Author: Roger

On Armistice Day
The philharmonic will play
But the songs that we sing
Will be sad
-Paul Simon

Three events from last weekend color my view of this Veterans Day. One is a Friends of the Albany Public Library luncheon commemorating the release of Portrait of War: the U.S. Army’s First Combat Artists and the Doughboys’ Experience in WWI by Peter Krass. What was evident in the book from the author’s presentation is that the U.S. government, which hired eight artists to go to Europe, wanted the war depicted in a certain, heroic, way. (American general Jack Pershing, though, sided with the artists’ desire to be more realistic.) This mindset of war has been around for a very long time. Remember the source of “killing the messenger”, when the leaders would literally have struck down the soldier who would bring bad news from the front. The glorification of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman is hardly new.

Another item was a speech by Phyllis Trible at my church who spoke about how stories of domestic violence permeate the Bible. One example was Judges 19, where a man throws out his concubine to save himself, and she ends up being be gang-raped and killed. This reminded me that in so many wars (Darfur comes immediately to mind), there is a different sort of war violence placed on the women. This is done presumably to terrorize. But then what explains things such as American soldiers raping and then killing a teenage girl, and then killing her family?

The third is a sermon I read about Abraham and Isaac. It cites Bob Dylan’s Highway 61, reason enough to mention it, but it’s this quote that got me: “warfare is a form of child sacrifice, where nations offer up their children because, like Abraham, we believe that’s what we’re called to do.”

I suppose my point is that “War IS hell”, should be avoided at almost all costs, for even wars that most people would consider “just”, unintended consequences abound.

Which leads, inevitably, to these questions:

1. What circumstances, if any, would justify a “just war”?
2. What wars would you say were “just”?
3. What can WE do as individuals to stop or prevent war?

For whatever reason, I have found myself involved in a number of search committees over the years. I rather like it, but I always feel responsible to the organization to make sure that I’ve done my due diligence.

Here’s some things I’ve learned over the years:

Be on time, or a few minutes early. If they’re scheduling back-to-back interviews, it’s likely that the latecomer will get the short shrift.

If you go into an interview, they ask you what you know about the organization, and you reply, “Not much”, they’ve already decided to pass on you, even if they talk to you another 30 minutes. Look at the website of the company you’re seeking to work for.

Interviewers really like it when you remember their names. Writing them down is O.K., if your memory is poor in that regard (and they have seven people in the room!)

If they tell you they’re hiring for a particular time frame, and you tell them you’re available in that time frame, and then you decline because you’re really not, you’ll tend to really tick off the interviewers for a good long time.

Don’t be surprised to hear the standard interview questions such as, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” You might seriously consider at least mentally preparing an answer for that one.

In general, answer the questions you are asked, rather than the one you want to have asked. But don’t go on too long.

Certain foods should be avoided before an interview, foods that can land on one’s clothes or stay in one’s breath.

If you seem bored at the interview, assume your boredom is contagious.

There’s a subtle difference between looking people in the eye and staring them down; one is good, the other, not so much.

Confident is good; cocky – “I’ve already got THIS job sewed up” – is not.

There are lots of places with Job Interview Tips. Consider actually using them.

Only recently had I heard about Performance Based Interviewing. This includes sample questions that are dependent on the level of the job.
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Ed Bradley of “6o Minutes” was cool. No, it’s not because of the earring, or the huge ‘fro he had as a younger reporter.

It was because when the CBS News reporter did certain stories with musicians or other creative people – his piece on Lena Horne was his favorite – you felt the affection he felt for the artist and the respect the artist had for him. Yet he could also do the hard news interviews, such as Timothy McVeigh, with directness and passion. Ed never seemed full of himself, unlike some in the news industry.

To the voters, disgusted with negative ads: You may not know that in 1800 Thomas Jefferson’s opponents claimed that the anti-Federalists would “burn churches and murder opponents” to get the White House. So, those promises that negative campaigning will go away? Don’t believe ’em.

To Donald Rumsfeld: I’m sorry, Mr. Secretary. This will sound harsh, and probably ageist to boot, but when I’d see you on those Sunday morning news programs, you’d use words, but they didn’t SAY anything. I started to think of you as a doddering old fool. So, enjoy your retirement. Here are some well wishers.

To the President of the United States: Your ability to baldly prevaricate about Rummy’s status in your administration, even as you were planning his departure, gives me some…apprehension.

To What’s-His-Face: THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your attack on Michael J. Fox. You’ve gotten Democrat Claire McCaskill elected Senator from Missouri.

To Michael J. Fox: THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your classy response to What’s-His-Face.

To Tennessee Republicans: Thank you for reminding us that race still matters in America. (Wink, wink.)

To Nancy Pelosi, incoming Speaker of the House, and third in line to the Presidency come January: I’m happy for you. You wrangled Democrats to have some party discipline. My wife, I must say, is THRILLED with your upcoming new job, as I suspect many women (and men) are.

To Howard Dean, chair of the DNC: Congratulations on the 50 State Strategy, without which the Democrats would never have won the Senate in 2006.

To Bernie Sanders: Congratulations on your election to the Senate, the only independent. (Joseph Lieberman belongs to the Connecticut for Lieberman Party).

To Congressman-elect John Hall (D-NY, via Orleans): I read that you didn’t want to play your guitar much in public during your campaign, for fear that people wouldn’t take you seriously as a candidate. Well, go play your guitar, since it’s a stress reliever for you.

Do you ski? Since you are now going to be in the tradition of singer-songwriter-politician Sonny Bono, PLEASE be careful around trees.

To the press release: a belated 100th birthday!

Yet, I’ve never actually been interested in actual cars, and I don’t know cars. Few questions do I duck if I can at work, but ones about motor vehicles -unless it involves statistics or regulations – tend to make M.E.G.O.

At least when I was a kid, I knew that all the Chevy cars started with C, such as Chevette and Corvair, and even I knew that Ford made the Mustang (“ride, Sally, ride”). Now, if you give me a car model, my chance of correctly identifying the make is about 1 in 5. Maybe. I loved the VW Beetle because it was SO easy to identify – the old one, not the new one – but I knew people who could tell the difference between the 1964 and 1966 model, e.g., unfathomable to me.

My wife has had this 1997 Ford Taurus since she was working for a credit union association, traveling all over the Northeast. When she left in early 1999 to go back to school – and not so incidentally, to get ready to marry me – she bought the car with 50-something thousand miles on it. It continued to serve her, and us, well.

But somewhere north of 120,000 miles, small things started taking place. First, a lot more dings, and a little rust, then more substantial things (don’t ask me what – she told me, but I have no memory of car stuff).

So, it came to pass that Carol found herself in the market for another car this fall, when a series of knocks, electrical problems, and notably a gas leak would cost about $2000 to fix.

My wife began studying cars with the passion I associate with a horse racing handicapper. Not one generally known as one to use the Internet, except as it specifically applied to her job, she was spending so much time online that it was becoming difficult for me to even blog. (Horrors!) She looked at Carfax, the Kelley Blue Book Cars.com, Enterprise Car Sales, plus dealers’ websites.

She went to at least three dealers, test drove at least a half dozen cars. She asked if I wanted to go along. Not particularly. I DID care about how much it would cost, but she is the far better fiscal agent in the household, so I pretty much trusted her to determine what kind of car she wanted and whether we could afford it.

Ultimately, in September, she bought her first non-American car. Truth is, I simply cannot remember the model with remembering that it has something to do with Bryan Ferry – oh yeah, the Avalon. By whomever. And it’s a good car.

There’s a part of that old Taurus that I think Carol misses, though. And even I was a little sad to discover that the Taurus is no longer being made. How the most popular car turned into an automotive also-ran would be astonishing to me if I understood cars at all.

14. Detroit – Yeah, I know it has the second-highest murder rate, after St. Louis, but when I went there in 1998, to visit a friend, I went to the Motown Historical Museum, a bunch of Henry Ford-related exhibits, and got to see a rather desolate Tigers Stadium before it was torn down.

13. Cleveland – When I went in 1998, it was a LOT cleaner than I would have imagined. Loved the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and to be able to see into the Jake, when the city’s baseball team used to sell out for the whole season.

12. Boston – Even though I’ve had some problems there, I enjoy the whole historic Revolutionary War thing. Last there in 1994.

11. Philadelphia – Haven’t been there in 25 years, though I went down several times between 1975 and 1981, as a matter of affairs of the heart. I’m a sucker for the Liberty Bell.

10. Concord, NH – A lovely little city that Carol and I visited in 2003, and did the historic touristy thing.

9. Galveston – It’s an old rundown city, but I have wonderful memories of waking up at 5 a.m., and watching the tides thunder in towards the piers. Also enjoyed the conference in 1995 tremendously.

8. Madison, WI – Went to a conference there in 1988, organized by Capital City, the comic distributor at the time. There were beautiful little lakes abounding. Reminded me a little of Ithaca, NY, a college town I enjoy visiting.

7. San Diego – A bit of a surprise for me, in that I used to HATE the place, when I’d tool around the place in a car, having no sense of where I was. But since they’ve installed light rail that goes practically to Tijuana, my respect for the old Spanish charm outweighs the generally conservative political climate (and boring 72 degree meteorological climate). Been there several times – my sister lives in the area – most recently in 2005.

6. New Orleans – I’ve only been there once, in 1995, but had a grand time with some folks from Michigan. A decadent place; I mean that in a good way.

5. New York City – Considering it’s only 150 miles away, I don’t go there nearly as often as one would think. As a kid, I was down there all of the time visiting relatives, and family was the motivation for two of my last four visits; another was to see a Broadway show, and the last time was to go to an antiwar demonstration in February 2003. I lived in Jackson Heights, Queens for four months in 1977, and I would take the subway often, just to see where it would take me.

4. Washington, DC – I’ve been to Washington a lot, once as a kid doing the tourist thing, then several times at demonstrations (antiwar, antinuke, an anniversary of the 1963 March). Most recently in 1998 to take the JEOPARDY! test, to do the tourist thing again – notably the FDR Memorial – and to visit friends.

3. Portland, ME- Carol and I went there in March 1999 and got snowed in. We really enjoyed a movie and lunch place, but generally, it was the whole nautical feel of the place.

2. Savannah, GA – I went to a work conference in 1998 or 1999, and my father drove down from Charlotte, NC and we got to just hang out with a few of my friends, walking around the historic city – easy access by foot to a lot of interesting places, eating good food, and having a great time. My father seriously thought of moving there.

1. San Francisco – Only been there once, with my sister Leslie, in 1987 or 1988, but I remember traveling all over the area on the BART, seeing Chinatown, taking a cable car, and looking down Lombard Street, about which Bill Cosby did a famous routine I used to listen to as a kid: “They make Lombard Street go straight down, but they’re not satisfied with you killing yourself that way. They put all these twists and curves in there. Then they put flowers in the road where people have killed themselves [trying to drive down].” Though not in the city, I did get to go to the Oakland Coliseum that year and see the A’s play.
I like the area, too. My niece graduated from Berkeley a couple years ago, so some of the family got to hang around there.

I noticed – no surprise – that most of these places are on bodies of water. Must be the Piscean thing.

So, I took one of those online tests and got this: