Daily Blues & Views

 When I first heard the news, one image emerged in my mind. I saw my neighbors house and then the back bedroom that my neighborhood friend shared with his older brother. There, on top of Ricky’s dresser was what I was most excited to see. It was a 45 copy of Jerry Lee Lewis’ mega hit Great Balls of Fire. We had to wait for Ricky to return before we could beg and plead with him to play it for us. I lived the records label The gold and brown colors on those original Sun records really popped. Jerry Lee was something we’d never seen before. Like Elvis, he was colorful, mercurial and completely unpredictable. It was like a guilty pleasure. This was no Pat Boone. If Jerry Lee appeared on TV, all hell broke loose. Something was happening to the post war culture of this country and as teenagers, we were right in the middle of it. It didn’t take long for Jerry Lee to establish himself as a rock and roll bad boy. Marrying his 13 year old cousin sealed the deal. But with his fellow musicians...

 Woody Guthrie once told an audience:      "High prices! You talk about high prices, I went into my store to buy some eggs and the man charged me 59cents for a dozen.  I went in a week later and the price was 63 cents.  So I went in there today, and he charged me 79cents for a dozen.  I  went in there  today, and  he was there, but this time he had his money up on the shelf and his eggs was in the cash register!" Funny, but not too funny today as we seem to be experiencing the same kind of encroaching price rises with everything from a gallon of gas, to a quart of milk.  Don't even think about the cost of a college education.   In my lifetime, I recall what some prices were as a kid and then a teenager, and then growing into an adult.  I'm almost embarrassed to say what I paid for my college education from one of the finest universities in the country.  Usually, I only say that I paid for it myself by working sum...

c2022 B.L.Greene       I see the two words and delete the email instantly.  It's come to that.  I don't want to be bothered with false narratives or dubious statistics.  What do they want anyway? Funny how something once so benign can evoke such a response.  But the news is out, and the scandal is documented.  The American Dream has taken another direct hit.  The Boy Scouts of America have become tarnished.      Like the Catholic church, the workplace, the military, and the teacher's lounge, Scouting is the latest victim to succumb to charges of sexual abuse.  Over 80,000 documented cases in a class-action lawsuit have resulted in bankruptcy. Reality has a way of catching up.  Those uniforms, kerchiefs, merit badge sashes, and even the insignia seem forever tainted.      I see the email vanish abruptly and that image dissolves into a multi-image collage in my mind.  A red coffee can, a ten-dol...

 My class and I were once discussing movies.  When I mentioned that I'd recently seen a film under discussion, someone asked, "Who'd you see it with."  When I said that I'd gone by myself, they were incredulous.  "What," I said, "You've never gone to a movie by yourself?"  They hadn't. But then I realized that it just might be a matter of age.  What they saw as abnormal, if not a complete oddity, becomes less so as one ages.  In fact, I'd wager that all these years later, most of them have had the experience.   Going somewhere by yourself became the topic the other day as I chatted with a small circle of friends.  One shared that she seems more reluctant to go somewhere by herself since the pandemic and resultant lockdown.  "I got halfway there and then almost turned back," said another friend when explaining a trip to a specialty grocery store she recently made.  We all seemed to agree that a slight case of agoraphobia se...

 This is when I feel the "pull." Every August, when the Back to School commercials begin, I get the urge to go to stationery stores.  Not only do the teacher dreams continue, but so too does the desire to get school supplies.   Refreshing all the paper, the clips, the pens, and the pencils are one of the genuinely pleasurable things about teaching.  Setting up a new roll book, a grade book, whether digital or traditional, gives one a sense of order that we know will quickly deteriorate. Nevertheless, it is a pleasurable experience.   As a young teacher, I used to go clothes shopping for the new year as well.  A chance to get a few new shirts and perhaps a winter pair of pants was always part of the process.  As teacher dress standards became less strict, that seemed to become a thing of the past.   Today, when I see all the TV commercials for school supply drives, I always become puzzled.  To an outsider, it would seem that we ...

 "No one is above the law..." So say the politicos and the Attorney General, and all but a handful of Republican sycophants.  Of course, the defeated ex-President continues to act in such a way that he is much higher above the law.   Famous for his diatribe on why people plead the 5th Amendment so as not to self-incriminate, he then turns right around and uses it himself.  His hypocrisy is consistent.   He's hiding his guilt and raising millions in the process.  This is a crossroads for American democracy.  I'd add a few other things like the two-party system as well.   We are fastening our seat belts for the sure-to-come bumpy ride that will play out all the way until the next presidential election.  While Trump maneuvers state legislatures and state secretaries, he's on a collision course with the Department of Justice.  Only when the orange man is reclining in a brand new orange jumpsuit will we know for sure that he ha...

 Seems as if I just checked one off my bucket list.  Last week, my brother-in-law and I hiked a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.  All told, we did about 8 miles going from White Pass, Washington up to Deer Lake, then on to Sand Lake, and back again. This was part of our annual fishing adventure, which happened to be at another lake near the PC Trail. With perfect weather and the wind not too bad, we set out over the well-marked and maintained trail taking time to take in all the wildflowers, the beautiful overstory of Pine and Fir trees, and mindful of others going and coming on the famous path. The gradual incline wasn't too bad, but just in case a break was required, there were some makeshift wooden benches for a brief rest along the way.  This part of the trail features a couple of forks in the road, but responsible hikers had made arrow signs with sticks indicating which way to go.  Some parts of the trail are fairly easy to walk, but others have gnarly t...