Roger O Green

Married one score: the first year was the hardest

Carol and I got married 20 years ago. Maybe a decade ago, I told her I thought the first year was the hardest, and I’ll stand by that.

After we got married, we moved into the first floor of the two-apartment house she owned. One of the very few things our then-pastor said that turned out to be sage is that we should move into another place that was ours.

Carol didn’t understand. She was making room for my stuff. But that was just it; she was making room in HER place for MY stuff. And not all of it; a love seat I had purchased only a couple years before, one of the first pieces of real, new furniture I ever bought I gave away.

Squeezing my stuff in was tedious. I had a dresser on top of a dresser, after some cable station guy – maybe on HGTV – said that to fit everything in, you must build “up, up, UP!”

In July 1999, she went on a trip to Scotland with her college friend, an excursion she had planned before we were engaged. I encouraged her to go. But being alone in that space, with its specific creaks and noises was rather unsettling.

We had gotten married at our United Methodist Church. But by February, after “the troubles” had taken hold, we spent two weeks at Emmaus Methodist with the Hispanic gathering that had booted out of Trinity, against the specific wishes of the congregation.

Then, since the Trinity choir was still banned from singing, I started sitting in at the choir at First Pres. But Carol went back to attending Trinity, keeping up with the gossip.

Meanwhile, we were house shopping. We found a house we REALLY liked in the fall, but the hidden water damage in a wall caught in the inspection made that a no go. Finally, the house we now live in went down in price and we bought it.

i went to the closing, without Carol, but with a cashier’s check. Our lawyer had miscalculated the amount due and I was $1800 short; talk about angina. I borrowed money from somewhere, maybe a credit card, to close on May 8, 2000, a week shy of our first anniversary.

After surviving that first anxiety-prone year, I figure we can get through anything. Happy anniversary, my dear.

Spanish words adopted into English

“The first English colonists in North America soon encountered their Spanish rivals in well-established settlements.”

Spanish-Words-in-English In The Story of English (1986), a book sitting literally right in front of me on the bookshelf in the home office, the authors noted that my native tongue borrowed “bellicose Spanish words (reflecting contemporary conflicts) like desperado and embargo.”

Later, it’s more generous: “The first English colonists in North America soon encountered their Spanish rivals in well-established settlements from Florida to Sante Fe, and it was from here that English acquired such everyday words as barbecue, chocolate and tomato…

“To this day, American English has borrowed more words from Spanish – like enchilada, marijuana, plaza, stampede and tornado – than from any other language, and the list is growing year by year.

“The [19th-Century cowboys’] contact with the horse-handlers brought a number of new words in American English: rodeo, stampede, bronco, chaps, lasso, mustang, lariat, pinto, poncho, ranch.”

I thought about this because I happened across this article in April 2019: 111 English Words That Are Actually Spanish. Unsurprisingly, several state names are included, such as California; Colorado – “red-colored”; Florida – “flowery”; Montana – mountain; Nevada – snowy; New Mexico – Nuevo México; Texas – the Spanish adopted the word tejas from the language of the indigenous Cado people, meaning “friends” or “allies”; Utah – from the name of the indigenous Ute people, via Spanish yuta; and probably Arizona.

I wouldn’t have guessed 10-gallon hat – from tan galán (so gallant), or possibly galón (braid). Or alligator – el lagarto (the lizard) were on the list.

The article also correctly notes: “English isn’t the only language with a penchant for absorbing words from other languages. Many words that English has acquired from Spanish originally came from other languages, mostly those of native American populations that were subjugated by the Spanish colonial empire.’ Popular “examples that entered English vernacular through the Nahuatl language in Mexico” are noted, including the aforementioned tomato.

See also an article from thoughtco: When Spanish Words Become Our Own; Adopted and Borrowed Words Enrich English.

For ABC Wednesday

Measles outbreak: it loves New York

Between 1963 and 1967, 1 version of the vaccine contained inactivated measles virus, rather than the live virus.

Vaccine Safety Handbook A couple weeks ago, I had posted on Facebook a news story about the measles. It noted that Los Angeles County health officials “told more than 900 college students and staff members to stay home because they may have been exposed.”

Someone I was unfamiliar with responded, “What is [the infection rate] in the countries from which most of the persons who enter this country illegally?”

I don’t know, but I pointed out that the folks bringing measles into the United States were not necessarily here illegally. Quoting the Centers for Disease Control: “The disease is brought into the United States by unvaccinated people who get infected in other countries. Typically 2 out of 3 of these unvaccinated travelers are Americans.”

But since she asked, I noted that while “measles is still common in many countries,” the current CDC Travel Notices on the disease are for Israel, Ukraine, Japan, Brazil – the state of Amazonas in particular – and the Philippines.

The World Health Organization, which has noted great strides being made: “In 2017, about 85% of the world’s children received 1 dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services – up from 72% in 2000.”

Still, “Of the estimated 20.8 million infants not vaccinated with at least one dose of measles vaccine through routine immunization in 2017, about 8.1 million were in 3 countries: India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.”

I became curious about the propaganda machine that helped spread the disease in the United States. “PEACH, formally known as Parents Educating and Advocating for Children’s Health, has been circulating magazines and pamphlets since at least 2014 that claim vaccines are in opposition with Jewish religious law, (falsely) link vaccines to autism, and recount anonymous horror stories of children being irreparably harmed by vaccines.

“Led by Jewish mothers, the group has brought anti-vax arguments and conspiracies into a community known for its cautious interaction with the modern, secular world.” It’s an interesting story that helps explain why New York State is the epicenter of the measles outbreak in 2019.

A bit of history: “In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year, among reported cases, an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from measles…

“Measles was declared eliminated (absence of continuous disease transmission for greater than 12 months) from the United States in 2000. This was thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the United States, as well as better measles control in the Americas region.”

Also: “People who were vaccinated in the 1960s should double-check their vaccination records because there were two different types of the vaccine circulating at the time, and one was ineffective.

“The CDC warns that, between 1963 and 1967, one version of the vaccine contained inactivated measles virus, rather than live virus. This version was not effective, and those vaccinated with this version should receive a booster shot.”

When do we lose our parents?

Parental loss varies by race and socio-economic status.

As a Census geek and as someone has lost both parents, I was intrigued by a new report about “When do we lose our parents?” It’s called “Parental Mortality is Linked to a Variety of Socio-economic and Demographic Factors.” Here’s the underlying study, Exploring the Link between Socioeconomic Factors and Parental Mortality.

“People lose their fathers earlier in life than their mothers, and the timing of parental loss is linked to factors such as race, educational attainment and poverty status.

“For the first time, the 2014 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) included a series of questions asking respondents whether their parents were still alive.” As you may know, my father died in 2000, my mother in 2011, so my experience is more common.

“For example, among those ages 45 to 49, 26% have lost their mother, while 45% have lost their father. Along these same lines, 7 in 10 of those ages 60 to 64 have a deceased mother, while about 87% have lost their father.” I was 47 when my dad died, 58 when mom passed.

“Among adults ages 25 to 34, about 15% of the white population and Asian population have lost one or both parents. By contrast, about 17% of the Hispanic population and 24% of the black population have experienced the death of a parent.” Fortunately, I am not in this group, but I know many folks who are.

“Among those ages 35 to 44, 43% of those living below the Federal Poverty Level have lost one or both parents, compared to 28% for those living in households with an income-to-poverty ratio of at least 400% of the FPL.

“Parental loss, which varies by race and socio-economic status, is often accompanied by psychological and material consequences. These statistics demonstrate the way these new SIPP data can help assess how socio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with parental mortality in the United States.”

I suppose this is a bummer of a Mother’s Day post. But my mom always tried to do the right thing by others. My father spent his life addressing inequities. Somehow I don’t think they’d mind.

Songs from my preteen years

Music from my 10th birthday until I was 11 1/2.

Doris Troy.Soul Legend I struggled to find a way to narrow the list of songs from my preteen years. Would it be Elvis before his ’68 comeback? The Everly Brothers? The entire American Graffiti soundtrack? The entire West Side Story soundtrack? Take Five by Dave Brubeck?

With some help, I think from Jaquandor, I picked the songs that I remember from when I was 10 to 12, meaning 1963-1965. Or in this case, from my 10th birthday until I was 11 1/2, because the list was still too long.

I avoided artists for which I had LOTS of their music in this blog, such as The Big Three of my growing up: Beatles, Supremes, Tempts, who dominated 1964 in any case. Or the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, et al.

And I’ve avoided what I foolishly thought was “old people music” at the time. So no Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or Louis Armstrong, all of whom had hits in that period. I appreciate them NOW, but I didn’t then.

1963

Walk Right In – Rooftop Singers, #1 for two weeks pop, #1 for five weeks AC, #4 RB, #23 CW
On Broadway – the Drifters, #9 pop, #7 RB
Easier Said Than Done – The Essex, #1 for two weeks both pop and RB
Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport – Rolf Harris, #3 pop, #1 for three weeks AC, #19 RB

Just One Look -Doris Troy, #10 pop, #3 RB
So Much in Love – the Tymes, #1 pop, #4 RB
If I Had A Hammer – Trini Lopez, #3 pop, #12 RB

I’m Leaving It Up To You – Dale & Grace, #1 for two weeks both pop and AC, #6 RB
Dominique – The Singing Nun, #1 for four weeks pop and AC
Louie Louie – the Kingsmen, #2 for six weeks pop, #1 for six weeks RB

1964

The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)– Betty Everett, #6 pop, #1 for three weeks RB
Don’t Let the Rain Come Down – Serendipity Singers, #6 pop, #2 for six weeks AC
(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet – The Reflections, #6 pop, #3 for two weeks RB

Chart action per US Billboard charts. CW- country; RB – soul; AC – adult contemporary