73nydTrjPxCDZ3WUFXKjzrAU832GAneKxJdAVa4i7eZ6kLWKcItm52HAeWnwm6gUxS/s320/Sentence+of+Death+-+Collier.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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"Sentence of Death" by John Collier ©1908 Photo courtesy of the Wellcome Collection</h4><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's now been nearly two years since my mother of blessed memory passed away. It has been a constant reminder that my time on this planet is limited and will be of a yet to be determined length. I am now in a position to enjoy my life and choose freely what it is that I truly want to do.<p>
</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But the fact is I do miss her terribly.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I have no illusions. I am almost 70 with a number of interests that keep me constantly busy, yet there is a gnawing feeling that I am keeping myself occupied because I have no one whose life interests me beyond my own and more than those other pursuits. My sister calls me a narcissist. I say I am lonely. We're probably both right.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Since I created it, this blog has always been my most personal, creative outlet for releasing my feelings about a great many things. But the one thing I have yet to consider fully is my own pending mortality. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I've always had great pluck. That's the term Baden-Powell referred to Scouts who were always cheerful and ready to render assistance to others. In truth I should have never deviated from achieving Eagle Scout, but I made a conscious choice in seventh grade that I needed to concentrate on my bar mitzvah. Imagine how that plays out today when I do so much work with the National Jewish Committee on Scouting and the National Association of Masonic Scouters (NAMS) to help others achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eagle Scout is all about establishing goals in life and seeing them through to completion.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I have now realized a number of goals I could not have imagined 20 years ago. I am an acknowledged theatre critic and a TV personality for the past nearly 13 years. I am the publisher or webmaster of several websites that keep me constantly challenged and I have just completed a three-year position as president of the American Jewish Press Association.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So where to from here? While I am still the president of NAMS, that term of office will end in less than a year and I have only a few remaining months to achieve a lasting legacy for that organization, much of which was obscured due to the COVID pandemic. Once again, man plans and G-d laughs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I have determined that more than anything else I want to travel. I want to see places I've read about and I want to experience life on this wonderful world with a childhood abandon that only death itself will stop. I am off on a whirlwind adventure and I want to see what else is out there before I have my final breath and release my mortal coil. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This will not be a cheap endeavor, but to do less would be costly to my inner soul. I feel like Tony in "West Side Story." Something is coming. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It makes me very excited to know that I can do this at an age that many of my contemporaries are not able to do. I am lucky that I have not so many aches and pains as others. I still have all the original parts working. My hearing is still very good and while my vision is not perfect, my corrective lenses still afford me a good view of my surroundings. The extra package I am carrying around my belly shows that my sense of taste and smell have also not been diminished much. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So I am off. I am embarking on the first of several planned excursions of what I hope will afford me the memories of a lifetime in what limited time I have left. I hope to circumnavigate the globe and have many tales to tell while still maintaining my other interests. Let's see how this first journey turns out. I am curious to see if the extra effort and cost I am paying is worth the experiences. I truly hope I have made an excellent choice, but it's all about the mystery of life. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We never know if the choices we make are predetermined by G-d. I would like to think they are and that there is a great protector who knows better than me about what I should be doing with my life. Being productive is doing His work. Being nice is making the world a better place. Using my felicity of writing will make others feel and think about things they may have considered too, but didn't put down in print.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I've never had illusions about my effectiveness as a writer. I know I can write better than most, but I am not elevating myself above others like Shakespeare, Hemingway, O'Neill and Keats whose abilities have established them as luminaries for past and future generations. Reading has always been key to writing and I enjoy reading well crafted works, whether they be novels, plays or poetry.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So for now, I am signing off. Hopefully, this missive will be the first of several to come of logs of my journeys to come. I need to do this desperately. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Perhaps, on one of these journeys I will find that someone who will make me slow down and concentrate on her (and us). But in the meantime I must say Bon Voyage! </span></div>
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Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-5714912136333656332022-09-19T12:50:00.003-05:002022-09-20T09:12:59.921-05:00On Becoming an Orphan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZMO4UEzlhqak0tRi7arDxGS1IcqkpKRj88Uy6xEubvBKfhf01F5jLtgF4J_OGlzhLUAlzYtOUPTI12oWlpBmnUCU83OEojc5f_Ixtn9gqsYmmKmXS-HgPh9uGG49A6mrG4VuAWEmVMCSI0zWWucKIEaZoW-40lAVs_6B7XUfcapv4SQGHcC5IGvjQA/s4608/IMG_0507.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZMO4UEzlhqak0tRi7arDxGS1IcqkpKRj88Uy6xEubvBKfhf01F5jLtgF4J_OGlzhLUAlzYtOUPTI12oWlpBmnUCU83OEojc5f_Ixtn9gqsYmmKmXS-HgPh9uGG49A6mrG4VuAWEmVMCSI0zWWucKIEaZoW-40lAVs_6B7XUfcapv4SQGHcC5IGvjQA/w400-h300/IMG_0507.JPG" title="Annette Smason, center, with Alan, left, and Arlene, right." width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Annette Smason, center, with son Alan, left, and daughter Arlene, right.</div><p>For 67 years I knew the constant love and dedication of the woman who bore me. I depended upon her for my sustenance as an infant and for my protection as a toddler. During my tender years, she shielded me and protected me from the hurt that others might have brought upon me and she defended me when my actions required a benevolent hand.</p><p>As I matured, she did what she thought best for me, sometimes it was really what was best for her. But no matter, she was always my lynchpin. Even when she was problematic, she was <i>my</i> problem and I dealt with it. After my father passed away, we became inseparable. It was what many might consider a controlling relationship, but as the years went by, it became obvious that I was needed to help her through life's major and minor travails. </p><p>We dined together most nights for more than 25 years, not because she wanted my company, but because she needed a chauffeur and someone to fend for her. She was not capable of ordering for herself, so I did it for the two of us. She was not capable of ordering correctly and steadfastly refused to eat more than half of what was brought to her.</p><p>In the past, I would allow her to pass the leftover food to me and it helped me with not having to decide what to eat for lunch the next day. But after Hurricane Katrina and my diaspora from New Orleans for almost two years, I began to keep kosher at my home. Everything she ate out was not allowed inside my home. She would still pack the other half of her meal and would now leave it for whoever was at her home the next day. She never ate leftovers.</p><p>In the larger scheme of things, dealing with leftovers or having to eat out every night are not big deals. I dealt with it and kept a brave face as I enabled her. My sister, who lived in Cleveland, began to be more involved with her after her New Year's Eve stroke in 2019. It was not a particularly well-timed medical incident as she was transported against medical orders to a hospital best equipped for gunshot and knife victims and not suited to helping stroke victims. Her doctor did not have admitting or medical privileges there either. She was in the hands of Medical School students for the most part, many of whom were on holiday duty with a scant staff. </p><p>Once she came home, her options were very limited. My sister decided she would not live long in a skilled nursing facility, due to her nature. She opted for in-home hospice care instead. Her demeanor became much more agitated and confused. My very presence would cause her blood pressure to rise by several points for no reason. It was very troubling, but I remained aloof. I was there for her if she needed me, even though we no longer ate out any longer.</p><p>The last 19 months of her life were a slow and steady decline, punctuated by at least one other stroke. Had Hurricane Ida not deprived her of electricity and air conditioning, she might have survived a few more months and made it to her 90th birthday.</p><p>But now she is gone and I am bereft. The pain of her departure from this world still persists to this day, the first anniversary of her passing. Watching the funeral and commitment ceremony for Queen Elizabeth II today recalls within me just how terribly much I miss her.</p><p>May her memory be forever a blessing. </p><p><br /></p>Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-74628280172604770342021-09-07T08:53:00.004-05:002021-09-07T09:07:23.703-05:00SIMANIM<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvyBfDPe-pIYj5i5AsKsPKJR_8vpT96kjUU3wJxMIDq67hvi2W-ouUlxkZFN5Dzh5LmWvfQsNPMROXW-9o5u3mKpqBmI5HBYBOpeTtdKRKGAgXstdI_ug8yb3hdvjlEAb7MRCe33eHDRwl/s1583/Symbols_of_Rosh_Hashana.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1583" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvyBfDPe-pIYj5i5AsKsPKJR_8vpT96kjUU3wJxMIDq67hvi2W-ouUlxkZFN5Dzh5LmWvfQsNPMROXW-9o5u3mKpqBmI5HBYBOpeTtdKRKGAgXstdI_ug8yb3hdvjlEAb7MRCe33eHDRwl/s400/Symbols_of_Rosh_Hashana.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><h4><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Why do we eat apples and honey? </span></div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">It’s an answer you all need to hear. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Like the honey, the apples are sweet </div><div style="text-align: center;"> To ensure for us all a sweet year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But that's not all of the foods</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That we eat at the head of the year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">While <i>simanim</i> are ritually eaten,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Their meaning is not always clear.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So, let us start with Rosh Hashanah</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If that is what you would wish.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Rosh is the word meaning "head."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That's the reason for the head of a fish.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Symbolically, we often eat dates.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">T'marim is the word in Hebrew.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The letters suggest the word "end"<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Of bad things that make us feel blue.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Even the challah we eat at our meals</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Is round, not oval, for a reason.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It reminds us that a year, like a circle,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Continues from season to season.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Now pomegranates, that is a mouthful.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The rabbis say each of those seeds</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Is an opportunity to do mitzvahs –</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">What we all know as doing good deeds.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">in Yiddish the word <i>meren </i>means two things</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It means increase, but it also means carrots.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So we eat carrots in the hope that this new year</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Will see increase in our worth and our merits.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The last item on the menu is your selection</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The <i>pri chadash</i> or "new fruit" you must choose.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That completes the cycle of new foods</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That are sampled at new year's by Jews.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">©2021 Alan Smason</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></span></h4></div><br /><br /><p></p>Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-22494620535116592482020-08-01T10:42:00.004-05:002020-08-01T10:50:32.208-05:00Condiments<div style="text-align: center;"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OqqSfKYEcnXthP5Geztog_Qh9bRA7eSxGZP18sJn9Q4Y65v31apZE-8RuEu5RWTipCskpFChj3aqPKBPwMwhEAXzIzIxyos3cu51Ke1TIRSfhfvcGNw31qgGrl3xvbevtFpWfdVusUrX/s480/pepper-condiments-chile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OqqSfKYEcnXthP5Geztog_Qh9bRA7eSxGZP18sJn9Q4Y65v31apZE-8RuEu5RWTipCskpFChj3aqPKBPwMwhEAXzIzIxyos3cu51Ke1TIRSfhfvcGNw31qgGrl3xvbevtFpWfdVusUrX/s0/pepper-condiments-chile.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><h1 style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><font size="6">Condiments</font></b></h1><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I asked the man for mayonnaise<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">He gave me mustard instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I told him I prefer white, not yellow<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">To sit upon <i>my</i> bread.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">To see him look at me in disgust<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">As he handed me that jar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Made me wonder what it was I did;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Had I really gone too far?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">But, no, I was in my rights to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“I do not like that spread.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">And as for ketchup, I confess<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I just don’t like that red.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“Some would grab a packet or two<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Of spicy barbeque;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">But brown is ugly and not right.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I see it. Why can’t you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“Relish on a sandwich with a shade like green<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Is not understandable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">And orange is a color I won’t allow<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">To pass my mandible.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“That Thai satay is much too brown<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">And srahacha is just too pink<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Salsa is crimson; it’s out too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">That’s just the way I think.”</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“’You are what you eat,’ as the pundits say,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Which is why I won’t eat black.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> The colors of the rainbow may appeal to you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">But they’re not what I will snack.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“So out with chutney and out with honey<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">They will never be on <i>my</i> diet.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Just give me my white mayonnaise<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Or I will not be quiet.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The man with the mustard heard my thoughts,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">But I was shocked by what he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“I don’t hate those condiments half as much<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">As the color of your bread.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">©2020 Alan Smason<o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-70253091961404709882020-07-23T14:36:00.004-05:002020-07-23T15:27:48.312-05:00The Worst of Times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVsNJoM57w6EqtDF0R_wVghwpn3MkyyW4SCKTo44btDGrPJ-ApWdHHJn2I_uLjgay7F2rXrRzcPIoRVwSBFgnzLE182a0uVcXnG86vlVyxvRitM8DsGl1nkfnY-CNGMQVNc7JpyLg3hAY/s1600/191219150858-charles-dickens-portrait-restricted-large-169.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="460" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVsNJoM57w6EqtDF0R_wVghwpn3MkyyW4SCKTo44btDGrPJ-ApWdHHJn2I_uLjgay7F2rXrRzcPIoRVwSBFgnzLE182a0uVcXnG86vlVyxvRitM8DsGl1nkfnY-CNGMQVNc7JpyLg3hAY/s320/191219150858-charles-dickens-portrait-restricted-large-169.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">CHARLES DICKENS</span> </div>
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Dickens needs a rewrite. "It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times." I'm sorry, but this pandemic has turned me from the most hopeful of optimists into the most despairing of pessimists. </div>
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What started out as a reasonably expectant period of one, two or three months of sequestration has dragged on now through a fourth with no end in sight. </div>
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What began with just a trickle of cases of coronavirus in February rapidly increased to a scenario where hospitals were bursting at the seams at the end of March and early April. Nursing homes shuttered as the virus began to ravage elderly populations most at risk from the disease. Outside visitors there and access to prisons were denied to all but essential employees. Personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks, gowns and gloves were in such high demand that hospital workers and frontline medical staffs were asked to reuse the items against common practice and safe and sage medical advice. </div>
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Spare ventilators became the rarest of medical items and states competed openly on both the worldwide market and within a system for federal allocation of these life-saving devices. Doctors were fearful they would have to decide which of the sick were more deserving than others to receive vital health services. Would a 75-year-old cancer patient be passed over if a 29-year-old athlete were also sick? Epidemiologists predicted overrun ICUs and emergency rooms bursting at the seams. Doctors, nurses and medical administrators worried about which patients they would have to turn away.</div>
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It was a national nightmare.</div>
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But then, people began to respond. They stayed home. They washed their hands regularly and became mindful of not touching their faces. When they did journey out to a store for food or water, many of them wore masks so they wouldn't spread the virus if they had it. They wiped down their bags and washed off milk cartons. Schools shut down and students came back home. This was a picture of a united America that, like hard-ravaged Italy and Spain, was intent on keeping the future infection rate and deaths down.</div>
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A steady decline occurred. At one point, New Orleans held an unenviable position as one of the worst rates of infection in the country. It now boasted a remarkable turnaround. No one ran out of ventilators and a field hospital located in the Ernest Morial Convention Center set up strictly to treat COVID-19 patients, was shut down. Clearly, several markers showed remarkable progress being made in the city and throughout the state. Still, the death toll was huge.</div>
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Louisiana prepared to enter Phase I of a return to pre-pandemic normalcy. The numbers of available testing kits went up and more and more people were testing to see if they were infected. The crisis seemed to have abated, even though the death toll continued to rise.</div>
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But then, around the time of Independence Day, Louisiana began to take its eye off the ball. Residents outside of New Orleans began to let down their guard. They gathered without masks and celebrated the nation's birthday with abandon. Large numbers of residents openly questioned the wisdom of wearing masks, relegating it not to a health matter, but to an exercise of political freedom.</div>
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The infection rate began to climb again and with it more deaths. </div>
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Recent news reports suggest the state's previous reports in April may have been underreported by a much as 16 times the actual incidence of infection. Another recent day showed more than 3,000 cases of COVID-19 as having been recorded, a record that stretched all the way back to the end of May.</div>
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We are making progress, but it is in the opposite of our desired direction. Instead of being squarely into Phase III, we are still in Phase II throughout Louisiana and the City of New Orleans has pushed back on an easing of regulations for bars and gyms so that they are either closed or are only operating at the 25% capacity allowed under Phase I. </div>
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Many businesses are on life support and many others, like world famous K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, have announced plans to shut down entirely. Federal subsidies to keep employees hired and unemployment benefits for millions of Americans are all running out within days.</div>
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On top of all of this we have an ongoing national discussion on Black Lives Matter, how to reshape policies that unfairly profile segments of our society and how to stop systemic racism. Mobs tearing down Confederate statues are understandable, but those that select targets like the Lincoln Monument need to check their motives.</div>
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Then there's a presidential election going on too. In a normal election year, tensions would be heightened and rhetoric would be sharply up. This year is no different and, indeed, medical life-saving measures such as wearing a mask have become highly politicized. As we move toward November, this national discussion will become more contentious. </div>
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If there is one department, where hope remains high it is in the spirit of Americans to rise above the derision and to connect through social media and apps like Zoom. If we are ever to come out of this fray with our heads held high, it will be because of our listening to one another and becoming part of the solution, not continuing the problem.</div>
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So, Dickens was wrong. It is the worst of times and the worst of times. How we deal with it may help shape what America looks like on the other side of our recovery. And when we do look back on this, may we recall that it is a far, far better thing that we do than we have ever done before.</div>
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Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-42345092285721011442020-03-19T07:55:00.001-05:002020-03-19T07:55:10.359-05:00Cabin fever coronavirus style<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h4>
Seen under an electronic microscope, the virus that causes COVID-19.</h4>
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You can't see it. You can't smell it. You can't taste it or hear it approaching. And if you should touch it, you won't even know that you did until two weeks later. That's a pretty accurate assessment for what we are all fighting with the threat of COVID-19 (coronavirus).<br />
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For good or bad, we have taken collective action in what may prove to be a judicious application of resources available to us now or, conversely, might later be viewed as a set of grossly overprotective and unnecessary medical measures. In any case, I would rather err on the side of overkill rather than be caught unprepared and unable to respond to this very real threat.<br />
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The danger to me personally is minimal. I am at the age where authorities say I should be concerned, but I am in very good health and have a better than average immune system. The threat is not only to me; it's to my elderly loved ones and friends, most especially my 88-year-old mother, who is now in frail health.<br />
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I would not want to put her at risk due to my careless and unthinking actions. Also, who knows? Statistically, most victims have been elderly patients. Yet, the first two people who have died in New Orleans since the outbreak of COVID-19 were both in their 50s, one 58 and the other 53 years old. While they did each have underlying medical problems, the threat to middle-aged adults is very real. One of the more recent victims – a member of my own religious community – was 84. Others were octogenarians and nonagenarians. That does not give me a reason to be consoled in any way.<br />
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The problem for me is that I am by nature a very gregarious creature. I enjoy meeting people and talking, walking and greeting them. I find nothing more frustrating than to keep myself entertained and in a virtual bubble.<br />
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But this is the new normal and I am going to have to make the necessary adjustments to accept this as both necessary and in the best interests of all concerned.<br />
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Except for take out, there's no restaurants. No bars. No parades. And, for me, the worst reality check, no theatre. For a theatre critic, the thought of how to cope is almost surreal. Given the lack of open theaters, it is understandable that the public would be less focused on the plight of the actors, producers, technical and administrative staffs who collectively are the grease behind the monolith of local theatre.<br />
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But theatre is the salve that calms society in hard times and we need it during this crisis more than ever. The sooner theatre is restored to our city, the sooner we will know we have weathered this storm and moved past it.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-31136944245395495622019-10-19T05:22:00.001-05:002019-11-21T14:22:42.269-06:00For Leigh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You were just a kid when we met</div>
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I wore my hair high and wide.</div>
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And you were still a blonde –</div>
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And not yet a bride.</div>
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Our love of music sealed the deal</div>
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You just had to sing out loud.</div>
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I knew what I liked to play</div>
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And you made me proud.</div>
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The blues you found in your soul</div>
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Would flow out from your heart</div>
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And mine would quicken its pace</div>
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Whenever you would start.</div>
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You sang on table tops</div>
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You sang on a makeshift stage</div>
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The crowds would gather for you</div>
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Your name became the rage.</div>
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Through the times we lived,</div>
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We suffered great loss.</div>
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You through division</div>
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And mine with a cross.</div>
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But the progeny you had</div>
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Meant love would survive</div>
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The red-headed mama</div>
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In her joy was alive.</div>
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You practiced your art</div>
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And drew crowds late at night</div>
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You slept through the day</div>
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Dosed, dazed – a sight.</div>
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But there was glassy truth</div>
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In your voice of purple hue</div>
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You reigned o'er the land</div>
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And then they crowned you.</div>
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When the waters rose high</div>
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You were chased far away</div>
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Another blue called out</div>
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And there you would stay.</div>
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So the Queen was in exile</div>
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And her sullen people mad</div>
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The times were brown, dead</div>
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Interminably sad.</div>
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When the dipsy pain raged on</div>
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You fought it with pride</div>
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You gave us the truth</div>
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You never had lied.</div>
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When out in the hemlock</div>
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You floated into mist</div>
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Into the aether of the heavens</div>
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With love you were kissed.</div>
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I miss you, my darling</div>
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Your haughty hands, your smile.</div>
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We are destined to reunite.</div>
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Just wait. Wait a while.</div>
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
©2019 Alan Smason</h4>
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(Photo ©2018 <i>Winston-Salem Journal</i>)</div>
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<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-40434825786299829582019-09-04T10:37:00.000-05:002019-09-04T10:41:06.534-05:00To blog or not to blog?<div style="text-align: center;">
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It's been more than a year since I posted to this blog. For a very long time this was my sole outlet for writing my most personal of musings and insights. It was where I felt there were no barriers for me to make comments, lash out or to release in cathartic fashion whatever it was that was foremost on my mind.<br />
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The fact is I have many more outlets to write these days and the time to delve into my inner psyche has become limited in more ways than I can readily admit. My writing has brought me awards in journalism I could never have envisioned three years ago. I have seen my stock rise high despite the fact that my value as a writer is still under appreciated and barely compensated.<br />
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Of course, writing a blog rarely leads to untold wealth or riches. What has been essential in these postings is that I write the truth as I see it, unfiltered or unaffected by the opinions of others.<br />
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In these days of highly charged politics and ultra sensitive social media trolls, it has become increasingly difficult to feel comfortable to speak my own mind.<br />
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And yet, I must.<br />
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If there ever was a time when I should be speaking out about the climate under which America lives these days, it is now.<br />
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We have become so intolerant of each other that an errant phrase on social media can bring about immediate doom to celebrities and politicians alike. Of course, there are some politicians who are Teflon-coated, who it seems escape scrutiny and condemnation despite egregious rantings. Again, these are the times under which we live.<br />
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But Tweets and viral posts notwithstanding, I am finding myself discomfited in the lack of a sense of humor in America today. I am afraid that few can recall Will Rogers and his simple take on what made our country and our people great. Even the affable and kindly Fred Rogers would take exception as to how hardened our nation has become and how we have passed the innocence of our most precious resource – our children – into the flames of fear and mistrust and tempered them with credos of greed and self-absorption.<br />
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Perhaps it is the knowledge that our government has separated innocent children from their parents and imprisoned them without the benefit of trial and a sense of fair play. Maybe it is the senseless loss of life at places like night clubs, supermarkets, movie theaters, outdoor concerts, shopping malls, workplaces or any place where gatherings of people enjoying life or going about their business become soft targets and part of an ever spiraling list of mass shootings by assault rifles.<br />
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The rise of organized hate by small-minded men and women who blame the ills of the world on religions or people whose skins are a different hue is something I could never have fathomed as a child. We had fought two world wars stamping out the designs and encroachment of foreign powers on faraway shores in the first and halting the spread of governments that fostered genocide and glorified killing in direct conflict with our ideals of freedom and liberty in the second.<br />
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During the Cold War, I believed that the good of humanity promoted within a system of capitalism where individuals could better themselves would eventually defeat the premise of Communism that men had to share what they earned or wait for the government to parcel it out. That belief turned into reality in the 1990s and America seemed to be a beacon for the world again.<br />
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I would never have considered that the America of my youth could fall from its pedestal of being the leader of the Free World and a moral nation that others would want to emulate and morph into a nation led by the super rich and super greedy with corruption and amorality as its most prominent features.<br />
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We have become a litigious society where juries are awarding incredible sums of money to victims of corporate greed which have addicted thousands in order to fatten their wallets or who have looked the other way when putting products on the market. There is little chance that tort reform will reign in the rampant filings by hungry attorneys hoping to find their pot of gold at the end of the judicial rainbow.<br />
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Doctors are also under siege by self-appointed financial wizards who have managed to administer health organizations on their behalf and perpetuated a system wherein they realize greater profit by denying benefits to those in dire need. Medical malpractice costs have forced many physicians who might have established solo practices in the past into forming corporate partnerships as a measure of self-preservation and protection. The days of a kindly Marcus Welby, M.D., who makes house calls is sadly over. Instead, new concepts like urgent care centers have sprung up and patients are paying visits to emergency rooms in droves due to the demands of insurance policies.<br />
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Health care has become a major determinant in keeping a job or seeking employment elsewhere and programs like Medicare are having to raise the age levels of those seeking benefits. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that my child will have to wait until 70 years of age or higher to qualify for Medicare. <br />
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As a boy, I was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout. Even the simple nature of Scouting for boys and girls has become shrouded in controversy. For decades, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was vilified for its standards for adult leaders and youth which prevented gays from entry into its membership. After protracted legal challenges and a historic plebiscite by its members, those policies were eliminated and membership extended to those who had formerly been shunned.<br />
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Today, the BSA and the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (GSUSA) are embroiled in a new legal battle over which gender belongs with what organization. Facing historic lows in membership, the BSA announced plans two years ago to open its entire ranks to girls, notably in the Cub Scouts and the newly-renamed Scouts BSA (formerly the Boy Scouts). Even though co-ed units are the standard around the world, including in England, where Scouting was founded, the GSUSA has challenged the BSA in court.<br />
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Due to that battle and the inordinately burdensome task of paying out millions to victims of alleged child abuse, the BSA has already announced its own plans to declare bankruptcy should they need to protect their assets. Many alleged victims of abuse have recently been given a second chance to charge individuals and organizations by legislation passed on a state level such as in California, New York and New Jersey. Victims need to be compensated, of course, but in many cases the problems arose within religious organizations who partnered with the BSA and the alleged incidents occurred as far back as four decades ago. Sadly, many of the offending adults were often sheltered by those who wished to not visit scandal or shame upon their religion and the BSA was never informed of these crimes at the time they occurred. <br />
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Throughout the course of writing these words, I feel the same outrage as when our nation was shaken to its core through assassinations and divided by waging a war on many fronts in Southeast Asia and against each other at home. <br />
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Those were certainly not the good old days, but even then I knew we would get better as a nation and move past the division and derision. These days I am not so sure.<br />
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We have never become more connected through devices and the media that update us as to our world in ways we could only have imagined two decades ago. Yet, despite this connectivity, we are a nation of lonely people, seeking to live out life vicariously through these devices while hardly lifting up our heads to acknowledge one another at the dinner table.<br />
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Thus I find myself sitting at a computer adding more words to the blogosphere while mulling all of this over.<br />
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Am I being authentic and genuine? Yes.<br />
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Will these musings convey my angst and disdain for where we are as a nation? Probably.<br />
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Do I feel better? Maybe.<br />
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Does any of this make sense? Doubtful.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-7616123588988156452018-07-14T08:50:00.000-05:002018-07-14T08:53:36.584-05:00Among the hills, amidst the critics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When summer meets the rolling, unglaciated hills of Wisconsin, the heat and humidity inextricably rise in the land Frank Lloyd Wright called home. The songbirds sing out and the mosquitoes buzz in their mad bloodthirsty dash at twilight and dawn in Spring Green for as certain as the season is the promise of hundreds of anxious patrons looking forward to the outdoor spectacle of theatre at <a href="https://americanplayers.org/about" target="_blank">American Players Theatre</a> (APT).</div>
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With such an appropriate acronym, APT continues to mount stellar productions in two theaters - one, a 1,089-seat outdoor amphitheater and the other, an intimate indoor arena of more than 200 seats. With an annual budget of more than $6 million and a dedicated core staff, the company's repertory of as many as nine plays attracts more than 100,000 people to this quaint and sleepy town from June through November.<br />
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In recent years, the <a href="http://americantheatrecritics.org/" target="_blank">American Theatre Critics Association</a> (ATCA), the professional organization of theatre reviewers, writers and journalists, has held its annual conference in cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia and New Orleans. This summer, however, they have taken to the Wisconsin woods to partner with APT so that its membership could take advantage of five of its offerings: Shakespeare's <i>As You Like It</i>, Eugene Ionesco's<i> Exit the King</i>, Athol Fugard's <i>Blood Knot</i>, George Fuquhar's <i>The Recruiting Officer </i>and Garson Kanin's <i>Born Yesterday</i>.<br />
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In addition to the lifeblood of theatre offerings, APT has brought dozens of its own staff and nearby theatre critics, artistic directors, theatre podcasters and designers to inform and inspire ATCA attendees. Among the topics covered were sessions on copyright law, racial equity, period comedy productions and what is happening in the heartland of theatre in America's dairyland.<br />
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The beautiful setting of The House on the Rock Resort replete with a Bobby Jones-designed golf course has served as the nexus for ATCA's members to engage in heated debates about the future of the organization and its direction. Members are passionate about the organization, but in these perilous times when traditional journalism has given way to modern means of expression on the Internet and through social media, there are questions that must be posed and the very nature of theatre criticism examined.<br />
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<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-18125180350811543722018-06-09T05:08:00.000-05:002018-06-13T07:48:15.532-05:00That last unthinkable actWe lost two very industrious, highly visible celebrities this past week; two souls who were successful in so many ways.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOibcdSrds3nl3IRfU5tlw7PF63DBj8568XxOPNsOQV-mya_Ud92JaWkTMaQlfGUT2xbMH1cswzkcPzVwQkkeXgrB9Zs1Ls_pdh7-ZDbWcPdCvAvlSv2C1q4HkexGHZzcnSY3tiva8Swr/s1600/Kate_spade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="288" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOibcdSrds3nl3IRfU5tlw7PF63DBj8568XxOPNsOQV-mya_Ud92JaWkTMaQlfGUT2xbMH1cswzkcPzVwQkkeXgrB9Zs1Ls_pdh7-ZDbWcPdCvAvlSv2C1q4HkexGHZzcnSY3tiva8Swr/s200/Kate_spade.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spade (via Wikimedia)</td></tr>
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Even I knew the value of a Kate Spade handbag. In the world of fashion, her name was one that had secured a place reserved for only the best. Yet, despite the outward appearance of a woman who had made it and who could rest on her laurels for decades, there was something gnawing at her. Family members must have known she was depressed, but no one suspected the depth of her feeling of hopelessness. No one knew she would seek relief from her tortured existence through that last unthinkable act.<br />
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And now she is gone.<br />
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As for Anthony Bourdain, a man who loved and embraced food and cuisine with a passion that took him to the far reaches of the globe and back, there is disbelief.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bourdain (Photo by Jessie Wightkin)</td></tr>
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How could a man with so much to live for, who gave so many others pleasure from the verve with which he approached the simple act of eating, cast it all aside? Bourdain's job was almost too perfect. He was paid by CNN to travel to the backwater eddies of the planet as well as the most opulent of gustatory galleries to revel in dining and to share his experiences with a starving world of vicarious TV viewers<br />
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He was charming and endearing, but he was also demanding. He expected no less than the best that life had to offer and the matter of fact way he shared his experiences, eating his way across the globe established a place for him that few in his industry achieved. But, as he admitted in his book, "Kitchen Confidential," he did have his inner demons, having successfully fought drug addiction and coming back stronger, emerging as an industry leader. He was a champion for the food scene in New Orleans and we loved him for that, too. Despite his success, he was still intensely troubled and filled with such despair that he, too, thought the unthinkable.<br />
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And now he is gone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAyyBSI8z14X0wRiIl2pR3fEUTod3jC-uC-XOs4PcM89olxczw1xBlQqXZLdhSiSRsEOvIXGaL87XiP8TkmsC8lx7m2OHcan0C9yzNjzr5n24lcEa-ukBNhcZwwpIhyphenhyphenVWU4YLQ7lkUm_s/s1600/Robin_Williams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="301" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAyyBSI8z14X0wRiIl2pR3fEUTod3jC-uC-XOs4PcM89olxczw1xBlQqXZLdhSiSRsEOvIXGaL87XiP8TkmsC8lx7m2OHcan0C9yzNjzr5n24lcEa-ukBNhcZwwpIhyphenhyphenVWU4YLQ7lkUm_s/s200/Robin_Williams.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Williams (Photo via Wikimedia)</td></tr>
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When comedian Robin Williams committed suicide in 2014, he did so by hanging as did Spade and Bourdain. Perhaps the most creative comic mind of his generation, Williams brought mirth and laughter to audiences and to his peers for decades. He could bring joy to a small child or happiness to a nonagenarian with his over-the-top frenetic gyrations on stage and delighted millions with his on-screen performances. He created Mork and Mrs. Doubtfire and showed us what a grown-up Peter Pan might look like, imbuing all of his characters with a humanity that made us love him. Yet, despite an Academy Award and fame that brought him financial well-being, he, too, suffered from depression and could only reach for a rope to bring an end to his tortured existence.<br />
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And then he was gone.<br />
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<strong>But in the end, it was not just him</strong>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVsrPX0YDw1lW8MC06BGxyZuZxiOTP7FEPqy8OzkUkMNrtO2Sg5skR6XHvqVboPnpblORLjonCi-KygXyHB0a23z0VRH6Ok1bn3w87Z1L2lI45J-rbgSZgzXHsM5_H-U3Khzo3bEzkJYG/s1600/Louis_Lederman_BoneTone_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="656" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVsrPX0YDw1lW8MC06BGxyZuZxiOTP7FEPqy8OzkUkMNrtO2Sg5skR6XHvqVboPnpblORLjonCi-KygXyHB0a23z0VRH6Ok1bn3w87Z1L2lI45J-rbgSZgzXHsM5_H-U3Khzo3bEzkJYG/s200/Louis_Lederman_BoneTone_crop.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lederman (Photo by Alan Smason)</td></tr>
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In the week that followed Robin Williams' demise, suicide ideation shot up a whopping 75%. One of those who took his life was my friend, supporter and one of the most beloved of my high school classmates, Louis Lederman. Not many people were more animated than "Louie," the son of Holocaust survivors. How could anyone whose family had endured the horrors of the Nazi era and had clung tenaciously to stay alive simply give up everything? It was as if the Nazis had won. A talented traditional jazz drummer, he organized the Bone Tone band that marched in Mardi Gras parades and was the onetime Boss of the Phunny Phorty Phellows. There were few like Louie.<br />
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And then he was gone.<br />
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Suicide rates have risen by 30% in the last two decades and health authorities are buckling down, expecting another wave of attempts in these next few days. It is important that we look to signs that might portend one of our loved ones is suffering from the same kind of misguided thinking. The world will not be better served through these cruel and cowardly acts. Cruel because their deaths hurt those they leave behind and cowardly because, rather than confront life, they give in to a solution that fixes nothing and oftentimes makes matters worse.<br />
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Please keep an eye out for your loved ones this week. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. Get help to those that need it.<br />
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<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-84445346233366021442018-05-25T16:59:00.000-05:002018-05-26T05:26:22.795-05:00The Iron Lady of New Orleans<div style="text-align: justify;">
When news reached me of the death of Jackie Pressner Gothard on Monday morning, May 21, the very first thing that went through my mind was that it must have been a trick or some sort of fantastic jest to test me. There was no warning. No bulletin rang out in advance preparing me for her sudden disappearance. She was a pillar of the New Orleans community one moment - a woman of indomitable will and gracious Southern charm - and then she was a memory.</div>
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But what a memory she leaves behind.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsVeX8P3MMtpc9-6bCQ6tE7Xe_U7YmSjkunEkp2u9p5kRj19bnIR1c9ThVqo4lb2nTqeMTESAICkN3ia4d90OhiEMfLXKqVTM3uujUW-l2q_Abo71XdsQcRDiuKGj1lfbK3fusbF_zq71/s1600/JackieGothard_BIscrolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1305" data-original-width="1600" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsVeX8P3MMtpc9-6bCQ6tE7Xe_U7YmSjkunEkp2u9p5kRj19bnIR1c9ThVqo4lb2nTqeMTESAICkN3ia4d90OhiEMfLXKqVTM3uujUW-l2q_Abo71XdsQcRDiuKGj1lfbK3fusbF_zq71/s320/JackieGothard_BIscrolls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie Gothard at the re-burial of seven Torah scrolls in 2011. </td></tr>
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Jackie Gothard was the consummate cheerleader, the never-say-die, larger-than-life character who, quite literally, saved my synagogue and embodied renewed hope for Jewish New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Jackie was the spirit of the new Congregation Beth Israel, erected phoenix-like on the ashes of more than 100 years of Orthodox Judaism in New Orleans.</div>
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It was her life's mission to never let anyone forget the history of Beth Israel or its tragic demise beneath the murky floodwaters from the breached 17th Street Canal following the landfall of the monster storm. She made the decision to bring the lifeless synagogue back from the dead, even while she was an evacuee in Houston and the news out of New Orleans was nothing less than bleak.</div>
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That was Jackie. She was always organizing and planning. She made certain that there was only one High Holiday period that the members of the synagogue under whose shadow she had grown up near the heavily Jewish corridor along Dryades Street, would be without a building in which they could assemble, pray and, let us not forget, eat.</div>
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Jackie employed her son Eddie, himself a former Beth Israel president, to get on the phone with the Orthodox Union, the United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federations of North America) and anybody else who would listen. Beth Israel was coming back, she would tell them. Orthodox services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were planned and executed at a Houston hotel and many bewildered and depressed former New Orleans residents gathered to daven and begin to consider that a move back to the city and Modern Orthodoxy might again be possible.</div>
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When the floodwaters had receded and residents were allowed back into the city, Jackie beat a path to the once magnificent structure on Canal Boulevard the synagogue had called home since 1970. She gasped in between tears as she beheld with her own eyes what 10-12 feet of toxic waste laden and sewage-filled floodwaters had done to the exterior and interior of her shul. The Torah scrolls had been rescued famously by an Israeli search and rescue team from ZAKA, a group initially charged with rescue or recovery of bodies. The scrolls had been largely destroyed and were rendered invalid. In some cases, the parchment had been eaten away by whatever microbes and chemicals were in that water. Jackie contacted <a href="https://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CCJNSource5776.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Becky Hegglund (see page 32, Best of the CCJN SOURCE 5776)</a>, a former receptionist who hadn't worked at the synagogue for several years, as soon as she returned home. The synagogue was in ruins, but the Torah scrolls needed to be buried in a reverent fashion, according to Jewish law. Jackie didn't know who else to call. Like so many others who had been charged with a task by Jackie, Becky - a non-Jew - agreed. Jackie gave her the contact number for ZAKA's Rabbi Issac Leider and she arranged to pick up the seven Torah scrolls, dig a four-foot by six-foot plot by herself and deposit them in a makeshift grave. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORMj5RkC3wvNI14hNTskqilBpPMlG0p1TZeKq8bJyTQDrbuWeeyNGWY2tF-p3BsUwPbP9FsthcjNRA7_Z8g4CLIWxn-JAESKmF1ULTnTS2a3mmQWjgFVY8O3FetU_kGVyofGP09kBL96N/s1600/JackieGothard_burialsiddurim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="747" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORMj5RkC3wvNI14hNTskqilBpPMlG0p1TZeKq8bJyTQDrbuWeeyNGWY2tF-p3BsUwPbP9FsthcjNRA7_Z8g4CLIWxn-JAESKmF1ULTnTS2a3mmQWjgFVY8O3FetU_kGVyofGP09kBL96N/s320/JackieGothard_burialsiddurim.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie Gothard at the reburial of religous artifacts.</td></tr>
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Upon her return home, Jackie renewed her conversations with Reform Congregation Gates of Prayer's (senior) Rabbi Robert Loewy. Out of a gesture of kindness and charity, he offered Jackie and those Orthodox community members an opportunity to re-establish the congregation in the back chapel, a room that by divine coincidence had an <i>aron hakodesh</i> (holy ark) for prayer services. Beth Israel began to meet there and went on to establish a unique partnership with the Reform temple, eventually purchasing land from them and building a new structure there.</div>
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Over the course of the several months and years of recovery, Jackie was at the helm of leadership, retrieving religious articles from the old synagogue and overseeing the burial of thousands of prayerbooks, hundreds of prayer shawls and several dozen phylacteries. One of the items she was most proud of saving was the synagogue's giant Chanukiah - the special brass menorah used during the celebration of Chanukah. That menorah was scrubbed and polished to a new luster by Jackie and others who would see it used in a synagogue again. Not only was it used again at Beth Israel, but it was prominently displayed in 2011 at the official White House Chanukah ceremony at which President Barack Obama lit the Chanukah candles. </div>
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The young rabbi who carried that menorah to the White House was none other than Rabbi Uri Topolosky, a visionary figure who, along with his wife Dahlia, were charmed by Jackie on a tour of the old synagogue and decided almost immediately to move to the Crescent City and its tiny Jewish minority from their heavily-Jewish neighborhood in Riverdale, New York. It was Rav Uri, who along with Jackie, became the public face of recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Even while the property was for sale, she constantly gave tours of the old synagogue to groups that wanted to see what destruction the structure had suffered. </div>
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Jackie told the story of her family's kosher delicatessen and other businesses run by Jewish merchants along Dryades Street that became known as "the second Canal Street." Two Orthodox congregations had sprung up there - Beth Israel and Congregation Anshe Sfard - and only a few blocks away was the original location of Temple Sinai, the first synagogue formed under the branch of Reform Judaism.</div>
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She never tired of answering questions to the many different groups who inquired as to what Jewish communal life was like in the old days and what was in store for the congregation.</div>
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Jackie and others who followed her, including another woman president - Roselle Middleberg Ungar - saw to it that Beth Israel was restored with a magnificent new building that was dedicated on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall seven years later. Over the last five years, Jackie continued to be a mainstay at the synagogue, celebrating her 60th wedding anniversary only a few months ago with close relative and the third woman president, Lee Kansas, looking on proudly. On many a Thursday, she helped others organize and prepare the meal that would be served after Shabbat services on Saturday. </div>
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A tireless force of nature, she never seemed to slow down, bragging on the accomplishments of her grown professional children, her grandchildren and even her great-grandson. That's why her sudden passing is so hard to believe.</div>
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On a personal note, I was defeated in 2003 for my run for Congregation Beth Israel president. At the time, I took my defeat hard. There had never been a woman elected before to that office and there were even questions as to whether an Orthodox congregation could have a woman as president. Those doubts were soon erased as Jackie enjoyed the high of celebrating the synagogue's 100th anniversary in 2004 to be followed by that difficult period of recovery from the hurricane.</div>
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At the time, I had no way of knowing how lucky I was to have lost. There is little doubt in my mind that I would have been thoroughly unprepared for the many challenges Jackie met and defeated with ease. While I may have lost, Beth Israel, the New Orleans Jewish community and, dare I say, the city of New Orleans all won. It was all because of Jackie and her fierce determination to bring Beth Israel back.</div>
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There was no one like Jackie Gothard and there probably never will be.</div>
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<i>Todah rabah</i> (thank you very much), Jackie. <i>Todah rabah</i>.</div>
Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-20596069582867114812018-04-22T07:06:00.000-05:002018-04-22T07:15:31.120-05:00Getting rid of the question mark in social media lifeBy now, we've all heard of the Facebook scandal in which Cambridge Analytica allegedly mined the social media accounts and profiles intent on influencing the 2016 election for the Republican party. As a result, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and public face, testified to Congress on the extent of what his company had permitted to happen by opening up their Facebook interface application to developers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UGSM0PPzVWOLvR5aPyjZBRdRgX-ZCCaAJB18z_2Z_MkTssL326hmKNunP1FC4Bu3-8AUsD3RB5Uvq4pzA5iPEHn49I_pWYetDgBwruq_kFi04gh4Yoictaksqxts86r7o0KCnRMI6jCY/s1600/Pogo-We-have-met-the-enemy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UGSM0PPzVWOLvR5aPyjZBRdRgX-ZCCaAJB18z_2Z_MkTssL326hmKNunP1FC4Bu3-8AUsD3RB5Uvq4pzA5iPEHn49I_pWYetDgBwruq_kFi04gh4Yoictaksqxts86r7o0KCnRMI6jCY/s320/Pogo-We-have-met-the-enemy.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©1971 Walt Kelly</td></tr>
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Although Zuckerberg has defended his company's actions and now claims to have placed barriers on many of the designs by which profiles were earmarked and data collected on them, the fact is we are our own worst enemies. To quote Walt Kelly's Pogo comical spin on Oliver Perry's terse report: "We have met the enemy and he is us!"<br />
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How many times have we been unwittingly tricked into "sharing" a seemingly innocent-looking quiz that boosts our self-esteem when we more than meet its challenge? "Only four percent will be able to name all 50 state capitals," its banner trumpets. "Can you name these Broadway musicals by these simple descriptions?" We've seen them. Taken them. And just as easily shared them on Facebook.<br />
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It's then that a small box will appear advising you that if you share this superb score that the application will be able to access your Facebook friends and gain access to information on your profile. So who could it harm, you reason? After all, don't you want everyone to know that you know that Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota and not Pierre?<br />
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So, you hit that button and now your friends have been exposed to another dreaded social media disease. That's right. You've just infected your friends and family, who will be targeted for their data too. Nice going.<br />
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Every time we share a news story, we are tracked. <i>The New York Times </i>does it. The <i>Washington Post </i>does it. Even liberal thinking <i>Rolling Stone Magazine</i>. They all do it. There is information they embed into those links that allow them to mine your habits, likes and dislikes. So what to do?<br />
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Here is a simple way to prevent them from easily tracking your information. It's as easy as asking a question. Or more to the point. It's as easy as knowing a question mark. <i>(What follows is the technical information. If you just want to know the reveal, skip ahead to </i><b>*</b><i><b>.</b>)</i><br />
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All of these articles use basic hypertext markup language or what is commonly known as HTML. It's the language of the Internet and it's not going to go away anytime soon. The Internet defaults to headers that begin with "http://..." or, in those cases where additional security is implemented, "https://..." All browsers from Chrome to Firefox to EDGE know how to interpret these headers and convert the words into numbers and distill them into the binary language of computers, a series of zeroes and ones.<br />
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Uniform resource locators are known to computer users as URLs. They are used to find files on your local computers or by browsers to use the Internet to access files on faraway servers that know how to answer your requests. On a local computer the URL might look like this: </div>
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C:\Users\Alan\Documents\Love.docx. </div>
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The URL knows it needs to access the C: drive and that the large folder of Users must first be accessed. Within Users is the Alan profile and the file in question is kept under the Documents folder. The slashes used between each segment allow the computer to refine its search.<br />
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On the Internet, though, backslashes are used to help browsers refine their searches. Take a look at this made up URL:<br />
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http://www.notreal.com/tenyearsisadecade.html?seehowtheytracku</div>
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The first part of the URL lets the browser know it is using hypertext markup language rather than, say, a file sharing protocol like FTP (those start with "ftp://..."). The World Wide Web nomenclature is extraneous these days. Browsers are smart enough to know how to get to a website by the use of its FQDN or fully qualified domain name without the "www" portion. FQDNs are broken down into two parts - the hostname and the domain name.<br />
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Domain name servers or DNS information is not unlike a phone book. Rather than go into how it works, let's just state that top level domains (TLD) like .edu, .com or .net identify large groups of servers that constantly share and update information between each other. All universities use the TLD of .edu, for example. So, a computer from tulane.edu easily knows how to reach a server at yale.edu and vice versa. The TLD might be considered a surname. All the other information before it could be considered a first or middle name to identify it further.<br />
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<b>*</b>If you've kept up with me so far, it's now time for the big reveal. In the example above, the first part of the URL has all of the information needed to share that article on Facebook:<br />
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http://www.notreal.com/tenyearsisadecade.html</div>
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Beginning with the "?," all of the other information is used for tracking and is superfluous. I have been sharing articles on Facebook for years by copying the link UP TO the ? and leaving off that trail of tracking code. Perhaps you might consider doing this. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8bCT8jNb67K0XG8q-2WqzZ5Q5sK5PCZDtJofCxakgq9LfRCCIRSv6py4GVze10RsZpmXXvQTanZ5vLBIE79yF69Mbnv8gLWVgXKtpe5exXssHMbK87I4Tqzb-9x7cXV0Y-xdbjYcKPbQ/s1600/35-35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="714" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8bCT8jNb67K0XG8q-2WqzZ5Q5sK5PCZDtJofCxakgq9LfRCCIRSv6py4GVze10RsZpmXXvQTanZ5vLBIE79yF69Mbnv8gLWVgXKtpe5exXssHMbK87I4Tqzb-9x7cXV0Y-xdbjYcKPbQ/s320/35-35.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Also, if you enjoy taking quizzes, let people know your score without sharing it through the application. It's as easy as taking a screenshot and sharing that. (Just don't click that "Share your results" button.)</div>
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If you don't know how to take a screenshot, the ways are varied, but simple enough. On a Windows computer, just click the PrtScn button and paste it into a program like Word (or for those older computers Paint). On a Mac computer, use the Command-Shift-3 keys and it will copy to your Desktop. On an iPhone 8 or earlier, briefly click the top right button (used to power on the device) and the Home button at the bottom. Androids take screenshots by holding the volume down and power buttons at once.</div>
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By sharing the screenshot, you can get your score out to your friends and family and they can marvel at what a whiz you are and how<i> nice</i> you are not to share their personal data and profile with these unseen entities who want to sell your likes, dislikes, political leanings, sexual preferences, etc. to other companies for their profit.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-27231840194441001062017-11-07T11:36:00.000-06:002017-11-07T11:37:09.415-06:00The Land of the Free and the Home of the Dead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFQJE-vAmcSUFc31zdJOnzR3STnM79_rXhKiMEgUo2B98_drr42yi8PoISBd2YhP9Ewv5tx8XVSnsdTZ3xYAyoFaRis7SJ7rMNZZp0eY7x6XoWxD2Ovc9lyYD8Mavi1PF77wJ6CcSWfuV/s1600/Gun_murders.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFQJE-vAmcSUFc31zdJOnzR3STnM79_rXhKiMEgUo2B98_drr42yi8PoISBd2YhP9Ewv5tx8XVSnsdTZ3xYAyoFaRis7SJ7rMNZZp0eY7x6XoWxD2Ovc9lyYD8Mavi1PF77wJ6CcSWfuV/s320/Gun_murders.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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The latest news of the shootings in the First Baptist Church in Shurland Springs, Texas is just numbing. It has gotten to the point now where this ongoing cycle of gun violence has made me stop watching the news. That is not good for someone who considers himself a journalist.</div>
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I simply can't take another death count or see the images of innocent people - too many of them young with so much promise and expectation - wiped out by bullets from a crazed shooter.</div>
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This comes on the heels of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at the Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas on October 1 where 59 died and hundreds were injured and last year's horrific anti-gay slaughter at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando where 48 were slain. Lest we not forget there was also the terrorism-inspired tragedy in San Bernadino in early December of 2015 where another 14 died. We have seen a sizable uptick in numbers of people killed in mass shootings. </div>
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But while these numbers capture the headlines and keep news anchors busy for a time, the truth is the most damning statistics show that we are a nation at arms with itself. More people die each year by gun deaths than do in automobile accidents. If we were to count up all of those who have died by gun violence in the last 50 years, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/27/nicholas-kristof/more-americans-killed-guns-1968-all-wars-says-colu/" target="_blank">the number of dead outnumber all of those who died on every field of battle in our nation's history</a> since Revolutionary times.</div>
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Read that again. Since 1968, guns have removed more American citizens than those who fought for freedom from the British, contested the Kaiser in the Great War, opposed the Nazis and facists in World War II, confronted communism in Southeast Asia and battled our brothers during the Civil War.</div>
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According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control
issued in November of 2017, 12 out of every 100,000 Americans will die
as a victim of gun violence. That figure shows a rise for the second
consecutive year, whereas previous years had registered as static. Approximately half of them will die from self-inflicted wounds. Regardless of who pulls the trigger, though, these Americans are dead as a result of access to firearms and I am now of the opinion, just as the CDC has also begun to indicate, that we are in the middle of an epidemic that must be stemmed.</div>
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I love my country. I consider myself a patriotic American who appreciates the liberties we cherish. But no other civilized country in the world has numbers of those felled by gunfire as we do. It is an ignoble record we break year after year without any hint that we may be receding from our relentless onslaught against one another.</div>
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In Israel thousands of young men and women patrol the streets with Uzi machine guns and assault rifles. There are an awful lot of guns roaming around among soldiers due to security concerns, but Israel's gun laws are among the most strict in the world. Unless authorities perceive a need for someone to protect valuables or explosives or to use a weapon as a means for hunting, they are not allowed to own a firearm. Residents of the West Bank are granted an exception too, but again only due to security issues.</div>
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The United States would like to call itself "the Leader of the Free World," but as far as gun laws go, it is in reality "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Dead."</div>
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Two summers ago and last summer, angry crowds rose up to affirm that Black Lives Matter. While I do not mitigate the threat to African-Americans from law enforcement officers or for those that support the police with their support of the Blue Lives Matter cause, I must insist that we examine the problem as systemic and not aimed at just one segment of our population. When a bullet hits skin and pierces a body, it sheds red blood. The color we all need to see is red. All Lives Matter.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am a strong supporter of the Constitution and I believe that we should all have a right to bear arms in defense of our loved ones or those dependent on us. But we cannot forget that the Constitution was written in 1789, a time when a flintlock was standard issue. A typical weapon could be loaded and discharged within a minute before firing. There is no way the Founding Fathers could have foreseen an assault rifle with automatic fire capability that could have wiped out all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in one strike. And as to handguns, there is little reason to justify stocks with 12 or 15 chambers for bullets unless the intent is to kill a maximum number of human lives. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Other than for military personnel in a period of war or preparation for the same can I ever see the need for an assault rifle. Just because one can afford to purchase an assault rifle should not given him access to owning one. I might have the funds to purchase a tank. It doesn't mean that I should own one. Obviously, we have limitations on what we deem as proper and normal.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Gun violence can be dealt with by legislation and enforcement. There is the argument that criminals don't follow the law and that is true. But so many people get access to guns that shouldn't, some of whom are mentally unstable, especially through gun shows and mail order firms that something must be done to clamp down these sales. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Above all else, there needs to be a new dialogue in each and every household. All weapons need to be properly locked away and kept out of the reach of those who are too young or too vulnerable to access them. Unless a gun or rifle is needed for protection of the home, professional law enforcement should be called upon to deal with those that threaten life and loss of property. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I watched in horror 22 years ago when Columbine High School was the scene of devastation. Since then we've seen death and destruction at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and even on Mother's Day four years ago in New Orleans when 19 people were shot during a second line parade. Of all those that were shot, Deb Cotton was the worst victim because she had dared to point a camera at one of the shooters. Years later, after many successful surgeries, Deb confronted her attacker and not only forgave him, but advocated for the possibility of an early release from his sentence of life without benefit of parole. Deb knew the path she strode was unusual, but despite what gun violence had done to her, she continued to seek justice in an unjust world. In early May of this year, Deb lost her fight to survive, a victim of a hail of bullets fired 1,450 days earlier.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We shall see victims perish as a result of injuries suffered in Las Vegas and, sadly, in Florida and Texas and these, too, shall go unreported. But what also will go unreported is the anguish and misery of those whose loved ones are taken so soon and the difficulties spent during a lifetime asking the unrequited question "why?"</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am just sick of it. I can only hope that the tide of popular opinion will rise up in opposition to this epidemic. We need to address this immediately before the next tragedy occurs. Quite possibly, the life you save may be mine or those I love. Please stop. Do something now. Repeat....</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-56401423350922536812017-08-15T02:21:00.000-05:002017-08-15T02:21:13.588-05:00Make America grate again?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiypggchjBfus8pnOFpSav6fVahYbB5NiXyp8iJKfL1oAG-nKnpqMTODZld8dhP55ets__pgL-EHEm_ZEekWX00LgWL286duCdTFA2JZRz-2j2A0RXyaTYOKVDcC51Ox-E0mV5hVMnadH_f/s1600/Hate_groups_edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiypggchjBfus8pnOFpSav6fVahYbB5NiXyp8iJKfL1oAG-nKnpqMTODZld8dhP55ets__pgL-EHEm_ZEekWX00LgWL286duCdTFA2JZRz-2j2A0RXyaTYOKVDcC51Ox-E0mV5hVMnadH_f/s320/Hate_groups_edit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hate groups from neo-Nazis to KKK members. (Photo by Alan Smason)</span></div>
<br />
The hate coming out of Charlottesville is regrettable. But the levels
of incitement and violence have proven to be far more concerning from
the voices of the alt-right, fascists, neo-Nazis and KKK members than that
which has come from the protestors on the left, who are far more
reactionary than incendiary.<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_37937" style="width: 310px;">
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
Perhaps more telling was that one misguided alt-right member was
compelled by rhetoric or demagoguery into the criminal act of murder. He
drove his muscle car into a crowd of helpless protestors to prove a
simple point. It’s a point many of us learned during the era of
lynchings that took place between the Civil War and the Civil Rights
era. It’s the same point that was evident during the rise of the Nazi
Party on the streets of Germany when hooligans and street toughs beat,
maimed and killed those that got in their way.<br />
<br />
With might there is right. Or, perhaps, with might there is alt-right.<br />
<br />
It is true that many of these white supremacists, anti-Semites,
neo-Nazis and xenophobes are holdovers from the philosophy of Tea Party
politics. Rightly or wrongly, they were credited with helping to secure
the election of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45th President.<br />
<br />
Many of their numbers were emboldened when Steve Bannon was selected
to be the President’s chief strategist and policy adviser. When Bannon
was editor at Breitbart, that website catered to the alt-right
blogosphere and advocated for their peculiar brand of politics.<br />
<br />
Despite denials from many quarters of the White House that they did
not support these purveyors of hate, there had been little in the form
of specific pushback from President Trump. Even when the events of
confrontation at Charlottesville turned ugly and then deadly, the
rhetoric from the President reflected that the violence came from “many
sides.” He neglected to honor the memory of the young woman whose life
had been senselessly taken away. After both his daughter Ivanka, a
convert to Judaism, and his vice-president Mike Pence, a fundamentalist
Christian, came out publicly to deplore the actions of the white
nationalists and anti-Semites, Trump was mute. He appeared in no hurry
to call out the KKK and the neo-Nazis specifically.<br />
<br />
Then, after two days, he apparently changed his mind this afternoon.
“Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals
and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and
other hate groups who are repugnant to everything we hold dear as
Americans,” the President said.<br />
<br />
Finally, after two days, the moral compass of the Chief Executive has
risen to where he can now condemn those whose philosophies we fought
both a Civil War and a Second World War to defeat.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Mr. President. I could not have expected this ineffectual
moral leadership, especially coming from a man some have labeled a
firebrand. You told us you would make America great again. Instead your
lack of words and moral leadership grates on the sensibilities of all
forward-thinking Americans who had expected more from you. You are,
after all, the President of all Americans, not alt-Americans.<br />
<br />
It’s not about it being too little too late. It’s more to the point that it should be “Not on My Watch” and “Never Again.”<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, more alt-right protests are scheduled for this weekend.
Will we Americans see more of this new Donald Trump or will his rhetoric
slide back to what we saw on Saturday, just after attacks? <br />
Even <em>The Daily Stormer</em>,
a neo-Nazi publication, was compelled to comment: “Trump comments were
good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together.
Nothing specific against us.”<br />
<br />
<br />
That is one statement on which both the Nazis and I can agree.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-11964552956060050882017-05-27T12:31:00.000-05:002017-05-27T12:32:13.539-05:00Of mayors, monuments and miscreants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOzmITvO9m-Fjyaall9_TruQdyV7vt5biBwB99jUPFwwl5aqLNLt71BKa4G0VjPsKui9x6-CcCGEHS-5dtgUXTD7Wd9kjwoWkQZitembIbYNqwy_ARzS3wZTeygnBd1tH09ZFfV2ErTvg/s1600/Lee+Circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOzmITvO9m-Fjyaall9_TruQdyV7vt5biBwB99jUPFwwl5aqLNLt71BKa4G0VjPsKui9x6-CcCGEHS-5dtgUXTD7Wd9kjwoWkQZitembIbYNqwy_ARzS3wZTeygnBd1tH09ZFfV2ErTvg/s320/Lee+Circle.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The dust has settled and only the rhetoric remains as the last of the four statues decried as public nuisances first by Mayor Mitch Landrieu and later in a 2015 city ordinance - that of Robert E. Lee - finally came down last weekend. We've had a lot of painful memories stirred up by the controversy as the flames of racism were fanned by radicals on both sides.<br />
<br />
The deed is done. The monument to the Battle of Liberty Place, which was essentially an attempt to overthrow both the yoke of Reconstruction and the gubernatorial election of 1874 by the Crescent City White League, was probably the most egregious of the statues. A plaque added in 1932 during the Depression had attempted to rewrite the history of that bloody battle quelled by federal troops, fallaciously indicating that it had established white supremacy in the state. Enlightened and embarrassed city officials in the post Civil Rights Era in 1973 added yet another plaque on the side of the monument, noting that while the history of the battle was important, the previous sentiments were not in line with modern revisionist and inclusive thinking. The statue was used as a rallying point for David Duke and others for decades and had been taken down during street work in 1989. Its placement on the federally protected National Register forced city officials to restore the monument, but had it relocated to a less visible area in the French Quarter.<br />
<br />
The statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was also allowed to be erected at a time when blacks enjoyed little political voice. Davis never sought reconciliation and was an apologist for the Confederacy, contributing to the philosophy of the "Lost Cause," wherein the secession from the Union was justified as reactionary to Northern aggression and the Old South with its plantation economy built on slavery was romanticized as an idyllic way of life.<br />
<br />
The last two statues depicted two larger than life figures - Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and P. G. T. Beauregard. Again, the lack of political pushback from former slaves and their descendants and others who might have pointed out that celebrating military figures who lost a war might not be practical or in the best of taste. Beauregard and Lee, however, did advocate for reconciliation between the states. Beauregard in particular pushed for integration and full rights for the emancipated population. His equestrian statue might have survived scrutiny had he not been shown in full military regalia. <br />
<br />
In the weeks leading up to the removal of the four monuments, dozens of outsiders - many of which were hate groups and white supremacists - descended upon the city, unfurling Confederate and other splinter group flags. New Orleanians who had lived with the monuments, oftentimes oblivious to what they represented to the black populace, were sometimes offended more by the methods of removal and the attempt to rewrite history. They found themselves in the unenviable position of being on the same side as members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Sons of the Confederacy.<br />
<br />
The organized forces known as Take 'em Down, who agreed with the mayor and the City Council that the four objects needed to be removed, were as vitriolic as the other side. They had flags and banners on their side too as they marched through the city or confronted each other as vigilant New Orleans Police Department officers separated and watched the two factions. Take 'em Down has indicated that it wants to continue to advocate for changing the names of streets bearing Confederate personages or former slaveowners and take down other iconic statues such as that of Andrew Jackson at Jackson Square in the Vieux Carré. Understandably, there is major pushback there for those that still consider Jackson "the hero of the Battle of New Orleans."<br />
<br />
It is sad that the polarization of the city these days has sprung up over monuments of bronze, brick and mortar. The city of New Orleans has largely enjoyed a different kind of culture than that found in other areas of the South. Mardi Gras has always been a unique celebration that has unified the city and from its earliest days Creole culture has embraced many non-Caucasian ethnicities. What endures more than statues and obelisks is the humanity of its people and their capacity to love one another.<br />
<br />
Now that this bitter chapter has ended, we should all hope that this is the beginning of a positive era of better relations and that we should all mind our own fences. As a city, New Orleans will be celebrating its tricentennial next year. We need to hold high the official flag of New Orleans and proudly declare that we will chart our own destiny, not let outsiders decide for us what we want and try not to erase history, but learn from it.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-59705025276590181972017-01-20T03:39:00.001-06:002017-01-20T03:41:11.045-06:00An Open Letter to Our President-Elect<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWaNuyk7tGlUmbJqcQM1C6TaNXX0_2QNO4enjgFuLj8-WTyrojYinipZ5SF9Ir0MMaMQAIXRdaeaVGT2GwuQXsaNeNB5Ckrk3E3UJUrGOrFCHPdQZ8ysi4lBDSsu2CwP2JA3F3gu9PrSV/s1600/Donald_Trump_August_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWaNuyk7tGlUmbJqcQM1C6TaNXX0_2QNO4enjgFuLj8-WTyrojYinipZ5SF9Ir0MMaMQAIXRdaeaVGT2GwuQXsaNeNB5Ckrk3E3UJUrGOrFCHPdQZ8ysi4lBDSsu2CwP2JA3F3gu9PrSV/s320/Donald_Trump_August_2015.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The dust has settled from the contentious election of 2016 and we are now about to swear into office our nation's 45th President. It is not true to say there has never been as colorful a character as Donald J. Trump to be selected as president. Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson are probably great examples of figures also cut from an uncommon cloth. <br />
<br />
What disturbs me most at this momentous juncture is the tremendous disconnect that many Americans have for the man who will be the leader of the Free World and in whom we will entrust with the unthinkable nuclear option as our Commander in Chief. Whether we recognize him as "My President" or not, the reality is that he will be the face of our nation for the next four or, possibly, eight years.<br />
<br />
My hope is that he will grow into the presidency and that he will give up some of the petulance that has marked his campaign and his transition. All presidents should be aware that their every action is recorded for all time and that every decision they make will be examined under the lens of scrutiny by future generations.<br />
<br />
President Obama's greatest legacy, the Affordable Care Act, which he was able to see passed despite tremendous opposition, appears dead on arrival once our new President is sworn in and the Republican Congress has its way. Replacing it with something that approaches the current law may take some time and gaining agreement on both sides of the aisle may be a daunting task. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful.<br />
<br />
As we say goodbye to the administration of President Barack Obama, I think on the events of the last eight years - a financial crisis and housing market collapse not seen since the Great Depression that was somehow righted, a disengagement from the Iraq war and the death of Osama Bin Laden and the dismantlement of Al Qaida. Then there were his failures: a significant chill in relations with Israel and no progress made in furthering the prospect of peace in the Middle East, the shaky implementation of the Affordable Care Act (known colloquially as Obamacare) and rising costs associated with keeping it in place, gridlock on Capitol Hill, no end in sight on deficit spending and the inability to get Congress to accept his final appointment to the Supreme Court. Of course, much of the latter difficulties ranged from pushback from the Republican controlled Congress.<br />
<br />
No matter how many times critics vilified his name, the constant questions as to his faith and practice or whether he was actually a native-born American citizen, the one thing he always displayed was grace under pressure. It was always clear that he was a family man, first and foremost, and that he grew in understanding about a number of issues by seeing how they affected his daughters and his supportive wife. Along with Vice-President Joe Biden, who helped push the President's acceptance of the right for gays and lesbians to marry, our nation's 44th President will be judged by the image he presented to the American people and to history.<br />
<br />
As the dawn of a new presidency greets us, let us all hope that when this incoming administration is remembered in the past that it shall share a measure of the same kind of respect now enjoyed by the Obamas and the Bidens. Yes, there are those who are delighted that today is their last day in office, but the ax swings both ways. Four years or eight years from now, will we be feeling as secure? Time will tell.<br />
<br />
The hallowed office of the President should be open and above board. I am hoping that my fellow journalists will be treated with respect by the administration and that the antipathy that exists at present will mellow in the years to come.<br />
<br />
The American people wanted change in November and the Trump campaign, despite overwhelming odds against, knew how to win in the states where it counted and achieved a victory in the Electoral College. Beginning today, the incoming President needs to bring the majority of Americans who voted against him into his camp by his words and his deeds. It doesn't matter if he builds a wall or who pays for it. It doesn't matter is he repeals health care legislation. It doesn't matter if he closes America's borders to immigrants.<br />
<br />
There are a great many people in America today who are scared. These include the poor and disenfranchised, but it also includes a great many gay Americans, Latinos, Muslims and Jews, who see a rise in racist activities and hate crimes by many supporters of the President-Elect.<br />
<br />
If Donald Trump wants to truly make America great again, he needs to brings us all together with vision and statesmanship, not rhetoric and grandstanding. Mr. President, myself and millions of Americans who are keeping their minds open, want you to be presidential and lead, not react. We need more laws passed to protect us and less mean-spirited tweets on Twitter that make you feel better.<br />
<br />
That said, I welcome you to the White House, the symbol of the highest office in the land which you have earned, and I wish you a successful term to come. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-6168889870138806382016-09-14T06:51:00.000-05:002016-09-14T06:52:36.108-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiM-fu9lR2rLCMgbKkrwdw2uehOLhoflOuh0AUfcD8eHVxRHaMkK6asmGACkoh2J-BbADTMmK-0lxdqwYimaIRZLBVoAXDcw36Xe0OJxEyeeTgbDRgC6IuUXx2OoTIQP4rOMTY2MU7imes/s1600/common_nighthawk_kimtaylor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiM-fu9lR2rLCMgbKkrwdw2uehOLhoflOuh0AUfcD8eHVxRHaMkK6asmGACkoh2J-BbADTMmK-0lxdqwYimaIRZLBVoAXDcw36Xe0OJxEyeeTgbDRgC6IuUXx2OoTIQP4rOMTY2MU7imes/s320/common_nighthawk_kimtaylor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Brave Bird</h3>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Yesterday I saw a bird on wing</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
And I thought of you.</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
You, with your dauntless life,</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Are like that bird, soaring ever higher,</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Reaching for the stars</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Climbing to where the air is so thin</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
That there is no resistance</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
To your striving to break free </div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Of the bonds of earth and sky.</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
The only thing you must know,</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Unlike that bird, is that </div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
The only thing that will ever</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Hold you back, is yourself.</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
So, fly with all your might</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
And let not a tree branch</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Or bright sunlight deter you</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
For you are a bird on wing</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
Called freedom.</div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
©2016 Alan Smason</div>
Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-88044056679769405612016-07-11T07:44:00.000-05:002016-07-11T12:53:12.868-05:00Trying to Make Sense of the Senseless<i>The following editorial was published in the <a href="http://ccjn.net/">Crescent City Jewish News</a> on July 11:</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFr0Vq3CplOo5egVTrhE00cKDULCOQVFD9XXmr0jf2kQ5cTQyHv6hGWhQ4csJKA59S0KuCnqmX4MjZX9_E_KXclxCnIel6fJwxmUePE3g8D30U2-mygHVz5vIFAZV3mN5vjDRTxMt_KvM/s1600/Kid_target.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFr0Vq3CplOo5egVTrhE00cKDULCOQVFD9XXmr0jf2kQ5cTQyHv6hGWhQ4csJKA59S0KuCnqmX4MjZX9_E_KXclxCnIel6fJwxmUePE3g8D30U2-mygHVz5vIFAZV3mN5vjDRTxMt_KvM/s320/Kid_target.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The very public killing of two black men at the hands of white police officers in Baton Rouge and in Minnesota and the horrendous assassination of five white Dallas police officers by a crazed lone gunman in retaliation – all seemingly captured on videotape – was just another typical bloody week for America.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Coming on the heels of the tragic shootings in Orlando last month and the disturbing killings in San Bernadino, in Charleston and the rioting in Ferguson and elsewhere last year, we might think that our nation’s tolerance for pain would be near the breaking point. And yet we would be wrong. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Within our republic there are occasional challenges to authority and peaceful coexistence that all too frequently resort to the use of guns and the spilling of innocent blood. We seem to accept this as a necessary byproduct of a free and open society. As President Obama so quickly and rightly pointed out, the black man who thought that killing white police officers would accomplish his goal was no less a racist than the white man who felt compelled to kill the black members of the prayer group in Charleston. Bullets are the least racist of all items on earth. They care not what target they strike and the only color they see is red. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We have seen so much violence throughout our history. It is a sad commentary played out time and time again. It began with the revolutionary fervor of our young nation, broke out into full-scale civil war, continued in the shoot-em-up creed of the Old West, was part of the gangster era of Prohibition, shaped our outrage during the turbulent period of the Sixties when our leaders became targets and has continued in shopping malls, cinema houses and, sadly, in schoolhouses like those in Columbine and Sandy Hook. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In an average year over 17,000 American children and teens are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and by police intervention. Of that number nearly 2,700 kids die from gun violence and over 1,600 children and teens are murdered. The saddest statistic of all is that all of these are preventable. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stopping the squeezing of a trigger finger begins with changing the neurons of a brain that reasons that taking a life will improve life. The mourners left behind and the broken and paralyzed victims of the violence that shatters their lives will attest to the fact that killing is morally wrong, reprehensible and need not be tolerated by right thinking Americans. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has guaranteed our right to bear arms in the necessary defense of our families and our country. However, it should not be interpreted as a right to callously kill those whom we find too vastly different from us or with whom we cannot accept for whatever reasons. Heed the admonition that such a philosophy of hate loads those very rifles and guns that mow down our most precious of gifts, the lives we treasure most including our own. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The time for a national debate on gun violence is long overdue. The cycle of violence will continue to take from us our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters and our children as we await the next breaking news event. Left unchecked this will become the sad epitaph on the experiment called American freedom. Haven’t we suffered enough? At what point do we advocate for change? The stakes are far too high for us to maintain the status quo and our children’s lives literally depend on what course of action we decide today. Do we pray for peace, acceptance and tolerance or do we stand idly by and let our inaction load the muzzles that are aimed at the heart of our democratic republic?</div>
Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-4052405962787534582016-05-26T13:42:00.001-05:002016-05-26T14:01:33.497-05:00'Hamilton' Sing-Along newest phenomenon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Hamilton" sing along members after show</div>
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It was bound to happen. With prices for tickets to Lin-Manuel Miranda's record-breaking hip-hop musical <i>Hamilton: An American Musical </i>soaring into the stratosphere and availability of same sinking into the abyss of hopelessness, die-hard aficionados have decided to stage their own impromptu sing-alongs to show their fanaticism for the show.</div>
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Using technological aids such as a video projector, microphones and a sound system, the organizers of this unusual program splash the lyrics onto a screen while the fans sing along with the original cast recording. The lyrics largely keep time with the music, but few of the singers need the captions for they drop verse with uncanny accuracy perfected by countless times of having heard the work on their handheld devices. Think of it as karoake on steroids.</div>
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Sign-up sheets list the titles of songs and the names of the characters in each. As they arrive, attendees, who are invited by emails, are urged to sign in for any and all songs they care to sing along to, allowing them them the opportunity to imagine what it would be like to be on stage. Their singing is roundly drowned out by the audience members who gleefully join in. </div>
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The roles in <i>Hamilton </i>specifically call for non-traditional casting of African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans as the founding fathers, all of whom the historic record shows were well-connected and prominent male businessmen and planters. The singers who came out for the first of these <i>Hamilton</i> sing-along sessions were mostly young women, shattering yet another barrier of traditional casting the Broadway musical playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre has yet to break.</div>
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Mindful of copyright infringement, the organizers were careful not to charge admission or to benefit financially from the gathering of fans. They hold a five-minute bathroom break between acts and even provide attendees with free cream puffs so they wouldn't be famished during the three-hour long event.</div>
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This kind of spontaneous outpouring of fan support is reminiscent of the 1975 film <i>The Rocky Horror Picture Show, </i>when midnight shows on Friday and Saturday nights would bring in gleeful participants who wanted to take the movie into the realm of participatory viewing. To that extent water guns became the source of showers and newspapers were whipped out as impromptu umbrellas during a rainy scene on the screen. Rice was thrown during the film's anticlimactic "wedding scene." Eventually, movie theaters got into the act, selling "kits" of water guns, newspapers, rice and more to eager movie goers.<br />
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The record breaking <i>Hamilton</i>, which won the Obie Award last year for Best Musical (off Broadway) along with seven Drama Desk Awards, a Grammy Award for Best Theatre Album and a Pulitzer Prize, received 16 nominations for the Tony Awards this year - the most ever - and is the heavy favorite to win top honors at the ceremonies to be held this next month in New York.<br />
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Miranda's previous Tony Award winning show of <i>In the Heights</i> (2007) - Best Score and Best Musical - and Tony-nominated <i>Bring It On: The Musical</i> (2012) never gained this kind of momentum. Now, it seems, <i>Hamilton</i> is set to become even more of a cult phenomenon and can only grow larger as time goes on and demands for tickets continue to spike for its rabid, yet frustrated fans. Who would imagine that a Broadway musical would generate such interest? </div>
Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-2650248177927445332016-02-12T05:46:00.004-06:002016-02-12T05:46:39.676-06:00Considering awards and rewards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The deadline looms now for the Rockower Awards, the "Pulitzer Prize" of Jewish journalism administered by the American Jewish Press Association. Presently I am scanning the <a href="http://ccjn.net/" target="_blank">Crescent City Jewish News website</a> and the two publications we print as part of our brand's media footprint in New Orleans for articles to submit.<br />
<br />
The first of these publications, <i><a href="http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/best-of-the-ccjn/" target="_blank">The Best of the Crescent City Jewish News</a></i>, is published semi-annually and regurgitates many of the local articles and obituaries originally published online. The second is an annual community resource guide, <i><a href="http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/source/" target="_blank">SOURCE</a></i>, containing several original articles revolving about a specific theme.<br />
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<i><a href="http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CCJN_SOURCE.pdf" target="_blank">SOURCE 5774</a></i>, published in 2013, won first place honors in the Infographics writing category of the Press Club of New Orleans in 2014. We followed up with <i><a href="http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CCJN_Source2014.pdf" target="_blank">SOURCE 5775</a></i>, with a music theme, which garnered first place in Entertainment writing in 2015 for a feature on local performer Valerie Sassyfras and a third place award for Features writing ("Jews and Jazz") as well. In both cases, the articles were written by me to inform the local Jewish community and to document our history.<br />
<br />
It would seem that writing should be a means towards an end - an opportunity to put down in a concise and reasonable fashion all that could or should be said about a topic. The satisfaction one derives from effectively communicating an idea or thought so that others can gain a different perspective or enhance their own should be enough for a writer.<br />
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But these days self-approbation is not nearly enough. In the quest for excellence, publications or media are pitted against one another desirous of the distinction of being called "award-winning." The cost of submissions are usually high, but the pressure to be singled out as among the very best cannot be overstated.<br />
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That said, if the truth be known, there is no greater pleasure for me than first to compose the words of a review, article or commentary that ring true in my own ears. How well they are received by others is an exterior vindication of my worth as a writer, but not what drives me to write internally. I know that many of my best pieces have never been considered for awards or fall outside the range of specific categories. So my biggest reward is in having written a piece to the best of my abilities and being able to move on to the next task.<br />
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Awards are nice, but they cannot be the sole criterion for a writer's production. Were I to start writing strictly to win awards, I might never want to write again. So, while recognizing the pitfalls associated with entering these journalistic competitions, I do so with the intent of promoting my brand, not myself.<br />
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We are already an award-winning publication. To win a coveted Rockower Award - something we have never done - would be very special. But that is up to other judges to determine and puts us up against hundreds of other entries. So, while I hold out hope, I know the likelihood of a win is dim and I console myself with the knowledge I have and will continue to do the best job I can while writing under the pressure of my own imposed deadlines.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-86586696493426499652016-01-20T05:54:00.000-06:002016-02-12T06:16:07.024-06:00The Man Who Fell to Earth and Why I'm Glad We Caught Him<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Following the announcement that rock icon, film star and innovator David Bowie had died of cancer on January 10, the Internet and social media blew up with countless memes, photos, quotes from his songs and pithy sayings.<br />
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One of the more profound - if there are such things in a universe that values a total character count of 140 as a good thing - was one piece that read: "If you're sad today, remember that the planet is 4.7 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie."<br />
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I must say that I am truly blessed to have managed to exist at the same time as many people, not the least of whom are my parents, my wife, my son and many friends. To consider Bowie a major influence seemed trite and certainly a bit on the silly side, yet I found myself strangely drawn back to listening to his music in all of its many shapes and forms.<br />
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I can honestly say I listened to more David Bowie music these past few weeks - from the space rock themes of "Space Oddity" and "Starman" to the punk anthems of "Rebel Rebel" and "Suffragette City" to the disco-tinged "Let's Dance" and the exotic and sultry "China Girl" - than I have in the previous decade combined. But I was fine with it. It brought about a sense of closure and a realization that he had made an impact I hadn't fully considered beforehand.<br />
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So for all of us similarly affected, I say thank you, my glitter and rock friend, for introducing me and others to Ziggy, the Diamond Dogs, the pitfalls of "Fame" and what it means to be under pressure. Those blue and brown eyes of yours will not soon be forgotten.Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-62474297852106952162015-06-25T10:19:00.000-05:002015-06-29T04:28:46.704-05:00The Circle Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tivoli Circle (via Wikimedia)</span></h4>
The fallout from the racially motivated shootings in Charleston has traveled to New Orleans and reignited a discussion among its citizens about statues and buildings named for heroes of the Confederacy or for former slave owners. This thorny point was addressed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who announced this week that he is now in favor of removing several statues erected to Confederate heroes, including the famous statue of General Robert E. Lee at Lee Circle. During the Reconstruction era and before the statue of the Confederate general was erected in 1884, New Orleans citizens referred to the intersection of the upriver and downriver sections of town at present-day Howard Avenue and St. Charles Avenue as Tivoli Circle or Tivoli Gardens. This was because of the popular Tivoli Carousel that was there.
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With the capture of New Orleans in April of 1862, the Confederacy lost its most valuable port and the longest Union occupation of any city began. While some merchants cheered the arrival of the Federal forces, others did not. New Orleans was made the seat of government for the state. Tempers ran high during the remainder of the war and the institution of a Reconstruction government became a sore point among business leaders. This antipathy came to a head most especially during the disputed gubernatorial election of 1872. The Democrats had claimed victory for John McEnery, while the Republicans held that William Kellogg had been elected. <br />
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An attempt to put a new, Democrat-backed government into power was put down by federal and New Orleans Metropolitan Police forces at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1873. After four days of insurrection, the Reconstruction government was put back into place and not one of the 5,000 Crescent City White League members was charged or put on trial for the attempted coup. Union forces only departed under a presidential order in 1877.
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It was a decade later and five generations ago, my first family member - my maternal great-great-grandmother - fleeing oppression and seeking a better life, arrived in New Orleans. Sometime prior to her arrival, city fathers had erected the monolithic column topped with the former Confederate general at Tivoli Circle as a sign of defiance to the former Reconstruction government. The citizens had dubbed it Lee Circle. Neither my great-great-grandmother nor her daughter or son-in-law and their family had anything to do with the Civil War, nor slavery. They sought refuge in a city that was not always welcoming to them either. My family found strength and comfort in living in what was then the largest Jewish segment of town located near the Dryades Street commerce corridor. My great-grandfather was a barber and all of the family members lived together. Indeed, my grandfather's original drugstore was eventually located just two blocks away from Lee Circle, adjacent to the Jerusalem Temple of the Shriners.
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Other than the biblical references to slavery, my family has endured nothing of the savagery of slavery, although it is probable they were persecuted as Jews to varying degrees in the series of pogroms that characterized life in Eastern Europe and the Russias. While my family has been the victim of anti-Semitism in this country, it no doubt falls far short of the organized pattern of discrimination and racism endured by African-Americans, many of whom died for taking their stands against the forces in power.
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I am not insensitive to the feeling that runs through the African-American community when dealing with the issue of slavery and the glorification of the Old South. Jews, too, have been targeted by rebel flag waving hate groups - some in white robes and some in custom-made suits - for a number of generations.
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But I recognize that the principles of tolerance and understanding will not generate with the destruction of monuments or the renaming of buildings. The changes that we all seek for acceptance and equal opportunity will not come from without, but from within each of us. The power to forgive the shooter who was so full of hate came rapidly from the members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in the face of inconsolable loss. That was the lesson of love that surmounted all of the death and destruction sought by the murderer.
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It is an important issue to recognize that reminders of slavery and the War Between the States still exist today and that they still give rise to negative feelings for many of our citizens. However, it is just as important to recognize that even if we were to erase every Civil War vestige and reference or place them in mothballs via museums, we would still have to confront the larger question of how do<br />
we accept each other without prejudice and hate in our hearts?
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That will take soul searching, open discussions and, I am afraid, much more than enraged committees and wrecking balls.<br />
<br />Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115484168955496414.post-43992670604752247812015-04-19T09:40:00.000-05:002018-10-02T00:56:36.600-05:00American Pie - Updated<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> In 1972 I was working at my college radio station, WTUL, when Don McLean’s <i>American Pie</i> came out. Speculation ran rampant then about what could he have meant with respect to all of the allusions to popular music. I remember one time doing a very funny routine (or so I thought at the time) which parodied the entire song on the radio station live as it played. But I really had several thoughts about what McLean was trying to say and generated my own analysis, which I kept to myself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Nearly a generation ago, Madonna's cover of the song regenerated interest in McLean's verses and I took the opportunity to write down my own interpretation for the first time.<br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Recently, on April 8, 2015, McLean sold the original lyrics to the song for $1.2 million to an unnamed collector. He took the occasion to offer comments for the first time about this song that hailed rock and roll music, but bemoaned several trends within it. <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Prior to this recent sale and the accompanying notes that went with the manuscript, McLean had steadfastly refused to explain the meaning of his lyrics. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I am gratified to learn that much of what I had interpreted is acknowledged by McLean to be correct. While I admit that there are some areas that still need clarification, I offer to you my own updated spin on these enigmatic lyrics.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i>A long, long time ago, </i></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i>I can still remember</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i>How that music used to make
me smile.</i></span></blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Don McLean wrote <i>American Pie</i> circa 1970, about a year before the same-titled album was released on United Artists Records. As a boy, McLean was profoundly influenced by the impact of rock and roll music. Whether he is referring here specifically to the happy doo-wop vocals of the era or to comical songs like the Diamonds’ <i>Little Darling</i> or the Coasters’ <i>Charlie Brown</i>, remains to be seen. Suffice it to say that McLean recalls the early rock and roll era was great fondness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i>And I knew if I had my chance,</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">That I could make those people dance,</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And maybe they’d be happy for a while.</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">McLean gives us insight here that he wanted to become a performer even back then. Popular rock and roll parties all involved dancing couples as a means of social interaction. It is important to remember that these were the Eisenhower years. The movie <i>Pleasantville </i>alludes to much of the repression of the times.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But February made me shiver</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">With every paper I’d deliver.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Bad news on the doorstep.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I couldn’t take one more step.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Here he refers quite pointedly to the Cold War and the fear of mutual assured nuclear annihilation between Russia and America. McLean was, reportedly, a newspaper delivery boy at that time, so the allusion to the doorstep is a literal one too. By specifically mentioning February, however, he summons up the image of that dreaded February 3, 1959 Iowa plane crash that took the lives of Texas rocker Buddy Holly, Latin idol Richie Valens, and J. P. Richardson, known as "The Big Bopper." For many people like McLean (the Beatles and the Rolling Stones included), Buddy Holly was one of their most profound influences. His death created a void that was never filled.</span><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I can’t remember if I cried,<br /> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">When I read about his widowed bride.</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Holly left behind a pregnant wife, Maria Elena, who had only recently been married and, unfortunately, suffered a miscarriage shortly after the tragedy. </span> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But something touched me deep inside</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The loss of Holly, Valens, and Richardson on that snowy February day in Iowa sent shock waves across the country. For many people it became the day the music died, but I believe that McLean is also using it here metaphorically as a jumping off spot to comment on the state of rock and roll since 1959.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain) </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">So, bye-bye,</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Miss American Pie,</span></i></span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Drove my Chevy to the levee,</span></i></span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But the levee was dry.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> </span> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The chorus is a bit enigmatic. I believe that the term summons forth a metaphor of innocence and naiveté. Chevrolets were, of course, the cars of choice for many teenagers at the time and I believe that this poetic device summons up their free spirit as well as pointing to the Fifties in a general way. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">It is very interesting that McLean mentions levees. Two of the major cities along the Mississippi River have extensive levee systems, namely Memphis, Birthplace of the Blues, and New Orleans, Birthplace of Jazz and Home of Rhythm and Blues. Were it not for blues and rhythm and blues, rock and roll would never have evolved into the popular medium that it proved to be. Jazz, of course, is the only true indigenous American art form. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and
rye</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die,</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">This’ll be the day that I die.</span></i></i></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The ending of the chorus alludes to several things. Underage drinking being the norm, many parents and role models ignored or looked the other way at rock and roll parties. Good old boys suggests a Southern influence such as found in Elvis Presley, who hailed from Mississippi, and Buddy Holly, a Texan. One of Holly’s most noted songs was <i>That’ll Be the Day That I Die</i> and McLean makes a specific reference to it here.</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Did you write the Book of Love?</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And do you have faith in God above,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">If the Bible tells you so?</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">McLean begins his first uptempo verse with a reference to the Monotones <i>Book of Love</i>, one of several songs of that generation that defined boy-girl relationships. Also, there were several songs at the time which were spiritual in nature that enjoyed great success. The Platters’ <i>My Prayer</i> and several songs by the Jordanaires, who backed Elvis Presley, were quite popular at the time. The song <i>Jesus Loves Me</i> contains the verse "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" and I believe that McLean’s similar prose is intentional.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Now, do you believe in rock and roll?</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Can music save your mortal soul?</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">And can you teach me how to dance real slow?</span></i></i></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Rock and roll music became something of a religion for the teenagers of the time. Buddy Holly and the others, in a sense, became the first of many martyrs of rock and roll music. It gave the young adults of the era something to follow that was distinctly theirs and apart from their parents. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Some years later, the Lovin Spoonful asked <i>Do You Believe in Magic? </i>Within it are the lines "It’s like trying to tell a stranger ‘bout rock and roll." </span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Coincidental? Maybe.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Slow dancing between teenagers became a part of the ritual of the rock and roll dance. Slow ballads like <i>In the Still of the Night</i> or <i>Twilight Time </i>encouraged intimacy at rock and roll dances.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Well, I know that you’re in love with him</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">‘Cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">You both kicked off your shoes.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Touch dancing, which lost its popularity with the influence of dances like the Twist, the Watusi, the Frug, the Swim, and the Mashed Potato (among others) during the Sixties also suffered due to the extended guitar solos prominent in many latter-day songs. The gymnasium was the place of choice for many school dances and, in order to protect the floor surfaces, students were encouraged to take off their shoes. This is where the term "sock hop" emanated.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">As to rhythm and blues, New Orleans became a major breakout center for popular music of the day. Allan Freed, the Cleveland disc jockey credited with popularizing the term "rock and roll" was chiefly responsible for getting white middle-class teenagers to open up to the largely black influences of gospel, blues, and rhythm and blues that defined rock and roll music. "Race music," as the black music was called, was rarely allowed to be heard over popular Top-40 formats of the day. In fact, many white teenagers first heard Fats Domino’s <i>Blueberry Hill</i> not by Fats at all, but by squeaky-clean, buckskin-wearing Pat Boone! His cover version was deemed more acceptable by middle-class radio station program directors. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">When Sam Phillips at Sun Records was able to get a good looking white male, Elvis Presley, to sing the songs of these black acts, he helped crown the next King of Rock and Roll, making the music accessible to white America. But remember, too, that Phillips was also responsible for getting country acts like Johnny Cash to incorporate their repertoire into the rock and roll genre and made it possible for Buddy Holly and the Crickets to rise to the top of the charts.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">With a pink carnation and a pickup truck</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But I knew I was out of luck</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Dion and the Belmonts recorded <i>A Lonely Teenager</i> and <i>A Teenager in Love</i> around this time. My take on "broncin’ buck" is that many Western songs were popular in the day, such as those by Frankie Laine and Marty Robbins. Robbins’ <i>A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation</i> is obviously used for reference here. I might suggest that the following line could well cover some of the songs dealing with teenage automobile deaths like <i>Teen Angel</i> by Mark Dinning or <i>Last Kiss</i> by J. Frank Wilson, but that might be stretching it a bit.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I started singin’</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain)</span></i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Bye-bye Miss American Pie</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Drove my Chevy to the levee,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But the levee was dry.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">This’ll be the day that I die.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The refrain brings us back to consider Buddy Holly and the influences of blues and rhythm and blues in rock and roll. It might be added here that much of this music was heard in music club venues or "joints" that readily sold alcohol to their patrons.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Now for ten years we’ve been on our own</span></i></span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">And moss grows fat on a rolling stone,</span></i></span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But that’s not how it used to be.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">McLean continues the song with a veiled reference to Buddy Holly’s plane crash and he uses the expression of "a rolling stone never gathers moss" to make reference to Bob Dylan. Dylan’s <i>Like a Rolling Stone</i> was his first major hit, but his influence among performers like Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez had already been firmly established. In the early Sixties, Dylan’s folk music and, later, electric rock changed the American musical landscape through his penchant for poetry and his de-emphasis on simplistic lyrics and tunes.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">When the jester sang for the king and queen</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">In a coat he borrowed from James Dean</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And a voice that came from you and me.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Bob Dylan is, of course, the jester. Elvis Presley would, undoubtedly, be the "King" of Rock and Roll and Connie Francis would, probably, serve as his queen. Francis’ wholesome qualities and runaway best sellers would categorize her as the best female artist of the era. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">As McLean suggests, Dylan’s voice was not especially pretty, almost laughable to some. But the voice wasn’t the big draw for Dylan’s legions of fans. It was what his music had to say to them. Dylan’s first album, <i>The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan</i>, pictured him on the cover in a windbreaker which, except for the fact that it was not red, could have passed for the jacket that Dean wore in the movie <i>Rebel Without a Cause</i>. Many promotional pins and posters of the day promulgated from Columbia Records suggested that Dylan was a "rebel" and exhorted his fans to "Be Different – He Is." The roots of Dylan’s music were categorized as American folk with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger having both had prime influences on him. Yet, while his music ceased to be purely folk in the intervening years, it could still be thought of as music stemming from all of America, hence "in a voice that came from you and me."</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Oh, and while the king was looking down</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The jester stole his thorny crown.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The courtroom was adjourned.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">No verdict was returned.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Elvis joined the Army in 1958 at the absolute zenith of his fame. RCA Records continued to release his records over the course of the next two years when he was in the service so that the public never knew that he was away from the recording studio. Nevertheless, when he returned to both a movie and recording career in 1960, Presley’s popularity had waned. He was still very popular, but his effect had diminished appreciably. Buddy Holly had stirred the public’s imagination during Presley’s absence, but after his untimely demise, Bob Dylan was the one who became the force to be reckoned with. The reference to the "thorny crown" has biblical implications of martyrdom or the price that one must pay for celebrity. Presley, for example, was never able to go to a film theater by himself, opting, instead, to buy the entire movie house out. Likewise, Dylan became something of a recluse during the Sixties. McLean’s lyrics here about the courtroom could be taken literal, but I believe they are figurative. I believe, rather than what others might think, that it is not a reference to the Chicago Seven, etc. It is my opinion, rather, that he is talking about the court of popular opinion about whom was the undisputed "king." Dylan inherited the mantle by default, filling the vacuum left behind by Presley’s departure from the music scene when he opted for a more prominent and lucrative film career.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And while Lenin read a book on Marx</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The quartet practiced in the park,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And we sang dirges in the dark</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">We were singing</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain)</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The impact of Beatlemania is first mentioned here. The Lenin is actually John Lennon, not Vladimir Lenin, yet the poetic license here is brilliant. John Lennon’s politics were decidedly leftist and controversial, so to use the image of the renowned Bolshevik as a figure for the leader of the Beatles is quite fitting. The quartet – The Beatles – was so popular they couldn’t tour in clubs or small theatres. They had to book into large stadiums and arenas, many times unable to hear themselves above the din of the crowd. The reference to dirges might again be interpreted as McLean’s take on the way that popular music had evolved from rock and roll to album-oriented rock music featuring songs with long guitar solos and little or no opportunity for dancing.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Helter Skelter in a summer swelter</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The birds flew off with a fallout shelter</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Eight miles high and falling fast.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The Beatles’ <i>Helter Skelter </i>(from their so-called <i>White Album</i>) came out after the Watts Riots of 1965 and the "Summer of Love" in 1967, but it is metaphorically used to convey the confusion and resentment in the nation with regards to Civil Rights and the Vietnam War. Nuclear proliferation was at an all time high as both the United States and the Soviet Union teetered toward nuclear destruction and McLean makes note of that by mentioning the fallout shelter. The Byrds, considered by many to be the first American supergroup, and many others began experimenting with marijuana and other drugs including LSD. Their song, <i>Eight Miles High</i>, was banned by several stations because its lyrics purportedly sponsored drug usage. </span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">It landed foul out on the grass</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The players tried for a forward pass</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">McLean mixes both a football and baseball metaphor here. Obviously using grass, or marijuana, caused many musical players, John Lennon included, to run "afoul" of the law. A forward pass in football could be interpreted here as a "passing" of a "joint" from one to the other in hopes of further experimentation with their various music forms. Some have suggested that McLean was referring to The Rolling Stones as the players trying for widespread fame, but I am not so certain. Because of later lyrics, I believe he is referring to the Beatles. Dylan, as "the jester," was noticeably absent during this time due to an almost-fatal motorcycle crash that literally kept him in a cast for several months.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Now the half-time air was sweet perfume</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">While the sergeants played a marching tune</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">We all got up to dance,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Oh, but we never got the chance.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">McLean begins this verse with a reference that I believe is to the Beatles’ gig at Shea Stadium. The sweet perfume may simply mean that the Beatles fans were following their idols’ beliefs that "all you need is love." It may also be intimating the fact that drug usage was beginning to become popular among youth or that some might be feeling attractions to Eastern religions like Buddhism that utilize incense in their worship. Some have gone so far as to suggest that these words refer to the riots at the Chigago Democratic National Convention with the "sweet perfume" representing tear gas. While that may never be determined, the sergeants are, in my estimation, the Beatles whose <i>Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band</i> album revolutionized album rock. Again, McLean bemoans the lack of dancing in the popular music of the day.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">‘Cause the players tried to take the field,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The marching band refused to yield.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Do you recall what was revealed</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died?</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">We started singing</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain)</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">While at Shea Stadium, the Beatles and, later other groups, could not be intimate with their audiences ever again. The marching band, while a slight reference to <i>Sgt. Pepper’s</i>, is in reality an allusion to the huge numbers of police who were present there and at other concert venues. Performers like the Beatles were unable to mix with the crowd because of security concerns from the police. Fans who wanted to get close were kept at a distance by the swinging batons of the local constabulary when the crowd charged the stage.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Oh, and there we were all in one place</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">A generation Lost in Space</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">With no time left to start again.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">There is very little doubt that McLean is pointing to Woodstock at the very beginning of this verse. The reference to the generation "Lost in Space" has a double meaning, of course. This Woodstock generation was also the first television generation, whose consciousness was raised by programs like <i>Star Trek </i>and Saturday morning’s <i>Lost in Space</i>. They suggested that the human race could advance into space with dignity and humanity not encumbered by differences in race, creed, or national origin. The real space race was going on at this time, of course. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon only days before Woodstock became the largest concert of its kind. With antipathy towards America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and drug usage at an all-time high, it is no wonder that so many felt helpless and discouraged, willingly embracing the lifestyle of the so-called "hippies."</span><br />
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">So come on,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Jack be nimble,</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Jack be quick,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Jack Flash sat on a candlestick,</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">‘</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">Cause fire is the Devil’s only friend.</span></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones are, of course, the focus of these verses. <i>Jumping Jack Flash</i> was a major hit for them at the time. McLean tends to see Jagger as an anti-Christ figure and suggests that the Stones were following a much darker path in their music. The Stones always maintained a close tie with the blues, so it is only natural that their music be conceived by the religious right as that of "the Devil’s." Ironically, one of their early hits was <i>Play with Fire</i>. The reference to the candlestick is to Candlestick Park which was suggested, but ultimately rejected, as a venue for the Rolling Stones free concert that was eventually held at the Altamont Motor Speedway in 1969.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span> <br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Oh, and as I watched him on the stage,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">My hands were clenched in fists of rage.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">No angel born in hell</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Could break that Satan’s spell.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And as the flames climbed high into the night</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">To light the sacrificial rite,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I saw Satan laughing with delight</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">He was singing</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain)</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Two of the major hits of the Rolling Stones at that time were <i>Paint It Black</i> and <i>Sympathy for the Devil</i>, the latter of which became inextricably linked with Mick Jagger. The concert at Altamont was a disaster for the Rolling Stones after the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gangs that had been hired as bodyguards exceeded their authority, beating scores of faithful fans and fatally knifing one. To McLean (and others) Woodstock showed the promise of what could peaceably be accomplished, while Altamont pointed out the shortcomings of large rock festivals.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">I met a girl who sang the blues</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">And I asked her for some happy news,</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i><i></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: "tahoma";">But she just smiled and turned away.</span></i></i></div>
<i>
</i></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">This is a patently obvious reference to Janis Joplin, whose bluesy style was the foundation for Big Brother and the Holding Company. Joplin smiled and turned away, as McLean says, due to her increased involvement with drugs. Her death and those of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison sent reverberations throughout the music industry.</span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span> <br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">I went down to the sacred store</span></i> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Where I’d heard the music years before,</span></i> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But the man there said the music wouldn’t play.</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">Having worked in a record store for many years, I can attest to what McLean is relating here. Years ago when Buddy Holly was all the rage and Elvis was still "King," record companies sent out long-play albums with no shrink-wrapping. Albums were played in cubicles, listened to by legions of faithful fans, and purchased on the spot. If one purchased the last copy in stock, it would not necessarily be unplayed or pristine. Once albums began to be shipped out with factory seals, however, it was impossible to play these albums at record stores because they would not be accepted for returns to the manufacturers with the seals broken. This is why record stores had play copies or promotional copies provided by the record companies. So, literally, the music wouldn’t play there anymore. Some have suggested that he additionally may be referring to the demise of music venues like the Fillmores East and West, but I don’t see that.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><br /></span>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And in the streets the children screamed,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The lovers cried and the poets dreamed,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">But not a word was spoken,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The church bells all were broken.</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">It is my feeling that McLean is referring to the anti-war movement and the many different clashes by police and demonstrators. The "Love Generation" suffered many lost battles including those waged in People’s Park in Berkeley, California and at college campuses across the country. While the tragedies as Kent State and Jackson State Universities were yet to occur, McLean does not suggest that all’s well here. In fact, far from it. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">This was also the time when the prevailing question on covers of news magazines was "Is God Dead?" Thousands of disillusioned youth turned away from the teachings of the established religions, searching for spirituality through worship in alternative religions such as the Hare Krishnas, the Ba’hai Faith, and others. Still, others influenced by psychedelic drugs and "free love" established communes that promoted non-traditional lifestyles and families. Methods of freeing one’s self from drugs and achieving spiritual <i>nirvana</i> were also explored within the practice of Transcendental Meditation and others, making the established Church less enticing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And the three men I admire most,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">They caught the last train for the coast</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">The day the music died.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">And they were singing</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">(Refrain twice)</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">California became a wild center at the end of the Sixties for all kinds of religious practices. What I think McLean is trying to say here is that traditional religion had lost its luster for the masses. Even songs like <i>Spirit in the Sky </i>by Norman Greenbaum had now come into play, rising steadily up the charts and mixing rock music with religion. Indeed, rock music had become a religion unto itself. The reference to the Trinity might also be seen as a final veiled reference to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper and a comment on the state that popular music was in at the beginning of the Seventies. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-weight: normal;">It was a monumental work by McLean and is still very much worthy of examination and analysis even nearly 48 years after it was written. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 10.0pt;">(All lyrics Copyright Don McLean and MCA Records) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">(©2000/2018 Alan Smason)<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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Kosher Computinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01660751921377606681noreply@blogger.com1