What Am I Missing?

Roman Polanski raped, sodomized and introduced a 13 year old girl to drugs and alcohol so that he -- at age 44 -- could be... well, Roman Polanski. He's a great film director and that's why we should say his unpunished behaviour is OK?

I don't think so.

For some who embrace the moral relativity of today, it's "aw, c'mon (pick one -- the guy's over 70, or he directed "The Pianist," or he's an artist,or it was a long time ago, get over it). Bull. He committed a crime against us all. When we allow that, it diminishes each of us.

And now, the self-absorbed Woody Allen comes to the defense of Polanski. Perfect. Lest we forget, Allen in essence began dating his own stepdaughter, Sun Yi-Previn, whom he had functioned as a Father to from the time she was seven. The fact that he is married to her now does not excuse Mr. Allen's behaviour, but it does help explain his support of Polanski.

Many in Hollywood and New York may wag their heads in support of Polanski, but society needs to stand up and call things wrong when they are just plain wrong. "No harm, no foul" does not apply in cases like this.

The Praying Mantis

The office in our home is where Joan and I spend most of our time during the day. My computer and I face the wall where there are two windows that look out upon our lawn and three of the six other houses in our neighborhood. The windows provide a lot of entertainment because of the animals that pass by them -- squirrels, rabbits, cats, deer, spiders, bees, hummingbirds, song birds, and recently -- a Praying Mantis.

The Mantis (a female, judging by the large size) has apparently found the hunting in our rose bushes to be profitable. She blends perfectly with the leaves and stems of the bush, even when she strikes the characteristic front legs up "praying" position.

As a species, the Praying Mantis is carnivorous and will eat anything, but mostly crickets, flies and grasshoppers. In turn, they are preyed upon by bats and birds.

They have some interesting behaviours and abilities. Their heads can rotate 180 degrees, and with three eyes, they can spot movement up to 60 feet away. Perhaps their most unusual behaviour -- and for which they are known -- is that the female will eat the male either during or immediately after mating!

Even knowing this, the male goes for it. I'll let the reader supply your own last line here.

Third Novel

I have not written for the past week or so as I have been concentrating on marketing the newest work, "Cottonwood Pass." Chapter one in the new book is becoming a hurdle and will be much longer than I had anticipated. It is now over 6500 words and has several scenes in it.

Part of the slowness of the process is that as I am writing, what I write causes me to stop and research the Hopewell Culture. The nature and habits of Freshwater Mussels halted me last. A statement in one of the archaeological references I have, noted that one mound, probably of the Fort Ancient peoples, contained a great number of freshwater pearls which seemed to me to be astounding. So, off I went trying to find freshwater biologists and malacologists who could answer questions about harvesting, eating mussels, shell uses, etc.; writing stopped.

The second novel has also consumed me -- with marketing it. I have been around marketing since the early 70's but I never quite "got it." Now, I am finding out the hard way. The latest revelation -- there is no way to track whether or not a post card was delivered and ended up in the hands of the right person!

Right now, I would rather retreat to the comfortable isolation of my thoughts and the keyboard and let the second book flounder on its own on Amazon. Oh, wait! Here is Powell's Book's requirements for self-published authors.

Coins

I was sorting through some old coins from a friend who asked me to look at them. The one I went to first was one I had not seen before -- a Quarter Eagle, worth $2.50 or one fourth of an Eagle, a $10 dollar coin. This series of gold coins has the image impressed into the gold rather than raised and this particular one is very small -- smaller than a dime.

She also showed me another coin I had never seen or held before. It was a half-dollar from the early 1800's, called a Capped Bust Liberty coin.



Finally, another coin I had not held -- an 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter.



I looked closely at them, using a magnifying glass to bring out detail that my progressive lenses didn't. There were symbols and words on them ...

... Stars, thirteen of them for the founding states.
... The Eagle's breastplate shield has thirteen stripes.
... In the 19th Century coins, the Eagle held both arrows and an olive branch in his talons, but his head was favoring the olive branch.
... In the 20th Century coin, the Eagle is only holding an olive branch.
... The slogan "E Pluribus Unum" -- out of many, one -- is on each coin
... The slogan "In God We Trust" went on coins first during the Civil War, and is on the latter two coins here.
... Lastly "Liberty" is on every coin.


I worry about our country and pray that we can still feel and appreciate those words and symbols in our divisive world today!

Farewell Toast to Amy and James

Some have asked about the toast I offered to Amy and James at their going away bash on Saturday, September 19, prior to their leaving for Thailand. It was a restatement of the old Gaelic Blessing:

"Amy and James --

The wine of today may dry
and the flowers of today may die,
but friends never say goodbye,
only 'Farewell.'

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again,
And until we meet again,
Take a part of us with you on your journey,
And we will hold you in our hearts,
Until we can hold you in our arms,
Again.

Farewell...
Bon Voyage...
Cheers !
Cheers !!
CHEERS !!!"

A Weekend in PGH

We are visiting our daughter and her family and will attend the Bon Voyage Party for our Niece and her boyfriend who have accepted teaching positions at a University in Bangkok, Thailand. Amy has also been named second Oboe in the Thailand National Philharmonic Orchestra.

I will offer a Farewell Toast, using a variation of the Irish Blessing that I wrote.

It is also our Grand Daughter Morgan's 11th Birthday. Tempus Fugit. We take her to her favorite restaurant, The Hibachi Grille, and then on to the High School where she and her fellow elementary school cheerleaders will join the high school cheerleaders at the football game tonight. I'll be the proud Grandfather in the stands!

"Cottonwood Pass, A Novel of Suspense ... " is available!!!

Last night, I checked and there it was on Amazon.com. For something that started last June with a spurious direction from "Jill" our Garmin GPS, this is fulfilling.

By clicking on the Book's Cover on the right of my Blog, you will be directed to the Amazon page.
In the meantime, here is the story behind the writing of "Cottonwood Pass."

***************************
The story behind the writing of "Cottonwood Pass"

Joan and I were touring the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (2008) and had earlier visited Aspen. We were headed north to Interstate 70 when our GPS commanded "in nine-tenths of a mile, turn RIGHT onto C-ought-unwod-Paas Rode." Joan and I both knew that this was not the major way to get to I-70, but we had trusted "Jill" (our name for the female voice coming with the Garmin) on many other occasions and she had always gotten us there through some shortcut, so OK. I took a right turn at the town of El Jebel onto Cottonwood Pass Road.

The road was a two lane affair that took us through a well-kept neighborhood; soon, the houses were far apart and the scenery was stunning. We were probably about 6500 feet when we left El Jebel, but now we were climbing higher past beautiful houses, built to capture the view.

The name "Cottonwood Pass" indicated that we were going to ascend a mountain and then "pass" over it easily which we were prepared to do, but when the road turned from asphalt to gravel, I became a little concerned. And then, when the road became narrow and rutted as we went up the side of the mountain, my radar was on full alert, even though we were in a Jeep Commander.

My full alert radar went to DEFCON 1 as Cottonwood Pass Road became one lane and steep, as I picked my way slowly around large rocks that had washed down the ruts in the snowmelt.

What happens if we meet another car coming the other way? What happens if I have a Heart Attack? Who would find us in this wilderness if we slid off the road?

I looked at my cell phone. NO SERVICE! That was it. I stopped and announced that we were going no further. Joan would not accept that we could not make it over the Pass and so she walked up to the next curve and disappeared around its bend. Returning, she reported that the road disappeared over the side of the mountain; we had to turn around.

Carefully executing a 23-point turn in a not-so-wide spot near us, I shifted gears to low as we crept back down Cottonwood Pass Road, not wanting to cause another landslide. As we crunched our way down the incline, my imagination began piecing together a fictional story about someone who did slide off the mountain. Was he injured? Did he have wilderness skills? Would he die? Was he murdered? Who found him? Why was he killed?

When we got home, I jotted down some notes. In the fall, some four months later, I began working on:
"Cottonwood Pass, A Novel of Suspense…"


RDG
To find out who Theodore Thompson is,
you will have to read the book.
It’s complicated.

About Playing the Violin

On the blog today, I thought I would share some one-liners (mainly about violinists) sent to me by my friend, Cliff Benham

***********************************


"When it starts getting tough, make faces." Itzhak Perlman


Anne-Sophie Mutter's disparaging remark...During a rehearsal of the Brahms violin concerto with the Boston Symphony, directed towards the violin section: "You sound like dogs."


"Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been putup to a critic." Jean Sibelius


There are more bad musicians than there is bad music." Isaac Stern


Bach: "It's easy to play any musical instrument -- All you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will playitself"


Jack Benny: "I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either."


After he played a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall the NY Times music critic wrote, "Last night in Carnegie Hall, Jack Benny played Beethoven. Beethoven lost.


"Ruggiero Ricci: "An expert is someone who does everything else worse."


Dr. Albert Schweitzer (musician/explorer / physician/ missionary, etc.):"There are two refuges from the miseries of life--music and cats."


And how can we leave this list without that great violinist, HennyYoungman: "I've got all the money I'll ever need, if I die by four o'clock."


From a photo of a t-shirt worn by Zukerman: "I play with vibrato and do slides in Baroque Music. Deal with it."


Ricci, on the subject of playing the way he likes, rather than by some arbritary rules: "Now, I will play the way I like. Better to be a prostitute than a nun."


Heifetz: " If I don't practice for one day, I'll know it. If I don'tpractice for two days, the critics will know it. If I don't practice for three days, the whole public will know it."


Heifetz when asked about how he never messes up with intonation "I do not always play in tune, I just fix it quicker than anyone else."


"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers for two reasons.First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven." -Heifetz


"Wagner was a musician who wrote music that is much better than it sounds." - Mark Twain


"That reminds me, I'm playing a concert tonight." -Fritz Kreisler, afterseeing a row of fish at a market...


Fritz Reiner: "It's not true that I hate musicians. I just hate BAAAAAAD musicians."


"You may be ready for Beethoven, but Beethoven is not ready for you!" ~Heifetz as guest soloist with a less-than-steller orchestra.


Brahms (to Eugene Ysaye after hearing Ysaye play the Brahms Concerto):"So, it can be played that way, too."


Henry Meyer (LaSalle String Quartet):"You paid for the whole bow, you will use the whole bow."


I think I prefer the Heifetz method of producing a twelve inch bow and offering it to the student because the current one is far too long...


"I'm one of the boys, no better than the last second violinist. I'm just the lucky one to be standing in the center, telling them how to play."- Eugene Ormandy


Albert Einstein, after playing the first movement of Schubert's String Quintet, in America: "Kid, ist das nicht wunderbar?"

Norman Ernest Borlaug, R.I.P.

In a world where importance is attached to sports figures or entertainment figures or politicians (deposed, embarrassed or otherwise), it is good to find a yardstick against which most accomplishments can be measured so as to put matters into perspective.

Norman Ernest Borlaug was an American agricultural scientist, and an humanitarian; he has also been called the father of the Green Revolution, but in my opinion, for a different reason. He wanted plants to grow more fruitfully and thought that we could improve on the agricultural concepts of centuries ago, still in use today. Toiling in destitute Mexico, Africa and India in the 1940's he developed a strain of high-yielding wheat known as dwarf wheat and from there created other high-yielding strains of maize and rice -- cereal grains.

Dr. Borlaug devoted his life to ending the horrible misery of famine, and many credit him with saving more people's lives than any other human being -- an estimated 245 million so far. He did not seek fame or fortune and few people outside of the scientific community knew of him.

Borlaug was one of only five people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal. He was 95 when he passed away in Texas, last Saturday.

Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914- September 12, 2009)

Cottonwood Pass: A Novel of Suspense

I am told by the publisher that my book should be ready in a week or so. I certainly hope so. Here is the copy that will appear on the flap of the hard cover edition and also with the Amazon listing:

Running away from the sudden revelation of his wife’s marital infidelity, 35 year old Al finds himself surrounded by a murder investigation headed by the Monroe County Colorado Sheriff’s Department. While at times it appears that Al is the suspect, it becomes clear instead that he is the target of a secretive foundation headquartered off the road to Cottonwood Pass. The foundation is chaired by a reclusive multibillionaire who has cobbled together an operational philosophy using the thoughts of Plato, Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” and something called a “manufactured crisis.” While suspicion and danger surround him, Al tries to resolve his relationship with his wife and keep his job, both of which he appears to have abandoned. Set in the stunning Rocky Mountains, Al also comes into contact with a beautiful, red-haired detective, Sandy, who is with him through much of his adventure. It is the most intense and dangerous seven days of his life, as not all things are as they appear.

Politico 44 President's Calendar

Communist Goals in the US -- 1958

In the 1950's and early 1960's, there was a war between Russia and the United States. It was not a war of explosions and munitions; it was an ideological war of Communism vs Democracy -- the Cold War. Communism then was looking very strong, as more and more countries fell under the Soviet sphere of influence.

The Cold War was made more frightening in 1957, when the Russian Communists became the first in Space with the launch of Sputnik. Further, in May, 1961, Fidel Castro pronounced Cuba as a Communist nation -- 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Then in October 1961, the Russian Communists exploded the Hydrogen Bomb, the most powerful bomb ever, dwarfing the 1945 bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The tension was high.

Jan 10, 1963, Congressman A. S. Herlong Jr. of Florida introduced into the Congressional Record a list of goals of the communist party as stated in the book "The Naked Communist" (1958) by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen.

Dr. Skousen was a high level agent in the FBI. He spent some years in deep cover studing the communists. He also was a full professor at Brigham Young, and at one time had been the chief of police of Salt Lake City. Skousen was an interesting and controversial character, who lived to be 93, passing in 2006.

In his book, Skousen lists 45 goals of the Soviet (and American) communist party. Having lived through all the years of the Cold War, I find this list interesting. Keep in mind while reading this list, it was published in 1958, and even though there are 45 to read, I encourage you to make it all the way to the end.

COMMUNIST GOALS, 1958:

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament (by) the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Communist China. Admission of Communist China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellite countries individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs of organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the grounds that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand (or treat).

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41.Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42.Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

The Mural of Stars Signing.

It was 85 degrees and humid. I had thoughtfully chosen my dress, but failed to recognize that I had neglected to consider the effect of humidity when standing next to the slowly drifting Ohio River; my hair was a mess, but fortunately, I was wearing my Stetson straw fedora, which was on the fashion cusp of violating the old saw of putting your summer attire away at Labor Day.

While showing my daughter's two daughters -- Morgan, age 10 and Delaney, age 8 -- the Robert Dafford Murals, I was delighted to find at my shoulder my cousin Kevin and my cousin Linda's husband, Dave. Shortly afterwards, my cousin Linda and her Father, my Uncle Paul, then arrived. Paul is 80 and while he is in reasonably good shape after a triple by-pass, it was hot and humid and there was a long walk ahead.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," he said. Just the sort of positive thing he said to me when I was growing up "On Harrisonville Avenue."

On the Ohio River side of the floodwall, a crowd of about 200 was gathering around a yellow contraption. It was a "lift" designed to take a number of people to a height for inspection, or repair, or in this case a "signing." Someone said, "21 feet up to the Star." Great.

I found my wife, Joan, and our Daughter, Terri, with our third Grand Daughter, Cameron, age 3.

Cameron is a strong-willed, "I-can-do-it-myself" 3 year old. She had only napped for about 15 minutes in the car ride to the event and was a little unpredictable in the heat and strange environment, but Cameron was holding up; she had been in unpredictable situations before.

An attractive woman, Crystal, Mayor Jim Kalb's executive assistant, found me. She introduced herself and the Mayor to me, and asked me if any of the children would like to go up with me in the lift. Morgan and Delaney immediately said yes, while Cameron hid herself behind her Mother.

It was my turn to sign. Morgan, Delaney and I ascended two sets of steps and then were inside the cage of the Lift, ready for the operator to take us and the Mayor up to the star where he would introduce me.

"Wait," said my daughter from below. "Cameron wants to go with you." Terri helped her up the steps till she was inside the cage of the lift with me, her two sisters, the Mayor and the lift operator. I held her hand; her older sister Morgan held her other hand while Delaney had her hand on Cameron's shoulder -- and with a jerk, up we went.

"Smile and wave," 10 year old Morgan whispered to her 3 year old sister. "Smile and wave,' she said. So, I did, like Morgan was suggesting.

The Mayor asked me to say a few words (nobody prepped me for that) and I did, although I can't recount what I said.

I signed my star and we waved again and then went down. The girls were very pleased to have done that and I was happy they had too.

Thankfully on the ground, I was greeted by old school friends, some wanting me to sign my book for them. I hadn't seen them since 1960; a thrill for me.

Then I saw my friend, Jerry Jenkins. "60 years ago, I met Ron while in the first grade and we have been friends ever since." he told a newspaper reporter nearby.

The Star is nice and I am thrilled, but the feelings produced by family, place and friends, far outshines the reason we were there.

Traveling

Today, we begin our journey to Southern Ohio and my appointment with a bucket truck. We will be stopping at the Hopewell Culture Center in Chillicothe as well as visiting Mound Park in Portsmouth.

Southern Ohio is the most important center for the Mound Builders culture which included the Adena Peoples, the Hopewell Peoples, and the Fort Ancient Peoples (which may have been the predecessor of the historic Shawnee Tribe.)

At one point, there may have been 150,000 people in this region, many of them connected by a road, sometimes referred to as "the Hopewell Road" that was 200 feet wide and with 15 foot high embankments, stretching for 60 miles between Newark and Chillicothe.

My destination, Portsmouth, OH was built over the ruins of the largest earthworks from the period. Portsmouth sits at the confluence of the Scioto River and the Ohio River. The artist Robert Dafford, who painted the murals on the flood wall has this interpretation of what they would have looked like.

Very impressive!

Of course, Dafford's Mural takes me back to the reason I am traveling there -- to sign the Star on the flood wall with my name on it

and the bucket truck!

Good News !!!

A proof copy of "Cottonwood Pass" has shown up. I have reviewed the changes and they are all accomplished. (Yes!)

Next is to notify the publisher of my approval and then it will be two weeks before they are ready to be ordered.

I need to get cranking on my rusting postcard mailing plans ... my email campaign...and my bookstore campaign...and my newspaper reviewers campaign...friends and neighbor reviews...my Kindle campaign...

Suddenly, I have a lot to do!

(Theodore Thompson is another story. I think his "author's Bio" in the book explains it -- or not.)