Well it's Labor Day 2022. We are in the midst of political tumult that seems so unnecessary. Wouldn't it be nice if our nation could just glide along as it used to. Yes there would be disagreements but this would happen within a framework we could all agree on. We'd stick together as a nation, you might say "one nation under God." The religious reference would not be intended to demonize the progressives.
It is hard to put the current political unrest aside in the relaxation of a holiday weekend. We don't really "honor labor" on this weekend, right? It's a 3-day weekend, period.
We are seeing a new full-fledged 3-day weekend emerge in summer, and that's "Juneteenth." The political conservatives would be expected to decry this holiday as "divisive." That's one of their buzzwords. For a time they wanted the word "slavery" excised in favor of "involuntary relocation." Looks like that may have fizzled out. But the likes of Ron DeSantis are still out there.
Will public libraries be forced to close everywhere? Even our public schools seem at a flashpoint now. Wild-eyed "conservatives" can show up at school board meetings and scream. Sadly I cannot rule this out for our Morris Area. I firmly hope it does not come to that here, where we'd experience something like Idaho.
I'm starting to think that space aliens may have infected a significant portion of the U.S. populace with a bizarre virus that is causing all this MAGA stuff. I peruse the headlines on the "Mediaite" site this morning. The outlandish words and actions from the far right might be comical if they didn't bear the possibility of actions. I'm speaking of action like what Lindsey Graham has warned about, literal riots. These people went nuts condemning the rioting in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. Now they are saying that such behavior might well be expected if charges are made against their hero/God Donald Trump.
Oh, regarding "Juneteenth," it's not going to meet much resistance if it means a new 3-day holiday weekend in summer!
New shoes for school!
School starts tomorrow (Tuesday), I guess. I heard a kid at the Willie's Cafe say this morning he'd be wearing his "new pair of shoes." Warms my heart.
School seems more accommodating and friendly for kids now than back in my day. Look how much longer the "honor rolls" are. That is a sea change. I'd love to know how some of the long-time teachers were counseled or "prodded" to change their ways when the transition started happening. I'm guessing some would be close to hopeless. They had spent their lives in classrooms where a certain percentage of 'C' grades just had to be given out.
I grew up thinking 'C' meant "average." George W. Bush became a hero to all the 'C' students out there. I always thought it was risky to try to carve a simple 'C' path. It's like having a couple alcoholic drinks with the idea you'd be just under the DWI level. In other words, it's too risky. But even if you got a 'D', you'd pass, right? Being an insecure kid, I always feared the lower grades, way too much.
It's so obvious now that I should have just tried to "survive" school, just do well enough to reach the point where I could be handed a diploma and then get the hell out. It's hindsight now. As a kid you're always afraid of being judged, by your peers as well as by the teachers. The teachers are human beings with flaws like all of us. They simply wield too much power, or they once did.
Today? It's true the kids may "walk all over the teachers" to an extent - a friend of mine uses those words - but if choosing between two evils, I'll take the present day over what I experienced.
I am on a downward trajectory with my life now, past any potential to try and do anything productive. That's unfortunate.
I walked out of the Morris Sun Tribune building for the last time on June 2 of 2006. The date is burned into my head. It was so abrupt. No phasing-out or slowing-down at all. I walked over to the editor's office and handed him some documents that had just come in. At no point did this person even say "good luck" or "see you around" or anything like that. This person had a lot more to do with my departure than the general manager, I'm convinced. And he might just have been an extension or toady for people higher up in the Forum Communications system.
Well, you have to do what you have to do in a business like this, as well as in the military. Hitler had many of his own generals killed, so Donald Trump didn't even have his facts right when he talked about how "loyal" Hitler's generals were. Why do I have this mastery of history while a former president of the U.S. does not? It wasn't the generals, it was the SS that had total loyalty to Hitler. Even Rommel turned on Hitler.
And now in America we see the rising-up of sentiment that is so remindful of Hitler and the Third Reich. I implore all women out there, even the Apostolic Christian Church women: please try to put a stop to all this. Women are nurturers, men are destroyers. Attention women: think about the kind of world you want your children to grow up in. Surely you don't want to "blow everything up," do you? In fact, why don't you consider leaving your MAGA husbands?
Maybe the Apostolic women should start dressing like normal women.
Sports is the real glue?
OK, the start of school means sports is on. We need our public schools because of their sports teams, if all else fails. So the MACA football team has played a game and gotten defeated, unfortunately. Also unfortunate: the 0-2 start of the volleyball Tigers. My first blog post covering volleyball is on my "Morris of Course" companion blog. I also write about cross country in this post. I'd surely love having you click to read:
Yes, so it was June 2, 2006, when I walked out the back of the Sun Tribune building. I was stunned, maybe a little zombie-like for a while. The public school teachers could feel relieved, as I was a long-time skeptic of their heavy-handed union actions. Their union appears much better-behaved today, just doing their legitimate work as advocates for teachers without disrupting the whole community.
So I walked out of the Sun Tribune building: all that knowledge of "pagination" never to be used again. My experience with the digital cameras, my availability as van driver on a moment's notice all through the year, Christmas Eve even. Those attributes were not enough to save me in the end.
I have reflected on all of this ever since, every day practically. My downfall was probably with a letter to the editor from Dr. Busian. These things happen when you're "in the arena" like I was. At least I have out-lived Dr. Busian, I can take satisfaction in that. I have outlasted a great many people in this community.
And I am still writing about Tiger sports 50 years after I first started. Forget about my bumps in the road - I'm still doing it! And in the final analysis, maybe that's all that matters. My tribulations mean nothing next to what our country is experiencing now. Consider climate change which Trump has called a "hoax."
Addendum: How could teachers guarantee a certain number of 'C' grades in a class? Sadly, this had to be done in a calculating and cynical way. A top tactic: ask some questions in quizzes with answers that were not covered in class. The supposed "smart" kids may have poked around to get the answers, and as for everyone else, they'd be s--t out of luck. The problem is that the teachers had to "root" for some kids to show some signs of struggling. Frankly I think this was scandalous. And how about those "multiple choice" exams where you had a 25 percent chance of getting the answer right just by guessing. Why were those ever considered serviceable?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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