Entering 55th Grade

     Wonderful piece in "The Gray Lady" or The New York Times (Saturday & September 2019) if you prefer, by Mary Laura Philpott. She writes about adults losing the childhood prompt to reboot their lives that came so naturally when they entered each new grade from kindergarden through the end of high school.

     I'm currently entering the 55th grade and like the idea of reclaiming this long forsaken right of passage. Each year we could go back to school changed in someway that each one of us alone would truly understand. It might be a new hair style or nickname, or the lasting impression made by a book that had been read over the summer. No matter, we were different!

     In the upcoming term of the 55th grade I'll be reading more fiction by revisiting some long time favorites. I am lucky to have the superb Queens Library System and their online app for making sure my desired choices are delivered to my local branch. Without the ongoing tech backlash against the likes of FaceBook it's good to know the Internet can still benefit more than the tech titans in Silicon Valley. The Queens Library is "one of the largest library systems in the world by circulation, having loaned 13.5 million items in the 2015 fiscal year, and one of the largest in the country in terms of the size of its collection." They are also very good about taking suggestions for new books so if I hear about something good they sometimes will order it.

    What would a 55th grade be without Physical Education? Good old PE. I have discovered the health benefits of walking other people's dogs in my spare time. As long as the dog is less than a mile away I am good to go on a 30 to 60 minute walk courtesy of the dog walking app Rover. One walk a day usually gives me 4 miles of exercise. The dogs are always pleasant and are usually good conversation starters with strangers I meet on the street.

     They don't teach Civics anymore as far as I know, at least not by that name but I am including it in my 55th grade curriculum. "Civic education is the study of the theoretical, political and practical aspects of citizenship, as well as its rights and duties." I will be making a point of voting in the upcoming general elections and making my views known to my fellow citizens in person and online regarding topics near and dear to my heart like Ageism.

     Lastly, I will continue to stay ahead of the curve on the topic of Cybersecurity. We have to balance our desire for ease of use against our need for privacy and security. Never an easy balance but essential in a world filled with Facial Recogntion technology, hacking tools in abundance, and lots of people with too much time on their hands.

 

   

   

Homework

     Hated it. Kids don't need it. Make them go outside and play or allow them to figure out what play is themselves inside. Both are better than the second shift of work we sometimes saddle young children with when they ought to be learning to decide what is important for themselves. This is not an edict for them to do anything they want, only a suggestion that they read what interests them and play in ways they themselves have made up.

     I remember when my 6th grade math teacher, Mr. Ricci, assigned us the next two weeks of homework on a Friday afternoon and many of us mistakenly believed it was all due Monday. The look of surprise on his face on the following Monday when a dozen of us explained that we had done all the assignments: priceless!

    All I know is my parents were surprised by the rigor of Mr Ricci's assignment I showed them on that long ago Sunday afternoon. They knew Gene Ricci well and didn't question his judgement. Instead, they spent seven hours learning the concepts along with me. We were all worn out by the end of that day and Monday could not come soon enough.

     We all had a good laugh on that Monday evening when I told them the homework we had worked so hard to complete was not due for two more weeks.
You might have even made the argument to them at that moment that homework might best be done in some amounts.

Finding Meaning In The Mundane

     One of the longtime readers of this blog paid me the ultimate compliment in a recent email. He said I was able to find meaning in the mundane things that occurred in our childhood lives. If that doesn't hit the nail on the head I don't know what does.

     Those childhood lives were much more mundane than our current hyper-connected times. We experienced long periods, especially in August, which were hot and boring. During August there were few thoughts about the upcoming school firedrills or anything similar to the current day active shooter incidents, except for the Texas Tower Incident in 1966. Though it's hard to draw a parallel to the shooting at the University of Texas in Austin to all the school shootings we have seen in the last twenty years. We have almost grown numb to these horrific occurances. I'd gladly take those dull sweltering August days anytime, if I didn't ever have to hear about another person shooting up somebody's school yard.

   

   

George Friedman on Labor Day

© 2019 Geopolitical Futures® LLC. 
     A professor of mine at Dickinson College gets the last word on Labor Day. He currently has his own consulting practice: https://geopoliticalfutures.com/
Brilliant writer and very funny in person.

    "Labor Day became an American Federal Holiday in 1894.  Most other countries celebrate Labor on May 1st. That date had been a pagan celebration, but in the late 19th century, European socialists adopted May 1st as the annual holiday devoted to labor with marches and riots.

     Industrialization brought labor problems to the United States with some nasty consequences. American workers wanted more money, better working conditions, and recognition.  Money and better conditions were hard to give. So labor suggested a holiday, and management and Congress was enthused. A holiday not built around an armed uprising was just the thing. But May 1st was a reminder of everything they wanted the workers not to think about.

    So, the first Monday in September was chosen. Being the last weekend before children returned to school, this created a three-day, family oriented holiday. Rather than marching under the red flag, families headed to the beach or lake or wherever for a last summer outing. The vendors at these places thought it was a delightful idea. And so, Labor Day didn't become a day to plan revolutions, but a time to kick back and have a beer, and for the vacation industry to have one last summer blow-off.

     Think about it. The threat was a European style revolution. The solution was a holiday, one the kids wouldn't let the workers ignore - so no meetings. Those making money out of summer got a three-day weekend to peddle their wares. And the workers were recognized for being workers, and at least that beef was taken care of. And some of the Christian churches who were not happy with a pagan holiday being Labor Day, were also appeased.

     To get a sense of the difference between the US and Europe when facing political and economic chaos, the American solution was to turn a revolution into a marketable event, keep the churches quiet, and let the kids call off the union meeting."

     Happy Labor Day, and think about its pure genius.

     Sincerely,

     George Friedman

John Steinbeck On Labor Day

     A few words by John Steinbeck on Labor Day and an endorsement of his seminal novel The Grapes of Wrath seems appropriate:

    “All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die.” 

     The Grapes of Wrath ought to be required reading by the time you are an adult but not before your thirty. Read the book first then see the John Ford epic. The plight of the "Oakies" whether you know them as migrant workers, guest workers, or even illegal aliens will become all too obvious. They deserve to be heard and treated with all the kindness we can afford. We are all in this thing called "Life" together. Lighten up on the criticism and dogma, instead figure out ways to make their labor a bit less hellish.

Labor Day 2019

     Labor Day used to mean going back to school and the end of the tedium which is August. Now we have school opening in August and this divide in people's minds, between Summer and Autumn, has been shattered.

     Work is different these days, too. Less working together at a location like the top of a skyscraper, and more working solo at odd hours around the clock. The old work was more back breaking and tedious but the new work is using all our time and depriving us all of the advantages the previous generation worked so tirelessly to provide us. Ironic? Yes!

     Labor Day was created as a result of unrest and rioting by workers who were clearly being given a raw deal by the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age. Replace the words "robber barons" with the words "tech titans" if you desire historical context. History tends to go in circles, if not repeat itself. 

     The current age is a new Gilded Age with extreme income inequality and outrageous displays of wealth. Flying private is the new horse drawn carriage with a team of eight horses. The McMansions are symbols of the architecture which once signified taste and style. They don't do justice to the 19th century examples except as a means to wall people off from the dirty realities of life which are common just outside their walls.

     The Trust Busters of the previous age, who helped level the playing field and provide room for Trade Unions to organize, already have the tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple in their sights. Hopefully, we'll be spared the violence and prolonged strikes but you never know what people's breaking points will be or what miscarriage of justice will provoke them. Possibly, some reflection upon those days when the year had more visible  inflection points will soothe some of the anger. Maybe the image of our steady, societal progress which we all used to hold close will do the trick. I'll make no predictions, only offer my consolations to those working hard this Labor Day, with no time to reflect upon the day's origins or the new treadmill our technologies have tied us to. 

      

     

Lessons From The Little Prince

“Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions.” Little Prince” Author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on Losing a Friend

     The Little Prince — "a book very much about reconciling the great unbidden gift of loving a friend with the inevitability of losing that friend."

     We enter into friendships more easily when we are young and have fewer options and distractions. With the passage of time we gain more freedoms and thus more opportunities to forsake the friendships created in youth. It's an absolute inevitability of life--that we will all lose a friend to death, argument, or distance. 

     It we knew when we were younger how hard this would be and how devastated it would leave us, would we still take the chance? We are by nature a trusting bunch so I would answer in the affirmative. I would also add that I try to keep adding friends as I age and try to acquire them via proximity as we did as children. It's not the distance is an automatic disqualifier but it does make it difficult to sustain friendships, no matter how advanced how technology becomes. If you can feel the touch of their hand or the smell of their skin then you bond on levels impossible to replicate and which take you back to your first tries at friendship, that either ended well or badly.

Ridgewood Rifle Club

     Much to my surprise the Ridgewood Rifle Range (RRC) at 209 Chestnut Street survives to this day as a private club, despite rising real estate prices in Ridgewood.

     The lessons taught about the proper use and storage of guns are sorely missed these days as it appears the RRC is not trying to be anything more than a small club for air rifle enthusiasts.

     There is a police/club range in Fair Lawn but a long waiting list and a local residenecy requirement keep the impact of its course of instruction to a minimum. RRC used to host students who enrolled through the Bergen Continuing Education program to "learn how to shoot safely" and earn their NRA qualification.

     The RRC name is currently attached to an Internet website which sources the sale of gun store parts and accessories.