Roger O Green

Rooting QUESTIONS

As some of you know, the men’s college basketball tournament, known as March Madness, ended on Monday, with traditional powerhouse Duke barely beating Butler. I was pulling for the team from Indianapolis, and not just because it was the underdog. A small piece was the bulldog mascot; my high school teams were the Bulldogs. A greater factor, though, is that there’s a woman in my choir. Every year, during prayer concerns, she talks about her alma mater’s progress in the tournament. Given the fact that she lost one son, her husband (also a Butler alum) and her other son to various illnesses in the past two years, I was pulling for the team for her sake; alas, it was not to be.

Whereas I’m not fond of Duke. Though they’d not dominated the tournament recently as they did, I developed a dislike for the team not unlike how some baseball fans HATE the New York Yankees.

Now there are teams I dislike for a period. College football was dominated by teams from Florida for a time, and often there was a certain thuggery in the teams, but they’re not as dominant now, so not an issue.

I used to hate the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s because they beat the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, a team my father LOVED because the Brooklyn Dodgers played Jackie Robinson. But my Dodger disdain has passed.

In fact, the only franchise I really can’t stand are the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. Started off with the Cowboys beating the NY Giants in the 1960s, but it’s more about the “America’s team” moniker, something *I* never voted on.

Since it’s a new baseball season, I thought I’d ask – what teams do you really dislike, and why? What players can you just not stand?
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Singer/songwriter Tom Lehrer measures his birthdays in Celsius.
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John Forsythe died while I was away. I remember him best for two sitcoms. One was called Bachelor Father (1957-1962), where a wealthy attorney took care of his niece, whose parents were killed in a car accident. Niece tries to fix up uncle, who’d rather play the field. The other was The Powers That Be, where he played a clueless US Senator; great cast, short-lived (1992-1993), and deserved a better fate.

ROG

On the Road Again

The family has been on a (delayed) road trip. We were scheduled to leave on Friday for Charlotte, NC to visit my mother, my sisters (including the one from San Diego) and my 19-y.o. niece. But I felt awful the previous Wednesday night: Chills, yet sweating; sore throat, and generally a desire never to leave my bed ever again. I wasn’t that much better on Thursday. I felt marginally better on Friday, and I was willing to give travel a shot. The wife, conversely, thought I should actually try to get well before departing.

Random interesting things we experienced:

In Pulaski, VA McDonald’s, after I had ordered lunch.
Employee #1: This salad seems warm!
Employee #2: Shhh1 Don’t talk like that in front of the customers. Don’t say stuff like that!
Employee #1:: I don’t care! I’m always going to tell the truth!
(Does Employee #2 think I’m deaf? BTW, I thought the salad was fine, though I was ready to return it if it wasn’t.)

Perkins’ restaurant somewhere in central Pennsylvania: Poster for American Idol candidate Aaron Kelly; actually watched the results show (for first time in three years) to see if he survived; he did. But viewing reminded me why I HATE the AI results show; they just drag out the torture. i

Coolest water tower: in Mount Jackson, VA.

Worst traffic jam: northbound on I-77 Wednesday morning just north of Statesville, NC. 10 miles in 50 minutes. The worst part is that we could have missed it by exiting the highway and taking Route 21 for 20 miles.

In Walgreen’s in Charlotte Tuesday night:
Customer: I didn’t like what you said!
Employee: I didn’t say anything.
Customer: You were pointing at my family, and…
Employee: I didn’t say anything.
Customer: You are in customer service, you ought to know better.
Employee: I didn’t…
Customer: I’m going to talk to the manager. Where’s the manager?
Employee: Go right ahead. [Walks away.]
Customer: I’m going to tear this m*****f***in’ place to the ground!
(We left a few minutes later with a degree of trepidation.)

Greatest annoyance about our hotel, the Drury in Charlotte: the smokers who stood six feet from the entrance, every day, so that one has to run the gauntlet to avoid the stench. The greatest pleasure about our hotel: the glass-sided elevator.

There were on the road, heading from from the Bluebird bus company in Alabama driving to Quebec five new school buses, one pulling a van ee assume carried the drivers down. The daughter asked what was on the buses, then repeated the phrase “Arretez aux signaux”.

ROG

Getaway

One of the things that is true of my wife: she is constitutionally incapable of doing that thing people call a “staycation.” The idea that we’d stay home and, for instance, see the sites of Albany – tour the state Capitol or go up to the 42nd floor of the Corning Tower – tallest building between Montreal and New York City, I’m told, would likely not happen until whatever chores that needed to be done were done. Generally, that means that we don’t always play as much as I want.

Early on in our marriage I realized this. It was in the days after 11 September 2001, and naturally the news was terribly depressing. I suggested that we go SOMEWHERE. She said, “We could stay home and go on vacation.” We’d only been married a little over two years, but I’d known her for nine. I said something like, “You are constitutionally incapable of staying home without finding things that need to be done in the house. There are ALWAYS things to be done in the house.” I insisted that we had to go SOMEWHERE ELSE.

It turned out that she had a gift certificate from before we were married to a bed and breakfast in Cherry Valley, NY, only about an hour’s distance, but a world away from our lives. The place we went to had no TVs. It had some lovely shops. I’m not a shopper, because shopping tends to mean going to some megastore, but this kind of shopping was quite all right.

Two things occurred on that Columbus Day weekend I remember quite vividly. Carol’s (and my) niece Markia was born – we got a phone call – and the war in Afghanistan began, which I heard on someone’s radio. Re: the latter, you can get away for only so long, and sometimes not far enough away.

What reminded me of that was the past couple weekend trips. One was to the Mid-Hudson Valley, about an hour south of Albany. We stayed in a Holiday In Express in Poughkeepsie, attended a party, seeing some old friends, including one I hadn’t seen since 1991, and generally had a great time. The other trip actually ended today, visiting my mom, sisters and niece in Charlotte, NC.

The difference is that, in each case, seeking Internet connectivity was a primary consideration. I used the Hotel Internet Guide, because, somehow, being connected has become just as important as price and location. What that says about me over the past nine years, I’m not sure.

ROG

Quizzery

Something from Jaquandor whose birthday is September 26, same as my daddy’s.

1. Never in my life have I been: to Asia. Or Africa. Or Europe. Or Australia. Or Antarctica. Or South America, though I came close.

2. The one person who can drive me nuts is: just one? OK, Pat Robertson.

3. High school: wasn’t all that bad, eventually. I mean my friends and I were pariahs in my sophomore year because of our opposition to the Vietnam war. But by my junior year, that tended to be the more popular view. I was elected student government president that year and was a PITA to the principal, which was fun.

4. When I’m nervous: I feel like I need 16 hours of sleep.

5. The last song I listened to was: Roy Orbison’s greatest hits album, his music of the 1950s and 1960s, not the later stuff, which I also own.

6. If I were to get married right now my best man/maid of honor: would be asking, “Why again?”

7. My hair is: pretty much gone; it’s gray.

8. When I was 5: I was in the hospital with an uncontrollable bloody nose. That is where I saw a female doctor, and even then, that was a shock to the system.

9. Last Christmas: was fine. The child was happy.

10. I should be…: rich or famous, but probably not both.

11. When I look down I see: carpeting.

12. The happiest recent event was: something the choir sang well at church.

13. If I were a character on ‘Friends’ I would be: neurotic Ross.

14. By this time next year: I’d like to have lost some weight.

15. My current gripe is: There are people who actually believe Glenn Beck’s “analysis” of anything.

16. I have a hard time understanding: the popularity of magazines, websites, et al. delineating the loves of demi-stars.

17. There’s this girl I know that: likes to recite the alphabet backwards.

18. If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: The Wife. Followed by you. How’s that for service! (Stolen response!)

19. Take my advice: Get a massage. You’ll feel better.

20. The thing I want to buy: some day, one of those larger, stereophonic television contraptions.

21. If you visited the place I was born: You’d see flood damage from the 2006 flooding of the Susquehanna River around Binghamton, NY.

22. I plan to visit: my mother in Charlotte.

23. If you spent the night at my house: Wait, give me a moment. Got to get rid of the massive clutter in the guest room…

24. I’d stop my wedding if: I had to interview to be the JEOPARDY! head writer.

25. The world could do without: teabaggers.

26. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: watch FOX news.

27. Most recent thing I’ve bought myself: Corinne Bailey Rae’s CD The Sea. Recommended.

28. Most recent thing someone else bought me: bunch o music for my birthday.

29. My favorite blonde is: Laura Linney.

30. My favorite brunette is: (other than my wife) Penelope Cruz (with HOF status for Sophia Loren).

31. My favorite red head is: Julianne Moore. I once had a dream about her, where I saved her from oncoming traffic, and she sent me videos of her movies.

32. My middle name is: Owen, just like Owen Marshall, Counselor-at-Law.

33. In the morning I: would rather stay in bed.

34. The animals I would like to see flying besides birds are: humans with jetpacks.

35. Once, at a bar: I got very drunk one one Long Island iced tea.

36. Last night I was: reading, sorting photos.

37. There’s this guy I know who: thinks way too much of himself.

38. If I was an animal I’d be: a bear, so I could hibernate in the winter.

39. A better name for me would be: there IS no better name for me.

40. Tomorrow I am: working on the family tree.

41. Tonight I am: tending to the child.

42. My birthday is: March 7, just like Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the former royal photographer who was married to one of the royals at one time. Complicated relationship, just like mine.

ROG

L is for Lincoln

Most Americans probably know Abraham Lincoln better than any other President. He’s the only one, other than John Kennedy, whose birth day (February 12, 1809) and date of death (April 15, 1865) I know by heart.

So why are historians endlessly fascinated by the 16th President to a degree that there are over 2500 biographies of the man? Maybe it’s because the simple narrative of Honest Abe, born in a log cabin, who saw slavery as an issue worth fighting a Civil War over is instinctively such an incomplete narrative.

2009 was the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, and there were a number of pieces on PBS (public broadcasting in the US) about the man shed new light on him for me, and possibly for you as well.

Bill Moyers discussed THE LINCOLN ANTHOLOGY: GREAT WRITERS ON HIS LIFE AND LEGACY FROM 1860 TO NOW is a collection of more than 90 authors from across the years who create a constantly evolving portrait of the man whose shadow keeps lengthening across our history.

Moyers also highlighted Lincoln through the eyes of critically acclaimed, veteran dance artist Bill T. Jones. “In a groundbreaking work of choreography called FONDLY DO WE HOPE…FERVENTLY DO WE PRAY, Jones reimagines a young Lincoln in his formative years through dance.”

Jones said: “Lincoln was, in some people’s mind, always Honest Abe on a pedestal, but Lincoln had a sexuality. Lincoln was a politician. In the debates, Lincoln is the one that said to Douglas that, no, I would never marry a black woman. But I don’t — just because I don’t want a black woman for a wife doesn’t mean I must have her for a slave. And he even said, I’m not sure if all — if blacks and whites are equal, you know. But he said, people have the right to certain liberties. They have certain rights because they are in America. He was a man of his era.”

Also, from a conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:

What made Lincoln such a unique president?

Lincoln had a tremendous capacity for personal growth – more than any other American President. He was essentially a man of his times, resolute in his belief in the inequality of the races. But within the cauldron of the Civil War, he began to see that there could not be a United States without freedom for the black man. He came to embrace blacks, particularly those that fought so valiantly for the Union, as fully deserving the basic human right of freedom. He was slow to the cause to be sure, but once he got there, he was unshakable. Now, we will never know how far he might have gone had he lived. That’s part of the mystique that still surrounds him: the question “what if?”

Why is Lincoln’s legacy so contested?

Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy their own particular needs. For my own people, it was important to imagine him as the Great Emancipator, the Moses who led us out of slavery. For others, it was Lincoln the humble man who rose to greatness, or Lincoln the great Commander, or Lincoln the martyr. Every generation since his death has conjured up their own Lincoln. There were many Lincolns — enough for people to love and hate.

That explanation of the third US President (of eight) to die in office, but but the first (of four) to be assassinated, resonates with me. We project onto Lincoln, who was only 56 when he died, who he was and who he might have become. This might explain the release just last month of the generally positively-reviewed novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. No, really.

Finally, this story retold in Living Water.

The Debt
When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half of the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln’s ingenuous settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it.*

More Lincoln photos here.

ABC Wednesday
The largest of over 100 places in the US named Lincoln is in Nebraska.