Part of my ongoing pledge to tell my life story to my Great Grant Soren in decades.
Soren Chapter 6 the 1970’s
All decades seem to outdo last one.
Women's right to choose. Roe V Wade
Abortion legal. Would have saved my mother.
People keep dyeing in Vietnam war.
Our street protests help end it. Killing stops.
Fifty thousand US soldiers died
1,5 million Vietnam people and for what?
At wars end always the same question, For what?
Nixon, Republican is President..
Nixon sends “plumbers” no toilet overflow.
Domestic spying on Democrats.
Plumbers “shit hits the fan.”
(WW 2 joke ask your Dad.)
Nixon waves goodbye to Washington.
First in our history.
His legacy, dirty tricks in politics. Still living with that.
VP Takes over. Oh yes, the plumbers go to jail.
Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s batting record.
(Have to tell you my Babe Ruth story)
Nuke power 3 mile island blows up.
Scared of radiation? You betcha.
Enough nuke bombs now
Blow the whole planet away.
We send astronauts to the moon.
Bring back rocks. Reminds me.
Rock and Roll music is fun
Your old grandpa roc-ken with Kate. Wah hoo!
Microprocessors, midget computers
Take over many many human functions.
Say goodbye to a lot of jobs.
Enough! Already. New subject
Women continue fight for equality.
Grandpa writes, “Two Women 3 men on a Raft”
In “Harvard Business Review” Fancy stuff eah?
Outward Bound---learn to survive wilderness!
On the raft going down Rogue River.
All on board take turns as Helms-person.
3 men on instinct, undermine the women.
A women at helm, men dump the raft and laugh.
Women say, “see we can’t do it.”
Men say, that’s right, “we do it.”
Grandpa says, “same goes on in the workplace.”
Oh Soren does he catch hell from men.
Women love it, “some guy finally told the truth.”
Yupp, I was the guy.
Women past that but still a way to go.
Your name in the news today.
Movie, Good and bad owls at war.
Soren leader of good owls from GaHole.
See I knew you were destined in blood
A fighter for social justice.
Just like old great Grandpabob.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The 1930's It Ain't
Lead News-story Sept. 17th 2010
"The poverty rate in the US has jumped sharply in 2009." I hear constant comparisons between this recession and the 1930s. You are fortunate as you are reading a fellow who actually lived through the thirties. So, here’s how I remember that time. When I was still a very young man under 20 and I applied for Home Relief. (That was the original name of Welfare.) You had to show some evidence that you had looked for work. There was absolutely no jobs available so we did the next best thing. This meant the name address and phone number of the places you sought employment. That was easy as a group of us would pool our job hunting experiences. Finally found eligible you were placed on Home Relief. That meant a monthly check for rent and food.
Next step would be a government run jobs program. My first was the National Youth Administration. I was sent to work as a Detective at the National Desertions Bureau. This was a Jewish philanthropic organization. It’s job was to find husbands who had left their wives and try to reconcile them. My big find was a wrestler, “Sam The Butcher.” But that’s another story. During the LBJ War on Poverty a similar program was the Neighborhood Youth Corps.
My next stop in the thirties depression was the WPA. There I worked on construction projects such as Orchard Beach, Macombs Dam Park, Bronx Zoo, etc. If any of those jobs were completed and there was no further work available you were put back on Home Relief. In other words there was a whole number of safety net programs that would help individuals and their families to survive.
When Michael Harrington wrote, “The Other America, Poverty in the United States” back in 1962 it lead to the creation of the “Anti Poverty Program.” That effort was closer to the government model of the thirties than what is going on now. When I read about whole families being forced to live in homeless shelters I am simply appalled. We had been through all that in past depressions, recessions. We had learned the need for the government to step in and find ways to support families from this terrible spiral of homelessness, alcohol, drugs. In a word, the path to destruction of what we hold as a precious form of social life, the family.
Anybody with an ounce of compassion should be able to see that the tragedy unfolding before us is not the fault of the people suffering. In the simplest terms, the system has failed them. When I hear some of the right wing blow-hards saying the “unemployed are lazy and if they wanted to work they could” and more terrible bullshit like that it makes my blood boil. (I guess you could sense that pretty good without me telling it,) Well, it was no different starting in the great depression. Yes, there were those back then who would make the same claim. “That bunch of unemployed out there are just lazy layabouts who just don’t want to work.”
Unfortunately the Obama team just doesn’t get how serious the recession is for those whose lives are coming apart through no fault of their own. In one sense the White House bunch are elitists who simply are not able to make contact with those who are bearing the brunt of an economic catastrophe. Never forget the victims were not the cause. And yes, “They are mad as hell” for the simple reason that those who created the mess have been handily bailed out while the victims are being told to, “hang in there better times are coming.” The problem is there is nothing to “hang on to” and so they are drowning while the right wingnuts are choraling all that anger into political capital. Obama and company wake up or the election results will give you a severe case of adjuda.
"The poverty rate in the US has jumped sharply in 2009." I hear constant comparisons between this recession and the 1930s. You are fortunate as you are reading a fellow who actually lived through the thirties. So, here’s how I remember that time. When I was still a very young man under 20 and I applied for Home Relief. (That was the original name of Welfare.) You had to show some evidence that you had looked for work. There was absolutely no jobs available so we did the next best thing. This meant the name address and phone number of the places you sought employment. That was easy as a group of us would pool our job hunting experiences. Finally found eligible you were placed on Home Relief. That meant a monthly check for rent and food.
Next step would be a government run jobs program. My first was the National Youth Administration. I was sent to work as a Detective at the National Desertions Bureau. This was a Jewish philanthropic organization. It’s job was to find husbands who had left their wives and try to reconcile them. My big find was a wrestler, “Sam The Butcher.” But that’s another story. During the LBJ War on Poverty a similar program was the Neighborhood Youth Corps.
My next stop in the thirties depression was the WPA. There I worked on construction projects such as Orchard Beach, Macombs Dam Park, Bronx Zoo, etc. If any of those jobs were completed and there was no further work available you were put back on Home Relief. In other words there was a whole number of safety net programs that would help individuals and their families to survive.
When Michael Harrington wrote, “The Other America, Poverty in the United States” back in 1962 it lead to the creation of the “Anti Poverty Program.” That effort was closer to the government model of the thirties than what is going on now. When I read about whole families being forced to live in homeless shelters I am simply appalled. We had been through all that in past depressions, recessions. We had learned the need for the government to step in and find ways to support families from this terrible spiral of homelessness, alcohol, drugs. In a word, the path to destruction of what we hold as a precious form of social life, the family.
Anybody with an ounce of compassion should be able to see that the tragedy unfolding before us is not the fault of the people suffering. In the simplest terms, the system has failed them. When I hear some of the right wing blow-hards saying the “unemployed are lazy and if they wanted to work they could” and more terrible bullshit like that it makes my blood boil. (I guess you could sense that pretty good without me telling it,) Well, it was no different starting in the great depression. Yes, there were those back then who would make the same claim. “That bunch of unemployed out there are just lazy layabouts who just don’t want to work.”
Unfortunately the Obama team just doesn’t get how serious the recession is for those whose lives are coming apart through no fault of their own. In one sense the White House bunch are elitists who simply are not able to make contact with those who are bearing the brunt of an economic catastrophe. Never forget the victims were not the cause. And yes, “They are mad as hell” for the simple reason that those who created the mess have been handily bailed out while the victims are being told to, “hang in there better times are coming.” The problem is there is nothing to “hang on to” and so they are drowning while the right wingnuts are choraling all that anger into political capital. Obama and company wake up or the election results will give you a severe case of adjuda.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Passing The Public School
I live in a small town now.
A New York City man lost?
I needed a work place.
That means regular treks to the hardware.
That’s when I pass the Public School.
It’s September and I remember
P.S. 34 in the north Bronx.
Where the fall sun shone as it is today.
A prisoner squirming at that little desk.
Staring at the window.
Dreaming of the wonder world outside.
Empty lots with abandoned cars
To take apart. see how they run?
Teacher Miss Dawn “Robert Schrank
What is the answer?” “To what I replied.”
A roar of laughter seemed to wake us all up.
Dawn, did not think this funny. “Eight times 12
Is not funny.” Try to pay attention.”
That last was a plea. She knew somewhere in her self
That we should be out there.
Gorging on the last of summer.
That's what I knew was going on at the Zoo
A stones throw away.
If only I could watch the Lions,
Fast asleep in the high-grass.
The monkeys playing with themselves
Does the Zoo bore them like me in P.S. 34?
Or the kids in Center Moriches Public School?
They dream of the Bay? short distance away.
To swim, fish, dig for clams or watch the Osprey
Fish hawk dive for their dinner?
Maybe school should be at night?
Would there be less for us kids to dream about?
I wonder as I go to the hardware?
A New York City man lost?
I needed a work place.
That means regular treks to the hardware.
That’s when I pass the Public School.
It’s September and I remember
P.S. 34 in the north Bronx.
Where the fall sun shone as it is today.
A prisoner squirming at that little desk.
Staring at the window.
Dreaming of the wonder world outside.
Empty lots with abandoned cars
To take apart. see how they run?
Teacher Miss Dawn “Robert Schrank
What is the answer?” “To what I replied.”
A roar of laughter seemed to wake us all up.
Dawn, did not think this funny. “Eight times 12
Is not funny.” Try to pay attention.”
That last was a plea. She knew somewhere in her self
That we should be out there.
Gorging on the last of summer.
That's what I knew was going on at the Zoo
A stones throw away.
If only I could watch the Lions,
Fast asleep in the high-grass.
The monkeys playing with themselves
Does the Zoo bore them like me in P.S. 34?
Or the kids in Center Moriches Public School?
They dream of the Bay? short distance away.
To swim, fish, dig for clams or watch the Osprey
Fish hawk dive for their dinner?
Maybe school should be at night?
Would there be less for us kids to dream about?
I wonder as I go to the hardware?
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Hurricanes I Remember
I should be writing about Labor Day. I am still sentimental about a holiday that had great meaning in my lifetime. Now I'm not sure anymore what it means aside from a long weekend. Anyhow I can't resist writing about, you know what?
Yes, we have been up to our eyeballs with Hurricane Earl. Kate and I are exhausted. At the time it’s hard to realize how much stress is created by the anticipation. There was a fundamental difference in the Stage 5 1938 Hurricane that destroyed the city of Providence and Earl.
In 1938 I was 20 years old and working at Packard Motor Car. Sometime in the late morning the foreman says to me, “listen kid” that’s what they called me, “there’s a hurricane on its way here. Why don’t you grab a couple of batteries and some cans of ether and go make yourself some money starting up stalled cars.” I owned a 1929 Packard Touring car that had unusually large wheels that made it exceptional on flooded roads. That what I did and yes I ended up making over $20, bucks which back then was a lot of money.
My second Hurricane encounter was on Fire Island in the 1950s. We had bought a small “fixer upper”cottage that needed a lot more than fixing. It sat on Locust Posts as did most houses out there. In our first year of ownership I was determined to replace all of the 40-50 rapidly rotting posts holding the place up. It was September. Wife and kids left to go back to school. I had arranged to stay on for a few days and continue my post replacement project.
In replacing posts I would get under the house with a pressured hose. Pick a rotted post. Put the pressured hose into the sand and as the sand was washed away by the water remove the old post. Take a new one push it down into the wet sand until you got a solid lock under the house. It’s just plain hard physical labor. I had bought myself a nice steak and potatoes dinner for that night. That with a couple of Jim Beams and I was off to sleep.
I’m up early the next morning, half asleep I notice that I am surrounded by water. A Coast Guard motorized Dinghy comes by. He says,” what the hell you doing here?” Surprised, I say “I live here.” He says, “There was a Hurricane went through and the Island was evacuated.’ “Well I’m sorry but I was fast asleep and don’t know nothin about no evacuation.” He looks at me a little perplexed says, “okay I guess it don’t make no difference now that’s its over.”
The next one was Gloria, September 1985. It did a lot of damage out here mostly ripping off roofs. The major problem for most of the houses around where we live was loss of electricity. That resulted in these nightly cookouts in a nearby Park. As stuff defrosted folks would bring it to the Park for a community “Gloria feast.” Best community social activity I can remember.
Next was Hurricane Bob. Yupp, that was its name. Kate and I were visiting her parents in Kokato Minnesota. We had heard something on the radio about the approaching storm. I asked Kate’s father to turn to the Weather Channel. Back then it was not commercial. Just the weather. We both stood there aghast as the arrow pointed the Hurricane Bob right at our house. Kate’s mother, Esther packed us some sandwiches as we raced out of the house to catch the last flight out to LaGuardia. We arrived about midnight raced home to board up. by about 5-6 Am we were finished. Everything that could get airborne was put away and our 16 foot South facing glass wall boarded up. I said I was going to bed. Kate said not me I gotta see this, my first Hurricane. Bob never hit us it went 40 miles south.
What was so different with that 1938 huge storm that wrecked hundreds of houses all up and down the East coast, killed a couple thousand people, devastated the shoreline and yesterdays Hurricane Earl? Very simple. Back in 38 there was no television. Nobody even knew the storm was coming because the folks in the Carolinas or Maryland or Delaware didn’t bother to use the telephone to warn the people further up the coast that a deadly storm was on its way. When the hurricane hit the City phones began to ring and that’s how the manager at Packard sent his workforce home early.
Now with television we become aware of hurricanes from where they are born ,off the coast of Africa until they reach their final destination. I am not suggesting this is a bad. Not at all. My problem arises with the endless amount of sensationalized stuff coming over the television screens that can make you crazy by the time the storm itself arrives. I think it was Heidegger who suggested that all anxiety is in the anticipation.That is exactly what happened to Kate and I. After watching and listening we prepared to leave the Island. No we prepared to go to a shelter. No we prepared to put up the shutters. No, we finally agreed to do nothing.
So, what’s the problem here? All television Channels have a single interest. How to gain more viewers. This now includes PBS. They are all looking for increased Neilson Ratings. That’s how the commercial stations like “The Weather Channel” get their advertising. To keep us tuned they have to constantly come up with some brand new sensational information. At one point yesterday afternoon we got calls from different friends all very concerned for our safety, telling us to evacuate. They were getting their information from one of the many media outlets.
The lesson here is not that we just go about “posting your house” with a hurricane approaching. The lesson for people like us who live in vulnerable locations to learn and understand what is or is not a serious threat. So far we have been lucky. That doesn’t mean we will always be. But we will try to become more self informed regarding the risks.
Yes, we have been up to our eyeballs with Hurricane Earl. Kate and I are exhausted. At the time it’s hard to realize how much stress is created by the anticipation. There was a fundamental difference in the Stage 5 1938 Hurricane that destroyed the city of Providence and Earl.
In 1938 I was 20 years old and working at Packard Motor Car. Sometime in the late morning the foreman says to me, “listen kid” that’s what they called me, “there’s a hurricane on its way here. Why don’t you grab a couple of batteries and some cans of ether and go make yourself some money starting up stalled cars.” I owned a 1929 Packard Touring car that had unusually large wheels that made it exceptional on flooded roads. That what I did and yes I ended up making over $20, bucks which back then was a lot of money.
My second Hurricane encounter was on Fire Island in the 1950s. We had bought a small “fixer upper”cottage that needed a lot more than fixing. It sat on Locust Posts as did most houses out there. In our first year of ownership I was determined to replace all of the 40-50 rapidly rotting posts holding the place up. It was September. Wife and kids left to go back to school. I had arranged to stay on for a few days and continue my post replacement project.
In replacing posts I would get under the house with a pressured hose. Pick a rotted post. Put the pressured hose into the sand and as the sand was washed away by the water remove the old post. Take a new one push it down into the wet sand until you got a solid lock under the house. It’s just plain hard physical labor. I had bought myself a nice steak and potatoes dinner for that night. That with a couple of Jim Beams and I was off to sleep.
I’m up early the next morning, half asleep I notice that I am surrounded by water. A Coast Guard motorized Dinghy comes by. He says,” what the hell you doing here?” Surprised, I say “I live here.” He says, “There was a Hurricane went through and the Island was evacuated.’ “Well I’m sorry but I was fast asleep and don’t know nothin about no evacuation.” He looks at me a little perplexed says, “okay I guess it don’t make no difference now that’s its over.”
The next one was Gloria, September 1985. It did a lot of damage out here mostly ripping off roofs. The major problem for most of the houses around where we live was loss of electricity. That resulted in these nightly cookouts in a nearby Park. As stuff defrosted folks would bring it to the Park for a community “Gloria feast.” Best community social activity I can remember.
Next was Hurricane Bob. Yupp, that was its name. Kate and I were visiting her parents in Kokato Minnesota. We had heard something on the radio about the approaching storm. I asked Kate’s father to turn to the Weather Channel. Back then it was not commercial. Just the weather. We both stood there aghast as the arrow pointed the Hurricane Bob right at our house. Kate’s mother, Esther packed us some sandwiches as we raced out of the house to catch the last flight out to LaGuardia. We arrived about midnight raced home to board up. by about 5-6 Am we were finished. Everything that could get airborne was put away and our 16 foot South facing glass wall boarded up. I said I was going to bed. Kate said not me I gotta see this, my first Hurricane. Bob never hit us it went 40 miles south.
What was so different with that 1938 huge storm that wrecked hundreds of houses all up and down the East coast, killed a couple thousand people, devastated the shoreline and yesterdays Hurricane Earl? Very simple. Back in 38 there was no television. Nobody even knew the storm was coming because the folks in the Carolinas or Maryland or Delaware didn’t bother to use the telephone to warn the people further up the coast that a deadly storm was on its way. When the hurricane hit the City phones began to ring and that’s how the manager at Packard sent his workforce home early.
Now with television we become aware of hurricanes from where they are born ,off the coast of Africa until they reach their final destination. I am not suggesting this is a bad. Not at all. My problem arises with the endless amount of sensationalized stuff coming over the television screens that can make you crazy by the time the storm itself arrives. I think it was Heidegger who suggested that all anxiety is in the anticipation.That is exactly what happened to Kate and I. After watching and listening we prepared to leave the Island. No we prepared to go to a shelter. No we prepared to put up the shutters. No, we finally agreed to do nothing.
So, what’s the problem here? All television Channels have a single interest. How to gain more viewers. This now includes PBS. They are all looking for increased Neilson Ratings. That’s how the commercial stations like “The Weather Channel” get their advertising. To keep us tuned they have to constantly come up with some brand new sensational information. At one point yesterday afternoon we got calls from different friends all very concerned for our safety, telling us to evacuate. They were getting their information from one of the many media outlets.
The lesson here is not that we just go about “posting your house” with a hurricane approaching. The lesson for people like us who live in vulnerable locations to learn and understand what is or is not a serious threat. So far we have been lucky. That doesn’t mean we will always be. But we will try to become more self informed regarding the risks.
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