Friday, October 28, 2011

It's a Victory for the Heartland


Oh man! That game tonight--those boys played so hard, and were rightfully jubilant in their win. St. Louis Cardinals, World Champions of Baseball.

More than a half century ago I scooted up next to the recliner of my dear old Granddad, in the pine room of an old house in a little town in the middle of Missouri, listening, summer nights, to Harry Carey calling the plays, with color by Dizzy Dean.

This one's for you, dear Granddad, and for so many, many others. Thanks, guys.

The happy tears flowed.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Preoccupied Seattle



My dear wife and I went downtown this afternoon with a bag of oranges and another of apples.  Our plan was to donate the fruit to the several hundred mostly young people who, for the past week, have been occupying a small park in the middle of our commercial district.  Calling themselves "The 99 Percent" (the other 1% being the monied elite who pull most of the strings in this country), they are rallying in solidarity with the many groups that have sprung up recently, inspired by Occupy Wall Street. 

From a block away, there was no sign of the rally, and I was feeling self conscious with my bulging bag of food.  But as we rounded the shoulder of Westlake Center, we could hear drums, an unintelligible amplified voice, and vigorous chants of support.

We found the thousand or so folks at the rally to be much more heterogeneous than expected; there was a mix of people such as you might see almost anywhere about town, a few professional revolutionaries, and a lot of unionists.  About two thirds were listening to a rotating group of speakers, and the other third--mostly the young occupiers--were lounging and eating. A lot of pictures were being taken.  We walked around the park, listened, watched, and took pictures ourselves, applauded, and left our donation.  It was inspiring to see the commitment, good feeling, and energy.

We're back to thinking we might just stick around.