“Thank you. It’s an important read.”

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Poor People’s Campaign, May 29, 2018 Minnesota State Capitol

Earlier today I forward the most recent Just Above Sunset*, entitled “The World As It Is”   I noted:  “as you read, to think about how YOU, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, fit into changing the status quo.  Every single one of us has “to be the change we wish to see…” (Gandhi). We have to be “on the court”, not “in the stands”, or not interested….”

Several have chosen to respond, as follows, and the variety of their responses suggests to me that others may wish to see this post as well:

Bob: Thanks. Read it all.  Staying in the battle seems overwhelming at this point.  We are on the edge of full fascism unless we turn it around

in the fall elections.  We have to remember that only 24 percent of the total electorate put him in office and get to work on fall elections by.  It is trully bothersome to hear younger Trump supporters, as I did this morning, praising his leadership.  They appear totally immersed in the pop culture and Fox news propaganda.

Larry: This is very wonderful.  Had to do quick read now, but will take time later to read more carefully.

Peter: True, it is up to us, as individuals, now. But the book I’m writing makes an argument that what we also must do is evolve into a new kind of humanity. A way of being we have not yet acquired a taste for.

From that standpoint the 45th occupant of the White House is humanity’s expression of the first stage of grief: denial. In that context the angry, jealous old man makes a kind of logical sense. What the rest of us must do is raise the bottom — get through with the anger and negotiating phases of Humanity’s grief, and get to work reversing the damage we did to our life-support systems while addicted to oil.

Long time friend: Hi Dick. Good article!  I’m not one to prophesize, but if I were, I would say that once this current Trump term is over, the nation will go to work to undo all the damage done by Trump and Make America Great Again.

Flo: Thank you. It’s an important read.

ADDING CONTEXT

Tuesday, I dropped over for a small but vigorous demonstration at the Minnesota State Capitol (photo leads this post).  The demonstration was part of a nationwide event for the Poor People’s Campaign.  This is an initiative to build on an earlier similarly named campaign in 1968, which you can read here.  That campaign was organized by Martin Luther King, who was assassinated 50 years ago April 4, 1968.  About a week from now is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, June 6, 1968.

Yes, this demonstration was small.  Yes, I didn’t see many “poor” appearing people on the Capitol steps either.  But I didn’t expect such.

Poor People have other priorities, like survival, and the battles for them are going to have to be fought by people like ourselves.

There is an alarming and ever increasing wealth gap in this country, and no good will come of it.  Those who control power have the means to do it, and are addicted to getting even more of it.  The country is not well served by this obscene gap in wealth.  It may take years, but those who like the current status quo, will come to a personal day of reckoning, I predict.

Get active.

POSTNOTE: 

I came to the demo from a visit to grandson and family in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital, Minneapolis.  Emergencies like Ben’s likely long-term hospitalization and recovery are not planned expenses, so before a single bill is posted, the questions are things like “how much will be covered by insurance?” (which they are lucky enough to have) and the like.

If you’re privileged, as those of you who can read this are, it is easy to take such issues as survival for granted.   The poor, or people beset by catastrophe, have no such luxury.

We did not plan to visit our own family catastrophe.

If you wish an update on Bennie, here.

* I have read Just Above Sunset for some years now.  It is an always excellent six days a week summary of significant events of the previous day.  The price is more than right: free.  The compiler is retired and very well versed in life and politics.  Check it out.

Memorializing Peace

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Thoughts from May 28.

Consider joining the Poor People’s Campaign, supported by Vets for Peace.  In Minnesota, there is a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol today, Tuesday afternoon May 29, 5 p.m..  Details here.  For the event in your area, simply enter your zip code.

*

For a lot of years I’ve attended the annual Memorial Day program of the Veterans for Peace at the Minnesota Vietnam Memorial on the State Capitol grounds.

It is always impressive, as it was again this year.  We are folks who have served, many who’ve seen war up close and personal, or know comrades who have, and who know war is not glamorous, nor the desirable option for resolving problems, however righteous it might seem.

Each year people in attendance are invited to speak, and so it was today.  A gentleman, 91, from WWII era (below), remembered someone from even earlier in his life.  Someone else read a poem, so on.  Sr. Brigid McDonald sang the song “Patriot Game”*, and on and on for an hour and a half.   It was a very hot day, but no one left.  It was inspiring.  No guns….  Talk of Peace, not of horrors of War.

Vets for Peace, St. Paul, May 28, 2018

Before leaving the grounds, I took a walk over the to stone “garden” between the Veterans Service Building and the National Guard Armory across Cedar.

At this garden, each county in Minnesota is represented by one boulder, and on each boulder is a portion of one letter to or from someone at war.  Individually and collectively they elicit thoughts and feelings.  The garden is worth a reflective visit.

Today a Native American veteran from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, a platoon leader in Vietnam, spoke powerfully about the reality of war.  Behind him, about the time he spoke, a group of people who appeared to be Native American gathered at the Vietnam Wall, remembering people on the wall.

Vietnam Memorial St. Paul, MN State Capitol Grounds, May 28, 2018

“We were young.  We have died.  Remember us.”  The words say it all.

Mark your calendar for August 23-26 in the Twin Cities, and find ways to participate in the National Conference of the Veterans for Peace, hosted by VFP Chapter 27.

* A rendition of the song Patriot Game, here.

At the memorial garden on Minnesota State Capitol grounds May 28, 2018

Dwight Eisenhower, as quoted in Just Above Sunset “Not Just embarrassing“: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”  At the Canadian Club in Ottawa Jan. 10, 1946, from the War/Defense quotes from the Eisenhower Presidential Library.

“What a difference a day makes…”

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PRE-NOTE: Friday evening we got a telephone call about a very serious auto accident involving Grandson Ben and Son/son-in- law David.  Ben was air-evac’ed to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.  This is written on Sunday afternoon, May 27.

*

“What a difference a day makes…”, a long ago tune, keeps running through my mind.

Friday seems so long ago, when the lives of grandson Ben and Dad and Mom David and Robin and so many others changed instantly.  At that intersection in western Minnesota, one single second would have made a huge difference.

One single second.

I’ve just returned from the hospital.  Those with an interest can check in on Ben Menier.   I notice there have been over 1,700 visits already.  There will be time for individual visits later.

I’ve passed along all of the comments made by you – 40 so far.  Thank you so very much.

A couple of other favorites of mine come to mind today.  Louie Schwartzberg’s short film on Gratitude  is one I highly recommend.

Another is “The Station“, which Ann Landers liked so much she reprinted it from time to time years ago.  You can read it here: The Station001.

Ben and David and Robin were together in Ben’s ICU room yesterday afternoon.  As I write Ben is in surgery, another step towards a hoped for good end to an event no one could have anticipated.

At best, his will be a long haul, with uncertain end.

In peace.

*

For those who follow my blog, here is my offering for Memorial Day, 2018 written prior to the accident.

SAK, My Great Friend from England, Observes US at Memorial Day

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More than a great plenty to “chew on” if you wish…have  a very good Memorial Day weekend.  There is much going on – for sure, read the POSTNOTE at end of this post.

*

Before giving the floor to SAK: Wednesday of this week we were privileged to attend the Senior Academic Awards program at the nearby public high school.  The schools Chamber Singers opened the program with the wonderful “Wanting Memories” by Ysaye Barnwell. (Faces deliberately not shown.) Here is a version of the song they sang on Wednesday.

There were, by my count, 239 kids honored on this evening.  Their qualities, in “olden times” terms, were general excellence in “deportment” and “effort”.  Anywhere, they would be standouts.

They represented about half of their senior class which formally graduates shortly.  These are incredible, inspirational, kids.  Twins, two young women, received four year scholarships to the U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies; another honoree  was among the very few who got a perfect score on the ACT, and on and on and on.  At the end of the post I am including favorite quotes of a dozen Summa Cum Laude students.

I got to thinking about the half of the students who weren’t represented in this stellar group.  They have their stories too.  They’re in every town, everywhere.  Each of us know some of their stories, too.  Our country is full of these stories, every day.

In a few days, all of these kids “commence” to the adult world, going in their own directions – all of them

I wish every one who graduates (including those who get a blank diploma due to incomplete or other reasons, or have dropped out) all the best.  They are our (and their own) future.

*

On the same day as this honors convocation, my longtime friend SAK, in England, weighed in on the U.S. as he sees us at this point in time.  He was commenting on something I said in a brief editorial I placed in a small newsletter I edit for our area Citizens for Global Solutions.  The editorial is on page three, accessible here: CGS-MN Newsletter 2018 May-Final

Here is SAK’s commentary as received.  He conveys much food for thought:

[You are] ever the  optimist & always encouraging the citizens to get involved, demonstrate & vote.

But as you yourself note optimism is challenged these days & as someone said if elections changed anything they would have been banned or rigged as they have been in many places. Even if the number of so-called democratic countries is on the rise, democracy itself is on the wane.

Here’s a recent BBC programme on the subject & note the first speaker on the UK & the US – they are supposed to be the  preeminent democracies perhaps aside from the northern Europeans these days.

Democracy will fail in a new way, while we are sleeping, “not with a bang but a whimper” – thanks T.S. Eliot.

The problems are legion from gerrymandering to the exaggerated influence of money & lobbies etc.

Sure where there is manure there could be a pony but there is also another saying about closing barn doors after the horse has bolted.

I think the problem is deeper & more serious than mere politics & has roots in morality & the decline thereof.

With warmest regards & best wishes,

SAK

P.S. a book mentioned in the programme is:

How Democracy Ends by David Runciman published by Profile.

Here the author speaks.  John Gray reviews here. 

The following day, SAK provided “a bit more about the topic”.

Problems with current democracies & elections are legion from gerrymandering to the exaggerated influence of money & lobbies etc . In the US according to Runciman the electoral college system hasn’t been working well for more than a hundred years but nothing has changed & the same old 2 parties still decide who wins – Sanders might have won if he were the Democrat’s candidate. Gerrymandering is so called after governor Elbridge Gerry so redrew a Boston district that it looked like a salamander! There is a Wiki article about how huge numbers of voters are defrauded of their right to vote. Another issue is “felony disenfranchisement” which becomes important when one considers that at any one time there are more than 2 million adults in jail in the US while states change hands over mere thousands of votes.

In the UK the unelected Lords are still there with their often hereditary titles. To be able to form a government like the current one a party bribes a small party (in this case the Northern Ireland protestant DUP) with promises that go counter to the national interest.

Briefly, another book just out:

Sarah Churchwell, Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream

How sad that the phrase “American Dream” has been changed so utterly & now means little more than $$$.

Still I agree with Runciman the Chinese model is not for the west (or me) but there are worries about it being efficient and beating the west economically & even at technological innovation soon. Of course these are not what life is about but unfortunately that’s what people in the west are consistently being told come election time, “it’s the economy stupid”.

De Gaulle: “All my life I have had a certain idea of France. I am inspired in this by both sentiment and reason” (*). He goes on to suggest that it is crucial to hold on to cultural excellence, a dedication to an eminent and exceptional destiny, aiming high and remaining upright.

But that was then & “the past is a foreign country” (L.P. Hartley, opening sentence, The Go-Between).

Sorry to sound gloomy but these are new times that try men’s soul (thanks Thomas Paine, The American Crisis).

All the best,

SAK

(*) «Toute ma vie, je me suis fait une certaine idée de la France. Le sentiment me l’inspire aussi bien que la raison.»

FAVORITE QUOTATIONS OF SUMMA CUM LAUDE STUDENTS

SB: “Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated.  You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.”  David Lloyd George

HB: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

SG: “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”  Lily Tomlin

AG: “Limits must be tested.”  Harry Hart

AH: “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”  Friedrich Nietzsche

MK:  “Adventure may hurt you, but monotony will kill you.”  Unknown.

JK: “Things are so hard when you have to do them and so easy when you want to do them.”  Unknown

LL:  “Don’t be sleeping on your level ’cause it’s a beauty in the struggle.”  Jermaine Cole

EP: “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by every experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face…we must do that which we think we cannot do.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

MP: “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.”  C. S. Lewis

RS: “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”  Steve Jobs

AY: “My fake plants died because I did no pretend to water them.”  Mitch Hedberg

*

POSTNOTE: Two events:, and my May 23 post: I’ll be at my usual place on Monday, at the Vets for Peace event at the Vietnam Memorial on the MN State Capitol grounds, 9:30 a.m.  Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. at the Capitol is an important rally for the Poor People’s Budget “that puts people first and stands against military proliferation”.  My May 23 post, here, is on the topic “Memorial Day”.

A final thought: read the final paragraph of today’s Just Above Sunset, “Direct Causation Everywhere“, and consider your own self in the Big Picture that is America, Memorial Day, 2018.  You may want to read the rest of that post, too.

Memorial Day

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GIs from Ft. Carson at Football Game at US Air Force Academy, 1962. Photo by Dick Bernard

(The Air Force Academy was near brand new at the time, having come to its present Colorado Springs location in 1959.)

*

This afternoon we were invited to a recognition event at our grandson Spencer’s high school.  Spencer did a deferred enlistment in the U.S. Marines last summer, and when he graduates from high school he prepares to embark for California and basic training.

He and the other recruits to other branches of the service are being recognized this afternoon.  We won’t be going only because Spencer can’t be there: sectional track meet in which he’s a competitor.

But certainly we would have gone: we’re proud of him.

Also, today, Kyong Juhn is nearing the end of her over 300 mile walk from Rochester to Bemidji, re-enacting the walk of her parents from North to South Korea during the Korean conflict.  Her progress is being reported at Facebook page Walk for Hope and Peace, which can be seen here.  I was privileged to meet her early in the walk, on May 10 in Minneapolis, and I wrote about the walk on May 5, here.  Best I know, she stayed overnight the last two evenings with my sister and brother-in-law Flo and Carter in Park Rapids.  In between I think she walked part of the North Country Trail with Flo.  Her walk is scheduled to end on May 25 in Bemidji.   I learned of the walk through a group I’ve long been part of: Veterans for Peace Ch 27.   VFP provided the “sag wagon” for Kyong’s long walk.

Sag Wagon at Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis May 2018

Talking about “heroes” and “patriotism” is not always an easy issue.

Personally, I belong to the American Legion and to the Veterans for Peace.  My clear preference is the ‘no war’ stand of the Vets for Peace, but it is complicated.  For me, now deceased Native American author Jim Northrup caught war best in a 2014 video I’m proud to have facilitated.  You can watch it here.  It’s the sixth video, Veterans for Peace, and Jim begins at 6:50 and continues for about 19 minutes.

Personally, I served in the Army, 1962-63.  I volunteered for the draft since that was almost a certain destination anyway.  I was a new college graduate.  Once I asked a brother, why did he join the Air Force (both kid brothers are retired Air Force Officers).  He said, “because you said anything but the Army”!  Well, perhaps I said that.  I saw him right after basic training.

But I never bad mouth the military.  For many of us it was basic training for life.  It is how the military can be and has been misused over time that is the big problem.  Who is commander-in-chief makes a huge difference.

I have briefed Spencer on what’s ahead in Basic Training.  It will be interesting to hear him talk about when he comes home on leave.  No doubt he’ll have changed….

Then, there is the other side of the story, and on Saturday, it will play out at West Point where the Commander in Chief gives the graduation address.  A commentary about that upcoming event is here.   “Duty, Honor, Country” is well worth the time to read.

Have a good Memorial Day Weekend.  Memorial Day I will be where I always am: at the Veterans for Peace Commemoration at the Vietnam Memorial on the Minnesota Capitol Grounds.

Pope Francis A Man of His Word

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Yesterday we went to an outstanding film whose narrator is Pope Francis.

We saw this just released film at the Edina Theater.  Here is information about the film, including reviews.  We both would give it the highest rating.

Pope Francis needs no introduction on the world stage.  Nor does St. Francis of Assisi, the Saint whose name he chose when elected Pontiff in 2013.  The film, largely and intentionally and very wisely in the Pope’s own spoken words (closed caption), is for anyone.

But this film is much more than a man sitting in a chair talking to a camera.  There are abundant visuals from around the planet, including his speaking to the U.S. Congress.

The film would speak most clearly and profoundly to persons who have any sensitivity to the issues of the survival of the planet, and issues of justice.  This would be expected from Francis, whose 2015 Laudato Si is subtitled “On Care For Our Common Home“.

Its message is not a comfortable one for those of us in the United States, which has less than 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s gross national income.    Those two numbers say a great deal….

Take the time to see this film.  And pass the word.

Watching Death Happen.

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PRENOTE: I began this post on Mothers Day, 2018.

Mother’s Day was a beautiful day in the Twin Cities.  We had been to Mass at Basilica of St. Mary, and I was waiting for Cathy near the southwest ground level door.

I heard a rustling in the grass and dry leaves and  caught a flash of something or other to my right.  It was enough to startle me, and I looked quickly, and there, at sidewalk level a couple of feet from me, lay a healthy looking mouse, only this mouse was clearly in the final stages of dying, lying on its back, its legs reflexively  writhing, it’s eyes open, but it’s body clearly out of its control.

Its run as a mouse was about over.

What does one do at such a moment?  You don’t call 9-11, or animal rescue for a dying mouse.  I did nothing.  Cathy came.  I didn’t tell her about the mouse.  We left.

*

Somehow I see our country much like that mouse and its surroundings (including myself) on Sunday.

Spring is beautiful up here; people look satisfied enough at the coffee shop.  The externals at this 15th of May, 2018, look and feel pretty normal.

“Don’t worry, be happy”, as the saying goes, “not my problem”.

But somehow I see our nation dying, as that mouse was on Sunday.  Something has got hold of too many of us, and it is not healthy for our body as a nation.

The Current Occupant of the White House is completing his process of killing the legacy of his predecessor, President Obama, with relish and the apparent agreement of Congress: Obamacare, COPS 23 climate compact, Iran Nuclear deal, on and on.  Anything at all that represents Obama successes, killed or on the chopping block.  A President (and by extension his “base”) seem unconcerned that there are tens of millions of people like myself who deeply respect the Obama’s and what they endeavored to do for the nation and world, and who deeply respected Hillary Clinton, and Bill as well, as dedicated and extraordinarily competent public servants.

Yesterday was only the most recent example: moving the embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was more than a symbolic slap in the face of an entire world culture.  Here is a good summary of yesterday in Jerusalem and Israel.  It speaks for itself.  What happened in Jerusalem yesterday is a slap in the face of all the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam and the vast majority of people who call themselves “Christian”, not to mention the community of nations that make up our diverse country and world.  “Christian” does not stop at the boundary of “evangelical”….

Sticker seen recently on a late model car with Illinois plates.

It has now been announced that “Make America Great Again” has been replaced by “Keep America Great”:  today’s version of “Mission Accomplished”.

The message to people like myself and the rest of the world is that we can all go to hell.  We’re losers.  It’s Trumps world now.

Tax “cuts” enacted with great fanfare will bring temporary false prosperity, quieting the masses, but give these cuts a few years, and the very same people who are now happy, will be hurting, and wondering why.  There is no ‘free lunch’…less taxes is less service; less of a safety net; less security for those who are not wealthy, which is the vast majority of us.  It is the super-wealthy and large corporations that got the real permanent tax cuts.  The rest got a few scraps, soon spent and forgotten.

*

There is such a surrounding of willful destruction going on (others would say renewal) that it is hard to see through the rubble and keep moving forward.  But I give a damn.

Personally, I’m not a quitter.  Quitting for me is no option.

At the same time, I know I can’t accomplish anything by myself, or presume that it has to be “my way or the highway”.  I had far too many years of dealing with differences to know that someone who feels dominant can, indeed, impose his or her will on others…but only temporarily.

I have more words, about many things relating to the national train wreck we are witnessing in real time, may not feel the effects of for perhaps a number of years.  The reckoning will come for us, as it was coming for that poor little mouse on Sunday morning.

Pay attention.  This is happening on your watch – on all of ours….

The Emperor of Anger

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PRENOTE: There was another mass killing in a school yesterday – in Santa Fe TX.  It was a copy cat of Columbine, but there the comparison ends.  Take time to read Disinformation Information.

*

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”   Confucius

I’ve been considering what to say in this space for a couple of weeks.  Below is the best I can do.  As I write, the Royal Wedding day is happening in England.

There is a second post today: “Watching Death Happen”.

“We elected him” is my response to anyone who laments the ascendance of Donald J. Trump to the Presidency of the United States, and his performance since.  The same goes for those elected to Senate and Congress and state Representatives and Senators and Governors, and on an on.  We got exactly what we wanted in 2016.  We acted as a democracy: people voted (or didn’t), with little thought of potential consequences.

The incessant polls generally fix the Current Occupants “base” as less than one-third of the electorate; his job approval rating in aggregate seldom cracks 40%, usually fueled by some event of the day: the release of N. Korean prisoners, tax “cuts”….  How can this be?  By now everyone has to know how this guy operates, who he really is…but apparently they don’t care.

Of course, the data also means that the other two-thirds (or 60%) are NOT in his camp.  This a problem with  a simple solution.  I give my own first hints in the link below. I’ll write more in a week or two.

A couple of months ago I challenged a group with common interests to consider writing down brief thoughts about three things: 1) some memory relating to the state of our country and world 50 years ago (1968); 2) some thought about where we are at this point in our history (2018); 3) some thoughts about where we’ll be as a nation an world 50 years from now (2068).

Of course, making the challenge required me to meet it myself, and I did so in a two page reflection in April which you can read here: Dick Bernard- Past, Present, Future

More thoughts by 16 others, past and present, can be found at the links in my May 1 post.  At minimum I challenge you to read my reflection, and to then do your own, for yourself if no one else.

If we are to wallow in the ever-deepening pit we find ourselves, we deserve our fate.  (But our children and their children certainly do not.)

COMMENTS: (note additional comments below, as well.)

from Christina: I appreciated your post. I sometimes feel like just giving up because there is nothing I can do about it. I watched the royal wedding today. I could have cried knowing what it was like for Harry to go through the grieving process of losing his mother at such a young age. I thought of how proud Diana must be of her boys. William will be a fine king and Harry will change the world. One person can make difference.I am giving Diana the credit for how her boys were raised. She made a difference! I think of the song Brighten the corner where you are. Diana did.

 

 

A Teacher Union Dinner

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Wednesday evening I traveled out to suburban Minneapolis for what I believe is the 19th annual year-end appreciation dinner of the Union representing the teachers of the Anoka-Hennepin School District.

This is not an unusual trip for me.  I’m sure I’ve missed a dinner or two over the past 19 years, but that has been rare.

I was invited to speak at the first dinner.  It was a memorable event for me.  It was a Tuesday – May 4, 1999.  National Teacher Day.

Three days earlier I had slowly trudged up “Cross Hill” above Columbine High School in Littleton CO, viewing, with my son and family, the wooden crosses erected in memory of the thirteen victims of the carnage on April 20, 1999.  One of the thirteen was a teacher at Columbine High School.  My family lived, then and now, about a mile from Columbine.

May 4, I decided to wear the exact same clothing I had worn on that rainy and slow walk up Cross Hill – actually a pile of construction dirt – as one of hundreds of pilgrims to the site of the first school massacre in the United States.

I recall, that evening in Anoka, talking about a second grade teacher, Clem Gronfors, who was a special hero to my daughter, Joni.  In 1999, Joni was a teacher herself, and today, in 2018, she is a Middle School Principal.  I recall Susan Evert, formerly a President of the teacher union during its single strike in 1981, burst out in tears in the room when I mentioned Clem’s name.  That very day she had delivered “meals on wheels” to Mr. Gronfors, by then long retired from teaching.

Susan was at last nights dinner for a time, and we chatted.  She is the same Susan only, as with all of us, a bit older.

*

I wish I could just conclude this post with the above memories.  But it would not be honest.

Last nights dinner, while having  its usual share of light moments, including a delightful improv program by the Mystery Cafe, had a palpable and darker side, never mentioned by anyone, but hanging over the room full of teachers like the vog currently over the Big Island of Hawaii.

These are darker, more uncertain times for, among many others, public schools and their teachers.

Visible evidence have been wildcat statewide teacher strikes or major demonstrations in several states in the United States in past months – strikes and large and very visible public demonstrations occasioned by slow and deliberate strangulation of public education by legislatures and the federal government.

There is an ominous federal presence over public education policy.

The NRA seems to have successfully defanged, at least for the moment, the Parkland students campaign for common sense changes to gun law.  Money talks.

Probably on most teachers minds last night is the looming decision of the United States Supreme Court on the most recent attempt to destroy or at minimum severely handicap teacher unions – an effort that has been ongoing since the 1970s.

As I write, the Supreme Court decision is expected very shortly – it was actually expected this week – and when it is released, whatever it says will be national news.  No one knows what it will be, but few think it will do voluntary unions any favors.

Watch for it.  And look at the decision more carefully than most news, regardless of the verdict.

And take a moment to consider what we are doing to ourselves in this country, especially if we are in the vast majority called “working people”, whatever our occupation.

*

This has become a time where the rich are getting much, much richer, and the poor, poorer.

Where do you stand?

Dick Bernard, son of two public school teachers; nine years a junior high teacher; 27 years (1972-2000) field staff for Minnesota Education Association, then Education Minnesota, including nine years (1972-81) with what is now Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota; father of four, grandfather of nine, two of whom graduate from high school within the coming month.

LeMoyne Corgard, retiring President (4 years) of Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota, 39 year career in public education. May 9, 2018

Retired educators, from right, Julie Jagusch, Dee Buth, John DeSantis May 9, 2018

Mystery Cafe cast with guest teacher performer, May 10, 2018

Kilauea

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UPDATE May 23, from cousin Georgine who lives in Kailua-Kona:  “The news makes it sound like the volcano is all over the island (see the picture with imagined).  The reality is the picture on the right.  Was glad to see this.  It is hard to describe.”

The Hawaii volcano in perspective. The reality is the smallest box on the right.

By no means does this minimize the disaster for the people who are directly affected.  On the other hand, news media visuals exaggerate the reality.  Hawaii is called the “Big Island” for a reason.

UPDATE May 11. Today’s Accuweather on the impact on local weather can be seen here.  Lailani Estates geographic location here.

Volcanoes are not my normal “beat” but Dec 22, 2015 and Jan 3, 2016, we were on our first trip to the Big Island, and I had two encounters with Kilauea (click on the word for lots of resources).  Kilauea is the youngster besides the huge Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea which are, one would hope, more or less dormant in these days of human habitation.

The Big Island of Hawaii

Kilauea is the brownish area towards the southwest edge of Hawaii.  By road, it is about 95 miles or so from Kailua-Kona.  It is where the roads (white lines) intersect.  As the crow flies, the volcano is perhaps 50 miles from Kailua-Kona.  In between is the massive Mauna Kea, to its north the even more massive Mauna Loa, immense ancient volcanoes of which, I suppose, makes up Kilauea.

The Kilauea area: map at Hilo airport

Kilauea is in the news today because it is slowly overrunning some roads and houses.  It is not to be deterred.  I won’t repeat the news about the earthquakes and the general mayhem if one’s area is affected.  Thoughts are with my cousin and her partner who have lived for many years perhaps 100 road miles away from the current eruption, on the other side of Hawaii.  Their relative location to Kilauea is here.

Dec. 22, 2015, I was with grandson Ryan, doing the “extreme” helicopter experience over the area – no doors.  Of course, they don’t do foolish things with tourists, like diving into craters or such, but nonetheless we saw occasional visual evidence of what the volcanic area looks like.  Below is one example from December 22.  One can almost imagine how the lava is moving in this photo.  At the edge of this area is forest, some parts of it smoldering due to the invasion of lava, but mostly just forest, and farms and occasional housing areas.

Kilauea area Dec 22, 2015

A couple of weeks later, Jan 3, 2016, my sister and her husband and I took a land trip to Kilauea and saw it from another perspective, from the area of the main caldera, which when we were there looked very serene, but has not always been such.

At Kilauea Observation Point, January 3, 2016

In the Visitor Center overlooking the Kilauea Caldera January 3, 2016

Not much story beyond this.  Grandson Ryan, “the kid”, really liked the helicopter jaunt above the Kilauea area.  So did I.  I’m glad I could provide the opportunity.

There is a side story, for me, about this: the “news” of Kilauea.

Kilauea, like a catastrophic tornado, or other violent acts of humans or of nature, makes for good visuals – the lead on the evening news.  What could be better than a sea of molten rock engufing a hapless car, or someone’s house, setting it afire with no opportunity to rescue.  We watch tragedies from afar these days.

It is a tragedy, for certain, for the owners of the car, or the houses.  But even on the map of Hawaii, the area is the tiniest of pin pricks.

It is just another piece of daily “news”.

Is it important to report this to the entire nation?  I suppose.  But is it representative of the Big Island of Hawaii?  No.

In this age of instant communication we’ve become a “sound bite” society, and that is not at all healthy for us.

There are so many things to appreciate in this world of ours.

In January, 2016 I managed to see Kilauea, and enjoyed the visit.

Very unfortunately there are residents in Kilauea’s path now who are not  now pleased….

COMMENTS:

from Larry: Dick..those shots remind me of some of the ones I may have taken…but I’m thinking more of the video I took at one of the times we were there. I need to find that helicopter ride video over the cauldron…I believe that was Kilauea…will post it and send you the link when I find it….

from Ken: Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights. I enjoy reading them. We, too, flew over Kilauea ten years ago and saw the lava flowing from the volcano. Mother nature does what she wishes at her own time. It is more active now, certainly.

from Georgine (in Kailua-Kona area): There is much confusion about the geographic location of the eruption.  We have not been affected, even by the earthquakes.  We of course feel them, but there has been no destruction on this side of the island.  I have sadness for the people whose homes are being destroyed  They did know they were purchasing on an active volcano, but of course hoped that the volcano would not erupt in their lifetime.  The vog [volcanic fog] is thicker than it was.  There is no new odor.  The vog is always with us.

from Mary L: I have been thinking about Georgine a lot with the recent news. Our trip last summer has been in my mind a bunch… Hard to imagine some of the roads that we just recently drove on are now covered with lava. And frankly a bit crazy to think we were there at the volcano less than a year ago! My heart goes out to those that have lost all and pray that everyone stays safe.

from Darleen: Most interesting.  I clicked on some other options.  What came to mind with reading about those who would not leave Hawaii or the area of the volcano was a couple North of Fargo [N.D. on the Red River] who would not leave their home when the flood came with water rising because that was all they had.

from Mary M: I did speak with Georgine on Sunday afternoon, May 6.  She and Robert are not immediately affected by the eruptions and quakes but the whole area is unstable and that could have (or may already) have changed.  I can not even imagine the horror of watching volcanic lava swallow up life as they know it.  Hoping and praying for the best outcome possible but lives in that area are affected – forever.

Response from Dick: Yesterday I sent a note to Georgine: “I sent out a blog about Kilauea today, and I’ve been feeling guilty about the comments at the end…hope you didn’t/don’t take offense.  I was just noting that over and over again, today, they keep using the same photos of the same house burning, and the car.

I know volcanoes are a fact of daily life on the island, the earthquakes, the occasional eruption at Kilauea.  Probably where you are, ash and the like.  
I remember when you picked us up at the airport in Dec. 2015 [other side of the island], and I asked about volcanic smell.  Mostly, I think I was imagining things, since I had this notion that we’d be driving close by an active volcano.  Of course, we weren’t, and nothing was active anyway.  
All best wishes for everyone for an early end to the eruptions and the earth tremors.  My apologies, in any event.”
Georgine said “no need to apologize”, and also added the comments you see above.   Possibly, my nostrils, new to the Big Island, did smell the “vog” back in 2015….  On our trip we drove around the entire Big Island, and across the “saddle” between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, so we have at minimum a sense of this large island with a small population.  Most certainly, living there, especially towards the Hilo “side”, has to be a time of nervousness now.  Everyone on Hawaii is in my thoughts and prayers.
Our trip was certainly an opportunity to gain context.