A psychologist might have certain interpretations of what doodling represents. Is our U.S. Senator Al Franken reviving the practice, the innocence of which is open to debate? Franken did a quite nice little drawing of one of his colleagues.
Does this mean his attention wasn't adequately focused during the Elena Kagan hearings? The Senate Judiciary Committee was examining the Supreme Court Justice-to-be.
Perhaps Senator Franken wanted to take his mind off the predictable and in many cases (from Republicans) tedious/chafing line of questioning/grilling. I don't blame Senator Al for wanting to doodle instead of paying attention to some of the attack dog Republicans.
I remember glancing over to a fellow student on the first day of a college semester once, and seeing that he had drawn a pizza and beer on his notebook page. He even labeled them "pizza" and "beer" lest his artwork was seen to have some shortcomings.
But is doodling art? Is it a bad habit? Is it subversive? Is it a window into someone's soul? Does it reveal psychological issues?
I think the world would be a better place of more of us doodled. We have an instant gratification society in which our pace of thinking and living has become intense to a troubling degree. Do people even slow down to ponder if they're happy?
I read an analysis recently that asserted that boredom had been completely eliminated in our tech-fueled culture. Driving a car isn't enough to occupy one's attention. How often do you see people with a mobile phone to their ear when driving?
Doodling is a basic, retro way to slow down. Ironically there was once a time when doodling could combat boredom. Today we can use it as a wedge to withdraw from our tech distractions and frenetic pace of life. Ergo, it has a transcendent purpose!
I'm thrilled that Senator Franken, who might have the most creative mind in our nation's capitol, brought some sudden attention to the pastime. And it's not like he merely drew a stick figure. It was just as good as those drawings you'd see on matchbook covers promoting an art instruction school. "Draw Winky" they would implore.
I presume that matchbook cover art and advertising have faded along with the pastime of smoking itself. If someone hasn't done an interpretive study of matchbook cover communications, it should be done. Attention, some graduate school student somewhere.
Doodling is fascinating because of its informal and impulsive nature. Surely serious art instructors pooh-pooh it. When I was in college, I considered general education art classes to be exercises in pure garbage - a pretentious exploration of crap that might somehow be rationalized as serious art when most of it could be toted to the nearest dump.
No, doodling is a craft to be respected. It deserves a revival, if that's what Franken's little episode can inspire.
Bored in class? Do a little caricature of your instructor. You might get kicked out of class but so what? All the info you might get in the class is available on the Internet anyway.
All our traditional educational systems, as Tim Pawlenty famously pointed out on The Daily Show, are sinking rapidly into obsolescence just like newspapers.
How I'd love to see those art courses or "Sociology 101" be given a proper burial. Whoever decided that "Sociology 101" was something that had to be thrust on impressionable 19-year-old minds? Hats off to any student who chooses to doodle when such drivel is being shoveled at him/her.
The Franken episode reminded me of when I did gargoyle-type drawings on spiral notebook pages during bus trips for high school activities. I was in the Morris High School marching band when it made some quite long trips. I also kept the stat book for the MHS Tiger baseball team.
My drawings were sometimes offered as caricatures of some of my peers, and I can remember at least two of them who resented it. I didn't get punched out. The lines could be a little squiggly because I was drawing on a moving bus, but all in all I think the drawings had merit and they were somewhat unique.
How would I have engaged my time if not drawing? Horsing around with other kids or playing a mundane card game on a band instrument case?
I think doodling has advantages because it taps creative impulses and requires some sober concentration. For Franken he could escape some of the Republican-uttered rhetoric that was so trying to ingest.
Senator Al, I hope you have brought some renewed interest to a true "street craft," an artistic pastime truly of the people, a craft that can make a statement like "I'm bored and I can find better things to do."
In the old days my generation might describe it as a "beatnik" type of thing to do. "Beatnik" is a term that the oldest baby boomers are most familiar with. Bob Denver did a nice portrayal as "Dobie Gillis" on television. This was before Denver went on to great fame as "Gilligan" (vs. "the Skipper," remember?) in a show that was the epitome of lowest-common-denominator TV entertainment in the 1960s.
The beatniks preceded the hippies and the Yippies. "Do your own thing" was a trademark phrase of the liberated young crowd, and doodling seemed consistent with the whole blooming credo.
Doodling springs from your own life experience, and its impulsive nature means it's free of external guidance or discipline. It's a window into the soul. It's a way to escape tedious discussions or distractions.
A surprised onlooker will say "oh, look at that!" and immediately the attention is suspended on the purported matter at hand, which is often a great relief.
Elena Kagan will become a Supreme Court member and our Constitution will be safe under her scrutiny. Maybe she'll be tempted to doodle sometime on a napkin at a Chinese restaurant.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Morris Legion boys knock cover off ball
Morris 15, Wheaton 6
The Morris Legion baseball team showed it could be explosive again when it disposed of Wheaton Monday on the road. The Post #29 boys crossed home plate often beginning right in the first inning (a three-run rally). Morris duplicated that rally with three more runs in inning No. 2.
The momentum continued with two runs in the third, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and two in the seventh. When the dust cleared after this offensive showcase, it was Post #29 in the winning position in the 15-6 final. It was the eighth triumph this summer for the Morris boys, many of whom were key players in the Morris Area High prep spring campaign.
There was a memorable home run barrage in the Wheaton game. Dusty Sauter knocked the cover off the ball with round-trippers in the first and second innings. Each of these blasts was good for two runs. Eric Riley found a pitch to his liking in the first inning and turned it into a gopher ball. Riley's round-tripper was a solo job.
Tyler Hansen touched 'em all in the fifth inning with a solo blast. Brady Valnes followed that up with a solo home run in the sixth, and Morris had truly demonstrated that it's a team to be feared in the power department.
Hansen and Sauter were the main cogs in Post #29's offense, each with four hits, and they drove in nine runs between them.
Eric Riley was a resilient pitcher as he had to deal with some control issues in his seven innings of work. He walked seven batters but he also set down 12 on strikes. One of Wheaton's runs was unearned, and Riley gave up seven hits.
Tanner Kirkeide was the losing pitcher, and Will Budtke also pitched for Wheaton.
The line scores showed Morris with 15 runs on 16 hits and two errors, while Wheaton put up 6-7-1 numbers.
On to the boxscore numbers, where Alex Erickson had a one-for-four day with his hit a double. Alex crossed home plate twice and he drove in two runs. Tyler Hansen attacked Wheaton pitching for four-for-six numbers, plus this Post #29 star scored three runs and drove in three, lifted by his power bat. Dusty Sauter was nothing short of a terror as he doubled and had the two over-the-fence jobs, all part of his four-for-five day with two runs scored and six ribbies.
Eric Riley's solo home run was his day's highlight. Brady Valnes enjoyed his solo round-tripper as part of his two-for-four showing. Nate Gades doubled and scored two runs. Ethan Bruer had a hit in his only at-bat.
Cole Riley socked a double. Travis Rinkenberger had a hit in his two at-bats. Riley Wilson was Wheaton's top offensive producer.
Morris Legion baseball is savoring more opportunities to send the ball rocketing, to left, center, right, whichever direction, just a long ways!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
The Morris Legion baseball team showed it could be explosive again when it disposed of Wheaton Monday on the road. The Post #29 boys crossed home plate often beginning right in the first inning (a three-run rally). Morris duplicated that rally with three more runs in inning No. 2.
The momentum continued with two runs in the third, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and two in the seventh. When the dust cleared after this offensive showcase, it was Post #29 in the winning position in the 15-6 final. It was the eighth triumph this summer for the Morris boys, many of whom were key players in the Morris Area High prep spring campaign.
There was a memorable home run barrage in the Wheaton game. Dusty Sauter knocked the cover off the ball with round-trippers in the first and second innings. Each of these blasts was good for two runs. Eric Riley found a pitch to his liking in the first inning and turned it into a gopher ball. Riley's round-tripper was a solo job.
Tyler Hansen touched 'em all in the fifth inning with a solo blast. Brady Valnes followed that up with a solo home run in the sixth, and Morris had truly demonstrated that it's a team to be feared in the power department.
Hansen and Sauter were the main cogs in Post #29's offense, each with four hits, and they drove in nine runs between them.
Eric Riley was a resilient pitcher as he had to deal with some control issues in his seven innings of work. He walked seven batters but he also set down 12 on strikes. One of Wheaton's runs was unearned, and Riley gave up seven hits.
Tanner Kirkeide was the losing pitcher, and Will Budtke also pitched for Wheaton.
The line scores showed Morris with 15 runs on 16 hits and two errors, while Wheaton put up 6-7-1 numbers.
On to the boxscore numbers, where Alex Erickson had a one-for-four day with his hit a double. Alex crossed home plate twice and he drove in two runs. Tyler Hansen attacked Wheaton pitching for four-for-six numbers, plus this Post #29 star scored three runs and drove in three, lifted by his power bat. Dusty Sauter was nothing short of a terror as he doubled and had the two over-the-fence jobs, all part of his four-for-five day with two runs scored and six ribbies.
Eric Riley's solo home run was his day's highlight. Brady Valnes enjoyed his solo round-tripper as part of his two-for-four showing. Nate Gades doubled and scored two runs. Ethan Bruer had a hit in his only at-bat.
Cole Riley socked a double. Travis Rinkenberger had a hit in his two at-bats. Riley Wilson was Wheaton's top offensive producer.
Morris Legion baseball is savoring more opportunities to send the ball rocketing, to left, center, right, whichever direction, just a long ways!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Afghanistan and our puzzlement about war
Isn't Afghanistan turning into something like a bad dream? Weren't the old Soviets painted as evil for "invading" and fighting there? Shouldn't we fear that there's truth behind the saying that "Afghanistan is where empires go to die?"
Just because there's historical precedent, does that mean we have to follow it? Don't Americans in their 50s and 60s know full well how a military venture like this can turn into a tragic sinkhole (like Viet Nam)?
Why is it that the American war narrative has never really seemed the same since the end of World War Two? The Second World War has come to be known as "the good war." That war was of course horrific and deadly for countless people.
Americans saw the need to rise up and assert their inherent goodness, cultivated through the opening of a virgin continent, and stomp out naked evil. The narrative seemed so clear and non-nuanced. And the atomic bomb was developed just in time to apply a decisive exclamation point.
It has never been the same since. How we would like to see the American military engage and prevail in story lines like in WWII movies of the mid 20th Century. Robert Mitchum might be the leading actor. Mitchum gained fame and presumably great riches telling the story of U.S. trial and triumph in "the good war."
We were supposed to feel moved at the end of "The Longest Day" when the Mitchum character briefly took his attention off all that was going on around him to sniff a cigar up and down before lighting it up. A who's who of stars was in that movie. It seemed ironic to be entertained by such an historical episode out of hell. Tom Hanks insisted on a less sanitized version for "Saving Private Ryan."
What kind of soldier would Robert Mitchum have been, or Hanks? Hollywood is known as "the dream factory" for a reason. I wrote a couple months ago how Hollywood can take dangerous wild animals and make them seem charming and innocent on screen. The prime example was the chimpanzee. My writing at that time was inspired by the mysterious black bear that wandered into Morris. I don't think we've ever been told the whole story about that bear - where it came from or its fate.
In that sense our local corporate media may have become a "dream factory." Pure citizen journalism could have pulled down any curtain.
Hollywood has taken an event that was straight out of hell - the D-Day invasion - and crafted well-known movies from it. The violence is offset by our impulse to cheer for "the good guys."
The impulse is never so strong as when we view Pacific Theater movies that show our revenge objective in the wake of the barbarous Pearl Harbor "ambush." The definitive movie here is "Tora Tora Tora." Again we see entertainment crafted from an unspeakably horrible event.
But the narrative of our inherent goodness and inevitability of triumph was impressed on us further. In this sense we were entertained in the same way as with the older cowboys-and-Indians movies. There are parallels in these narratives, not perfect but detectable.
A less civilized, non-white force would commit a barbarous act only to be overwhelmed by "the cavalry" at the pivotal moment. Cowboys vs. Indians was a long-lasting genre in our "dream factory."
Was this a whole lot different from Pearl Harbor and how America subsequently rolled over the enemy? The narrative was satisfying on screen and in reminiscences, fitting comfortable American (and Anglo-Saxon) parameters. The ultimate triumph was something we could count on. The mysterious enemy would fade.
Then along came Korea and the parameters started getting a little muddied. Any doubt was removed by Viet Nam.
In dribs and drabs we have tried, desperately really, to rationalize that current events can fit the old narrative. Exhibit 'A' would be the first Gulf War in which our media and pop culture obsessed as if to re-create WWII itself. All this was embodied in how Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
But I think we all had subconscious doubts about that interpretation. We were fighting soldiers who couldn't surrender fast enough. Much of it was like a turkey shoot. And we basically left Iraq intact. That bothered the son of the president, who eventually became president himself - he had learned the racket - and pursued his grudge.
The jury is still out on the Iraq War. The sheer cost of that war is weighing on us now. Saddam Hussein was probably nothing more than a regional nuisance. The media made him larger than life and created a portrait of the quintessential villain - yes, non-white - which I would argue would do Hollywood proud.
Once this "badness" was identified we had to eradicate it just like our cavalry once did. But real life is messy and can be tragic. America's enemies have learned how to not just be bowled over. We cannot engage in nation-building, or if we do, lots of humility awaits. Our economy cannot sustain it. Even columnist George Will feels this way.
The old narrative of America spreading good as if by whim isn't practical anymore. We must be vigilant but we can't just swarm the beaches with landing craft. We must strive to understand cultures different than ours and to make compromises in a complicated world.
We have a non-white president which I think is profoundly troubling to a lot of people. They won't say it, and the media shies away from this theory. But there's an undertone of racism in the incessant drumbeat of criticism from the right wing in America. It's dangerous, maybe just as dangerous as the shadowy enemies outside our borders.
It stands in the way of consensus-building that is such an important ingredient in our stability. I might even suggest that God might punish us for this.
There was consensus after Pearl Harbor and the Nazi conquests in Europe. Nothing could have stopped us. I'm reminded of John Wayne in "The Longest Day" bellowing "send 'em to hell!" - a line that at the time pushed the envelope a bit.
I remember seeing "The Longest Day" at our Morris Theater. Movies like this spawned war toys and backyard war games that in retrospect seem weird and troubling. Faux hand grenades that worked with cap gun caps?
Did our parents just blot it out or were they being indulgent with their precious "baby boomers?" They knew full well the hell of war.
World War Two is now receding further into the past. Clinging to that narrative as something meaningful for the present is getting harder, perhaps impossible.
Defeating the bad guys doesn't seem to work like it used to. Conflicts are more nuanced and with enemies that are shadowy and difficult to understand. The enemy that we are fighting in Afghanistan has largely re-deployed into Pakistan.
Author Tom Engelhardt would argue that Afghanistan is continuing the "triumphalist despair" that has befallen us ever since the Hiroshima bomb. Engelhardt wrote a book, copyrighted in 1995, called "The End of Victory Culture - Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation."
I read nearly the whole book but I'll quote from the jacket where we can cut to the chase. This book is "an autopsy of a once vital American myth: the cherished belief that triumph over a less-than-human enemy was in the American grain, a birthright and a national destiny."
Engelhardt provides "a compelling account of how a national narrative of triumph through which Americans had always sustained themselves as a people underwent a vertiginous decomposition from Hiroshima to Viet Nam."
That was a span of just 20 years - Hiroshima to Viet Nam.
Now it's Afghanistan. And the end doesn't look pretty.
Why don't we just leave? But I would have said that in 1965 regarding Viet Nam.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Just because there's historical precedent, does that mean we have to follow it? Don't Americans in their 50s and 60s know full well how a military venture like this can turn into a tragic sinkhole (like Viet Nam)?
Why is it that the American war narrative has never really seemed the same since the end of World War Two? The Second World War has come to be known as "the good war." That war was of course horrific and deadly for countless people.
Americans saw the need to rise up and assert their inherent goodness, cultivated through the opening of a virgin continent, and stomp out naked evil. The narrative seemed so clear and non-nuanced. And the atomic bomb was developed just in time to apply a decisive exclamation point.
It has never been the same since. How we would like to see the American military engage and prevail in story lines like in WWII movies of the mid 20th Century. Robert Mitchum might be the leading actor. Mitchum gained fame and presumably great riches telling the story of U.S. trial and triumph in "the good war."
We were supposed to feel moved at the end of "The Longest Day" when the Mitchum character briefly took his attention off all that was going on around him to sniff a cigar up and down before lighting it up. A who's who of stars was in that movie. It seemed ironic to be entertained by such an historical episode out of hell. Tom Hanks insisted on a less sanitized version for "Saving Private Ryan."
What kind of soldier would Robert Mitchum have been, or Hanks? Hollywood is known as "the dream factory" for a reason. I wrote a couple months ago how Hollywood can take dangerous wild animals and make them seem charming and innocent on screen. The prime example was the chimpanzee. My writing at that time was inspired by the mysterious black bear that wandered into Morris. I don't think we've ever been told the whole story about that bear - where it came from or its fate.
In that sense our local corporate media may have become a "dream factory." Pure citizen journalism could have pulled down any curtain.
Hollywood has taken an event that was straight out of hell - the D-Day invasion - and crafted well-known movies from it. The violence is offset by our impulse to cheer for "the good guys."
The impulse is never so strong as when we view Pacific Theater movies that show our revenge objective in the wake of the barbarous Pearl Harbor "ambush." The definitive movie here is "Tora Tora Tora." Again we see entertainment crafted from an unspeakably horrible event.
But the narrative of our inherent goodness and inevitability of triumph was impressed on us further. In this sense we were entertained in the same way as with the older cowboys-and-Indians movies. There are parallels in these narratives, not perfect but detectable.
A less civilized, non-white force would commit a barbarous act only to be overwhelmed by "the cavalry" at the pivotal moment. Cowboys vs. Indians was a long-lasting genre in our "dream factory."
Was this a whole lot different from Pearl Harbor and how America subsequently rolled over the enemy? The narrative was satisfying on screen and in reminiscences, fitting comfortable American (and Anglo-Saxon) parameters. The ultimate triumph was something we could count on. The mysterious enemy would fade.
Then along came Korea and the parameters started getting a little muddied. Any doubt was removed by Viet Nam.
In dribs and drabs we have tried, desperately really, to rationalize that current events can fit the old narrative. Exhibit 'A' would be the first Gulf War in which our media and pop culture obsessed as if to re-create WWII itself. All this was embodied in how Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
But I think we all had subconscious doubts about that interpretation. We were fighting soldiers who couldn't surrender fast enough. Much of it was like a turkey shoot. And we basically left Iraq intact. That bothered the son of the president, who eventually became president himself - he had learned the racket - and pursued his grudge.
The jury is still out on the Iraq War. The sheer cost of that war is weighing on us now. Saddam Hussein was probably nothing more than a regional nuisance. The media made him larger than life and created a portrait of the quintessential villain - yes, non-white - which I would argue would do Hollywood proud.
Once this "badness" was identified we had to eradicate it just like our cavalry once did. But real life is messy and can be tragic. America's enemies have learned how to not just be bowled over. We cannot engage in nation-building, or if we do, lots of humility awaits. Our economy cannot sustain it. Even columnist George Will feels this way.
The old narrative of America spreading good as if by whim isn't practical anymore. We must be vigilant but we can't just swarm the beaches with landing craft. We must strive to understand cultures different than ours and to make compromises in a complicated world.
We have a non-white president which I think is profoundly troubling to a lot of people. They won't say it, and the media shies away from this theory. But there's an undertone of racism in the incessant drumbeat of criticism from the right wing in America. It's dangerous, maybe just as dangerous as the shadowy enemies outside our borders.
It stands in the way of consensus-building that is such an important ingredient in our stability. I might even suggest that God might punish us for this.
There was consensus after Pearl Harbor and the Nazi conquests in Europe. Nothing could have stopped us. I'm reminded of John Wayne in "The Longest Day" bellowing "send 'em to hell!" - a line that at the time pushed the envelope a bit.
I remember seeing "The Longest Day" at our Morris Theater. Movies like this spawned war toys and backyard war games that in retrospect seem weird and troubling. Faux hand grenades that worked with cap gun caps?
Did our parents just blot it out or were they being indulgent with their precious "baby boomers?" They knew full well the hell of war.
World War Two is now receding further into the past. Clinging to that narrative as something meaningful for the present is getting harder, perhaps impossible.
Defeating the bad guys doesn't seem to work like it used to. Conflicts are more nuanced and with enemies that are shadowy and difficult to understand. The enemy that we are fighting in Afghanistan has largely re-deployed into Pakistan.
Author Tom Engelhardt would argue that Afghanistan is continuing the "triumphalist despair" that has befallen us ever since the Hiroshima bomb. Engelhardt wrote a book, copyrighted in 1995, called "The End of Victory Culture - Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation."
I read nearly the whole book but I'll quote from the jacket where we can cut to the chase. This book is "an autopsy of a once vital American myth: the cherished belief that triumph over a less-than-human enemy was in the American grain, a birthright and a national destiny."
Engelhardt provides "a compelling account of how a national narrative of triumph through which Americans had always sustained themselves as a people underwent a vertiginous decomposition from Hiroshima to Viet Nam."
That was a span of just 20 years - Hiroshima to Viet Nam.
Now it's Afghanistan. And the end doesn't look pretty.
Why don't we just leave? But I would have said that in 1965 regarding Viet Nam.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Morris Legion team scores often in wins
Runs weren't scarce for the Morris American Legion baseball team (Post #29) in triumphs this past week.
Morris 18, Brandon-Evansville 5
The high water mark was on Thursday when the Post #29 boys won with ease over Brandon-Evansville. Morris took control in a big second inning in which eight runs came home for them. The squad batted around as twelve batters total brought their sticks to the batters box.
The 8-0 advantage that Morris owned when the dust cleared might have been enough. The boys stayed focused and accomplished a repeat of that rally in the third frame. This time a total of 15 Morris batters came up to bat in a rally that generated nine runs.
The score stood 17-0 and when the game was completed (abbreviated by the ten-run rule), the score was 18-5. Morris upped its record to 6-3 with this road success.
Dustin Sauter was in the groove with four runs-batted-in. Dustin came at Brandon-Evansville with three hits as did mates Brady Valnes and Mitch Kill. The Morris line score showed 18 runs on 13 hits and three errors.
Eric Riley made a big statement with his bat, connecting for a triple that drove in three runs. This offensive clinic also included a two-RBI double by Nate Gades in the third frame.
A lot of familiar names from the spring MAHS baseball campaign are surfacing in the Morris Legion baseball summer. Like Tyler Hansen, who scored two runs and connected for a hit. Nate Gades finished with two-for-three numbers including a double, plus he crossed home plate twice and drove in three runs.
Mitch Kill was a sizzling three-for-four including a double, plus he scored three runs. Brady Valnes went three-for-four with one of his hits a double, and he drove in two runs. Dustin Sauter led the charge in the boxscore at three-for-five, two runs and four ribbies. Eric Riley stole two bases to go with his triple, three runs scored and three RBIs.
Phil Krueger had two hits for the host Brandon-Evansville squad.
Three pitchers worked for Morris and it was Nate Gades getting the win with a stint of three innings. Nate struck out two batters, walked none and allowed two hits and zero runs.
Brady Valnes and Dustin Sauter each had his pitching arm called on for one inning. Brady gave up five runs but none were earned. He gave up three hits. Dustin set down two batters on strikes, walked one and gave up one hit and zero runs.
Morris 9, Clinton 1
The Monday story had the Post #29 crew excelling at home, disposing of Clinton 9-1 at Chizek Field. They spread out their run-scoring more than in the B-E game.
They scored in every inning but one, taking advantage of frequent Clinton lapses in the field.
Fielding was indeed a huge factor in the outcome, as Morris committed zero errors compared to Clinton's seven.
Morris was able to score its nine runs without knocking the cover off the ball. Morris finished with six hits compared to Clinton's five. Seven walks buoyed the Post #29 cause further.
Alex Erickson had a hit in his only at-bat. Tyler Hansen socked a double, drove in a run and score three. Dustin Sauter turned on the jets to steal two bases, plus he doubled and scored two runs. Ryan Beyer stroked a double.
Cole Riley had an RBI as part of going one-for-three, and Nate Gades finished one-for-two.
Logan Nordley had two hits for Clinton.
Three pitchers got work for Morris and it was Nate Gades getting the win with his stint of two innings. Nate fanned three batters. Alex Erickson also hurled for two innings and he racked up four strikeouts. Travis Rinkenberger fanned two batters and walked one in his two-inning assignment.
Jesse Weick was the losing pitcher.
Morris got going in the first inning with three runs scored and followed that up with one each in the second through fourth innings and three in the sixth.
Fans are anticipating a lot more offense-colored games as Post #29 strives for more victories in the 2010 summer.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Morris 18, Brandon-Evansville 5
The high water mark was on Thursday when the Post #29 boys won with ease over Brandon-Evansville. Morris took control in a big second inning in which eight runs came home for them. The squad batted around as twelve batters total brought their sticks to the batters box.
The 8-0 advantage that Morris owned when the dust cleared might have been enough. The boys stayed focused and accomplished a repeat of that rally in the third frame. This time a total of 15 Morris batters came up to bat in a rally that generated nine runs.
The score stood 17-0 and when the game was completed (abbreviated by the ten-run rule), the score was 18-5. Morris upped its record to 6-3 with this road success.
Dustin Sauter was in the groove with four runs-batted-in. Dustin came at Brandon-Evansville with three hits as did mates Brady Valnes and Mitch Kill. The Morris line score showed 18 runs on 13 hits and three errors.
Eric Riley made a big statement with his bat, connecting for a triple that drove in three runs. This offensive clinic also included a two-RBI double by Nate Gades in the third frame.
A lot of familiar names from the spring MAHS baseball campaign are surfacing in the Morris Legion baseball summer. Like Tyler Hansen, who scored two runs and connected for a hit. Nate Gades finished with two-for-three numbers including a double, plus he crossed home plate twice and drove in three runs.
Mitch Kill was a sizzling three-for-four including a double, plus he scored three runs. Brady Valnes went three-for-four with one of his hits a double, and he drove in two runs. Dustin Sauter led the charge in the boxscore at three-for-five, two runs and four ribbies. Eric Riley stole two bases to go with his triple, three runs scored and three RBIs.
Phil Krueger had two hits for the host Brandon-Evansville squad.
Three pitchers worked for Morris and it was Nate Gades getting the win with a stint of three innings. Nate struck out two batters, walked none and allowed two hits and zero runs.
Brady Valnes and Dustin Sauter each had his pitching arm called on for one inning. Brady gave up five runs but none were earned. He gave up three hits. Dustin set down two batters on strikes, walked one and gave up one hit and zero runs.
Morris 9, Clinton 1
The Monday story had the Post #29 crew excelling at home, disposing of Clinton 9-1 at Chizek Field. They spread out their run-scoring more than in the B-E game.
They scored in every inning but one, taking advantage of frequent Clinton lapses in the field.
Fielding was indeed a huge factor in the outcome, as Morris committed zero errors compared to Clinton's seven.
Morris was able to score its nine runs without knocking the cover off the ball. Morris finished with six hits compared to Clinton's five. Seven walks buoyed the Post #29 cause further.
Alex Erickson had a hit in his only at-bat. Tyler Hansen socked a double, drove in a run and score three. Dustin Sauter turned on the jets to steal two bases, plus he doubled and scored two runs. Ryan Beyer stroked a double.
Cole Riley had an RBI as part of going one-for-three, and Nate Gades finished one-for-two.
Logan Nordley had two hits for Clinton.
Three pitchers got work for Morris and it was Nate Gades getting the win with his stint of two innings. Nate fanned three batters. Alex Erickson also hurled for two innings and he racked up four strikeouts. Travis Rinkenberger fanned two batters and walked one in his two-inning assignment.
Jesse Weick was the losing pitcher.
Morris got going in the first inning with three runs scored and followed that up with one each in the second through fourth innings and three in the sixth.
Fans are anticipating a lot more offense-colored games as Post #29 strives for more victories in the 2010 summer.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Let's find common ground for the Fourth
There is a timeless quality about July 4 celebrations, although I wonder about the quality of patriotism in the year 2010. The incisive quality of political arguments today makes me wonder how bonded we truly can feel as Americans.
Most of us have no trouble exhibiting the proper spirit. July 4 should be a time to put aside divisions and feel thankful for our united, bountiful nation. The vast majority of Americans will take a break from political bickering and assert pride in the USA.
The reactionary political right threatens that ability to come together. The "tea party" along with charismatic personalities like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin threaten to pull the rug out. There is nothing new about abrasive voices like these. The John Birch Society had a notorious but short history. One of the reasons for its demise was the rejection it received from more temperate and reasonable political conservatives, led by William F. Buckley.
There is always an element out there inclined toward Bircher-type rhetoric. These people have learned how to seize the media. The likes of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity try tripping up our democratically elected administration on a daily basis.
The problem is that the criticism isn't in the spirit of a loyal opposition. In the case of Hannity it's a nit-picking and relentless partisan assault. Sean, why not do a cooking show sometime just to take a break?
In the case of Beck, the tone is mocking, maniacal and sensational.
Why should we care so much about Hannity and Beck? Because they have a platform on Fox News. Fox puts progressives (or liberals, or whatever you want to call them) on the defensive in ways they don't deserve. It makes one wax nostalgic for the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, when the fur could definitely fly politically (at the proper times) but there was no prevailing air of all-out combat.
Political differences could be compartmentalized. Call it civility. Today you have to wonder if the far right wants to pull the rug out from under America itself.
We have here in Minnesota a Republican-endorsed candidate for governor, Tom Emmer, who appears to be a "Tenther" - a movement asserting the 10th Amendment as grounds for states to not follow Federal legislation. States rights has historically been a movement associated with the Deep South. But the far right is percolating everywhere now.
The state that produced Paul Wellstone and the "Minnesota Miracle" has also produced Bachmann and Governor Tim Pawlenty. The "Miracle" brought little controversy and actually much praise, even though it was redistributionist in nature. The likes of Bachmann and Emmer would pillory such ideas now. And that's really the problem - the tone of the rhetoric and the us-against-them attitude.
"Caribou Barbie" Palin drones on about the "lamestream media" but I'm thankful for a media that doesn't wear ideological blinders from the right.
As July 4 approaches I wonder if patriotism can really be transcendent again, for one day anyway. It's a cliche that "America has always pulled through." How wonderful if we could make that assumption. But there is a first time for everything, like America losing a war (Viet Nam). And there's an old saying: "Afghanistan is where empires go to die."
Should we not be concerned about the potential for truth in that saying? Should we maybe heed it? Shouldn't we maybe just put aside our weapons of war and try to improve the well-being of people in that ravaged part of the world, so they aren't so inclined toward hatred and conflict - traits that are so often borne of ignorance?
My thoughts reflect the "Code Pink" organization.
Wasn't this approach a big part of attacking racism in the Deep South? Isn't this readily grasped when watching the movie "Mississippi Burning?" We worked to lift people up primarily with education and then broadened economic opportunity. We saw tragedy and bumps in the road, but inroads have been significant.
Surely we cannot create a perfect world. We cannot even create a perfect America. Progressives at least realize that government must be an active instrument helping people at the margins of society have some stability.
Progressives also realize we cannot just stomp out all our enemies, that we live in a messy world where harmony is often elusive. The U.S. couldn't "rub out" Communism in the Viet Nam War. In its aftermath we found that the sky didn't fall. Communism began imploding on its own.
Mikhail Gorbachev once expressed puzzlement at the term Communism itself. Perhaps it was a term largely manufactured in the West. "Gorby" shrugged and said the term, in his mind, was little more than the equivalent of organized crime.
All the fear mongering that the Birchers once peddled seemed so shallow and ignorant.
A glance at the calendar shows that July 4 is nearly here. I can't ponder the holiday without having these political thoughts. How nice if the old Reagan/O'Neill model for civil disagreement could prevail again.
Few among us, even progressives, look back with any regret over the election of Reagan in 1980. I remember attending the Glenwood Waterama parade one year and seeing a character with a Reagan mask step out of a limousine and wave. Everyone smiled and applauded. He was conservative but he was fundamentally gentle and caring. Those attributes always came through. He would never pounce on Barack Obama, only express polite (but articulate) disagreement.
I think Reagan would feel befuddled watching someone like Sean Hannity every night on Fox News, as Hannity labors to portray every twitch by the president as something profoundly wrong.
And Glenn Beck? Reagan would want to switch to the Weather Channel.
July 4 in Stevens County means going to Hancock. I miss greatly the media role I once played in sharing the day with that community. I miss the hamburger and soft drink I'd get at the 4-H tent at the tractor pull. By then I'd feel dehydrated after taking in the parade under the midday July sun.
I was always greatly impressed by how well the Hancock band marched and played, considering this was their only "gig" of the summer.
Often I would tell people that it would be great if the Hancock band could perform for Morris' Prairie Pioneer Days. I was told that too many of the kids would be gone. It might also be embarrassing if Hancock had a marching band in the Morris parade and the Morris school couldn't produce one. (Well, here's my little violin.)
There was a time when Morris High had a thriving marching band program. There was a director named Schaefer and then a guy named Woell who I played under. We traveled pretty far and wide like to Winnipeg, Canada.
Musically I don't think the experience enriched us that much. We would just play one tune (or "chart"). But the discipline of performing as a unit on the move was the real benefit along with the sheer camaraderie.
Eventually marching band became a tougher "sell" because kids developed other interests. Athletes (or their coaches) decided that sports camps were a must.
The sudden growth of girls sports put girls in the same position of using summer for that purpose. I recall summer marching band having a brief comeback for Morris (Area) in the mid or late 1980s, when a guy named Schmidt directed. But it seemed uphill, as if the school and parents were doing this just to prove it could still be done.
It's back to being dormant now. Is that a good thing? Well, there are other learning experiences in summer that have more substance than blaring out the same marching band tune over and over.
So we can live without the brass.
A few schools have fought to survive with marching band, like Litchfield. Nothing wrong with that. The parades where they appear surely appreciate it.
The Hancock band greatly enhances July 4 there.
Hancock July 4 has all the elements for a successful celebration. Beyond the band, parade floats and baseball, though, is the togetherness among families as they gather in backyards on lawn chairs. I fondly remember walking across town and seeing so much of this, and exuberantly exchanging waves with some of the people as they spotted me.
Through all those years I never stuck around for the fireworks.
Once July 4 is done, we can contemplate the home stretch of summer and how the county fair isn't far off. And after the fair the new school year beckons.
Hopefully we can feel harmony as a nation as "the routine" plods forward. Hopefully the more strident political voices can recede and we can embrace more of a Reaganesque, temperate conversation on our national issues.
Maybe 20 years from now we can look in the rear view mirror and say "remember Glenn Beck? That guy was nuts. Whatever became of him?"
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Most of us have no trouble exhibiting the proper spirit. July 4 should be a time to put aside divisions and feel thankful for our united, bountiful nation. The vast majority of Americans will take a break from political bickering and assert pride in the USA.
The reactionary political right threatens that ability to come together. The "tea party" along with charismatic personalities like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin threaten to pull the rug out. There is nothing new about abrasive voices like these. The John Birch Society had a notorious but short history. One of the reasons for its demise was the rejection it received from more temperate and reasonable political conservatives, led by William F. Buckley.
There is always an element out there inclined toward Bircher-type rhetoric. These people have learned how to seize the media. The likes of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity try tripping up our democratically elected administration on a daily basis.
The problem is that the criticism isn't in the spirit of a loyal opposition. In the case of Hannity it's a nit-picking and relentless partisan assault. Sean, why not do a cooking show sometime just to take a break?
In the case of Beck, the tone is mocking, maniacal and sensational.
Why should we care so much about Hannity and Beck? Because they have a platform on Fox News. Fox puts progressives (or liberals, or whatever you want to call them) on the defensive in ways they don't deserve. It makes one wax nostalgic for the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, when the fur could definitely fly politically (at the proper times) but there was no prevailing air of all-out combat.
Political differences could be compartmentalized. Call it civility. Today you have to wonder if the far right wants to pull the rug out from under America itself.
We have here in Minnesota a Republican-endorsed candidate for governor, Tom Emmer, who appears to be a "Tenther" - a movement asserting the 10th Amendment as grounds for states to not follow Federal legislation. States rights has historically been a movement associated with the Deep South. But the far right is percolating everywhere now.
The state that produced Paul Wellstone and the "Minnesota Miracle" has also produced Bachmann and Governor Tim Pawlenty. The "Miracle" brought little controversy and actually much praise, even though it was redistributionist in nature. The likes of Bachmann and Emmer would pillory such ideas now. And that's really the problem - the tone of the rhetoric and the us-against-them attitude.
"Caribou Barbie" Palin drones on about the "lamestream media" but I'm thankful for a media that doesn't wear ideological blinders from the right.
As July 4 approaches I wonder if patriotism can really be transcendent again, for one day anyway. It's a cliche that "America has always pulled through." How wonderful if we could make that assumption. But there is a first time for everything, like America losing a war (Viet Nam). And there's an old saying: "Afghanistan is where empires go to die."
Should we not be concerned about the potential for truth in that saying? Should we maybe heed it? Shouldn't we maybe just put aside our weapons of war and try to improve the well-being of people in that ravaged part of the world, so they aren't so inclined toward hatred and conflict - traits that are so often borne of ignorance?
My thoughts reflect the "Code Pink" organization.
Wasn't this approach a big part of attacking racism in the Deep South? Isn't this readily grasped when watching the movie "Mississippi Burning?" We worked to lift people up primarily with education and then broadened economic opportunity. We saw tragedy and bumps in the road, but inroads have been significant.
Surely we cannot create a perfect world. We cannot even create a perfect America. Progressives at least realize that government must be an active instrument helping people at the margins of society have some stability.
Progressives also realize we cannot just stomp out all our enemies, that we live in a messy world where harmony is often elusive. The U.S. couldn't "rub out" Communism in the Viet Nam War. In its aftermath we found that the sky didn't fall. Communism began imploding on its own.
Mikhail Gorbachev once expressed puzzlement at the term Communism itself. Perhaps it was a term largely manufactured in the West. "Gorby" shrugged and said the term, in his mind, was little more than the equivalent of organized crime.
All the fear mongering that the Birchers once peddled seemed so shallow and ignorant.
A glance at the calendar shows that July 4 is nearly here. I can't ponder the holiday without having these political thoughts. How nice if the old Reagan/O'Neill model for civil disagreement could prevail again.
Few among us, even progressives, look back with any regret over the election of Reagan in 1980. I remember attending the Glenwood Waterama parade one year and seeing a character with a Reagan mask step out of a limousine and wave. Everyone smiled and applauded. He was conservative but he was fundamentally gentle and caring. Those attributes always came through. He would never pounce on Barack Obama, only express polite (but articulate) disagreement.
I think Reagan would feel befuddled watching someone like Sean Hannity every night on Fox News, as Hannity labors to portray every twitch by the president as something profoundly wrong.
And Glenn Beck? Reagan would want to switch to the Weather Channel.
July 4 in Stevens County means going to Hancock. I miss greatly the media role I once played in sharing the day with that community. I miss the hamburger and soft drink I'd get at the 4-H tent at the tractor pull. By then I'd feel dehydrated after taking in the parade under the midday July sun.
I was always greatly impressed by how well the Hancock band marched and played, considering this was their only "gig" of the summer.
Often I would tell people that it would be great if the Hancock band could perform for Morris' Prairie Pioneer Days. I was told that too many of the kids would be gone. It might also be embarrassing if Hancock had a marching band in the Morris parade and the Morris school couldn't produce one. (Well, here's my little violin.)
There was a time when Morris High had a thriving marching band program. There was a director named Schaefer and then a guy named Woell who I played under. We traveled pretty far and wide like to Winnipeg, Canada.
Musically I don't think the experience enriched us that much. We would just play one tune (or "chart"). But the discipline of performing as a unit on the move was the real benefit along with the sheer camaraderie.
Eventually marching band became a tougher "sell" because kids developed other interests. Athletes (or their coaches) decided that sports camps were a must.
The sudden growth of girls sports put girls in the same position of using summer for that purpose. I recall summer marching band having a brief comeback for Morris (Area) in the mid or late 1980s, when a guy named Schmidt directed. But it seemed uphill, as if the school and parents were doing this just to prove it could still be done.
It's back to being dormant now. Is that a good thing? Well, there are other learning experiences in summer that have more substance than blaring out the same marching band tune over and over.
So we can live without the brass.
A few schools have fought to survive with marching band, like Litchfield. Nothing wrong with that. The parades where they appear surely appreciate it.
The Hancock band greatly enhances July 4 there.
Hancock July 4 has all the elements for a successful celebration. Beyond the band, parade floats and baseball, though, is the togetherness among families as they gather in backyards on lawn chairs. I fondly remember walking across town and seeing so much of this, and exuberantly exchanging waves with some of the people as they spotted me.
Through all those years I never stuck around for the fireworks.
Once July 4 is done, we can contemplate the home stretch of summer and how the county fair isn't far off. And after the fair the new school year beckons.
Hopefully we can feel harmony as a nation as "the routine" plods forward. Hopefully the more strident political voices can recede and we can embrace more of a Reaganesque, temperate conversation on our national issues.
Maybe 20 years from now we can look in the rear view mirror and say "remember Glenn Beck? That guy was nuts. Whatever became of him?"
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Monday, June 21, 2010
Boomers: a lifetime of being marketed to
The term "baby boomer" seems overly broad in order to apply really meaningful analysis. Definitions can be vague and confusing. In a strict sense these people (including me) were born between 1946 and 1964.
Nebulous though the definition might be, the term has gained widespread usage. We must have recognizable spots, those of us born during that rather wide swath of time.
I have mentioned previously here that U.S. Senator James Webb has no time for the term. This politician who benefited from a Republican opponent's racial comment gaffe, would shrug and say the term is essentially meaningless. Sen. Webb says the boomers are bonded only by the coincidence of when they were born. That seems like irresistible logic.
But the boomers were subjected to stimuli that brought out distinctive, and in some limited ways counterproductive, behavior and attitudes. Having done some reading on the topic, I found a passage that jumped out at me - something that was somewhat buried in the item I was reading.
This quote was attributed to someone named Steve Gillon (no credentials cited) and it reads: "From the time they were conceived, boomers were dissected, analyzed and pitched to by modern marketers, who reinforced a sense of generational distinctiveness."
Television really bloomed in the mid-1950s and it was an aggressive tool for marketing. Saturday morning cartoons were not immune (hardly). Many boomers, even when very young, were fully aware of what was going on. In other words, they knew what all the marketing was about and how it manifested itself in otherwise innocuous entertainment.
This is what led to the popularity of Mad Magazine. The title of the magazine is short for "Madison Avenue" (the advertising/marketing hotbed of that time).
The mass entertainment so vigorously parodied in the magazine was revealed as a sort of lowest-common-denominator opiate that would attract eyeballs for marketers. Why do you think the satires were so funny? (I remember "The Virginia Ham" as a takeoff on the NBC western "The Virginian.")
Another item that struck me in my reading was the liberation brought by the transistor radio. With this tool the boomers could make their own music choices free of parental influence or censorship. What a difference this made! The Beatles and the Motown sound could be appreciated unfiltered.
I remember that in my neighborhood, the radio station of choice was KDWB, "Channel 63," with deejay "Tac" Hammer spinning the vinyl 45s of groups like The Association (with their "Windy," "Cherish" and "Along Comes Mary").
The sound was so alien to any musical fare that our parents might have appreciated. The difference was so profound, it's almost disturbing to reflect on it. The new music was raw.
Boomers have been allowed to define themselves. They grew up during a time of relative affluence which gave them the luxury of evaluating the world around them in broad and altruistic terms, as in their push with the environmental movement. "Iron Eyes" Cody was iconic with his crying face in that "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcement, remember?
"Iron Eyes," who was actually Italian and not Native American, surfaced in my memory last week as I was following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. "Iron Eyes" is no longer with us but his tears would never be more appropriate than now, what with the oil spill reaching such tragic proportions. His original tears were brought about by some mere litter tossed from a passing motor vehicle.
Litter can be cleaned up pretty routinely. The oil spill? Boomers were supposed to lead the way preventing this sort of thing. We are associated with idealism. We surely grew up trumpeting grand causes and inclusiveness. But I wonder if we're really so vigilant now.
Once associated with left wing politics (as in "the new left"), the boomers have decidedly drifted away from that posture so that politically at least, we seem not really different from other generations. The Wikipedia entry for "baby boomers" suggests that these people "are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values." But then is added: "But this is disputed."
I would suggest that boomers didn't so much throw off the yoke of authority or orthodoxy, rather they tweaked it so open discussion and dissent were more palatable or even encouraged. I remember Bill Walton on an ESPN talk show going on at length about this. The basketball great who went through a "hippie" phase said the young people of today don't realize how unpalatable the idea once was, of basically questioning authority.
While the same authority channels are well established today, there is a prevailing understanding that it is not tyrannical and that we can discuss different opinions or interpretations without being tossed aside.
The "hippies" (a loose term that applies to a lot of superficial traits many of which were hardly more than silly) were an in-your-face gesture to an older population that didn't want to discuss nuances in our societal institutions or issues of the day. Older people felt that if the U.S. deemed it necessary to have a Selective Service system and to conscript boys to fight abroad, we had to respect it. This was the most contentious issue of the formative years of many boomers.
By sheer force of numbers, the boomers were able to move some mountains with those societal institutions. Cultural and racial boundaries evaporated as we sought to move forward as a harmonious, enlightened society.
Today the demographic bulge known as the boomers has retreated from any new battles and is dealing with simple issues of age and survival. We are not immune to the inroads of age and the simple survival challenges it brings.
Our commitment to diet and exercise, so far beyond what our predecessors would have embraced, do not make us immortal. We will grow old and die.
We have long resisted the image of nursing home care, choosing instead to think in terms of "assisted care" if we need it.
It's just a case of the boomers being smart-alecks again (smarter than our elders, but not really). Because: we need to realize that when the time comes for us to seriously consider "assisted care," we will have some very serious problems, likely beyond what "assisted care" can address. A book on the new non-fiction rack at our Morris Public Library informed me that "assisted care is more a philosophy than an established body of practice." It seems less foreboding but it may not be as practical or within reach as we think.
The spectre of old age unpleasantness is out there. We need to approach it with the same courage as our elders, for whom we seem to feel more affection as time goes on (as in "The Greatest Generation" moniker).
We can only hope that the kind of social safety nets we were famous for promoting when young (when flirting with the "new left") are strong enough for us and that the young folks like us enough to make sure we can age with minimal adversity.
Let's see, we were always nice to you youngsters, weren't we?
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Nebulous though the definition might be, the term has gained widespread usage. We must have recognizable spots, those of us born during that rather wide swath of time.
I have mentioned previously here that U.S. Senator James Webb has no time for the term. This politician who benefited from a Republican opponent's racial comment gaffe, would shrug and say the term is essentially meaningless. Sen. Webb says the boomers are bonded only by the coincidence of when they were born. That seems like irresistible logic.
But the boomers were subjected to stimuli that brought out distinctive, and in some limited ways counterproductive, behavior and attitudes. Having done some reading on the topic, I found a passage that jumped out at me - something that was somewhat buried in the item I was reading.
This quote was attributed to someone named Steve Gillon (no credentials cited) and it reads: "From the time they were conceived, boomers were dissected, analyzed and pitched to by modern marketers, who reinforced a sense of generational distinctiveness."
Television really bloomed in the mid-1950s and it was an aggressive tool for marketing. Saturday morning cartoons were not immune (hardly). Many boomers, even when very young, were fully aware of what was going on. In other words, they knew what all the marketing was about and how it manifested itself in otherwise innocuous entertainment.
This is what led to the popularity of Mad Magazine. The title of the magazine is short for "Madison Avenue" (the advertising/marketing hotbed of that time).
The mass entertainment so vigorously parodied in the magazine was revealed as a sort of lowest-common-denominator opiate that would attract eyeballs for marketers. Why do you think the satires were so funny? (I remember "The Virginia Ham" as a takeoff on the NBC western "The Virginian.")
Another item that struck me in my reading was the liberation brought by the transistor radio. With this tool the boomers could make their own music choices free of parental influence or censorship. What a difference this made! The Beatles and the Motown sound could be appreciated unfiltered.
I remember that in my neighborhood, the radio station of choice was KDWB, "Channel 63," with deejay "Tac" Hammer spinning the vinyl 45s of groups like The Association (with their "Windy," "Cherish" and "Along Comes Mary").
The sound was so alien to any musical fare that our parents might have appreciated. The difference was so profound, it's almost disturbing to reflect on it. The new music was raw.
Boomers have been allowed to define themselves. They grew up during a time of relative affluence which gave them the luxury of evaluating the world around them in broad and altruistic terms, as in their push with the environmental movement. "Iron Eyes" Cody was iconic with his crying face in that "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcement, remember?
"Iron Eyes," who was actually Italian and not Native American, surfaced in my memory last week as I was following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. "Iron Eyes" is no longer with us but his tears would never be more appropriate than now, what with the oil spill reaching such tragic proportions. His original tears were brought about by some mere litter tossed from a passing motor vehicle.
Litter can be cleaned up pretty routinely. The oil spill? Boomers were supposed to lead the way preventing this sort of thing. We are associated with idealism. We surely grew up trumpeting grand causes and inclusiveness. But I wonder if we're really so vigilant now.
Once associated with left wing politics (as in "the new left"), the boomers have decidedly drifted away from that posture so that politically at least, we seem not really different from other generations. The Wikipedia entry for "baby boomers" suggests that these people "are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values." But then is added: "But this is disputed."
I would suggest that boomers didn't so much throw off the yoke of authority or orthodoxy, rather they tweaked it so open discussion and dissent were more palatable or even encouraged. I remember Bill Walton on an ESPN talk show going on at length about this. The basketball great who went through a "hippie" phase said the young people of today don't realize how unpalatable the idea once was, of basically questioning authority.
While the same authority channels are well established today, there is a prevailing understanding that it is not tyrannical and that we can discuss different opinions or interpretations without being tossed aside.
The "hippies" (a loose term that applies to a lot of superficial traits many of which were hardly more than silly) were an in-your-face gesture to an older population that didn't want to discuss nuances in our societal institutions or issues of the day. Older people felt that if the U.S. deemed it necessary to have a Selective Service system and to conscript boys to fight abroad, we had to respect it. This was the most contentious issue of the formative years of many boomers.
By sheer force of numbers, the boomers were able to move some mountains with those societal institutions. Cultural and racial boundaries evaporated as we sought to move forward as a harmonious, enlightened society.
Today the demographic bulge known as the boomers has retreated from any new battles and is dealing with simple issues of age and survival. We are not immune to the inroads of age and the simple survival challenges it brings.
Our commitment to diet and exercise, so far beyond what our predecessors would have embraced, do not make us immortal. We will grow old and die.
We have long resisted the image of nursing home care, choosing instead to think in terms of "assisted care" if we need it.
It's just a case of the boomers being smart-alecks again (smarter than our elders, but not really). Because: we need to realize that when the time comes for us to seriously consider "assisted care," we will have some very serious problems, likely beyond what "assisted care" can address. A book on the new non-fiction rack at our Morris Public Library informed me that "assisted care is more a philosophy than an established body of practice." It seems less foreboding but it may not be as practical or within reach as we think.
The spectre of old age unpleasantness is out there. We need to approach it with the same courage as our elders, for whom we seem to feel more affection as time goes on (as in "The Greatest Generation" moniker).
We can only hope that the kind of social safety nets we were famous for promoting when young (when flirting with the "new left") are strong enough for us and that the young folks like us enough to make sure we can age with minimal adversity.
Let's see, we were always nice to you youngsters, weren't we?
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Friday, June 18, 2010
Eagles baseball wins 7-2, ups record to 7-5
The above photo shows Kirby Marquart scoring a run for the Eagles during early-season action at Chizek Field.The Morris Eagles shook off the bad feeling of two straight losses by defeating the Starbuck Stars 7-2 on Wednesday, June 18, at the Minnewaska Area field. The win lifted the Morris town team two games over .500 in season record, to 7-5.
In league play they sport a better win percentage at 6-2.
Mark down Friday, June 25, for when the squad resumes its summer of 2010 play; they'll play at Wheaton against the Walleyes (8 p.m.).
Against the rival Stars on 6/18, Morris pitchers dealt with a strike zone that seemed small. They worked hard to keep the Stars from building a sustained rally.
The Stars were thwarted as they left 14 runners stranded on the basepaths.
Andy Lembcke pitched six innings and picked up the win. Andy dealt with his share of adversity as he walked six batters and gave up four hits. But he only allowed one run which was earned. Lembcke's strikeout total was five.
Matthew Carrington strode out to the pitching mound to work the last three innings. Matthew gained the save and he like Lembcke had to bear down with runners on base. He issued four walks and gave up two hits, while striking out three batters and allowing one run (earned).
The Eagles scored two runs in the third inning, two again in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the ninth. Starbuck scored one run each in the fourth and seventh.
Ross Haugen delivered offensively as expected of the No. 3 batter in the order. Haugen pounded out three hits in five at-bats and scored two runs. Bobby Culbertson, formerly a U of M-Morris Cougar and now in his rookie Eagle season, stole a base while going two-for-four and scoring a run.
Other offensive contributors were Jamie Van Kempen (two-for-five), Kirby Marquart (one-for-four, two RBIs and one run), Cory Marquart (one-for-three and an RBI), Chase Rambow (one-for-four and an RBI), Dusty Sauter (one-for-four, one RBI, one run), Matthew Carrington (an RBI and a run scored) and Andy Lembcke (one-for-three and a run).
Cory Marquart and Andy Lembcke each drew a walk. Flawless fielding was an important factor leading the Eagles to victory. Their line score had a zero under errors. Starbuck, by contrast, committed four errors.
The Eagles outhit the Stars 12-6.
Prior to the win: setbacks
The Friday, June 11, story was bleak by comparison. Morris Eagles baseball was dealt a humbling shutout 4-0 by the Chokio Coyotes at Chokio.
Kirby Marquart accounted for two of the Eagles' (meager) five hits, and he finished two-for-four. The other hits came off the bats of Ross Haugen, Eric Asche and Andy Lembcke. Walk recipients were Adam Torkelson and Matthew Carrington.
The Chokio pitchers looked very comfortable working at their home field. The Eagles went down on strikes ten times vs. a tandem of three Coyote hurlers. Adam Torkelson pitched gamely for Morris in the losing cause. Adam was tagged with his first pitching loss of the season, after having gained three wins. He came out of the day having logged 32 2/3 innings on the season and with a still-solid 2.48 ERA.
The day was significant for the Beyer name as Ryan entered the Eagles' fold, playing his first game in the bold blue color. He follows a tradition that includes brother Adam Beyer. Ryan got a rather non-hospitable welcome as he came up hitless in three at-bats.
Andrew Loher stole a base.
Chokio scored one run each in the second and fifth innings, and two in the eighth. Chokio played errorless ball while the Eagles had one fielding miscue.
Morris Eagles baseball made a strong bid to win its Wednesday, June 8, game against Raymond at the home Chizek Field. The Eagles trailed 3-1 before summoning some offensive "mo" in the seventh to take the lead with a three-run rally. A key blow was Dusty Sauter's two-run single. That tied the score at three-all. Sauter is an Eagle rookie and came out of this day with a team-best nine RBIs along with a .326 average.
Ross Haugen pushed the Eagles into the lead with a run-scoring single.
Raymond was blessed by some special good fortune in the ninth. The night sky spelled some trouble for Eagles in the field trying to spot fly balls. You might say it was just as challenging as a Teflon roof (what the Twins used to deal with at the Metrodome).
This bugaboo painfully surfaced twice with two outs. There were detrimental consequences. Raymond coupled this good fortune with a double and single that began that rally. It was a surge that spelled their eventual 6-4 win.
Chase Rambow took the loss on the mound with his stint of two innings. Chase gave up five hits and three runs (all earned) while striking out one and walking none. Andy Lembcke hurled for four innings and this Eagle's numbers were: two hits allowed, two runs (one earned), five walks and two strikeouts.
Jamie Van Kempen put his pitching arm to work for three innings and this Eagle gave up three hits and one run (earned) while walking no batters and fanning one.
The offensive contributors for Morris were Kirby Marquart (two-for-five and a run scored), Dusty Sauter (three-for-five and two RBIs), Ross Haugen (one-for-five and an RBI), Craig Knochenmus (three-for-five), Jamie Van Kempen (one-for-three), Matthew Carrington (two-for-three including a double, plus a run scored) and Bobby Culbertson (one-for-three and two runs).
Haugen and Van Kempen turned on the jets to steal bases.
Maybe if I stop making wisecracks about Matthew Carrington's age, I can actually get some stuff linked on the Morris Eagles baseball website. And as Jim Bouton once wrote, "add dreams of glory."
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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