Ramblin' with Roger

DC and Alexandria

Hurricane Debby

I love Washington, DC. It was the destination for several demonstrations I attended, primarily in the 1970s.

In 1998, I took one of those on-and-off tour buses and visited several locations. I visited the Capitol and sat in the House gallery; I must have got permission from my Congressman. I also went to Arlington Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the then-new FDR Memorial.

On our trip on Tuesday, we took the DC Circulator from the Washington Monument, not far from the African American Museum of History and Culture. We also visited the Jefferson Memorial, which I had never visited. It was very striking.

The Wednesday sojourn involved waiting a while for the circulator. A really strange young man was on the lawn on his way toward the Washington Monument. He kept yelling into his megaphone, “You’re gonna burn.” He said “burn” a lot. City workers should quit their jobs. His flag had the 45th president embossed on it.

He seemed to leave for a time, but at some point, he returned, came over to the water fountain not very far from where we were sitting, and washed himself up, including his private parts.

We finally visited the MLK monument, which had not been created the last time I was in town. While I’d seen it on TV before, viewing it in person reminded me of its unfinished nature and the incomplete nature of justice. Then we walked to the FDR Memorial, which is more vast than I recalled.

Discontinued

The free DC Circulator is on the chopping block. “On Monday, July 29, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced the start of the planned phase-down of DC Circulator service, which will begin October 1, 2024, and culminate with service ending December 31, 2024. The program downsize and shutdown are part of the District Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and Financial Plan.

“As services wind down, DDOT is working with Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to determine service levels to help reduce the impact to the public. DC Circulator is operated by RATP Dev USA, and employees have been provided with written notification of the planned service closure.”

This is unfortunate. Although I must admit that it wasn’t reliable in terms of coming every 15 minutes, this could be a function of previous cutbacks.

Trying to go home

We stayed in Alexandria on Thursday and went to the waterfront on a local free trolley. It must have flooded often in this particular area near the Potomac, as it was that specific day, because people had sandbags already prepared and had them just in case.

We went to a nice restaurant called IndoChen. The waiter asked where he was from. Neither of us guessed Nepal.

On Friday, there were all sorts of weather watches in the DMV area (District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia), including flash floods and tornado warnings for Alexandria at 8 a.m. caused by the very slow-moving Hurricane Debby. Eventually, the weather cleared, but our 11:10 a.m. Amtrak train to NYC became later and later, so even if we got to Penn Station, we’d miss the train to Albany. The big problem was debris, mostly trees, on the tracks.

Fortunately, an earlier delayed train out of Alexandria had shed enough passengers – they made other plans – and we got to NYC. We were in the Moynihan Station across from Penn Station, which was far enough from us that my wife and I couldn’t sit together. I listened to the loudest, most vapid person I ever heard on a train. And she was sitting BEHIND me, probably boring her seatmate half to death. And it was so foggy and rainy that I couldn’t even see the Hudson River, usually a treat on that leg of the trip.

Nevertheless, we got home only about a half hour behind schedule, very tired, but happy to have been able to fit two vacations in my wife’s time off.

A game of cat and mouse

Stormy

Stormy On a recent Friday evening, I heard rustling, a game of cat and mouse. The cat was playing; the mouse wasn’t nearly as excited about it.

Our remaining cat, Stormy, entered the living room from the hallway with a mouse in her mouth. Initially, I didn’t know if the mouse was alive or not. Eventually, Stormy got bored with holding it in her mouth, let it drop, and the mouse started to run away. Stormy quickly caught it.

The scene repeats a few more times as the mouse scurries into the dining room. Some boxes on the floor stifle Stormy, but I move them, and Stormy snares her prey. Finally, after releasing the mouse again, Stormy can’t quite get to it because it’s hidden between returnable bottles on the floor. I move the bottles, but the mouse moves underneath a tool chest; I don’t know how it fit under there.

Goodbye

The mouse was lying on its back, so I got a pair of winter gloves and picked it up. It was still moving but not nearly as robustly as before. I took the mouse outside, probably to meet its fate via an outside cat or a raptor.

Midnight and Stormy were inside cats and didn’t have the killer instinct. But they did have the play instinct. Earlier this year, we discovered a dead mole at the top of our steps. Even then, we were sure the cats didn’t kill the rodent but found the deceased creature.

Stormy is a great alarm clock for these things. One time, about a decade ago, she was staring at the brick wall above a fireplace, and we discovered that a bat was hanging there. We managed to get the bat out of the house without hurting the bat or us, but it was only because Stormy was so intent on staring that we even discovered the creature.

Stop Project 2025 comic!

It includes enabling the president to have much more power than the constitution allows.

Here’s your problem: trying to tell all your friends about Stop Project 2025 and why they should care. It’s difficult because the plan is dense, vaguely incomprehensible, and perhaps a little bit boring. I point to this great page, which is quite thorough.

It includes a 38-minute video, a quiz, and lots of words—important words, to be sure, but still. It does direct you to that four-and-a-half-minute song I’ve linked to before.

Several people created the Stop Project 2025 Comic, which you should share. Why did they make this?

“We’ve made comics to explain some of that agenda, and move you to vote against it.

“We did this because you shouldn’t have to read this monstrosity. After all, it’s more than fifty times as long as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution…combined.

“Our two founding documents are short because it doesn’t take a lot of words to say, ‘You matter, and you have a voice.’

“Project 2025 is longer because it’s a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

“Don’t let it do either.

“Read on, then vote.”

Project 2025 is a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

You matter, and you have a voice.

Related – Election Subversion 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Is immigration something you do or something you are?

When Trump Rants, This Is What I Hear from Carlos Lozado, a NY Times writer who came to the United States at age three, is touching. The article is probably behind a firewall, but here are a few paragraphs.

djt’s “eating the dogs” rant prompted Lozado “to look back on his xenophobic cacophony, building so relentlessly over the past decade, in attacks that have narrowed the distance for me between immigration as a memory and being an immigrant as a present identity…

“When Trump told four Democratic women in Congress to ‘go back’ to their countries, he unknowingly trivialized how often I’ve gone back in my mind, wondering what that other life, that other person, might have been like.

“When he mocked immigrants for not speaking English, he ignored the interplay between native tongues and new ones and how demanding purity in language — and in people — is utterly self-defeating.

“How can immigrants ‘poison the blood’ of the nation when we have always been its lifeblood? With his accusations, Trump is administering his own brand of venom, one whose cumulative effect is to disfigure a nation, not exalt it.”

Sunday Stealing: best birthday party

It’s Love

birthday month music

Sunday Stealing Questions 200.07 includes my best birthday party. Or parties

What’s the best birthday party you’ve ever had?

I’ve had a lot of fine birthday parties. The first one I can think of is when I was 16, and my parents rented out something called the American Civic Association on Front St. in Binghamton, NY. It was the place where my father had volunteered. Our house is very small, so I never had any real parties at my house – one with two people attending when I was eight – so getting that place was great. I remember my father found a couple of my friends making out in one of the closets, and he casually invited them to leave the closet. In 2009, one of those mass casualty events occurred at the ACA, which devastated me.

I remember my 33 and a third part. My birthday is in March, so you can’t have an outdoor gathering in upstate New York. We had it in July. Somewhere in this house, I even have a copy of the invitation.

My 50th birthday was at my current church, and my sister from San Diego was there. There was singing involved.

Ya gotta have…

Since I got to be 60, I decided I would have a hearts card game at my house for my birthday week, and we’ve done that most years. In 2015, my friend Karen, who I’ve known since we were in kindergarten, attended. She said she knew how to play hearts – she did not – but she regaled the group with her stories about the music business, including finding marmite for Paul McCartney in New York City and singing Will the Circle Be Unbroken in an elevator with Johnny and June Carter Cash.

When I was working, I would take off my birthday. If it were a Saturday, I would take off the Friday before; if it were a Sunday, I would take off the Monday after. I think some people thought this was a weird indulgence until I read a book by Henri Nouwen, the late Canadian theologian I quoted several times in this blog.

Where is your favorite place you’ve ever visited?

The Barbados honeymoon was paid for by Jeopardy.

How do you like to spend your free time?

This is an odd question because I still struggle to find the answer. I don’t even know what free time entails. Take this weekend, for instance. I was telling somebody I could be doing A&B&C&D, going to a gala, a play, a concert, a movie, and church; it’s all vast.

Formerly Young

What’s one of your favorite bands?

I picked the Rascals, formerly known as the Young Rascals. I’ve listened to them quite a bit recently; Felix Cavaliere’s birthday is coming up. When The Beatles broke up in April 1970, they were probably my favorite active band.

My favorite Rascal song is It’s Love, with that great Hubert Law on the flute. I had it on vinyl and then got a new record player. It’s Love is the last track on the second side of the Groovin’ album (1967). Just as it gets to about 15 seconds before the song ends, the new stereo record player rejects it because the runoff on the LP is too short. The machine thinks the record must be over. So I bought the CD pretty much for the last quarter of a minute of the song.

What is the cutest animal you’ve ever seen in person?

Cute doesn’t come to mind. The most striking thing I ever saw was a peacock at the now-defunct Catskill Game Farm, only about an hour South of where I am now.

How would you describe your style?

I have no idea. Laissez-faire.

If your wardrobe could only be one color, what would it be?

Well, obviously green. There are lots of different shades of green that I’ve probably written about.

Philharmonic Hall

What was the first concert you ever went to?

Seals and Crofts in New York City, on November 12th, 1971, with my then-girlfriend, who eventually became my first wife. Boz Scaggs was the underappreciated open act.

What is the best book you’ve ever read?

It’s an impossible question, so I’ll just say the World Almanac because, for a half-century, I would get it every year, and it was my go-to source of enjoyment and information. Or one of these.

What’s your favorite movie of all time?

I just did a blog post about movies, but I don’t know if I could ever narrow it down to a single film.

What’s the stupidest movie or TV show you’ve ever seen?

In general, it would be a reality show. When my daughter was a teenager, she would watch Temptation Island, though she knew it was trash. I couldn’t stand it.

If you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Well, pie is the perfect food. You can have apple pie, pizza pie, or chicken pot pie, which are all wonderful.

Annoyed

What are your biggest pet peeves?

I have so many, but let’s go with people who can never apologize. They can never be wrong. When they are wrong, they may say, “Sorry if you were offended,” rather than take ownership.

Are you more into brains or looks?

I believe that intelligent women are inherently more attractive.

Do you celebrate any holidays? What’s your favorite?

My favorite holiday is probably Thanksgiving because it involves food other than Halloween candy, Valentine’s Day candy, or chocolate in the Christmas stocking.

The #1 hits of 1994

Motown

The #1 hits of 1994 are what a bad typist likes: a concise list! I will acknowledge that I own the Boyz II Men and All-4-One albums from which these hits derived.

All the songs went platinum except Stay, which “only” went gold.

I’ll Make Love To You -Boyz II Men (Motown), 14 weeks at #1 pop, three weeks at #1 AC, nine weeks at #1 RB. Now that’s crossover power.

I Swear – All-4-One (Blitzz/Atlantic), 11 weeks at #1 pop, #3 AC, #13 RB. This song was a #1 CW and #42 pop hit for John Michael Montgomery in the same year.

The Sign – Ace Of Bass (Arista), six weeks at #1 pop, #2 AC

On Bended Knee – Boyz II Men (Motown), six weeks at #1 pop, #8 AC, #2 for two weeks RB

The Power Of Love – Celine Dion (550 Music/Epic), four weeks at #1 pop and AC

Bump N’ Grind – R. Kelly (Jive), four weeks at #1 pop, 12 weeks at #1 RB

Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories (RCA), three weeks at #1 pop, #5 AC. From the movie Reality Bites, starring Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller. I never saw the movie, yet I have the soundtrack on CD. Ethan Hawke, also in the movie, directed the Loeb video.

All For Love -Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting (A&M), three weeks at #1 pop, eight weeks at #1 AC. From the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner, which I saw on TV in 2023.

Here Comes The Hotstepper – Ini Kamoze (Columbia), two weeks at #1 pop, #2 for four weeks RB. The song samples Hot Pants-I’m Coming by Bobby Byrd and Heartbeat by Taana Gardner. It incorporates Land of 1000 Dances. The song was later incorporated into the movie Ready To Wear (Pret-A-Porter), starring Julia Roberts. Ini Kamoze means “mountain of the true God.” I don’t think I ever heard this song before.