Roger O Green

RIP Arnold, Pat, Violet, Gloria

Violet was born in Aleppo, Syria

Arnold Berman Thinking about my end-of-the-year post, I was pondering the question about people I’ve known who died this year. It occurred to me that: 1) I don’t think I mentioned any of them in this blog, and 2) if I were to write about them on 1/1/2019, it would be quite lengthy.

Arnold Berman: my mother’s aunt by marriage, Charlotte Yates (1914-2003), we were all very close to. Charlotte had seven siblings, and I knew them all to some degree.

Arnold (b 1924) was the youngest, and I got to know him particularly well as he was putting together the extensive website of the Barosin/Berman family. He periodically commented on my blog, usually via email, usually with additional insights.

I last saw him at the funeral of Charlotte’s son Donald in 2016, but we remained in touch electronically until early in 2018.

Pat (Curry) Wilson: She was friends with my parents, especially my father. when I was in high school; she was Pat Wilson then, and I had a separate relationship with her.

I remember riding my bike down her dead-end street off Riverside Drive in Binghamton. We would have great philosophical conversations about the world.

I recall specifically how devastated she was when Senator Robert Kennedy (D-NY), who was running for President in 1968 was assassinated. While I was not a big fan of Bobby’s, I felt a great deal of pain on her behalf.

We debated the theological implications of Jesus Christ Superstar. Her Catholic faith, in contrast with my Protestant upbringing – and truth to tell, my fading faith at the time – gave the dialogue a certain yeastiness.

I lost track of her for a lot of years, then rediscovered her, as Pat Curry, on Facebook. My sister Leslie and I thought to visit her when we were in Binghamton in the fall of 2017, but it didn’t work out. She died around Mother’s Day.

Violet Keleshian, nee Khachadourian: She died in May 2018, just a few days shy of her 95th birthday. She was born in Aleppo, Syria, and moved to Beirut, to attend the Lebanese American University. She married and had three children, but was widowed in 1956. In 1961, Violet moved to the United States and became a U.S Citizen in 1966.

I knew her well because she was a member of the First Presbyterian Church choir for several years. Naturally, the choir sang at her service in June.

Gloria Wood, nee Caskey: She was another member of my church. She had been married to David since July 19, 1958; they were a great couple. She’d made a blanket for our daughter when she was born, and she’d created many more to give to young mothers.

I had presented a kente cloth to her a couple years ago because of her gifts, and a couple days after Gloria died on August 24, one of her daughters came to church with David, to tell me how much Gloria appreciated that. I was sorry that I was out of town for her service on September 15.

And there are others, not necessarily close to me, but dear to people I’m close to. And more I know with various serious illnesses.

Major climate change disaster by 2040

The five warmest years in the global record have all come in the 2010s

Do you know what, quite literally, keeps me up at night? It’s not just that we are likely to experience major climate change disaster by 2040, or sooner, if we don’t change our behavior radically.

It’s that it’s clear we simply WON’T do nearly enough, in part because the current US regime is targeting “environmental rules it sees as overly burdensome to the fossil fuel industry, including major Obama-era policies aimed at fighting climate change.”

Check out Harvard Law School’s Environmental Regulation Rollback Tracker, and Columbia Law School’s Climate Tracker.

Sure, other countries, which HAVEN’T pulled out of the Paris Accords, and many US states are fighting back against the destruction. Still, EPA Is Set to Roll Back Restrictions on Coal-Burning Power Plants? This “despite plummeting costs of cleaner fuels including natural gas and solar.”

We’re seeing the destruction already, in the loss of glacial ice, the devastating flooding around the globe, the 12-month fire season in California, and a bunch of other signs I imagine you can cite yourselves.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think the symbolic nadir of American thought on the subject took place in February 2015 when Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) brought a snowball on US Senate floor as evidence the globe is not warming. As the Washington Post sarcastically noted, it SNOWED in the District of Columbia in WINTER.

In any case, he, as many do, conflated weather, what it’s doing at any given moment, with climate, which addresses the broader trends.

The five warmest years in the global record have all come in the 2010s
The 10 warmest years on record have all come since 1998
The 20 warmest years on record have all come since 1995

By 2040, I’ll be in my 80s. But my daughter will be in her 30s. You know, one is SUPPOSED to leave the country a BETTER place for one’s kids, and I – we – are FAILING miserably. Technological breakthroughs are supposed to make their lives better than ours, even as this regime looks to bring back the methodologies of the past.

(Written at 4:15 a.m. Even The Onion doesn’t bring a smile. Will I be more optimistic in the morning? Unlikely.)

O is for Overstimulated brain (ABCW)

We’ve dubbed it the Miami sound machine, even though it was made in China.

There’s a guy I don’t really know, but we’re Facebook friends, a friend of a friend. He was asking people about how to reduce anxiety for his overstimulated brain in these tension-driven days.

A number of people recommended meditation – there’s a Calm app for meditation/mindfulness – yoga, deep breathing, journaling, the serenity prayer, harmonic music, massage, cannabis oil, talking to others.

Some suggested exercising: running, weightlifting.

At least a couple noted the the ‘54321’ mindfulness trick. So has an IRL good friend.

For me, blogging is journaling. I’m pretty sure I’d be MORE anxious if I didn’t write it down.

Exercise does release endorphins but the need to do it on a regular basis, or more correctly, my failure to do so, generates its own source of anxiety.

That 5-4-3-2=1 thing doesn’t work for me AT ALL. For one thing, it requires me to actually think – “what, what are five things, five things I see?” – when NOT thinking is what I really need. In fact, despite its touted success, and I don’t doubt it for others, I HATE it, and find it overstimulating.

So what does work for me? Sometimes, soothing music. I am writing this to what some might consider the most boring CDs ever, music to be born by.” This soothing, 70-minute soundscape, originally created for the birth of Mickey Hart’s son Taro in 1983, was intended to transform the coldness of a hospital birthing room into a warm, rhythmic environment for the process of labor and birthing.”

I usually don’t have trouble falling asleep, but when I inevitably wake up in the middle of the night, I need my Sharper image machine [to counter my overstimulated brain. We’ve dubbed it the Miami sound machine, even though it was made in China. It has settings for white noise, rain, ambiance, peace, stream, campfire, calm, meditate, rainforest, ocean, tranquil and relax.

I use stream for sleeping, but I were getting a massage – I need a massage! – I’d like the tranquil setting. And, as some have noted, there’s also an app for those sounds.

For ABC Wednesday. Non-compensated plug for my sleep machine.

Older American, the advantages of being one

Within just a couple decades, older people are projected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history.

older Americans Some of my friends, who have hit threshold ages (55, 60, 62 or 65, depending on the venue) at which they can receive items /services at reduced rates, refuse to accept the discounts. I think they are crazy to reject the benefits of being an older American.

It’s not just the monetary savings. It’s that I’ve gone this far and I deserve to accept the perks when they’re offered. Life can be hard, and one should take advantage of whatever makes it easier.

When I took Amtrak to Washington, DC for a conference, I was eligible for a 10 percent discount on train tickets. On the return trip to New York City, however, something even more important took place.

I had been waiting at the K gate but had to go all the way to the A gate to use the men’s room. By the time I returned, the train had been called, and the line was at the E line when I got in.

Then one of the personnel asked for people with children and senior citizens to preboard. At first, it didn’t register. But about ten seconds later, I thought, “WAiT a minute. That’s me! I can join them!” The young woman standing behind me, noting my vacillation, said, “Go for it!”

Still, I wonder if these senior perks are sustainable. Here’s a fun Census statistic: “The year 2030 marks an important demographic turning point in U.S. history according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 National Population Projections.

“The aging of baby boomers means that within just a couple decades, older people are projected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history… By 2035, there will be 78.0 million people 65 years and older compared to 76.7 million under the age of 18.”

I was thinking about retiring one of these days. “As the population ages, the ratio of older adults to working-age adults, also known as the old-age dependency ratio, is projected to rise. By 2020, there will be just over three-and-a-half working-age adults for every retirement-age person. By 2060, that ratio will fall to just under two-and-a-half working-age adults for every retirement-age person.

“The median age of the U.S. population is expected to grow from age 38 today to age 43 by 2060.” Yet another reason to encourage immigration. Most immigrants skew young, adding to the vitality of the nation.

From ABC Wednesday

October rambling: the crime of art

The Parable of the Perfect Pot

Norman Rockwell painting The Jury (1959)

How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t

How America Became the Incredible and Jaw-Dropping Laughingstock of the World

Brace for Impact, as the Climate “End Game” Has Arrived

This guy doesn’t know anything’: the inside story of Trump’s shambolic transition team

The regime announced it would no longer give diplomatic visas to the same-gender domestic partners of UN staff or diplomats unless the couples are married

Are Men Victims Now?

Fitbit Data Ties 90-Year-Old Man to Murder

The Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job

David Cronenberg: I would like to make the case for the crime of art

The Parable of the Perfect Pot

Justine Bateman Has Some Thoughts on the Fame Cycle

Eric Idle discusses many of the characters he’s played

How Will Police Solve Murders on Mars?

Our blind dog finally has a seeing eye dog

Table for one?

Oddities and anomalies from the second half of the 2018 Minor League Baseball season

Now I Know: The Queen’s Secret Code and The Tomato Plant Versus the Volcano and Hawaii’s Spam Scam

What’s My Line? – Edgar & Candice Bergen (Sep 12, 1965) at 18:50

MUSIC

Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), Arthur Rubinstein School of Music Symphony Orchestra with the young Polish pianist Maja Babyszka. Conductor: Henryk Wierzchoń. June 21, 2015

Rodgers and Hammerstein music at the BBC Proms

Thirty Seconds to Mars – Brooklyn Duo (Cello & Piano Cover of The Kill song)

All My Lovin’ – Amy Winehouse

K-Chuck Radio – Upstairs with Yaz

Someone to Watch Over Me – Sleeping At Last

MOZART Symphony No 40 in G minor KV550, LEONARD BERNSTEIN, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

A Reason To Fight – Disturbed

Evil Ways – Willie Bobo

Outside the trains don’t run on time – Gang of Four

Mary Poppins rag

Coverville – 1235: Cover Stories for Olivia Newton-John and The Mamas and The Papas

Giacchino Rossini’s overture to his opera William Tell

Vinyl records hit all the right notes