Peace

Annual Twin Cities Veterans for Peace gathering 10:30 a.m. Memorial Day near the Vietnam Memorial Wall on the south lawn of the State Capitol mall.  This observance is a longstanding tradition.

POSTNOTE MEMORIAL DAY 8:37 a.m.:   Last night we watched the annual PBS special for Memorial Day at the U.S. Capitol Mall.  For some reason it was more profoundly moving to me than usual, and it is always moving.  Maybe a reason was the family photo shoot yesterday morning  at Rice Park by the Ordway.  Mike was the photographer, longtime friend of son-in-law Dave, college classmates in the 1990s.  I knew Mike was Asian.  He’s a successful businessman, and as a side gig (hobby, really) has become a successful photographer of weddings and such as well.  Yesterday I learned for the first time that he was a Vietnam orphan.  He was an infant when the entire family, save himself, was killed in the fall of Saigon.  He was raised in an orphanage, and here we are all these years later.  He’s taking his daughter to visit Vietnam, apparently this summer….

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Jim Nelson, a great friend for over 20 years, and tireless advocate for peace and a better world, has just released an excellent 8-page article he authored on a little known but very important peace initiative in the 1960s centered in Minnesota.  The article, entitled “The Great Peace Race”, is accessible here: Jim Nelson Peace Race.  Persons like Hubert Humphrey and Eleanor Roosevelt appear in the story, but it is mainly about local legends who labored quietly and effectively for a culture of peace.  Jim knew many of them personally.

This is a perfect reflection for Memorial Day, 2024.  Popular Minneapolis StarTribune columnist Curt Brown will have a column which originated from Jim’s article next Sunday, June 2.  Look for it.

Jim Nelson and Peace display Oct 23, 2019 at J.J. Hill Mansion

Jim is a lifelong Minnesotan.  Beginning in high school his path began to intersect with persons who were activists for peace.  He graduated from University of Minnesota in 1965 and his career was with Honeywell.

Jim is one of those persons who ‘walks the talk’.  The above photo was taken at a United Nations related event at the James J. Hill house in 2019.  He is a long-time member of United Nations Association MN, and Citizens for Global Solutions MN.  Take the time to learn more about the Great Peace Race.  Thanks to Jim for this work.

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This is a good weekend to relook at the film The World Is My Country, which premiered here in 2018 at the St. Anthony theater.  The link to the film is here.  Click on film and trailer.

Related: May 5,  I posted a commentary on Law Day and Law in our Society.  Included is an update from May 24 (related to the Manhattan Court case, as well as the broader implications of this and other cases involving the former president and others.)

Finally, remembering Memorial Day, 2020, Minneapolis MN.

May 28, 2020. Woodbury MN

COMMENTS:

from Molly:  Dick, thanks for the outstanding column today.

It’s very powerful, and a story which–indeed–deserves to be spread far and wide.

from Jeff: In 1980 estimated  28.5 million vets living in the usa; in 2022 estimated 16.2 million vets living in the usa, presumably less today given many of them have passed in the past 2 years.

Public Education

This post is dedicated to my friend, Marion Brady, whose commentary on public education is below.  Marion, who just turned 97, wrote this a few months ago, reflecting on 73 years in and around public education.  Were my wish to come true, you’d pass this along to every person you know who has an interest in public education, present and future.

Ross ND Public School, photo ca 1984 by Hank Maher

I have been retired for 24 years, and before my retirement my career was either as a public school teacher (9 years) then full-time union representative affiliated with the National Education Association (27 years).  Before that, I was the child of two career public school teachers; several aunts and uncles were educators.  At present my family includes a school principal and a full-time teacher.

I’ve thus been immersed for most of my life in public education, an entity enrolling nearly 60 million students in every locale in America, reflecting the diversity of this diverse nation of ours.  Most Americans have or will spend 13 years as students in public schools.

The 2023-2024 school year is nearing an end, and as this year concludes I wish to share two items which may be of interest public educators.  Their message is in the content.

MARION BRADY:  Marion is a good friend of many years, now 97 years young, and a career educator going back over 70 years.  He is a passionate and articulate and credentialed expert in education of youngsters.  We met as participants in an on-line NEA Quality Education discussion group in the 1990s, back when “high tech” was e-mail!  It worked.  Marion was a highly respected member of the conversation group.

In March, 2024, Marion sent me a 7 page paper entitled “Beyond the “Core curriculum”.  Here is the paper in its entirety. Marion Brady 2024  It speaks profoundly for itself and deserves serious attention. It deserves a large audience, and I urge you to share it broadly.  At the end of the paper is the link to Marion’s chock-full website, including his personal history.

Marion has long  lived in coastal Florida, within sight of the launch pads at Cape Canaveral.

DICK BERNARD:  A month ago, the school district with which I most identify personally ended up as front page news in the local Minneapolis Star Tribune Anoka-Hennepin SD in Mpls Star Tribune Apr 24 2024.  The issue was a near miss on a potential crisis around school policy relating to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).  The threat was to shut down the schools by refusing to approve a budget.  At this writing, the crisis seems to have been resolved, but uncertain about the future.

I decided to weigh in on the issue, and my three page thoughts are here: Dick Bernard to Anoka-Hennepin May 4, 2024.  It, too, speaks for itself.  I did not expect and have not received a response since I’m long retired, and I’m years removed from the school district (the largest enrollment in Minnesota) but that makes no difference.  Public Education is all of us, and if we have an opinion we should express it.  I included a link to a portion of the 1966 Roosevelt Jr. HS annual, which gives a look at public education at that time in history.  You can see it here.

Here is a commentary by a professor who attended Anoka-Hennepin Schools: Abbey Payeur to Mpls Star Tribune Apr 27-28 2024.

POSTNOTE, STORIES May 30, 2024:

My walking route each day is its own community.  We’re mostly elder, and as time goes on become acquainted.

A couple of days ago, Harley was resting and called me over “you’re from Grafton ND”,  he’d heard.  Well, my Dad is from Grafton, but my first 25 years were in mostly tiny towns around North Dakota.  He grew up in North Dakota, so he had common ground.

We got to reminiscing.  He was a farm kid, graduated in a class of 17 (mine was 8).  Started at UofNorth Dakota, couldn’t afford it…a not uncommon story – my Dad was similarly afflicted in 1927 at the same school.  Harley ultimately became a chemical engineer with a long career with two major corporations.

Boatloads of us from the prairie can share similar stories: our schools were so small that we barely got the basics and colleges had us all in “bonehead” classes to learn the rudiments of Algebra, chemistry, etc.  The country schools did the best they could with hardly any resources.  I told Harley I once went to a high school that graduated two seniors, yes, TWO….

As we conversed, Harley recalled a summer job in the late 1960s, doing grunt labor at the under-construction Nekoma Pyramid, a still standing relic of the Cold War at Nekoma, not far from Langdon, North Dakota.

Nekoma ND Pyramid July 14, 2009, photo Dick Bernard

As generations of youngsters have learned, “commencement” often means hard labor at the bottom of the pile.  For Harley, it was common labor, including after-hours clean up 90 feet underground at the pyramid construction site.  There were, of course, protests involving other kids at the site – another story – but this pyramid was Harley’s chain-gang experience.

I haven’t shared with him, yet, something else I wrote for the Anoka-Hennepin School Board (above) about 8th grade in tiny Ross North Dakota (photo which leads this post.).  It is here: Dick Bernard remembers 8th grade 1953-540001 another small town kid story.

Marion Brady has his own life story at his website.  Also a country kid.  “Don;’t get me started…!”.  There are many miles between birth and death for most of us, and many stories, some you can only learn by experience.

Do give Marion’s article a complete read, and pass it on.

 

Religion, too….

Anyone who visits this page with any regularity knows that I am and have always been Catholic.  Enter search word “Basilica” and you’ll find 146 (of 1997) posts at this space since 2009.

The current Basilica magazine (cover at left), leads me to a different kind of reflection about organized Religion, of which I’ve been part my entire life.

Opinion: organized religion is, at the same time, one of the most constructive, and most toxic, elements of the human community.  Religion has had a great capacity for both good and evil, both on God’s turf, and Caesar’s….

The cover photo of the current issue of the Basilica of St. Mary magazine (above), overlooking nearby downtown Minneapolis, reminded me of a story about the companion Cathedral of St. Paul, both built in early 1900s to give equal standing to the rapidly growing “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Then Archbishop John Ireland, a legendary cleric, built his Cathedral down the street from the new State Capitol, built about the same time.  A story I have heard was that Ireland aspired to a Cathedral whose dome was higher in elevation than the State Capitol.  This may simply be a story, but a very plausible one.  Ireland was a powerful character, rooted in Minnesota.  It is said he didn’t become a Cardinal largely because of his passion for Americanism….

As told by Marvin R. O’Connell in John Ireland and the American Catholic Church (1988, Minnesota Historical Society): “in each instance the emphasis [for the new churches] was upon visibility: in St. Paul the cathedral would stand upon a hilltop and look down magisterially at the business center of the city; in Minneapolis the pro-cathedral [Basilica] – as Ireland incorrectly called it – would bestride an elevated piece of ground just at the edge of the loop and close to the point where Lyndale and Hennepin avenues, the cities two busiest thoroughfares, intersected….

Ireland was a formidable character, and the story rings true.

(The new State Capitol opened in 1905; new Cathedral down the street in 1915; and the Basilica in Minneapolis also about 1915.  As is often true, the interiors of the buildings remained works in progress for years.  The Cathedral does appear from a distance to be higher than the neighboring State Capitol.

About a dozen years later, history reveals that Ku Klux Klan had a resurgence in this area, and the Catholics were among the primary targets.)

*

No question, the Catholic church is an immense institution with a very long history and a broad reach.  Anybody with an opinion – such as this is – can and does judge this church, and regardless of the judgement is probably  accurate to some degree.

For me, what keeps me in the pew on Sunday has very little to do with theology.  Words such as school, hospital, social welfare, community come to mind in my lifelong history with church.  My experience has essentially been positive, with no horror stories to share or remember.

There is another side, which is very different.  Patriarchy, lust for power and control, judgement (“sin”), sexual abuse, elevation of belief over truth.  The lists can go on and on.

When someone says “Catholic”, a legitimate question is “what do you mean?”

I have something of a rule of thumb, based on assorted data collected over the years, which helps me keep some kind of internal balance.  The “Church” (the people) I most identify with probably represents about 1 of 33 Americans; the “Church” who most disagree with me also probably represents 1 of 33 Americans (*see NOTE, below).

(About one in four Americans might say, if asked, that they are “Catholic” by baptism, or otherwise.)

What is portrayed most commonly as the “Catholic” political position, is whatever is advanced by the church leadership, which have been selected ultimately by the then current Pope and unaccountable to the members generally.  The Pope is elected by Cardinals, who in turn have been selected by previous Popes.  In number and distribution, the American Catholic church is similar to the U.S. House of Representatives.  In Minnesota there are eight clergy of Bishop rank.  They are the official face of the Church.

There is a major dilemma here, both for the Bishops and the Laity.  “Catholic” is a voluntary and not at all homogeneous association.  If I am Catholic and I disagree with a hierarchical stand on something, I have the most power if I am actively involved, and speak out; if I drop out, I also have influence, but I am easier to ignore.  This is true in any organization.

I further think that the above generalization applies to all other denominations: Christian, Jew, Muslim, on and on and on.  And as well to the Freedom from Religion group, which is very significant in its own right.  People are truly a coat of many colors when it comes to belief.

(“Evangelicals” of all denominations seem more intense in their beliefs.)

In every case, people benefit from or are burdened by “leaders” who govern for good or ill.  I have seen some wonderful and horrible examples.  As someone once said about my church’s hierarchy, there are, as there are among all of us,  “heroes, Nero’s and zeroes”.

Over the years, I have seen plenty of good and bad examples of so-called church leaders, whose  interest is achieving and exercising their definition of temporal political power.  Open the conversation on this, and there are endless positive and negative examples, ancient and contemporary.

Essentially, the same dilemma faces the United States electorate generally when we elect our governance, as we will, again, in a few months..  If you don’t participate, or participate only on the margins based on your own particular issue, you have less power, than if you participate actively.  “Power to the people” works only if the people work together.  “The people” is the difference.

Back to you….

NOTE: * – This is an off the cuff estimate, which I submit is probably as accurate as any other assessment.  This is my basis: it is usually estimated that roughly one in four Americans are “Catholic” by someone’s definition; the church itself has estimated that maybe about a third of Catholics are fairly regular participants (going to church, etc); roughly half  of those who call themself Catholic seem to be liberal to some degree, the other half conservative, on the usual continuum from very liberal to very conservative.  The circulation of the diocesan Catholic newspaper is roughly 10% of the estimated Catholic population, and in my area seems aimed at the more conservative Catholics….  I won’t quibble with any difference of opinion.  We aren’t all alike.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Jeff: I don’t disagree with your methodology.

Yes, the leadership brought in by John Paul II and Benedict were conservative, and conservative priests were created then so they are all still in power in their 50s to 80s now.  the zealots are relatively small but as noted have an outsized position mainly due to the abortion issue. this leads to the LBGTQ issues….and they both tend to transcend the social justice issues for the most part amongst the patriarchal authoritarian cohort leaders…tis the way.
50/50 maybe…I think another thing to take into account is the % of Catholics in America who are Hispanic…a growing part as multi generational history American Catholics (Irish, French, German, Polish, Italian) fade away.   I had lunch with a friend from business….he is Polish and Italian from Chicago originally (not the North Shore, a real Chicago accented kid)   late 60s , was a regular churchgoer, his wife taught in Catholic Schools much of her career.  He made a passing comment about being disgusted with organized religion. I have no idea why, didnt push it, I know his wife is dying of cancer, probably less than 12 months left…perhaps the church’s reaction as part of this? I have no idea….he is a middle of the road guy, probably against abortion, but would never vote for Trump or any of the MAGAs, he called himself a Cheney Democrat recently…..as you say, politics is unclear with Catholics…

POSTNOTE May 20, 2024:  I published the above on Friday, May 17, and Sunday went to Mass at Basilica as usual, not realizing that it was Pentecost, another special day in the church year, and this particular Pentecost was especially special, the church formally receiving the seven volume St. John’s Bible, a magnificent work, gifted by several parishioners in honor of former Pastor Michael O’Connell in recognition of his many years of service.

Much of what transpired in the 1 1/2 hours on Sunday morning fits into what I wrote several days earlier.  The church was well-peopled, all ages, all circumstances of life.  The pastor in his message acknowledged serious division in our society.  There was  wonderful music.  Out front, at the edge of Hennepin Avenue, is the “Let the Oppressed Go Free” sculpture dedicated to the Oppressed of the world.  Basilica walks its talk of service to the greater community, especially those with less.

The pastor also noted Pope Francis’ segment on 60 Minutes aired that Sunday night.  I watched the segment and it was very good.  CBS carried a full hour reprise of the interview on Monday night.  I watched that as well.

Personally, I think Pope Francis exemplifies the best about my Church.  He understands the imperative of standing for the longstanding teaching and traditions (including some I disagree with).  At the same time, he exhibits empathy and understanding and appreciation for other points of view.  This latter quality, especially, makes him an outstanding leader of a very diverse flock.  We are very fortunate to have him.

I could go on at much greater length about this topic of church; indeed about Pentecost.  I’ll leave this suffice, and especially pass along to others I feel have an interest in ‘church’ generally.

It has come to be a mantra at the Basilica to welcome people “wherever you are at on your journey”.  Best I can see, we try to be what we say we are….

POSTNOTE May 22, 2024: An old saying is “the Devil is in the details”.

The Gospel reading for Pentecost (Jn 20:19-23) ends with this message from Jesus to his disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

This is one of those quotations pregnant with possibility and problem….

In the relatively recent past a Priest, or was it the Bishop himself, said that humility is a difficult but essential virtue.

As I write I think of the popular country tune, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way”.

With great privilege comes great responsibility.

 

Marie-Josephine

Everyone has a mother and a father, and this Mother’s Day I choose a daughter: Marie-Josephine Collette.

This Mother’s Day, much more than most I remember, is filled with demonstrations that by no means is everything easy for women, for men, or for families, however constituted, or when.  This post is offered for reflection, and in respect, for the role women have and continue to play in society at large.

arie-Josephine and Alfred Collette, with Aunt Gloria in Manila, June, 1943 June 1943.

Earlier this past week, I happened to visit an envelope labeled “Philippe Collette group” which had rested quietly for years in a family history box.

Among other photos, was the above, taken in 1943:  Marie-Josephine is the little girl at center.

I looked at the Collette family genealogy.  On page 44 was Josephine’s brief life story: “b July 17, 1940 Philippines d: 1945 Manila, Philippines Died bet 2-3 & 3-3 1945”.  She was second of four children born to Simeona Dime and Alfred Collette.  I’ve been told that she was named for my Grandma Josephine Bernard, who was her father’s cousin, about the same age.  I was born two months before she came into the world.

First child, Alfred Jr, was born Apr 14, 1939.  The picture was probably taken about the time Julie, the third child, and person who sent me the photo, was born, June 8, 1943.  Philippe, the last child, was born Sept 21, 1947, and died Aug. 14 1961.

All of us have a story.

ln the summer of 1998, Alfred told me about his little sister while we were driving around San Francisco.  1998 was the centennial year of the Spanish-American War.  Alfred’s Dad and my Grandpa were colleague soldiers from Grafton-Oakwood, North Dakota, on Luzon 1898-99.  Both came home, but Alfred returned to the Philippines at the time of WWI, and lived in the Philippines the rest of his life.

His daughter, Marie-Josephine,  died during the horrific battle in which Manila was liberated from the Japanese near the end of WWII.

Alfred spent much of WWII as a prisoner of the Japanese in the Santo Tomas POW camp in Manila.

On that day in 1998, Alfred Jr recalled that on the day of his sisters death, their mother had taken the three children to what she felt would be a safe refuge, the churchyard of the church where she and Alfred had married a few years earlier.  There were others there as well.  Terrifying combat ensued, and they apparently were in between.  They wanted Mom as a refuge, and Marie-Josephine was killed in her mother’s arms, by which sides shell or shrapnel,  and the exact time of death, will always be unknown.

I was driving the car, and I was the one who had asked Alfred if he would tell me what had happened 53 years earlier.  Telling the story was a very emotional experience for him, which I don’t think even he had anticipated.  War is very personal.  The battle for Manila was very deadly.

Mom lived.  I met Mimi Collette in the early 1990s.  She was a gentle lady….  A mom.  All have passed on.

Alfred, Mimi and Julie, probably in the 1980s. All three are deceased.

Collette family 1947.  Philippe is the youngest.  girl standing at back would be kids Aunt Dinah.

*

War is so easily visible today, that it is, paradoxically, too easy to ignore its effects on those subjected to it.

Some related thoughts on Mother’s Day 2024: https://angeladenker.substack.com/  I saw this commentary (about the situation in Gaza) in May 9, Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Heather Cox Richardson’s commentary today is on the topic.

And just a week ago, we went to see the re-issue of the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, which we had not seen.  It is in theaters now, and it, too, is very much worth your time.   I went expecting a comedy; I left the theatre with so much more to think about.

COMMENTS:

from Fred:  The Battle of Manila was close to the worst urban combat during WW2. Nanking and smaller Chinese cities were in that same terrible grouping.

Your post was most interesting. Having a family victim of that battle brings that story home (so does having an uncle killed at Pearl Harbor).
When we folks who study the history of warfare boil down modern combat, the talk is about a large urban center that horribly damaged or destroyed most by aerial bombardment. In WW2, Coventry, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Dresden, Stalingrad, the aforementioned Chinese cities and, of course, Japan’s “atomic bomb targets” and nearly every other major urban center.
The actual victims, for the most part, are overlooked, sadly because there were just so many of them.

 

Law Day

POSTNOTE May 31, 2024:  Yesterday afternoon I listened as the verdict was read: 34 times, “Guilty”.  This morning at my coffee place I took a photo of the empty conference table next to mine.  It has ten chairs, like a dozen members of a jury, shall I say.  Shortly thereafter  were the usual church guys who meet there most every Friday.  One of them opined that Trump couldn’t get a fair trial in New York.  He’s normally loud.  He almost whispered it.  He knew I was sitting there, and while I don’t get into their conversation, I’d guess they think I’m “liberal”.  So it goes.

May 31, 2024

POSTNOTE May 24, 2024:  I published the Law Day section (below) on May 5.

On May 20, the prosecution rested its case in the so-called “Hush Money” case in Manhattan.  The final arguments and the Jury deliberations do not come until after Memorial Day, and I will update further after the verdict, at this space.

I highly recommend following the commentaries of Joyce Vance and Heather Cox Richardson for up to date and crucial information.  Click on their names for most recent links.  You owe it to yourself to follow what is going on currently, which will impact in the longer term.

I am an amateur on the block, but I’ve followed this very closely.  For the interim, I have followed the hearing largely through the expert commentators, including those above.

Most of my work career was representing teachers in a teacher union/contract/law context.  I worked constantly with, around and against lawyers.  As a citizen, only once did I get jury duty, and on that occasion none of my panel actually saw service – no cases for jury during our term of service.  In the 70s, I was a witness at the federal court level in a case that ultimately reached the U. S. Supreme Court, so I became intimately aware of ‘the weeds’ – things like discovery, cross-examination and the like.   Ain’t softball.  The blessings of the rule of law far outweigh the impediments.  (Our ‘side’ won, and the case had national implications for many years.  I must have comported myself okay – in a year-end gathering, the law firm “awarded” me their “Greek Grappler” award, to which was appended part of my testimony.  You take compliments any way you can get them!). The Rule of Law is not Perry Mason!

Re Manhattan May, 2024, I am satisfied to wait for the dozen citizens who make up the jury to deliberate and decide on the case.  And if their ruling makes sense – virtually a certainty – I will accept the ruling whether I agree with it or not.  I will try to imagine myself in a conference room with 11 other people who hardly know each other interpreting the law.  Most of us can translate this into our own lives – imagine any meeting on any issue….

Long and short, these trials (plural) are a master class for not only amateurs like myself, but invaluable to everyone in the legal profession.  The Rule of Law is being tested, and when this is all over assorted codes, etc., will be reviewed and quite likely modified to fit.  That’s what I feel.

Take the time to review what follows.  It’s worth your time.

*

LAW DAY

Last Wednesday, May 1, was Law Day in the United States.  It has been so since 1958, when first proclaimed by President Eisenhower and later became part of the United States Code (Public Law 87-20 April 7, 1961).  The American Bar Association  had a hand in its establishment, and again this year has proclaimed it; Likewise, President Biden has signed a proclamation recognizing it.

This years Law Day is in the midst of all sorts of citizen inservice education on how the Law works.  My only editorial comment: we are fortunate to live in a country which still follows the Rule of Law, tedious as it can be.

For many years I was an active member of an organization, Citizens for Global Solutions, which informally expanded the definition of Law Day to World Law Day.  I’m retired now, but still support the essential premise: Law is designed to mediate conflict.

(The group, originally named World Federalists, now Citizens for Global Solutions (national) and Citizens for Global Solutions MN (CGS), advanced the premise that if Law was a good system for working through problems in our country, it would be as useful for the nations of the world as well.)

In the course of developing the archival record of CGS MN.  I came across a very interesting booklet published by the American Bar Association booklet on the Rule of Law.  A pdf in four parts is here: Law Day Am Bar Assoc 1959 (c0ver through p. 17); Law Day (2) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pages 18-24); Law Day (3) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pages 25-43); Law Day (4) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pp 45-52).

If I were to recommend a single page to read, it would be p. 49, “Law in a Treehouse World”.  The entire booklet is a timeless seminar for any novice in the law.

The world is a complex place, so is our country, so is every subdivision of our country.  The Law at minimum helps to bring some sense of order to the inevitable chaos that would exist if there was no Law, or law by fiat of an authoritarian dictator.

 

“When I’m 84….”

Today, I’m 84.  (The title is a play on the Beatle’s “When I’m 64“, one of the songs in Yellow Submarine, the 1968 movie I took son, Tom, to see – he was four, then, 56 years ago!).  Before I continue, here are a half dozen responses to the April 17 Earth Day post on Climate and Energy.  They’re worth your time.

My choice today: reminiscence.  Time flies.

*

George Orwell’s prophetic novel, 1984, was published when I was 9 years old, in 1949.  I turned 44 in 1984.  Oh, how naive we were, then.  People born in 1984 are at the edge of 40 today…  The 1960s were also on my ‘watch’.  I’ve purchased Doris Kearns Goodwin new book, “An Unfinished Love Story A Personal History of the 1960s”  – my birthday gift to me.

Now, a couple of memories.

Most of the Fred and Rosa Busch family, at the Berlin ND farm May, 1941.  Rosa and Fred Busch at far left.

pdf of the above photo: Busch farm family May 1941

At the time of the photo, I had just celebrated my first birthday (you see me center stage at the tail end of  the farm dog, who, I know from other period pictures, loved the camera).  My grandparents Bernard are in the photo (Grandpa – oldest of the grandparents at 69 – is at far right; Grandma Bernard is in the back row middle next to her son, my Dad, the tall guy).  Grandma and Grandpa  had invited my parents to drive them from North Dakota to Long Beach CA, a usual winter destination for them beginning in 1937,

It was a very long trip from ND to CA in 1941.  Dad was 33, Mom 31.  Dad recalled St. George UT as a place they traveled through, which gives me an idea of their route: note map from Berlin NDto Long Beach CA here.  We were at Long Beach most of June, we saw their daughter and Dad’s older sister, my aunt Josie, who’d moved to California in the early 1930s.  There were lots of “Dakotas” living on the west coast, so there was doubtless lots of visiting, showing off the one year old.

Unexpectedly, their son, my Uncle Frank, showed up from nearby San Pedro, where his ship, the USS Arizona, was docked for maintenance.  There was, I’m told, an unplanned family reunion, Grandma noted on the back of the photo of the reunion, “our first reunion in 7 years, and also the last”.

Our visit over, Grandma and Grandpa stayed in Long Beach.  We drove home along the coast highway, and crossed the brand new Golden Gate Bridge, heading east probably by way of Washington state.  I know this from a few postcards they mailed enroute home.

Five months later, Dec 7, 1941, Uncle Frank went down with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, and life changed for everyone.  Both families contributed a great deal to the war effort.

*

Life, of course, is not a straight, predictable, line, nor perfectly smooth. We all have our stories.

Some weeks ago I was waiting for a friend who I was meeting at a restaurant.  I always travel with paper in hand, and decided to calculate 84 years in seconds.  I had to exercise my old elementary school arithmetic method and got the results.

Back home, I had my computer calculator check my math.  I passed!!  Those drills in elementary school worked!

There are a heap of stories hidden within those seconds.  This is as true for you as it is for me.  The trial in Manhattan led me to an embarrassing personal reminiscence which might generate some memories from your own life.  One memory (of many) bubbles to the surface for me.

*

In the 1980s I lived in Hibbing Minnesota, an easy walk from the house where Bob Dylan grew up.  I was single and living in an apartment on the second floor of an old business building, 2014 1st Ave South.  Zoom out and you can see Bob Dylan’s boyhood home, not far from the high school.

Hibbing,  center of the historically famous Mesabi Iron Range, is in cold country, and in the Fall the usual ordinance went into effect: no on-street parking overnight during snow emergencies.

The years I lived there, my parking was always on-street.

Very late one night I woke up  to the sound of a clanging chain below.  I looked out the window and men were towing my car.  There was what looked like a dusting of new snow.  No matter, the car was gone.

Sure enough, the street sign had been posted about snow emergency parking restrictions.  But there had been almost no snow, and I was irritated.

I found out where the car was impounded and rescued it, along with the $2.00 parking ticket.

I made a decision: I am not going to pay this ticket.  I’m going to appeal it.  This is not fair.

A long while later, I got a notice that my appeal would be heard on a certain date at a certain time.  It was in St. Louis County Court, just down the street in Hibbing.  Be there.  I had never been there before.  I was going in well prepared.  I had my photos, and the news account about the snow that night, which had been minimal, including a recording of a local radio station report.  It was a very thin file, but I was ready to do battle.

I wasn’t ready for what unfolded.

I arrived right on time, and soon found out that this was sort of a general court.  The room filled with colleague citizens or their lawyers entering their pleas for the common failings of humankind: public drunkenness, careless driving, petty theft.  My parking ticket began to look insignificant.

I began to ask myself, what am I doing here?  But foolish pride won out.  I was in the room.  Too late now.

Right before the proceedings began, the jury box filled with what turned out to be a dozen police-in-training from the local technical college.  They were all in uniform, there to observe the proceedings, and the people like me who were appearing before the judge.

What a dumb idea I’d had, I thought.  I should have just paid the $2.00.  I was wasting an entire morning.

By the time it was my turn to approach the bench, representing myself,the judge, in my minds eye, appeared to be two floors above me, ready to challenge my pathetic complaint.  I opened my thin file folder, and presented my evidence, with a courtroom full of lawyers representing my fellow cons, and those police cadets in uniform.  I felt stupid.

It was soon over.  The ticket was forgiven, and on to the next for the judge.  An entire morning had been wasted…for $2.

The cadets had had a good day.  I guess I contributed to their education.

It wasn’t until long after the hearing that it occurred to me that I had also paid $50 to rescue my car from impound, but had never asked for a refund from the city.

I didn’t even write a letter.  I was too embarrassed.

*

Of course, this is only one dumb act in a long life, and I don’t mind admitting it, since I know I’m not alone.  We all run afoul of common sense.

There are lots of lessons, just waiting to be learned.

For instance, the person who represents him (or her) self has a fool for a client.

It is useful to consider whether the cost will exceed the benefit.

Stupid is not reserved for the other party, or for the police, or the law.

The best we can hope is that we learn something from our experience….

I did.  I think.

 

Energy and Climate: the conundrum.

On April 17 I did an Earth Day post that featured a one hour talk on energy and the future. The focus of the post was a a thought provoking recent talk on the Energy/Climate Conundrum.  The talk itself was about an hour, with Q&A for most of another.  The YouTube link is here. The blog itself here.  I highly recommend taking the time to watch the film.

At Nobel Peace Prize Festival Augsburg University Minneapolis MN Mar 5, 2009

There were some very substantive comments, which are presented below.  Chuck summarizes the contents of the film for his own list.  At the end of these comments I offer my own thoughts about my own history.

COMMENTS:

from Larry: VERY interesting! His topics remind me of some of the things Bill Gates talks about but he presents more of a 360 view; it’s not as simple as building and using electric cars..his part on C02 is understandable and one learns something in Dr. Tinker’s talk. Thanks for sharing…LG

from Claude:  I’m sorry to tell you, Dick, that I was not a fan of this guy and his message. He seems to me to be a mild form of climate denier.

May I suggest you watch at least the first three minutes after the point of this link of a presentation made by Dr. William E. Rees: here

from Flo: Very eye-opening presentation. We’re doing our best to make walking and biking our preference, but we’re getting older by the day!

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Sean.

from J.:  I looked through my notes from yesterday’s view of his Zoom.

I really liked his mention that we need multiple generations working together on the climate problem. I also very much liked his caution that we “Don’t Blame!” and that we build coalitions that work together and are willing to compromise. I completely agree with him on those routes. Many climate advocates, including Fresh Energy, very much embrace all of these ideas.

However, the entire lengthy talk (over an hour!) didn’t give me any hope that anything could really be done. Many times he used very similar graphs designed to tell us that the human’s influence was tiny. It made me shudder that his main job is teaching students (indirectly). Yikes!

[Personal note: I am a strong supporter of J Drake Hamilton”s. organization, Fresh Energy, which has been and continues to make a great contribution to the conversation, including at the implementation level.  Take a look at their site too.]

from Chuck, a long-time advocate for social justice in the Washington DC area:  Thank you!  I needed this! 😉

My Rotary colleagues made me Co-Chair of our Districts Environmental C0mmitee.  And I’m regularly on our global environmental zoom calls with great speakers.

I’m certainly going to share this with both.

Below are my notes from listening…and some of my thoughts from working on all these issues for 45 years.

Hope you don’t mind my added narratives.  Any editing suggestion would be helpful.

*

Notes on the Energy/Climate Conundrum, with Dr. Scott Tinker [here, per Chuck]| HMNS Distinguished Lectures 

Speaker begins about 3 minutes in….main program goes about an hour…then Q&A.  The notes below reflect the key points he makes. (what is in parentheses are not).

We must reduce emission while improving human flourishing at the same time.  There is no binary option!

Fear is getting in the way!  Fear as a narrative that drives motivation and money!

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”  Aristotle

And “All the ill that is in us comes from fear, and all the good from love.” Eleanor Farjeon.

Energy’s global context is a triangle.  Environmental security (low emissions), Economic security (affordable), and Energy security (reliable!).

Energy needs to affordable, reliable, and low emissions.

Three primary variables:  Humans, Energy, Climate.

Poor people have optimism and Hope…(not so much in Haiti). In the rich world…the west…live in pessimism and fear.   Division and Anger pulling us apart.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”  Mahatma Gandhi.

Some 60% of the world lives in some kind of energy poverty.  5 billion people?

The road out of poverty is fueled by energy.  Lots of it!

The cleanest air in the world is in the wealthy nations.  The worst…in the poorest. They can’t afford to clean up the environment. They are trying to do basic human needs kind of things.

Achieving zero emissions is not possible (without killing the economy and global security.  There must be trade-offs.  A balancing of needs and wants).

Energy is a basic human need. (it will also help build resilience for dealing with the problems to come because we didn’t start doing this earlier as we were warned by the bipartisan 1980 Presidentical Commission on ending World Hunger- see summary at bottom of emai).

Energy security varies greatly around the world and this is the great energy paradox:

Energy won’t end poverty!  But they can’t get out of poverty without energy!

It’s time to “power the people” of the world. Energy access for everyone!

We must provide energy affordable energy to those most in need, reliably. Because secure energy underpins solutions to all the global challenges.

Human summary:  Lifting the world from poverty is the critical issue of our time.  Everything else depends on that!

Secure energy is vital for human flourishing!  (When your electricity goes out or your car runs out of gas you quickly remember this fundamental principle.)

Energy security varies around the globe.  And demand for secure energy is increasing everywhere!

Energy Summary:  All forms of Energy have environmental impacts.  Asia emits more CO2 than the rest of the world.

CO2 has been much higher and climate much warmer in the past AND Humans are influencing modern warming!,

A portfolio of solutions are needed to address emission.  Different parts of the world need to do the things they are doing.  We did!

Energy demand is going up faster than energy supply!!!

Energy supply impacts Climate, air, land, and water (One system interrelated!)

Energy emissions!

We need a rational transition!!! Secure energy underpins solutions to global challenges!

We need more coalition building!!!!  Not the false competition between energy sources.  We need them all.  We need MORE energy! For a rational transition.

So let’s start building coalitions!!!

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point”. CS Lewis.

So what’s the answer?  (prioritizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and Rotary International’s seven priorities by building coalitions to work comprehensively together).

Energy, security, underpins, economic security.  All the rich countries of the world have Energy security which allows us the choice of cleaning up the environment.

“The beginning of wisdom is to do away with fear.”  Yohannes Gebregeorgis.

Fear is only dividing us.  (If we accept this truth and other truths that we hold to be self-evident – taking care of nature and each other- we can find the options to get us out of this mess. Failing to do this will not work out well for anyone).

Emerging economies need affordable energy. Developing economies need reliable energy.  Developed economies needs sustainable energy.

And then emerging economies want to become developing. And developing economies want to become developed.  So we have to accelerate economic growth in each.  (And to do this we need to invest in people’s health and education -the twin engines of development- and we need to stop wars, corruption, and dysfunctional governments.)

We must advance human flourishing and reduce environmental impacts. (This is not rocket science.  Take care of nature and each other).

You can’t negotiate with physics (“the laws of Nature and Mature’s God – the golden rule. You can resist or ignore them, but that will get very expensive.)

We must end the binary narrative (driving fear).  (this is a non-zero sum game. Everything is interdependent and we will either win together or die together).

Also from Chuck: In 1980 a bipartisan Presidential Commission concluded and its commissioners specifically warned …“The most potentially explosive force in the world today is the frustrated desire of poor people to attain a decent standard of living. The anger, despair, and often hatred that result represent real and persistent threats to international order… Neither the cost to national security of allowing malnutrition to spread nor the gain to be derived by a genuine effort to resolve the problem can be predicted or measured in any precise, mathematical way. Nor can monetary value be placed on avoiding the chaos that will ensue unless the United States and the rest of the world begin to develop a common institutional framework for meeting such other critical global threats… Calculable or not, however, this combination of problems now threatens the national security of all countries just as surely as advancing armies or nuclear arsenals.”

They also stated “that promoting economic development in general, and overcoming hunger in particular, are tasks far more critical to the U.S. national security than most policymakers acknowledge or even believe. Since the advent of nuclear weapons, most Americans have been conditioned to equate national security with the strength of strategic military forces. The Commission considers this prevailing belief to be a simplistic illusion. Armed might represents merely the physical aspect of national security. Military force is ultimately useless in the absence of the global security that only coordinated international progress toward social justice can bring.”

Today’s world is experiencing the consequences of ignoring this commission’s warnings. It specifically warned of increases in “diseases”, “international terrorism”, “war”, “environmental problems” and “other human rights problems” (refugees, genocide, human trafficking…).

Combined, these global pressures have fueled the anti-democratic populist movements thriving today.  Independent governments’ “self-interests” can no longer be more important than humanity’s potential to thrive and survive in the face of these accelerating threats.

Dozens of other prestigious, bipartisan studies and academic reports have followed since that 1980 report. Each clearly documents the direct and indirect links between world hunger, human rights violations, global instability, and the growing array of other threats to our freedoms, nation’s security, economy, and political stability.

I  believe our failure to make the protection of human rights and our environment superior to the protection of national sovereignty and corporate power is the primary driver of accelerating chaos.   The chaos that elections will not stop or even lessen.   Our systems of government are failing us.  Without transforming these systems to prioritize “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” there is not enough money in the world to address all the suffering that’s coming directly linked to so many unsustainable local and global trends that are reactionary in nature, and not preventive.

Preventing these accelerating trends will require a comprehensive global action plan.  An affordable and achievable plan exists today:  the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  No organization has yet taken a leadership role in building a Movement of Movements needed to bring all progress-focused organizations and movements together.   Time is not on our side. The evolution of pathogens, weapons, war, corruption, environmental distresses, and growing economic disparities and debt are outpacing our will to voluntarily change our governing systems. This is literally…globally unsustainable.  Leadership on this is urgently needed.   Which organization will rise to the occasion?

*

from Dick, my personal thoughts:  April 30, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and House Oversight  Committee released a bicameral report “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.”.  You can read the summary here, which links in turn to the entire report. .There is a great deal of information available.

The Tinker talk has caused me to revisit my own very limited history of engagement on this issue.  (I searched this blog for post referring to “climate change”.  There were 115 – of 1,994 – posts since 2009.  No, I’m not suggesting looking at them.)

I’ve never been a radical on the climate issue, but I haven’t been passive either.  I watched the Tinker video twice, and am glad I had the opportunity.

My first active engagement in environment was as a junior high geography teacher.  A group of us from two junior high schools got into a project with the University of Minnesota Department of Geography, which came to be called the Anoka Conceptual Geography Project.  As I recall, our first engagement was in 1968-69.  I recall it was called “Blue Lake” or such, for 8th graders, and  based on the taconite (iron ore) tailings problem at the Silver Bay MN plant of Reserve Mining, a major Minnesota venture.  (A re-counting of the longer history can be read here).  What made this a salient issue for we teachers, then, was evidence that tailings from the plant, dumped into Lake Superior, were contaminating the water supply of Duluth MN.  We put together a simulation for students.  It was sufficiently interesting so that we presented it at a national conference of the National Council for Geographic Education,  which several of us, including myself, attended twice, I think in 1968 and 71, in Houston and Atlanta.

While the curriculum wasn’t about climate, it certainly was about environment and the conundrum presented by competing priorities – in this case use of natural resources and their impact on human life.  It was a first step for myself.

Before going further, I admit to being a hypocrite.  This isn’t hard: I think most of us who live even reasonably comfortable lives are fellow travelers.  I drive too much; We don’t keep the thermostat low; we use too much water; on and on.  I think I’m pretty typical.  Richard Alley, in a 9-minute video (link below), made his point very well to young people, 15 years ago.  I was in the audience, then.  The kids paid close attention.

I vividly recall an early jarring reminder that came to my attention, and I still remember it: It was about 1980 and I saw an article on water conservation.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember author, magazine, date.  The essential point was this: There were drought conditions somewhere out west – California sticks in my mind – and a community called for cessation of watering lawns, accompanied by penalties.  Most people followed the rule, voluntarily.  The owners of the fancy houses in the hills simply ignored the rule, with impunity.  Not my problem, they seemed to say.

In a sense, the folks in the fancy houses represented all of us, including myself.

Here’s a few other thoughts I have about the value of the Tinker video.

My 5th blog, of now nearly 2000 at this space, April 9, 2009, was on the topic.   One of the first stops I made after watching the Tinker video was a 9 minute video by Prof. Richard Alley of Penn State, to children at the March 5, 2009, Nobel Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg University (then College).  Prof. Alley was one of the many co-recipients, along with Al Gore, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.  His short talk speaks for itself.

Earlier, in June, 2005, we were among a large crowd who heard Al Gore give the speech and presentation on climate change that led to the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth, a film which has survived the test of time, including receiving the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

A dozen years later we saw the sequel.  Along the way, in June, 2011, I asked a local climate scientist to ‘grade’ Al Gore’s conclusions.  Here is what Dr. John Abraham  said.  (Hint: he gave Gore 90 out of 100.  Not too bad.)

Pioneers, which Al Gore certainly was, have to deal with uncomfortable realities, including what is reality, which is why there aren’t many pioneers.  On the other hands, without pioneers – risk takers – there would hardly be progress.

Over the years I’ve basically come to believe there is no one-size fits all solution, mostly because we are a world of human beings, addicted to living beyond our means.  Richard Alley pointed this out to the kids at Augsburg extremely well.  At the same time, there are good things happening, including from the business and industry sector, which make it more likely that we can functionally adapt without destroying the planet we live on.

Tinker, as I recall, in his slide show describes near the end a  “Radical Middle” – a need to find some middle ground among competing interests – which can  make an incredible difference simply by doing simple things.  I resonate with that approach!

There is a downside, however.  The people who live in the most desperate economic realities – Tinker says 2.8 billion of us – do not have access to, and could not afford, the kinds of things we take for granted.  In my grandparents day, here in the U.S., it was not at all unknown to use dung (cow chips, manure) for fuel – I have it in my mothers history of growing up.  And burning inefficient wood as a primary fuel.  They use these fuels because there is no other choice.  And it exacerbates the problem.

This is not to say that there hasn’t been evolution in the poor countries.  When I last visited Haiti, in 2006, cellular communication was just entering the conversation.  Now I would guess it is almost universal there.  But cell phones and computers require lots and lots of energy.  And my guess is the average Haitian cannot even conceive of our utilization in the developed world.

My only mantra to myself is to keep on, keeping on.  Last October we had an energy audit of our house, and much to our astonishment we got a grade of 99 (of 100).  Mostly it was common sense changes which we could afford to make.  If you can, at minimum do an energy audit.  You might be surprised.

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