UM...

In a few, um, recent interviews on TV and, um, radio I have heard a proliferation of, um, what's called, um, speech static, fillers, and once, um, you start hearing it and are tuned into it, it grates the ears! You stop listening to the message and cringe at every filler.

Public speaking tops the list as one of people's greatest fears. As a former speech teacher (a course I loved), there were ten areas I focused on, one of which was speech static. If students listened and took to heart what I tried to make them aware of, I would dare to say, anyone who took the course emerged as a better, more confident speaker. One key concept I taught is to speak about what you know; know about what you speak.

Maybe I should offer a speech improvement course for adults. It is sorely needed.

Any takers?

***

"There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave." Dale Carnegie.

NO SEAT FOR YOU!

So, I just saw a picture online of an old Howard Johnson's (HoJo's) restaurant at Cleveland Circle in Boston's Brighton area, and it brought forth a rush of memories.

I remember that was a favorite place to go after dates or nights out with friends. 

I also remember one Friday night when my friend and I went for a late-night bite, and they bit us! It was just the two of us, and we got in line which came out the front door. When our turn came, we said, "Two, please."

The guy at the door said he couldn't seat us because we were just two guys; we didn't have dates. My bestie said they couldn't do that - it was discrimination (he since went on to become a lawyer). We politely tried to argue the merits of our case, but it was to no avail. 

We found a pay phone and called the HoJo's up the road in Brookline (next town over) and asked if they had the same policy. They didn't, so off we went where we were graciously welcomed.

Today, there would a request on Facebook to boycott the place, bad reviews online, and maybe a bombing (just kidding about the last one there). 

LORD OF THE FLIES

Thinking it may be time to reread Lord of the Flies by William Golding. 

At first read, it's about a bunch of schoolboys, survivors of a shot down airplane during wartime, marooned on a desert island and their attempts to organize and survive. 

A look a little deeper reveals today! Major themes of the book include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. More specifically: Civilization vs. Savagery, Loss of Innocence, the Struggle to Build a Civilization, the Dangers of Mob Mentality, and the Inherent Evil of Man. You know, like these past few years in America, the Ralphs vs. the Jacks.

Why education? It lets you see what the point of the book is.

 

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR... WALLET!?

"A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth." Trischmann's Paradox.

My one (and probably last) guilty pleasure is sitting in front of my laptop at my desk smoking my pipe. Smoking a pipe is nothing new for me. During my basic training in the mid-60s, one of my ammo pouches carried a package of tobacco, a pipe, pipe cleaners, a reamer, and matches (the other carried a book).

I know; I know. I fully understand smoking my pipe is not good for me, but it is a risk I am willing to take. While not good for me, I believe it is still better than cigarettes. I never tried cigarettes - I was so against cigarettes that a few 'friends' once jumped me after school, got me on the ground, held me down, stuck a cigarette in my mouth, and tried to make me smoke it. I didn't.

I did try cigars on occasion, but that was short lived. A pipe has been my nearly constant companion.

Through the years, I have tried a lot of different pipe tobaccos and enjoyed many of them, but one called Middleton's Cherry Blend is the one that emerged as my go-to. Back around 1970, pipe maker and tobacconist David P. Ehrlich offered a blend called Cake Box, a close second, but when the manufacturer stopped making it and sold the recipe, it was never the same.

Middleton's Cherry Blend, however, disappeared suddenly a few years ago. I have searched and searched for it and just found three 1.5-ounce packs in Vermont, but apparently Vermont has tacked on a 92% tax, making each package just about $10. Nope, not worth it - there is a limit. (Along the way, I also found that NH had tacked on a 65.03% tax). My current blends are getting my by okay.

“The fact is, Squire, the moment a man takes to a pipe, he becomes a philosopher. It’s the poor man’s friend; it calms the mind, soothes the temper, and makes a man patient under difficulties. It has made more good men, good husbands, kind masters, indulgent fathers, than any other blessed thing on this universal earth.” ”Sam Slick, The Clockmaker”

IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!

Stop the search parties; call off the dogs; take my picture down from telephone poles across the nation and the side of milk cartons! I am still here. I would love to scream, "Don't pay the ransom - I escaped!"

But, the truth is: time has become distorted. It's Monday. I blink and it's Thursday. And I blink again, and it's the next Thursday. Or no matter how many times I blink, it's still Tuesday - the same Tuesday.

Anyhow, it has been over a month since my last visit here (no applause, please), and I figure I should say something!

"Something!"

There!

One problem is that without regular change, everything stays the same. Most thoughts I have are stuck in an apparently endless loop. There are two things that dominate my life now (and for the past eight months or so). They are the same things that I have written about earlier.

First is the tRump pandemic. Just under half of America still sees absolutely no problem there. In an earlier post, I mused whether 145,923 is a large number. That was back in May, sometime after their lord and savior assured his minions it would disappear after 15 deaths or so, and kept saying it would just disappear, and here we are today with half a million fellow citizens dead! It will continue to get much worse before it gets better. (Yes, there is a vaccine on the horizon, which eventually should make a difference! [Now, if science worked as hard to find a cure for cancer....])

The other issue is the ongoing worship of lack of character, morals, decency, intelligence, etc., etc. by the same just under half of America. That is another whole thing, but for now, that's it.

Stay safe and stay well!

(p.s. If there is a topic you would like to see, please just ask!)

BUSY DAY!

This morning we went in to get absentee ballots and found out we could do everything today, which we did. WE VOTED!

Then we donated blood. Again, the person there told me I have to pee sitting down - she said not to lift anything heavy.

Finally, a Lions Club meeting tonight.

Some days are like that, you know.

THE WAY IT WAS! (1975)

A friend just posted some pages from the 1975 Plymouth AREA High School yearbook. Besides my being quite the fashion plate (picture below if I can figure out how to import it [try not to swoon]), the book brought back some memories, which probably wouldn't fly today.

First was the annual Miss Halloween contest. If I remember correctly, there were three competitive categories in the contest: swimsuit, evening gown, and talent. The one twist is all the contestants were guys including football players, etc. 

The other annual event was a class fundraiser - the Senior Slave Auction. Students would "buy" a senior for the day to do things like carry their books to class, clean their lockers, get and serve their lunch, etc. An all-school assembly would convene and the highest bidder(s) would get the services of their senior for the day (but sadly not everyone played along). 

Sadly, many (most) did. While it may not have been the event that ended the continuation, I do remember one year the students who bought their senior had him push a peanut up the ramps between floors... with his nose. The good sport did so. When he was discovered, his nose was raw and his face bloodied.

When given freedom, many (most) people won't 'play the game' and do the right thing.

Sounds like today.

SEEING STARS!

Every time I finish a book on my Kindle (not as many or as often as I used to), I am asked to rate the book. I struggle with this. I have the option of one to five stars. It takes a couple of weeks to finish a book as virtually the only time I read is in bed before I try to sleep. I do remember one weekend way back in the day when I read five books in a weekend.

These days, I read for entertainment and escape - thrillers, mysteries, police procedurals, and courtroom dramas (with an occasional horror novel tossed in [or political expose]). I rarely read non-fiction any more. Most main characters are retired whatevers (military, CIA, etc.) and virtually always come out on top (think Jack Reacher, John Milton, or ). The bad guys are the worst of the worst - someone created them, which makes me wonder about the authors.

Anyhow, I digress. Most of my ratings are three, four, or five stars. The problem is discerning what a five-star book really is. When I was teaching, I dealt with true five-star creations (Dickens, Bradbury, Lee, Golding, etc).

Today, I love earlier Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Lescroart, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, etc. Most of their offerings are legitimately four and five star books, but what makes them so?

I love detailed description, realistic dialogue, fleshed out characters, and a strong story (something that keeps me turning pages to see what happens next or how the protagonist gets out of whatever seemingly impossible situation s/he got into).

So, if I give a Kindle read five stars, is it really? 

Usually not, but in the Kindle context, maybe... if you know what I mean.

As long as ratings are relative, I can live with it.

WHICH AMERICA?

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this thing called 'America.'

Growing up, I thought I knew America. Over the past few years, I am not so sure anymore. 

In my early days, I was taught to see America as the proverbial melting pot - a stew of sorts contained in the borders of a pot in which there were many different ingredients, each with a separate identity but contributing to a whole, something that was far greater than the sum of the parts.

Today, we still have those who remember, adhere to and fight for the old vision but we also have those who, whether they can admit it or not, want a straight, white, Christian, male-dominated, armed country. Anything short of that is not America. There is little in-between. America started off with the former and is struggling today with the latter.

People don't want America - they want their version of America.

When I arrived in rural New Hampshire, it struck me as Mayberry-ish. I came from a place where debutants had balls (not that kind), females had nose jobs, and lots of material goods. None of that up in rural NH. You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know.... 

I suspect the section of NH where I ended up was and is tribal. Attitudes of locals was passed down by their parents who learned them from their parents, etc., etc. When I got here, New Hampshire was 99 percent white. Some forty years, it hasn't changed much - I believe latest census estimate (last year) put her at 93.1 percent white. 

The true locals resented outsiders, especially when they brought 'their ways.' I adapted pretty well, but the loud, pushy tourists ruined it. 

I am going to stop here because this is sounding familiar (I am sure I posted something recently that reflects these thoughts). 

Next time will be something totally different.

Thanks for understanding. 

ACCEPTABLE LOSSES REVISITED!

In case you missed it, this first part is a repeat of a blog entry from February 23, 2020, called "Acceptable Losses." 

Original Post 

(Full disclosure: I am a gun owner, and I support the Second Amendment)     

There is an old military saying that states: ‘No plan survives after the first contact with the enemy.’

When the military and other groups consider and develop a plan, there is something built in called ‘Acceptable Losses.’ What that means is if all goes as planned (which it rarely does), it will result in a certain percentage of life or materiel loss that is deemed worth losing (acceptable) to attain the objective of the mission.

Keeping that in mind, while many are calling for tweaking the current laws, doing something, there is an unyielding refusal of others to consider anything to make a positive difference in our gun culture.

Six people dying with vaping is unacceptable (now up to 59), so action is taken.

Thirty-six thousand people killed each year by guns is apparently acceptable. In mass shootings, as shocked as people profess to be, we have become numbed to the regular increase of incidents. To help, they say we should keep sending thoughts and prayers (yawn) but do nothing else.

Sandy Hook (29 killed) should have been when action was taken, but that was apparently acceptable. Las Vegas (58), Pulse (49), Virginia Tech (32), El Paso (22), etc., etc., should also have brought about action, but apparently, some still see those as acceptable losses. Any suggestion of changing any laws result in, ‘They’re coming to take our guns.’ To them, keeping the status quo is worth the piling-up bodies.

Until such killings become unacceptable to all, they will remain acceptable.

Addition and Update

So, here we are in mid-September some seven months after the above was written. 

On February 24th, tRump tweeted: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"

And then on March 9th, he added: "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"

And today, if he says it, they believe it. September 15th, almost 200,000 U.S. citizens are dead! Bolstered by their Great Leader, probably forty percent of Americans still see that as okay - fully acceptable! They will tell you tRump has done everything perfectly, and the results couldn't be better. To say anything else might reveal some intelligence, which they don't have.

For two months, tRump lied and denied, and here we are, and there is no end in sight.

200,000 dead and climbing.

Acceptable losses.

Sad.

#trumppandemic 

HOUSE OF WHAT???

So the Ever-lovely Miss Kim, as is her wont,  was watching a show called 'Extreme Paranormal Witness." I came in toward the end and was half paying attention but still picked up on some pretty scary happenings. No, if that were our house, we wouldn't have bought it let alone be staying there.

As 'things' started happening, the couple did some research on the home they had purchased and been living in. They found the place had been the'Mansfield Training School and Hospital,' but before that it was called 'The House of Imbeciles,' which was an acceptable diagnostic term way back when.

My wife and I immediately looked at each other with the same thought: what a great name for the current White House!

😂

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD?

There are four things that happened in our history that  I will never forget where I was when I heard. This is one of them.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I was walking into a classroom for a study hall.

Students were pretty excited, asking if I had heard about a plane that hit a building in New York. I hadn't. 

Accident? That was the only thought at that point. No one had any more information.

When things settled down, I tried to get on the computer to see what was happening, but it was even slower than usual, and none of the news sites were loading. As a news freak, I was frustrated to say the least!

That is the moment I remember. As the day progressed, I learned more, and the rest is history, as 'they' say.

The other thing connected to 9/11 I clearly remember is sometime some days later, I was driving somewhere and listening to a list of the victims being read on the car radio. There were names and ages being read, and when one was read and the age was given as three years old, I completely lost it and began sobbing.

When people today say, "Never forget," I can't and won't.

I HATED YOU!

Back in the day when I did such things, I went to a play called The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. 

From Wikipedia: "The play revolves around a dysfunctional family consisting of single mother Beatrice and her two daughters, Ruth and Tillie, who try to cope with their abysmal status in life. Shy Matilda Hunsdorfer, nicknamed Tillie, prepares an experiment involving marigolds raised from seeds exposed to radioactivity for her science fair. She is, however, constantly thwarted by her mother Beatrice, who is self-centered and abusive, and by her extroverted and unstable sister Ruth, who submits to her mother's will. Over the course of the play, Beatrice constantly tries to stamp out any opportunities Tillie has of succeeding, due to her own lack of success in life. As the play progresses, the paths of the three characters diverge: Tillie wins the science fair through perseverance; Ruth attempts to stand up to her mother but has a nervous collapse at the end of the play, and Beatrice—driven to the verge of insanity by her deep-seated enmity towards everyone—kills the girls' pet rabbit Peter and ends up wallowing in her own perceived insignificance. Despite this, Tillie (who is much like her project's deformed but beautiful and hardy marigolds) secretly continues to believe that everyone is valuable."

Anyhow, the mother Beatrice was played perfectly - she was a horrible person! After the play, the cast showed up in the lobby for a meet-and-greet. When I saw the actress who played the mother, I walked up to her, took her hand, looked her in the eye and said, "I hated you!"

She smiled, clasped my hand more firmly, and replied, "That was the best compliment you could have given me."

I mention this because I just came across an interview with actress Louise Fletcher. I hated her too (at least the part she played - Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (If you haven't seen the movie, it's one of the best ever, having won the 'big five' Oscars and dozens of others! See it!)

Besides having read the book and seeing the movie several times, I also saw a couple of stage play productions as well. They were somewhat different from the movie, but each great in their own way (the difference in the interpretation and presentation of Randle Patrick McMurphy ("R. P.") still worked.

By the way, I hated the character of Nurse Ratched and still do! 

KITTY GENOVESE

"If you see something, say something!"

Back in 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered in a New York section called Kew Gardens. The story was that she screamed for help and virtually everyone ignored her cries. If I remember correctly, the attacked came back again after leaving her on the ground and finished what he had started.  

The attack underscored something called The Bystander Effect, which basically said the more witnesses there were, the less likely someone would intervene and help. The story at the time was no one helped (not completely accurate); people didn't want to get involved. As a result, an overnight Boston deejay named Dick Summer started a NAG campaign (Nightlighters (his group of listeners) Against Gutlessness). Outraged by the murder, he provided small plastic key chains to listeners that would hold a dime for a phone call if someone saw something hoping to move an apathetic public toward action.  

More recently (but still many years ago), students thought it was cool to call bomb threats into schools. The schools urged students to say something if they knew something. It they knew and didn't say something, they were complicit. Of course, the contemporary 'wisdom' was 'Snitches get stitches,' and I suspect that still applies, which doesn't make doing the right thing the right thing.

Anyhow, if you see something, say something. It's the right thing.

 

SOMETHING?

Ray Bradbury once said, "If you can write one short story a week—it doesn’t matter what the quality is to start, but at least you’re practicing, and at the end of the year you have 52 short stories, and I defy you to write 52 bad ones. Can’t be done. At the end of 30 weeks or 40 weeks or at the end of the year, all of a sudden a story will come that’s just wonderful." (Or more succinctly, "If you want to be a writer, write a new short story every week. No one can write 52 bad short stories.")

I believe that. 

So it logically follows that tRump eventually will do something good for we the people. Whether deliberate or by accident, I am sure it can be argued he may even have done something good along the way.

I noticed, however, virtually no one is praising tRump for any good he has done. Instead, he and his supporters attack Obama, Hillary, Biden, and anyone who dares criticize him no matter how deserved it may be. He lashes out, name calls, insults, lies, denies etc. Since there is NOTHING he can say or do that would dissuade his Dunning-Kruger infected followers, it's up to those with open minds to speak their minds and point out his culpability and immorality, another useless exercise because to many there is NOTHING he can say or do that's good and decent.

The America I thought I knew growing up no longer exists (maybe it never really did, but at least we thought it did). 

Whether one can see it or not, things are a mess. 

Four more years will be the nails in the coffin.

I GOT GOT... AGAIN!

You know how on some sites there are lists of 'Sponsored Stories.'

I was scrolling through the FOX NEWS site when one caught my eye. In all honesty, I am not sure why, but the headline said "Meghan McCain Shows Off Her Partner & WOW," and I decided to see her partner and find out why 'WOW' was the descriptor.

As I went through each page, there were some real surprises! I think we see actors and other celebrities as interesting people and often forget they are really just people with lives like the rest of us - sort of. There were people like Snoop Dogg, Terry Bradshaw, and Michael J. Fox and their other halves. 

I finally found out about Meghan McCain's partner (Ben Domenech). They have been married for three years.

The thing is, it took me 114 clicks to get there when a trip to Wikipedia could have given me the same information in about five seconds. 

Maybe someday I will learn.

(In all honesty, however, sometimes what we discover along the way makes the trip worthwhile. Just saying.)

RANDOM THOUGHTS - PART III

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS LIST THREE

I think we are going to hear a lot more from Deutsche Bank.

I am quintuple (5x) compromised, so in public I will be masked and hope you will be as well.

Just saw a video on privilege. I learned I was privileged (but not with a capital ‘P’).

A piece of writing is never finished – it’s abandoned.

How many people voting for Biden will really be voting against tRump?

So, if microwaves can heat food, could macrowaves chill it?

More A-listers – we need a lot more A-listers. We’ve currently lost ONLY around 170,000 lives of fellow Americans, but they’re mostly the ordinary little people. When more rich and famous start to go, maybe people will take notice. #trumppandemic

Delay the election? Don’t you think he has done enough damage already?

The very people who demanded to see Obama’s birth certificate don’t seem at all interested in seeing tRump’s tax returns or care Russia hacked us. Why?

Thinking about undoing the damage tRump and his supporters have done is like putting toothpaste back in the tube.

So tRump announced that he donated his most recent quarterly paycheck to the National Park Service. That’s $100,000. Nice gesture. Of course, his golf outings have cost taxpayers approximately $139,000,000. Just sayin’.

Should be banning Dixie cups? What about our horse whose name is Dixie?

THIS IS A HARD ONE....

(That what sh... never mind.)

This is a most difficult post to write because it deals with higher-level ideas, and not everyone is equipped to deal with such, which is making it hard for me to approach. I don't know if I can even get the point across.

Ray Bradbury, in 1948, published a short story (14 pages) called "Tomorrow's Child." A partial plot summary follows:

"Tomorrow's Child is a futuristic story about a child that is born into an alternate dimension due to the malfunction of a new birth procedure machine.  The story is told in third person, but switches between the regular dimension, and the alternate dimension in which the baby is born.  Dr. Wolcott and his team of doctors at the local hospital have never seen anything like this before, and insist on testing the physical and mental attributes of this little blue six-arm-pyramid-baby named Py (short for "pyramid").

 "Peter Horn, Py's father, is reluctant at first to giving care to Py, calling him "a crime against god," but eventually accepts that this is his son, no matter the physical form of his being.  Unlike her husband, Polly Horn, Py's mother, immediately takes to Py and treats him just as she would if he were in any other form.  After clearance from the hospital to leave, Peter flies Polly and Py home in their helicopter, while Polly holds Py.  Polly seems to notice that Py makes "cooing" in response to her, almost like he can understand her.

"At this point, the story switches to Py's dimension.  Where in the regular dimension, everyone sees Py as a six-limbed pyramid, Py sees himself as what we believe a normal baby of the regular dimension looks like.  Py sees everyone around him as geometric shapes, Peter as a hexagon, and Polly as a rectangular prism.  He is able to recognize the shapes that he sees most often, and the ones he sees less often.  He becomes close with the hexagon and the prism, and recognizes the square that comes once every few days and looks at him.  Py is curious about the machine he gets plugged into, and all the moving lines, flashing lights, and beeps that fill the environment." (google.com)

There's more, but in the unlikely event that someone wants to read it, I don't want to give any spoilers.

Here comes the difficult part. People today are of two schools re: tRump. People either love him or hate him. There is no middle ground.

We see and hear the same things about the #trumppandemic (currently 168,445 fellow Americans dead), unemployment, evictions, loss of health care, crude nastiness, lack of leadership, lies, businesses closing, more lies, etc., etc., etc.

One 'side' is appalled (#themanwhodestroyedamerica). The other still fully supports him and cheers him on (he says what he means).

Now, the point of this whole thing: I am not a stupid person. Seeing what I see, I have to ask, "What color is the sky where you are?" 

LAUGH, LAUGH...

My mother used to have this thing where she would laugh uncontrollably often at the wrong time.

One time following a surgery I had, she came to visit me in the hospital. I was uncomfortable (to say the least), and when I shifted position, the pain, a tearing sensation in the stitched area, was excruciating. I grimaced, and she started laughing, which started me laughing. Fortunately, I don't remember the pain (life is sometimes good that way).

That said, The Ever-lovely Miss Kim and I recently went into a Five Guys for a quick lunch. Everything was fine until I saw a man come in wearing a black tRump face mask. In all honesty, I didn't read the whole thing. It could have said, "Trump - Keep America Great" (🙄) or it could have said, "Trump Virus 2020" or "Trump for Prison 2020."

I looked around the store - everyone was wearing masks (the new 'normal), there were plastic barriers set up, and tables socially distanced, but at least they were open.

Sudden thoughts washed over me like a tsunami - massive unemployment and related financial issues, small businesses disappearing, loss of health care, over 160,000 fellow Americans dead, loss of sports, food lines, the mess with schools, travel, tourism, etc., etc., etc.

I would love to tell you I started to laugh - harder and harder. Tears came to my eyes, and my laughter grew louder and louder and my voice raised in pitch. I stumbled back against the wall hitting it with my back, and slid to the floor still laughing.

I thought about the unnecessary ridiculousness of the whole thing. I know it is what it is (sorry), but it didn't have to be. Mike Leavitt observed that "There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve." At least that's how it should be for most normal people. 

Believe and spin what you want, but this is the tRump Pandemic. I hold him and his pertinacious supporters responsible for everything that is going on. Other countries have figured it out, but not the good old U.S. of A. "My rights are more important than yours and the country's." (Think 'The Ugly American.')

Smart people can pretend to be stupid, but stupid people can't pretend to be smart.

(By the way, I really didn't start laughing - I just thought about it. I didn't cry either, which would have been easy to do. In reality, I finished my lunch, and we went on our way back into the tRump Pandemic).)

BERMBIT'S GAME

I learned this game many years ago as an icebreaker at a personal growth workshop I attended. It was a great way to learn about others and their interests and experiences.

After I tried it in school, it didn't go viral because there was no Internet then, but it certainly did make the rounds. Bottom line, the goal is to get people talking. Interestingly, when the game circulated locally in school and on some chat sites, it started being called Bermbit's Game, which I will gladly keep.

Just this week, I have seen a newer version on Facebook, which inspired me to resurrect the old game. The current Facebook version has someone naming five famous people they have met or been close to, but one is a lie. 

The original game was things one has done or achieved, like or dislike, etc. 

Here's an example - five things follow, but one is not true (which, of course means four are true!

(1) I ate Chinese food up and close with Led Zeppelin.

(2) I once won $10,000 in the Lottery.

(3) I have a short piece published in one of the Chicken Soup series.

(4)  I once road-managed The J. Geils Band.

(5) I played intercollegiate ice hockey for my college.

So, at this point you should be looking back at the answers and wondering which one is false. 

And go....

(As I usually do, I will wait to post the answer.)

WHO AM I? WHO ARE YOU?

I used to do a writing exercise in class where I'd ask students to take out a piece of paper and write the numbers 1 - 20 down the left side, one number per line  (if you want to try it now, go ahead and get a piece of paper or open a new page on the computer word processing program. Go ahead, I'll wait. I need a bathroom break anyhow.

Okay, I'm back, and I am sure you are ready to go. On the top of the page, write (or type/enter): WHO AM I?

For each succeeding line, answer the same question twenty times. #1, you might say "A father." #2 might be a son or daughter (or husband or wife, etc). The first several will be easy. #7 might be a student or teacher. There does come a point when it gets tougher, but I know you can do it.

By now, you should realize we are complex beings who play many, many roles in our lives. Are we the same person for each interaction? Do we treat everyone the same, or are there many versions of ourselves for others? My "famous saying" was, "You don't have to like everybody, but you have to get along." Over the years, numerous students actually thanked me for that insight in their interactions with others (family, customers, etc).

Are there people/groups on the list you wish you could do better with? Go ahead, it's not hard (in most cases, it shouldn't be). At the end of the day, however, "To thine own self be true," but you have to find out who you really are first.

We are many people, and there is a process most of us go through to find the real us. During that process, we learn a lot. "Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find a face of his own."

In my case, a different approach. Who am I? My students generally called me Mr. Berman (many still do some 40+ years later), but along the way as familiarity increased, they also referred to me as Mr. B, Berm, Bermie (I never liked that one), B-Man, Berm-Dude, Berm-Dog, B-Dog, C.B. DeBerman (some of you won’t be old enough to understand the allusion to C. B. DeMille, the famous director of epic movies - if you did know that, score one for you – I’m impressed), Dr. Berman (sorry, but that was my late, great father [also, I don’t have a doctorate]), L.B. (short for “Lust Bunny” [there really is an innocent story behind that one – just ask the twins Mark and Cindy – they named me]), The BermMeister, Grand Master B, Da Bomb, Da Shit (I asked around and found out that those last two actually are compliments in the ever-changing, often-confusing twisted language of the young), Mr. Bermer, and last but not least, The Bermanator. I am sure there were numerous other things I was called when I wasn’t listening, but the ones above are the ones I actually heard and readily recall. 

Anyhow, think about it all. I hope you realized or learned something here.

YES, DEAR. YOU WERE RIGHT....

I sometimes only half-listen to the news, and that's when I get in trouble.

With the recent passing of Congressman John Lewis, I thought I had heard his body would lie in state at the Georgia State Capitol Rotunda for a ceremony and then be moved to the Capital Rotunda in Washington on Wednesday.

When my wife told me tRump would not go to pay his respects to Lewis, I was stunned. "Of course, he will. He has to! He won't go to Georgia, but when Lewis's body is back in Washington, of course he will. As president, he has to."

"He's already in Washington lying in state," she pointed out, and, sure enough, there it was on the news.

It took a moment to process. When I did a little checking, tRump did say, "I won't be going, no."

Traditionally, presidents let past disagreements go when someone in opposition passes on. Class dictates doing the right thing and putting the past aside. There is a Latin saying: "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" - speak no ill of the dead. Obama spoke at John McCain's funeral. On the other hand, despite being the sitting president, tRump was not even invited to McCain's funeral. Ouch.

On yet another hand, in 2017, Lewis did refuse to attend tRump's inauguration saying that tRump wasn't a "legitimate president."

Anyhow, tRump really did say he wouldn't go to pay his respects.

Yes, dear. You were right. I was wrong.

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?

Throughout my teaching years, I often offered a "Quick Write" at the beginning of the class - just something to get the creative juices flowing.

One year, my daily topic coincidentally turned out to be THE prompt that that year's standardized test asked (I don't think anyone noticed, however).

Anyhow, one writing prompt I offered somewhere along the way was "What's on your mind today?" Unfortunately, the students told me, and, in many cases, it was disturbing. Many (most) of my students were honest with me because they trusted me. 

At the start of each school year, I told students there were three things I had to tell someone if they told me: if they were planning to hurt someone, if they were planning to hurt themselves, or if they were being abused in any way, shape, or form, and if they supported the Yankees (just kidding about that fourth one [there really were only three]). 

They shared personal details of things students shouldn't have to carry with them. I spoke to the guidance counselor once over concern for a certain student, and she said it's amazing that s/he even makes it to school. The burdens were huge for some of them.

I was known for my 'stories' during class - something I was reminded of or wanted to share (just between us, every story supported the school's Mission Statement). I wanted the students to know I was human and made mistakes along the way. I wanted them to learn from my own errors along the way.

We teachers did what we could when we could and still hope we made a difference. I often told students their real education began when they graduated and walked out the door for the last time.

That's one reason I spend too much time on Facebook - to see how they are doing. I do see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

That said, is there anything you would like to see offered here? Any topic you'd like to hear about? Please let me know.

JOBS I HAVE KNOWN!

Many years ago, my dear,  now-departed mother suggested I write a book called Jobs I Have Known. 

While I didn't always have to, I pretty much always worked. I loved the people contact and learning new things (and the spending money)! Those all were what made a job great! That and being there for and helping others.

Among the jobs I still remember: door-to-door greeting card sales, bowling pin setter, drug store worker and soda-jerk (no comments, please), taxi driver, political volunteer, bus boy security guard, movie theatre usher, interviewer, motorcycle salesman, bouncer, car salesman, server, personalized advertising specialty sales, substance abuse prevention presenter, Tupperware dealer, radio DJ - WPNH), Fuller Brush man, and teacher. I can't remember any others now), but there once was a list of about 30 different jobs.

I can proudly say I was never let go from a job except one (car sales) because of a declining consumer market (about 30 years ago). I did leave a few as life circumstances changed. I did quit one that required me to walk a neighborhood, carry around a 16mm projector, talk my way into someone's apartment, and show ads while asking people if they remember them from the previous night's television. Ugh!

Anyhow, that was then, and this is now. I am retired and enjoying doing virtually nothing.

And yet, in the greatest economy ever, here I am again casually having to look for another job. It's a lot tougher when one is older.

"UNCLE DIRTY"

When I was more social, I used to be the 'life of the party' - always the wit, the king of the one liners - most of which were (and are) absolutely inappropriate (those few people who are in my inner circle today have probably heard some). 

I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut when I began teaching. One wrong comment was followed by a phone call to the school, and it was a trip to the principal's office. I always thought I was funny, but in a conservative environment, discretion was the better part of valor. I ended up with thirty-one years of holding things in.

There was a time when I thought I could make it as a stand-up comedian. I would call myself "Uncle Dirty," but there already was one, and I wouldn't want to get sued ala the Lady Antebellum versus Lady A controversy. 

Back in the old days, nothing was off limits - nothing! Race, religion, sex, you name it. If a joke was funny, it was funny and a just joke, and while I could completely understand that concept, others couldn't. Today, there are a few people who hear and endure my comments. When I hear a 'trigger word,' my wife (and gradually my daughter) knows what's coming. She's heard many of the jokes over and over again. The worst part is when we meet someone new who has never heard my witticisms before, the jokes just emerge; they push their way out unsummoned.

Interestingly to me, if you ran into me and asked me to tell a joke, I probably couldn't pull one out, but when I hear the right trigger word, there the joke is. 

Is it brilliance or a sickness? I am thinking the latter. There is a condition. As described in Wikipedia: Witzelsucht (from the German witzeln, meaning to joke or wisecrack, and sucht, meaning addiction or yearning) is a set of rare neurological symptoms characterized by a tendency to make puns or tell inappropriate jokes or pointless stories in socially inappropriate situations. A less common symptom is hypersexuality, the tendency to make sexual comments at inappropriate times or situations. Patients do not understand that their behavior is abnormal, therefore are nonresponsive to others' reactions. The disorder remains named in accordance with its reviewed definition by German neurologist Hermann Oppenheim; its first description as the less focused "Moria" (stupidity), by German neurologist Moritz Jastrowitz, was in 1888. Due to similarity of symptoms of the disorder to the mannerisms of Batman's arch-rival Joker; it is sometimes known as 'The Joker Syndrome'

Speaking of Joker: Batman and Joker were in a lunatic asylum... And one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more; nope. They decide they're going to escape! So they get up onto the roof, and there, just across a narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... stretching away to freedom. Now, Batman, he jumps right across with no problem. But the Joker did not dare make the leap. Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, Batman has an idea... He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!' But the second guy just shakes his head. He says... He says 'Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!

Sorry.

I LIKED IT HERE!

I think too much!

As I regularly skim news sites (both real and fake), I start to think about how the country was (or at least how I thought it was) way back when I was growing up. I have the benefit of hindsight, a still functioning brain, and am able to look at things with both eyes open. I have learned a lot as the years flew by. 

I grew up in a Liberal environment, so I was a Liberal. When I moved to NH, I was immersed in a Conservative world, and gradually moved to either side of the middle, embracing philosophies from both sides. Today, some 41 years later, I still see good on both sides. 

Cutting to the chase, while I was watching the news, I started thinking about a song my class sang in junior high school. The world was a lot different then (around 60 years ago), and while some advances along the way have been are miraculous, others changes aren't advances at all. I often feel like I am back in the 1950's.

The song is called "I Like it Here," and we sang it regularly. It describes the world I thought I lived in. Today, I am not so sure anymore. See what you think.

"I Like it Here"

I like the United States of America.

I like the way we all live without fear.

I like to vote for my choice, speak my mind, raise my voice,

Yes, I like it here.

I like the United States of America.

I am thankful each day of the year.

For I can do as I please, 'cause I'm free as the breeze,

Yes I like it here.

I like to climb to the top of the mountain so high,

Lift my head to the sky,

And say how grateful am I

For the way that I'm working and helping and giving

And doing the things I hold dear.

Yes, I like it, I like it, I like it here.

I'LL TAKE JEOPARDY FOR $2,000...

Tonight, the Ever-Lovely Miss Kim and I hunkered down and watched the very first 1984 episode of 'Jeopardy' featuring George Alexander Trebek (aka Alex). Aside from some technological changes, the game is almost unchanged from what we see today.

The questions were easier than we see these days (IMHO), but again, there have been an additional 36 years of knowledge, news, movies, etc., etc. Alex commented more, and the less-sharp editing left more answers than usual untouched.

As a couple, we have pretty much watched regularly through our years together (coming up on 27 [WOW!]). Even while we were dating, we'd spend time on the phone (sometimes hours)  watching the show (it was easier than trying to find something to say).  

Trivia time: the first tune the Ever-Effervescent Miss Jessica ever hummed was the 'Jeopardy' theme song.

When we watch, we take turns kicking each other butts. I always get beat up when the category 'THINGS KIM KNOWS' shows up. It's a fun half hour for us to show off our knowledge and be reminded of how much we don't know. 

Anyhow, the answer is: WHO HAS THE BEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL BRAIN EVER? IT'S BETTER THAN ANY OTHER BRAIN IN HISTORY... IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

The question?

MORE RANDOM STUDENT SNAPSHOTS

Throughout my teaching years, there have been many moments (good and bad) with my students I will never forget. Here are a few:

(1) A student of mine had been given an ongoing hard time by another student. When things finally played out, a fight ensued. My student had been pushed and pushed (documented) and finally responded. When I asked my class what had happened, they told me when my guy was done, the other student's face looked like raw hamburger! Karma.

(2) One student came to me with her sister and asked if they could talk to me. I said, "Sure." She told me her sister was being sexually abused by a family member. We talked about it and decided the three of us should go to the principal. They said they were scared and asked if I would go with them. I agreed, but let them know I couldn't go into the meeting because of confidentially issues. Like numerous similar other situations, I never found out what happened. I still wonder.

(3) A student came into class one day looking pretty beat up. I asked what happened, and he matter-of-factly said, "Oh, nothing. I got in a fight with my father." I asked, "You mean a fight fight?" He said Yes. Just another day in paradise.

(4) When reading and talking about The Diary of Anne Frank, one student commented, "It's really too bad Hitler didn't have the time to finish what he started." From a kid who probably still wants a straight, white, Christian, male-dominated America.

(5) In another class reading the same book, the introductory lesson was a three-part sheet asking (a) What you know about Jewish people, (b) What you think you know, and (c) What you want to know. I learned from a couple of students that Jews are ugly, they have big noses, it's part of their religion to sleep with their daughters, and they're all rich. Really?

(6) Some students had an over-the-top hatred of gay people. Trying to more personalize the issue, I remember asking him what he'd do if he found out his brother was gay. His answer came quickly: "I'd kill him." (I did find out that many of the most vocal anti-gays were, in fact, gay and had to cover it up.)

(7) Finally, to end on a more positive note, after a great discussion (I have no idea what it was about), one student told me, "Wow! You really understand us - it's like you are one of us!" 

FINDING GEORGE

Unprecedented?

We were watching "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" (a fake anti-tRump news show from ABC. I like to develop my opinions based on fake news). With about 20 minutes to go in the program, George awkwardly announced there was a 'technical problem,' and they were going to break. He never came back. If I can read body language, he was not a happy camper.

For the next 20 minutes, the same handful of commercials ran again and again and again, etc.

Anyone know what happened?

I wonder what the rebroadcast at noon will look like....

RE-POST FROM 2008 (APPROPRIATE TODAY MORE THAN EVER)!

(This may not work because I am sick and should be up in bed, but I did feel it necessary to at least get something posted.) An employee where I used to teach recently filed a complaint about John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire. She didn't think it was appropriate to read, so instead of returning it and saying something to the librarian, she initiated The Book Challenge Procedure to try to remove the book from the library. Sad!

This current week through October 4th is Banned Books Week. The concept of banning books is a big No-no in my world! Interestingly, while I am against censorship, there are things I believe should be censored - go figure.

Here's my issue - if a student's parent don't want him or her reading a book, fine, but don't you dare tell the rest of the class what they can or can't read or me what I can or can't teach! I checked one top 100 list of challenged books, and I taught at least 14 of them! I mean Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Flowers for Algernon, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird???? What was I thinking? Maybe they were okay because no one challenged them. All it takes is one person.

The following ten quotes are to ponder. I didn't create them - I found them. If anyone asks, I will create and post a better look at censorship and find at least ten quotes I would have picked. There are a few good ones here!

(10) "We all know that books burn, yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man's eternal fight against tyranny of every kind."
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

(9) "What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."
—Salman Rushdie

(8) “Imagine books and music and movies being filtered and homogenized. Certified. Approved for consumption. People will be happy to give up most of their culture for the assurance that the tiny bit that comes through is safe and clean. White noise.”
—Chuck Palahniuk

(7) "Damn all expurgated books; the dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book."
—Walt Whitman

(6) "Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

(5) “It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creeds into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.”
—Robert A. Heinlein

(4) “Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently. Stupidity is blockage of this process at any point. Bigotry, ideologies etc. block the ability to receive; robotic reality-tunnels block the ability to decode or integrate new signals; censorship blocks transmission.”
—Robert Anton Wilson

(3) “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”
—Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

(2) "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."
—Oscar Wilde

(1) "There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme."
—Ray Bradbury

(These were found on Alternative Reel.com)