loving art, science and creative kids
7/31/2020 4:14:11 PM
Flying High (#4 of Coronavirus series)
Pandora’s Box is open, and it’s evil is free to fly alongside that which is good.
Pandora’s Box
The lid to Pandora’s Box is open. Previously, a trickle seeped through holes some lawmakers tried to plug, but evil now rushes out and seemingly can’t be stopped. The pandemic flies out as nature’s way of demonstrating who’s boss. It is followed by poor leadership that helps it stay in power and multiply. It produced an economy in shambles with food banks stretched to the limit. People without jobs live in fear of losing their homes and being forced to shelter in cars or on the streets. Youth tired of isolation, party in crowds while religious zealots pray en-mass. Since ignorance and self-centeredness flew from the box at the same time, they don’t wear masks. So, illness increases, deaths rise, and hospitals are stretched to the limit. When boredom was released, social distancing collapsed and witch doctors with voodoo beliefs in medical cures contrary to scientifically backed research from the CDC, floated untruths heard by a leader more interested in money than health care.
Out of the box marched troops stirring up riots in Portland, a city where protesters had dwindled to fewer than 100. With hatred and power on the loose, the storm troopers escalated the situation until more than 2000 people protest nightly. The Federal troops withdrew from public view last Friday but are not leaving. On the 29th of July, the Justice Department said it would send law enforcement officials to Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Leaders in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Washington sent a letter imploring Congress to make it illegal to send federal agents to cities where they are unwelcome. Chicago troops are buttoned down inside a federal building waiting for orders.
The virus and protests are nothing compared to how democracy has been eroded. They are simply distractions that hide what was set in motion years ago when evil began seeping out of Pandora’s Box. Finding the combination to unlock it has been in the works since the 1960s civil rights movement. Two books provide a roadmap to what is happening today.
Nancy MacLean, a Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, published Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America after spending ten years doing in-depth research. She was on a quest to find the origin of the far right movement. The book won many awards including the Nation’s “Most Valuable Book” award and it was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Watching troops deployed to Democratic cities and hearing Trump threaten to postpone the next election, demonstrate they way Americans are manipulated. Since he became president, distanced the country from democratic Allies, undermined NATO, pulled out of the World Health Organization, negated treaties around global warming, and threatened international trade. He befriended dictators and masterfully divided the country by distracting us with comments that instill hatred and fear.
What we see today, is the result of years of brilliant, well-funded planning. Economist James McGill Buchanan at the University of Virginia put the wheels in motion in the wake of Brown vs. Board of education in 1955 by initiating a program aimed at undermining the ability of the majority to use its numbers to level the playing field between the rich and powerful and the rest of the nation. Buchanan divides the country into “makers” and “takers” and trained a select group of students in how to convert Americans to embrace economic freedom for the wealthy.
When the Koch brothers heard of his program they got involved and made millions of dollars available to start think-tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, The Cato Institute, Freedom Works, ALEC, and the Reason Foundation. Each one focuses on a singular area—schools, courts, media, constitution, taxes, etc. The far right eventually took Republican party away from its moderate wing and the Federalist Society spun out Libertarian judges and had them appointed to the federal bench in record numbers.
Realizing that change had to occur slowly by subterfuge, they were patient. They set goals to privatize Social Security and Medicare, eviscerate the environment, control medical insurance and financial regulators, bust the unions, marginalize federal bureaucracies like EPA and CDC, cut taxes for the rich and corporations, and suppress voting rights. Plans call for an oligarchy in all but the outer representative form. With Mike Pence as Vice President, a longtime loyalist was in the White House to work with like minded Republicans in the House and Senate, in State Governments and the courts. The pandemic gave them with two trillion dollars to spend as they wish. I imagine much of it is being used to prop up the stock market.
James Buchanan was hired by Augusto Pinochet in Chile to help him rule. The arrangement provided him with an opportunity to try out his ideas. They worked well enough to keep a right wing dictator in power for seventeen years. During that time they changed the courts and constitution so that even though Pinochet was kicked out of office, the laws of the land continued to operate.
To succeed back at home, the group needed a voting block that would not get in their way, so they chose to bring in the religious right. Planners weren't concerned about dogma as long as religious leaders got people out to vote. If someone wants to date a call girl or have affairs outside of marriage, they do so without worry. If a wealthy woman needs an abortion, she gets it. They lie, cheat, steal and travel in an insular world away from the masses.
The way the religious right is involved in the plan is spelled out in the The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlett (now a Netflix film). I know several people who are members of The Family. They attend prayer breakfasts in Washington and subscribe their truncated “Jesus Plus Nothing” bible. In Jesus Plus is a selection of passages from the bible that support those who have money and power. The book describes The Family as being the most influential religious organization in Washington. It is interwoven with the affairs of nations worldwide and rules through backroom diplomacy. It was instrumental in changing laws in Uganda that have Gays and Lesbians stoned to death. They brainwash dictators into believing they are chosen by God because of their wealth or position of power. The autocrats are told they can do nothing wrong for their sins will be forgiven in heaven. The people I spoke to who are (or were) on the inside of the Family, confirm that everything Sharlett discusses in his book is accurate.
Democracy in Chains and The Family are well documented investigations, and should be read by anyone who wants to understand what is happening to the country. The planners are smart, secretive, and have been testing their ideas for over sixty years. They have been meeting regularly with similar secret societies operating abroad. Americans should be terrified that Pandora’s Box stays open. We need to find a way to put the evil back in and close the lid again.
This fall, I plea with you not to sit back. Let your meditation lead to action. This movement cannot be willed away by chanting love and peace. Understand what is going on and get involved. Help change the leadership of the country. Make phone calls. Write letters. Talk with friends who don’t agree with you and seek common ground. This is a Democracy, and we each have the right to an opinion. Democracy requires us to fact check, and not react to emotions, hearsay or gossip. Remember the quote from Martin Niemöller during the Nazi rise in the 1930s.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
That is how peaceful protesters felt who were pulled from their cars and off the streets of Portland and shoved into unmarked SUVs by an occupying military force.
References:
Klein, C. (2020) Trump is strong-arming Cities with Even More Federal troops. Vanity Fair. retrieved from https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/trump-strong-arming-cities-with-even-more-federal-troops-portland
France 24 (2020)Troops to deploy in three more US cities as federal forces begin Portland withdrawal. Americas. https://www.france24.com/en/20200729-troops-to-deploy-in-three-more-us-cities-as-federal-forces-begin-portland-withdrawal
Sharlet, Jeff.( 2020) Jesus Plus Nothing: Undercover among America’s secret theocrats. Hoper’s Magazine. retrieved from https://harpers.org/archive/2003/03/jesus-plus-nothing/
Farrant, A. & Tarko, V. ( 2019) ( James M. Buchanan’s 1981 visit to Chile: Knightian democrat or defender of the ‘Devil’s fix’?. Ideas. retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v32y2019i1d10.1007_s11138-017-0410-3.html
Long, C. & Colvin, J .(July, 22, 2020) Trump deploys more federal agents under ;'aw and order’ push. Associated Press. retrieved from https://apnews.com/eaa951c352353133c0ea95c12fa05781
7/25/2020 12:03:55 PM
ROOTS HOLD ME TIGHT
WINGS SET ME FREE
SOARING BY MARILYNNE EICHINGER
Roots Hold Me Tight
There is a song I sing to life that has a phrase in it that says, “roots hold me tight, wings set me free.” Those words keep circling through my mind as the protests, riots, and brutal responses by federal forces keep me awake at night with flash grenades and helicopters orbiting overhead. I lie in bed thinking about the roots that hold people tight and what it takes to acquire wings to be set free to soar. And, I try to imagine what would happen if everyone was free.
My thoughts about roots coalesced quickly, for I believe people are held tight by love, pride, and prejudice. My family held me close with their love. And, they indoctrinated me to feel pride in my heritage, community and country. That pride was strengthened by the prejudice some relatives expressed against people of color, those they labeled “white trash,” Germans who allowed six million Jews to die in death camps, religious fundamentalists, and ignorant people who don’t question. By putting people down, they elevated our family to a higher plain.
I imagine that love, pride, and prejudice in one form or another, hold most people tight during childhood. The wings that carry them to freedom are acquired over time by living fully.
George Floyd's murder shook many people free from root-bound prejudices about people of color and the legal system. It enabled them to to see through the lens of the media that federal storm troopers and local police are attacking their own countrymen and women. It opened their ears to what is being said in newscasts about injustices and slights to African-Americans. They're taking stock of the perils of dictatorship and what happens when leaders lie.
I was freed by studying anthropology and psychology and by observing the way my physician father treated black, white, poor and middle class patients alike. I came to understood that people analyze what they take in through a lens that is unique to them and gained my first set of wings that let me soar high and look down at the depth and breadth of humanity. Science museums provided me with a second set of wings that sent me staring into the universe until I realized I am less than a particle of dust in the grand scheme of things.
Loosening shackles and flying free bring responsibility. Breaking chains that cause doubts in your own abilities and living without fear of making mistakes require you to be strong enough to make your own decisions. Yet, the freedom to love yourself, to pursue dreams, to travel to experience life fully, and to deepen relationships comes with constraints. If every person was free without limitations or controls there would be anarchy.
The Declaration of Independence, a document written to confirm that thirteen colonies were free from Great Britain, did not acknowledge the land taken from the Native peoples already here. One person’s freedom can easily encroach on another person’s rights, which is why our country developed laws to govern based on democratic principles. Wings break, causing fliers to fall from the sky when rules are not honored.
The roots I have that are built of love remain strong, tight and nurturing, and when I find weak ones filled with pride and prejudice I cut them off. I use my wings to soar above the clouds occasionally, but I know that I have a secure landing spot to return to after venturing forth. When flying, I’m aware there are others in the air and that the success of my flight depends on their success as well.
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Art is always for sale. Contact me at [email protected]
Soaring - acrylic on canvas / gold frame / 38” x 49” / $750
7/17/2020 7:18:29 PM
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Starting a museum in my home inspired me to a career managing science museums. Since Covid-19 makes it difficult for children to explore them at will, it may be time to think about doing something similar for your young ones.
Home with Kids?
Taking care of children is not easy at any time but with school closed and unlikely to reopen full time in September it is a particularly stressful time for parents. Those who work from home balance schedules with frequent interruptions that vary from, “ I’m bored,” to “ I scraped my knee and it’s bleeding,” to “ Gillie stole my green nail polish and won’t give it back. She’s impossible. You’ve got to punish her.”
A system that helped me when four rowdy children were under foot was to turn a part of the house into a children’s museum. I was fortunate to have a basement play room, but a child’s bedroom can work just as well. According to The American Association of Children’s Museums, “A children’s museum is defined as an institution committed to serving the needs and interests of children by providing exhibits and programs that stimulate curiosity and motivate learning.”
That definition fit the way my husband and I arranged furnishings when the children were young. We lived quite a distance from a hands-on museum, which is why we decided to convert our home into one. The main challenge was one of organization, so I applied a hybrid Montessori method to our basement playroom.
Maria Montessori, a 19th century physician turned educator, developed Casa dei Bambini, a school for low-income children in Italy. As she experimented with curriculum and classroom design “she began to see independence as the aim of education and the role of the teacher as an observer and director of children’s innate psychological development.” Dr. Montessori believed young children were sensitive to order, enjoyed repetitive activities and were happiest doing practical things. She developed a kid-sized environment where materials were within a child’s reach and could easily put back when the child finished with then. Over the years many sophisticated materials were designed to be used by teachers specifically trained in Montessori methodology. The well crafted materials are quite expensive and made to withstand use by hundreds of children. Over the last twenty-five years, toy manufacturers duplicated most Montessori materials and made them available to parents at more reasonable prices.
I did not have the training or money to set up a Montessori school, but I was able to organize a child-sized, child-centered environment. I assembled a wall of bookshelves and designated locations to hold subject specific toys. There were shelves for construction toys, a place for math manipulatives, a book nook, and a language and writing area. We had a puppet stage with a place to store puppets and backdrops, an area for many types of puzzles, dress-up stations and a craft center. A carpentry bench placed next to my husband’s workbench held safe tools that let children take apart discarded machines and pound nails into pieces of wood. In the living room we installed a music pole and attached clips to hold percussion instruments.
Part of the secret to a successful home museum is introducing toys (activities) one at a time, challenging the next skill level. It took time to show the children how to use the toys properly. After demonstrating how a product was used, I observed to see how well my directions were followed. Children were encouraged to master the way the toy was designed to be used before exploring other options for using the material. The goal was for the child to master an activity, feel good by being successful, and become motivated to take on the next challenge.
Toys had to be returned to their proper location before a child was allowed to take another toy. Training children to put items away is accomplished effortlessly if taught to do so when young. Keeping areas clear for the next project makes cleaning up manageable and provides space for the child to focus on what he or she is doing.
Planning for a home-museum takes time, but once it’s operational, the time required by the parent to oversee the endeavor decreases because the system put in place promotes independence. Children are free to select what they want to do. When they take their work to a clean location they are able to concentrate on the task at hand, progressing to increasingly complex activities as skills are acquired. Independence is the goal.
A home museum can be arranged for a child as young as two-and-a-half years. It is best to start with a few toys that are within the child’s reach so it can be fetched and returned without an adult assisting. When several children use the same space, each child is taught which items he or she has earned the right to use. The system works well for older children, though they are likely to branch out and use the materials more creatively. Older siblings who’ve mastered activities should be taught to help their younger brothers and sisters.
A hundred years ago, such a Montessori approach would not have been necessary for families taught children in a more structured way. I read of a ten-year-old boy in a pioneer family homesteading in Colorado in the 1800s who assisted his father when he built their house in the prairie. He fed the pigs, helped raise the barn, build fences, and sheds and assisted when a well was dug. His sister worked in the garden and was taught which plants to gather in case of illness. She practiced fractions by sewing, cooking and a cutting pies into enough slices to feed the household and their guests. These children didn’t need blocks, toy sized stoves , or puzzles since the family’s survival was challenging enough. Construction and household skills were passed down from parent to child and experimentation rewarded when something someone figured out a way to make things easier.
To reinforce hands-on play it helps to observe workers engaged in physical activities. My kids and grandchildren loved visiting construction sites, and I still find it fascinating to watch cranes hauling supplies sixty stories in the air. As they aged they enrolled in physics and chemistry classes and went to science camps each summer. Though I am not a physicist, I enjoyed high school physics classes because they gave me a basic understanding of mechanical advantage and how machines operated. They peaked my curiosity. We also visited farms, went into restaurant kitchens, saw how pizzas were flung in the air, and watched hot air balloons lift off from fields. The experiences they had created a lifelong love of learning.
Barry Eichinger, past exhibit director at Charlotte’s Discover Place, raised creative children by encouraging them to look closely at the world around them. While walking in the woods, Barry encouraged his children to explore, wander, and wonder. He talked animatedly to his offspring as pointed things out sow they noticed the impact they had on the environment and took stock of what they saw. On excursions they returned with rocks, insects, and samples of stream water to view under microscopes. Local flora and fauna stimulated hours of discussion after their journey. The trips were informal, intuitive, and without structure and incorporated inquiry-based learning as they went. Though this children did not grow up to be scientists, they use the scientific method at work to problem solve.
When I ran the Museum Tour catalog I organized it like my home playroom. Each page represented a subject specific section of shelves holding a range of materials to educate mind and body and to stimulate the senses. My goal was to make it effortless for parents to set up a museum for children in their homes. It is easy to purchase toys that are downsized versions of exhibits found on the floors of science centers and children’s museums. Designing your own museum is much easier to do than when my children were young.
7/11/2020 11:59:40 AM
High Desert Sunset
The sixth painting in my Coronavirus Series. In the face of protests, illness, isolation, and political devisions, walks though natural settings calm me. I marvel at the way light changes with the seasons and appears different as day turns to dusk. Away from news, the atmosphere is contemplative and peaceful. Meandering the hills of Oregon’s High Desert is purifying, returning me to center. I come home refreshed and ready to step into the rhythm of my daily routine. (Sorry, but the painting is spoken for)
I Have an Opinion Too
As we do every year, my partner and I flew the Betsy Ross flag to commemorate the country’s independence from England, but this was the first time people stopped at our house and asked us to take it down. The recent protests reminded them there was slavery in the thirteen original colonies and that was land taken from Native Americans, but rather than accept that part of our history and decry it, they wanted to wipe the slate clean as though it never happened. They watched fireworks, forgetting the struggle that took place for the country to be free from a foreign power, that thirteen colonies united under a constitution, and that Betsy Ross’s flag flew over the new nation. Though far from perfect, the country that evolved was better than it was under a British monarchy.
July 7th, Harper’s Magazine posted an online communication titled— A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. The letter was a wake-up call to people who are quick to judge, act and react without debate. Though it acknowledged the importance of protests calling for social justice and racial equality it segues to a growing intolerance for disparate views. The authors were especially critical of liberals unwilling to hear any voice but their own. They argued that the way we are proceeding bans opposition and weakens the norms for “open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity.”
They remind us that the free exchange of information and ideas is the lifeblood of a liberal society and that censorship that liberals frequently assigned to the radical right, now comes more frequently from the left. Both left and right give “swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions,” and use moral certainty to shame and ostracize those who question and want to take a deeper look at issues. The authors mentioned dissidents who were fired for expressing opinions contrary to current public sentiment, for publishing controversial articles, and for circulating peer reviewed research with outcomes that don’t support popular beliefs. They wrote of teacher who was let go for quoting literature that made students think critically and broadly about a subject.
Their message states that we are creating a stifling, intolerant atmosphere, one in which democracy will suffer. Intellectuals need room to experiment, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of reprisal. The letter is signed by 153 well known scholars, journalists, and artists including such luminaries as Norm Chomsky, David Brooks, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, and J.K. Rowling.
Adding to the debate over intolerance and freedom of expression is current criticism directed at Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, and other social media platforms. Complaints abound from right and left leaning voices, politicians, social clubs, welfare organizations, and religious groups. They come at a time when hate speech is rampant at campaign rallies and conspiracy theories abound turning men like Bill Gates to be treated like a pariah by linking him to the onset of Covid-19. Malicious rumors spread like lightning through the internet leaving people angry, afraid, confused and harmed. Scientists are distrusted while anti-vaccine and flat-earth movements grow.
We watch residents in countries like Hong Kong lose their rights, making many of us wonder if we will be next. Our right to privacy is all but gone. Will our right to express ourselves be the next thing to go? I can’t think of a more important and timely discussion to have than one centered on open-mindedness and the limits to be placed free expression.
To deepen this discourse, I copied excerpts from an article written by Jennifer Schuessler and Elizabeth Harris for The New York Times on July 7, 2020. They discuss the letter published by Harper’s magazine.
“The debate over diversity, free expression and the limits of acceptable opinion is a long-burning one. But the letter, which was spearheaded by the writer Thomas Chatterton Williams, began taking shape about a month ago, as part of a long-running conversation about these issues with a small group of writers including the historian David Greenberg, the writer Mark Lilla and the journalists Robert Worth and George Packer. . .
“He said there wasn’t one particular incident that provoked the letter. But he did cite several recent ones, including the resignation of more than half the board of the National Book Critics Circle over its statement supporting Black Lives Matter, a similar blowup at the Poetry Foundation, and the case of David Shor, a data analyst at a consulting firm who was fired after he tweeted about academic research linking looting and vandalism by protesters to Richard Nixon’s 1968 electoral victory. . . (Do click on these links. They are illuminating. See others in references below.)
“Such incidents, Mr. Williams said, both fueled and echoed what he called the far greater and more dangerous “illiberalism” of President Trump.
“Donald Trump is the Canceler in Chief,” he said. “But the correction of Trump’s abuses cannot become an overcorrection that stifles the principles we believe in.”
“What concerns me is a sense that a lot of people out there seem to think open argument over everything is an unhealthy thing,” he said. “I’ve spent my whole life having vigorous arguments with people I disagree with, and don’t want to think we are moving out of this world.”
I too am concerned about the issues raised above. My July 4th flag experience isn’t the only time I felt ostracized because I saw two sides to an issue and mentioned them. My opinion, as does yours, should matter. It is important to understand history within the context of the period in which it was lived. We can look back and wonder what worked and what didn’t, but must look forward to decide what changes to make and the best way to do so. There is an advantage to listening to scientists, historians, thinkers and dreamers for they help us grow and get better. They lead the way for America to reach its lofty ideals.
References:
Read the letter in its entirety: https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/
Schuessler, J and Harris, E, (2020) Artists and writers Warn of an Intolerant Climate.’ Reaction is Swift. New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/arts/harpers-letter.html
Freelander,D. (2017)Award winning teacher fired for reading an Allen Ginsberg Poem. Daily Beast. retrieved from https://www.thedailybeast.com/award-winning-teacher-fired-for-reading-an-allen-ginsberg-poem
Isaac, M (2020) Reddit, Acting Against Hate Speech, Bans ‘The_Donald’ Subreddit. New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/technology/reddit-hate-speech.html
If you have never commented on my blog site, now is the time to do so. Your thoughts and opinions matter. They change the world.
7/4/2020 1:57:03 PM
Family Outing
It’s Up to Us
Since childhood, July 4th was a time for picnics, hikes, and evenings spent watching fire works to celebrate the founding of a nation, the coming together of thirteen independent states to form a synergistic whole stronger than the individual parts. In hibernation I'll miss my friends and family and won't celebrate as before. I'll sit home watching televised fireworks and listen to newscasts about our fractured nation. So instead of a family outing, I decided to take an outing of the mind to consider the past and where we should go from here. It will take one race, the human race, our race to set things straight.
What was clear to those who signed the Declaration of Independence for the country’s 2.5 million residents is no longer obvious to the 331million who currently reside within our borders. It is time to put away divisions that cause paranoia and prepare for the emergencies we know will come to affect rich and poor alike. Raising a family taught me the truth of Robert Burns words, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/ Gang aft a-gley.” (often go awry.)
Paranoia - One night, around two in the morning when my daughter was in a deep sleep after caring for three active children all day, the phone startled her awake. She answered to the stern voice of a bomb squad officer who fired off questions about a package mailed to her. He wanted to know what was in it (she didn’t know), if she knew the sender (her sister) and whether they were on good terms (they were). On the line for nearly an hour, she answered in confusion, for the problem was never described. Simultaneously, her sister in California was called and asked similar questions though she knew what was inside. But when asked to describe the electronics she claimed no knowledge. She had mailed a box of outgrown children’s clothing and toys that seemed harmless.
My daughter was later told that a ticking sound heard when her package arrived at the post office caused several hundred people to be evacuated and the bomb squad alerted.They x-rayed it, saw it contained electronics and took the package to an empty field where a robot was deployed to open it. Inside it uncovered a toy airplane with its propeller rotating due to a switch that had jostled to an on position during shipping. The electronics were in the noses of reindeers on Christmas masks.
Lessons from the past and thoughts from today:
a) Don’t send toys through the mail with batteries inside.
b) Their calls occurred shortly after the Unabomber was apprehended. Police were on alert. But if it happened today, I imagine they would be paranoid and rather than make phone calls, militarized police would knock down my daughter's doors and haul them off to jail.
c) Today’s officers not only react, they over-react. The cost of emptying out the post office and calling in the bomb squad must have been high. The cost to George Floyd was his life. There’s no excuse for killing a person for cashing a twenty-dollar bill that he may or may not have known was counterfeit. There is no excuse for shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back because he was drunk at Wendy’s.
d) As children we are taught to trust the police. We are told to seek their help if something bad happens. As an adult, I’m shocked by behavior that negates that trust. Shouting, offensive, bigoted officers make the country understandably angry. In school we’re taught that people are innocent until proven guilty which means that everyone deserves to be treated respectfully, even when under arrest. There is a court system to deal with those creating problems for society.
Emergencies: During the 1989 California earthquake my newborn granddaughter rested contentedly in a bouncy chair next to her mother. When widows started rattling and the furniture shook, the baby jiggled and giggled gleefully. Knowing her infant was fine, my daughter wasn’t concerned until she tried opening the door to her apartment. The frame was twisted and the door wouldn’t budge, trapping Mother and daughter inside. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before her husband, bounded up the stairs as a superhero, pushed the door open and rescued his family. The event took place several blocks from where the Oakland Bridge collapsed.
Lessons from the past and thoughts from today:
a) To children, life’s an adventure. They trust adults to keep them safe.
b) Natural disasters occur in every part of the country. COVID-19 is a wake up call as to why it is important to heed advice and prepare for potential crises. (I store supplies in my car and house in case I’m stranded by a snowstorm or earthquake.)
c) Though I chair an emergency committee at a Unitarian Church, we never considered a pandemic and the effect it would have on the congregation.The CDC, however, warned the nation of its possibility and had a plan they were putting into effect until funding was eliminated by a short-sighted administration. Scientists warned that global warming is a contributor to the rise in pandemics. We need to listen to geologists, environmentalists, and epidemiologists rather than imagine we can pray disasters away. I realize it’s not fun to plan for a crisis that may never happen in our lifetime, yet we must.
This Independence Day can we agree to rid ourselves of paranoia and bigotry and plan instead for handling emergencies judiciously? Will you join me in taking an outing of the mind, one that considers the good and bad parts of history to learn from rather than erase because of shame ?
I don't think the past should be cut from memory, for it is a platform to tell us how well we are doing in bringing about change. Art speaks to specific time periods in history and tells stories that can't be denied. Symbols on flags and sculptures removed from high pedestals and relocated in museums can be studied and explained. Knee jerk reactions are rarely good.
My mind's been touring the history of slavery, learning how police are trained and how they became militarized. I wonder about the best way to deal with road rage, a drug and alcohol abusive society, high rates of wife and child abuse, arsonists, thieves, and people harboring weapons. How should law enforcement react to criminals? Is it their job to see to the homeless and mentally disturbed people wandering the streets? Should they be responsible for pushing back migrants forced to leave their homes because of climate change? These are difficult questions that have to be thought through carefully. Understanding is imperative if we are to make changes and live without warfare.
Outings that explore the good, bad, ugly and beautiful parts of America might help us to do better. There are a few references below to get you started. What you learn might be surprising.
Betsy Ross Flag of 1777 Fractured America
Let’s make it Whole Again
Reference:
Berry,D (2017) American slavery: separating fact from myth. The Conversation. Academic rigor, journalistic flair. retrieved from https://theconversation.com/american-slavery-separating-fact-from-myth-79620
Roberts,S. (2005). More Africans Enter U.S. The in Days of Slavery. The New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/nyregion/more-africans-enter-us-than-in-days-of-slavery.html
Thiele,R.(2020) How Climate Change Increases Our Rest for Pandemics. NPR. retrieved from https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/how-climate-change-increases-our-risk-for-pandemics
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Art is always For sale. Contact [email protected]
Family Outing/ acrylic on deep canvas/ 16 “ x 20 “ / $ 399
Fractured America / 24 x 24 deep deep canvas / $ 425.
