Roger O Green

G is for Green

When I give out my name on the phone, I usually spell out R-O-G-E-R and say, “Green, like the color”. As often as not, the reply is, “Is that with an E?” I thought, since my last name is Green (not Greene), that I’d reflect on the color green. Of course, no analysis is more clear than the late Joe Raposo’s meditation, Bein’ green.

It’s not that easy bein’ green

Green is a secondary color, comprised of blue and yellow

Having to spend each day
The color of the leaves
JEOPARDY! clue, 5 Feb 09 in Basic Science: “The name of this green pigment found in plants is partly from the Greek for ‘green’

When I think it could be nicer
Bein’ red or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

Of course, autumn leaves ARE those colors; they are also dying.

It’s not easy bein’ green
One of the most popular children’s songs in MY neighborhood was “Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts”; heard THAT a lot.

It seems you blend in
With so many other ordinary things

Of course, kids tease, as they do. the one name I was called the most, which actually didn’t much bother me, is Mr. Green Jeans, the sidekick on the long-running, CBS-TV weekday morning show, Captain Kangaroo. He was played by the late Hugh “Lumpy” Brannum.

And people tend to pass you over
One of the definitions of green is inexperienced, like a greenhorn rookie

‘Cause you’re not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky
Though in fact, many animals either are green or can turn green as protection from predators, using it as camouflage.

But green’s the color of spring
(Will spring ever arrive?)

And green can be cool
Green Tambourine – the Lemon Pipers

(and here’s a cover version)

and friendly like
The persistent Sam I Am in Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss’ birthday was Monday)

And green can be big like an ocean
Or important like a mountain
Green means go. And speaking of which, Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877-1963) developed several commercial products, many of which are still in use today. Morgan is probably best known for inventing the gas mask and the traffic light.

Or tall like a tree
I must admit unwarranted joy when the conversation comes around to going green, meaning being environmental.

When green is all there is to be

When i was in college, I’d occasionally hear the punchline to the movie Soylent Green,, starring Charlton Heston, directed at me, long before I got around actually seeing the film; talk about a spoiler!

It could make you wonder why
But why wonder, why wonder?
About the only time I ever read either Green Lantern or Green Arrow comic books is when they appeared together in that Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams series

I am green and it’ll do fine
It’s beautiful and I think it’s what I want to be

The song has been performed by a number of folks including Frank Sinatra, and that guy born on the Emerald Isle, Van Morrison. still the best version starts off like this from the star of Sesame Street and the Muppet Show:

Greetings, Kermit the Frog here
And today I’d like to tell you a little bit
About the color green
Do you know what’s green?
Well I am for one thing
You see frogs are green, and I’m a frog
And that means I’m green, you see

JEOPARDY! question: What is chlorophyll?
ROG

25 Random Things

I was reading The random beauty of “25 Random Things” in Salon. I’m not that great a Facebook participant, I guess, since I have not been “tagged” to do this. Yet the article made it so appealing, I thought I’d do it here and crosspost in Facebook. I’m trying not to repeat myself, but I make no guarantees.

1. I lived in the Binghamton, NY house I grew up in for 18 years. I’ve spent nearly the last nine years in my current home. In the intervening 28 or 29 years, I moved at least 20 times.

2. I couldn’t tie my shoes until I was nine; I wore penny loafers, with real pennies in them.

3. I received, for one marking period, an F in handwriting in third grade.

4. Conversely, I received a 100 in the fifth grade spelling final.

5. In elementary school, some kids were playing keep away with my hat. I got annoyed, hopped a Crowley’s milk truck and went home.

6. The first girl I ever kissed, when I was 13, is in one of the same social network things as I am, but I’ve had no contact.

7. I was reading the op/ed pages of the local newspaper when I was 10. I was much older before I realized that not every 10-year-old read the op/ed pages.

8. My paternal grandmother taught me to play canasta when I was about seven; I then taught it to my great aunt.

9. I took apart the door lock to my home to see how it worked, but couldn’t get it back together; my father was annoyed but not particularly angry, and I think my curiosity pleased him more than the need to get a new lock bothered him.

10. There was this novelization of an I Spy TV episode that I used to read all of the time as a kid. It’s where I learned the term “hoist by his own petard”; in the case of the story, this was literally true.

11. My father used to come to my classroom every semester and sing to the class. One of the songs was “Goodnight, Irene”, and everyone thought I had put my father up to this, assuming I had a crush on the girl named Irene in my class; to both parts, I did not.

12. My fifth grade teacher taught us to count to 10 in Russian; I can still do so.

13. I used to read the Encyclopedia Americana and the World Almanac from the time I was 9 or 10, including those EA annuals.

14. There was this girl in 7th grade who had a major thing for me. Her friend was always passing me notes and everyone assumed the friend was the one with the crush on me. About four years later, the young woman with the crush moved next door to us, with two babies in tow. Yikes.

15. My father, sister and I used to sing in the Binghamton area. The best-paid gig was also the worst one, at a VFW hall in front of a bunch of drunken guys. Someone requested The Battle Hymn of the Republic, not generally in our repertoire, which my sister and I sang, and my father sang as a counter-melody, “what a hell of a way to go.”

16. I was student government president in high school. The principal was throwing people into detention for walking on the school lawn. So I held a meeting on the sidealk, and the body voted to have its meeting on the lawn. Later, I walked passed the principal’s office, and he growled, “I hope you’re satisfied.” Actually, I was.

17. I had a button that read, “Kiss me – I’m germ free”. I lent it to a friend of mine and it was confiscated. He wore it on the seat of his pants; I never did get the button back.

18. I used to go to parties in high school. Sometimes when I was not having a particularly good time, I’d hide in the attic or basement or a closet to see if anyone would miss me. It wasn’t intended as attention-getting, it was insecurity; I had my doubts that they actually WOULD miss me.

19. I applied to only one college, which is where my high school girlfriend was going. But by the time I got to college, she had broken up with me.

20. The husband of a friend of mine had committed suicide and she had asked not to tell the means of his demise because she had young children. I concocted an elaborate story which I told so often to our mutual friends that I was convinced it was true, until the point she released me from my bond of secrecy. Then I had to remember who I had told the lie to so that I could tell them the truth.

21. I went to a number of antiwar demonstrations, mostly in DC and NYC, in the early 1970s. One NYC rally my friends I I lleft after a number of hours, turned on the radio miles away, but still within the city limits, and discoverded that John Lennon was speaking at the rally we had only recently left. Bummer.

22. I went to grad school in public administration at UAlbany in 1979-80. I was immediately disadvantaged because for the whole first week, I was bedridden with an infection that was running from my toenail up my leg, which might have killed me. So I was always behind, it was extremely competitive (cf the cooperative vibe of library school a decade later). It was a disaster and I dropped out, ending up working at a comic book store for 8.5 years instead.

23. On at least three occasions, I quit jobs with no new job lined up.

24. I’m terrible remembering names, and it’s not just at parties. I might see a teller at a bank for three years, then she’d leave and I’d see her six months later. More often than not, her name is gone. SHE’S not gone; details about her life I’d recall, but her name: gone. Worse, the other person almost always remembers MY name.

25. About the only thing I truly covet right now is one of those turntable combos that would turn my vinyl into CDs.

ROG

When Hate Comes to Town

I was recently reading the musings of a Buffalo, NY blogger about the recent appearance of “representatives of the Westboro Baptist Church when they showed up to protest the services for the victims of the Continental Airlines plane crash. Nice to see that these nitwits got nowhere with their shenanigans, thanks to lots of local people who showed up to basically marginalize them and make them invisible,” including said blogger’s parents; more Clarence Center pictures here.

Now Fred Phelps and his sorry band are making their way to Albany and Plattsburgh, NY on Friday, March 6. There is a silent vigil planned for Thursday, March 5 at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Albany City Hall. (Don’t know how “silent” it will be as there will be a rally against the severe budget cuts at the State Capitol – and across the state – at 4:30 p.m. on that same day.)

Then Friday, the WBC is planning to spread its message of hate at Albany High School at 7 a.m. and at SUNY Central (353 Broadway, the old D&H building) at 8:15 a.m. Regarding the former, I have it on reasonably good authority – as I suspect the folks at this website believe, Phelps will be thwarted at the high school. As they write, “This is NOT going to happen.”

Whereas Phelps WILL likely do his thing at SUNY Central, where the counter-demonstration should take place. The folks at God Is Love Albany are recommending gathering at 8:15 a.m. on March 6. I plan to come down as soon as I can, on the theory that the WBC people will end up there early as well.

There has been a lively debate on the Facebook page called A stand against the Westboro Baptists Church coming to Albany about the appropriate response to Phelps’ presence. As one person said, “I would advise nobody to actually show up. You’re giving him exactly what he wants: attention. Let him and his followers stand out there all by themselves and be humiliated.”

I appreciate the sentiment but strongly disagree for a couple reasons. I don’t think them standing by themselves humiliates them. There are, for instance, people who have demonstrated for peace in front of the state Capitol every Wednesday at noon pretty much since 9/11/2001. Sometimes the group is large (e.g., in the run-up to the Iraq war in the fall of 2002 and early 2003), and sometimes it’s just a handful of people. In no case do I think the group does, or should feel humiliated.

Moreover, how does one measure the difference between ignoring Phelps and mere indifference? I feel an obligation, as a Christian, as twice a SUNY graduate, and as a person to respond to the hate, to address the hate. Now it is true that Phelps wants attention. My recommendation is that people not address him or his group – they’re notorious in looking for grounds to sue someone – but to be present, ignoring the WBC, but expressing sentiments of love and justice.

It is not quite equivalent, but I’m reminded when the Springboks rugby team from South Africa came to Albany in 1981 and a number of people – yes, including me – came out to protest the match. (Albany writer Paul Grondahl has a great chapter about this incident in his book about long-time mayor Erastus Corning.)

To paraphrase some Kentuckian, history will little note nor long remember the number of people who “ignored” hate; history will only note the number that stood up against it.
***
Yes, the title is a takeoff of probably my favorite U2 song: When love comes to town, with B.B. King.

ROG

old testament music

Once upon a time, probably in the early 1990s, I made a mixed tape of songs that were rooted in the Bible. These were some of them, mostly from the Old Testament. I used Byrds rather than Collins and Collins rather than Cohen, but the rest were the same. Yes, the McFerrin video is weird; just listen to the music.

Our Prayer – SMiLE by Mok

Rock Steady by Sting

Desmond Dekker – The Israelites

Leonard Cohen – Story of Isaac

The Hooters – All You Zombies

Turn, Turn, Turn -Judy Collins with Pete Seeger

BOBBY McFERRIN – The 23rd Psalm – THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

MELODIANS “RIVERS OF BABYLON” PSALM 137:1

Delta Rhythm Boys – Dry Bones

ROG

This I Believe QUESTION

In her sermon last Sunday, our co-pastor made reference to This I Believe, an NPR show based on a radio show from the 1950s hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

I listed 10 here and thought I’d list 10 more.

You may list your five or 10 or 100 in the comments section or on your own blog; if the latter, please leave a link in the comments section:

Most people worry way too much about what other people think and do.

Mark Twain was right: It IS better to remain silent and appear ignorant than to speak up and remove any doubt.

Smokers do often feel oppressed in the U.S.; I don’t care. (Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society.)

JEOPARDY! is not improved by letting people play more than five games in a row.

My life would suck without music.

Television (radio, et al.) is not inherently bad; it’s how it’s used.

Race may be just a social construct, but still matters in the United States (and I imagine, in other parts of the world).

Italian is beautiful to listen to, even though I don’t speak or understand it.

Smart is sexy.

Most people who say “let’s move on” are NOT the aggrieved party.

Oh, and one more:
Individuals should not hide behind a corporate shield when wrongdoing occurs; e.g., someone from the Peanut Corporation of America should face manslaughter charges, at least.
ROG