....then, why aren't we all AMERICANS, first...period? That's my 'social commentary' for this century! And for the record, this American historian has traveled in Canada and totally likes MY fellow Canadians and Canadian culture and society that I've met and shared experiences! That IS NOT a 'hasty generalization.
(The term French-Canadians did and does try to crop up at times, but falters....)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
342- EXPERIENCES And PEOPLE I'VE MET OR HAVE BEEN NEARBY OVER THE YEARS!....
A) YOU are most definitely the accumulation of everyone and every experience during your own life! And YOU can and are still adding to YOUR own psyche (spirit and soul)! I KNOW that I AM...my choice!
B) And every single experience, adventure and person met or have been around from this list IS the truth!!! (And NO fake-it-until-you-make-it spin, either!)
C) Entertainment and Adventures; Adventures: a- the Beatles (they were off-key at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium)..b- Garth Brooks (excellent showman in Richmond)...c- June & Johnny Cash (I pulled curtain/Jaycee)...d- Dave Clak Five in Richmond, (great show!)..e- Crystal Gayle was at Busch Gardens...f-Johnny Mathis...in D.C. (bestest soloist ever!).. g- Grand Funk RR (loud)..h- Smothers Brothers...J.M.U. (funny)..i- Rod Stewart (bestest concert, also!)...j- Patty Duke ("Miracle Worker"- Off-Broadway in Manhattan...I fell in like with live theatre that evening!)..k- Ferrante & Teicher (piano concert in Richmond)...l- "Fidler on the Roof" (Broadway - another neat live theatre in NY)..m- Charlie Daniels Band (country!-Richmond, Va. State Fair)...n- Al Hirt (jazz-Virginia Beach, Va.)..o- early Dave Mathews Band in C-Ville at downstairs club..p- Eddie Murphy (gross, filthy language at W&M Hall)...q- Statler Brothers (country-Staunton, Va.)....r- "RiverDance" (loved it, saw twice in Richmond!)...s- "Jeopardy" (live in Manhattan- learned much about TV production during commercial space), t- "Concentration" (live-Manhattan)... u-"As the World Turns" (live - scenes were taped along in one continuous line on a huge set...Manhattan!)...v- Diane Warwick (singer/actor-Richmond, Va.)...w- Percy Sledge (singer/contem. blues-Richmond, Va.)...x- JOE TEX (blues singer-Richmond, Va.)...y- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (W. Va. State Fair)...z- Sammy Davis, Jr. (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts)...aa- Sonny & Cher in concert (Cher walked past me, during opening, up in audience...her costume?...tush was open to the world!...the brief return of the duo, though, was excellent!)...bb-- Elvis Presley (had tickets to see him in concert in Roanoke, but he died that week, honest!)...cc- Frank Sinatra - (cancelled because of illness)...dd- Chuck Mangione...concert on D.O.G. Street in Williamsburg (excellent group!)...ee-sang on stage a Gerry and the Pacemakers song--"Don't let the sun...."...'citing!)...ff- Roger Williams...Richmond...(piano - "Born Free")...gg- The Lettermen (JMU)...hh- Pro Ice Hockey game...attended game to get feel for what happens at a game!...(Yes, I always do need to experience more for a wide-angle understanding)...ii- A Yankee's baseball game at the old Yankee Stadium deep in the heart of old New York City!...jj-- New Christy Minstrels (American Folk group!...was into folk music for a spell, even singing locally)...kk- "Underground Atlanta"...stopped by and was disappointed!...(place was "old" and smelled of urine)...ll- the original STEALTH BOMBER!!...when I noticed a SMALL newspaper article that, for the very first time ever, the first all-black STEALTH BOMBER would land at an Air Force base in Tidewater and that SOME locals could watch it land and walk up sorta close to it on the landing strip. This guy WENT!....(and took pics of it landing and on the strip!)....mm- TOUR INSIDE and ON a BRITISH SUBMARINE...paid attention to newspaper notices, again, at NorFOLK Naval Base (fascinating adventure)....nn- INSIDE and ON a U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER (NorFOLK Naval Base)...oo- "AMITYVILLE HORROR"...while on a trip to New England, found and stopped in Amityville, New York to "see' the infamous house, after reading the book, seeing the film and walked around outside the neighborhood...felt it was highly dubious that the horror inside could have happened!...house is too close, on both sides, to other houses, yet, no one heard or saw anything, HORRORS, going on IN that house. That includes the small, private boathouse and dock in back!...pp- Hitchhiking...as an undergrad at Bridgewater College, began to hitchhike!..with no wheels at the time. Even hitchhiked to Roanoke to see a coed or three...never had a problem getting a ride, usually with an older married couple. (Looking back, would NOT hitchhike today!)...qq- Given a standing welcome in Virginia General Assembly's Senate chambers upon my visit during my first years as an educator...rr- Whalewatching...off the coast of Virginia during a March....ss- Marcel Marceau!...a mime genius!!...in "concert"...there was no one like this quiet artist-actor, ever! Believe he was in Richmond, one of his very last performances...will always remember him "climbing steps" and "carrying a large piece of glass."...tt- Dixie Chicks (Hampton Coliseum)...uu- Peter, Paul and Mary (In front of Old Capitol in C.W. in Williamsburg, Va....still right on tune after all of these years, back in '90s!)...vv- New Orleans Preservation Hall Band...we waited in an old vacated bldg. downtown...after 12, different musicians arrived after their gigs from around town!...came together to JAM. We stood the entire time, with the group of mostly older musicians playing REAL JAZZ and New Orleans-style music. I inched over to the neat little older upright piano player who pounded her keys with vigor! Bass fiddle...gitar...snare drums (NO electrified anything)...What an experience, into the early morning!...ww- sat in on a U.S. Supreme Court case on the Mall...security was intense!...xx- U.S. House of Representatives questioning session...several times, in balcony, had sat in and observed their sessions!...yy- U.S. Senate session...same experience in that hall, in balcony...am not important enough to sit on floor downstairs!!...have, though, walked around the outside halls of both Houses while they were in session, always take the Senate subway...sometimes could ID a known Senator or Rep.!...zz- Rocky Horror Picture Show...wanted to see a screen/live RHP Show in person. So, attended one at the Williamsburg Theatre one '90s weekend evening. Packed house, with mostly groups of "dressed up" revelers doing what the RHPS tradition has been doing for years---I think, having fun! While the movie was up on the big screen, the "participants" were in the front, sides and stage throwing quotes and insults at the actors on screen! Now, this guy knows and understands what the Rocky Horror Picture Show was...is really about....!...aaa- "CATS!"...Saw "Cats!", the musical at Richmond Mosque...LIKED IT!!...bbb- Bruce Hornsby in Concert at W&M Hall!...got my beautiful little daughter, Sarah, for the weekend, and treated her to her very first concert!!!...ccc- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus!...was in the high school at the time, wanting to see, from my list of neat stuff, even then, the largest circuses UNDER A TENT. Got a temp job there out in the country, Augusta County, Va....and did! Also, experienced 2nd largest circus under a tent when it came to town, earlier, Hagenback Wallace Circus, 2nd largest and did get a temp job then setting up a sideshow tent!...ddd- KENNY G, in concert at Richmond Fairgrounds...he brought his tenor saxophone into the mainstream music arena!...Kenny G was an excellent musician and showman!...eee- "Under the Boardwalk"...was invited to sing, up on stage, at a concert in the 'Burg, and did! ....eee- JAI ALAI...won a trip to Disney World and went nearby, one afternoon, to watch Jai Alai games for the first time...wanted to add another experience to my memory bank!. (Large court, with players tossing the small game ball to the huge front court wall, using "hand-baskets" attached to one hand to propel the ball at terriffic speeds (need to check on terminology and speed of toss?)....fff- Police LINEUP VOLUNTEER- for another one of my many experiences to understand our society, someone in Social Services, in another town, asked if I would be interested in volunteering, with my longer style of hair, to stand in a lineup one afternoon. I did, wearing scruffy clothes. NOW I KNOW what this segment of our system is like...scary. if one is innocent!
a- Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi for Manson trial in CA...was at Richmond Forum and went backstage later to meet him and did!...b- Former Russian President Gorbechav, April 13, 1993, visited Monticello to give a Jefferson Founder's Day talk up on the famous mountaintop - I practiced some Russian a few days beforehand in order to speak with him...figured out which door he would come out of and did meet him on the sidewalk...we both "tried" to communicate. The former President of Russian was quite hospitable, smiling. And I throughly enjoyed meeting him and the experience!..c- Linda Lavin (at W&M Phi Beta Kappa Hall- asked her a question, from audience, during her one-woman show - she IS one classy, petite actress & person)... d- John Houseman (director and actor - asked him a question in Q&A session)...e- Michael Dukakis (presidential forum in Williamsburg)...went backstage and waited for him to exit...yes, asked him a question or three about entering politics! f- G. Gordon Liddy (sat at lunch table with him and listened!)...g- Art Linkletter (Richmond Forum)..h- .Jesse Jackson (Presidential Forum at W&M)...yes, also waited backstage for him to exit to ask a question or three. i- Pres. Richmond Nixon and family (White House Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony)...j- Sen. Ted Kenedy (in U.S. Senate subway, with his entourage dutufully tagging along and with him, at a fast pace!). Did pause to ask him a question...k- Gov. Ronald Reagan spoke at forum in U.Va. Hall...(he was and still is THE BEST speaker and communicator I've ever met!!) l- Eric Segal ('Love Story' author - talked with him at a book signing in Northern Va.; best author speaker!)...m- Daryl Strawberry (baseball game in Richmond). Chatted with him...n- Ralph Sampson (basketball - Harrisonburg...was at a restaurant, came out and tried to "escape" me)...o- I received a 14-page letter from Charles Manson in reply to my letter sent to him about his fairness during trail. (Manson wrote a 14-page letter back to moi) p- Patty Hearst letter from her to me, about her justice have her reply! q- James Earl Ray (letter to me from the convicted assassin of Rev. King, Jr....r- Bill Cosby (met and talked with him after his rehearsal for a 'concert' in Maryland! Was a gentleman!)...s- Jerry Lewis (rude, smartass! - before concert' in Maryland)...t- Louis Fahrankahn...'Nation of Islam' in America...(Richmond church - quite an experience! Now understand, much better his mindset...u- Shirley Chisholm--first (Black) woman to run for the Presidency--was at MBC...we sat around in small seminar!...(liked and respected her!)...v- (TX), then, Gov. George Walker. Bush in person on a Sunday after church in Williamsburg...he was quite amiable, (really liked him in person!)...w- James Earl Jones (actor...a gentle giant, highly skilled actor and gentleman! - went backstage to meet him...liked him!)...x- Vanesa Williams (1984 Miss America/actress - went backstage to meet her)...y- Sen. George McGovern (Nor-FOLK talk)...z- Danny Glover (actor - Newport News talk and chat afterwards)..aa- Jerry Rubin (far left-wing activist...strange) - Norfolk talk and Q&A)...bb- Glenn Close (W&M)...cc- Katie Couric (she interviewed me about my letter to then Pres. Castro, on NBC's The Today Show)...dd- Willard Scott (NBC...down-to-Earth - read Christmas story in Williamsburg's Kimbell Theatre)...ee- Elizabeth Taylor (twice met her- in D.C. at Senate Bldg., after her husband was elected a U.S. Senator and later at a social in Virginia)...ff- Attended a bevy of congressinal hearings one summer on Capitol hill... gg- Muhamed Ali was funny and personable up close and personal - Portsmouth, Va.....hh- Hand-delivered letter sent to me from Pres. Fidel Castro to me...hh- Andrew Young (Atlanta Mayor - U.N. Rep....Norfolk)...ii- Jacques Cousteau (NorFOLK, when he sailed into Norfolk's Waterside)...ii- Joe Montana (QB in New Orleans SuperBowl game)....jj- O.J. Simpson and----kk- Don Johnson (party upstairs in French Quarter during Super Bowl game...went around back and upstairs but couldn't get close to them, surrounded by women!)...ll- Dr. Robert Schuller (Inspiring minister but discovered he uses the SAME sermon over and over). mm- (Chosen in college to attend a special conference to study our Federal Gov't in D.C., and then on to the United Nations in New York (WHAT an absolute neat experience!)...nn- DR. RUTH (William &Mary)...oo- Art Buchwald (Richmond Forum)..pp- H. Ross Perot (Richmond Forum)...qq- Pres. Helmut Schmidt (Germany - Richmond Forum)... rr- Dr. Henry Kissinger (Richmond Forum)....ss- L. DOUGLAS WILDER (when Lt. Governor of Va....in General Assembly room)...tt- Rev. Jerry Falwell (Lynchburg minister - another open-minded experience)...uu- Sec. of Treasury Donald Regan (Williamsburg, Va.)...vv- Queen Elizabeth II (visit to Williamsburg, Va. in 2007!...in Wren Bldg. Courtyard, Jamestown and rode in a royal carriage down our Duke of Gloucestershire Street one early evening!)...ww- Gov. George Wallace-Alabama (segregationalist)...as always, need to hear both sides, in Richmond)...xx- Gov. Lester Mattox/Georgia (segregationalist)...Staunton...yy- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (W&M Hall...extremely intelligent and an astute communicator on Justice!)...zz- Former Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher (W&M Hall speaker...aaa- Julian Bond (Richmond Forum).....bbb- Late U.S. Senator Sam Ervin, Chairman of Senate Watergate hearings...Richmond Forum...in audience when he spoke and with a panel....ccc- EDWARD ALBEE, playwright, most famous play is "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"--was on a Virginia campus near Richmond...listened to and met him afterwards and felt that he had not let his fame and writing abilities get out of reach from the rest of us! ddd- "MEDIATION TRAINING"--completed an intense training course with learning how to organize and handle "mediation" between two persons or groups! It works and we do need much more of it to solve so many cosial problems! eee- My Earlier Town CHRISTMAS TREE Celebration origination!--created a plan, with fruition, to place a large Christmas tree in a town parkl...asked children, anyone, to donate nickels and dimes. We raised enough to buy a LIVE tree and have a company dig and move it, alive!, for Christmas. Every year had a celebration, with people bringing gifts to place under tree....all of this great tradition until someone, in the dark, cut it down--right before a Christmas..... fff - Naming a new school!...organized a plan, ahead of time, to persuade a School Board to name the new school for an early local history hero!!
ggg- 2010---Granted special permission to visit old site of the early town of Magruder in CAMP PEARY, with escort! hhh - Summer of 2011 - now have EIGHT (8) BLOGS, with hundreds of entries:
1) http: //thesquiresview.blogspot.com/ 2) http: //SquiresPonderables.blogspot.com/ 3) TheVirginiaCollegiateScene.blogspot.com/ 4) http: //TheSquiresPoliticalViews.blogspot.com/ 5) http: //TheSquiresMtTales.blogspot.com/ 6) http: //VisionarySurr-prises-Epiphanies.blogspot.com/ 7) http: //theSquiresSATIRESHumor.blogspot.com/ 8) http: //I-Can-Imagine-It.blogspot.com/
iii - NOTES: notice the wide variety of cultural experiences and persons interacted with over time! For many, I was in the audienceds and enough was bold enough to meet and even chat a moment of three with them.
jjj - And, I wanted to find out for myself what America's most infamous criminal, Charlie Manson, was like and did through a 14-page letter he sent to me when I wrote asking him how he felt about American justice, with his trial!....Charlie Manson.
kkk - Fidel Castro: I found, in our National Archives in D.C., a copy of a letter written by a 12-year Cuban boy to Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, and wrote to Pres. Castro asking it that letter was indeed writen by him. He wrote back that IT WAS! And also asked in my letter to Cuba if our country, Pres. Clinton, would sit down and talk about developing better relations between a neighboring country only 90 miles off our shore! Story as picked up by the major news media and became BIG! Received boxes of letters from regular Cubans telling me that Americans and Cubans could actually get along together over and above our respective different governments and philosophies!
lll - As a Jaycee, pulled the curtain for Johnny Cash for him to go on stage. Discovered that he was a passionate singer. But also saw a problem with his drug effects as he stood next to me waiting behind stage, to go on. I had to hold him up straight and nudge him on stage. I truly felt sadness for him....nn- Former mmm - Former Va. Governor Mills Godwin...was invited to State Capitol to meet Gov. Godwin and present him with my first Virginia Hospitaliy Award (squire had created it and made the actual Award)...nnn - was chosen one summer, as a Taft Fellow, to study American Government at U.Va....ooo - Talked with Jesse Jackson, briefly, behind stage...liked him. He stopped, when I asked him a question, as he came through backstage (asked if this educator should get involved with 'politics.') You can ask me in person what he shared with me. ooo - Met then Gov. George W. Bush on Duke of Gloucester one Sunday after church at Bruton Parish Episcopal Church. He is one of my fave personalities ever to meet and talk with! ppp - sat in audience in C-Ville University Hall to listen to then Gov. Ronald Reagan (Ca.) and was mesmerized by his intelligence, speaking ability and honesty. I was amazed listening to this historical person in our American history!
++MORE PERSONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES INCLUDED: a- picking peaches in lower Va. Beach once for the experience (NOW I understand what a peach picker does!) b- volunteered, one summer to work on a farm for a week (hardest 'job' ever!) c- painted houses one summer! d- hot-air ballooning! e- learned to tend a vegetable garden as a youth, really, and worked in my great-uncle's veggie gardens. d- herb gardening!...studied and actually created a herb rock garden! e- flower gardening!...took piano lessons, as a teen, one hour a week and then was invited outside to take care of piano teacher's flower gardens!!! f- piano lessons for years, as a youth. g- saxophone lessons and school band for five years! g- created and owned three (3) sandwich shoppes, EARNING three national awards, two separate years, for the most original sandwich creations in America! h- won an all-expense cruise in Hawai-i for the most original "donut" creation in America!
B) And every single experience, adventure and person met or have been around from this list IS the truth!!! (And NO fake-it-until-you-make-it spin, either!)
C) Entertainment and Adventures; Adventures: a- the Beatles (they were off-key at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium)..b- Garth Brooks (excellent showman in Richmond)...c- June & Johnny Cash (I pulled curtain/Jaycee)...d- Dave Clak Five in Richmond, (great show!)..e- Crystal Gayle was at Busch Gardens...f-Johnny Mathis...in D.C. (bestest soloist ever!).. g- Grand Funk RR (loud)..h- Smothers Brothers...J.M.U. (funny)..i- Rod Stewart (bestest concert, also!)...j- Patty Duke ("Miracle Worker"- Off-Broadway in Manhattan...I fell in like with live theatre that evening!)..k- Ferrante & Teicher (piano concert in Richmond)...l- "Fidler on the Roof" (Broadway - another neat live theatre in NY)..m- Charlie Daniels Band (country!-Richmond, Va. State Fair)...n- Al Hirt (jazz-Virginia Beach, Va.)..o- early Dave Mathews Band in C-Ville at downstairs club..p- Eddie Murphy (gross, filthy language at W&M Hall)...q- Statler Brothers (country-Staunton, Va.)....r- "RiverDance" (loved it, saw twice in Richmond!)...s- "Jeopardy" (live in Manhattan- learned much about TV production during commercial space), t- "Concentration" (live-Manhattan)... u-"As the World Turns" (live - scenes were taped along in one continuous line on a huge set...Manhattan!)...v- Diane Warwick (singer/actor-Richmond, Va.)...w- Percy Sledge (singer/contem. blues-Richmond, Va.)...x- JOE TEX (blues singer-Richmond, Va.)...y- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (W. Va. State Fair)...z- Sammy Davis, Jr. (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts)...aa- Sonny & Cher in concert (Cher walked past me, during opening, up in audience...her costume?...tush was open to the world!...the brief return of the duo, though, was excellent!)...bb-- Elvis Presley (had tickets to see him in concert in Roanoke, but he died that week, honest!)...cc- Frank Sinatra - (cancelled because of illness)...dd- Chuck Mangione...concert on D.O.G. Street in Williamsburg (excellent group!)...ee-sang on stage a Gerry and the Pacemakers song--"Don't let the sun...."...'citing!)...ff- Roger Williams...Richmond...(piano - "Born Free")...gg- The Lettermen (JMU)...hh- Pro Ice Hockey game...attended game to get feel for what happens at a game!...(Yes, I always do need to experience more for a wide-angle understanding)...ii- A Yankee's baseball game at the old Yankee Stadium deep in the heart of old New York City!...jj-- New Christy Minstrels (American Folk group!...was into folk music for a spell, even singing locally)...kk- "Underground Atlanta"...stopped by and was disappointed!...(place was "old" and smelled of urine)...ll- the original STEALTH BOMBER!!...when I noticed a SMALL newspaper article that, for the very first time ever, the first all-black STEALTH BOMBER would land at an Air Force base in Tidewater and that SOME locals could watch it land and walk up sorta close to it on the landing strip. This guy WENT!....(and took pics of it landing and on the strip!)....mm- TOUR INSIDE and ON a BRITISH SUBMARINE...paid attention to newspaper notices, again, at NorFOLK Naval Base (fascinating adventure)....nn- INSIDE and ON a U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER (NorFOLK Naval Base)...oo- "AMITYVILLE HORROR"...while on a trip to New England, found and stopped in Amityville, New York to "see' the infamous house, after reading the book, seeing the film and walked around outside the neighborhood...felt it was highly dubious that the horror inside could have happened!...house is too close, on both sides, to other houses, yet, no one heard or saw anything, HORRORS, going on IN that house. That includes the small, private boathouse and dock in back!...pp- Hitchhiking...as an undergrad at Bridgewater College, began to hitchhike!..with no wheels at the time. Even hitchhiked to Roanoke to see a coed or three...never had a problem getting a ride, usually with an older married couple. (Looking back, would NOT hitchhike today!)...qq- Given a standing welcome in Virginia General Assembly's Senate chambers upon my visit during my first years as an educator...rr- Whalewatching...off the coast of Virginia during a March....ss- Marcel Marceau!...a mime genius!!...in "concert"...there was no one like this quiet artist-actor, ever! Believe he was in Richmond, one of his very last performances...will always remember him "climbing steps" and "carrying a large piece of glass."...tt- Dixie Chicks (Hampton Coliseum)...uu- Peter, Paul and Mary (In front of Old Capitol in C.W. in Williamsburg, Va....still right on tune after all of these years, back in '90s!)...vv- New Orleans Preservation Hall Band...we waited in an old vacated bldg. downtown...after 12, different musicians arrived after their gigs from around town!...came together to JAM. We stood the entire time, with the group of mostly older musicians playing REAL JAZZ and New Orleans-style music. I inched over to the neat little older upright piano player who pounded her keys with vigor! Bass fiddle...gitar...snare drums (NO electrified anything)...What an experience, into the early morning!...ww- sat in on a U.S. Supreme Court case on the Mall...security was intense!...xx- U.S. House of Representatives questioning session...several times, in balcony, had sat in and observed their sessions!...yy- U.S. Senate session...same experience in that hall, in balcony...am not important enough to sit on floor downstairs!!...have, though, walked around the outside halls of both Houses while they were in session, always take the Senate subway...sometimes could ID a known Senator or Rep.!...zz- Rocky Horror Picture Show...wanted to see a screen/live RHP Show in person. So, attended one at the Williamsburg Theatre one '90s weekend evening. Packed house, with mostly groups of "dressed up" revelers doing what the RHPS tradition has been doing for years---I think, having fun! While the movie was up on the big screen, the "participants" were in the front, sides and stage throwing quotes and insults at the actors on screen! Now, this guy knows and understands what the Rocky Horror Picture Show was...is really about....!...aaa- "CATS!"...Saw "Cats!", the musical at Richmond Mosque...LIKED IT!!...bbb- Bruce Hornsby in Concert at W&M Hall!...got my beautiful little daughter, Sarah, for the weekend, and treated her to her very first concert!!!...ccc- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus!...was in the high school at the time, wanting to see, from my list of neat stuff, even then, the largest circuses UNDER A TENT. Got a temp job there out in the country, Augusta County, Va....and did! Also, experienced 2nd largest circus under a tent when it came to town, earlier, Hagenback Wallace Circus, 2nd largest and did get a temp job then setting up a sideshow tent!...ddd- KENNY G, in concert at Richmond Fairgrounds...he brought his tenor saxophone into the mainstream music arena!...Kenny G was an excellent musician and showman!...eee- "Under the Boardwalk"...was invited to sing, up on stage, at a concert in the 'Burg, and did! ....eee- JAI ALAI...won a trip to Disney World and went nearby, one afternoon, to watch Jai Alai games for the first time...wanted to add another experience to my memory bank!. (Large court, with players tossing the small game ball to the huge front court wall, using "hand-baskets" attached to one hand to propel the ball at terriffic speeds (need to check on terminology and speed of toss?)....fff- Police LINEUP VOLUNTEER- for another one of my many experiences to understand our society, someone in Social Services, in another town, asked if I would be interested in volunteering, with my longer style of hair, to stand in a lineup one afternoon. I did, wearing scruffy clothes. NOW I KNOW what this segment of our system is like...scary. if one is innocent!
a- Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi for Manson trial in CA...was at Richmond Forum and went backstage later to meet him and did!...b- Former Russian President Gorbechav, April 13, 1993, visited Monticello to give a Jefferson Founder's Day talk up on the famous mountaintop - I practiced some Russian a few days beforehand in order to speak with him...figured out which door he would come out of and did meet him on the sidewalk...we both "tried" to communicate. The former President of Russian was quite hospitable, smiling. And I throughly enjoyed meeting him and the experience!..c- Linda Lavin (at W&M Phi Beta Kappa Hall- asked her a question, from audience, during her one-woman show - she IS one classy, petite actress & person)... d- John Houseman (director and actor - asked him a question in Q&A session)...e- Michael Dukakis (presidential forum in Williamsburg)...went backstage and waited for him to exit...yes, asked him a question or three about entering politics! f- G. Gordon Liddy (sat at lunch table with him and listened!)...g- Art Linkletter (Richmond Forum)..h- .Jesse Jackson (Presidential Forum at W&M)...yes, also waited backstage for him to exit to ask a question or three. i- Pres. Richmond Nixon and family (White House Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony)...j- Sen. Ted Kenedy (in U.S. Senate subway, with his entourage dutufully tagging along and with him, at a fast pace!). Did pause to ask him a question...k- Gov. Ronald Reagan spoke at forum in U.Va. Hall...(he was and still is THE BEST speaker and communicator I've ever met!!) l- Eric Segal ('Love Story' author - talked with him at a book signing in Northern Va.; best author speaker!)...m- Daryl Strawberry (baseball game in Richmond). Chatted with him...n- Ralph Sampson (basketball - Harrisonburg...was at a restaurant, came out and tried to "escape" me)...o- I received a 14-page letter from Charles Manson in reply to my letter sent to him about his fairness during trail. (Manson wrote a 14-page letter back to moi) p- Patty Hearst letter from her to me, about her justice have her reply! q- James Earl Ray (letter to me from the convicted assassin of Rev. King, Jr....r- Bill Cosby (met and talked with him after his rehearsal for a 'concert' in Maryland! Was a gentleman!)...s- Jerry Lewis (rude, smartass! - before concert' in Maryland)...t- Louis Fahrankahn...'Nation of Islam' in America...(Richmond church - quite an experience! Now understand, much better his mindset...u- Shirley Chisholm--first (Black) woman to run for the Presidency--was at MBC...we sat around in small seminar!...(liked and respected her!)...v- (TX), then, Gov. George Walker. Bush in person on a Sunday after church in Williamsburg...he was quite amiable, (really liked him in person!)...w- James Earl Jones (actor...a gentle giant, highly skilled actor and gentleman! - went backstage to meet him...liked him!)...x- Vanesa Williams (1984 Miss America/actress - went backstage to meet her)...y- Sen. George McGovern (Nor-FOLK talk)...z- Danny Glover (actor - Newport News talk and chat afterwards)..aa- Jerry Rubin (far left-wing activist...strange) - Norfolk talk and Q&A)...bb- Glenn Close (W&M)...cc- Katie Couric (she interviewed me about my letter to then Pres. Castro, on NBC's The Today Show)...dd- Willard Scott (NBC...down-to-Earth - read Christmas story in Williamsburg's Kimbell Theatre)...ee- Elizabeth Taylor (twice met her- in D.C. at Senate Bldg., after her husband was elected a U.S. Senator and later at a social in Virginia)...ff- Attended a bevy of congressinal hearings one summer on Capitol hill... gg- Muhamed Ali was funny and personable up close and personal - Portsmouth, Va.....hh- Hand-delivered letter sent to me from Pres. Fidel Castro to me...hh- Andrew Young (Atlanta Mayor - U.N. Rep....Norfolk)...ii- Jacques Cousteau (NorFOLK, when he sailed into Norfolk's Waterside)...ii- Joe Montana (QB in New Orleans SuperBowl game)....jj- O.J. Simpson and----kk- Don Johnson (party upstairs in French Quarter during Super Bowl game...went around back and upstairs but couldn't get close to them, surrounded by women!)...ll- Dr. Robert Schuller (Inspiring minister but discovered he uses the SAME sermon over and over). mm- (Chosen in college to attend a special conference to study our Federal Gov't in D.C., and then on to the United Nations in New York (WHAT an absolute neat experience!)...nn- DR. RUTH (William &Mary)...oo- Art Buchwald (Richmond Forum)..pp- H. Ross Perot (Richmond Forum)...qq- Pres. Helmut Schmidt (Germany - Richmond Forum)... rr- Dr. Henry Kissinger (Richmond Forum)....ss- L. DOUGLAS WILDER (when Lt. Governor of Va....in General Assembly room)...tt- Rev. Jerry Falwell (Lynchburg minister - another open-minded experience)...uu- Sec. of Treasury Donald Regan (Williamsburg, Va.)...vv- Queen Elizabeth II (visit to Williamsburg, Va. in 2007!...in Wren Bldg. Courtyard, Jamestown and rode in a royal carriage down our Duke of Gloucestershire Street one early evening!)...ww- Gov. George Wallace-Alabama (segregationalist)...as always, need to hear both sides, in Richmond)...xx- Gov. Lester Mattox/Georgia (segregationalist)...Staunton...yy- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (W&M Hall...extremely intelligent and an astute communicator on Justice!)...zz- Former Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher (W&M Hall speaker...aaa- Julian Bond (Richmond Forum).....bbb- Late U.S. Senator Sam Ervin, Chairman of Senate Watergate hearings...Richmond Forum...in audience when he spoke and with a panel....ccc- EDWARD ALBEE, playwright, most famous play is "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"--was on a Virginia campus near Richmond...listened to and met him afterwards and felt that he had not let his fame and writing abilities get out of reach from the rest of us! ddd- "MEDIATION TRAINING"--completed an intense training course with learning how to organize and handle "mediation" between two persons or groups! It works and we do need much more of it to solve so many cosial problems! eee- My Earlier Town CHRISTMAS TREE Celebration origination!--created a plan, with fruition, to place a large Christmas tree in a town parkl...asked children, anyone, to donate nickels and dimes. We raised enough to buy a LIVE tree and have a company dig and move it, alive!, for Christmas. Every year had a celebration, with people bringing gifts to place under tree....all of this great tradition until someone, in the dark, cut it down--right before a Christmas..... fff - Naming a new school!...organized a plan, ahead of time, to persuade a School Board to name the new school for an early local history hero!!
ggg- 2010---Granted special permission to visit old site of the early town of Magruder in CAMP PEARY, with escort! hhh - Summer of 2011 - now have EIGHT (8) BLOGS, with hundreds of entries:
1) http: //thesquiresview.blogspot.com/ 2) http: //SquiresPonderables.blogspot.com/ 3) TheVirginiaCollegiateScene.blogspot.com/ 4) http: //TheSquiresPoliticalViews.blogspot.com/ 5) http: //TheSquiresMtTales.blogspot.com/ 6) http: //VisionarySurr-prises-Epiphanies.blogspot.com/ 7) http: //theSquiresSATIRESHumor.blogspot.com/ 8) http: //I-Can-Imagine-It.blogspot.com/
iii - NOTES: notice the wide variety of cultural experiences and persons interacted with over time! For many, I was in the audienceds and enough was bold enough to meet and even chat a moment of three with them.
jjj - And, I wanted to find out for myself what America's most infamous criminal, Charlie Manson, was like and did through a 14-page letter he sent to me when I wrote asking him how he felt about American justice, with his trial!....Charlie Manson.
kkk - Fidel Castro: I found, in our National Archives in D.C., a copy of a letter written by a 12-year Cuban boy to Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, and wrote to Pres. Castro asking it that letter was indeed writen by him. He wrote back that IT WAS! And also asked in my letter to Cuba if our country, Pres. Clinton, would sit down and talk about developing better relations between a neighboring country only 90 miles off our shore! Story as picked up by the major news media and became BIG! Received boxes of letters from regular Cubans telling me that Americans and Cubans could actually get along together over and above our respective different governments and philosophies!
lll - As a Jaycee, pulled the curtain for Johnny Cash for him to go on stage. Discovered that he was a passionate singer. But also saw a problem with his drug effects as he stood next to me waiting behind stage, to go on. I had to hold him up straight and nudge him on stage. I truly felt sadness for him....nn- Former mmm - Former Va. Governor Mills Godwin...was invited to State Capitol to meet Gov. Godwin and present him with my first Virginia Hospitaliy Award (squire had created it and made the actual Award)...nnn - was chosen one summer, as a Taft Fellow, to study American Government at U.Va....ooo - Talked with Jesse Jackson, briefly, behind stage...liked him. He stopped, when I asked him a question, as he came through backstage (asked if this educator should get involved with 'politics.') You can ask me in person what he shared with me. ooo - Met then Gov. George W. Bush on Duke of Gloucester one Sunday after church at Bruton Parish Episcopal Church. He is one of my fave personalities ever to meet and talk with! ppp - sat in audience in C-Ville University Hall to listen to then Gov. Ronald Reagan (Ca.) and was mesmerized by his intelligence, speaking ability and honesty. I was amazed listening to this historical person in our American history!
++MORE PERSONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES INCLUDED: a- picking peaches in lower Va. Beach once for the experience (NOW I understand what a peach picker does!) b- volunteered, one summer to work on a farm for a week (hardest 'job' ever!) c- painted houses one summer! d- hot-air ballooning! e- learned to tend a vegetable garden as a youth, really, and worked in my great-uncle's veggie gardens. d- herb gardening!...studied and actually created a herb rock garden! e- flower gardening!...took piano lessons, as a teen, one hour a week and then was invited outside to take care of piano teacher's flower gardens!!! f- piano lessons for years, as a youth. g- saxophone lessons and school band for five years! g- created and owned three (3) sandwich shoppes, EARNING three national awards, two separate years, for the most original sandwich creations in America! h- won an all-expense cruise in Hawai-i for the most original "donut" creation in America!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
341- SHOULD SMOKING (Tobacco) BE BANNED IN YOUR OWN HOME?....
Poser......
Never did smoke cigarettes, but this soiologist and American government educator did listen to discourses and debates on both sides over time and have personally concluded that NO form of government or government individual or bureau has ANY constitutional right in any form or way to come into your home, my home, and tell you, me, not to smoke, period! That's the end of my portion to this poser's discussion....
Oh, did, years ago, when trout fishing way out in the wilds of the mountain area of Western Virginia, smoke a Rum-Soaked Cured Crook cigar, like my fabulous late grandfather, Carl. Kept the 'sketters away and didn't, ha, inhale! Anyway, that's my personal business and not yours!
Never did smoke cigarettes, but this soiologist and American government educator did listen to discourses and debates on both sides over time and have personally concluded that NO form of government or government individual or bureau has ANY constitutional right in any form or way to come into your home, my home, and tell you, me, not to smoke, period! That's the end of my portion to this poser's discussion....
Oh, did, years ago, when trout fishing way out in the wilds of the mountain area of Western Virginia, smoke a Rum-Soaked Cured Crook cigar, like my fabulous late grandfather, Carl. Kept the 'sketters away and didn't, ha, inhale! Anyway, that's my personal business and not yours!
Monday, July 20, 2009
340- "RABBIT PROOF FENCE"...A 2002 AUSTRALIAN FILM THAT YOU SHOULD VIEW II...
The Aborigines children, through the eyes of MOLLY, is the plot. It was a book by Phillip Noyce that received very little attention...until the 2002 film came out. Peter Gabriel composed the soundtrack...quality. I simply do not comprehend, after introducing this fine film in sosh! classes, even how it was filmed...with actors. You WILL have a tear or three...want to "yell" in disgust at how the Aborginies children were really treated by the Australian "government" some years ago...like our Native American children were treated in the late 19th century. Follow Molly, an actor, who rarely smiles. Another intruging character is the Aboriginal tracker...rarely says a word...but wait.
I will not give away any more of the plot. You WILL not forget the film...and Molly! Of course, as always, YOU decide...YOU do your own thinking.
Just noticed that this film is on STARZ this week! (August 1st)
I will not give away any more of the plot. You WILL not forget the film...and Molly! Of course, as always, YOU decide...YOU do your own thinking.
Just noticed that this film is on STARZ this week! (August 1st)
339- PASSION II....
As an American in a small town, do you have, within youself, a passion to stand up and speak out when you honestly feel that anything is unfair?...when your town, or country, is headed in the right or wrong direction?.......well?
Better yet, how about standing up for and out for, passionately, when someone has done you wrong?...when you "see" that something needs changing?
Taketh time to think through the situation, thinking through all of the "ducks in a row." Do NOT go off half-cocked! Think ahead to whom and what you want to say! Remain calm and calculated...that style works bestest! Then....proceed to speak up and out, with intelligence, strength and clarity.
Better yet, how about standing up for and out for, passionately, when someone has done you wrong?...when you "see" that something needs changing?
Taketh time to think through the situation, thinking through all of the "ducks in a row." Do NOT go off half-cocked! Think ahead to whom and what you want to say! Remain calm and calculated...that style works bestest! Then....proceed to speak up and out, with intelligence, strength and clarity.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
338- INTRODUCING "The 'QUATCH CLAN! (tm)"...AND MORE....
A) There's Sass 'Quatch (dad)...Hassie 'Quatch (mom) and daughter Myrt 'Quatch. They have a Maine Coon Cat named 'Snatch.' Their homeplace is way back up in the Blue Ridges of Virginny in a place in the dirt road called Smoky Row(tm).
A) The Otis P. T. Suggins (tm) family, and relatives, live in Stingy Hollow(tm), down the road a piece from the 'Quatch clan. Otis P. T. (hubby)...Mavis Flower Suggins (wife) and grandpa Lester Platt Suggins. Their trusty Bluetick Coon Hound answers to the supper call, often, of 'Molasses' and a spacial teddy bear cuddled, by Mavis Flower, and named 'Woolf-Woolf'.' You've already met the couple, with their homespun philosophies of life! And they will have more to spin coming in the future.
C) The 'Weenee family (tm)! Hallow is the husband, Hortense the wife. They live on Mule Academy Road at the summit of the Blue Ridges. Half the old cabin is in West-by-Gosh Virginia and the other half in Virginny. And take good care of their spacial pet, 'Oh Possum', who lives under the old wood stove in the kitchen, which is, by the way, in Virginny!
D) The ScareCrowe family (tm)! Shock is the father...Bitty the wife and Little Bitty their 37-year-old daughter. Gramma Scaree lives with them in the homeplace mansion by Hog Wallow Pond. 'Fetchit', a Chihuahua, gets its exercise early every morning by chasing Canada geese out on the pond!
E) The John W. Cowherd family (tm)! John W. is the father...Wholey the mother and twins, Mollie and Dollie Cowherd, create all of the excitement in Hardscrabble Pass down a piece from the summit...in Virginny. Their great-gramma, Icy Belle Cowherd, actually runs the family, along with 'Hark', a talkin' raven.
F) More familes will be introduced in the coming weeks, much to the delight of P.T. and his wife, Mavis Flower! "Family" is mighty powerful up in the Stingy Hollow......
A) The Otis P. T. Suggins (tm) family, and relatives, live in Stingy Hollow(tm), down the road a piece from the 'Quatch clan. Otis P. T. (hubby)...Mavis Flower Suggins (wife) and grandpa Lester Platt Suggins. Their trusty Bluetick Coon Hound answers to the supper call, often, of 'Molasses' and a spacial teddy bear cuddled, by Mavis Flower, and named 'Woolf-Woolf'.' You've already met the couple, with their homespun philosophies of life! And they will have more to spin coming in the future.
C) The 'Weenee family (tm)! Hallow is the husband, Hortense the wife. They live on Mule Academy Road at the summit of the Blue Ridges. Half the old cabin is in West-by-Gosh Virginia and the other half in Virginny. And take good care of their spacial pet, 'Oh Possum', who lives under the old wood stove in the kitchen, which is, by the way, in Virginny!
D) The ScareCrowe family (tm)! Shock is the father...Bitty the wife and Little Bitty their 37-year-old daughter. Gramma Scaree lives with them in the homeplace mansion by Hog Wallow Pond. 'Fetchit', a Chihuahua, gets its exercise early every morning by chasing Canada geese out on the pond!
E) The John W. Cowherd family (tm)! John W. is the father...Wholey the mother and twins, Mollie and Dollie Cowherd, create all of the excitement in Hardscrabble Pass down a piece from the summit...in Virginny. Their great-gramma, Icy Belle Cowherd, actually runs the family, along with 'Hark', a talkin' raven.
F) More familes will be introduced in the coming weeks, much to the delight of P.T. and his wife, Mavis Flower! "Family" is mighty powerful up in the Stingy Hollow......
Saturday, July 18, 2009
337- AMERICA'S HEROES #5...WALTER LELAND CRONKITE!...1916-2009....
Integrity...Honesty...Intelligence..."Patro Saint of News Broadcasting"...Journalist...Commentator...One of a Kind!...Truth Seeker...Fascination with America's space program!...Honorable.....
336- "GAMBARU II".....
"Never give up!" (Japanese)
Embrace "Gambaru"...have faith in yourself...take risks...hope...possibilities...faith....go for it!
As Otis P. T. Suggins always says, "Might take a spell but HOLD ON to them dreams and aspirations...MAKE 'EM freakin' come true! You can DO IT!"
Embrace "Gambaru"...have faith in yourself...take risks...hope...possibilities...faith....go for it!
As Otis P. T. Suggins always says, "Might take a spell but HOLD ON to them dreams and aspirations...MAKE 'EM freakin' come true! You can DO IT!"
Friday, July 17, 2009
335- SO...WHAT IS LOVE VIII?....
a- Patriotism!
b- Watching a town parade along a street, with pride inside, as the local school bands stroll by in their colorful uniforms...floats that aren't perfect...Scouts trailing along...horse groups prancing in line...fire engines bringing up the rear.
c- Sitting at a summer baseball game and ALL RISING to hear someone sing the "Star Spangled Banner", with a salute or hand on heart....
d- Listening to a summer concert in a small town right smackdab in the middle of a downtown closed street as the sun sets to the West...and EVERYBODY behaving, and a handful doing the "Shag" along the edge
e- Sitting in an auditorium beaming with pride and 'citement as a child, for the very first time, acts in a play on stage...acting as a FLOWER!
f- Stopping, in your car, to let a mother and child cross a busy intersection without fear.
g- Seeing, patiently, and pausing for a Canada geese family, hen, two goslings and a gander, to waddle across a country road, with the gander pausing on the other side to check you out...or maybe say 'thanks".
h- Texting, leaving a message for a 'spacial chum'.
i- Simply 'widdle thangs'.
j- Someone saying 'thank you' when I held a P.O. door for them.
k- Receiving an old-fashioned handwritten letter from anyone.
l- Sitting in back at a small town meeting and seeing and hearing an American true grit person stand up and speak out against or for any local issue!
m- Walking into any public library.................
n- Seeing in 1969, on TV, AMERICANS walking on the Moon, very early in the morning...dreamers!
o- Sitting at a table and signing autographs non-stop for a new blockbuster book that took years to compose!
p-
b- Watching a town parade along a street, with pride inside, as the local school bands stroll by in their colorful uniforms...floats that aren't perfect...Scouts trailing along...horse groups prancing in line...fire engines bringing up the rear.
c- Sitting at a summer baseball game and ALL RISING to hear someone sing the "Star Spangled Banner", with a salute or hand on heart....
d- Listening to a summer concert in a small town right smackdab in the middle of a downtown closed street as the sun sets to the West...and EVERYBODY behaving, and a handful doing the "Shag" along the edge
e- Sitting in an auditorium beaming with pride and 'citement as a child, for the very first time, acts in a play on stage...acting as a FLOWER!
f- Stopping, in your car, to let a mother and child cross a busy intersection without fear.
g- Seeing, patiently, and pausing for a Canada geese family, hen, two goslings and a gander, to waddle across a country road, with the gander pausing on the other side to check you out...or maybe say 'thanks".
h- Texting, leaving a message for a 'spacial chum'.
i- Simply 'widdle thangs'.
j- Someone saying 'thank you' when I held a P.O. door for them.
k- Receiving an old-fashioned handwritten letter from anyone.
l- Sitting in back at a small town meeting and seeing and hearing an American true grit person stand up and speak out against or for any local issue!
m- Walking into any public library.................
n- Seeing in 1969, on TV, AMERICANS walking on the Moon, very early in the morning...dreamers!
o- Sitting at a table and signing autographs non-stop for a new blockbuster book that took years to compose!
p-
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
334- THANKS, BLOGGERS!...........
Thanks, bloggers....at times this blog, in the evening, is "packed", and even this guy cannot log on...or you. My intentions have always been to share a "social commentary or three" on life out and about our American society. There is a bit of witty fun...an ounce of satire...a quart of originality...neat local history...love...introducing everyday heroes...squaring in on 'thangs'...philosophies from Otis P. Suggins and Mavis Flower Suggins...a tiny tear or three...introducing thoughts & concepts new to you...being a wordsmith..."going on" ADVENTURES...a bit of nostalgia....sharing the evolution of my first biggie novel, The Serpentine Bond! and more to come.....
My ideas and imaginations just keep rolling on! If I can influence YOU to influence others to be creative and imaginative, that makes me feel important, too...a bit of altruism is the name of the game, also! After all, it is imporant to yourself to like yourself...yeah! As Sass 'Quatch would say, "I like me! Know what I mean?""
My ideas and imaginations just keep rolling on! If I can influence YOU to influence others to be creative and imaginative, that makes me feel important, too...a bit of altruism is the name of the game, also! After all, it is imporant to yourself to like yourself...yeah! As Sass 'Quatch would say, "I like me! Know what I mean?""
333- MAVIS FLOWER SUGGINS PHILOSOPHIES Of LIFE #1.....
Yes, Otis P. T. Suggins has a wife, Mavis Flower. Mavis grew up in a hollow down the moutain a piece from the Otis homeplace. Heard tell they met one Sunday afternoon at a chapel social when the youth had a pie eating contest out under the spreading white oak trees. Mavis won, eating a banana cream pie in 3.7 minutes flat, with Otis coming in 2nd place at 5.3 minutes. Was like or love or something at first smile as both licked off residuals from their respective faces!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
332- PATRIOTISM...APOLLO 11...July 20, 1969...FIRST MOON WALK!....
I AM a patriotic soul!
Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 (today, 40 years ago). And two fellow Americans actually walked on our Moon for the first time. Commander Neil Armstrong was chosen to be the first one in history to step out and make the historic walk. 'Buzz' Aldrin followed him out the door of the module. Pilot Michael Collins stayed back on the space craft and orbited the Moon.
Many will remember, too, back on May 25, 1961, when Pres. John F. Kennedy noted to Congress that America WOULD put a man on the Moon within 10 years?
Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 (today, 40 years ago). And two fellow Americans actually walked on our Moon for the first time. Commander Neil Armstrong was chosen to be the first one in history to step out and make the historic walk. 'Buzz' Aldrin followed him out the door of the module. Pilot Michael Collins stayed back on the space craft and orbited the Moon.
Many will remember, too, back on May 25, 1961, when Pres. John F. Kennedy noted to Congress that America WOULD put a man on the Moon within 10 years?
331- The OTIS P. T. SUGGINS PHILOSOPHIES Of LIFE #3!.....
"Winning that biggie lottery is like trying to shovel, uh, smoke!"
Monday, July 13, 2009
330- TV COMMERCIALS...A squire SOCIAL COMMENTARY!....
Curiosity, by the way, DID benefit the cat!
A) That irritating GEICO gecko: some claim that a real little gecko could never talk, that the tiny critters, in real life, only chrips to other geckos. How in the freaking world can a car company build a convertible that tiny? How could a gecko get a driver's license for street use? At least that commercial is better than the current one with that wad of money and two eyes starring at you...and not speaking. The GEICO gecko does speak, though. By the way, what accent does that little green critter have?...British?...Australian?...Icelandic? Or who cares?
B) Cialis now for daily use? Is this the ad with the catchy song? NO...that one is for Viagra with a "viva" tune. What's next from this company? Vitalis?
C) Travelers Insurance, with the British guy who floats about with that huge RED umbrella? This guy loves it...so creative. Hearing it in the background, as I work on WORD, I will race to see it...over and over.
D) Those radio and TV ads for Bud Light! "Real men of genius!" have 24 of them so far. "Real American Heroes!" have 27. I've enjoyed these radio spots for YEARS, because they so cleverly poke fun at males who "think" they are so cool. As a matter of fact, a letter was written to August Busch IV in St. Louis earlier this summer complimenting their advertising staff for such refreshing humor.
Google to "My Bud Light Commercial Page". You'll find the two lists and can clic to hear any or all of them. Examples: "Real Men of Genius" has "Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer"..."Mr. Supermarket Free Sample Guy"..."Mr. Boombox Carrying Rollerskater".
"Real American Heroes": "Mr. Bowling Shoe Giver Outer"..."Mr. Inspirational Poster Maker"..."Mr. Giant Foam Finger Maker"....to name a few hilarious ones!
E) KASHI!..."7 whole grains on a mission..." Excellent TV commercial, for a change.
A) That irritating GEICO gecko: some claim that a real little gecko could never talk, that the tiny critters, in real life, only chrips to other geckos. How in the freaking world can a car company build a convertible that tiny? How could a gecko get a driver's license for street use? At least that commercial is better than the current one with that wad of money and two eyes starring at you...and not speaking. The GEICO gecko does speak, though. By the way, what accent does that little green critter have?...British?...Australian?...Icelandic? Or who cares?
B) Cialis now for daily use? Is this the ad with the catchy song? NO...that one is for Viagra with a "viva" tune. What's next from this company? Vitalis?
C) Travelers Insurance, with the British guy who floats about with that huge RED umbrella? This guy loves it...so creative. Hearing it in the background, as I work on WORD, I will race to see it...over and over.
D) Those radio and TV ads for Bud Light! "Real men of genius!" have 24 of them so far. "Real American Heroes!" have 27. I've enjoyed these radio spots for YEARS, because they so cleverly poke fun at males who "think" they are so cool. As a matter of fact, a letter was written to August Busch IV in St. Louis earlier this summer complimenting their advertising staff for such refreshing humor.
Google to "My Bud Light Commercial Page". You'll find the two lists and can clic to hear any or all of them. Examples: "Real Men of Genius" has "Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer"..."Mr. Supermarket Free Sample Guy"..."Mr. Boombox Carrying Rollerskater".
"Real American Heroes": "Mr. Bowling Shoe Giver Outer"..."Mr. Inspirational Poster Maker"..."Mr. Giant Foam Finger Maker"....to name a few hilarious ones!
E) KASHI!..."7 whole grains on a mission..." Excellent TV commercial, for a change.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
328- WANNA FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU STUB THAT TOE?......
This sociologist, and YOU, say....spew forth a naughty word or three!
a- you WILL psychologically feel better inside at that moment of impact on your toe...or when a pissant cuts you off in traffic and then gives you the fickle finger...or when you make a double-ugly choice or mistake?
b- highly suggest YOU utter the word or words when YOU are alone...to do so in public? Will lower your worth in other's eyes, no matter what YOU say. And, yes, I realize that those others do the same thing and some will want to judge YOU. YOU know how I feel about anyone thinking they're better than me or YOU!
c- Ha...I have a feeling that YOU already practive this practice....?
a- you WILL psychologically feel better inside at that moment of impact on your toe...or when a pissant cuts you off in traffic and then gives you the fickle finger...or when you make a double-ugly choice or mistake?
b- highly suggest YOU utter the word or words when YOU are alone...to do so in public? Will lower your worth in other's eyes, no matter what YOU say. And, yes, I realize that those others do the same thing and some will want to judge YOU. YOU know how I feel about anyone thinking they're better than me or YOU!
c- Ha...I have a feeling that YOU already practive this practice....?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
326- CHECK!...THOSE!...PRICES At The GROCERY STORE!.....
Please, each and every time, take the time to check over, carefully, your grocery store receipts!
a) Best to watch as they are rung up.
b) If not, pause nearby to check each item.
c) Or even at home.
d) Someone/s are in charge of changing prices in their computers...more and more prices, as I and friends are seeing, do not match the prices posted on the shelves on your printed receipt later. I personally have "caught" at least one to two wrong prices each day at a big chair you're quite familiar with, always in favor of the store.
d- Underline in red and take back to customer service to prove. If necessary, take someone in customer service back to the item price for proof. If they refuse, call for management. DON'T let the error slip by you!
e- Your consumer rights dictate that the price on the shelf is THE ONE you owe. DON'T let a clerk or manager try to palm it off as just a mistake!!!!...always, though, be POLITE. You'll succeed better, much better and quicker, because you're RIGHT, legally. By the way, a few big grocery stores have a policy of giving the item to you free if they, computer, make a mistake. ASK when it happens!
f- Know and exert your individual consumer rights...PLEASE! And use those "rain checks"....
g- IMPORTANT?...when you go to "that" big box store where your goods are placed into PLASTIC bags on those circular spinning metal bagholders, look THEN to make sure you got everything you bought!!!!...and ask for DOUBLE PLASTIC BAGS for all of those canned goods and heavy items. Ever have a single PLASTIC bag break in your car or going into your home? I know you have!
a) Best to watch as they are rung up.
b) If not, pause nearby to check each item.
c) Or even at home.
d) Someone/s are in charge of changing prices in their computers...more and more prices, as I and friends are seeing, do not match the prices posted on the shelves on your printed receipt later. I personally have "caught" at least one to two wrong prices each day at a big chair you're quite familiar with, always in favor of the store.
d- Underline in red and take back to customer service to prove. If necessary, take someone in customer service back to the item price for proof. If they refuse, call for management. DON'T let the error slip by you!
e- Your consumer rights dictate that the price on the shelf is THE ONE you owe. DON'T let a clerk or manager try to palm it off as just a mistake!!!!...always, though, be POLITE. You'll succeed better, much better and quicker, because you're RIGHT, legally. By the way, a few big grocery stores have a policy of giving the item to you free if they, computer, make a mistake. ASK when it happens!
f- Know and exert your individual consumer rights...PLEASE! And use those "rain checks"....
g- IMPORTANT?...when you go to "that" big box store where your goods are placed into PLASTIC bags on those circular spinning metal bagholders, look THEN to make sure you got everything you bought!!!!...and ask for DOUBLE PLASTIC BAGS for all of those canned goods and heavy items. Ever have a single PLASTIC bag break in your car or going into your home? I know you have!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
325- OUR GOOD OLD AMERICAN SOCIETY!..."REMEMBER THESE?".....
This Sociology educator loves the subject:
a- Clove Chewing Gum?...Teaberry Gum?...Juicy Fruit?....ahhh!
b- 45 RPM records?...33-1/3rd RPM records?...8-Track tapes?...Phonographs?
c- S&H Green Stamps!
d- Tinkertoys!...wood ones!
e- Lincoln logs!...real wood ones?
f- Speedy Alka-Seltzer!
g- Burma Shave signs along a country road?
h- Timmy and Lassie!
i- Uncle Remus?...and THAT song?
j- Grapette!...in a unique glass bottle!
k- Telephone numbers with a prefix word in front...as a kid, ours was Tuxedo---!l- Having to turn the TV antenna outside each time you switched channels?...being the first one in your neighborhood to have a B&W TV?
m- Excitment in the neighborhood when one family got a COLOR TV!
n- 15-cent McDonald 'burgers?...same for fries and a soda?...45-cents for a meal!
o- Mood rings!...Hoola Hoop contests!
p- Pound Puppies?
q- Wax lips at Halloween!
r- Sock hops...with real socks only on the gym floor to dance the night away?
s- Children who said "thank you" and "you're welcome"!
t- Riding your bicycle after school?...after SUPPER?
u- Having to eat Thanksgiving dinner at a card table, with the extended family, 'cause you weren't old enough to sit at the BIG table?
v- Real homemade chocolate chipper cookies that your grandma baked FROM SCRATCH?...and slipped to you a few in a "poke" (paper bag) when she came for a visit?
w- Those paper tatoos you placed on your arm with a wet sponge or cloth?
x- Spending a week in the country down on a real farm at your grandma's?...and meeting a cow face to face in the pasture for the first time?
y- Baking a cake for the first time...from scratch, and icing it with REAL icing and NOT already prepared from the suppermaket!
z- Dr Peppers in those small GLASS bottles?...that tasted sooo good COLD?
aa- Dad taking you fishing for that very first time!...and making him put on the wiggly bait?
bb- Getting caught outside in a summer downpour and lovin' every slooshin' step and jump and squeal?
cc- Ahhh...trapsing through every mud puddle in sight, after a rain!
dd- As a kid, walking by the grapes in a supermarket, "borrowing" a few and then trying to figure out if anyone saw you?
ee- Cabbage Patch Kids...still have an "official" adoption paper at home?
ff-
a- Clove Chewing Gum?...Teaberry Gum?...Juicy Fruit?....ahhh!
b- 45 RPM records?...33-1/3rd RPM records?...8-Track tapes?...Phonographs?
c- S&H Green Stamps!
d- Tinkertoys!...wood ones!
e- Lincoln logs!...real wood ones?
f- Speedy Alka-Seltzer!
g- Burma Shave signs along a country road?
h- Timmy and Lassie!
i- Uncle Remus?...and THAT song?
j- Grapette!...in a unique glass bottle!
k- Telephone numbers with a prefix word in front...as a kid, ours was Tuxedo---!l- Having to turn the TV antenna outside each time you switched channels?...being the first one in your neighborhood to have a B&W TV?
m- Excitment in the neighborhood when one family got a COLOR TV!
n- 15-cent McDonald 'burgers?...same for fries and a soda?...45-cents for a meal!
o- Mood rings!...Hoola Hoop contests!
p- Pound Puppies?
q- Wax lips at Halloween!
r- Sock hops...with real socks only on the gym floor to dance the night away?
s- Children who said "thank you" and "you're welcome"!
t- Riding your bicycle after school?...after SUPPER?
u- Having to eat Thanksgiving dinner at a card table, with the extended family, 'cause you weren't old enough to sit at the BIG table?
v- Real homemade chocolate chipper cookies that your grandma baked FROM SCRATCH?...and slipped to you a few in a "poke" (paper bag) when she came for a visit?
w- Those paper tatoos you placed on your arm with a wet sponge or cloth?
x- Spending a week in the country down on a real farm at your grandma's?...and meeting a cow face to face in the pasture for the first time?
y- Baking a cake for the first time...from scratch, and icing it with REAL icing and NOT already prepared from the suppermaket!
z- Dr Peppers in those small GLASS bottles?...that tasted sooo good COLD?
aa- Dad taking you fishing for that very first time!...and making him put on the wiggly bait?
bb- Getting caught outside in a summer downpour and lovin' every slooshin' step and jump and squeal?
cc- Ahhh...trapsing through every mud puddle in sight, after a rain!
dd- As a kid, walking by the grapes in a supermarket, "borrowing" a few and then trying to figure out if anyone saw you?
ee- Cabbage Patch Kids...still have an "official" adoption paper at home?
ff-
Saturday, July 4, 2009
324- MARRIAGE In OUR AMERICAN SOCIETY...IN OUR 21ST CENTURY?.....
Need a license? Only between a man and a woman? Infidelity in the relationship? Children?...Secrets to longevity in a marriage?
You must admit, in our American society, that longtime standards are changing quickly. Challenges through the court system have been pressing....
There really is a generation gap, also, and it is most important for both generations to take the time to listen and talk. The concept of "marriage" has changed, like most everything else in our American society. That's a fact, and it's time all of us, both generations, "git 'er done" in the way of coming together for the pure sake of getting along and not assuming that one has the best solutions over the other..
Fact: the younger generation, for whatever reason, feels that legal marriage, as we remember, it does not last 'forever'....
Fact: social values, more importantly, center around themselves and not what others think.
Fact:
You must admit, in our American society, that longtime standards are changing quickly. Challenges through the court system have been pressing....
There really is a generation gap, also, and it is most important for both generations to take the time to listen and talk. The concept of "marriage" has changed, like most everything else in our American society. That's a fact, and it's time all of us, both generations, "git 'er done" in the way of coming together for the pure sake of getting along and not assuming that one has the best solutions over the other..
Fact: the younger generation, for whatever reason, feels that legal marriage, as we remember, it does not last 'forever'....
Fact: social values, more importantly, center around themselves and not what others think.
Fact:
Friday, July 3, 2009
323- SMART REMINDERS For YOU!...And ME!....
a) Pull down gasoline receipt slip before pulling off!...someone can find numbers!
b) A "THANK YOU!"...join me in beginning a revolution of manners when someone DESERVES it!
c) DEER have the right away, no matter what you think!
d) FRESH plump blueberries are IN this summer...test one or three to see if they're sweet...if not, politely take back to market...and they're cheaper, too, now!
e) Mosquitoes are OUT!....
f) Cantalopes (mushmellons) are IN...and cheaper, also! If you want one that is still chilled, leave out on counter for a spell. And how do you know if one is ripe? Press slightly with a thumb on the end with the little round spot! Need to get the one that slightly gives. Also, thump it! If it is firm, not ripe, will be "hard" inside and not produce a slightly hollow sound. How did I learn this? Worked during high school at a local supermarket, learning all aspects of the grocery business, including what a wise produce guy who taught me the secrets to choosing veggies and fruit! Even worked in the meat dept. for a spell one summer. Manager trusted me, too, to tell him if a pissant had hidden something with the intent of stealing it....ha, the things you learn working in a grocery store.
g) BANANAS...more than one is a bunch. ONE banana is a FINGER! My grandfather told me about the early little town markets that bought huge bunches of bananas from the incoming South American ships. Market owner would hang them outside, when not cold, his store. Customers would walk by and pull off bunches to buy. And the bestest way to "open" a banana? Start at the opposite end with the crooked stem...opens easier and quicker, every time! Ripe 'nanners containt more sugar, by the way. Anyone like homemade banana puddin' or banana cream pie? That's a double YUMMY!!
h) "Turn the lights off in a room when you leave," my father insisted at home when I was a munchkin. When I began having to pay the electric bill, I understood!
i) Buy an inexpensive hummingbird feeder (diner)! Their antics and dive bombing you if you're too close will delight! AND, during the hot summer months, they NEED the "juice". And whup up your own brew: 4 parts water to 1 part sugar (4 cups of water/1 cup of sugar). Be sure to bring to a boil for a couple of minutes in a pot or pan. LET COOL IN SINK!! I use a quart jar, sealed, and store ahead in fridge. PLEASE rinse out feeder, with hot sink water, each time BEFORE you fill again! Remember to treat the miniature "'copters" as if they were a member of your family 'cause they are for a few months in the warm months.
After a spell, I hear and feel them zoom up near the feeder (diner) and stare at me, face to face. And, if they're really thirsty and see me, they will really zoom through the porch VERY CLOSE....but missing me! "Leave!" they're thinking? By the way, they usually arrive the last of March or early April and stay until September or so.
j) Remember to make a cool Smoothie a bunch of times during the summer. If you feel really adventurous, throw, in the blender, some fresh blueberries, watermelon (sans seeds), cantalope (sans seeds), strawberries and a bit of moo juice, some cracked ice in the blender all together. DO NOT ADD SUGAR! Oh mi ga, they're sooooo good and refreshing!
k) Blueberries II..."wild" ones are those tiny ones and cost more...maybe not as sweet. Those larger, plump ones are the domesticated kind. You decide....
l) Wanna feel better at bedtime and sleep better? Take a quick, slightly chilly shower this summer...or try a warm one...your choice.
m) Purchase a new T-shirt or sweatshirt? Look down...have you ever left that stick-on "large" tag on and walk out and about "showing it off"? I did, recently.
n) Do you act like a respectful and caring driver while out and about in traffic? Better yet, do you drive according to the Virginia laws? Only problem?...who else does, act respecful in our society?
o) Riding a bicycle? Did you know that there are bike laws?...that a bicyclist is required to use the SAME laws as a car driver???? I see them often riding right around a car at a light...riding two abreast...riding in and out of traffic...riding coming the wrong direction...riding on a sidewalk. Ignorance...or "I don't care!"? By the way, I am a bicyclist, too.
p)
b) A "THANK YOU!"...join me in beginning a revolution of manners when someone DESERVES it!
c) DEER have the right away, no matter what you think!
d) FRESH plump blueberries are IN this summer...test one or three to see if they're sweet...if not, politely take back to market...and they're cheaper, too, now!
e) Mosquitoes are OUT!....
f) Cantalopes (mushmellons) are IN...and cheaper, also! If you want one that is still chilled, leave out on counter for a spell. And how do you know if one is ripe? Press slightly with a thumb on the end with the little round spot! Need to get the one that slightly gives. Also, thump it! If it is firm, not ripe, will be "hard" inside and not produce a slightly hollow sound. How did I learn this? Worked during high school at a local supermarket, learning all aspects of the grocery business, including what a wise produce guy who taught me the secrets to choosing veggies and fruit! Even worked in the meat dept. for a spell one summer. Manager trusted me, too, to tell him if a pissant had hidden something with the intent of stealing it....ha, the things you learn working in a grocery store.
g) BANANAS...more than one is a bunch. ONE banana is a FINGER! My grandfather told me about the early little town markets that bought huge bunches of bananas from the incoming South American ships. Market owner would hang them outside, when not cold, his store. Customers would walk by and pull off bunches to buy. And the bestest way to "open" a banana? Start at the opposite end with the crooked stem...opens easier and quicker, every time! Ripe 'nanners containt more sugar, by the way. Anyone like homemade banana puddin' or banana cream pie? That's a double YUMMY!!
h) "Turn the lights off in a room when you leave," my father insisted at home when I was a munchkin. When I began having to pay the electric bill, I understood!
i) Buy an inexpensive hummingbird feeder (diner)! Their antics and dive bombing you if you're too close will delight! AND, during the hot summer months, they NEED the "juice". And whup up your own brew: 4 parts water to 1 part sugar (4 cups of water/1 cup of sugar). Be sure to bring to a boil for a couple of minutes in a pot or pan. LET COOL IN SINK!! I use a quart jar, sealed, and store ahead in fridge. PLEASE rinse out feeder, with hot sink water, each time BEFORE you fill again! Remember to treat the miniature "'copters" as if they were a member of your family 'cause they are for a few months in the warm months.
After a spell, I hear and feel them zoom up near the feeder (diner) and stare at me, face to face. And, if they're really thirsty and see me, they will really zoom through the porch VERY CLOSE....but missing me! "Leave!" they're thinking? By the way, they usually arrive the last of March or early April and stay until September or so.
j) Remember to make a cool Smoothie a bunch of times during the summer. If you feel really adventurous, throw, in the blender, some fresh blueberries, watermelon (sans seeds), cantalope (sans seeds), strawberries and a bit of moo juice, some cracked ice in the blender all together. DO NOT ADD SUGAR! Oh mi ga, they're sooooo good and refreshing!
k) Blueberries II..."wild" ones are those tiny ones and cost more...maybe not as sweet. Those larger, plump ones are the domesticated kind. You decide....
l) Wanna feel better at bedtime and sleep better? Take a quick, slightly chilly shower this summer...or try a warm one...your choice.
m) Purchase a new T-shirt or sweatshirt? Look down...have you ever left that stick-on "large" tag on and walk out and about "showing it off"? I did, recently.
n) Do you act like a respectful and caring driver while out and about in traffic? Better yet, do you drive according to the Virginia laws? Only problem?...who else does, act respecful in our society?
o) Riding a bicycle? Did you know that there are bike laws?...that a bicyclist is required to use the SAME laws as a car driver???? I see them often riding right around a car at a light...riding two abreast...riding in and out of traffic...riding coming the wrong direction...riding on a sidewalk. Ignorance...or "I don't care!"? By the way, I am a bicyclist, too.
p)
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