There is a UMM musical performance at the public library tonight (Wednesday, May 1). I see where the concert choir will perform at graduation. A commencement program is available to be read online. I would guess that paper programs will not be distributed on graduation day. Last year's graduation was paperless this way. We were told we had to access the program with our smartphones.
Some of us have a hard time keeping up with all this.
I didn't stick around last year because I was shocked to hear "Pomp and Circumstance" played as a mere recording. For seemingly time immemorial the UMM band handled this. Unfortunately many of us took this for granted. We might assess the band and choir on their performance. But we took their presence for granted. Looks like the choir will adorn this year's graduation.
Memory tells me that UMM has a poor track record with weather for graduation day. With periodic exceptions, weather has been an issue. So we have seen graduations indoors like last year. I was present long enough to make that observation. I have since called the graduation the "low-budget graduation."
I have heard the excuse that it's tough trying to require the musicians to show up for graduation. Well it wasn't in the past.
A previous chapter
I personally played French horn in the UMM band for a few months in the late 1960s. I remember being in the band for a nice outdoor graduation ceremony. I was only asked to play because of a shortage of French horn players. I seem to recall there was just one. I remember the guy but don't remember his name.
Rich Meiss and Bonnie Dunnum (later Drinkwitz) were in band at the time. Bonnie was a student director. My experience there coincided with the peak of campus unrest over the Vietnam war. My, how those memories might come back, now that we look at the headlines about the campus protests.
Nostalgia? That's an improper word because it suggests fond thoughts. Oh, we might be fond of the sense of moral commitment that so many young people on college campuses had in the '60s.
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| The "real" RFK, RFK Sr. |
I remember driving to Alexandria to see the movie "Bobby." I think it came and went, did not make a big splash. The movie did underscore the late RFK's stance on Vietnam. I remember being personally present at UMM for a couple of the "moratoriums" set up to confront the war. All opinions could be voiced but one could gather that the sessions were a vehicle for opposing the war.
Was there a contrary position? If so, was it truly a "pro-war" position or just a more measured position? Maybe as in, "let's not do anything drastic." But of course many of us felt something drastic was needed. David Brinkley confronted LBJ on this. Vietnam was fundamentally LBJ's war. Did you notice that when his widow "Lady Bird" died, the media paid little more than token attention to the news? For a former First Lady? Well, my boomer generation had reached its prime of influence and we did not appreciate any reminders of the Vietnam war.
Amazing: LBJ could have gone down as a hero based on his civil rights bulldozing. Did he push the war as a way of watching his own back? I mean, to signal to America's always-powerful conservative element that he wasn't a "softie," certainly not on "communism?" The boogeyman "communism" of the time.
The memory of LBJ is certainly not revered today although it could be. It's not far off to make the same assertion about Richard Nixon. Why on Earth was Nixon worried about the 1972 election? The political center and left had more reach back then than today. Nixon wanted to position himself appropriately. Shrewd enough to campaign as a conservative, Nixon was not at all the raging conservative once he took office. He actually pushed for the creation of the EPA among other things.
So the lesson is: "Nixon was more interested in power than in ideology." That lesson has not been learned by our USA president from 2016 to 2020. Amazing how that individual thought the whole nation really was receptive to banning abortion. Pro-life has been a rallying cry, yes. A call to arms for people who position themselves as far right and supremely "Christian."
But of course the issue becomes hopelessly complicated, a black hole, sort of, once the over-arching protection of Roe vs. Wade is erased. The dog that caught the car? Quite. Other people beat me to that expression.
There are many reasons to be scared of Donald Trump. I have become focused on just one. It is not abortion. Surely other people are going to handle that issue for me. Chris Matthews has said "liberalism always wins in the end." It sticks in my mind. Eventually women's rights which somehow coincides with "liberalism" are going to win out. Question is how much time it will take. Then life can go on as normal.
Life was reinstated to normal after Vietnam, as I was flabbergasted that our involvement there actually ended after all my growing-up years of being subjected to the news. Hey, we actually could leave Vietnam. Really! "Amnesty" came along in due time for those who had gone to lengths to avoid it.
Keep eye on the ball
Well, my one prime issue that I implore with people at the present time is this: the specter of Donald Trump taking over the Federal Reserve. Surely you know his penchant for wanting to take over everything. He says what he means. If you don't believe that, maybe this blog post isn't for you. Maybe you should read the funnies. "Dagwood" still in there?
Trump dictating what interest rates should be? Weighing what criteria? Maybe you aren't aware but the Fed has historically been depended on to make decisions that are sometimes bad in the short term but good (thank goodness) in the long term. Maybe we can use the expression "deferral of gratification." This is famously considered a trait of successful, wealthy people versus the "poor."
Deferral of gratification.
You think Trump understands that principle? Do you suppose he'd make decisions on interest rates based on what would work best for himself or his heirs staying in power? If you don't know how he is wired, well go read the funnies. "Li'l Abner" still in there?
Low interest rates! Zero percent! Maybe negative! What a turn-on for Donald Trump. But with what consequences for the masses of ordinary Americans? Low interest of course pushes up inflation. I think we've had enough of inflation for a while.
What if the economy collapses because of Trump's inflation? This would mean the very shattering of America. The country would no longer exist as it has. And so we're left to speculate about what would rise up in its place. Maybe give it back to the Indians!
Flashpoint of Israel
The focal point for the current campus disruptions is the Israel/Palestine thing. Some people would want me to say "Israel/Hamas." Well I think it's Israel/Palestine. Like many in my generation I am sick of hearing about strife involving Israel. I am totally on the same page as the late great reporter Helen Thomas. She said the Jews of Israel should just "go home. Go back to Europe."
I 100 percent admire the Jews as a people, am awed by their intelligence and motivation. I am 100 percent against the nation/state of Israel.
Hey, any talk of unrest on our UMM campus? I have not heard of any. Any possibility of graduation being disrupted? Have heard no talk. Then again, there is a very low level of activity on our campus.
Let me explain how I came to attend the UMM moratoriums in the late '60s. I was only in about the eighth grade. It wasn't necessarily because I was such a committed citizen, although I was paying attention. It was because I reported to campus for band practice only to find it was cancelled due to the moratorium. I stuck around to take it in. Truly history.
I do remember one UMM professor who seemed to be there as a contrarian relative to the students. I won't type his name in case I were to have trouble reconstructing his comments. Many of those at Edson Hall were not pleased with the man. But the forum was open. There were always certain people ready to counter the students.
Today there are those willing to fight for "pro-life" even though this cause must surely have an expiration date. "Liberalism always wins in the end." Poor Chris Matthews, he lost his show on MSNBC because of behavior that amounted to "flirting." Al Franken got in trouble for allegedly similar urges.
I think the high-water mark in all of UMM history was when Al Franken as U.S. senator came here to speak for graduation. What a grand day that was. Today? Seems UMM is just trying to hold on.
But I will be attending the musical performance at our public library tonight (Wednesday), 6:30 p.m. It will be a joy.
Graduation is on May 11. One aspect that can't miss: the buffet brunch.
-Brian Williams - morris mn minnessota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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