Community – Page 26 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#785 – Dick Bernard: Three fellow travellers; three examples of Amazing Grace

October 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, Health, Minnesota, North Dakota, Quietings /by dickbernard

September 21 I stopped for a few minutes in New London, MN, enroute to visit a retired colleague and friend in home hospice a few miles away.
I hadn’t seen Mary in a long while – I’m long retired, and she lives a two hour drive away, off my normal “beaten path”.
But there are times for such visits, and enroute back from a short trip to North Dakota, I decided to drop in. Earlier, I had called Mary to schedule the visit, and was about an hour early.
Sitting in the small park in New London I looked for some photo object to remember my visit with Mary. I fixed on a nearby tree, well into preparation for Fall, and simply took this snapshot:
(click to enlarge)

New London MN Sep 21, 2013. “Mary’s Tree”

In my mind I’ve dubbed it “Mary’s Tree”.
Thence on to visit Mary and her sister. We had a most delightful 45 minutes. Earlier I’d sent her a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie, and forever I’ll remember my “Saturday with Mary”!.
Then off again for the cities.
Last week, mid-week, came an unexpected knock at our door.
There was Cliff, a retired barber – one of those one-man shop old-time barbers I prefer – and his wife Val. Cliff and Cathy were part of the high school ‘gang’ years ago. Cliff and Val had stopped by to drop off several of his CDs*.
And brought along some muffins for us.
Cliff is a very spritual guy – always has been – and the two CDS, “How Can I Fail” and “Cry Out”, vocal and guitar by Cliff, and piano by his friend, Mark, reflect his Lutheran Faith, and his personal witness. He and Mark did a fine job.
Did I mention Cliff has inoperable cancer?
He, too, is walking his last miles on earth.
He’s decided to live his life while he can.
It’s not easy: chemo is no walk in the park.
But we had a great visit. Later the same afternoon he called Cathy to say that the medical visit showed cancer in the lead, once again.
Then came yesterday, and a long scheduled brunch at Bernie’s home in northeast Minneapolis.
Bernie is a colleague usher at Basilica of St. Mary, and some weeks ago invited a bunch of us to a brunch for fellow usher Tom who’s retired from his duties, also “walking the walk” with cancer.
The time was delightful.
Those who know me, know me as always with a camera, and at some point, yesterday, Greg asked if I’d get my camera and take some pictures. I like this one, and you can find Tom, and Greg, and me, in there, and the other guests, just friends enjoying a fall afternoon.
(click to enlarge)

Brunch at Bernie’s, with Tom, October 6, 2013.

As I say, I’m always with my camera, people who know me, know that.
But in none of these three scenarios did I bring the camera into the scene. Why?
I’d asked Mary if I could take some photos for her in ND (she’s a daughter of ND), and she said “no”. Afterward I sent her several, anyway, including of “Mary’s Tree”.
For Cliff, the image of last Wednesday in our living room will have to be a memory in the mind’s eye.
And as for Tom, it was Greg who asked me to bring in the camera yesterday.
We deal with illness and death – our own and others – in our own ways. For all of us, it’s coming somewhere sooner or later, usually unexpected and uninvited, but nonetheless certain.
Mary, Cliff, Tom and so many others are teachers, worth a listen….
As for communication…and taking pictures…I’m suggesting that the risk is one worth taking.
* – re Cliff’s CDs, I’m sure I can get them for you, $10 each. If you want information, e-mail dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom.

A single vigil light for Mary at St. John the Evangelist in Wahpeton ND Sep. 19. 2013

Sunrise over Woodbury MN Oct 7, 2013

ON TAKING A RISK
Saturday I had occasion to revisit something I’d seen in the Church Bulletin of Riverside Methodist Church in Park Rapids MN October 17, 1982. It seems to fit this topic:
“To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
To serve God is to risk danger and martyrdom.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their certitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.”

Moonset, at Sunrise, over Wahpeton ND Sep 2, 2013

#783 – Dick Bernard: Shut Down: A Continuing National Tragedy (and don't forget the Minnesota Orchestra)

October 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Labor, Media, Minnesota, Politics /by dickbernard

This morning, last I heard, one of our five “outlaws” (one of their children is married to one of our children) gets on a plane in Minneapolis, flying to Washington D.C., for a reunion planned a year ago with several friends from the husbands Army days together in Vietnam times. They are from all over the country, and they have done several such trips together. Last year they decided that this year they’d meet in Washington, D.C. for the first time.
They are astute people, so most certainly they and everyone on the trip know what we do: that when they arrive, they won’t be able to tour any of the sites they came to visit. Congress has shut them down. As I pointed out in an earlier post, this reminds me of the famous Joni Mitchell song from 1970, here“>Big Yellow Taxi: “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, you [wreck] paradise and put up a parking lot.”
I’ll learn soon enough if/how this reunion trip went, including whether they boarded the plane to nowhere at all….
Meanwhile, the blather will continue unabated about whose fault this shutdown is, etc.
A Republican “Majority Survey” I filled out this morning (more on that at another time), gives a helpful hint about how the marketing of positions takes place. I was asked to rank-order the “most effective vehicle[s]” for Republican messages. I had these choices, and only these choices, in this order: Television Ads, Targeted Mailings, E-mail Messages, Telephone Calls, Newspaper, Radio, Internet Ads…and Other. (I chose “other”, and ranked all the rest equally, as least effective.)
The tragedy at the national level, whether short or long, will continue to unfold.
It seems basically to zero in on about 80 Republican Representatives – about 5% of the U.S. House of Representatives – for whom the Lord’s work seems to be holding the country hostage. Ryan Lizza, in the Sep 26 New Yorker, gives a helpful look at where these folks are from.
Perhaps a similar 5% of the “American people” are cheering on this disaster, for their own reasons. I know some of the people who are probably in this category. They are a bitter, tiny minority.
Meanwhile, back in the Twin Cities, yesterday we were at a rally commemorating the 1st day of the second year of the Lock-Out of the Minnesota Orchestra.
This was less than 24 hours after famed conductor Osmo Vanska had resigned (as he had promised to do) if no settlement was reached by midnight September 30; and, after the Orchestra Management cancelled a long scheduled concert by the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City next month.
This is very big, and very bad, news in the international music world. Attending and speaking yesterday was the president of the 90,000 member American Federation of Musicians (AFM – their October 1 statement here: MN Orch Board AFM Statement Oct 1, 2013).
You’d think it would be noticed. But across the street from us, perhaps 200 feet away, at WCCO-TV, which bills itself as the most watched station in this market, no attention was paid to this news – at least, we saw not so much as a WCCO camera recording the proceedings. And the local Minneapolis Star Tribune, whose publisher and CEO is on the Orchestral Association Board, while printing a long front page article gave very short shrift to the Union position.
News in our society is managed (see the Republican survey choices above.)
Those of us in the gathering heard the Musicians Union version of what happened at the final negotiations session the previous day. It is highly unlikely that the Union version of the bargaining session will ever see the light of day in the greater community because of who controls the media in this town, and the power people who control the Board of the Minnesota Orchestral Association. (Next on this mornings work, I’ll give my recount of the orchestra situation, and some photos, etc., from yesterdays rally can be found here (scroll down to October 2. This particular post will remain the ‘filing cabinet’ about the Minnesota Orchestra situation.)
While I don’t have any personal investment in my “outlaws” trip to D.C., and they probably don’t have any personal investment in my outrage at the destructive behavior of the Minnesota Orchestral Association management destroying the Orchestra I love and have willingly supported all these years, I see our predicaments as essentially equal.
We ought to be a country that cares about each other.
We’re in a time of power politics now.
We’ll rue the day.
We must become engaged, actively, in solutions for everyone.
Comments:
from Joni H, Oct 2, 2013 (a Middle School Principal in a major metropolitan area, conveying a note from a teacher): Thought you’d find this interesting. If anyone wonders how the government shutdown impacts a single classroom… This is what you get [click on link] when you visit usgs.gov (a website that our school uses with it’s 8th grade earth science classes.)
Ugh.
From Flo H, Oct 2, 2013: Think about this. It’s in doubt as to whether we can legally hold the volunteer driven Hike for Hope on the North Country National Scenic Trail (under National Park Service supervision) on Sunday, October 6 but there’s no way that we can actually let the public know, at this late date, that it has to be cancelled. Now, if Congress decides that National Parks will be an exception and grant continuation funding, as some members of Congress are proposing …
It appears that re-opening National Parks is more important to some in Congress than providing resources for 8th-graders earth science curriculum or providing access to healthcare to all. Hope your classes and teachers will fill the empty class time writing to their Representatives, Senators and the President and Letters to the Editor decrying the lunacy of this shut down! Maybe the kids could also suggest a viable compromise. The adults in charge surely can’t figure it out!
From a long retired eighth grade earth science teacher, good luck!

#782 – Dick Bernard: To the Audience of the Minnesota Orchestra. Thoughts about the Future at the one-year anniversary of the Lock-Out

October 1, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Labor /by dickbernard

NOTES: I wrote previously to the Audience of the Minnesota Orchestra here.
The group Save Our Symphony MN has an excellent chronology of the history of this conflict. You can read it here: chronology2013-09-25 I’m sure it will be updated.
The Musicians website is here. Support the Musicians. Come to the rally today, and one of the concerts this weekend.
Today is the first day of the second year of the Lock-Out of Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Late yesterday the Minnesota Orchestra Board cancelled the arrangements for the concert at Carnegie Hall, and no doubt will blame the Orchestra Musicians. I can’t help but see an analogy between the cancellation of the Carnegie Hall Contract, and the Shutdown of the U.S. Government on the same day. But that’s another story.
Rich and Powerful People control public information and most everything else for the Minnesota Orchestra Board; but the members of the Orchestra, on Saturday Sep. 29, rejected 60-0 the last position of the Board. There is a powerful message in that unanimous rejection.
I represented teachers for many years, and I cannot recall, ever, anything near the unanimity of that 60-0 vote. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. But it did on Saturday.
The third “leg” of this non-functional “stool”, we, the audience, continues to be ignored in the public conversation. But we have all the power, if we choose to exercise that power.
If we want to retain a world-class orchestra in this community, it’s up to us; if we’re satisfied with average and ordinary we’ll get that too. It all depends on whether we now support the locked-out musicians, or admit defeat ourselves.
Yes, we audience members control what we’ll get. But we cannot be passive. We must act. Nobody can do it for us. We are key.
What I plan to do is at the end of this post.
There is limited interest within the community at large about the disaster that has been the Minnesota Orchestra situation for the last 12 months. This isn’t a surprise to me. Most citizens, likely, have never been in Orchestra Hall; they weren’t told what this loss would mean. It will be their permanent loss if the Orchestra is diminished in stature, but they won’t realize it, at least directly, or immediately.
So, we audience members are crucial. We know the implications to this community of this potential loss of a community treasure.
Two contextual hypothetical examples for your consideration:
1. In my town of Woodbury there is an old farm house and farmyard, Heritage House, in a small park at the corner of Lake Road and Radio Drive. This tiny house dates back to 1870, and it exists and continues solely because of a loyal small group of people who think it is significant to local history. A couple of years ago, I took an interest in it. You can see the results here.
WHAT IF the people who lovingly maintain Heritage House lost interest; or new city leaders said we’ve got better use for that property; or we don’t like that dumb old building – let’s replace it with a more modern facility?
Ridding our town of Heritage House would be noticeable and irreplaceable loss for the total community. Only the advocates who appreciate the importance of history could save the place.

Heritage House, Woodbury MN September 6, 2013

2. But there’s a much better example about what this theft of our orchestra from us will mean, in my opinion:
We are part of a very large metropolitan area – over 3,000,000 population. And most of our children and grandchildren go to large schools in large school districts.
But there are small school districts too, high quality ones, which have few students and teachers and are supported by a smaller community…whose relatives and grandparents live elsewhere.
What if one of these small school districts was taken over by a School Board, unelected by and unaccountable to the citizens of the town; a Board which changed the education plan, and in a dispute with the teachers who made the district great simply locked the school house doors for an entire year, completely ignoring the children and the citizens.
Would such an action have ramifications in the community? Would its effects ripple through the surrounding larger community as well? Would it have long-term consequences for future generations, including the children?
Absolutely yes.
We, the audience, are “the community” which has been ignored, now, for a year. The musicians have been our advocate. Now it’s our turn.
We can choose to do nothing, and accept fate as served up to us, or we can act in the many individual ways available to us.
Not only does this Board have to change its ways of doing business, including reforming itself; but it has to feel the heat from us in ways which it best understands.
As for me, I will strongly support the Musicians as they seek a fair agreement; I will not support the management of this Orchestra in its attempts to unilaterally implement a new business plan which it didn’t even ask for my input; nor did it clearly ask for my help when (it appears) help was needed.
The Board of the Minnesota Orchestra locked me out for an entire year. I will not darken the doors of Orchestra Hall until the musicians, by ratification of their contract, say its okay: come back.
It’s time for us all to stand up and be counted for as long as it takes.
That’s my stand.
Responses (there may also be on-line responses – note tab at end of page)
from John G., Oct 1, 2013: Could the locked-out musicians of the MO on their own perform at Carnegie Hall at the planned time, and could Osmo on his own (after resigning from the official MO) rejoin them there to conduct the concerts? The musicians would have formed the Minnesota Diaspora Orchestra. (Rehearsal space needs to be donated within the Twin Cities.)
from Larry H, Oct 1, 2013: Thank you Dick for your continuing posts. As for me, I also will not return as a patron until the audience members are invited to return by the musicians.
Meanwhile, the vision of the MOA led by Mr. Campbell and Mr. Henson seems to be more clear. Public posturing aside, the avenue they have chosen is leading us to a lesser quality product that will be marketed as a “world class orchestra”.
Today we await the fateful decision of our master conductor. Likely, Osmo Vänskä will resign and seek other opportunities. I was in the audience several years ago when Osmo’s contract was extended and the agreement was announced at Orchestra Hall. It was stated by the MOA representative that we were in the midst of the golden era of the Minnesota Orchestra. This golden era ended abruptly one year ago today as the lock-out of the musicians began.
It is difficult to envision an excited ticket base captivated by an orchestra presenting a full-season of concerts led by a substitute conductor. Any artistically literate audience member, who has valued the magnificent interpretations of masterworks conducted by Osmo Vänskä, will quickly notice a different product. The absence of our familiar resident world-class artist-musicians will only augment the MOA’s worst-case scenario.
The legacy of the orchestra has been tainted and compromised. I doubt if the Henson vision of the Minnesota Orchestra will have the same level of patron support in future years, Minnesota’s “destination orchestra” is effectively being disbanded, and after a year void of concerts, a large portion of the audience has turned to other ensembles and venues with their budgeted entertainment dollars.
Looking to the future, it is hard to imagine if a lesser orchestra will command the same level of ticket pricing. Meanwhile, the renovated Orchestra Hall has a reduced seating capacity. It seems reasonable to believe that the audience revenue stream will be reduced as the MOA seeks sustainability after its public relations debacle.. Furthermore, some angered patrons, feeling ignored and disenfranchised, will simply not return to Orchestra Hall.
It is hard to believe that the donor base will be sustained. Reductions in giving seem imminent. Meanwhile, the MOA can offer a sparkling new lobby that leads to an empty concert hall.
The Henson-Campbell vision has now effectively altered the cultural fabric of culture in our community. All of this happened without accountability to the main-stream audience.
The clear solution, with an artistically sustainable future in a stabilized economic environment at Orchestra Hall, needs the locked-out musicians to again be the Minnesota Orchestra’s artists in residence.
Another thought … general public of MN doesn’t much care, nor does WCCO … WCCO is across the street yet has barely covered this story … even under normal circumstances they give the orchestra limited, if any coverage … yet, sports get continuous free advertising.

#778 – Dick Bernard: The Affordable Care Act, President Obama Cares

September 25, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Economics, Family History, Health, History, North Dakota, Peace & Justice, Politics, President Obama /by dickbernard

Today at the gym I was treated to Sen. Ted Cruz doing his filibuster to supposedly protect Americans from the evil Affordable Care Act (called “Obamacare” by some).
Recently, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives, for the 42nd time, I believe, voted to repeal Obamacare.
Those who follow this issue know the rest of the story behind these two symbolic – and very sad – actions, where ideologic rigidity and scarcely hidden hatred for the President drive decision making to attempt to destroy programs which will impact positively on everyone in this country.
Sen. Cruz, during his filibuster, spent time reading Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” to his daughters, and expounding on the symbolism of Star Wars.
I know Cruz is young, but didn’t know how young (I decided to look him up): I have two children older than Cruz is. Dr. Seuss was a household staple in our house; when Star Wars came out in 1977, it was an instant addiction for my oldest son, and I took him to the first showing, and didn’t discourage him from attending the movie many times.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being young – years ago I was his age, too. But….
Up against the negative fantasies of Cruz et al, abuts a far more positive reality for the tens of millions of people of this United States who are about to have access to affordable health care. Apparently, this is seen as a threat to freedom: creeping socialism, which rhymes with communism, and is a synonym for evil amongst people who should know better, including those who have long reaped the benefits of Medicare and Social Security, or even of corporate and large employer medical care plans, and just don’t get it…and if the Tea Party has its way, will never get it.
So be it.
The people I don’t understand – well, I do understand, but it stretches credulity – are the young people (my oldest childs age – near 50 and down), who feel they don’t need health care, and don’t want to pay for somebody else’s medical problem.
Fools.
Just a couple of hours ago a friend came up to me to tell me about another mutual friend, Tom, who’s healthy as can be, a professional tennis coach, and was doing his daily 20+ mile solitary bike ride yesterday. He stopped at a fast food place for a snack, and choked on the food. Long story short, he had no ID on him, an ambulance picked him up and took him to hospital. He’s in a coma, and the prospects of any kind of recovery at all are dim. It took some hours for his wife to find out why he was so late, or where he was. Likely she used another society institution, 911, or a call to the police department, another civic institution we hope never to have to encounter. They were her safety net in this metropolitan area of 3 million.
When this unknown man was picked up yesterday, there was no question about paying a bill. Our country doesn’t allow people to die on the street.
Maybe that’s why the cynical young say “I don’t have to pay for insurance; they’ll pay for me if I need it”.
Maybe they’re (very sadly) right.
But what if everyone had this selfish attitude?
I learned my lesson about insurance very early, two weeks after I got out of the Army in 1963.
My wife was a new teacher, then, and coincident with my return home she had to quit teaching due to an undiagnosed kidney disease which would ultimately take her life two years later.
I could have gotten hospitalization insurance before she was diagnosed, but “couldn’t afford it”. As it turned out, she was uninsurable even then. Her condition was, it turned out, almost life-long pre-existing. Back then, I learned about things like public welfare, and the role of the greater community as a protective umbrella.
Yes, there are people so selfish and cynical that it doesn’t occur to them to consider themselves part of society. Rather, they prefer to cling to the fantasy that they, and only they, are in charge of their destiny, and everyone else should have the same responsibility.
Fools.
That’s how I see Ted Cruz Inc.

#777 – Dick Bernard: War as Hell; and the International Day of Peace.

September 22, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, International Relations, Minnesota, North Dakota, Peace & Justice, War /by dickbernard

(click to enlarge photos)

Zander, on his Dad’s shoulders, expertly expounds on the importance of protecting the environment (see below) at the Peace Site rededication September 22, 2013

These Five Peace Actions were focus of the Peace Site Rededication Sep 22, 2013

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
― Abraham Lincoln
remembered by Minneapolis Park Commissioner Brad Bourn on Sunday, September 22, at Lyndale Peace Park.
Saturday, September 21, was the Annual United Nations International Day of Peace. In Minneapolis, I attended the observance of the day on Sunday, September 22, at the beautiful Lyndale Park Peace Garden (See Lynn Elling, below). An organization in which I’m involved, World Citizen, rededicated the Garden as a Peace Site. The ceremony and attendant activities were most impressive and meaningful. The Peace Garden was first dedicated as a Peace Site in 1999.
Sunday’s event, and other recent happenings bring to mind the subject line of this post.
Three days earlier, I had reason to make a brief stop at St. John the Evangelist Church in Wahpeton ND.
I arrived there about noon, and as I parked the car, I noted a U.S. flag-draped casket being taken from the church to a waiting hearse. I was not there for the funeral, so I didn’t know who had died, but I rather hurriedly took this photo (click to enlarge)

After a funeral, at Wahpeton ND, September 19, 2013

Entering the Church, I found the person in the casket was an 89 year old man, Dale Svingen, and on the table was one of those “please take one” handouts entitled “The Australian Soldier”, a recollection of World War II. The recollection can be read here: Australian Soldier001. It speaks well for itself.
War is Hell, but it builds camaraderie and team spirit and solidarity. War destroys, but connects….
The experience led me to thinking of a recent visit with my friend, Padre Johnson, a man with many gifts.
Recently, I met with Padre and he gave me a copy of a remarkable sketch he’d done from a photograph from one of the deadliest battles of the Vietnam War (below). Padre mentioned that he’s the guy in the helmet in the foreground, and in an accompanying note to me said that Adm. Elmo Zumwalt – a name very familiar to military of the day – said, a dozen years ago, that this sketch was “the most powerful artists rendition of the Face of War that he has ever seen.” Padre Johnson’s text accompanying the sketch is here: Padre J Viet Combat003

photo copy of Padre Johnson sketch from 1968, used with permission of the artist.

War is Hell, but it builds camaraderie and team spirit and solidarity.
War destroys, but connects. Padre was enroute to the same convention of Special Forces he’d been keynote speaker for when Adm. Zumwalt made his comments. Padre’s mission is Peace, has been so for many years, including in Vietnam where as a Medic he didn’t differentiate between friend and enemy when it came to treating casualties of war. They were all persons to him.
Which leads to the gentle observance of International Day of Peace September 22, 2013.

I took my friend, Lynn Elling, to this observance. Lynn is, among other things, founder of World Citizen, the organization rededicating the Peace Site at the Peace Garden.
A Navy officer in both WWII and Korea, Mr. Elling, 92, has been a lion for peace ever since he saw in person the horrible remnants of war at Tarawa Beach, and later at the Museum remembering the bombing of Hiroshima.
Mr. Ellings role this pleasant Sunday afternoon was simply to relate his story to whomever wished to stop by. He also gave his comments on the importance of everyone being, truly, world citizens. We are, as he likes to say, all travelers on the spaceship earth….

Lynn Elling, at right, visits with folks about his experiences and beliefs, Sep 22, 2013

I could add many more stories about veterans I have known. Some I’ve written about: Frank Kroncke went to prison for his actions against the Vietnam War. In my mind, he’s a combat veteran, no different than those folks in Padre Johnsons picture. Bob Heberle, who recently died, was also a veteran.
They, too, saw War as Hell. And they, too, made connections with people.
I note that all of those listed above are men. In relevant part, they come from a time when combatants – warriors – were men. They come from the era of the Draft, where military was not voluntary; where disagreeing with the Draft was a punishable offense. I was one of them: U.S. Army 1962-63; today a member of the American Legion.
At the International Day of Peace, Sunday, most of the participants and organizers were, I noted, women. But by no means exclusively.
With the possible exception of Mr. Svingen, who I don’t know except for the writing included above, all the other veterans were and are staunchly for peace in all of its manifestations.
I see lots of hope for peace, if we all work together towards that objective.
As I said after Bob Heberle’s funeral, “let’s talk, all of us who are interested in peace and justice.”
We need to. Let’s work for a more peaceful world.

How about having your organization become a Peace Site?

A women’s drum group brought gentle resonance to the Peace Day celebration Sep 23

Two scenes at the Lyndale Peace Park, Minneapolis, September 22, 2013

#776 – Dick Bernard: A letter to the Audience* of the Minnesota Orchestra

September 17, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Economics, History, Labor, Minnesota /by dickbernard

NOTE: The ongoing “parking lot” for all links regarding the Minnesota Orchestra is at August 30, 2013, here.
Ongoing information from the musicians point of view is here.

Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013

On Sunday, September 8, 2013, a full page ad appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, paid for by the Minnesota Orchestra Board, headlined “Eight Days Left. But We CAN Get This Done!”
By my count, “eight days” was yesterday. It’s not yet done.
I’m simply an audience* member. Here are a few thoughts for you, my colleagues, my fellow listeners and patrons of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Yesterday I took time to review the first e-mail from the Orchestra Board announcing what began 50 weeks ago, October 1, 2012. The e-mail was dated October 1, 2012, and in relevant part says: “Today we regret to report that…[w]ith no contract in place, the Minnesota Orchestral Association has suspended salary and benefits for musicians until a new agreement can be reached…we’ve made the decision to cancel concerts through November 25 [2012]….”
The entire e-mail is here: Mn Orch Oct 1, 2012001. It is useful to print it out and read it again, while keeping in mind that it is a perfectly written advocacy document for one side, unencumbered by other facts or opinions which might differ with the official conclusion the document was intended to convey to us: “it’s their fault”. Also remember, it was sent 352 days before today.
At the demonstration outside Orchestra Hall on September 6, one speaker most aptly noted that the organism that is the Minnesota Symphony is like a “three-legged stool”.
Coming from a rural North Dakota background, it caused me to think back to Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles and Aunts sitting on three legged stools milking the family cows. It is a rich memory – we even had occasional opportunities to practice when we visited.

The long empty barn, rural North Dakota, September 20, 2013

Later this week I’ll be in that very barn. It is now essentially abandoned, awaiting the fate of all old barns.
But I digress.
The speaker noted a particular problem with the three-legged stool that is our Minnesota Orchestra.
1. One leg, the Orchestral Association, is omnipotent with all the benefits of what we traditionally call “power” in this society.
2. A second leg is the Orchestra itself, which is a union, which has sacrificed all, literally, to reach an equitable settlement. And then there is the…
3. …third leg, which includes we listeners in the seats; the “farm team” in youth band programs in schools everywhere; people and little kids who come with their parents to be introduced to great music by great musicians; people who for assorted reasons cannot come to hear the Orchestra in person, but love great music, etc. etc.
This third group, in assorted ways, seems powerless, or so would go conventional wisdom. We’re along for the ride…if invited (best I know, I’ve been dropped from the Orchestral Associations e- and mail list. Stay tuned….)
My ancestors, attempting to sit on a stool of our current model, while milking a cow, would encounter some difficulties. Maybe that powerless leg would fall off; or that dominant leg would demand all the attention…. It just wouldn’t work. Three legs are three equal legs.
So, here we are, Audience*. What to do?
We Audience members are basically invisible (or so it seems).
When I hear talk about the Audience*, the talk is not about those of us in the seats, but the empty seats. There could be an entire essay about this topic: where was the marketing to fill those seats? The point is, those of us in the seats don’t seem to much matter. Someday, they’ll open the doors, and we will come back….
We are, those of us who make up the Third Leg of the stool, far more powerful than we give ourselves credit for being. All we lack is the resolve to empower ourselves.
For myself, and I speak only for myself, I have resolved never to darken the door of Orchestra Hall again, until the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra have ratified an Agreement on all terms and conditions. (This doesn’t count an interim “kick the can down the road” agreement – we know how those work in our Congress in Washington D.C.)
And I choose to be outspoken.
For you? Your choice.
But, please, refuse to be powerless.

* – Audience? Anyone who has ever attended, even a single time, a concert by the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, or anywhere else the Orchestra has performed.
NOTE:
So, how do I fit in?
1. Over the years, at bare minimum, we’ve been to 75 concerts by the Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, almost all in Row Four Center. Maybe we qualify as “average” – I don’t know. We saw some memorable ‘side’ events, live, from those seats in Orchestra Hall; the roses on the chair of a violinist who had recently died; Itzhak Perlman’s fall; Eije Oue conducting the Star Spangled banner at the beginning of the program in September, 2001.
2. We have attended other concerts of various kinds at various times, including during Sommerfest, and occasional public events in parks, including Sep 15 at Lake Harriet.
3. We came for the music, not for the Lobby, or the Cookies (though the caterers were certainly good!), or the coffee.
4. Of course, we parked, we ate downtown (usually at the Hilton). Orchestra day for us was usually at least six hours.
5. We supported the minstrel of the evening in the skyway; we occasionally bought tickets for others, including for one program which was cancelled.
6. As my wife would attest, I used intermission to wander around, to just see who was in those seats, out in the lobby. We were certainly not a cookie cutter bunch.
7. The list could go on. What are your memories? Your tradition? Your stand?

Dick Bernard Sep 12, 2013

#775 – Dick Bernard: A Fond Farewell to Bob Heberle, Veterans for Peace, "Let There be Peace on Earth"

September 14, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, History, Minnesota, Peace & Justice, Quietings /by dickbernard

The old St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis was filled to overflowing today, the crowd there to remember Bob Heberle, a man of many talents but above all a passionate advocate for peace and justice.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Bob Heberle Service St. Joan of Arc Minneapolis MN Sep 14, 2013

The program for the Memorial Service is here: Bob Heberle Sep 14 2013001. His bio and suggested memorials is on page four of the program.
The essential word from/about Bob was, according to Fr. James Cassidy, “Gratitude“.
This caused me to think back to my 2012 Christmas message at this space, where I included an absolutely remarkable video on the topic of “Gratitude”. I hope you can access and watch it. (You can find it on YouTube, search Louie Schwartzberg Gratitude). It is ten minutes of beauty and inspiration. Perhaps Bob saw it last December when I sent it to my list, of which he was part for many years.
For those at the Mass celebrating Bob’s life, there are many memories.
I’d like to share some brief thoughts, one of which I know Bob and I would disagree on (he was on my e-mail list for years: when I searched my ‘from’ file on my computer, this is the first e-mail I found from him (there may have been others, earlier, but, you know, computer crash….”): Bob Heberle Nov 10 2005001. It wasn’t planned this way, but the e-mail tends to exemplify past tensions continued to the present day.
Bob and I had so many parallel paths: teaching, teacher union activism, Veterans for Peace, on and on and on. But while our paths were parallel, they rarely intersected directly till the last few years. He apparently attended the meeting of Vets for Peace; I didn’t. Usually I would see him at Vets for Peace gatherings at the USS Ward at the Veterans Service Building (Nov. 11) and Memorial Day (Vietnam Memorial at the State Capitol).
He was no wallflower, but at these events he melted in, I’d say.
I couldn’t find any specific photos I took of him at those events.
In recent years I’ve found myself seriously at odds with what is called the “Anti-War Movement”, Bob’s “branch of service”. That didn’t make he and I antagonists at all; or me an antagonist of the movement itself. But I have lobbied for at least a conversation about the real differences I see between the impact of the words “Anti-War” and “Pro-Peace”. Bob and I irritated each other about what was, to each of us, an obvious truth. But we had the same objective: Peace and Justice
I’ve said it.
That’s all that needs to be said. Except I’ll now, sadly, take Bob Heberle off my e-mail distribution list.
At the end of todays service we all sang “Let There Be Peace On Earth” which reminded me of my Christmas letter in 1982, written a week after I was at the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial on the Mall in Washington DC. You can see the letter here: Vietnam Mem DC 1982001 The cover of that Christmas letter said: “Let There Be Peace On Earth”….
Bob Heberle is one of many heroic presences in my life, willing to witness for a better world…and if you look at the flag on this post, it is Thoughts Towards a Better World.
Au revoir, Bob.
Let’s talk, all of us, who are interested in peace and justice, and find better ways to work together.

Vets for Peace Memorial Day at Vietnam Memorial MN Capitol Grounds May 24, 2013

Ending of Vets for Peace gathering, Memorial Day, May 24, 2013

POSTNOTE Sep 15, 2013: I can’t shake from my brain the thought that someone, some reader, will wonder to themselves “will anybody come to my funeral?” Bob was, apparently, a hard act to follow.
Perhaps to give a little context, six years ago it fell to me to be custodian for a relative, Mike, who was essentially friendless (and didn’t go out of his way to do friendship). He was mentally ill the last 25 years of his life, on permanent disability, but “walking wounded”.
Before he died, I found in his papers his final instructions to the local funeral home in a city far from here: “As far as any funeral service, that would be nice. However, I doubt if I would have more than two or three people attending. I guess I am kind of a lone wolf.”
He died Nov. 7, 2007. His prediction was pretty close. There were six of us at the cemetery when his ashes were buried; there were, however, perhaps 30 or more at an informal service at the assisted living place he lived his last few months. Few knew him.
But Mike has had a lasting impact. So has Bob. So has everyone else who I’ve witnessed walking the final mile. They all have something to teach we, the living.
And we should not care who might come, or not, to our performance on earth, rather do the best we can with the time, talent and riches we have remaining on earth.
COMMENTS:
from Chante W, Sep 15, 2013: Thank you, Dick … for being honest and with heart.
I couldn’t stay for the bell ringing as I was posting the flag at the Mendota Pow Wow. I hope he was well represented ~ as I saw many VFP’ers there. [NOTE: there seemed to be about 15 of us standing in Bob’s honor at the Bell Ringing]
I am with Veterans For Peace because of Bob. He got me introduced to folks and really made an effort for me to feel comfortable enough to tell my story. That is not to say there wasn’t some irritation along the way and disagreements about the office, ect., but there was never any grudge holding or animosity … I really appreciated his being willing to get out there and best as he could, make a difference. I loved him dearly as I do most of my brothers.
Thanks again ~ Hugs

#774 – Dick Bernard: The A(De)scendance of "Me"/Tea

September 13, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Politics /by dickbernard

This morning my spouse, Cathy, is on a mission of mercy for a friend.
Cathy is very good at “missions of mercy”.
In this case, she’s going to a private school to retrieve the belongings of a troubled adolescent who was dis-invited (or, shall we say, thrown out).
None of this was a surprise, including to the youngster, who didn’t want to go to the school, and said so before the year started: “I wonder how long it will take them to kick me out”.
Less than two weeks, it turns out.
I taught junior high kids for nine years back in the 1960s, so I am not unaware of the nature of the ‘beast’. They were just less sophisticated then, and they were less sophisticated only because they did not have the array of information and options that they do now.
But the dynamic was the same: they knew all the answers, but they didn’t even have a clue about the questions.
Their future was NOW.
For most, they grew up, but for some the consequences were severe.
This particular student is a female.
I had great friends back in the 1980s, pillars of the Church, just absolutely wonderful people, whose adolescent daughter, their only child, took her walk on the wild side, coincident with her mother’s terminal illness. The young girl was a sweetheart before she went ‘south’, in the manner we all understand from having watched such things in our own circles.
A single parent, she had her baby, who would now be near 30 years old, I’d say, and she’d be about 45. She’s had twice as much life after the pregnancy, as she’d had when she became pregnant. I haven’t seen/heard from her since, but she’s likely out there, somewhere, perhaps recovered, perhaps not.
And she’s had her own teen go through his or her own times.
There are times, like this, when you realize that you as a parent are not in control. Here is a child who for whatever reason hates others, but really hates herself, and doesn’t know what to do about it. Many of us have “been there, done that”, with such a family member. It is not fun to be in it alone….
The young lady will go back to the place she wanted to be in the first place, a public school, but that isn’t going to solve her problem, and the public school knows it: but they don’t have the option of the private school. That’s what “public school” is about: serving public needs.
Luckily, in our particular town, and in most towns, there exist an array of services to spring into action if needed. I don’t need to recite them.
But as a parent, and as a school person, and involved community member, I know there are assorted persons, agencies, groups, most funded by tax dollars in some form or another, most only vaguely known to me, who are there to intervene, and hopefully move the troubled adolescents ME into a healthier perspective. WE are in this business of life together, and WE cannot do it alone.
None of us can control the destructive behaviors of this youngster and the persons of all ages and relationships around her who enable her, but we can help society be ready to help her out, whatever happens.
And hopefully in a few years, she’ll be a functioning adult, maybe even acknowledging what she did, back then, without having experienced too much long-term damage.
So, why the word, “Tea” at the end of the subject? And “A(De)”?
We are experiencing plenty of stupid “ME” behavior amongst the people too many of us have elected to make policy for this country. The folks whose only priority is their priority, whatever that priority is. In fact, too many of us are completely oriented to ME thinking: what’s good for ME, NOW.
Not you? Think about it.
We go, now, into the serious times of the “sequester” that most of us have forgotten about, since it hasn’t, so far, affected us directly.
But this fall, and next year in particular, the “chickens will come home to roost”, and the kind of services our troubled adolescent might need, might not be available.
For a good ongoing briefing, much longer, about the actions in Washington, I recommend following Just Above Above Sunset, free, daily, the most recent number here.

#773 – Dick Bernard: The Minnesota Orchestra, Facing Armageddon, and "A Man's Reach"

September 12, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Labor, Minnesota /by dickbernard

Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013

The Minnesota Orchestra Managements full page ad in the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune ominously said: “Eight days left….”
Today is Thursday. That must mean there are four days left, which means next Monday is the day.
According to the folks who approved the copy for the ad, anyway.
I wonder how I’d vote, if in the Orchestra, 11 months locked out, having had to subsist with other than Orchestra pay or benefits, faced with an offer which at this point can only be one to save face for Orchestra Management.
Sharks don’t do deals, other than to win….
There is less question how I’d vote as a locked out patron, who didn’t have an opportunity to use any of my 2012-13 season tickets.
Of course, we patrons (aka audience, listeners) appear to not much matter.
For this single listener, the end of the Orchestra as we knew it happened back in January, 2013; but the beginning of the end probably began over a small lunch or dinner at a fancy restaurant somewhere back around the near collapse of our economy in 2008, five Septembers ago, when a few powerful people shared some ideas about making the Big Dreams they had into reality. There is, after all, great profit to be made from adversity, if you know how to play the money game. And there are different definitions of “profit”, too.
There are probably some scribbled ideas on sheets of paper somewhere about
how to exploit a near economic catastrophe as an excuse, in other words.
Or, perhaps there is no definable “ground zero”. It just evolved.
I speak as a single audience member, simply a long term account number at the Minnesota Orchestra (who seems, to my knowledge, to have been ‘disappeared’ from the Orchestra managements ordinary communication network.)
For some time now I have said, including more than once in this and other blogposts, that I’ll return to Orchestra Hall if and only if the Musicians Union ratifies a new contract. (This does not mean a “kick the can down the road” temporary agreement.)
But even if I’m back, the reality remains: without major changes in how business is done at Orchestra Management level, including who is permitted to be on the Board, the new Orchestra Hall will be a monument to failure of management and not to success.
To me, the Minnesota Orchestra of 110 years has been killed.
*
There are many models (mindsets, I’ll call them) which could have been followed to avoid this pending Armageddon.
Just for perspective, here are a couple of examples, compared against the current apparent model:
A. Alan Fletcher, President and CEO of the Aspen Music School and Festival, said this on June 23, 2013: “Classical music in the United States depends on four groups working together: musicians, donors, administrators, and listeners.” Two months later he said similarly, across the street from Orchestra Hall.
There is at least an implication in his remarks that these four components have essentially equal value.
B. As those of us in the audience now know, the Minnesota Orchestra Management has (and may have always had) a different model:
1) administrators/large donors/Board;
2) musicians;
3) listeners/audience;
with the administrators/large donors superior; and the listeners (it now appears) essentially irrelevant except to purchase tickets.
This model worked so long as there was a benevolent donor class which believed in great music for the greater community played by a top tier Orchestra conducted by a top tier music director.
Wealthy opportunists who like music but like power and control even more apparently saw their opportunity to take over the Orchestra, and have done so, and here we are.
C. And there’s a third model, which Board member Harvey Mackays “Swim with the Sharks” book caused me to revisit this week.
The alternative is in “A Man’s Reach” by Elmer L. Andersen (edited by Lori Sturdevant, University of Minnesota Press, 2000).
Mr. Andersen would be well known to any of the “players” on the current Orchestra Board: orphan who loved books and learning; well to do and very successful business owner, life-long Republican, MN political and civic leader, including Governor and UofM Board of Regents, philanthropist, on and on.
We were friends the last 12 years of his life.
In his book, pages 96-100, Mr. Andersen describes his “corporate philosophy” which “was built around four priorities in a definite order.”
1) “Our highest priority…should be service to the customer.”
2) “Number two was that the company [H. B. Fuller] should exist deliberately for the benefit of the people associated in it. I never like the word employee. It intimated a difference in class within a plant.”
3) [H.B.] “Fuller’s third priority was to make money.”
4) “Our philosophy did not leave out service to the larger community. We put it in fourth place….”
Mr. Andersen died in 2004. It would be interesting to hear Mr. Andersen and Mr. Mackay et al discuss the word “customer” in context with the Minnesota Orchestra.
There is, in my opinion, a severe distinction and disconnect between Mr. Mackay’s “Shark” approach to business and Andersen’s “A Man’s Reach” philosophy, and the distinction is on display at 1111 Nicollet Avenue now.
Mr. Andersen can’t engage in this conversation, at least directly. I wonder what he and many of his other contemporaries – former pillars of this community – would have to say.
Four days. My best to the parties.
The Listeners will determine the future.

A Man’s Reach, c. Regents of the University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press, 2000

#772 – Dick Bernard: An American Flag, and a message on 9-11-13.

September 11, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, History, International Relations, Minnesota, Peace & Justice, Politics, President Obama, War /by dickbernard

Before April 12, 2013, I can recall only one time ever entering the imposing near-40 year old Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis MN. Simply, I’ve never been a resident of Hennepin County, Minnesota’s largest. I go there often for various things, including every Sunday for Church, but I’m not a resident.
That single visit to the Government Center was in the distant past to contest a parking ticket.
On the best of days, Traffic Court is a dismal place, and this was no different. On that day, though, having served my sentence with the rest by waiting what seemed like hours for my turn, justice prevailed, and the ticket was forgiven.
April 12, 2013, I entered the Center from the south, and immediately saw a huge American flag there.
(click to enlarge)

At Hennepin County Government April 12, 2013

I wondered if there was a story behind the flag, but didn’t get around to ask the question immediately. Some weeks later I was at the Center again, looked more closely at the area around the flag and found no explanation.
Back home I decided to make a phone call to someone at the Center: “do you know the history of this flag?” “No”, came the reply.
I was transferred to someone else in the Tower, who also said they didn’t know, and in turn was transferred to a third person, who wasn’t in the office. I left a message, and subsequently got a return call.
Paydirt: “that flag was mounted after 9-11-01. They just felt they had to do something”, my source said. I didn’t inquire who “they” might be, or exactly when the flag was hoisted. Those questions can be answered at leisure.
More recently, I asked some people I know to ask the same question to someone they might know who frequents the Government Center, and also asked them if they knew the history.
That’s it. One question to one person.
So far, no one I’ve talked to has had any idea why that flag hangs there.
The circumstances surrounding that flag and the lack of knowledge bring forth lots of questions to discuss, but that’s not only the reason for this post.
I was at the Government Center that day in April because of a question about another flagpole, visible through the north window of the Government Center.

Flags of Hennepin County, Minnesota and the United States on the Plaza between the Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall, April 12, 2013

Until March 27, 2012, one of those flagpoles flew the United Nations flag, as it had flown there for 44 years. It first flew May 1, 1968, as a symbol of Hennepin County and Minneapolis’ friendship with the entire world: world citizenship. It had been taken down March 27, 2012, for specific and erroneous reasons.
(There was a pretext for taking down the flag, not supported by Law. I’ve done the research. The supposed Law was the excuse, but not a valid reason.)
Six of the seven current Hennepin County Commissioners were in office at the time the UN flag was taken down, and decline to give me specific reasons for why this action was taken. I’ve made repeated formal requests. That story, as recorded so far, is accessible here.
No part of the story of the UN Flag suggests disrespect of the U.S. flag.
They just took the flag down, and none of the Commissioners are talking about why, which is other than the reason given with the motion. The silence seems coordinated – “wagons in a circle”.
As we all know, on this particular 9-11, the dominant world talk is about the poison gas tragedy in Syria, and about the possible utility of the United Nations community in doing some of the essential heavy lifting to solve a problem no country can solve itself. The UN is a potential asset to the United States, and the rest of the world, not a liability or embarrassment.
And that U.S. flag, likely mounted post 9-11-01, is a reminder on this 12th anniversary of (in my opinion) excessive remembering of a past tragedy we experienced in the U.S., to remember as well that large numbers of the casualties 9-11-01 were from other countries; and that our response to the tragedy of 9-11 later brought pain and death to far more people in Iraq and Afghanistan, than we suffered here.
We need to reflect on that, too.
Comment from John N, Bloomington MN: That’s a great post Dick. Thanks for sharing. As for the big flag…does a symbol lose its value when nobody knows what it symbolizes?