Memorial Day 2007

Somehow Blogger did in the posts I wrote for the past three days. One was the post I did about Lydia, for which I just posted pictures instead. Yesterday’s post on the parenting question I decided to recreate, as it was relatively short. the third, of course, was this one. The problem, which others have experienced as well, is “being worked on.

The gist of the third lost post had to do with the tension of being largely a pacifist and opposing this particular war, for reasons best expressed here, with an appreciation of the sacrifices people in the military and their families endure. I’ve said it before, but it bears saying again: I don’t fault the soldiers for fighting in Iraq. I fault the leadership that put them there, ignoring prewar intelligence.

Someone on one of the Sunday morning shows, a family member of a military man killed in Iraq or Afghanistan referred to Arlington National Cemetery as a “beautiful awful place”, beautiful in the neatly arranged gravestones, awful in terms of what those gravestones represent.

Anyway, try to remember that today is not just “the unofficial beginning of summer” or the end of a three-day weekend.
***
Kimberly Dozier, a CBS News reporter who almost died in Iraq a year ago this week (and two of her colleagues did perish) has a special tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 10 pm EDT called Flashpoint that I will watch.
***
Charles Nelson Reilly died recently. Johnny B. packaged a video tribute so I didn’t have to.

ROG

Parenting QUESTION

I was on the bus this week when I saw a woman standing ahead of me. She had just sat down her two children, and someone complimented the children. The mother said, “Do you want ’em? Take ’em! They’re 5 and 2.” Later, she smacked the older one because he wasn’t all the way back on the bus seat. I was trying to compose a positive message to say to this woman. Unfortunately, all I could think of was something along the lines of “What kind of idiot ARE you?” Fortunately, she and her charges got off the bus before I did.

At this website weblog-delux.de you will find a lot of parenting tips and recommendation for this journey of being a parent.

So, on this day smack dab between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s in that context that I ask you:

1) Under what circumstances would you get involved, from speaking to the person to calling the police, in the actions of a parent dealing with (presumably) their children?

2) When, if ever do you give unsolicited advice to a parent? There’s a friend of mine, not a parent, who’s always giving her opinion about how relatives are raising their children, in terms of punishment, potty training and bedtime.

3) Have you ever heard this song?

Be kind to your parents
Though they don’t deserve it.
Remember that grown ups
Is a difficult stage of life
They’re apt to be nervous
And over excited
Confused by their daily storm and strife.
So keep in mind though it seems hard I know.
Parents were children long ago. Incredible!!
So treat them with patience and kind understanding.
Despite of all the foolish things they do.
Some day you might wake up and find you’re a parent too.
(Be kind to your parents Composed by: Pete Seeger, Published by: Sanga Music.)

I’d only heard the Seeger version (55 seconds!) recently. But when I was much younger, we had this red vinyl record, a 45, probably on Peter Pan Records, that my sister Leslie and I played SO much that we could, to this day, break out and sing this song.

Sad news.
ROG

ROG

The Lydster, Part 38: Dr. Jeykll, Ms. Hyde


OK. I wrote this story about a rare period of sustained testiness of my otherwise wonderful daughter last Saturday.

But somehow, the entire post disappeared from Blogger, pictures and all.

While I could reload the pics, and have, recreating the text is too much like work, especially since it’s suddenly getting warmer in the home office Ah, well.

ROG

Our Planet Earth

There’s guy named Robert Krulwich, who contributres to ABC News. He does the wackier stories. He also has quite the distinctive voice. He did a piece a while back about What if you dig a hole all the way to China?

He also noted the highest point on earth, i.e., the highest point on the planet in relationship to the moon and the stars. Hint: it’s not Mount Everest, because Earth is a oblate spheroid.
***
In its “take action” section, Treehugger.com has a How to Go Green section: How To Green Your Wedding (didn’t they do that on Days of Our Life recently?), How To Green Your Electronics, How to Green Your Pet, How to Green Your Sex Life, etc.
***
Meanwhile, 30 years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, [EDIT: at a neighborhood theater near you], the first (or fourth, if you can follow that) Star Wars movie came out. I saw that initial film at the long-defunct FOX Theater in Colonie, near Albany, some weeks after the release date, and the lines were STILL long. I LOVED that film, and Empire Strikes Back was even better. If Return of the Jedi was slightly less satisfying, it was still a suitable ending to the trilogy. Whereas I saw Episode 1: Phantom Menace, which largely bored me to tears, and never did see the other two films.
***
Will Lefty Brown turn green?
ROG

ROG

Bobby Dylan’s 10th Studio Album

The very first Bob Dylan song I ever owned was I Want You on a Columbia compilation album called Best of ’66. In fact, I found the song list:
Help! – The Brothers Four
Hey Joe – The Byrds
Homeward Bound – Chad & Jeremy
Cloudy – The Cyrkle
You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me – John Davidson
I Want You – Bob Dylan
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – The New Christy Minstrels
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling – Pozo-Seco Singers
Just Like Me – Paul Revere and the Raiders
Down In The Boondocks – Billy Joe Royal
Simon & Garfunkel – You’ve Got a Groovy Thing

Dylan following John Davidson?

Anyway, the first Dylan album I ever purchased was actually not for me but for my high school girlfriend. She was a big Dylan fan, and so for her birthday or Christmas, I bought her the new release. It was a double album, so it, for the time and my budget, was rather expensive. It was Self Portrait. She was really glad to get it. But as she and I listened to it, it became evident on her face, even though she tried to hide it, that she was, to say the least, disappointed with the music. And why not? As Amazon put it: “Self Portrait stands as a truly perverse collection. Released in 1970…Bob Dylan…delivered a pop-inflected collection largely made up of rather indifferently performed covers.”

I seem to recall specifically a truly horrific version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”, which some, including me, thought was done in retaliation for S&G’s A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission, the bit at the end where Simon says, “I dropped my harmonica, Albert,” Albert being Albert Grossman, Dylan’s manager at the time.

Subsequently, I’ve purchased about 20 Dylan LPs and CDs. One of them is NOT Self-Portrait. Dylan’s 66 today.
ROG

ROG
Ramblin' with Roger
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial