Ramblin' with Roger

Outside the comfort zone: Ask Roger Anything

Arthur, the Kiwi-American, wrote about blogging recently, prodded in part by an article I sent him. One of the takeaways is that bloggers spend more time on a typical blog post (up 39% from 2014 to 2017) and as a result, posts are published less frequently.

I shared the survey with this local blogging collective, maybe a dozen and a half folks who either presently or formerly blogged at a certain metropolitan newspaper, plus selected others. As I wrote, cheekily: “I love being in a collective! It’s so early Xian, or Soviet.”

It’s designed to be a safe place to kick around ideas, maybe gripe about the inevitable blog trolls we inevitably get. (Although I almost never get them here, I’m pleased to note.)

We answer questions about our writing process. “What inspires you to write about in autumn?” I asked if any of the others write ahead like I do. Well, no. unless a vacation is planned or one is crafting a fictional piece as part of a larger whole.

Someone posed this question: “What was the first time you wrote about something OUTSIDE of your comfort zone? I.e., something in which being a blogger inspired you to try something different?”

I can’t say for sure, but it was almost certainly something that one of you posed during what I call Ask Roger Anything, probably concerning race.

This is the time when youse folk get to inquire anything of me, and I must respond, generally within the month, to the best of my ability, obfuscating only when really necessary, which has not been as frequent as I would have thought, truth to tell.

As always, you can leave your questions below or on Facebook or Twitter; for the latter, my name is ersie. Always look for the duck. If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s fine, but you need to SAY so; you should e-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, or send me an IM on FB and note that you want to remain unmentioned; otherwise, I’ll assume you want to be cited.

Movie review: A BOLD PEACE

President Óscar Arias fended off Ronald Reagan’s desire to use Costa Rica as a base for the American counter-revolutionary attack on Nicaragua.

When I was in Binghamton back on November 13, I went to the Bundy Museum to see the documentary A Bold Peace. It chronicles the nearly 70-year “history of Costa Rica’s dismantling of their military & redirecting their resources towards education, healthcare, & the environment,” earning the country the #1 spot on the Happy Planet index.

In 1948, Costa Rica dissolved its military. The country’s priorities changed from weapons of war to an ambitious social program that included free medical care and education. But it did not come easily.

Rafael Calderon was elected in in 1942 and instituted a number of progressive social measures including Social Security, a first for Central America. “He had two powerful allies in this enterprise: the Catholic Church and the Communist Party of Costa Rica.” But he was paternalistic and corrupt, and he ticked off the country’s emerging middle class.

Costa Ricans turned to Jose Figueres, “the founder of a think-tank called the ‘Center for the Study of National Problems’ in 1948. It was sharply anti-imperialist and thought that Calderon’s export-oriented model ceded too much to the United Fruit Company and other foreign companies.”

Later that year, “after Calderon lost the election to a candidate backed by Figueres, the legislature dominated by Calderon’s party overturned the results—thus leading to a civil war that cost the lives of 2,000 Costa Ricans.” Eventually, Figueres took power.

Costa Rica’s anti-military stance did not go well in the United States and its allies in the region. Several times over the years, the US tried to suck Costa Rica back into the fold, notably in the 1980s, when President Óscar Arias fended off Ronald Reagan’s desire to use the country as a base for the American counter-revolutionary attack on Nicaragua.

The enormous pressures put on Costa Rica to “get with the program” has meant agreeing to dubious free trade deals, which has meant “Walmart stores replacing locally-owned small stores and five star hotels springing up everywhere to lure tourists.”

Still, the notion of putting more money in butter rather than guns has made most of the average Costa Ricans, who seeming are inherently antipathetic to conflict, to live as the largest nation without a standing army.

A Bold Peace was a very informative film. The audience discussion afterward focused largely on whether the 102-minute film could have been trimmed. Of course, by only focusing on the positive aspects, but director Matthew Eddy wanted to show the whole complicated history, warts and all.

I recently read that Costa Rica runs 300 days on renewable energy, which shows that at least part of the progressive agenda remains.

Xmas: St. Nicolas Day to Russian Christmas

“Reverend Roger Green said the event is one of his favorite parts of the job.”

In a recent sermon, one of my pastors noted that he had received a circular for holiday shopping in September of this year. He promptly threw it into the recycling bin. That would have bugged me too.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook on November 16 that a certain local radio station was already playing Christmas music. I commented, “Thanks for the warning. Will avoid.”

On December 6, though, I started playing at least parts of my now vast collection of holiday CDs. It’s because it’s St. Nicholas Day in parts of Europe.

And I keeping playing it until January 6. After all there are 12 days of Christmas. It’ll be Three Kings Day in places like Puerto Rico, and Christmas in the Eastern Orthodox church. Since I grew up in a largely Slavic neighborhood in Binghamton, NY, most people called it “Russian Christmas.”

I should note, however, that there are seasonal things I do enjoy even in November. Arthur’s array of ads from New Zealand and the UK don’t irritate me as much as the American-made versions, maybe because they’re generally so well crafted. Or perhaps I just find them quaint. Here are some more ads.

Advent: Hearing God in a Female Voice

Ha! An article about having a “Stress-free” holiday included such wisdom as “You don’t have to make everything from scratch.” Good to know, but that wasn’t happening anyway.

Do you wish “Merry Christmas” to a rabbi?

This caught my attention in a positive light, though it’s happening throughout the year: Alexandria [Louisiana] church holds community feeding day. “Reverend Roger Green said the event is one of his favorite parts of the job.” No relation to me, as far as I know.

Now I Know: The Forgotten History of Jingle Bells

JOKES!
Where did Frosty put his money?
In the snow bank. All his assets were frozen!

What is Santa’s favorite sweater?
His Fleece Navidad

Seasons Greetings

For ABC Wednesday

Kennedy Center Honors: Lear, Estefan, Richie…

The Kennedy Center Honors, which took place on Sunday, December 3, will be aired on CBS-TV on Tuesday, December 26 from 9-11 p.m., EST.

When the announcement of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors were first announced, I was afraid it might not take place at all. When Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter called [Norman] Lear a few months ago to tell him about his selection, “Lear said he’d be thrilled to have it (at last!)”

But the television pioneer “just couldn’t abide the idea of standing in the White House shaking Trump’s hand. Days after the Kennedy Center announced this year’s honorees, Lear told reporters that he would boycott parts of the event.”

As it turned out, on August 19, 2017, “the White House announced that the President of the United States and the First Lady will not participate in 2017 Kennedy Center Honors activities.” The KCH reps were “grateful for this gesture.”

Norman Lear is the honoree I’m most familiar with. He was the creator and producer of several successful and groundbreaking TV sitcoms in the 1970s including All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, all of which I watched for most or all of their runs. And, at 95 he’s STILL working, putting out a new version of One Day at a Time, this iteration with a Hispanic cast.

I did not recognize the name Carmen de Lavallade, but I am quite familiar with two of her cohorts. She “is a multifaceted dancer, choreographer, actor, and teacher… De Lavallade brought [the late] Alvin Ailey to the studio for his first ballet class, which began a long career of collaboration between the two dance world giants.” Her late husband Geoffrey Holder “would choreograph works for [her], including her signature solo Come Sunday.” Here’s a recent profile of her on CBS Sunday Morning.

Lionel Richie has been a massively successful singer-songwriter, first with the group The Commodores (Easy, Brick House, Three Times a Lady) then as a solo artist (Truly, All Night Long, Hello). His duet with Diana Ross, Endless Love, spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts in 1981. He wrote Lady for Kenny Rogers, which reached #1 in 1980, and co-wrote the benefit single We Are the World in 1985. Richie was a staple on MTV in its early days.

In 2018, my wife and I will be seeing the musical On Your Feet at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady about the lives of Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio. Their group, the Miami Sound Machine, was big in Latin America but took a bit longer to break into the US market. When the band recording more in English, they started charting with won radio DJs over, and had massive success with songs like Conga!, Anything for You, 1–2–3, and Bad Boy. Theirs is a story of Cuban immigrants who “brought a Latin-infused sound to the American mainstream.”

I was a little surprised to see LL Cool J on the list. It’s not that he hasn’t been enormously successful as a hip hop artist that has crossed over to the mainstream with songs like Around the Way Girl, Hey Lover, Doin It, Luv U Better and Control Myself. It’s that his name doesn’t usually pop up on the list of the best or most influential hip-hop artists. Still, he has segued that musical success into a thriving acting career. He currently appears on NCIS: Los Angeles, which I must admit I’ve never seen.

The Kennedy Center Honors, which took place on Sunday, December 3, will be aired on CBS-TV on Tuesday, December 26 from 9-11 p.m., EST.

Mary, the Magnificat, was no wuss

“And so in this season, I hear Mary’s Magnificat shouted, not sung” in the places of power and oppression.

At the risk of being labeled a reverse sexist – hey, I can deal with that – I tend to think, in the main , that women are better people than men.

I took some pleasure that the #MeToo movement received TIME magazine’s Person of the Year designation. I’ve had/tried to avoid having debates over whether this particular man (Al Franken, usually, but not always) should have been fired/forced to resign.

Here’s the thing. When you have years (decades, centuries) of oppression, and the oppressed finally get their voice/get some power, the rules to rectify the long-standing wrongs aren’t always clear. Or perceived as “fair”. (If Franken goes, why doesn’t tRump? Because the Senate, and the House of Representatives, have rules about their own members.)

Eventually, some equilibrium, some recognizable standard, is achieved, but it takes a while.

Which brings me to Mary, the Magnificat, and an Unsentimental Advent by Rachel Held Evans. She says Mary has long been painted “in the softer hues… —but this young woman was a fierce one, full of strength and fury…

“And so in this season, I hear Mary’s Magnificat shouted, not sung” in the places of power and oppression. Great stuff, this. And to the War on Christmas folks, she adds:

“God did not wrap himself up in flesh, humbling himself to the point of birth in a stable and death on a cross, eating, laughing, weeping, and suffering as one of us, so that I can complain to management when a barista at Starbucks wishes me ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.’ The incarnation isn’t about desperately grasping at the threads of power and privilege. It’s not about making some civic holiday ‘bigger and better.’ It’s about surrendering power, setting aside privilege, and finding God in the smallness and vulnerability of a baby in a womb.”