The Newell Post

For some reason, I haven’t listened to my Summer Playlist nearly as often as in past summers. I suppose not having a five-hour train ride has served as a reduction in listening opportunities.

Whatever the reason, the weather has not been a factor. If anything, I should be listening to it more often than when I was up in New York. After all, it’s always summer down in Florida. Well, that’s not entirely true.

We just don’t have the same seasons as the rest of the country.

We have, FREAKING HOT, HOT, Balmy In The 80’s, and A Hint Of Fifty.

Unlike their northern counterparts, Florida seasons are not equally apportioned throughout the year. Freaking Hot, for example, extends from May through September.

Ok, enough of the weather lament. Back to my Summer playlist.

I do, in fact, have The Girl From Ipanema (I was surprised to learn it wasn’t IMPANEMA), as well as other summer songs from my childhood.

Summertime, by the Jamies.

See You In September, by the Happenings.

I also have quite a few from the late ’60’s and early ’70’s.

Suffice it to say that each entry carries its own memory baggage. Surprisingly, only Summer In The City brings to mind sweltering  New York City weather. The others merely evoke the great feeling of being off from school or working in the mailroom.

Carefree days when you were able to forget assassinations and war and poverty. I was a kid, and I was off from school and thinking seriously ended on the last day of school.

While I have not been listening to my playlist as often as I used to ( truth be told I have it on as I type) I did read a few books from summers past.

Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, and Future Shock. Actually, I am reading that now. I wanted to see just how prescient Alvin Toffler was about how our lives would change.

I find it easier to write about this kind of things than current events. The music makes me happy, and the books bring back sitting on an un-airconditioned IRT 6 train on my way to work. I can almost feel the sweat dripping into my eyes as I read.

So, as we enter the last few weeks of summer, I hope your summertime memories, old and those currently under construction, keep you cool.

Stay cool gabagool.

One of the things I can do on The Newell Post is identifying my reading audience. I can’t identify specific individuals but I can, for example, determine the various operating systems used to view my Blog. In addition, I can see the countries in which my postings are read. Ukraine is a regular. I don’t know why.

The excerpt above was taken from an entry to the Newell Post that I wrote over four years ago.

At the time, I was intrigued that anyone in Ukraine would have found my blog interesting. Who knew?

Well, after the cyber invasion of our nation at the hands of the Russians, I guess my readers in Ukraine weren’t interested in me at all, but perhaps they were interested in my Facebook page?

I haven’t been on Facebook for some time and I am not really sure if any of my “friends” are even reading this. It’s such a shame that a form of communication that was able to keep friends and family, often living far distances apart, is now tainted by fear and uncertainty due to the Russians.

I do wish the President would build that wall. Not on our border with Mexico but a firewall to ensure  our cybersecurity.

Fifty years ago today I attended a play on Broadway. The play was I Do I Do. It was a requirement for my senior English class. I would be graduating from high school in two weeks.

I don’t remember much of the play as, like most Americans, I was still in shock having heard the news of the previous day. After just winning the California Democratic primary and sealing up the nomination as President, Bobby Kennedy was shot down just minutes after this remarkable achievement.

My mother told me he had died and then I went downtown with a classmate to see the play.

On the heels of the Martin Luther King assassination just two months earlier RFK’s assassination was a death knell to the America of 1968.

Cities would burn, the war in Viet Nam divided our nation more than ever, and Richard Nixon was assured to be the successful candidate in November.

It isn’t hard to remember those turbulent times and the only benefit of doing so is to reassure ourselves that America in 2018 isn’t as bad as you might think.

Like his brother’s assassination, Bobby’s loss keeps you wondering what might have been.

Would the Viet Nam war have ended sooner and the Great Divide that it created and still permeates our society today have been avoided?

Would the hope of racial and economic equality have been realized?

Would we have faith in our leaders today?

I know there are those who are sick of political dynasties. Jeb Bush found that out in 2016 and so did Hillary. Indeed the mystique around the Kennedys still remains to a degree but even Camelot has lost some of its aura over the years. Despite the human flaws possessed by the Kennedys and RFK in particular, they always put Country above self.

1968 was a dreadful year.

Seventy-four years ago in the European Theater of Operations in World War II thousands of insanely brave men accosted the shores of France at Utah Beach and thus began the end of the Nazi empire.

Back at home, there were no debates about whether this was the right thing to do. No one questioned the President’s motive in ordering the attack. No revisionist historian had yet pondered the dramatic loss of life and whether such sacrifice was prudent. It was a different America. No one was going to apologize.

I thank God for that.

Where would we be in this country, in this world, had these brave men not thrown themselves on the beach that day in 1944? Maybe we would not have prevailed in World War II? Maybe we would be goosestepping our way through life hating everything and everyone not Arian? Maybe the world economy would consist of  Nazi Germany and a militarist Japan?

Remembering those that put their lives on the line for us this day seventy years ago is the least we should do today.

That was a time of American heroes when partisan politics had not brought our government to a grinding halt. It was a time when no one would dare question the integrity or patriotism of the American President.

For his part, FDR would never have praised Hitler or Hirohito and insult Churchill. Then, after the war, Truman stood up to Stalin and helped recreate Europe and the only wall erected was built by the Russians.

It was a much different time.

It’s getting a little lonely in the Oval Office.

How many more of the President’s closest advisors will resign in the next few weeks?

It’s getting so Trump is like Reg in the Great Outdoors. For those who may not remember, Reg got struck by lightning 66 times. Like Reg, no one wants to stand near Trump anymore, lest they die!

And of course, despite all the scandals and pending catastrophes looming over Donnie’s head, he continues to tweet. His staff is so desperate that they have hidden his iPhone and replaced it with a Walkman and headphones along with a cassette tape containing his favorite top ten songs.

Here they are:

Number 10:            I Fought The Law And The Law Won

Number 9:              In Some Secluded Rendezvous

Number 8:              There She Is Miss America

Number 7:              Stranger In Moscow

Number 6:              Theme Song: From Russia With Love

Number 5:              A Town Without Pity

Number 4:              This I Swear Is True

Number 3:              Back In The USSR

Number 2:              Help

And Donald’s NUMBER ONE SONG!

Number 1:             Stormy

The easy listening list for Presidents with a lot on their mind.

I was teaching religion when religion education shied away from the Catechism of my youth to a more humanistic approach.

The standard of memorizing the answers to catechetical questions was replaced by a more new age approach. Loving and Caring and Sharing were the rote replies to the questions of the day and you only had to hear your students reply with a sarcastic sing-song retort to understand that the lesson hadn’t sunk in.

It’s not that loving and sharing and caring weren’t worthy ideals but that they seemed to be the answer to everything. How ironic that one of these standards has now fallen into disrepute. I am writing, of course, about sharing.

How many times have we found ourselves, as loyal Facebook users, sharing articles or surveys or any other type of information not our own? How many times have these postings resulted in passing propaganda that was not only false but was initiated by the Russians? I don’t have the answer to that but I am sure Facebook does.

How sad that this mainstay of social media has been allowed to be used in such a way. Of course, we are to blame. We allowed our biases to shape our sharing and to spread things that were not only false but, in many cases, mean-spirited and downright hateful if only because we felt self-righteous in our own beliefs because the article proved our point.

Trump is a bigot. Hillary hates white people.

It has gotten to the point that I no longer believe anything I read on Facebook unless it is something about the New York Yankees.

That is why I have taken the pledge and I no longer will share any article about anything.  I am even going to resist commenting on any post unless it is positive and one of my real friends has initiated the post.

Twitter is even worse and I have taken to blocking tweets from people filled with hate.

The good news about social media is that we do control the information we read. Like other forms of media, we can just “turn the channel” or, in the more modern form, delete the post, and move on to something more entertaining.

I am guessing some of you, if you haven’t already, will delete me from your Twitter feed and Facebook page.

Good for you!

Working in higher education for the last thirty years or so I attended many conferences and workshops. It was common that there would be at least one session at these events would be dedicated to dealing with millennials.

How do millennials think? How do you communicate with millennials?

It was also common that these discussions would serve as a gripe session where participants would share their favorite millennial anecdote.

Having three millennial children, all of whom I loved and liked, I never quite understood the sentiments expressed. Now, their parents were a pain in the ass but the students were usually a pleasure to deal with.

Of course, I was not without my own sarcastic observation particularly when it came to the resume of community service activities that, in my estimation, had the primary objective of getting the student into a competitive college.  Mea Culpa.

This past Saturday we saw thousands of millennials parade through major thoroughfares of major cities, not just in the US. They marched, not for the sole reason of getting into a good college, but rather, simply to survive high school.

How can you argue with that?

How can you be critical of these heroes?

Many had seen classmates and teachers torn to shreds by guns too sacred for the NRA and their supporters to surrender. Yet, you had those who mocked their effort to defeat the gun lobby. I won’t repeat the nasty things said about these heroes.

I understand these people. They hate government. They hate what government does. They hated Obama because he was a socialist. He let Wall Street get away with the greatest theft in American financial history and he’s a socialist? Sorry, I digress.

The gun lobby is afraid that their guns are going to be taken away. Even as the Democrats cower at that thought and refuse to even utter anything stronger than “We’re not going to take your guns”, the gun lobby won’t give in an inch. They refuse to allow even the most basic regulation.

But, the millennials are not going away.

Thanks be to God.

Anytime you have to explain a joke it’s probably not that funny in the first place. Nevertheless, I feel I have to explain the title of this entry lest you think I cannot spell.

Today, of course, is the Ides of March and I am writing a piece on some ideas I have had. You get it now? The Ideas Of March.

Perhaps I should have quit while I was ahead?

Well, maybe you should quit reading this while you are ahead?

Here are some ideas I have had in no apparent order of importance or pithiness.

Politicians should be like NASCAR drivers and wear suits containing the logos of companies and entities that finance their activities.

Baseball is about reliving your youth with your kids right next to you. You certainly don’t want to speed that experience up. The longer the game, the greater the enjoyment.

Cheating baseball players are more reviled than cheating political leaders.

There’s nothing easier than being a loyal friend.

You have to be wherever you are.

Listening should be taught in college.

It’s good to remember yesterday but don’t let it get in the way of tomorrow.

Fathers should listen to their daughters and sons should listen to their mother.

Social Media should require social behavior.

What’s the good of having opinions if I have to keep them to myself?

Well, that’s my ideas for the Ides Of March.

The good news is Saint Patrick’s Day is right around the corner.

There is a movement.  High school students in Parkland, Florida will be marching on Washington.

They are not protesting the two wars in the middle east. Nor are they protesting the meddling in our democracy by the Russians.

They are, instead, calling out our leaders to put an end to the war in our schools.

These brave students are tired of going to school in fear.

They are tired of being caught between the NRA and a hard place.

They are tired of being targets.

I learned very early in my development as a parent that it is always a good idea to listen to your kids. It’s time for America to listen and to heed what our children are saying.

Instead of paying attention to incessant tweets and pointing fingers at the “enemy”, how about we listen to our children when they are begging for our protection?

Is that too hard for us to do?

Is it more important to pay attention to gun runners and those that seek to protect them than saving our kids?

It’s ironic that only the FBI is taking any kind of responsibility and, because of that, they want Wray’s head.

No one is looking at the guy who sold this kid a gun.

No one is looking at the governor who supports guns in the hands of everybody.

No one is even looking at the lunatics who want to arm our teachers as if shooting this deranged kid with an assault rifle is the answer.

How about we never let anyone buy an assault rifle in the first place?

Well, that may not be the answer but it sure is a good start.

When The G Man and The Judge bring Law and Order to Yankee Stadium peace and love will reign in The Bronx.

Not since the M&M Boys of the 1960’s has the prospect of Opening Day at Yankee Stadium been so anticipated. Will Stanton or Judge be the first to homer on Opening Day? Will they go back to back for the first time?

As we approach the first spring training day all Yankee fans will be asking these questions and many more. It’s like Christmas Eve all over again just thinking about what will be.

Then you start thinking about all the other participants waiting to do their party.

Sanchez and Gregorious.

Hicks and Bird.

Oh My!

Not to forget Gardner and Frazier as well as the rookies who may surprise.

And, I wouldn’t write off Ellsbury just yet.

This may well be our Booneified return to the World Series and maybe a run at the 1998 record for most wins in a complete season.

Happy New Year everyone.