Atlas Shrugged

Yes, they are making a movie!  

But, and this is a really big but, they are casting it with unknowns (at least to me anyway).

Hopefully it won't have Ayn's fans, me included, shrugging.

This is... Love

A bond that shrugs off the first blush
That grows through pain
That is nurtured by forgiveness
A bond that seeks balance
That defines life with the start of new life
That is fierce with devotion and tenderness
A bond that graduates to maturity
That is justified by success
That survives setback with determination
A bond that rests comfortably in silence
That celebrates the life of another
That finds peace in a touch
A bond that fosters faith in a shared eternity
With the one love and with the family
A bond that is nurtured with laughter

A bond relentless with hope
A bond that thrives on optimism
This is... Love.  Oh Yes it is!

(For Julieann Marie Campbell)

Lighthouse...

...for the Blind
A non-profit organization that provides support for the blind.
Not intended to help people see the truth.

###

When I was in high school in the Seattle area
I worked for Lighthouse for the Blind
It was a house to house affair
We were given small suitcases
Stuffed with common household items
Much like the Fuller Brush man of old
The suitcases contained; yes, brushes
And ties, and scissors, and knives,
Plus pencils, pens
and all sorts of household items

We were also given scripts to memorize
Once someone opened their door
We were to head pell-mell into the spiel
I was typically paired with another
High school acquaintance of mine, Chuck.
We would carry different stuff in our bags
And swap leads when knocking on doors
Whoever was in front... did the talking
Chuck was a no-nonsense sort of guy
More or less totally devoid of humor
I mean I could get him to laugh once in a while
But I had to work my ass off at it
Not sure why I even tried
It was just something I felt compelled to do

Chuck was also terribly shy.
He was so shy
He could not look our potential customers in the eye
He would just knock on someone's door
And when they answered
He would stare at the door frame or something inanimate
And recite his spiel mechanically, from memory
I swear most of those who answered
Thought Chuck was blind when he did that
And perhaps I was just there to escort him
To make sure he didn't trip over anything

Chuck had the highest sales volume
Of anyone on our sales force there in Seattle.

###

Chuck and I hung out as pals... sort of
In our Junior year in high school
Not so much in our senior year
In fact, one night we were both
With our separate little, fairly low rent cliques
And some of my buddies and I
Stole a case of beer from Chuck and his buddies
Unseen of course

Later they were convinced it was us
So our two groups met in a deserted area to hash it out
One side said their piece and the other side said theirs
I said something in outright denial of the act
And my old pal, Chuck stepped forward and called me a "S___head".
I hadn't heard the word before and in a burst of righteous indignation
Called him to the middle of the group to do battle
Chuck was a lot taller than me but no stronger I believe
We took a few rookie slugs at each other
And I caught him then wrestled him to the ground
I was a high school wrestler of very modest skill
And Chuck knew absolutely nothing about it
I quickly had him pinned and was proceeding
To rub his face into the gravel
When he basically gave up
At that point, everyone had lost their taste
For the beer argument and that was that

Ironically, Boone Kirkman, who was in our high school
And would later become a professional boxer
Fighting George Foreman and others
Was also among the groups watching it all go down

Chuck didn't show for school for the next couple of days
Preceding the weekend
Presumably to heal his road rash a little
We never spoke again

###

If I were to see Chuck today

I would apologize

And offer to buy him 

A case of beer

I am sure he grew to be a good man. 

Pocket Aces - "Dat Metaphor"

Texas Hold'em - the most popular poker game
Pocket Aces - the most powerful starting hand
Deuce-seven unsuited - the weakest starting hand
How would you play these?

"You play the hand you are dealt" - a common metaphor
For making the best in life from what you have
A life of pocket aces would  be the best
Except the odds are 221:1 against you getting them for starters.

So maybe sometimes you are dealt deuce-seven
But you act like you have pocket aces
And others believe you
If it is life, you still have to play

Maybe sometimes you are dealt pocket aces
But feeling inferior, you act like you have deuce-seven
And others believe you
It is life and you are not taking advantage of what you have

Pocket Aces.
I have been dealt these starters many times in life
More than my share
Beating the odds big time

I haven't always played them the best though
On the other hand I have been dealt plenty of deuce-sevens
And once in a while played them like a pro
I guess it depends on other factors

Sometimes just playing the hand
No matter what you are dealt
Is the greatest thrill

Like one of my great heroes, the one-armed young man
From the book, "Badass, the Harley Davidson Experience"
Who rode the scooter from his home in Texas
To Sturgis, South Dakota and back

He was just celebrating the hand he was dealt.

.     .     .     .     .     .

To put things in perspective

Here is the hand I was dealt on this particular

Gorgeous Friday afternoon 

In the City of Trees

A Perdomo Reserve stogie,

A Heineken

A damn good book (Steig Laarsen's latest)

A faithful, beloved hound dog

(Thanks for planting the idea Tom McD!)

Spinmaster

Take a side, any side

Spin a story, any story

Get it on the Net

Titillate the masses

Beg the Question

Fire the first shot

Rely on the propensity

Of people to believe what they want

And abstain from researching both sides

Trust they will view only one side of the coin

 

This is the way of the Spinmaster...

Both amateur and professional.

"If I Were President"

"If I were President
I woed make shore that
ivrething was fare
and I woed make shore that
ivreone had pece and
ckwit. and for kids I'd care."

Samantha Marie Campbell, February 24, 1995

Yes, it is framed.
Yes, it proudly hangs in my office.
Yes, one day it will hang in her office.

(She did this three months after her 6th birthday... learning phonetic spelling in school. Note the birthmark on her mirror side - there is no mistaking it is her.  Also note the Lincolnesque beard, will have to caution her about ways to prevent this but I do like that hat as well as those mighty fine campaign promises.)

Louise!... is Zahgidiwin

Louise at 2009 Dartmouth speech.

The thing is; when you are writing you have a chance to properly ponder things before placing them at the feet of your reader to be considered... or not.  On the other hand, when you are speaking you can easily say something stupid and splash the words awkwardly toward your listener while perhaps dribbling something on your shirt in the process.  As it happens I am really good at the latter.  For example, I have this annoying propensity to state the obvious. I will just spit it out then immediately regret it as the look from my listener(s) says; "So, you really think I'm stupid eh?" 

Anyway, this little story isn't about me. It's about someone who can put it out there just right whether written or verbal. It's about you and a writer who is there for you to treasure if you haven't already done so.  

As a little background, you may already know that I enjoy writing as a hobby. What you don't know is; in comparison Louise makes me feel like a church mouse at the foot of the altar in Saint Peter's basilica.   That is why we are here today Ladies and Gentlemen... to inadequately review some of the works of Louise Erdrich. 

As it happens (and this is really cool...to me that is) Louise and I are two of 30,000 or so enrolled members of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Tribe.  Most (many?) of the tribe are mixed blood "Metis"; the most common being French and Indian.  My grandmother and grandfather on my Mother's (Chippewa Princess) side were both half French and half Chippewa. Louise, on the other hand is half German and half Chippewa, or so her bio says.  She is also an extraordinary mind and will totally engage you if you dare to read one of her many best selling books.  

I have known about Louise for quite sometime as many years ago a dear friend (Thanks May U.! - I am sorry I didn't pay more attention back then.) suggested I read some of her work.  I held off because I incorrectly thought I would be reading a lot of spiritual "Today is a good day to die"  stuff and that is not my interest. Instead, I have encountered a brilliant, imaginative novelist who provides sparkling details about the love, hate, sex, primitive details and beauty of day-to-day-life. She has also exposed me to enough of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) language and gritty reality to help me feel like I am right there in each of her stories.

While I have only read three of her books thus far, permit me to suggest that you begin with "The Last Report On The Miracles At Little No Horse."  You will be hooked immediately in the Prologue as you learn the origins of Father Damien.  You will get caught up over and over again in passages such as those about the "naked woman playing Chopin", the moose, canoe and the remarkable loves of Agnes Dewitt.  When finished, you may also agree with me; it is a stark, sensuous story that would make a great movie for the ages.  Two others I have read and loved so far; the "Plague of Doves" and "Love Medicine."  Thankfully, I have many more to look forward to.

And now, here is a little pearl from Louise I just discovered, her 2009 Dartmouth commencement speech... short but sweet!  Even if you don't get to one of her books check it out. 

Great Grandmother and Father Dubois

Thank you Louise and my apologies...you deserve a lot better reviews than this one but there is no professional reviewer out there who could do you justice anyway.

Finally, just to bring it all closer to home, the photo to the right is of my great grandfather and grandmother Dubois. It was taken somewhere in the Dakotas on what appears to be a nice day sometime around the turn of the century.  Can you guess which is French and which is Chippewa? 

From the stern look of admonishment (?) on their faces, I would suggest they are both looking directly at me and have been considerably sobered by what I have become.  But then the more I think about it, it is probably my son Tyler they are looking at, or both!  (If you click once on the photo, it might enlarge to full scale... notice Tyler and Samantha's great great grand daddy is wearing coveralls along with his snappy white shirt, tie and vest!  Could be a fashion trend for Ty to set when he is on stage!)

What is Zahgidiwin?  It's "Love" in Chippewa. 

Stogie Time

Note:  this will be the first (maybe the last)
In a series of
Salient, Visceral, Sage, at times (all) irreverent
Observations from yours truly
The Common Man

Its about the intricacies of life
As seen through the eyes of
A passionate, cigar smoking...
(okay, one a week or so)
Wine swilling...
(no comment)
Harley riding...
(not as much as I'd like)
Old dude
(yeah I gotta admit it sooner or later)


So.  Now that I think about it
This has been the general tone
Of all my blog entries
For the past couple of years!

Looking backward
It appears something
"May be gaining on me"
To paraphrase my old hero,
Satchel Paige

So here it is in sum,
The ride is great.
Don't F___ with the ride.

And here is a "ride" from today:  Molly, Famous Olympic Dog

(Photo R:  "Welcome to the Club", by famous Harley, Celebrity and Wine artist, Scott Jacobs: http://www.scottjacobsstudio.com/)

Turns

Many a winding

For the worse

For the better

The corner
Dangerous

On a dime

Pleasant

Around

It down
Vicious

Gentle

Wrong

Lucky

Down

Sharp

Away

Nasty

Back

Right

It up

Your

Left

Stile

Key

My

Up

To

To Grow Old

To Grow Bold

To Grow Old and Bold

Ben and Jack

1967, Lowry Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado (a Denver suburb).  I was there to attend Air Force Intelligence training. One of my roommates was there to train as a Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory Technician.

He was Bernard Buecker, a hayseed of German ancestry from a farm in Northwest Texas, near Umbarger... Buddy Holly country. He could play an expert guitar but he couldn't dance. I was something of a naive youngster myself (North Dakota hayseed origins) and we both had a humor streak that was slightly left of center so we became fast friends.

There was a famous country and western club in Aurora called the Zanzibar (Which was later made famous in the Clint Eastwood movie, "Any Which Way But Loose").  It was also fairly popular as a spot where a whitewall haircut Airman might have a few dances and a date with a local babe.  Ben, six-four or thereabouts, didn't know how to dance so I taught him a few steps of the Foxtrot which we later learned could be easily adapted to the "Cowboy Shuffle."  This presented a fairly comical picture for the rest of the Airmen in the dorm and likely for patrons of the Zanzibar as we later tried to hoof it with others.

One evening we had hit the Zanzibar with no success but weren't ready to call it a night so we stopped at a small bar further down East Colfax street.  The bartender was pretty friendly and there weren't many people in the place so we raised hell and joked with her until closing.  As we walked toward Ben's car in the parking lot, we noticed a Jaguar convertible blinking it's lights at us.  We approached; I got there first and noticed it was the bartender.  I asked, "What's up?" and she said, "Not you.  Him."  They took off and I drove Ben's car home that night.

It turned out she bought the Jag off an insurance settlement after her husband died. She also had a young son.  Not long thereafter they got married and Ben was assigned to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya.  We lost touch for a while but a couple (few?) years later I heard from Ben.  He had come home one day to catch the bartender in an affair with a senior NCO.  While he was arguing with the NCO, the bartender went at him from behind and Ben kicked back. Later that day they both filed assault charges against him.

The next day he found himself in front of the Judge Advocate General, a Colonel B - they too argued and Ben told him to "kiss (his) ass" whereupon the judge smashed his cigar down in his ashtray and said, "Sergeant, I could have every stripe on your shoulder!"  Ben asked if that meant he could go back to Texas and start "farmin" again and the Judge said, "Yes." Ben responded, "Then no problem!"  The Judge said he wouldn't do that because of Ben's "great service record."

As a result, Ben left with an honorable discharge after a four year stint.  He returned to the Amarillo, Texas area and became a helicopter electronics technician at a plant there.  He also spent a fair amount of time working out his anger on the streets by engaging in many fighting adventures.  

He got pretty bored with that life so he went to college at Texas State University, San Marcos where he majored in German.  It was noteworthy that he also served as an orderly at a mental institution. He worked there with a Japanese pal and fellow student named Yoshio.  Among other things, they learned to pretend to be martial arts experts so they could scare the patients into thinking they would be in big trouble if they didn't behave.  Ben and Yoshio were so poor they lived in a tent on the San Marcos river for six months of that time - no problem though as that lifestyle was thought of as fairly fashionable during the late 60's and early 70's.

Ben graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was accepted into the Law program at the University of Texas, Austin.  After graduating,  he received a Fullbright fellowship and spent a year completing comparative studies in German and American Law in Heidelberg, Germany.  Next, Ben took up private practice in San Antonio, Texas where he remains actively engaged today.  It is noteworthy that over the years he has hosted and trained several hundred law interns from Germany... much about law and much about how to survive margaritas on San Antonio's famous Riverwalk.

Shortly after arriving in San Antonio Ben met a Biology major and former Peace Corps volunteer, Cindy and they were later married.  Cindy is one of the very few people on the planet who can accommodate Ben's self-styled adventures in law, music, frequent business travels to Germany and his love for dogs.

Fifteen years ago, almost to the day, he noticed a Jack Russell terrier on the street in front of the old San Antonio courthouse.  He saw the dog wanting to get back into a car and as it drove away someone in the back waved goodbye.  Ben drove up and noticed the dog sitting there in a blue and white bandanna looking pretty distressed so he opened his door and said, "Jack, let's go home."

Ben had to get out to pick Jack up who at that point had just laid on his back with his feet up in the air. After about a week of walking with him in the morning and evening and coming home to eat lunch with him Ben had to go to Amarillo as his Mom was deathly ill. He returned a few days later and Jack acted like it was Christmas morning. For the remainder of his life, Jack followed Ben around from room to room in their home every day, even in his last months when he would fall down and sometimes drag his back feet.

Ben and his dog Jack
April, 2010

As he got older Jack would sit with Ben for a while, then go sit with Cindy. Often, they would see him playing with a tennis ball by himself, throwing it in the air, catching it and throwing it again. When they walked, Ben would just follow Jack where he wanted to go, and often there was a little female dog as his destination. One day after about 4 blocks they encountered a cute little dog. He sat about 15 feet from her, and slowly... a foot or two at a time, moved closer to her. Finally when he got right next to her she growled at him - he ran back to Ben in fright and disappointment and they went on.

Jack quickly became a full blown family member.  Over the years Ben and Cindy bred him, keeping some of Jack's children and grandchildren, ultimately accumulating a half-dozen or so terriers in their sprawling Olmos Park home.

#####################

Every November, the San Antonio Beethoven Choir sings, some trombonists play and some prayers are said for the 135 German, 4 Italian and 2 Japanese soldiers buried at Fort Sam Houston.  They all died in Texas POW camps in 1944 and 1945.   Ben gives the accompanying speech in tribute to those soldiers. To honor Ben and thank him for his service, the chiefs at Fort Sam have offered to bury him in that same old section.

Last Saturday, on the fifteenth anniversary of his Mother's passing and of his discovery of Jack, Ben called to tell me that he finally had to have the good old dog put to sleep. He figured Jack had made it to eighteen years of age.  He said he was going to have Jack cremated and they were going to be buried together at Fort Sam Houston one day.  Knowing his capacity for love and loyalty as I do, I believe him.

I am proud to call this old Hayseed from Umbarger, Texas my friend and I will be swilling a glass of wine or two in Jack's memory.

The Wire

In recent weeks, I have had a welcome break
In road warrior activities
Thus preventing further physical injury
Also enjoying time with family and friends

As part-time empty nesters
Wife/Pal and I can often have time on our hands
One day a couple of weeks ago
I happened to mention that the HBO series, "The Wire":
http://www.hbo.com/the-wire/index.html
Might provide some entertainment we were missing in general  viewing

"The Wire" has often been reviewed as one of the greatest series
Ever produced for television:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire
I had seen a few episodes while imprisoned in hotel rooms
So I thought we should rent some of the first episodes
To see what the fuss was all about

We rented and devoured the first season
Then the second and so on
Until we had viewed the entire 5 seasons
Sixty hours worth within a couple of weeks

The Wire is everything that has been written about it and more
Its about crime, drugs, ghettos, murder, politics, the school system
And the Baltimore police force... not necessarily in that order
Most actors you won't recognize but you will love before it is over
Even some of the evil ones!

Start at the beginning and have a blast
You won't regret it
(Warning, much of it is R-rated and it gets so intense you will want a lot of fine wine close by.)
(Note:  renting the entire series turned out to be complicated and sort of expensive at Blockbusters so we just went to EBay and bought the entire boxed set for sixty bucks -- well worth it at a buck an hour!)