Post on Protests

Occupy movements are terrific.  I am a fan of local protests.  Then again, I am still an unfulfilled child of the late 60s and early 70s when protests made a difference.  Or so we thought until Kent State.

CSpan makes me want to protest more. 

Under Water to Newfoundlands and other thoughts

Found a great print at a second hand store that supports FOHA

If you hate cats, you must have been a rat in a former life.

So funny!


And as I swept up and mopped the floor at the house of newfs (you know who you are), I mused that if people were like newfs we wouldn't have had a wall street housing debacle.  Or at least it wouldn't have been so bad because the folks "under water" would have been rescued by the water rescue loving newfs.

Just a few thoughts as we end 2011.

On Legacies -- word of the day

Legacies...let's see.

Legacy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  ... ISome families pass objects and ideas down from generation to generation. These objects and ideas can also be called legacies. It may have to do with a person or many people. Individuals can leave a historical legacy. ... Legacies are more or less what someone is remembered for.

In my case, my liberalism, resilience and belief in the good in people came from my dad.  Perhaps because I never heard him complain about so-and-so unless that so-and-so was a known quantity.  He just presented the facts and let us kids draw our own conclusions.  I have adopted that in my life as through living by example and not preaching. God, I hate preaching.  I know...it is narrow-minded of me to hate preaching since I preach all the time on this blog but in my defense, I try to cite to background and then criticize.  I really do.  Preaching is the verbal equivalent of being pinched as a young child and told what to do because the pincher is older than the pinchee and expects respect.  Perhaps having been the  pinchee innumerable times, I have sympathy for those preached and pinched.  

Certainly we are being preached at now by the ultra, ultra, ultra right about the budget, free trade and whatever else the Tea Party decides is fair game.   Certainly we are being preached at by those who dismiss the idea of universal healthcare with the air of Marie Antonette 'let them eat cake.'  Certainly we are being preached at whenever the President is spoken about by his last name.  I know this lack of respect very well since I used it with the prior President who landed us into this awful financial mess and these wars against ideas that sadly began with President Lyndon Johnson (a good Democrat) who started the trend by starting a war against poverty.  

But I digress. For me, legacies will always have a personal inheritance definition.  My blue eyes came from my grandfather, my face from one grandmother, my love of words from both parents, my love of animals from my other grandmother, my wisdom from pitting hope against experience to quote from P.D. James' Original Sin and my serenity from making my choices for myself.  From my milk bred religion to the religion of my middle age and now to the serenity of the buddhist.  An amalgam that fosters the middle way approach to life.  

Song that Hit me today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_the_Long_Way_Home  Supertramp's classic really hit me today.  The song balances success and emptiness, searching for meaning tension between success and despair

Zen Cats for Serenity

Ever notice how well balanced cats don't react to trivia?  Oh, sure, they chase feathers, cat nip, climb curtains, claw at the most expensive thing in the place, sleep in shoes, eat your food but those essentially are cat things.  Their 'cat ma.'  What cats don't do is more important.  They don't hold onto fear or anger.  They deal much better with those emotions that we humans do.  They zen out instead ... reacting only when they need something from their servant -- which is you or me.  And they are very clear about what they need.

Researching for Paralegals and Others

What did we do without the internet?  We read books, went to museums, visited courthouses, cemeteries and libraries...lots of libraries.  But we can do so much more with the internet.  Yesterday's near shutdown is a case in point.  Local courts' filing boards posted instructions on the imminent closure of government and filing procedures in case the government closed down.  

Gilbert & Sullivan Alert

Sssssshhhhh, Gilbert & Sullivan is on WETA tonight.  Awesome.  It is fun to hear American accents singing familiar songs.  Completely revamped and updated as well.

Continuations of an Uncivil War -- in Congress

The Civil War started on April 12, 1861 so this year marks the sesquisentennial--150 years.  The war ended April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse.  We see this continuation in Lincoln's death a week later on April 14, 1865.

Nearly 150 years after Appomattox, we C-Span groupies watch the uncivil political debates going on about defunding planned parenthood, redefining the crime of rape, attempts to defund any opposition views that may or may not be paid for by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other acts of political aggression against the poor, the middle class, people of color, people who have progressive views, gays and women.

The Civil War continues.  We just don't have the cool music that Ken Burns' documentary.  Nor, thankfully, do we have the grapeshot and cannon booming in the background.  This particular episode of the war is being waged with money.

In the intervening years, we have learned nothing about the fact that when we raise up our brothers and sisters raise ourselves.  What we have learned, I suspect, is that government requiring us to help one another is always going to be criticized. 

We see this each time the Tea and Repubican parties refuse to pass legislation that would benefit the middle class, the poor, the women in this country, the young soldiers refused medical assistance for PTSD and continue instead to help their cronies in Wall Street and the health care industry.

Civil War

The Civil War started on April 12, 1861 so this year marks the sesquisentennial--150 years ago.  The war ended at April 9, the two commanders met at Appomattox Courthouse where the two commanders, Grant and Lee met on April 9th.  Tomorrow is April 9th and the Civil War continues.  True, no one is publicly sold as slaves in the open market places of the United States.  True, races together can eat, play and live.  But are principles of fairness, equity and opportunity open to all or is that just an illusion?

I would argue that the terms have shifted.  Instead of slaves in physical terms, today we speak of 'wage slaves,' or the monetary losses of the 'middle class.'  Tonight I watch C-Span and watch Senator Harry Reid work for saving womens' lives in trying to deny Republican ideologues in their attempt to deny funding for Planned Parenthood and Title 10 and other riders that are too numerous to mention.  I am proud of the Democrats in defying these despicable politicians.

The Civil War continues.

Interesting Observations

Recovering from life with pain means more than letting the pain go.  It means being able to prepare food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and being free enough of pain to eat.  It means reminding myself that eating is a good thing.  So tonight I wonder ... what role does low weight play in disease for humans.  I suspect there are many well researched articles about that.  

Historians of the Civil War Documentary and Music as History

Before Ken Burns, I must admit I never read these authors.  Now I will look them out.
Shelby Foot, Barbara J. Fields, Ed Bearss and Stephen B. Oates are just a few
And voices now gone forever...Shelby Foot died 2005.  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4721849

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(TV_series)


And for further study http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Traditional-Instrumental-Soundtrack/dp/B000005J0O
which is the soundtrack of the series.  What to study further are the song books after the war where song titled, 'Oh what was your name in the States?'

Murder by Prison Camps and other means

13,000 deaths at Andersonville.  Rattlesnake Island, Ohio boasted its own prisoners -- Southern this time. If the South had won the war, we would be reading about Rattlesnake Island and others' I haven't even heard of, instead of Andersonville.   Mans' inhumanity to man continues from the beginning of time until now.  www.pbs.org/kenburns/


Death comes to all of us but we humans like to think that we are in charge of it.  We can choose when it will happen or at least we think can when we plan for it.  We are such planners, from abatoirs to salon rooms.   But death comes when it comes.  It wipes before it animals, crops, soldiers and those women and children and animals left behind.  Sad.  It comes when it comes. 

When you Look

When you look at events that shape us...from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, to reporters who grew to prominence in either of those (Belva Davis and Horace Greeley to name a few of those reporters), the soldiers who went on to become outlaws in the West it is amazing.  Much of life is practice.  We learn to walk, we learn our lessons, our maths, our music, our language.  Our environment shapes our language, our lessons, and our music which is a fact that isn't always recognized.  When you look at the world through either the south's or the north's prism becomes crystal clear.  But it wasn't clear and remains unclear 150 years after the war's end.  I have been at dinners with Civil War re-enactors when guests came close to blows for continuing to support their sides of the War.  

US Grant and Horses

There is a story about US Grant who severely disciplined a quartermaster for mistreating a horse on the eve of the Gettysburg campaign.   Truly heartening to know since animals have always borne the greater risks from marauding armies, caltrops, use as food animals for starving soldiers and being shot out from under their riders.  But this toll great greater when war because mass death to soldiers.  It just great worse as our ability to become the Henry Fords of death increased.  Civil War, WWI and WWII, and others kill so many not regularly reported on.  Animals in Sudan, Lebanon, conflicts every where.  Terrible slaughter that only get reported by rescue groups for dogs, cats, and wildlife.  Tragic.

So hearing stories about Grant and horses are so heartening.  

Things Learned

Civil War...photography comes of age as does embalming.  Chemistry.  Mass produced deaths from guns, artillery, disease, starvation brought military hospitals where doctors and medical arts improved if only to keep up with the carnage.  Clara Barton started the first of the Red Cross which is now world wide.  One of the first sanitation officers who went on to design New York's Central Park began his career as administrator in the Civil War.  This was an extremely important position (never before thought about) which became the basis for the trash haulers and sanitation officers of today.

Here is a snippet from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Law_Olmsted

Civil War

Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross in Washington, D.C.. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862, during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House in New Kent County, where there was a ship landing on the Pamunkey River.

On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York.

When we are very, very wise and very, very lucky, adversity can teach us.

Namaste

What I never Realized in the Civil War

I keep forgetting how many luminaries of the 19th Century were alive during the Civil War.  Nathanial Hawthorn, Walt Whitman (who nursed others in the hospitals in Washington, DC), Emily Dickinson, Henry Adams, Henry James, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, Clara Barton, Emerson, and others.  And the list goes on and on.  And just regular folks who write movingly beyond our ability these days.  Truly stunning prose.  Truly stunning.

Bearing Witness

Ken Burns' Civil War series is remarkable.  This is the first time I have had the time to sit and bear witness to the sacrifices and mastery of Burns' narrative and grasp of history.  Remarkable historians give their narrative of the war and adding both local color and insights.  Museums give their photographic views masterfully brought into life by Burns' ability to use static media to tell active tales.  Music and actors narrating heartbreaking and joyous stories.  The sweep is breathtaking.

I have some stake in this war and some stake in understanding how brilliant Burns' ability is.  My family fought on both sides and are died at places I could never fix in my mind -- The Wilderness Campaign, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, and others.  Now I can see them.  I can see the skulls from the prior battles still lying on the ground that my ancestors must have fought at.  Chilling.  Truly chilling.  And Burns' ability not to sink into pathos and dismal stories is awesome.

Back in college, I assisted a history student in putting together a multi-media presentation together.  We pulled together music, narrated the snippets of history backing the photographs and making slides of the photos for the show.  These shows look simple, easy, but they are not.  Truly a depth of skills goes into them.

So sad, so sad, so sad though.

History Channel on March 23, 2011

History had a program about building American cities.  Wonderful stuff especially for history geeks and fact ferrets like me.  Here are a few links that struck me as I watched that I will be checking into for more inspiration.   We are not alone in our fight for social justice.  It happened back in the 1890s and was documented extensively by the photographer Riis back then.

1. Images for how the other half lives jacob riis

    - Report images
   
2. The Progressive Era: 1890s: Jacob Riis

   Apr 5, 2009 ... How The Other Half Lives (1895 edition). This pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis focused on the plight of the poor in the ...
   www.authentichistory.com › ... › progressive era: 1890s - Cached - 

Going to the Cats....Yippee!!

I get to pick up that cute orange stripe little guy, Patrick Murphy today!!  Yea!!  So, yes, going to the cats is a good thing!!!

Who Rescues Who? Who Cares?

Sometimes we have our lifes’ work right in front of us. I know for me that is writing, books and rescue. Certainly my liberal education in the humanities prepared me for the writing part but I didn’t realize that until I was checking last week on www.gov.com website which had a chart saying what each major qualified a person to do in life. I just knew I write and write compulsively. The better I get from the pain, the more I write. The worse I get from the pain, the more I write. It is a release, a celebration and a distraction from things like dealing with real life. But I digress.



In my place right now there are three cats, art work I created over the years which surprises me by how much I continue to like it, antiques I inherited and shelf after shelf of old books my mom had back in the 30s. From these things, my life is made. Of course, cluttered up in that mix are all the family papers I inherited as well.



We are hoarders in my family when it comes to saving newspaper articles and obituaries and photographs. Hoarders of this type are treasured by historians. We are the ones who save the physical history of a time until the bulk of the materials can be preserved and explained to others. 


What I didn’t realize about being raised as a hoarder is how it slanted my view on life. I never learned to let go of memories – whether bad or good ones. I never learned to let go of emotional trauma. I never learned to let go of relationships. And I never let go of physical pain.


While I realized eventually I never let go of things, I only recently realized that having all of these feelings and memories and pains inside me made it easier for me to be overwhelmed by day-to-day life. Being overwhelmed made me draw back from friends, family and people in general.


What finally brought me back out was my commitment to rescue. It first started as a flicker of an effort to rescue myself and has now grown into where I have identified who I rescue and why and make arrangements ahead of time to assure a smooth rescue and recovery. These are concepts I never even dreamed of when I took that first step to find relief from pain. I just knew I had to do something pretty damn quick or drown.

Until all beings know peace, Know peace.