Stay Connected Via FaceBook

Every once in a while it seems there is a new "scientific" study as to why people should quit using FaceBook. The reasons they site like privacy and that it can use up a lot of your time are valid.

I also agree nobody cares what you are eating but the pictures of people which are posted are priceless. 

If FB is the social medium for a certain age group and demographic that is a good thing in a world where very few things seem to bring us together, like civic responsibilty.

I agree that we all have friends in our friends lists who we might remember very well, but who's to say this is a bad thing? I've received some great advice from people I haven't seen in over 30 years. Does the passage of time make their words any less authentic. I think not.

I am going to remain connected for a while longer, or until one of these aforementioned studies changes my mind.

Mr. Harmon

A George Washington Junior High School Teacher we are still talking about in glowing terms long after he has passed. There are plenty of teachers across the entire history of the Ridgewood Public School System who are worthy or our acolades.

In Mr Harmon's case, everyone who ever met him only hopes to live up to the high standards he set personally in an era when tolerance and compassion were hard to come by. Mr Harmon lived every day with a Shakespearean single mindedness, "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?"
I met Mr Harmon in 1971, when my brothers Peter and Don McCubbin took home the plants in his classroom for the summer. He referred to each of us as "Mr McCubbin" from the moment I met him and for all the time which I was ever within earshot. He always said this with a knowing smile as to not intimidate, because between his perfectly tied bow tie and his noteworhty eloquence, Mr Harmon was an imposing figure to a junior high school students and a perfect gentleman.

There was never a moment in his presence when you did not feel respected. I only wish that our nascient RHS Alumni Association will be emblematic of the rightenous and saintlike patience he lived every day.

BBQs on Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. The unofficial start of summer and with it the BBQ season. I have always liked to BBQ on charcoal, and this is how I remember it from my youth. Today with propane we have a more even heat and it reaches whatever temperature you desire by the turn of a knob. I like the challenge of figuring out the temperature of the flame by waving my hand over the charcoal and looking to see their color. It makes for a more intense BBQ experience for the chef and what I believe is a tastier flavor for the food. Always use Kingsford.

A little Memorial Day history courtesy ofthe San Francisco Bay View, of which I was unaware:

"As we pause to remember the nation’s war dead, it’s worth remembering that Memorial Day was first celebrated by Black Union troops and free Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina at the end of the Civil War.

Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865, in Charleston, S.C., to honor 257 dead Union soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in an upscale race track converted into a Confederate prison camp. They dug up the bodies and worked for two weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 3,000 Black children, where they marched, sang and celebrated.

As historian David Blight recounts in his masterful book, “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory” (2001), Charleston was occupied by Union troops in the spring of 1865, most white residents having fled the city. In this atmosphere, the free Black population of Charleston, primarily consisting of former slaves, engaged in a series of celebrations to proclaim the meaning of the war as they saw it.

Happy Mother's Day

My Mom second from left. Circa 1945 at the Jersey Shore.

''Heeeeeeres Johhny''

From 1955 through 1985 he was always introduced the same way,  ''Heeeeeeres Johhny''!

When he finally left the stage for the last time there were no dry eyes in the studio, including Johnny's.

It was the end of an era where people stayed up late to at least hear his opening monologue, so they could talk about it at work the next day. It seems strange to consider this sort of appointment TV, or "linear television" as they say in the trade. We have exchanged this common meeting for a world of unlimited choices and TV on our own terms. It's hard to describe and explain to younger generations who can record and watch the late night shows the next day, or later that night and avoid all commercials.

When I consider that Johnny Carson was on TV for 30 consecutive years it always makes me stop and think how rare a phenomenon this is in any profession or occupation. I like to comment whenever someone tells me they have done something for 30 years that they have accomplished a "Johnny Carson." If they had ever tuned in for his show they would know of what I speak and usually give me a shy smile. They know how hard it is to work at something and not throw in the towel when the opportunity suggests itself. This is not to say I would want to try this feat, only that I recognize the perseverance that it takes. I saw what it took for my father to work 30 years at the same law firm, the sacrifices, the long commutes, and finally walking away from it all enjoy the fruits of his labors.