May?

Someone told me it's May??????  Is that true?  Already?  What happened to April?

An odd thing happened yesterday.  I was reading my weekly Amherst E-Mail Update and I just sort of broke down, with tears.  It wasn't any specific article, just a mention of graduation.  I had to compose myself and then go to the lav and splash my face with water before class.  I'm not sure I liked that.

I saw a couple of cool things last week while running.  First, last Sunday running down an old country road (!), I noted a red fox running himself alongside a red barn.  He was scurrying away, but was surely a fox.  And, including Karen, I saw two "foxes" that day.  Second, I've never seen a Canadian goose land on a rooftop before, never.  But I did last week.  Two were flying overhead, honking away (are those "honks" utterly aggravating!).  One flew on and one took a break on the peak of the roof.  Is that normal, gooses/geese on rooftops?  If so, why haven't I seen that before given all the gooses/geese around here?

With that in mind, K was watching some show about being smarter than a fifth grader.  I laughed at one of the questions I heard from the other room.  "How do you spell the plural of the word 'goose?'"  That, I noted to myself, depends on if "goose" is a noun or a verb!!!!!!

Which of us haven't, likely back in our immature, unthinking youths, uttered slurs of some sorts at some undeserving person?  C'mon, never?  That doesn't make it right or OK, but it does make us human.  What is all right or OK is for us to grow up, to grow as people.  Can there be any better example than A. Lincoln?  Remember what W.E.B. DuBois, one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909 (or was it '08?), wrote about him.  "...I love him not because he was perfect, but because he was not and yet triumphed....  The world is full of folk whose taste was educated in the gutter.  The world is full of people born hating and despising their fellos.  To these I love to say:  See this man.  He was one of you and yet he became Abraham Lincoln."  Tell me that one doesn't raise goose bumps on you!

OK, tell me throwing BP to a grandson isn't the coolest thing ever?  I usually toss to Bopper three or more times each week.  Oh, he's not Ted Williams, yet...but if we keep practicing.  What is so darn cool is how he seems to enjoy the game, all parts of it.  He strikes out his share of the time (and he's 11 in an 11-12 year-old league), but he runs bases well when he's on.  He backs up plays, even the pitcher on throws from the catcher when he plays 2B!  He pitched for the first time this year the other nights.  He gave up five or six runs in one inning, but strike out one and gave up only one hit and one walk.  Yep, you guessed it--errors.  In fact, of the first six batters, there were seven errors, on balls that were hardly tough plays, in fact, pretty easy plays.  But, like the ball he slammed over the right fielder's head last Sat, the smile on his face after pitching makes the time I spend with him more than worthwhile.  What is it the commercial says?  "Priceless!"

I was reminded of this yesterday, seeing the smile on a friend who became a grandmother last week.  When I remarked, "Isn't holding her the greatest thing?," she took on the biggest grin, eyes sparkling, and said, "It's the best!"  Yep....

The Codester and I walked over at Proud Lake last week, for about an hour and a half or so.  He likes to run on the trails, stopping to pick up sticks, which he plans to toss in the Huron River.  He'll hide on me, too, behind trees and bushes.  What he might like most, though, is running through the mud.

I'm reading a history book now (don't tell anyone!), which cited Gore Vidal.  The sentiment expressed was that "academics" are ruining history.  I'd agree.  Far too many of them are arrogant, elitist.  History, whether they like it or not, is best told and taught as "stories."  Prof Rozwenc, on of my history teachers at Amherst, used to tell such riveting "stories" and anecdotes I often wondered if he lived with the likes of Washington, Jefferson, et al.  I recall a college colleague of mine, arguing that David McCulloch's history was real history (whatever "real history" is) because McCulloch "isn't a trained historian."  What poppycock!  How typical of the "academics" cited by Vidal.  No wonder it's hard to get students engaged in history.

An e-mail last week noted an AC classmate was laid off, at age 62 or 63.  That bad news aside, I was irked by three or four replies of sympathy that included, "Maybe you could teach?"  Wait a minute!  The implication is that "Anyone can teach."  I resent that, a great deal.  Now, I fully admit that with many in the schools today, it is true that anyone can be a teacher--or at least draw a paycheck for being a supposed teacher.  But that doesn't mean "Anyone can teach."  In fact, I'd posit far fewer can "teach" than most people suspect. 

A stunning report last week predicted 42% of all Americans will be "obese" within two decades.  What is startling, too, is that 1/3 of all Americans current are, not merely overweight, but "obese."  Fully 11% are "morbidly obese."  Hey, I thought we were in tough times!?!?!?  Oh, it's only "fast food" the downtrodden can afford?  Poppycock! That's ridiculous.  First, it's not "fast food" that makes a person fat--it's too much fast food. Second, serious planning and couponing as well as shopping the sales makes food more affordable than McD's, etc.  I'd guess feeding a family of four at a fast food place would run at least $10, at least.  C'mon, making a meal at home can be much less expensive than that.  But, we hear it from the "anointed" and they are never wrong.

Gee, I hope the "pink slime" opponents are happy.  Now, without any evidence that I've read, "pink slime" isn't unhealthy to eat.  It passes FDA muster.  It is actually leaner (that is, with less fat) than "normal" cuts of beef.  OK, it is cleansed with ammonia to remove bacteria, but apparently the FDA doesn't find that at all harmful.  And, I 've read nothing of anyone getting ill from the "pink slime" and its ammonia.  So, what do I hear this week?  6,000 people at "pink slime" plants are losing their jobs.  Maybe the anti-"pink slimers" could toss in some bucks to pay these now unemployed workers?  Yeah, that's going to happen.  That reminds me of the liberal who saw a man drowning off a pier.  He rushed to the drowning man's aid, tossing him a lifebuoy to which a rope was attached.  "Grab the lifebuoy!  Grab the lifebuoy!" the liberal yelled.  The floundering man did and held on for dear life.  Seeing that, the liberal let go of the rope and moved on to do another "good deed."

I ran a 5K last week.  I did fine, considering my Achilles problem, about 10 lbs too heavy, and not a speck of fast training.  I was a minute or so slower than last year, but the temperatures were 20 degrees warmer than last year, too.  But I checked out the age-graded tables and my time, age-graded, was 17:33.  Hey, in my fastest years (a relative term, of course) I never ran that fast, about 20 seconds slower.  Maybe I like these age-graded tables!  It was a cool race, with 7 of the top 9 finishers older than 40.  In fact, the only two top finishers to break the masters' stranglehold were the first woman and a 16-year old.  Cool race!  And, I enjoyed talking to old running friends I hadn't seen since last fall's races.  Oh, and a former student, Jill Mattson (now Peck) came up to say hello.  She ran the race, too, and ran it pretty fast!  We had a nice chat.

What is our fascination with the likes of Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, etc.?   With their deviant behaviors--drugs, alchohol, and lifestyles--weren't they the miscreants of society?  Why do we sing paeans to them?  Why do we find their stories "powerful?"  Beats me.  And that goes for those still alive.  Talk to some folks about Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and others.  It's as if these folks are having organisms just talking about them.  Listen to these so-called "singers."  They can't sing!  Well, they can't if "singing" is still defined with the term "melodious" in the definition.  Oh, well....

And are we in the midst of government by solipsism?  It sure seems like it.  The President's reality is only in his own mind.  Only his own existence seems to be real to him.  It's scary, at least to me, but, of course, I'm paranoid.  Equally frightening was talking to a retired teacher last week and listening to him sing the praises of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the Democrats.  The Republicans might also be incompetents, but that doesn't make the Democrats praiseworthy.  By the way, as I've expressed to a few Republicans, the financial messes in this country and state are not the fault of me, my union, or my pension.  They should perhaps review some of their Shakespeare, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."

That's enough for now.  Lots to do, but I leave with this thought, "He was one of you and yet he became Abraham Lincoln."