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To Go or Not to Go

 If you look at the official state of the relations that the US has with the country of Vietnam, the State Department says, The United States supports a strong, prosperous, independent, and resilient Vietnam that contributes to regional and international security; engages in mutually beneficial trade relations; respects human rights and the rule of law; and is resilient in the face of climate and energy-related challenges. The United States and Vietnam are trusted partners with a friendship grounded in mutual respect that has developed since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1995. This  rosy outlook despite the brutal history of the US involvement in the Vietnam War from about 1963-73.  I wonder how many of the 58,000 American dead, and 3.8 million Vietnamese dead could have imagined it would be so peaceful 60 years later?  How would they respond to the fact that the US and Vietnam are such good trading partners.  That the two cultures are i...
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A Name Now Known

 I just finished the new biography of Sanora Babb by Iris Jamahl Dunkle.  Babb is the author who wrote a Dust Bowl novel and was put on hold because Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was published a few weeks before hers was slated to be.  The fact that she was a woman, with a woman's perspective on this major historical event, had as much to do with her second class treatment.  In recent years, it's come to public knowledge that Steinbeck actually relied on Babb's notes and ethnographic data in putting together his award winning novel.   Sanora Babb's story is one of constant struggle and perseverance.  She was born dirt poor-literally, as her family lived in a dugout home in Western Colorado for a time before moving to a couple of small towns in Kansas.  The daughter of an abusive addicted gambler, Babb witnessed the emotional and physical abuse of her mother and sister.  Herself, as well.  But after learning to read from newspapers plastered on...
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60s Witness

                          60s Witness A 10 year-old boy crying at the funeral     of his older brother,  A warm summer afternoon, while my mother irons. I                          listen to a King speak and try to tell anyone who will listen that this is history-making, Fire hoses, snarling dogs, a Sheriff named Bull. College students are next.   We're told to carry plastic bags filled with water in our your pockets when the governor comes to campus, this will help when the tear gas flies, CIA agents are rumored to be attending our classes, watch what you say,                          or not. At a party in 1969, all they played was Creedence...one after another. Today we marched inside a draft board,  the clerks scared and outraged by our au...
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Writing Oppotunities

 I had an idea that they would work.  They did, for the most part.  The writing prompts and strategies I used with 11th and 12th graders in high school had much to offer older adults.   That's what prompted me to take a leap of faith and offer a writing class for older folks.  There was the Tai-Chi group too.  For the past year, I've been taking Tai-Chi classes through my local gym and community center.  It was there I met an ice group of older folks who have lived a bit of life.  They have stories to tell.  Sometimes, they even want to tell them, but just need a little motivation.  I asked around, and when it appeared that there was a small core of folks that expressed interest in a class that would offer some writing opportunities, I decided to proceed.   I envisioned this little writing workshop as more of a volunteer effort.  But, when I asked at my local community center I learned that everything offered there went through...
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A Real Pro(jector)

 So the President is a sociopath.  The Emperor had no clothes.  Power corrupts completely, remember?   One of the more predictable things about our current President is that he projects.  Not the sound of his voice, the psychological defense mechanism of projection.  Remember learning about that?  If not, it's the one defined as attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses to others, as if to avoid confronting those own impulses or behaviors within their own psyche.   So, when the President says that the beliefs of his opponents are radical, or "crazy" or dangerous, or even false, he's really describing himself.  We all do this to a degree, but not to the extent that our President does.  If you can stomach him, or afford to spend the time, check this out.  It's remarkably consistent.   A well-known case in point: . In 2016, Trump criticized opponent Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecured personal email serv...
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No Pomp, Just Circumstance

                                There's a time a for joy                                    A time for tears                                    A time we'll treasure through the years                                    We'll remember always                                      Graduation day                                               ...
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What Became of Them?

 In May of 1970, right before I ended my VISTA service in Houston, Texas, all the people who had lived in the house that became the Communications Center, posed for a group photo on the front porch of the decrepit home that endured at 1506 Rosewood Ave.  It has since become an iconic photo.  Iconic because it freezes time and represents a moment in that time that says so much. Aside from a 50 year reunion with most of the people in that photo, there always remained two individuals that were never heard from.  That's because they were not VISTA Volunteers like most of us, they were, in fact, high school students that often hung out at C-2*(C squared-Communications Center) See them on far right of photo. One of the programs that VISTA created that year was called "The University of Thought."  It was a "Free University" for high school students.  In those days, the concept of a free university was popular.  It was an opportunity for young people to take c...
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