Christmas tries bubbling to the surface

Christmas is famously supposed to transcend everything. There's the famous World War II incident where soldiers on both sides ended up at the home of a woman who insisted that because of Christmas, there be no conflict. Linda Hamilton played the role of the woman in a dramatization. A German soldier who had rudimentary medical training sewed up a wound. At the end of it all, the soldiers headed back to their respective "lines." 

WWI gave us a similar brotherhood-is-everything moment. Collin Raye had a country music song about this a few years ago. 

The vignettes pose the question: why could not the Christmas spirit pervade our lives well beyond the boundaries of the holiday season? We ask, we shrug, we go back to accepting our mortal reality, n'est-ce pas? 

Swords into plowshares? I grew up during the nightmare of Vietnam. We sought a bright spirit with the annual Bob Hope TV Christmas specials from Vietnam. There he was with his golf club and his shtick which might have been helpful in WWII. Vietnam was so different and yet the older people wanted us to behave as if we supported the "war effort" like in the '40s. 

Bob Hope brought out nubile women who at the time, through a sexist lens, were supposed to get the men salivating. I don't think anyone used the word "misogyny" then. You'd go scurrying to the dictionary, a print dictionary. The word is used in a very constructive way today, to scold and to point a way forward. 

The Hope specials failed if their intent was to make us look aside from the horrors of that war. Their attempts at escape were eerily off-base. Consider the Vietnam war, a horrendous pain, a blight on our nation's history, and yet there was Bob Hope, his golf club, with Raquel Welch in front of a sea of servicemen. The camera panned around and caught random servicemen laughing vigorously at the jokes. 

The Hope specials just disappeared at a certain point. No admitting of what a folly the war had been. The shtick just disappeared, and then eventually we got the scenes from the fall of Saigon, the people clinging to helicopters to get the hell out of there, helicopters being pushed off ships to make room for more of those fleeing. It is fortunate that the scenes are preserved on video. Also nice to see the video of the Hope specials preserved so we can absorb the times. 

Meanwhile away from the whole war milieu, we had such innocent and happy annual Christmas specials on TV for us boomer kids to enjoy. Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Perry Como. The guys had talent but they were clinging to a dated age. It was a patriarchal society. Certainly the door was not open for non-whites the same way as for whites. The impression of racial harmony was superficial, really just orchestrated. 

No one wished to admit any racial animus. The reality lurked in the background. We have a president yet today who talked about "good people on both sides" of the Charlottesville thing. Coupled with the pandemic, it really is hard absorbing the holiday spirit. I'd argue we are largely pretending. Going through the motions? To be frank, yes. I'm just trying to call a spade a spade. 

I have personally held my own with at least pretending: look at the lights out in front of my house on Northridge Drive. Frankly we've had a "keeping up with the Joneses" challenge in our cheery neighborhood. In our case it's the House family, not Jones, really setting the standard. They are new residents and they really set an example with holiday decorations. So, they can be cited in my own commitment of making a stride or two forward. (Has the "Joneses" expression become dated/obsolete? Are kids exposed to it? Has it gone the way of the "dunce cap?")

 

Looming concern

I cannot get into a truly elevated mood - impossible - until we can be sure that Trump leaves the White House. The odds seem high now he will in fact be forced to leave, but I'm just not so sure. We have an attorney general who is having to bail with just a month left of the Trump thing. Why? One month at the end of a lame duck period? He can't just tough it out? To do his job? What is he so scared of? What is he afraid might be coming down the pike? 

This is a man, William Barr, who has gone way out of his way to accommodate Trump. And now even he can't take it any more? What will Trump do in Barr's absence? Will Trump insert someone in league with the kind of people who came to surround Hitler? You think it can't happen? The great Sinclair Lewis, of course from Sauk Centre MN, wrote a book called "It Can't Happen Here." (The point being, it can.)

There is a giant "welcome sign to Morris" out by the highway in between Subway and Greeley Plumbing. I say it's a welcome sign to Morris because it seems to reflect this community's general feeling. It's so prominent, noticed by so many people. The sign reads "Trump-Pence." The people responsible for the sign haven't given up on behalf of their autocratic leader yet. 

Who owns that land? The city? Greeley Plumbing? Some Apostolics? Some questions should be asked.

 

Addendum: Regarding the ushering of people of color into TV, I'm reminded of Elston Howard being Jimmy Dean's guest for the black and white TV show. Howard was the first player of color with the Yankees. He should not have been the first, the first should have been Vic Power. Problem with Vic, was that he did not have a restrained or conservative enough personality (subservient?) to suit the powers that be. He could be flamboyant - he could be original. He didn't understand racism because he was from Puerto Rico, he was not from the Southern U.S. 

Vic of course came to our Minnesota Twins and was our team MVP in 1962 when we finished second behind the Yankees. He would "sweep" his glove after making many catches at first base. Some say that was hot-dogging but he saw it as practical technique. He is remembered as one of the best fielding first basemen of all time. 

Howard? The player/author Jim Bouton originally portrayed the guy as sort of an uncle Tom, then in later years when he mellowed or saw things more fairly, he did a turnaround. Howard was a fine player and person.

 

My podcast for December 19

So, Christmas is nearly here. My "Morris Mojo" podcast for this December 19 advises that our current restrictions are for the purpose of trying to keep us at home. Just don't be tempted to circulate. It's painful but something we must accept, for now. You might be visited by an angel of the Lord for Christmas. Please visit my "Morris Mojo" and thanks:

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Heeding-the-restrictions-eo12et 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

 

Enid Grindland: the time comes for all of us

(echo press image)

We have a sample of Enid Grindland's rosemaling in our house. I say "we" and "our" even though I reside here alone. The soul of the whole family continues to reside here. That includes our dogs: "Misty, Heidi and Sandy." 

The Grindlands were an important element in family: They presided at First Lutheran Church. Enid's husband Cliff was pastor. They came here in 1960 which was ten years before the main Lutheran synods even allowed female pastors. It's amazing to realize that the step forward came so late. How could Lutheran churches even survive today without women in true leadership positions? 

Imagine you're in the 1960s again. Imagine that the idea of a female pastor was completely off the table. Imagine that the suggestion of female eligibility was controversial. It should remind you of something. It should remind you of the more recent controversy involving the eligibility of gay people. The tempest did subside but not without a cost of people splintering off. 

The mainstream Lutheran organization at present is stressed. Predictions are dire, backed by real evidence. The dissenters peeled off and now we find them in places like the church out north of town by the dog kennel. A friend and I call it the "dog kennel church." What an unnecessary schism that developed. But if the dissenters were so absolutely rock-ribbed, so unwilling to modify their views and be more accepting, a mending is probably nigh impossible. 

Enid Grindland became known for her rosemaling. She discovered the art in a trip to Norway in 1970. That's the year I was confirmed. My peers and I were at the heart of the boomer generation. So many of us! We were arranged in rows at the front of the sanctuary for our official photo. I could not grasp the significance of confirmation at the time. Like nearly all - make that all - of my youthful activities, it was simply arranged by my parents. I supplied no impetus of my own, felt no incentive of my own, saw no direct reward on my own. 

Such things were a rite of growing up. You might say I went through the motions. I'd guess many of my peers did likewise, though they might not be so forthcoming to admit it. It was the salad days for First Lutheran Church in Morris. We were as conservative and mainstream as you'd want, clearly "the establishment" as my generation would say. 

Jim Morrison recalled with me how our generation never took to churchgoing. This isn't to say we didn't get dolled-up quite often to attend. But we were sort of on a leash. We were following expectations. The various habits encouraged by our parents did not seem to have a positive effect on us. So many of us drifted toward amoral or self-destructive behavior as the '60s gave way to the '70s. I have no qualms recalling this. 

My old peers would say I lack adequate grounding to comment: they'd say I was obviously too naive and protected. You know what? Sometimes the quiet and naive kids, the kids subjected to teasing, soak in more about their environment than anyone else. I was over-sheltered but it was a blessing, just in terms of protecting my health. I heard stories about kids who fell to the depths, then pulled themselves up by "discovering" Christian faith. As if they hadn't been exposed to that all along. 

The parents of the boomers had overcome so much. They took none of their blessings for granted once the clouds of the Depression and WWII passed. And then they showered blessings on their own children, as if this was some sort of ticket to happiness. Who can blame them for thinking that? Little did they know they were actually inculcating a strange void of unhappiness, illogical though that was. Maybe it's a lesson in how happiness is seductive but elusive? 

I was never impressed by stories of how some of my peers plunged to the depths with drug use or other vices/bad judgment, and then they "found God" or "found Christ" and were rescued. Christianity should be discovered as something besides a way to get yourself pulled out of a hole. 

At the very present, Christianity is a means to latch yourself onto right wing politics. To get yourself latched to Donald Trump and Mike Pence, men about whom I doubt Christ would say much if anything positive. These are men who went out of their way to suggest "herd immunity" as a way to get past the pandemic, i.e. to accept the needless loss of so many lives. The government wouldn't have to be bothered with doing anything drastic. Republicans never want the government to do drastic things to simply help people. "Herd immunity" was so convenient for them. 

 

Enid was a double-major

I remember Enid Grindland complimenting my trumpet playing after an Easter Sunday service in '71 or '72. I appreciate the comment more now that I learn she was a music education major at Concordia College-Moorhead. She actually had a double major, her other being English. Wow! And I'm a writer too, so I feel kin with Enid. 

I should say "felt" kin with Enid. You see, Enid Grindland left us for the next life on November 25 at the age of 92. So blessed to have a long life just like my parents who reached 96 and 93. My mother almost made age 94. 

The patriarchal Clifford Grindland left this life in 2009 and I was able to take my parents to his funeral in Alexandria. Kind of a shame his funeral couldn't be in Morris. My father had discontinued driving and his cognitive skills were slipping. I'm not sure if he could place Enid but I remember her saying to us "it's so nice to see you here." Fortunately my parents had an adult child who could get them around to such important things. 

Many Lutheran clergy were at the funeral. I was pleased to shake hands with Rev. Dean Larson. I'm not sure Dean had the best opinion of me, back in his tenure here, just based on his rubbing shoulders with certain congregation members. Ahem. But he had a big nice smile and an agreeable look in his eyes. Rev. Todd Mattson was at the funeral. Todd is remembered as the pastor who really energized the youth and was thus lionized by their parents, some of whom got a little too big for their breeches. Parents of adolescents can lose their grip on reality. I know from vast experience. 

 

Not so naive?

I remember getting reacquainted with several people with whom I had spent time in the summer of 1973. I was immature at that earlier time, I'm sure perceived as almost comically naive, but what's fascinating is this: when we got reacquainted, they approached me as if they could sense I had seen and known everything, as if I could pierce the pretensions and stupidity of some of my drug and alcohol-addled peers, and I suppose a couple more vices could be thrown in. 

Truly it is sordid to recall all that. I think those old associates of mine realized I was a keen observer. Remember that I became a journalist, and still am a journalist. That mantle in life is the epitome of being an observer. 

Enid Grindland, RIP. Maybe the echoes of my old trumpet playing will be heard in heaven. (I remember the late Rick Yerigan saying "do you have to thrust your pelvis?") 

I remember that as a child, my peers and I often did not sit in the pews with our parents. We sat with each other, maybe in a "cluster." I remember one Easter as I sat next to friend Brian Henjum, we saw some of our friends enter the sanctuary dressed in suits/ties, guys who we hardly ever saw in church. "I haven't seen those clowns in church since last Easter," Brian chirped.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

The real abomination: Kushner's behavior

Jared Kushner

It is a gloomy Tuesday leading up to Christmas. The sky is overcast and the wind is brisk. The temperature is typical for mid-December. It's hard to look forward to Christmas in a time with such limitations and anxiety. We can pray that Trump's antics between now and the inauguration will be little more than outrageous "entertainment," rather blending in with Saturday Night Live skits. 

I love the new skit about "Newsmax Sports." The guys argued that the Jets are really the best team in the NFL. And Trump is arguing. . .well, what is he really arguing? Whatever happened to our preference for classy behavior by public figures? Whatever happened to simple decorum? And yet so many of the local people who like to wear Christianity on their sleeves talk up Trump, to this very day. 

I noticed when I drove into town this morning, a big "Trump-Pence" sign along the highway close to Greeley Pluming. Not saying Greeley is responsible. They may well not be. But it's a signal that you're really out into the hinterlands where Trump love is felt. I'm disgusted but it is futile to fight this. The election is over, guys. You can talk about Trump's outrageousness on any given day but it becomes like saying the Pope is Catholic. 

If the "Access Hollywood" tape was not disqualifying with its outrageousness, what better exhibit could be put forward? Well, there are lots of candidates to be sure. If you are a public figure and show any reservations toward Trump and his crowd around him, prepare to be lambasted from the White House. Prepare for a "tweet." 

What's new today? What's new from the big bully pulpit which Trump will occupy until mid-January? Trump is promoting a tweet from Lin Wood that two Georgia Republican officials "will soon be going to jail." It's such an intense threat, I mean to throw around language like that. Again, decorum. What has become of so many of us? 

For Trump to promote such an argument is "a big deal," according to a Mediate piece by Colby Hall. 

And of course it is. But we get dragged through so many "big deals" involving Trump acting unpresidential, we are numb. We are desensitized. And it is profoundly dangerous. 

I see it as dangerous primarily because the desensitizing effect might cause us to overlook consequences of great import. And on this front I reflect back to Jared Kushner's behavior early in the pandemic. 

I have suggested previously that Kushner might eventually be put on trial on some sort of "crimes against humanity" charge. It is amazing this episode sort of came and went on our radar screen. It is burnished in my memory and consciousness. 

Am I really such an outlier in my reaction to this? Am I immune to a certain virus going around, a virus infecting people's brains to where they insist on keeping their big royal blue "Trump-Pence" signs on public display? 

Let's see, what were Kushner's credentials for holding a high post? He's a senior advisor to the president. His background includes being an investor and real estate developer. A newspaper publisher too? I'd be more impressed if he put himself forward as a former newspaper writer. I suppose it helps that Kushner is married to Ivanka Trump, do you suppose? He took over management of his father's real estate company after his father was convicted and incarcerated for fraud. He later bought Observer Media, publisher of the New York Observer. 

He must really have a feeling for what the common people are feeling, right? He has stayed active in his business interests even since joining the White House, and sometimes has even profited on policy proposals he has pushed. And yet all we hear about on Fox News or Newsmax is Hunter Biden. If only we really had "Newsmax Sports" as an alternative. We hear echoes of "Baghdad Bob." 

And how about Kayleigh McEnany? Isn't she a piece of work? I think she's being ignored now. 

 

Kellyanne and Claudia

Is Kellyanne Conway really signed to write a "tell all?" Will she really turn on her former bosses, as the "tell all" term implies? The publisher knows of course that the book will not sell like hotcakes unless it's an expose type of portrait of the big hot mess of the Trump administration. 

Trump might have been suspicious of Conway, based on the constant anti-Trump messaging from her husband George. And better yet, the Trump skeptic daughter of the couple, Claudia! Way to go, Claudia. Someday you'll be portrayed as a hero in a Trump-based movie. Indeed, "and a little child will lead them." (Isaiah 11:6)

Better we follow the children than the local Apostolic Christians. When Kushner could be found guilty of a "crime against humanity." It's crystal clear from a July 31 headline. It's from "Business Insider": "Kushner's coronavirus team shied away from a national strategy, believing that the virus was hitting Democratic states hardest and that they could blame governors." 

It was March and early April when Kushner gathered a team to devise a nationwide coronavirus testing plan. A public health expert in regular contact with the team told Vanity Fair that " 'the political folks' thought a nationwide response was a bad political move." 

At the time, "Business Insider" reported, "outbreaks were worst in Democratic-voting states and cities. The source suggested that some close to Kushner thought it was best to hold back and blame governors." 

I remember Laura Ingraham of Fox News following the script perfectly, as she said her aim was to hold "Cuomo and de Blasio accountable." 

The White House disputed the Vanity Fair account. Well, what would you expect them to say? They lie like a rug. (I was going to write "sieve" but that's for leaks.) 

Kushner's plan was indeed dropped in favor of a mainly state-by-state response. Since then, cases in fact surged on both sides of the political divide. So I'm astonished: do the Trump sympathizers like those who swarm around in our Morris MN area really want people to die, as a means of gaining leverage for the red staters? It appears so. 

And so with this in mind, how can we really find joy as Christmas nears? I can only pretend I'm doing a good job but it's more in a crossing-my-fingers spirit. Crossing fingers until the Trump madness passes, abates. And then, maybe we'll have people in power who can put Kushner on trial for a "crime against humanity."

 

My podcast for Dec. 15

My we're halfway through December, on the home stretch toward Christmas, so I begin my "Morris Mojo" podcast by reciting "At Christmas," poem by Martha Cluxton. I express the hope that once the Bidens get established, we might hear them recite " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The link to today's podcast:

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Bidens-will-improve-tone-enrqdr 

 

Kushner, by Jim Carrey

Dusting off some lyrics

Kushner's name is in some song lyrics I wrote shortly after the Trump administration began. I discovered this as I shuffled through papers in the household. We might at the time have been inclined toward "light" lyrics or poetry on the subject. A reality TV star as president. But I sensed at the time, as the lyrics show, that foreboding things likely lay ahead. Peruse these words:

 

"He Never Thought He Would Win"

by Brian Williams

 

Eight years came and went for "Mister O"

He was suave and classy, don't you know

Never one to show misogyny

He took care of us so faithfully

Now we say hello to Mr. Trump

So much like a bear with boxing gloves

Did he really plan this in advance?

It was like a sudden avalanche

CHORUS:

He never thought he would win

But now he's our president

Though he bragged a bunch

I just had a hunch

He never thought he would win

I thought Russia was our enemy

In the Cold War it was plain to see

You can't trust the Russians, we were told

Maybe it's a sign I'm growing old

So in touch with Mr. Vladimir

We might think that it was awful weird

Still we gave our nod to Mr. Trump

Now we wonder what we've went and done

(repeat chorus)

Jared Kushner is the son-in-law

He got power from Ivanka's pa

Donald Jr. has entitlement

They all understood what victory meant

On his way to being No. 1

Our new leader had a lightning tongue

He gave speeches that could knock 'em dead

If he only knew what lay ahead

(repeat chorus)

  

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Andy Williams specials bathed us in Christmas

Nothing projects "1960s" more than an Andy Williams TV Christmas special. We can recall so many wholesome nuggets from the decade. It was way pre-digital. We had a shared culture. You might discuss a popular network TV show with someone "at the water cooler." I remember in high school, "Night Gallery" was the kind of show inspiring next-day fodder for discussion. That show was basically a continuation of "The Twilight Zone." 

In elementary school I found the boys rather transfixed by "Bonanza." Such westerns were a staple, really to excess. We all had to adapt to the deliberate "de-ruralization" of entertainment TV by the end of the decade. But the Andy Williams Christmas specials encapsulated the innocent side of the '60s. They reflected the best in our nature, their "white bread" quality notwithstanding. 

You had "one shot" at watching a show like this. It would surely not be re-run. Imagine that. So it was an "event." It was "appointment TV." The fact it was special served to really buoy the Christmas feeling among us all. I consider the Andy Williams show the best example. 

We looked forward to a standard cast around him. His parents got applause as soon as they entered the picture: such wholesome people. They seemed rather aged at the time, would be considered grandparent-like today. People my age sometimes remark how middle-age people of an earlier time just seemed older. Was it fashion? Health factors? Andy was joined by his brothers for part of the show. They sang wonderfully together. 

Andy Williams, then-wife Claudine Longet

Andy's wife Claudine was at her most charming in the mid-1960s. She had a fall from grace later. (Remember the notorious "Saturday Night Live" bit that had her "accidentally" shooting several snow skiers? The show had to apologize for "any misunderstanding" about the bit being satirical.) 

Oh, and then we saw the Osmond family with Donny as the little one. Many of us had a permanent conception of Donny as the little one. 

 

With golf club in hand

In a completely separate category, we can consider the Bob Hope Christmas specials of the 1960s. All of this can be sampled today thanks to YouTube of course. The Hope specials were a troubling window into the disaster of the Vietnam war. These were not like USO shows during World War II, a war in which we were part of the grand Allied victory. Was the older generation of Americans just expecting a repeat of the WWII glory? 

There is nothing nostalgic about war. If it's necessary, it must be done. The Vietnam war was not necessary. The U.S. lost. Just sample some scenes and news reports from the fall of Saigon. As outrageous as I consider Donald Trump, I'm sure he would not countenance war escalation as Lyndon Johnson did. 

Johnson could be remembered with great reverence today. Among my generation, he's pretty much the opposite. As for civil rights strides, I'm not sure the forces weren't strong enough for that regardless of who the president was. 

Trump says he wants to get us out of endless overseas wars. But then he goes and calls U.S. servicemen "losers" and "suckers." Politicians had decorum in the 1960s. The standard basically held until Trump came along. Public pronouncements were civil and tried summoning the best spirits within us. If Trump apologists/sycophants are actually nostalgic for an America of a previous time, why can't they be more respectful of decorum? Huh? Why not? 

The 1960s also gave us the wonderful Don Knotts movies, wholesome and genuinely funny. Knotts you'll remember leaped into fame through "Andy Griffith."

Right in the middle of the decade, 1965, was when Minnesota kids my age, mostly boys, were transfixed by the pennant-winning year of the Minnesota Twins. The team had just gotten started here in 1961. My goodness! Before that, I guess you really could say we were a "cold Omaha." The term, let me remind, used to be trotted out in Minnesota by the likes of Sid Hartman to implore how we needed a new stadium or a team would leave, leaving us a "cold Omaha." (The Gophers wouldn't leave of course.) 

Actually before the Twins and Vikings started in 1961, the Gopher football team was the big-time sports thing. 

I was ten years old in 1965. I of course soaked up a lot of the popular entertainment. The Christmas shows were an annual staple - "one shot" at watching these. Plan your bathroom beforehand. Amazing how we can see them again all these years later on YouTube. 

So 1965 was particularly entrancing for kids in Minnesota, no doubt. Why on earth was it necessary for the U.S. to rapidly increase its military forces in South Vietnam? The South had been losing the war to the "communist" Viet Cong. Well, yawn, any conflict is sad certainly but why was it our business to send so many fuzzy-cheeked young men over to those jungles to die? My Williams family had a family friend who was a victim of friendly fire in 1966. We attended his funeral in Brainerd. 

My late first cousin Norman of California won the Bronze Star for his service. We're proud I'm sure but how wonderful if he had never had to go over there, if he could have just lived a normal life. 

The U.S. began bombing North Vietnam in March of 1965. It was called "Operation Rolling Thunder." The U.S. Army and Marines began ground operations to ferret out and defeat the communist forces. Sounds horrifying enough on paper. The reality defied description, except to say it was hell. "You asked me, I didn't ask you," Rambo shouted at Troutman in the closing scenes of "First Blood." 

The movie has become a classic but I have always been bothered by how the sheriff never showed any remorse about anything he did. I kept waiting for it. "First Blood" was art in cinema - the sequels were comic books. 

November of '65 saw the U.S. and the People's Army of Vietnam meet head-on for the first time in the battle of laDrang. Both sides claimed victory. What an abomination. And while this bloody tragedy was unfolding, us kids back home were watching fare like the Andy Williams Christmas special. The Dean Martin Christmas special. The Don Knotts movies. (Morris native Twig Webster loved the "way to go Luther" line from "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." 

My late father was a huge fan of Don Knotts. I think his favorite movie was "The Reluctant Astronaut." We just needed to beat our swords into plowshares. Or, be inspired by the simple innocence and joy of the Andy Williams Christmas special. Why could not that have set the tone entirely?

 

It's a shame because Spider accomplished so much in his life. Claudine accomplished only two things, marrying Andy Williams and getting away with murder.

- Steve Sabich, brother of Spider Sabich 

 

My podcast: nostalgia

Maybe nostalgia is a nice way of dealing with our current troubling circumstances of the pandemic of 2020. So I focus on the Minnesota Twins of 1965, the year we won the pennant! I also recall accomplishments of our World Series opponent, those Los Angeles Dodgers. Take a step back in time:

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/1965-Minnesota-Twins-enndam

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Please listen to my Christmas song for 2020

I do my best to write a Christmas song each year. Christmas nears and we are supposed to let the spirit bathe us, so we can put aside our normal concerns. But the concerns of 2020 are different. Maybe they cannot be put on the back-burner, not even for the sake of acknowledging Christ's birth. We don't know the date of Christ's birth anyway. The old radio voice Garner Ted Armstrong talked about Christmas having its origins as a pagan holiday. 

Well, my family always marked the occasion like it was the most joyous time of the year. But in 2020? The pandemic looms. The lack of leadership from the federal level of government has been catastrophic. So many people dying. Yet this fellow named Trump got dangerously close to getting re-elected. 

I have a line in my 2020 song which is a tip of the hat to Biden. Seems pretty modest, pretty reasonable. But Morris is in bright red Trump country - signs of that all over the place. 

Before I continue, I invite you to listen to my 2020 Christmas song: "A Social Distance Christmas." Thanks so much for taking the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIQtY0lQxSE 

 

I originally wrote some of these lyrics when the pandemic first broke, late March. I published completed song lyrics as part of a blog post. Months passed. Finally I considered having the song recorded. I made adjustments. Instead of a line expressing skepticism about Trump (without mentioning him by name), I inserted "now with Biden we can hope." Initially I had "I'm not betting but let's hope." In other words, I wasn't betting that the president, Trump, could "rise above the usual mess." 

And no, Trump is obviously incapable of rising above anything. He's not even working as president anymore. Just look at the exasperated gesture by Dan Gable at the White House. 

My song exudes optimism re. Biden, and why not feel some optimism about him? You're accepting that he won, right? Don't you want America to take steps to get past this horrible disaster of the pandemic? Do some of you root for Trump to the exclusion of all other concerns? You don't even know him. Why this reverence? It's as if Trump is stepping in for God Himself. 

Maybe there is a secondary virus going around and it's infecting the brains of Republicans. Maybe extraterrestrials are doing it. They haven't gotten to me yet. 

I re-wrote one stanza of my song because I really wanted to use "dollars to donuts" as the first line. It fit the melody so perfect. I learned the expression from the movie "State Fair," the early '60s version with Bobby Darin. So I wrote "Dollars to donuts, we can overcome this menace." The menace is the virus. I don't write about extraterrestrials! 

I write about how we can worship at home using the Internet. We are confined but we are also liberated with the Internet, so we can check how churches are doing all across the U.S. I have been fond of particular Lutheran churches in Austin TX and Des Moines IA. It's all there for free. "No one has to feel alone," I write. 

I was rather, shall we say kinetic with a line expressing how severe the pandemic has become: "hit the fan." Obviously I don't use the oft-heard first word in the phrase. "Hit the fan" means something bad that gets dispersed widely. Rather descriptive. Maybe the line was a mistake - I'm not perfect. 

Oh, the very first line of the song: "I'll blow you kisses." This leads to the title line: "In a social distance Christmas." I penned these two lines at the start and I knew I was off and running for a song. But I had a concern: "blowing kisses" is a way to ensure distance, yes, but blowing air should obviously be seen as unwise. I could argue "artistic license" for the word choice. The listener would "get the point." 

Artistic license can be delicate just like irony and sarcasm. I asked Del Sarlette at breakfast one morning about the word choice and he felt it was OK, so that relieved me. 

I wish to acknowledge again my Nashville TN studio collaborator, Frank Michels, along with Brent Gulsvig of Gulsvig Productions of Starbuck. He's the wizard who puts my songs on YouTube. If you need media transfer work to be done, contact the Gulsvigs, Brent and Lisa. They live along the mill dam road. 

For the first time I did not use a tape cassette for communicating my words/melody to Frank. I used a podcast episode! I just sent a permalink to Frank. In fact, you can call up this podcast entry yourself from my public podcast page: "Morris Mojo" in the "Anchor" system. Look for the title of the song. I set up the podcast for free. Neat, eh? 

Yes, songwriting is an adventure. It's different from my lifelong pursuit of journalism. You can make such a big impression with a simple, short song. The power of that amazes me. Roger Miller scribbled some lyrics on some motel stationery and 60 years later, people are still singing it. I am awestruck.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Our local culture now can puzzle

People get to an age where they have trouble relating to the new norms and framework of society. The older generation of my youth didn't understand the music or the pacifism of the younger folks. The older folks, many anyway, felt the Vietnam war was essential for stopping "communism." You would think the '50s had taught us that communism was a trumped-up boogeyman by a certain faction of society. 

Today the problem is the Trump supporters. If the restaurants were not closed, I'd be going to a place this morning where pickups are parked outside with pro-Trump and anti-Hillary bumper stickers. "Hillary for prison." You know the whole assortment. 

Greater America or rural America has become strongly inclined that way. The Dakotas are hugely inclined that way. The sparsely populated parts of the country have disproportionate political power. Paranoia has infected that part of the country. Churches are a bastion for this. The U.S. Supreme Court is doing all it can to reinforce churches even in this catastrophic time of the pandemic. 

Government had reasons for its guidelines that had nothing to do with a basic attitude about religion. Many urban Democratic leaders are as religious as you'll find. They go out of their way to try to allow normal life. What could be more practical for any elected political leaders? Wouldn't that be the natural incentive? To allow normal life, businesses to survive and for cash registers to be ringing? Who could be against that? 

Does the Supreme Court think it possesses greater wisdom? Elected political leaders must get into the messy business of balancing public health with our normal freedoms. A school cannot "go out of business." A church? I suppose financial strains would have unpleasant consequences, but it's not like a real business going under. So our leaders try to weigh these considerations. We in Morris need a business like Willie's. From a brutal objective standpoint, maybe Willie's should come under the same draconian restrictions. 

At a certain point our elected people must "suck it up" and make difficult decisions. There is no nirvana in the government sphere. Greg Mannarino has commented: "The government's No. 1 job is not to take care of the people, government's No. 1 job is to survive." Sounds cynical but you probably would still nod at that. 

Our leaders recognize that a stifling shutdown won't do, that we need to get our essential needs met in a somewhat convenient way. The Supreme Court would say church is essential. It is not. Can we assume everyone in 2020 has an Internet-capable device? Your own church no doubt has a weekly Internet-based feature. Maybe your church will get distressed to the point where it reduces or suspends service. It appears we aren't there yet. 

You'd think people now have a lot less incentive, or less money, for churches to be stable. A friend tells me the finances of Faith Lutheran Church in Morris are quite stable. Well that's a good thing. But while a business like Willie's is essential, a church building is not. I'm talking about the building. I'm talking about people in groups. Older people assume the traits just cited are essential. Well, I'm an older person but I think I have managed some adjustment. Obviously, one can gain maximum spiritual fulfillment (if that's your thing) by calling up the Internet. 

I am observing weekly services out of an ELCA church in Austin, Texas. So, memo to Supreme Court: It is not essential to go to a church building and be with a group of people, even though this is a nice thing. The Supreme Court has declared that this "nice" thing is an inalienable right, even if public health specialists say it can be hazardous. 

Aren't a lot of us notorious for not going to church anyway? And a lot of these people are the first to point fingers at Democrats who believe in intervention to limit the pandemic and save lives. It seems so know-nothing to me. 

"Hillary for prison." Yes that will solve everything. I'm pointing fingers at my own generation, a generation which has sadly decayed in terms of being sensitive to progressive things that are supported by science and reason. We protested the Vietnam war. Now we support what the Supreme Court is doing and support Donald Trump. 

I fear that a dagger was inserted into the future of America with the mere closeness of the 2020 presidential election. I mean, how close Trump came to winning. 

And if he had been just a little closer, maybe his carpet-bombing by oddball lawyers would actually work, or be disruptive enough to prevent the transition of power. I'm worried even with the situation we have now. My generation is culpable. Former Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann - yes, she actually got elected - has declared that God needed to take a more active role in delivering a victory to Trump, and also the various down-ballot candidates she favored. 

Are people rational at all when they vote? This is the same state that elected Paul Wellstone. Bachmann showed the hubris to actually pray, yes to invoke God: "Would you deliver various local and state races, Father. . .and O God, I personally ask, for myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States?" 

When you have a conversation with God, shouldn't it be about more transcendent matters/considerations? We have had four years of the U.S. president who has called U.S. military servicemen, fallen and extant, "losers" and "suckers." What an absolute scumbag of a human being. The First Lady has said "Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decorations?" Yet the likes of Bachmann prays for the likes of these people. 

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is like a clone of Michele Bachmann. Covid has ravaged South Dakota where Noem thinks free movement must be an absolute. So, people are dying for it. Would you be willing to die for it? Herman Cain gave his life for Donald Trump. He was 74 and had more to offer in his life. Was it worth it? Was Trump worth it? A man who has paid hush money to porn stars? Is he worth it? 

I ask all the patrons of my favorite restaurant in Morris, where the harsh bumper stickers rule, "Is Donald Trump worth it?" 

How many loved ones would you risk losing for the sake of Christian worship? In my case, none. 

I'm happy to make the kind of short-term sacrifices that Joe Biden is going to ask. If only the Biden administration could begin immediately. 

Remember when "Troutman" of "First Blood" warned: "Heaven knows what damage (Rambo) is preparing to do." An apt quote now for anticipating the last one and a half months of Trump. And most of our Morris area churches are totally devoted to him, almost as if Trump is taking on qualities of the divine, literally. It is amazing beyond words. I do care about "all the Christmas stuff." 

And Rudy Giuliani now says "we don't need courts." A prod toward violent uprising? For Trump?

 

My podcast for December 5

So this is Saturday, Dec. 5, in the midst of the Advent season. And what an atypical Advent season it is. The pandemic looms. Looming also is the behavior of the Trump administration as it profoundly disrupts American life, yet so many among us in Stevens County cling to the man. I invite you to click on permalink for my 12/5 "Morris Mojo" podcast. Thanks for stopping by.

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Advent-season-under-a-cloud-endgg3

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Power of pandemic might overcome Christmas

We would normally think that Christmas and its timely spirit can overcome anything. No matter how worrisome the top issues of the nation, surely we could put the concerns aside and bathe in the holiday spirit. 

We have entered a new and pretty intense shutdown period. We might feel taken aback. After all, the restrictions of last spring got loosened. Many doors swung open. The CW was that masks were still advisable, I guess, although this matter got swept into politics. Republicans or Trump supporters were the skeptics on that. These people talk about optimal freedom. Trump got people on the Supreme Court who would ensure that churches would face no restrictions. 

"Freedom of religion." When hospitals become filled to capacity, who will take responsibility for taking care of the spillover? The Supreme Court? Is there a tacit admission here that people will have to die as a consequence of maintaining some sense of American liberty? A lot of people seem to be asserting that including the South Dakota governor. We in West Central Minnesota are right next door to South Dakota. 

The Republican Party's reach with its rhetoric strikes me as very surprising. The U.S. people in times of crisis - surely this is maximum crisis now - have historically found common ground. We ultimately realize the steps we have to take. When the crisis passes we can resume our partisan bickering. The contrast of the current situation is alarming. 

I found as I began my day earlier this week, a uniquely bleak feeling entered my mind. Are we as Americans going to get past this one? The aggressiveness of people who call themselves Republicans or Trump supporters casts a pall. It's as if a very dark period in American history just will not pass. 

I remember the nervousness people felt about the virus last spring, what struck me as an overreaction in some ways. You didn't dare be heard coughing lightly or clearing your throat in public. We let up as summer arrived, not that we weren't aware of a continuing threat. Dr. Fauci warned a long time ago that a new wave of the virus was "inevitable." I imagine he was pinning that on the cold weather months. 

Then Dr. Fauci, in spite of his reputation for being pretty independent, actually got cowed by the political people and said "it doesn't have to be inevitable." He clearly made that statement against his better judgment. Sometimes optimism is not the practical course. Republicans are so glib talking about how "American freedoms" are sacrosanct, and how "small businesses" would go under if we take strong action.

So what are these people saying? That a large number of people simply have to die? The seriousness of the pandemic now makes us all wonder if our days might be numbered. We needed a strong national leader to tell us basically that "Thanksgiving of 2020 is canceled." You may get the day off but stay put. And why would that be so terrible? The Internet affords connectivity between people, crushing any geographic barriers. 

Adversity for business? The House of Representatives tried to help with the "Heroes Act." The Senate will have none of it.

 

The assets of today

A total shutdown would have been so much more painful in pre-Internet times. Problem is, we have come to take the Internet for granted. It is human nature. Our "screens" give us all the entertainment and fulfillment we could ever want. The screens are a vehicle for education at all levels, superseding all the clunky and expensive "analog" systems that were the norm when I was young. Tom Friedman describes this as "the friction is gone." It's that simple. Maybe too good to be true? But it's true. 

Ironically it's Republicans who have led the cry for our analog education systems that require all the orange school buses etc., to maintain close to usual operations. They say our kids need education. 

Kids have a natural incentive to learn and communicate - they have tools for this advancement without the government-mandated systems. Such systems are self-serving bureaucracies. Maybe the kids don't need the type of education that was once considered essential. Who tells us the old way is essential? Might it be people with a vested interest in keeping the old way going? It's people who either work in the system or have political positions that are symbiotic with those people. 

Once our young people have mastered basic reading, writing and arithmetic - not that difficult - they will find a passion beyond that. Getting dragged through "advanced" classes in a brick building should not be part of that. 

A parody gave insights even though its intent was to be funny: this published piece gave an example of geometry learning at home. "This is what a rectangle is. There, that's enough." 

Really, that's enough. Advanced geometry? The best you can say about such stuff is that it builds mental discipline. If kids get to find their passion and follow it, through electronic media tools, they won't need the mere mental calisthenics. Of course, there are geometry instructors all over the country. And physics. 

The advanced studies will always be suited for a relatively small percentage of kids. It doesn't mean the others are dumb. We are all different, destined for different paths. Most of us are destined for a pretty humble existence. And that's terrific. 

But hearing Republicans of all people extol our big bureaucratic public education system, strikes me as bizarre and disingenuous. It's just part of a "sell" job for normal life, because a departure from normal life might suggest the government needs to take drastic action vs. the crisis. And Republicans are always skeptical about drastic action by government. Better to pretend there's no problem. Right, Torrey Westrom? Just look the other way when bodies get carted out of hospitals. Be sure to express "disgust" with our governor because he wouldn't allow normal high school graduations last spring.

 

Visit my podcast

My "Morris Mojo" podcast for today continues thoughts on juxtaposing Christmas with the pandemic. Christmas and a pandemic! How do we reconcile, make good, feel the spirit? Especially in these times of a President Trump who will hold power way into January? Quite sobering. Here's the permalink:

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Christmas-under-cloud-of-pandemic-enabub 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com