A far-off death fires up the time machine in my head

A 92-year-old died Wednesday in a retirement facility in Coralville, Iowa and I just read about it on Facebook. His name was Audra "Bud" Williams and I honestly had no idea he was still living until Feb. 12. I can't recall the last time I saw him, but it must have been years and years ago. 

There is no practical news value in this information. A 92-year-old has certainly seen a lot and hung in there and lived beyond an average lifespan, but the news often will mark this sort of milestone. For me, I was suddenly time-traveling to Nov. 22, 1963, as I sat in Bud's history class at Central Junior High School as an 8th grader fascinated by the amount of white shin that was revealed when the teacher would lift one foot onto an empty chair while telling us a story. 

I do know that I avoided taking that sort of stance during my own teaching career, wanting to avoid that sort of display. On an unrelated note, seeing a fellow teacher who consistently wore a tie with a short-sleeved dress shirt made a similar impact. I vowed to never make that wardrobe choice unless under duress. Then again, I am the guy in church choir who wears a suit or jacket and tie every Sunday, stubbornly refusing to submit to the informal nature of Colorado church services. Plus, I own some decent suits, though all are over 20 years old.

On that November day, the school PA blared out a sudden announcement that school was dismissed for the day (and it was about 1:30 p.m., about half an hour after the news broke). President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and was dead. 

That was a long, trying weekend at our house. Lots of crying and being glued to the TV. It all seemed very strange to my 13-year-old self, that's for sure.

I had been in fifth grade at Roosevelt Elementary during the Kennedy-Nixon election and had been campaign manager for the eventual victor during our in-class election. I recall making quite a few posters and giving an introduction to whomever was playing Kennedy in the class debate. I remember precisely zero about that debate and wonder if that sort of "lifelike" experience happens any more in American classrooms.

After all, one false move, one provocative statement, and one surreptitious video shot by an enterprising student and shared with dad might end a teaching career. 

And those memories from my youth MAY have something to do with the disappointment I feel concerning Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his nuttiness. That he is now Secretary of HHS seems like a joke missing a punchline. I guess it's not his fault that 45/47 decided that he would be a most excellent "troll" for those damn libs, preeminent among many such choices. 

Back to Bud, we were at City High together for nearly 20 years... he was Dean of Students and coached cross country and track. He coached Lesley in track, and I look forward to hearing some stories from her next time to get together. 

Bud was a character but he created a girls cross country program that drew as many as 100 girls to the team, despite only the top 6-7 counting in results of meets. Young women joined just to get in shape and to be part of mammoth pasta dinners put on by parents and generally be part of many state championships. 

I thought he was quite elderly in 1963, but it turns out that he was only about 36 at the time. He was from a different generation and from a northwest Missouri farming family, but somehow we became colleagues and friends. 

I have no memory of whether he was emotional on that fateful November day, but assume he held it together, whatever he felt. That's what a guy did. Maybe that's still what a guy does. 

Anyway, RIP, Bud. He was one-of-a-kind.

 

Having trouble sorting through the deluge of weirdness

The weirdness just washes over us these days... and it almost all comes through social media and TV. 

Just this week I saw that a Colorado legislator has introduces a bill to legalize concealed carry for anyone 18 year of age. He claims on his website to love the Lord, to value families and vehemently oppose abortion. He is a Second Amendment champion and (I guess) his idea to covertly arm America's youth is the logical extension of his faith in weapons.

This proposed law has no chance of even getting out of committee in Colorado. It's purely performative, and I get it: that's how politics works today. But I do wonder if he can actually imagine thousands of high school seniors packing heat as they head out to work at the grocery store or just to hang at the mall. 

Hey, I like 18-year-olds. I was one. But let's not arm them in the vague hope that "it takes a high school senior to stop a criminal." Actually, isn't that something all Americans could come together on?

Here's another post that caught my eye this week, this time from Colorado State University, where I continue to plague young writers who find proofreading to be an unfair burden (well, that's how it appears at times): A report claims that 60 percent of American college students "meet the criteria for at least one mental health problem." 

Hold on. I know there is a flood of transgender athletes ruining college sports but over half of all college students qualifying for mental health support? THAT seems like an alarming fact that we ought to think about. When 60 percent of a population has some form of mental health problem, it makes me think the following:

• We are defining "mental health problem" too broadly. 
• Is more education producing more mental illness? Or should we be surveying young Americans NOT in college to see how they are doing? 
• If everyone is in need of mental health services, how many mental health professionals do we need? 

I would never want to downplay whatever mental or physical challenges those around us are experiencing, and I accept that modern life and the pandemic and political and economic conflicts are difficult. But are they more difficult than, say, life during the Civil War? More difficult than penniless immigrants in the 19th century working dangerous and exhausting jobs just to eat? 

I realize I am indulging in 'whataboutism," but 60 percent??!! I have 30 in my CSU writing class. What do I do with the fact that I should expect 18 of them to be in need of mental health services of some sort? Will insisting on them reading the entire assignment prompt push someone over the edge? Should I avoid deducting points for late work because of the likelihood that their assignments were caused by a mental health crisis or, perhaps, a therapy appointment that went long?

Among many other examples of weirdness from just this week are the endless whining commentaries from the press on "what's wrong with the Democrats?" Why aren't they fighting (and winning)? And what about our Arab-American friends in places like Dearborn, Michigan suddenly noticing that the new president misled them? 

Oh, and then there is the 50 cent per egg Waffle House surcharge that made headlines. And Musk and "Big Balls," the online name for his 19-year-old engineer now combing through America's personal data. And $100 million in condoms for Hamas. And it goes on and on.

But, hey, Sunday is the Super Bowl, and we can enjoy TV commercials that cost $8 million for one spot, munch on over a billion chicken wings (could this be why there is an egg shortage?), and revel in large men beating the heck out of each other as pop stars cheer. 

On Monday we can make an appointment with our therapist or pharmacist. Let's enjoy the weekend.

The Law of Inertia rears its ugly head

Just look what the holidays and the political zeitgeist and the new semester and... well, everything can do to our best intentions: it's been two months since my last post on this blog. 

I could make excuses, including trying not to continually moan and groan about the latest outrage from the Orange One and his minions, but they remain excuses, and they are not that great. More responsible for my not posting is simple inertia. A body at rest tend to remain at rest. as Newton would say in his First Law. 

Still not a great excuse.

So, time to restart.

The first weeks of the Trump administration have been a blur of executive orders, bizarre public pronouncements, outright lying, half-truths, and ongoing outrage from the pundit class. In other words, business as usual in the world of Trump. 

I was not surprised to learn that there is a term for his strategy of  "flooding the zone," so to speak: distributed amplification.

Apparently, the phrase came into academic usage during the pandemic, when the deluge of opinions and information and disinformation, mostly online, left most of us puzzled, possibly afraid, and certainly a bit unsure of the truth about Covid and its effects. The term originated with electrical engineering, describing a method that expands the capacity of circuits to reach wider bandwidths (whatever that means).

A less academic-sounding concept that plagues us all right now is "telling the same lie over and over until an audience suspects there must be some truth in there." Interestingly, the bigger the lie or the more brazen the scheme, the more an overwhelmed public will believe.

I was thinking today about the tragic collision of a helicopter and an airliner over the Potomac and how it is inevitable that social media will quickly create conspiracies and bizarre interpretations of the event.

There were Russians on the plane! (There were: ice skaters and coaches.) The military helicopter was engaged in some clandestine mission! (Maybe, but more likely this was a routine flight from across the river.) Joe Biden orchestrated the crash as a way to embarrass the new administration! (Really?) The price of eggs will soar even more! (Can we stop with the egg prices?)

All this is to introduce what I hope will be a more regular examination in this blog of what most Americans want or share or believe, all from the point of view of this 74-year-old white male. 

Well, that's the hope. 

And I will try not to surrender to Newton's First Law again.

Are we really a sad, weak country?

I was somewhat surprised to see emails from both universities I teach for about meetings, seminars, counseling options, and suggested classroom strategies to support our damaged students post-election.

"Damaged" is the word I chose, just to be clear. There must be plenty of exceptions, based on exit polls, as to college students being shocked and despondent after Trump eked out a win a couple weeks ago. Some of that might be attributed to our silos ("I don't know anyone who voted for him!"), but the media's quick take on the results on the day after might have something to do with it.

We can expect a practiced liar like Trump to proclaim that his election was a mandate and "landslide," but the reality is that he received just under 50 percent of the votes cast. Statistically, this was one of the nation's closes elections. Reality never stops an egomaniac or a cult that revels in exaggeration and "trolling the libs," of course.

But now we are setting up program to support young people who appear (are?) fragile and naive. Oh, the poor things!

The many Muslim leaders and voters who chose to ignore all logic and experience and throw their support to the Orange One seem to be experiencing buyer's remorse. They are shocked that Trump nominated Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel. He has said there is no Palestine, to start. 

"But he promised he would help us."

I mean... it's bad in Gaza. Worse than bad. Something needs to be done and most of the world is frustrated by the slaughter and stubbornness... and not just in Lebanon and Gaza but in Ukraine and Sudan. It's fair to ask why the most powerful nation on earth isn't putting a stop to it. But the world is way more complex than this simple cause and effect: U.S. says no, so we don't. 

It's tempting to think that those desperate and outraged Arab-Americans will learn their lesson once they see Trump throw all U.S. support to Israel. And, honestly, I guess that complete destruction is one way to end the war... just not the method most Arab-Americans would like. 

I remember reading that when the Romans finally conquered the Carthaginians, they not only slaughtered or enslaved everyone in the city, but they knocked down the walls and buildings and then salted the earth so nothing would grow. 

Man, those Romans knew how to end a conflict.

Teaching online gives me some separation from the raw emotions of my students, and that is a mixed blessing. I only know them from their writing. I don't spend much time contemplating "trigger warnings," though I try to avoid the most controversial and upsetting topics for writing assignments. 

I worry that some percentage of Americans become so easily upset by whatever latest outrage the world presents them. And the outrages are endless. And in our instant communications age, those outrages pour into our news feeds and our TV news. 

I'm part of the last generation to really live in an "ignorance is bliss" world, I suppose. Horrible things were happening during the 1950s but like the tree falling in the forest with noone to observe... was there any sound? 

I am not in favor of ignorance, but I am in favor of everyone having a bit more grit. Life rarely offers massive victories, but the next four years are a chance to pile up some occasional and even substantial wins that can lead to a less damaged world. 

Today, we celebrate the downfall of a cretin like Gaetz, but that is fleeting and unsatisfactory. 

Time to look for some ways to make positive change.

Let's all pretend that we are living in normal times

If there's one thing that is now clear about our national political system, at least to me, it is that the executive branch, specifically the president, has far too much power.

The latest trolling from the president-elect has him promising to declare a national "state of emergency" and to activate the National Guard and who know what other units to round up undocumented people. He also fairly shouts with glee: "And then to get them the hell out of the country." 

Leaving aside the somewhat unclear issue of whether x number of undocumented immigrants might be dangerous, this idea of using the military to enforce laws within our borders is a challenge to all. When autocratic rulers manipulate the military to do their bidding, it often leads to not just power imbalances but to outright dictatorships. 

Trump and his cult are claiming several things after his victory, starting with terming the results a "mandate." As of today, the popular vote totals are Trump - 76,536,315, and Harris - 73,916,618. The current percentages are Trump 49.96% and Harris 48.25%. A difference of 1.7% is only a mandate if we decide to claim it as such. The news media, apparently, has decided to let this latest lie or "stretcher" stand. Two other things that most Republicans suddenly are very enthusiastic about are the economy and the reliability of our voting systems. 

Winners get to gloat. Hypocrites who win never have to explain.

For Democrats, the results sting, of course, but check this out: while Trump gained 2.3 million votes over 2020, Harris received nearly 7.4 million fewer votes. 

The top vote-getter was "I don't care," with that group of eligible voters deciding to sit the whole thing out. I assume those "can't be bothered" folks will be fine however things go, and also assume that at least some of them will take a look around in two years and "surprise" pollsters by ending the Republican majorities in the next midterm. 

Trump of course, will still be there, firmly in lame duck status, over 80 at that point and doddering, and hankering for some rallies to attend, some cult members to excite, and more cash to extract.

I have read that many people around the world are wondering about the American psyche and the nation's ability to do all it can to disrupt its own success and to (apparently) abandon the rest of the world. It's embarrassing to be an American sometimes, though I am certain many of our neighbors are humming "Happy days are here again" as they celebrate the return of the Orange One. 

On Saturday, while driving home near a major intersection in Highlands Ranch, I was confronted with a couple dozen of our fellow citizens waving "Women for Trump" banners and hollering at passing vehicles as they went by. I guess they just wanted to bask in their glory for a few more days. 

In sports, we would call that bad sportsmanship. Athletes are properly taught to NOT rub it in unnecessarily, to not get too full of themselves. The worm always turns. The boastful always are brought down. 

But maybe Trump and his cult will manage to upset even that eternal truth of athletics. At this point, it's tough to root for an America that seems to have lost its way. 

Or maybe those potential voters who just couldn't choose (in Colorado, one of the highest voting states, each of the eight congressional districts totaled over 100,000 non-voters) are a looming sign that the American Experiment, as it is often called, is coming to an end. 

'But things were pretty good for me back then...'

I assume that a vast number of Americans are unconcerned about the results of the election. In fact, many people seem to assume that all the blustering and overt racism and sexism... all the vulgarity and obvious greed that the winner exhibited for months and months... was just an act. 

Maybe it was. More likely is that the most egregious plans he put forth just won't fly in a nation that has moved from racial splits and gender splits to reveal what it really has been for its entire history: a nation dominated by the wealthy. It's not that money can simply buy elections -- after all, the Democrats raised and spent far more than the Republicans -- but the wealthy will always come out fine.

The puzzle for me has always been that the wealthy continue to find ways to get the poor, the struggling, and the frustrated to vote for them. Most of America is like Charlie Brown, always hoping that the football will not be yanked back at the last second by Lucy, sending us crashing to the ground, defeated. 

I'm not sure what to make of people who choose to pay exorbitant prices for bacon or eggs or whatever foods they just can't live without. Another choice would be to simply NOT purchase the items with inflated prices, or buy less. At some point, change happens. It's the essence of capitalism.

Financially distressed people could forego that trip to Disney or whatever splurge their credit limit can handle. I hate to be that guy, but when I was young and had little money (but enough to cover housing and food), it never occurred to us that our happiness might be raised by spending beyond our means. In fact, we never really felt frightening financial pressure. We just kept working.

I read the other day that the average income in Mississippi was more than the average income in Germany and England. Imagine that! I know averages can be deceiving, since they mask the extremes, but at least one reading of that fact is that Americans are doing quite well. Most of the world certainly thinks so.

Americans don't.

My immediate take on the results of the election is that the country had a little fit... people decided that this was a chance to express their anger and frustration with the way the world has treated them. So, we threw the bastards out. We will throw out the new bastards quite soon, of course... maybe in two years or four, but they are going.

Every pundit can suddenly see that Democrats made x mistakes... and everything is so clear in hindsight. The pollsters will create some elaborate rationalizations for their latest inaccurate predictions (I know, they will say they don't predict... but come on). The devout will rationalize their abandonment of ethics and morality as important in our leaders (though they will also see their churches grow emptier as even most ignorant can only take so much hypocrisy). 

I am glad to see the curtain pulled back, so to speak, so we can all see that it was class all along. All the leaders of Trump's cult have advanced degrees and obscene amounts of money. All the leaders of the Democratic Party enjoy the same. 

I teach college classes as a sort of retirement hobby and one thing I can say for sure: getting a college degree is not beyond most people, if they want it. Many do not, but they still lust for the money and power a degree usually brings. We hate to be talked down to. We all want to be the ones doing the "talking down."

One thing is certain: our economy depends upon a large percentage of the population working semi-crappy jobs, focused mostly on how to pay their next bill. No time to analyze, well, anything.

It's understandable that every few years those people throw a fit using one of the few bits of power they possess: their vote. 

Then they can go back to being manipulated by the rich and educated. 

End of bitter rant.

Down to four days... and down to rock bottom

At this point, the firehose of arguments and craziness and news events and assorted bizarre pronouncements blurted by various geriatrics (I include Biden here for his fumbling remark responding to some unknown comedian insulting an entire island and then Trump refusing to take any responsibility or even acknowledge knowing any details) has reached peak nuttiness.

I just heard a women someone at CBS discovered who claimed to not want to vote for BIDEN but not liking Trump... so she's not going to vote. Well, that seems like her best choice. We don't need morons to mark their ballots. 

Or maybe the poor soul is just frazzled and has lost any semblance of rational thought. Covering our ears and eyes until, say, December might be the most rational choice we could make. 

I am going out on a limb and saying Harris will win, in the end. I have no logical support for that other than preferring to cling to the idea that most of our neighbors are, well, OK. I often quote Seinfeld's famous statement: "People. They're the worst." But the nihilistic appeal of that claim ultimately doesn't quite work for me. 

I'm not sure America is broken but I am quite certain that American politics is broken. We are entering unknown territory, where half of voters will feel aggrieved whatever happens next week and an additional 80 million Americans who could have voted will not do so. Well, that's how many did not vote in 2020 and that election featured record turnout.

That means that we have about a third of Americans of voting age not being able to muster the energy to participate in the looming "most important election of their lifetime." And then a third will vote for Trump and a third for Harris... and a small number of white women in Pennsylvania will determine the Electoral College winner. 

The only consolation I have right now is that Trump will be gone in four years, even if America's broken system permits his appalling return. I happen to think that he is a cult leader and unique. There will be no successor who can captivate the genuflecting masses. 

If I am right that Harris ekes out a win, Trump and minions will wail and protest and sue, well, everyone. But he will eventually run out of gas and retreat to his grotesque palace. He won't disappear but his increasingly bizarre and obscene ravings just won't matter.

I often note that big changes don't come until we hit rock bottom. We are almost there. My hope is that there may be opportunity for a large and complex nation to focus on the future, even as we shake our heads thinking about how a decrepit man has led us down.

Next time I blog, perhaps we will know a bit more about what sort of society we want to be.