Planetaki Planet OLLI

FAREWELL THOUGHTS

2010-03-11T16:26:34+00:00

As I pack and make last minute arrangements for our Paris trip tomorrow [special instructions for our pet sitter, and such], just a few thoughts on the passing scene.

A troubling report by the Southern Poverty Law Center on the dramatic rise of right-wing vigilante and hate groups, preaching [and in some cases practicing] violence. The SPLC tracks hate groups, and reports a 54% spike in their numbers between 2000 and 2008. This is entirely separate from the Tea Party groups, which are populist protests on the right that, despite some nasty rhetoric, are considered by the SPLC to be quite different from the sorts of nativist violence-drenched groups they track. Contrary to what you might imagine, these groups are heavily concentrated up and down the eastern Seaboard and into the upper and lower South. There is, of course, a long history of such groups in America, but it is at least worth noting that the annual CPAC conference this year [Conservative Political Action Committees] was co-sponsored by the John Birch Society, which for decades was excluded from polite right-wing company because of the sheer paranoid craziness of its founder and members. [For those of you who are candy bar fans, remember that it was the man who started the company that made Mars bars who founded the John Birch Society. Sigh. I really like Mars bars.]

More signs of a revival of energy and determination in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Harry Reid, much maligned and in danger in his home state re-election bid, is talking about revising the filibuster rules come January. A change now would take sixty-seven votes, but in January it will only take fifty plus Joe Biden. Chuck Schumer is going to hold hearings, he says. Obama is in campaign mode for the closing of the deal on health reform. By this time, the political implications of a win are almost independent of the actual content of the bill. In the words of Thomas Hobbes, my favorite source of political wisdom and aphorisms, "the reputation of power is power." If Obama wins on health care reform, he is a winner, and thereby gains political power. He has just announced the intention of tackling immigration reform. You cannot accuse him of ducking the hard issues!

Avatar didn't win. I rather like the fact that Best Director went to James Cameron's former wife. Maybe story does matter. We are a long way from 1952 when The Greatest Show on Earth won best picture for Cecil B. DeMille. [For those who missed it, this was the schlock blockbuster to end all schlock blockbusters, with Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde and the inevitable Charleton Heston. By comparison, The Ten Commandments was War and Peace.]

Since I am not a member of the Mainstream media, I am not obligated to comment on the bizarre tale of Eric Massa and Glen Beck. So I won't.

I will talk with you from Paris. toujours gai, as the cockroach Archy used to say. [Look it up]

How to talk to loved ones about legal, financial, and medical plans for aging parents and spouses

2010-03-10T21:02:30+00:00

Virginia Morris, a nationally recognized authority on eldercare and author of How to Care for Aging Parents, will lead a discussion entitled “Our Parents, Our Selves: The Later Years” on March 19 at 2:00 in Culbreth Theater.

Ms. Morris will discuss how families can effectively engage in the difficult but necessary conversations about legal, financial and medical plans for aging parents and spouses.

Her main message is “Plan ahead. If we could simply get people to think about all this sooner, to plan for it even a little bit, we could ease the strains enormously.”

Almost forty-four million Americans attend to the health care needs of a relative or another person.

Morris will set an optimistic yet realistic tone as she guides the audience through the morass of emotions and practical information which should be addressed among family members.

She emphasizes the importance of helping one’s parents retain independence and self respect while taking care of oneself.

Lois Shepherd, author of If That Ever Happens to Me: Making Life and Death Decisions After Terry Schiavo, will moderate this session. Ms. Shepherd is an associate professor in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities, UVA Health System.

The Institute on Aging organized the session, which will be presented at the Virginia Festival of the Book. The program is sponsored by Genworth Financial and co-hosted by the Senior Center.

This free presentation and discussion takes place from 2:00 – 4:00 at the Culbreth Theater at the University of Virginia. There is no admission fee, but please RSVP at either uvaging@virginia.edu or (434) 243-5695 to reserve your space.
Download Virginia Morris flyer (PDF)

Via U.Va. Institute on Aging

Events / U.Va. Institute on Aging – How to talk to loved ones about legal, financial, and medical plans for aging parents and spouses

2010-03-10T21:01:56+00:00

Our always popular Festival of the Book is almost here! Read below about a session that will be very interesting to many of us -if not for our parents, then for ourselves. See you there!

Virginia Morris, a nationally recognized authority on eldercare and author of How to Care for Aging Parents, will lead a discussion entitled “Our Parents, Our Selves: The Later Years” on March 19 at 2:00 in Culbreth Theater.

Ms. Morris will discuss how families can effectively engage in the difficult but necessary conversations about legal, financial and medical plans for aging parents and spouses.

Her main message is “Plan ahead. If we could simply get people to think about all this sooner, to plan for it even a little bit, we could ease the strains enormously.”

Almost forty-four million Americans attend to the health care needs of a relative or another person.

Morris will set an optimistic yet realistic tone as she guides the audience through the morass of emotions and practical information which should be addressed among family members.

She emphasizes the importance of helping one’s parents retain independence and self respect while taking care of oneself.

Lois Shepherd, author of If That Ever Happens to Me: Making Life and Death Decisions After Terry Schiavo, will moderate this session. Ms. Shepherd is an associate professor in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities, UVA Health System.

The Institute on Aging organized the session, which will be presented at the Virginia Festival of the Book. The program is sponsored by Genworth Financial and co-hosted by the Senior Center.

This free presentation and discussion takes place from 2:00 – 4:00 at the Culbreth Theater at the University of Virginia. There is no admission fee, but please RSVP at either uvaging@virginia.edu or (434) 243-5695 to reserve your space.
Download Virginia Morris flyer (PDF)

Via U.Va. Institute on Aging

Filed under: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Lifelong Learning Tagged: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Senior Center, Seniors, University of Virginia, UVA Institute on Aging, Virginia festival of the Book

EARLY MONEY IS LIKE YEAST

2010-03-10T13:33:50+00:00

This saying, for those who don't know, is the origin of the acronym "Emily," as in "Emily's List." And in politics, it is true. Your money has a greater weight in primaries than in the general election, and it has a greater impact early than late. Our attention recently has been focused on Republican primary challenges from the right, but there are beginning to crop up some very interesting Democratic primary challenges from the left. I have recently given $100 to Bill Halter, challenging the extremely conservative Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, and another $100 to Tarryl Clark, running for the Democratic nomination to take on Michele Bachmann. Halter raised a million dollars in forty-eight hours after ActBlue and Daily Kos highlighted his challenge. If you are as frustrated as I by the Blue Dog Democrats who have highjacked health care and other issues, this is a good way to strike a blow for progressive principles. Also, keep an eye on Bart Stupak, who may be challenged in his district by a pro-choice pro-health care Democrat. This is the transformative effect of the Internet.

Hand or Keyboard — Does It Matter?

2010-03-10T06:04:07+00:00

Flickr photo by SwimParallel

Within the online writing community you’ll find an ongoing discussion of the merits of writing by hand versus keyboard. Virtually all articles and posts are anecdotal, with a conspicuous lack of research. One exception is an intriguing blog interview Joy Castro held with author and writing teacher Heather Sellers that comes close to supportable evidence. Heather claims that she can tell with near 100% accuracy by reading a student’s work whether it was written by hand or on the computer. “The best work is always written first by hand.”

As I’ve noted several times, I have become a true convert to journaling, on paper, by hand. When I recently had an idea for a focused journal on a specific topic and wanted to share part or all of it with others, I reached for the keyboard. My attempt failed miserably. After much stumbling, fumbling, and frustration, I turned to my paper journal, and words flowed again. Eventually I realized that I was writing exclusively about feelings, emotions, and inner sensations — heart and gut stuff. That stuff is analog and organic, difficult to transfer to a stiff digital medium.

I became aware of the grandfather clock tick-tocking away across the room. When I’m aware of the clock, the river of time seems to fragment into discrete pixel-like second. That seems a metaphor for the way thoughts emerge from my fingers on the keyboard, in click-tocks rather than a free-flowing river. Thoughts spray forth in a wide swath through eight fingers and a thumb onto the keyboard. When I write by hand, my thoughts are forced to converge with laser-like focus into that single point at the end of my pen.

Words written on paper have an earthy, sensual feel. They seem more real, more vital and durable — not quite carved in stone, but worth the effort of recording. Digital words seem are ephemeral, easily poofed off the page, remaining only as long as I approve them.

Letters on the screen are discrete, not touching. They are fragments, pebbles in a pile. Handwritten letters flow together. even my hybrid of print and script flows, though somewhat jerkily, along a continuous line. That flowing line forms a smoother path for the arrival of new insights. While it is true that more than a few e-mails I’ve sent over the years include some line like “I don’t know where that came from — I’m obviously thinking with my fingers!” I’ve never once been transported to that “Place of great peace beyond all the words” by keyboard writing.

For deeply analytical, insight-seeking writing, I’ll keep that pen firmly in hand! When I want to crank out the words as fast as I think, the keyboard keeps its edge. What a wonderful world we live in, that we have this choice!

Write now: conduct your own experiment to learn where you fly best with each style of writing, paper or keyboard. Google some search terms like “handwriting keyboard” or “benefits of writing by hand” and follow several links. Form your own conclusions.

How do you track open enrollment?

2010-03-09T17:17:03+00:00

Patricia Zimmerman, OLLI at the University of Nevada, Reno Asks OLLI:

For OLLI’s with “open enrollment”, members can attend most classes without pre-registering, do you track attendance? How do you capture these statistics manually or automatically? If you have an automatic system to do this, please tell us about it.

PEDANTIC QUIBBLE

2010-03-09T21:49:38+00:00

What point is there in maintaining a blog if you can't post a pedantic quibble from time to time? So here goes.

George W. Bush is rightly mocked by lefties for saying that the American people "misunderestimated me." Fair enough. But every day, it seems, someone in the mainstream media or in the blogosphere misuses the term "underestimate," as in "it is hard to underestimate ..."

Look, if something is incredibly large, expensive, dangerous, beautiful, old, or likely to happen, then it makes sense to say that "it is hard to overestimate" that thing's size, expense, danger, age, or likelihood, meaning "no matter how large, expensive, dangerous, beautiful, old, or likely you estimate it as being, you will probably fall short of how large, etc etc it really is." In other words, it is really hard to overestimate its size, etc. because it is so big, costly, etc. An alternative way to say this is, "You should never underestimate the size, expense, etc etc of that thing, because it is sure to be larger, costlier, etc etc than you think."

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?

By the way, Bush was wrong. We didn't misunderestimate him. We estimated him as being just about as low as a president could get, and we were right.

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

2010-03-09T21:49:38+00:00

I stumbled yesterday evening on a TCM screening of Casablanca, which I can practically lip sync by now. It reminded me to tell you all that on Friday, Susie and I shall be going to Paris for two and a half weeks. It is still rather chilly in Paris, so we shan't have any jardin du Luxembourg picnics, but as always, I shall relax into the delights of the 5e arrondissement. My principal task on this trip will be complete the preparations for our June trip, when I shall host a party for my big sister, Barbara, who turns eighty this summer. Twenty of us, from three generations, will float down the Seine on June 20th having dinner and toasting her. It should be a grand occasion.

Dedicated readers of this blog will know that during our last visit, which is now six months ago, I created a true boeuf bourguignonne, a task that took me two days but was well worth the effort. I am toying with the idea of doing it again, and perhaps even inviting my French cousins, Andre and Jacqueline Zarembowitch, to share it with us.

Assuming that my internet access still works [always an uncertainty, what with France Telecom's fecklessness], I shall continue to blog from Paris, although perhaps not as often. One of the many miracles of cyberspace is that in it the dimension of space does not exist.

Life Lessons from Life Writing

2010-03-08T05:12:41+00:00

Punji Pensive, by Indi Samarajiva

Jamie’s sick, so I’ll have to fix a casserole to take over.

This is such a simple and typical thought — the type that generally passes unnoticed, or at least unquestioned. Lately I’ve begun to notice these thoughts and question them. Increasingly often as such thoughts begin to form, I pause and rethink the situation.

Is that true? Do I have to (fix a casserole, do the laundry, write a blog post) now?

Generally, the answer is No. I don’t absolutely have to do that. But I want to. Usually I’ll simply go ahead and do whatever it is, but because I stopped to think about it, I realize I do have a choice, and I do the task with more awareness and presence. Any hint of resentment fades. My life has gradually become more peaceful, more joyful, and less stressful as a result. For that I am enormously grateful.

What does this have to do with life writing? I’m convinced this powerful thought-habit sprang from journaling. This isn’t anyone’s fancy system. I’m a self-taught journal writer, just “doing what comes naturally.” What comes naturally is to ask myself questions when I feel out of sorts or whiny about something.

“Is that true?” is my favorite one. “Are things really that bad?” “Is that so?” I write an appropriate question in third person, as if to someone else. Then I answer it. Sometimes I write two or three questions before I feel finished. It’s amazing what I’ve discovered. This technique works equally well for things I’m whining about today, and things I’m still whining about fifty years later.

Once I got in the habit of using this technique in my journal, it began to seep out into my thoughts at other times, and you’ve read about the results. If I weren’t already convinced of the value of life writing in all forms, the results of this inadvertent experiment would prove it to me. Try it. You’ll like it!

Write now: promise yourself to spend ten minutes each day for the next ... week (or more — just keep it believable). writing about whatever is irritating you or causing you stress at the moment. You’re likely to get your best results with smaller things first while you build mental muscle. Whine your heart out on the page. Then write “Is that really true?” Think carefully, and write your answer without preconceived notions. Maybe it really is true! If it is, write “How else can you handle this?” or “What are your options?” Don’t wear yourself out. You don’t need to solve all the world’s problems. You are simply training yourself to think differently. To question your “have to” statements. I promise that if you stick with it, you are going to see some dramatic results in your thinking. You may not change your behavior, but you’re going to feel a lot happier about what you’re doing.

How Can Your Perception of Your Life Change It?

2010-03-07T20:20:38+00:00

Telling your life story has the power to connect you to your soul. You and your soul are the wings to elevating your life. Authentic, honest life storytelling stirs the soul, awakens its inherent qualities – like awe, love, unity, contentment, joy, and wonderment – and renews your life.

The important thing in reviewing your life story is to remember that out of the conflicts of life come its resolutions. And it is life’s resolutions that allow us to soar in realms we had never seen before. The particular circumstances of our lives may not matter as much as how we see them. A change of perception can come at any time we are ready to accept what has happened to us as okay and providing some meaning and purpose to our lives. Anyway, the only thing we can change about our past is the way we look at it.

This reminds me of the bumper sticker, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” That’s because the ability to find new or deeper meaning in our lives, no matter what has happened, can be the creative response that enables us to understand the flow of our lives, be accepting of it, and to truly experience transcendence and transformation.

Another way to review your life story – Think about the particular or unique circumstances of your life, those things without which you would not be who you are today. Are you comfortable or happy with these circumstances you have been given? If so, tell a short story of how and why you are grateful for the hand you have been dealt in this life. If not, this can be your opportunity to explore how you might be able to shift your perspective, rather than trying to go back and change anything about what you do have or who you are, and thereby see through a different lens the life you have lived. Can you find a new or deeper purpose or meaning in what did happen in your life? If so, take time to reflect on this change of perception, and when you are ready share this story with us here.

A QUIBBLE ABOUT NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE

2010-03-07T17:01:47+00:00

This blog post has absolutely nothing to do with politics, philosophy, economics, life, the meaning of the universe, or even Paris. It is about Stephen Jay Gould, Joe Dimaggio, statistics, and streaks. It was inspired by the fact that I am currently on a twenty-one game winning streak of Spider Solitaire on my computer, which reminded me of something that has been eating away at me for years. Do you ever shout at the tv screen when someone says something with which you disagree? Do you ever wish that you could reach through the pages of a book and grab Plato or Macchiavelli or Jane Austen by the collar and say, "Now, listen!"? Well, then you may understand why I am writing this post. Even when he was alive, there was no chance that I would ever have a one-on-one with Gould, although I did hear him speak once. Now that he is long gone, I am left with my daydreams -- and with my blog. So here goes.

Stephan Jay Gould, now tragically and much too soon deceased, was a marvelous biologist and science writer, tenured at Harvard along with Richard Lewontin and E. O. Wilson. He was, among many other things, a fanatic baseball lover. In 1988, he wrote a review for the NY Review of Books of a book about Joe Dimaggio's famous 1941 streak -- hitting safely in fifty-six straight games. You can find the review here: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4377

In the course of the review, Gould, drawing on detailed analyses by a number of other famous scientists and mathematicians who were also sports fans, undertook to debunk the popular view -- a myth, Gould claims -- that hitters, basketball players, and other professional sports greats "get hot," "get in the zone," and then are able to sink strings of baskets or get strings of hits or whatever because they are momentarily elevated to a higher place of sports excellence. None of this is true, Gould insists. The occurrence of runs or streaks is -- with the singular exception of Dimaggio's streak -- nothing more nor less than what statistical probability predicts will happen.

Now, I learned long ago that it is almost always a mistake for an amateur to try to tell a professional his or her business. If I shop for antiques occasionally on a Sunday, it is not likely that I am going to spot a valuable piece of furniture in a shop whose owner -- who buys and sells furniture all day long for a living -- has failed to appraise correctly. Inasmuch I could not sink a set shot even if Shaq picked me up and held me over the basket, I would think twice about telling Michael Jordan that he is wrong when he says that he was "in the zone" and couldn't miss. When professional athletes claim that they are sometimes hot or are in the zone, we fans ought at the very least to accord their report some evidentiary value.

The core of Gould's argument is a fact well known to mathematicians but usually misunderstood by the innumerate, namely that in random distributions of some property in a sequence, runs or streaks are much more common than one might intuitively anticipate. So, if you are a .300 hitter, Gould says, sheer chance dictates that every so often you will have a hitting streak that strikes everyone in the stands but the statisticians as a sign that you are "hot." Not a bit of it, Gould replies. That is just what you would expect of a .300 hitter. Obviously, he observes, a .250 hitter will have such a streak less often. The player's claim that he got the hits because he was hot or in the zone is just false, for all his conviction.

I think that this argument [you have to read Gould's lovely review to get all the details] is based on a rather simple but fundamental logical error. [Now you see why I wanted to reach through the page and grab him by the lapel.] Here is the point: the statistical argument is based on the assumption that there is such a thing as being a .300 hitter, which is logically different from being a batter who hits .300. Being a .300 hitter, for the purposes of the statistical analysis, is like being a bag of marbles 30% of which are white and 70% of which are black. If you repeatedly choose marbles from the bag at random, you will indeed get some long runs of white marbles more often than intuition tells you that you ought to. That is the sum and substance of Gould's point.

But being a .300 hitter is not like being six feet tall or having naturally curly hair. It is not a property you have prior to, and independently of, playing the game of baseball. It is at least possible -- and the pros repeatedly claim that it is true -- that the great players have the ability to concentrate, shut out every irrelevant stimulus, sharpen their reflexes, and raise their level of performance. That ability is a part of what makes them great players.

There is a great story about Ty Cobb that illustrates this point. At the age of sixty, Cobb participated in an Oldtimers' Game, organized as a feel good exercise in fan adoration. When Cobb stepped to the plate to hit, he turned to the oldtimer who was catching and politely asked him to step back a bit, because he could not trust his hands to keep hold of the bat and he didn't want to hurt him. The catcher stepped back a few paces, whereupon Cobb laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out to first. Even in an exhibition, he cared more about winning than about anything else. [It is that feature of Cobb's character that leads the ghostly players in Field of Dreams to vote not to ask him to join them in their pick-up games on Kevin Costner's old-time field.]

The players themselves claim that there are times when they can call on that extra level of performance, and times when they cannot. Furthermore, it is at least plausible that an initial statistically random series of successes -- hits, or baskets -- can trigger that extra effort in them, so that they feel themselves to be in the zone. That is what can enable to hitter whose natural talents might lead a talent scout to expect a .280 batting average to pull himself up to .300. If we could measure a player's "natural" batting average, just as we can count the proportion of white balls in a sack, and then compare it with the average he actually achieves, we could judge whether he is "falling short," "living up to his potential," or "developing a hot bat." But in fact neither we nor Gould can carry out that measurement ex ante. So we are left to judge a player's
ability" by his batting average ex post, and that simply does not permit us to test the claim that he sometimes "gets hot." We are left to rely on the reports of the people who really know best, namely the players themselves.

So, Stephen Jay, if there is a heaven for wonderful writers, I hope you are reading this. Dimaggio's streak is still a marvel, but I insist that sometimes Michael had hot hands.

I THINK I'VE GOT IT -- THE MARIST LECTURE ON LIBERAL EDUCATION

2010-03-07T17:01:47+00:00

OK, folks. This may be it. Click and see. My February 3rd lecture at Marist College on Liberal Education You need QuickTime Player to view it, and it may take a while to load. Correction: It takes a really long time to load. I hope it is worth the wait.

http://darwin.marist.edu/Lectures/pwolfffeb3.mov

THE OLD GUY APPEALS FOR HELP FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

2010-03-07T13:13:44+00:00

Here I am again, seeking technical guidance from those younger and wiser. [This is the first generation in the history of the world in which the young explain to the old how things work. Talk about revolutions!]

Here's the thing. Five weeks ago, thanks to the efforts of Ann Davis, I spoke at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. One of my talks was called "What Good is a Liberal Education?" The talk was videotaped, and eventually, again thanks to Ann's persistence, the video was posted on a Marist server. I would like to post a link to the talk on my blog, because I think folks might find it interesting. Ann emailed me the link, and when I click on it, up comes the talk. BUT when I copy the link into my blogt, or even highlight it and copy it to a WORD document, and try to open it, I get an error message. I am pretty sure I am copying it exactly correctly. One needs QuickTime to open it, but my Windows Vista has that, even though it is an Apple ap, so that is all right. I even now have a CD of the talk. When I put it in my CD drive, it starts automatically. But look though I have, I cannot find any way to download it onto my own computer, so even that route is denied me. I figure there is some code embedded in the email message that does not copy, but how can that be?

I think it is a good talk, and since on this video my facial tics and twitches are almost totally quiet, I am not mortified by the sight of myself. [For those of you who know me only through this blog, I have had these twitches since I was five, and I will apparently have them until I die. Such is life.]

Does anybody have an idea? I could mail the CD to you, if that would do it.

AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS

2010-03-06T17:41:06+00:00

Things are slow at the moment for a serious blogger. I have said as much as I wish about the Tea Party crazies. The health care reform package is on track to pass in the next three weeks. Palin pales. So, this is a good time to stop, step back, and ask where we are, in the largest possible sense. Some of my readers may not share my diagnosis, but at the very least, it will be useful for me to articulate my vision of the political and economic world in which we live, as a way of getting some perspective on the passing scene. As you will see presently, my conclusions may come as a surprise, after my analysis.

In my view, America is fundamentally on the wrong track both economically and with regard to its foreign and domestic policy. Although the roots of these errors, if one can call them that, go back centuries, I shall concentrate on the stretch of time that I have experienced personally, which is to say the sixty-five years since the end of World War II.

Emerging from the period of the New Deal, America could have taken the path adopted by many European countries, and developed a social democratic version of capitalism that kept the gap between rich and poor relatively small and underwrote a large public sector. There were early efforts to achieve something like this, and some of them were moderately successful, but at least since 1980, this country has chosen a particularly virulent form of capitalism that has progressively beggared the public sector, consigned millions of Americans to poverty, and destroyed for tens of millions more the promise of a comfortable middle-class existence. This choice, let me emphasize, was bi-partisan, as much traceable to the Democrats as to the Republicans.

During the past fifty years or so, there have been major advances in social policy and justice in America, sparked by the Civil Rights movement, the Women's Liberation movement, and the Gay Liberation movement. These have transformed for the better the lives of enormous numbers of people, and they constitute, in my view, the saving grace of this two thirds of a century period. I rejoice in these victories, all of which I fought for in different ways. I am convinced that they are irreversible and unstoppable. But they have been achieved in the context of a capitalism that is ever harsher and more inequitable.

During this same period of time, the United States has pursued an imperial foreign policy with the aim, covert or overt, of world domination. There are, as I see it, two root causes for the choice America made to thrust itself onto the world scene as a hegemon. The first was the enormous temptation of nuclear weapons, which set America first above all other nations in military power and then above all but the Soviet Union. The second was the desire to make the world safe and amenable to capitalist exploitation, and to protect capitalism from the supposed threat of communism, as represented by our nuclear foe, the Soviet Union.

It is useful to recall that at the end of the Second World War, there were vibrant Communist parties, or at least sentiments, in France, Germany, and Italy. America, in partnership with the Vatican, successfully engendered Christian Democratic Parties in those countries as bulwarks against communism. The Franch medical delivery system that some of us now view with such envy was in fact an achievement of the post-war French Communist Party.

At every opportunity in the past sixty-five years, America has taken the wrong turn. Instead of embracing Castro and pouring money into Cuba to make his popular revolution a success, we mounted a feckless invasion, and imposed an embargo explicitly designed to impoverish the Cuban people. Instead of embracing Noriega, we conspired to defeat him. Instead of supporting Mossadegh, we engineered his overthrow and foisted a puppet Shah on the Iranian people. Instead of applauding the defeat of French colonialism in South East Asia, we stepped into their shoes and fought a bloody war on the wrong side of that struggle. Rather than force Israel to make peace with the Palestinians when we were in a position to do so, we have sold our Middle Eastern foreign policy into bondage to the most reactionary forces in Israel. And so forth and so on.

These economic and foreign and military policies have been thoroughly bi-partisan for the entire period I am discussing,. Every single president, Democratic or Republican, since FDR has endorsed and advanced these policies, as has every Congress, regardless of the balance of Democratic and Republican votes. There has been no serious opposition to these policies at any time by any major figure in American politics. The difference between Democrats and Republicans has been merely one of tone and emphasis. This general proposition is as true of Barack Obama as it was of George W. Bush.

How should someone with my views act in the world?

There are, as I see it, two possibilities. [I am reminded of Jacobovsky in the great play, Me and the Colonel, which I know principally in the comic film version starring Danny Kaye with Curt Jurgens as the colonel. Kaye is always saying, "Well there are two possibilities,' and Jurgens replies, "No, there is only one possibility." But I digress.]

First, I can step back from involvement in American politics, on the ground that every realistic alternative simply continues policies that I consider profoundly misguided and immoral, and say, in effect, "A plague o' both your houses." [Little Shakespeare allusion there -- Romeo and Juliet]. Viewed from a sufficient distance, a hyena and a gazelle don't look all that different. I can wash my hands of the electoral process and call down the wrath of heaven on all parties. Heaven knows, they deserve it.

Or, I can control my revulsion and throw myself into the political struggle, striving always for whichever candidate or party offers a hope of even a slight amelioration of the wrong-headed policies this country has been pursuing for as long as I have been alive, and will certainly continue to pursue long after I am dead.

God knows, I freely admit that I am tempted by the first alternative. But do I have a right to embrace it? Stop and think. I was awarded tenure at Columbia University in 1964. From that moment, until I retired from the University of Massachusetts forty-four years later, I had an assured income, first-rate health insurance, and the certainty of a comfortable pension. Not for one day during that long period did I have to ask, Where will I get money for food? How will I pay the rent? Can I afford to take my child to the doctor? Not once in all that time was I threatened with death or injury from an invading army or a suicide bomber, nor was I even menaced by a hostile policeman. If the truth be told, every time I published a book condemning the powers that be, I was rewarded with a promotion or raise by those whom I was excoriating.

During this same time, hundreds of millions of people in America and around the world have suffered all of these evils, sometimes directly at the hands of American forces, often not.

Now, suppose that by involving myself in the political struggle, distasteful and compromising as that may be, I can help to provide health insurance for those who lack it, or ease the pain of unemoployment for those who are afflcited by it, or diminish the baleful impact of American military might on those abroad who suffer its depredations. What right do I have not to make that effort? I do not consider myself in the slightest responsible for America's economic, military, and diplomatic wrongdoings. I have been speaking out against all of them since I was a teen-ager. But if I can help to ease their impact on others, it seems to me that I am obligated to do so.

This is, I realize, more a counsel of despair than a promise of hope. But as I sit here in comfortable retirement, I simply cannot allow myself the luxury of generalized revulsion.

I welcome your thoughts and responses.

Lifelong Learning – One way to keep your memory sharp

2010-03-05T23:27:58+00:00

I was marveling this week at the plethora of memory building books displayed in the bookstore. It sure looks like a hot topic! Here are some ideas from Harvard Health Publications:

7 ways to keep your memory sharp at any age

As we grow older, we all start to notice some changes in our ability to remember things.

Maybe you’ve gone into the kitchen and can’t remember why, or can’t recall a familiar name during a conversation. You may even miss an appointment because it slipped your mind. Memory lapses can occur at any age, but we tend to get more upset by them as we get older because we fear they’re a sign of dementia, or loss of intellectual function. The fact is, significant memory loss in older people isn’t a normal part of aging—but is due to organic disorders, brain injury, or neurological illness, with Alzheimer’s being among the most feared.

Most of the fleeting memory problems that we experience with age reflect normal changes in the structure and function of the brain. These changes can slow certain cognitive processes, making it a bit harder to learn new things quickly or screen out distractions that can interfere with memory and learning. Granted, these changes can be frustrating and may seem far from benign when we need to learn new skills or juggle myriad responsibilities.

Thanks to decades of research, there are various strategies we can use to protect and sharpen our minds. Here are seven you might try.

1. Keep learning

A higher level of education is associated with better mental functioning in old age. Experts think that advanced education may help keep memory strong by getting a person into the habit of being mentally active. Challenging your brain with mental exercise is believed to activate processes that help maintain individual brain cells and stimulate communication among them. Many people have jobs that keep them mentally active, but pursuing a hobby or learning a new skill can function the same way. Read; join a book group; play chess or bridge; write your life story; do crossword or jigsaw puzzles; take a class; pursue music or art; design a new garden layout. At work, propose or volunteer for a project that involves a skill you don’t usually use. Building and preserving brain connections is an ongoing process, so make lifelong learning a priority.

Continue reading: 7 Ways to Keep Your Memory Sharp at Any Age – Harvard Health Publications.

Filed under: Healthy Aging, Lifelong Learning, Live & Learn, Seniors Tagged: active adults, brain fitness, Lifelong Learning, Live and Learn, Seniors

Better Heart Health – try some small changes

2010-03-05T19:48:48+00:00

Often our efforts to improve our health often fail because we have chosen to follow a very ambitious plan. The key to real improvement is to make small steps that you will be able to live with for the rest of your life.

Here are some suggestions from Harvard Health Publications:

10 small steps for better heart health

Change is an important part of living with heart disease or trying to prevent it. A jump in blood pressure or cholesterol earns you a lecture on healthy lifestyle changes. Heart attack and stroke survivors are often told to alter a lifetime of habits.Some people manage to overhaul their exercise pattern, diet, and unhealthy habits with ease. The rest of us try to make changes, but don’t always succeed. Instead of undertaking a huge makeover, you might be able to improve your heart’s health with a series of small changes. Once you get going, you may find that change isn’t so hard. This approach may take longer, but it could also motivate you to make some big changes.

Here are 10 small steps to get you on the road to better health in 2010.

Continue reading: 10 Small Steps for Better Heart Health – Harvard Health Publications.

Filed under: Diet, Fitness, Mind-Body Tagged: Fitness, health, healthy lifestyle, heart health, high blood pressure, live longer, Mind-Body, stay healthier

FRIDAY AGAIN?

2010-03-06T04:19:27+00:00

Can anything in the world be faster than Friday arriving too soon? Of course Spring cannot arrive too early. Today we hit the near 60 degree mark with more sunshine on the way.

First news of the day: Jacob L. Bledsoe, son of my nephew Tyler and Rebecca, arrived last night about 10:30 p.m., in St. Joseph, MO making me a great-aunt, again. Weighing in at a 9 pounds and 9 ounces, he measures 21.5 inches long (tall?). The first Bledsoe male of Mother's great-grandson generation, he follows two sisters (Madison and Emily), and little Lola Sunshine the daughter of my nephew J. Zale. Back to making baby bibs.

After an intense Monday and bad weather on Tuesday, we ate at Red Lotus in Chapel Hill Wednesday, bringing home leftover and fortune cookies. My fortune reads "A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon." I just know what they mean:
The Rockettes have lowered the height requirement and raised the age limit. I may be called soon for an audition, no?
Or maybe,
You will be the best looking lady at the high school reunion, yeah right?
Or
The new Sony-Cyber Camera in my mobile phone will let you take fabulous pictures that will outdo everyone in the Digital Scrapbooking class, not even!

What does please me this week is the progress made on some scrappy quilting gifts for the ladies of the family. Come Summer we will be in Missouri for Mother's 90th birthday and I have planned to have some hand-outs for each of the girls (10 in all), plus some for DH's family on the west coast.
To date I have spent two weeks 'scrappy patching,' lot of 'crumb' scraps to make 9 x 9 inch blocks. Those blocks get pressed and the process continues by layering batt-scraps and a lightweight backing behind the blocks and top stitching a simple pattern, in a show-off thread color. I really play with this as the purpose is to provide fabric integrity and stiffness, letting the thread color show is just a bonus.

Of the eighteen blocks cut, ten are now quilted and two have the inner lining attached to three sides.

The fold-over top binding is not yet finished, nor the side seams or snaps sewn inside the top-right corner.

The finished example made a couple of years ago is outline-stitched print fabric, shown. I like the case but felt making the scrappy-patches would be more summer-y and colorful for the bright days of sunshine. I think the gals will all be surprised unless they read this first. Back to work, the trimming, stitching, pinning, stitching, pressing and much hand-sewing is ahead - I haven't a minute to waste.

The first day of Spring is just days away, bbf

Three Special Presentations for Spring 2010

2010-03-05T15:58:50+00:00

Spring will soon be here and this semester OLLI is pleased to be offering three special presentations which are detailed below. All presentations are free and open to the public. Take this opportunity to introduce a friend or neighbor to OLLI.

To reserve your seat, please email the OLLI office at olliuva@virginia.edu and provide your name, telephone number, and the name of the lecture that you wish to attend.

We hope you will join us!

A Visit from Sarah Thompson Brown

Travel with us back to revolutionary times. Ann Shelton, who was a guide at Woodlawn Plantation in the 1980s and a substitute teacher, will portray her seventh great-grandmother, Sarah Thompson Brown. Sarah and her husband, Benjamin Brown, settled in western Albemarle County in 1745. They acquired ten thousand acres of land and had nine sons and grandsons who fought in the American Revolution. In this monologue, Ann will describe the conditions facing a pioneer family living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains prior to the revolution; she will read excerpts and comment on letters from family members serving in the revolution; and she will discuss the trials and tribulations of running a large family plantation as a widow.

The presentation will be held at the Covenant Church of God, 1025 East Rio Road, on Thursday, March 11, from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

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Strategies for Defeating Fear of Flying

Are you afraid of flying? Do you know someone who is? Come and hear Capt. Jim Danahey describe the fear cycle and how you can defeat it. He will explain how airline employees train and how planes work. Using Dr. Duane Brown’s (UNC) technique for defeating phobia, Captain Danahey will offer strategies to overcome your fear and will answer your questions. He is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. An American Airlines pilot for thirty-two years, he currently is a Boeing instructor and FAA examiner, and he is qualified as a B787 Boeing simulator pilot. Captain Danahey has written several instructor training programs and taught in the American Airlines fearful flying program (AAirBorn).

The presentation will be held at Meadows Presbyterian Church, 2200 Angus Road, on Friday, March 26, from 10 a.m. – noon.

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Programming a Summer Music Festival

Larry Alan Smith is a composer, conductor, pianist, poet, arts executive, and educator who currently serves as the artistic and executive director of Wintergreen Performing Arts. In addition, he is professor of composition at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. With three degrees in composition from The Juilliard School, he has been on its faculty and that of Boston Conservatory, as well as having held administrative positions at the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts, The Hartt School, and the School of American Ballet in New York City.

Using the upcoming 2010 Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy–whose theme is Vienna–as a case study, Dr. Smith will talk about his approach to programming from conception to implementation. The presentation will demonstrate how music, dance, film, theater, and many other elements can be combined to create a comprehensive regional festival with more than two hundred events.

The presentation will be held at Covenant Church of God, 1025 East Rio Road, on Friday, April 23, from 10 – 11:30 a.m.

Celebrating National Grammar Day

2010-03-05T05:42:14+00:00

Today is National Grammar Day. To celebrate, I’m sharing some amusing grammar mistakes that made it into print.

“Except for a tragic accident, the 35th annual Bath Heritage Days parade went off without a hitch.” The Times Record (Bath, Maine). A tragic accident is a minor deviation from going off without a hitch!

“The Patchwork Quilt Guild met to celebrate Christmas with a gift and cookie exchange. Kay Hanley wore a necklace and she was lit up and flashing all during the meeting.” From the Fallon (Montana) County Times. What was in the punch?

“Hundreds of marijuana plants were discovered growing in a south Lakeland home Saturday. Two were arrested.” From the (Polk County, Florida) Ledger. Only two out of hundreds?

“Domestic diva Martha Stewart still needs a crutch to lean on as she recovered from hip surgery during a cocktail party in the Hamptons.” From the Globe. Most of us have surgery in a hospital.

“On All-Star weekend, the city gleamed with banners welcoming visitors hanging from lampposts.” From the Titusville (Pennsylvania) Herald. What about the visitors who persist in walking around?

Each of these examples violates both a rule of grammar and common sense. In this case, forget about the rules, because very few people mentally thumb through rule books as they write. Hopefully you’ll catch these as you reread. Use these tips to up the odds of finding errors like these and other less amusing ones before your general readership does.

Set your work aside for a day or more. A week or month is even better. Letting some time pass weakens the memory of writing those words and refreshes your vision.

Read your work aloud. If you can get someone to listen as you read, so much the better. If not, read it aloud just as if someone were sitting there. This requires you to focus on each word.

Trade proofreading with a writing pal. E-mail works well for this purpose.

Show it to a critique group, local or online.

Hire an editor. This step is calling in the big guns, not a step you take for casual material.

If a mistake like this does slip through, console yourself by realizing how much fun people are having reading it and don’t beat yourself up.

Write now: if you don’t already have one, find a writing buddy or two, and also a critique group. Do an online search to look for groups. Margot Finke published an excellent article on this topic. You’ll find other suggestions in my post, "What to Do When You Can’t Afford an Editor."

ATMOSPHERICS

2010-03-03T17:51:00+00:00

As a commentator-at-a-distance, with no inside information whatsoever about American politics, I am reduced at times to wetting my finger and holding it up to sense which way the wind is blowing. [I know, having watched King Solomon's Mines many times, that I want to be downwind of Washington, so that I can smell them but they cannot smell me. Not always an enticing prospect]. Well, right now I am sensing something blowing in the wind. After a long bad patch for the Democrats, what with the ugly business of health care reform and the loss of Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, I can feel the very first shift of the wind in the direction of the Democrats.

Most important, of course, is that health care reform seems now on track to be passed sometime late this month. Everyone's exhaustion with the issue may tend to diminish in our minds the enormous importance of such a victory. In politics as in war, winning matters. Presidents have been trying to do health care reform for forty years and more. If Obama succeeds, suddenly his presidency will look like a success, and Democrats will be emboldened to move on other fronts. Pelosi and Reid will be heroes, and even Rahm Emmanuel won't look quite so egregious.

The shift in the wind is being strengthened by the sheer stupid, callous, mindless incompetence of the Republicans. Drowning in negative commentary, the Democrats were thrown a life preserver by Jim Bunning, who leaped from obscurity to the top of the charts as worst member of the U. S. Senate. [Stupidest is still firmly in the joint control of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and Jon Kyl, but there are many competitors.]

Of course, I may simply be responding to the fact that this long, chilly North Carolina winter, universally characterized by locals as quite unusual, is finally coming to an end, and 60 degree days lie ahead.

To celebrate, I gave $100 to Bill Halter's challenge of Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. Keep hope alive!

BAD BEHAVIOR

2010-03-02T18:18:27+00:00

I should like to apologize publicly for my bad behavior. I just received a call from some Republican organization [do not ask me how I got on their call list.] A sweet young thing who sounded about twelve began by asking me very politely whether I thought that President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi should use my tax money for their socialist schemes. I said, "yes, I do." There was a pause, as she frantically leafed through her call script looking for the correct response to this clearly unexpected answer. Things went downhill from there. I told her I was pleased that she had a job, unlike all those folks whose unemployment insurance was being blocked by Senator Bunning. So it went, until she came to a place in her script where she could get off the phone.

Why do I behave so badly? you may ask. I am afraid I am so angry that I have forgotten my manners. Sigh. I suppose if I had gone to a good parochial school instead of P. S. 117 in Queens, the nuns would have beaten better manners into me. Religion does have its uses.

THE SEDUCTIVE DANGERS OF GOOGLING

2010-03-01T23:15:35+00:00

As readers of this blog are aware, I indulge from time to time to the narcissistic pleasures of self-Googling. This morning, I plunged more deeply than usual into the 434,000 or so sites that came up when I input my name, and I stumbled on the following newspaper report from Florida. It gives one pause.

Charlotte County law enforcement chases fugitive

9:14 P.M. — The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help in locating a fugitive. At approximately 4:05 p.m. today, members of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigative traffic stop on a red in color Ford Escort at Tamiami Trail northbound and Hancock Avenue (Parking lot of ABC Liquors). The traffic stop was based upon a BOLO that was put out for the vehicle in regard to an interrupted occupied burglary in Port Charlotte on Tuesday.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as being Robert Paul Wolff who had a suspended driver’s license and a confirmed warrant for his arrest out of Leon County. The warrant was issued for violation of probation with an original charge of stalking. While deputies were placing Robert under arrest, he took off running towards Tamiami Trail. Deputies and K9 chased the subject across Tamiami Trail and through the parking lot of Publix. The subject ran through Publix and out the rear loading dock door. The subject was last seen running on Lister Street towards Edgewater Drive at approximately 4:16 p.m.

CCSO Aviation responded to the area along with several members of the agency, perimeter was set up and a search with K9 was conducted. The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is asking for assistance in locating 20-year-old Wolff, a white male approximately 6 feet, weighing 150-170 pounds, last seen wearing dark colored shorts and a white in color basketball type jersey with red lettering and the number 23 on the back.

HAVE YOU ANY SPARE CHANGE?

2010-03-01T15:12:06+00:00

My sister, Barbara, asked me how to find good Democratic candidates to whom she could contribute money. Some of you may also wonder about that. Check out www.dailykos.com Moultisas keeps track of Congressional and other races all over the country, with a specificity that is hard to match. Sometimes, he offers the opportunity to make one donation to a bunch of them, which is then parcelled out. [I once did this, and got a whole lot of thank you letters for my $5.25 donation!] He keeps track of primaries, too, and that is where money can make a big difference.

Just a thought.

Spring Term 2010 Film News

2010-03-01T08:03:54+00:00

In response to those who have been asking about Spring Term's film offerings, here's the scoop. Three films starring Robert Redford are planned. The films will be screened the second, fourth and sixth weeks of the term. Starting time will be 9 AM Thursdays in the Commanders House. Stay tuned for more information.

Minestrone: a healthy accompaniment to whole grain bread

2010-02-28T17:11:48+00:00

What to serve with the whole-grain bread mentioned in a previous post? Try minestrone, a hearty vegetable soup packed with vitamins and minerals. CookSmart in today’s edition of USA Weekend has a simple recipe for this classic Italian soup along with seasonal variations and nutrition information.

If you have your whole-wheat rolls ready to bake before you leave for the Charlottesville City Market, you can put together an easy and flavorful meal when you return home with your bounty. To make it even easier, you could buy your bread or rolls at the market – after all, who wants to heat up the house with baking during the summer?

The City Market will be opening April 3rd this year. Farmers in the Park will begin May 5th this year at Meade Park.

Make mine minestrone!

A warm, hearty bowl of minestrone makes a perfect winter meal. But if you modify the traditional recipe, you also can enjoy this satisfying soup in spring, summer and fall. Here’s an easy, go-to formula with simple variations to add seasonal flavors. Top it off with a little grated Parmesan cheese, if you’d like, then grab your spoon and dig in.

Recipe and nutrition information: Make mine minestrone! | USA WEEKEND Magazine | usaweekend.com.

Filed under: Diet Tagged: Albemarle, Buy Fresh - Buy Local, Charlottesville, City Market, local produce, Market Central, Recipes, vegetables