Minnesota – Page 7 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#999 – Dick Bernard: A Takeaway from the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum

March 9, 2015/0 Comments/in International Relations, Minnesota /by dickbernard

Related, here, here,here and here .
(click to enlarge photos)

Gina Torry, Sunday March 8, 2015

Sunday morning was the first day of Daylight Savings Time, so when we convened at 9 a.m. the crowd in the meeting room was somewhat thinner than expected for the usual reasons, including forgetting to “spring ahead”.
Forum Executive Director Gina Torry began promptly, with a story about a visit she’d had with a large group of women in a strife torn village in the Central African Republic some time back.
She asked them some questions, but no one answered. The interpreter said that they were shy, and the interview style was replaced by their singing a song in which they articulated some of their wishes.
She played a short video of the women singing to her. It was inspirational.
It caused me to think of a visit nine years ago to Haiti, with a delegation from the micro-finance group Fonkoze. At least twice, in the interior of Haiti in or near Hinche, we met with groups of women who greeted us with group singing.
As it was with our group, Gina’s time together with the CAR women was good. Then she left.
But within a week she heard that some of the women had been killed, others disappeared.
It was a sad story about a sad reality.
As I often do in such settings, myself part of the audience listening to someone else who’s the expert, I notice how I feel: what would I do? What can I do? I notice my colleagues around me. Those older than I; women; students…. What are they thinking and feeling?
Chances are, for most of us, there are variations on the same theme: We convince ourselves, or others help us to be defeated before we even start: “I couldn’t do that”; or, “I don’t have the time”, or, or, or.
It likely took great courage for those women to come to that meeting, to sing their song for the visitor. Some of them, apparently, paid with their lives soon thereafter.
I thought of some years earlier, in that same country of Haiti, where illiterate peasants – most of the population – finally, for the first time, actually had an opportunity to vote for their President, but had all manner of roadblocks thrown up to make voting all but impossible. They showed up and voted, regardless of the hardships.
They put many of us to shame.
At the end of her short presentation, Gina noted to us that she was wearing only one earring.
The other, she said, had been left on a table outside the room, along with other single earrings, a silent witness of native American women to those of their sisters who had disappeared into the abyss of things like sex trafficking.
It was a powerful witness, and I hadn’t noticed the table before.
But I stopped by the table several times later.
Our time on the planet is short, and it is up to us what we do with it.
Are we on the court, or in the stands, or do we even bother to show up for the game?
It is up to us.
That is my takeaway from the Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2015.

The single earrings, March 8, 2015

#998 – Dick Bernard: Day Three, International Women's Day, at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis

March 8, 2015/0 Comments/in International Relations, Minnesota /by dickbernard

Videos of many of the speakers for Mar 6, 7, 8 can be accessed here.
POSTNOTE Mar 13, from singer Patty Kakac, re International Women’s Day: Just thought some of you might be interested in the youtube video of the song Seven Sisters. NO, it’s not the one I wrote. This song was written by author and Publishing Consultant, Laine Cunningham, who also happens to be a friend. She called me up a number of years ago and asked me to record this song for her website. Now it is set to a video with pics of Aboriginal girls. If you care to listen here is the link
Related: Mar 6, 7, 9 and 10.

Throughout this years Nobel Peace Prize Forum, the organization, Peace It Forward was encouraging delegates to create statements of peace. Mostly, it is a creature of Facebook; an exercise in togetherness, one small statement at a time. Take a look, and participate…at Facebook.
Today, March 8, 2015, is International Women’s Day. The focus of today’s Nobel Peace Prize Forum was, properly, peace issues as seen by women.
Here was today’s agenda: Peace Prize Forum Mar 7001 (March 8 is on the second page).
Today’s program was powerful. As an “old white man”, I prefer not to interpret todays general sessions. Fortunately, three of the sessions can be watched in their entirety here. The on-line presentations:
1. Sanam Anderlini, co-founder of International Civil Society Action Network (I CAN)
2. Protecting our Sacred Women (Mother Earth and Indigenous Women)
3. Toward Inclusive Disarmament: the role of women and civil society.
A fourth general session, Women, Business and Peace, was not televised. Panelists were Roxanne Mankin Cason, CEO, Cason Family Foundation; Ingrid Stange, Founder of Partnership for Change; and Tuija Talvite, Executive Director, Crisis Management Initiative.

Roxanne Mankin Cason, Ingrid Stange, Tuija Talvitie, Mar 8, 2015

Included below are a few other photos from today.
The dialogue session I chose to attend was that of my friend, Annelee Woodstrom, who powerfully talks about her experience growing up during the Adolf Hitler period in a small town in Nazi Germany. Her session attracted 75 persons, and her presentation was filmed by the Forum. She did her usual outstanding job.
In #999, perhaps on Monday, I will convey my own general thoughts about the meaning of the three packed and productive days in Minneapolis at the 27th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum.
Next year, same time of year, the 28th Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis. Plan now to participate.

Bonni Jenkins, U.S. Department of State Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs. on panel “Toward Inclusive Disarmament”

More on Threat Reduction Program here.

Sanam Anderlini, co-founder of the International Civil Society Action Network.

More on Sanam Anderlini’s International Civil Society Action Network (I CAN) here.

Native American panel on Protecting our Sacred Women (Mother Earth and Indigenous Women)

Bios on primary panelists Paula Horne-Mullen and Nac’a (Chief) Looking Horse can be read here. More on World Peace and Prayer Day (June 21) seems primarily shared on Facebook. Some possible access points for information here.

from left, Annelee Woodstrom at age 16 (1942), 19 (1945) and 88 (March 8, 2015)

The Calliope Women’s Chorus of Minnesota closed out this years conference with two songs dedicated to Peace

More about Calliope here.

#997 – Dick Bernard: Day Two at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis

March 7, 2015/0 Comments/in International Relations, Minnesota, Peace & Justice, War /by dickbernard

Videos of many of the speakers for Mar 6, 7, 8 can be accessed here. Day One, here. See also, Day Three, and March 9 and 10.
Over the years, I’ve developed a habit of not being concerned about the specific speaker(s) or program when I choose to attend an event. I just show up, and what happens, happens. I guess I like mysteries.
Very rarely am I disappointed. Mystery means, usually, opportunity, not risk.
Today, at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in downtown Minneapolis, the program was a uniformly a great day.
All but one of the program speakers today were unfamiliar to me: I’d never heard of them, actually. Ahmet Ozumcu*, Courtney Rasch*, Muhammad Ashafa, James Wuye, Steve Pinker*. Last year I’d happened to attend a session at which Adama Dieng was speaker, otherwise I would not have heard of him either. (The presentations of those marked with * can be seen in their entirety here. The schedule includes some of Sundays programs, for your reference.)
The organisation of which Mr. Ozumcu is Director-General, the “Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons“, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.
Courtney Rasch witnessed and led us in a moment of silence for the large number of journalists who have been imprisoned and/or killed reporting from dangerous areas on dangerous topics.
As was true yesterday, the presenters – all of them, with their diversities – were phenomenal.
It was a phenomenal day. I left a little early, basically exhausted, but with a great sense of hope.
As I take time to learn, it is amazing to note the existing and high-quality and active infrastructure for peace and justice that exists everywhere in our imperfect world.
Those presenters on video (see link above) can speak for themselves. A few snapshots of the presenters are below.
A couple of notes on the programs not on video:
Adama Dieng, an immensely impressive gentleman, is Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the Prevention of Genocide. When last I heard Mr. Dieng, a year ago, he talked about the legal aftermath of the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Today he mentioned he had left Rwanda just days before the 1994 Genocide began. At today’s presentation, he discussed the background of the tragic situation in the Central African Republic, which he described as basically religious-justified animosities (Christian v. Muslim). Mr. Dieng called special attention to a 43 page booklet published by his office, Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, which is publicly accessible at the link for his UN office (click on his name at the beginning of this paragraph).
I wish that the conversation involving Muhammad Ashafa and James Wuye, moderated by retired ELCA Lutheran Bishop Mark Hanson, was on-line, but it was apparently not scheduled for on-line presentation. The conversation was powerful, and light-hearted, and was interrupted by applause often by a most appreciative audience.
Immam Ashafa and Rev. Wuye are Nigerians from Kaduna, Nigeria. At an earlier time, in the early 90s, they were bitter, probably deadly, enemies. The Immam had lost a teacher and two relatives to Christians; The Reverend had lost much of his right arm to Moslems in one of those mini-religious based wars. The two were on opposite sides. Eventually, almost by accident, they met each other at a gathering, and in a few years time became close friends and now travel the world spreading a message of peacemaking.
It was obvious from how they were with each other that they are fast friends. Indeed, quite by accident, I observed them in the lobby before I knew who they were, and, there, they were very much at ease with each other.
In a way, both men reminded me a bit of South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu: light-heartedly and effectively dealing with deadly serious problems.
But the most surprising and hope-filled presentation for me was that of Prof. Steven Pinker, author of “The Better Angels of Our Nature“. He gave an information packed powerpoint (watch the video) that demonstrated convincingly that, with all our problems, violence in global society is decreasing, and decreasing very markedly.
It was useful to see evidence that all is not going to hell…often in our world where negative publicity is about all that is press worthy, it is easy to believe the worst.
By no means does Pinker suggest that the world is a perfect place.
By no means, though, are things as bad as the “news” likes to portray, and we sometimes like to think, and we can have hope.
I leave this day more hopeful for the future.
POSTNOTE: I elected to attend the breakout session on Minnesota 2015: Global Summit on Democracy for Sustainable Future: Tools, Solutions and Best Practices, October 25-28. From all appearances, this will be a significant and positive event, and I’d urge individuals and organizations to follow, cooperate and indeed participate in developments.
Here is the schedule for March 7 (Saturday) and March 8 (Sunday): Peace Prize Forum Mar 7001. Sundays agenda seems focused on women and peace.
(click to enlarge)

Ahmet Ozumcu, Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 2013 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Adama Dieng, Under-Secretary-General and special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide.

Bishop Mark Hanson, Imman Muhammad Ashafa, Pastor James Wuye, March 7, 2015

at right, Prof. Steven Pinker, author of “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”

#996 – Dick Bernard: Day One of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis MN

March 6, 2015/0 Comments/in History, International Relations, Minnesota /by dickbernard

NOTE: Videos of many of the speakers for Mar 6, 7, 8 can be accessed here. See also, posts for March 7, 8, 9 and 10.
The opening of this years Forum began with an inspiring surprise: the “>1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by then 34-year old Martin Luther King Jr. This clip was especially appropriate given that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, for which King and others campaigned for many years; and gives particular context to the film, Selma, set in March of 1965, just months after Dr. King won the Peace Prize. (Tomorrow, Saturday, March 7, is the 50th anniversary of the first march in Selma, where over 500 protestors were attacked by the police.)
(click to enlarge this or any photo)

from Martin Luther King acceptance speech, Oslo, December, 1964

Friday, March 6, brought eight hours of inspiration featuring numerous speakers (here is the day one program: Peace Prize Forum Mar 6001
Gro Harlem Bruntland, Daniel Wordsworth of American Refugee Committee, Monica McWilliams, all had inspiring messages.
Ending the day, 2002 Laureate Jimmy Carter, U.S. President 1977-1981, gave an inspiring talk. He is one of my all-time favorite Presidents, much maligned (very unfairly, in my opinion) when running for a second term in 1980; now without question one of the most visible and active retired world leaders post-term, working for good in the world. He and Rosalind’s Carter Center takes on the impossible, regularly.
The messages of President Carter, Elder Gro Harlem Brundtland and Monica McWilliams can all be viewed here. Several of the Saturday and Sunday programs will also be broadcast live on-line, and later on video as these talks are.
Each general session speaker had very strong messages of hope, built on the speakers very long personal experience dealing with very tough issues: realities, on the ground, in this imperfect world of ours.
Consistently, speakers such as these are quick to emphasize that the solutions to the major problems rest not with people like themselves, but rather with citizen activists, no matter how humble in circumstance, village by village, city to city, farm by farm.
Succinctly, we, each of us, not them, or someone else named on the news, are the real solution. A better world comes one small piece at a time, through us.
Time after time, over many years of listening to people who made a difference, I get the sense that they are simply courageous realists: they faced a reality that was impossible; assessed the environment; stuck their neck out beyond their comfort zone; and worked and worked and worked and worked…pragmatically…towards some ideal.
In some ways, it is a hard message, but consistently how success is finally achieved.
The Dialogue Session I chose was troubling yet very informative and hopeful: “The Dark Side of the Boom: Seeking Solutions for Human Exploitation and Trafficking in North Dakota’s Oil Patch” was a collaborative program of iEmpathize and North Dakota Force to End Sexual Exploitation (FUSE). As a son of North Dakota, who lived in “the oil patch” during its earliest boom as a 13 year old in 1953-54, I found the program of particular interest and the speakers to be very knowledgeable.
A new 26-minute video produced by iEmpathize was shown. Information about the video, including a trailer, is at their website (link, above).
The latest of President Carter’s many books, “A Call to Action. Women, Religion, Violence, and Power” gives 23 suggestions for anyone wondering what they, personally, can do as their own, personal “Call to Action”. The suggestions can be read, here. They are found on pages 196-198 of the book which is an excellent one for discussion in book club formats, as well as for individual reading.

Jimmy Carter, March 6, 2015, Minneapolis MN Nobel Peace Prize Forum

Here are a few other snapshots I took during this first, inspiring, day:

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Deputy Chair of the Elders and former Prime Minister of Norway.

Daniel Wordsworth, President and CEO of the American Refugee Committee, which is headquartered in Minneapolis MN.

Timothy Pippert, Professor at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, coordinator of the program on the Dark Side of the ND Oil Boom.

Anthony Baldassari, Christine Sambor, Brad Riley and Timothy Pippert, discussing the Oil Patch Human Trafficking problem.

Monica McWilliams, former Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Signatory of the Good Friday Agreement.

Tom Weber, Host of Minnesota Public Radio News with Tom Weber, conducted post-speech conversations with most of the keynote speakers. Monica McWilliams did the post speech interview with President Carter.

Post-note: President Carter’s Vice-President Walter Mondale was to introduce the President, but it was announced he had been hospitalized with the flu. President Carter, now 90, noted that he and Rosalind, his wife, have been married 69 years, and that he still does his “Sunday School” at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
On Sunday, March 8, from 11:30 to 1 p.m., one of the dialogue sessions will be our long-time friend Annelee Woodstrom, who will speak about Growing Up in Adolf Hitler’s Germany. Annelee, now 88, lived the reality of Hitler’s Germany as a young person in a German small town, from 1933-45. She is very frank about what happened and why. I have heard her speak many times. She is well worth hearing. I think a few tickets for Sunday are still available. The Focus this day will be issues related to inclusivity. If you’re in the area, and free, come on down…but get your ticket first!

#982 – Dick Bernard: A Prairie Home Companion

January 17, 2015/0 Comments/in Community, History, Minnesota, Quietings /by dickbernard

(click to enlarge photos)

Garrison Keillor, Jan 17, 2015

It had been a long time since I last actually attended a performance of Garrison Keillor‘s long-running “A Prairie Home Companion“. Tonight was the night, and a wonderful night it was, with a distinctly blue grass tilt, featuring the Gibson Brothers, Heather Masse, (one of the very popular Wailin’ Jennys), and last, but certainly not least, Joe Newberry.
Here is the program booklet for tonights show, the 1,414th in a series that began in 1974: A Prairie Home Companion001. (The program is rebroadcast nationally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the Sunday following the show. Check here for details.)
I first saw PHC in 1977, the year before the show moved to its long-standing venue, now the Fitzgerald, but for most of its life going under the name World Theatre of St. Paul.
In 1978, the show moved into the ancient World Theatre, and Garrison mused about that move in a story. Among other fascinating facts, PHC music director Rich Dworsky’s father owned the World Theatre at the time PHC moved in, and the first rent was $80 per weekend. I attended some early shows there, and the theatre was down in its heels at the time. Of course, today it is an elegant venue.
My son-in-law, who came along and greatly enjoyed the program, observed that there were many of we gray-hairs in the audience, and of course that is true. Garrison, who would have been about 32 when the first show went on the air, is now 40 years older, as are great numbers of his early fans. Indeed, centerpiece of the stage set (see photos) is the facade of an old country farm house (on whose porch about a half dozen audience members sat to watch the program last night.
At some point Garrison (and all of us) will move on, and one can only hope that there will be a viable alternative to carry on the tradition of remembering the olden days before things like Facebook and other forms of instant communication and gratification.
My personal tastes in music have always been quite varied, and tonight was the night for some distinctive sounds, primarily of the bluegrass family. It was a very fun evening, added to by the fact that there was a post-show second concert featuring the above musicians and, of course, Garrison Keillor himself.
In the bonus post-show show, “January Jump Start”, I had the opportunity to take a few snapshots, just to give a little life to the performers for the evening. Otherwise, very often YouTube has video of the various performers in action.
They’re all worth a look and listen!

Heather Masse and Garrison Keillor Jan 17, 2015

Joe Newberry (guitar) with Richard Kriehn Jan 17 2015

The Gibson Brothers (3rd and 4th from left) with Joe Newberry and ensemble Jan 17, 2015

POSTSCRIPT
Between PHC and the bonus “January Jump Start” we walked the couple of blocks to St. Pauls iconic Mickey’s Diner for a quick bite.
Mickey’s never surprises. Donny had a piece of pie and coffee; for me, a side of O’Brian’s Potatoes and a coke.
Mickey’s is a direct kind of place: we had to stand and wait our turn for a seat at the counter, just across from the grill. The place was busy but well organized, and the cook and server were friendly and efficient.
Mickey’s is, as their sign says, “24/7”, and the reward for good behavior is being served.
It was a show in itself…and the food was very good!

Cookin’ at Mickey’s Diner, St. Paul

#978 – Dick Bernard: A Teacher and a Butterfly

January 4, 2015/0 Comments/in Environment, Minnesota, Nature, Quietings /by dickbernard

Life takes it own course, and in our often too-frantic lives, we miss the gentle things that really make a difference.
So it happened, yesterday, that I had to leave, early, the funeral of a retired educator to attend to an equally important duty: taking 10-year old granddaughter, Addy, to the soon-to-end (Jan 8) Monarch Butterfly film and Exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. (If you’re in the area, carve out the time for the program: it is well worth it….)
Marty Wicks, the retired educator whose life was celebrated yesterday, was a lifelong public educator. Her life is summarized here (4 pages): Marty Wicks001. She accomplished much.
I come from a family filled with public educators. That was also my background and career, and I think most in the education profession, including Marty, would agree that “lifelong educators”, especially in public education, early on realize that miracles can and do happen on their watch, but often these happen without their direct knowledge, and ofttimes many years later.
Marty’s brother-in-law, in a tribute to her, gave a personal example of how she, as his sister-in-law, was a powerful teacher to him, personally.
She made a positive difference, the best any of us can hope for.
Funeral over, and before the lunch, I had to make a rapid departure to pick up my granddaughter for our “date” with the butterflies at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
We had tickets for the 1:00 showing at the Omnimax, and like the rest of the packed house we sat transfixed as the remarkable story of Canadian researcher Dr. Fred Urquhart’s near lifelong quest to track the Monarch Butterfly migratory pattern came to life. Part of his incredible story can be read here.
Central to the story is Monarch PS397, tagged by some west suburban Minneapolis students in August, 1975, and remarkably discovered by Dr. Urquhart in Michoacan Mexico four months later, literally minutes after he began his first visit to the Monarch sanctuary, 2000 miles from where PS397 had begun its journey.
The two events: a funeral for an educator; and the central role educators played in one of the most remarkable stories of tracking a migration of an insect, thereby contributing to human knowledge, came together for me on Saturday afternoon.
Film over, Addy and I then went to the Butterfly Exhibit at the Science Museum where adults, kids and butterflies mingled happily in a summer-like environment (perhaps this doesn’t include the little tike whose nose became home base for a friendly butterfly, stopping by to visit!) It was warm in there: tip, if you go there, leave coats behind!
The Exhibit and the Film are at the end of their run here, but there are still a few days; and doubtless you can probably catch them somewhere else. Here’s the website for the film.
There is much more to be said, but more words from me are superfluous.
At the end of the day, I thought of a snapshot I took in November, 1999, North Dakota (below). It has always symbolized for me the entirety of relationships (the tree) and how individuals can shine like the sun, at a particular time for a particular person or persons. Like ourselves and the Butterflies, yesterday, we coexist together.
For certain, Marty Wicks “shone”, and lives on in many ways.
Addy, being ten, will likely have good memories from yesterday, but as kids are wont to do may well move on to other interests.
The important thing was the experience, the opportunity, to learn and to grow. We can all learn.
(click to enlarge.)

#977 – Dick Bernard: 2015: A Good Year To Remind Ourselves That We Are Part Of A Global Community.

January 1, 2015/0 Comments/in Community, History, International Relations, Minnesota, Peace & Justice, War /by dickbernard

The United Nations Building, snapshot, June 30, 1971, Dick Bernard

Calendar/timeline for 2015, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II spotlighting some significant dates in history: Community of Nations 2015 calendar March 2016 edition.
Following Dr. Schwartzbergs comments (below) are links to 55 posts in 2015 which directly related to International Issues.
NOTE TO READERS: An addendum to the original edition of this post, Jan 1, 2015, included comments by Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg with a succinct history of the United Nations System and his ideas for reform. The remarks were included, with his permission, at the end of the original post.
In recognition of Dr. Schwartzbergs upcoming Workable World Conference (Oct 9-10, 2015) I am moving his January 5, 2015 comments to the beginning of this revision, with other comments now at the end of the post.

Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, December 4, 2014

DR. JOSEPH SCHWARTZBERG COMMENTS January 5, 2015
THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM: TIME FOR “ PLAN C”
In any given period, the international system is characterized by some minimally acceptable rules of order. These rules may be partially codified; but, to a large extent, they are tacitly understood, generally reflecting the balance of power perspectives of a small number of influential states. This essay considers systems in the period since World War II.
Plan A: Traditional Power Politics Plus a Weak United Nations System
The United Nations Charter, adopted in 1945, was not a democratic document. In the Security Council, the sole UN agency to enjoy binding powers, the so-called P5, the principal victors in World War II, were not only given permanent seats, but also the right to veto any resolution of which they disapproved. All other members reluctantly accepted this dispensation, relying for protection on their sovereign immunity from outside intervention. In theory, all states were sovereign equals. Each could do whatever it wished, no matter how immoral, within its own borders. Nor did it matter whether its actions were for the good of the planet. Nevertheless, most states behaved reasonably and the system worked well enough to help avert World War III and to provide modest benefits to needy nations.
In its early days, the UN was looked upon favorably by the United States, which, together with its allied and client states, mainly in Latin America and Western Europe, could win just about any vote in the UN General Assembly. The Soviet Union, naturally, frequently used its veto to block Western initiatives. But, as the UN expanded, mainly because of decolonization in Africa and most of Asia, the balance of power shifted. What had been a primarily East-West contest morphed into opposition between the global North and South. In the new power configuration the South won many victories, but they proved to be pyrrhic in that decisions were non-binding, unenforceable and largely ignored by powerful states. New agencies continued to be created to deal with issues of global importance, but they were typically under-funded and inadequately staffed. The United States continued to pay lip service to the importance of the UN, but we also made sure that it did not become a serious contender for global political power.
Overall, the planet continued to be wracked by political, economic and social injustice. Looming environmental dangers were ignored. Leaders and diplomats were largely oblivious to many mounting dangers and failed to recognize the sowing of the seeds of terrorism.
Plan B: An Abortive Pax Americana
With the unanticipated implosion of the Soviet Union in 1989, a seemingly promising new era dawned in world affairs. The United States emerged as the sole hegemon in a politically uni-polar world. Its capacity to lead was unprecedented. Many of our leaders, however, especially on the political right, perceived the global situation as enabling the establishment of a “New American Century,” a Pax Americana backed by worldwide acceptance of free-market capitalism and guaranteed militarily by “full spectrum dominance” (on land, sea, air, and outer space) and marked by pro-American, nominally democratic regimes on all continents. Remaining adversaries were to be hemmed in by a global network of hundreds of military bases. To be sure, it would be expensive; but it was a scenario we believed we could afford.
But there were problems. Nobody ever asked us to be the world’s policeman and political arbiter. We lacked the skill to export democracy to other lands. Most of the world did not buy into the neo-con myth that we were the “shining city on the hill” And then came 9/11! Our response was the unwinnable global War on Terrorism that has obsessed our political thinking ever since. Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations have wreaked incalculable death and devastation and drained our economy of trillions of dollars and precluded meaningful reforms in our own country and abroad. For all practical purposes, the UN was relegated to a bit and subservient part. And most of our political establishment still doesn’t get it.
Plan C: A Transformed United Nations System
All of the problems confronting our planet before 9/11 are still with us. Some, especially climate change, have become appreciably worse. Plan B isn’t working and needs to be replaced. We need truly global, not essentially unilateral decision-making. The United Nations must be transformed and strengthened. Decisions must be binding, democratically reached, accepted as legitimate, and enforceable. The global South deserves to have an appropriate voice in world affairs. Terrorism must be addressed, not by killing ever-greater numbers of presumed potential perpetrators, but by eliminating its root causes in global and local injustice. Ordinary citizens deserve to be represented in a World Parliamentary Assembly. Better ways must be found to tap the wisdom of civil society. Unilateral military adventurism must yield to duly authorized missions carried out by a competent standing peace force. The jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court must be made universal. The list goes on.
Happily, solutions are in sight. Suggesting how best to address these issues is the purpose of my most recent book, Transforming the United Nations System: Designs for a Workable World. The book, published by the United Nations University Press in 2013 has been enthusiastically endorsed by numerous prominent world thinkers. You may easily order a copy on-line from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or the Brookings Institution Press.
*
(continuation of January 1, post)
Dick Bernard comments:
Do make it a priority to read Dr. Schwartzberg’s book on Transforming the United Nations System, and attend the Workable World Conference, which is based on the book.
Most Recent Related Blog Posts, since January 1, 2015: (earlier posts are found at the end of this page.)
47. Nov. 16, 2015 Paris, November 13, 2015
48. Nov. 18, 2015 Paris, the 6th Day.
49. Dec. 1, 2015 “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream…A Million Copies Made”
50. Dec. 4, 2015 San Bernardino
51. Dec. 5, 2015
Christine Loys. A Message From COP 21, Paris, The Global Conference on Climate Change.
52. Dec. 7, 2015 December 7, 2015: “War” to Peace: Changing the Conversation.
53. Dec. 10, 2015 Muslims
54. Dec. 14, 2015 The Paris Climate Talks Conclude…and Continue, and Begin
55. Dec. 17, 2015 “Let There Be Peace On Earth And Let It Begin With Me.”
(click to enlarge)

UN vehicle in Hinche (Ench) Haiti, March 2006

The United Nations turns 70 this year, less than two months after the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.
WWII followed WWI by about 20 years.
The dreaded WWIII, which could easily destroy us, has not happened and I have to believe the very existence of the United Nations is a large part of the reason our human species has survived in spite of dire threats, and in fact will continue to survive as we cobble together ways to get along.
Most of us know little about the United Nations (UN), which is a shame. My personal learning curve has been recent. There is a great deal to learn.
To some, the UN is an enemy entity, even though it is not a country, and its structure mitigates against making imperialistic moves, if indeed its actors would even have an interest in such.
Perhaps it is because the UN was a coalition of partners which had a logical structure at the time of its formation: five powers have always dominated it, each possessing veto power. They are the countries which won WWII: United States, England, France, Soviet Union and China. There were 46 other founding nations in 1945; now there are 193. (Japan was admitted in 1956; Germany in 1973.)
I have noted that change happens within the UN system, though at a glacial pace. This is to be expected. Some observers wish the UN system would cease to exist; others expect miracles from it, including instant change. Given the enormity of its mission, it is a marvel it exists at all!
But the UN and its numerous associated agencies, like World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, UNICEF, and on and on, contribute markedly and quietly to helping our diverse world not only survive, but thrive.
A key question, for me, is “where would the world be in 2015 without a United Nations?” I think we would rue the day the UN disappeared.
A new resource I highly recommend to those wishing to learn about the UN: Dr. Joseph Schwartzbergs 2013 book “Transforming the United Nations System, Designs for a Workable World”: Schwartzberg 2013001 (cover illustration above). This 364 page academic work is full of data, history, and ideas for “transforming” the UN and it is a book that is getting broad attention within the UN community of interest. Book is available on-ine from Amazon,Barnes and Noble, or the Brookings Institution. Inquiries and comment about the book to Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg at Workable World Trust.
POST NOTE #1: Some personal thoughts about the UN (yours are solicited as well).
My direct contact with the United Nations is very limited. Until 2006, the only direct exposure to the UN was a visit to New York City in 1972, part of which included a stop, as a tourist, at UN headquarters.
In March, 2006, we visited the interior of Haiti. It was my second visit, and a time of political uncertainty in the country. In the interior city of Hinche (Ench), we met and visited with a retired police officer from Quebec who was on assignment with the UN to help build a more effective local police force there. He saw his duty as a needed service.
Later we saw a UN vehicle on a Hinche street (a photo leads this post). The photo speaks for itself. I don’t know who was with the vehicle; at any rate, it was calm in the streets surrounding.
A few days later, enroute back to Port-au-Prince and in the town of Mirabelaise, one of our vehicles stopped to repair a flat tire. We took a break, and we met by coincidence a squad of UN Peacekeepers from Nepal. We had a very brief chance to visit with some of them, and I took this two minute piece of video of our interaction. There was nothing intimidating in our interaction or what we saw in the park. The voice-over you hear is mine. It was simply a spontaneous piece of history that I filmed – a different look at the stereotype of UN Peacekeeper. (Here is the same video, without crawl script.)
In this amateur video, you can get a sense of the humanity of the “peacekeepers”; young soldiers as you’d find anywhere in the world. That they are Nepalese came to be notorious a few years later when their encampment just east of the town, was identified as the probable source of the cholera epidemic that devastated Haiti in 2010. Instantly, that incident became another piece of evidence, to some, that the United Nations was no good.
But that chance encounter with those few young Nepalese has had a durable and positive impact on me.
POST NOTE #2: At the end December, 2012, I stumbled across a local incident which attracted my interest. The Commissioners of Hennepin County (Minneapolis and area) had taken down a United Nations flag which had flown on the plaza for 44 years. This story continues – you can read it here – and is fascinating mostly in the active interest in keeping secret who it was who pushed the Commissioners to take their unanimous action in March of 2012.
More recently, I noted that a flag I thought had been a UN Flag had been taken down at a major Edina Hospital. I inquired about it, and was informed that it wasn’t a UN flag, but rather the flag of the World Health Organization (WHO) (which is one of those UN agencies, now independent, whose flag essentially mirrors that of the United Nations flag on which it is based.
Again, someone wanted that flag down, someone probably threatened by its very existence there, but it is near impossible to find out the truth….
(click to enlarge, once enlarged you can further enlarge the flag and see that it is indeed the WHO flag).

Fairview Southdale Hospital Edina MN April 1, 2013

(Continuation of Related Posts)
1. Jan. 16, 2015: Global Health: The Greatest Story Rarely Told
2. Jan. 15, 2015: The Paris Attacks.
3. Jan. 27, 2015: The 70th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
4. Jan. 28, 2015:: Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Day After Yesterday.
5. Mar. 3, 2015: Netanyahu at Congress, March 3
6. 6. Mar. 6, 7, 8, 9, 2015: Series of posts about the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis MN.
Ten Videos featuring major speakers at the 2015 Forum can be accessed here. In particular, I recommend President Jimmy Carter’s Mar. 6, 2015 address, found at this link.
7. Mar. 10, 2015 Thoughts at 1000
8. Mar. 13, 2015 When Stupidity Triumphs
9. Mar. 18, 2015 Netanyahu’s “Victory”
10. Mar. 20, 2015 A Remarkable Evening remembering Vietnam War
11. Mar. 21, 2015 Visiting Selma AL Mar 7, 2015
12. Mar. 29, 2015 Esperanto
13. Mar. 31, 2015 Negotiations with Iran
14. Apr. 4, 2015. Death and Resurrection: Cuba and the Minnesota Orchestra.
15. Apr. 9, 2015. Flossenburg
16. Apr. 22, 2015. Earth Day 2015
17. Apr. 23, 2015. War is Hell. How About Waging Peace?
18. Apr. 28, 2015. An Hour With The Governeur-General of Canada
19. May 1, 2015. Memorial Day 1946, and the Residue of WWII
20. May 12, 2015 The Minnesota Orchestra Goes to Cuba, and Some Thoughts of the Early 1960s
21. May 23, 2015 Thoughts About the War About War
22. May 27, 2015 A Memorial Day to Remember in LaMoure
23. May 29, 2015 Catching a Moment in Time Saturday, March 18, 1905
24. Jul. 4, 2015 “God Bless America”
25. Jul. 7, 2015 Two Flags, Two National Anthems: Cuba at Minnesota Orchestra Hall
26. Jul. 16, 2015 Going to Peace. A Reflection on Detente With Iran
27. Aug. 4, 2015 Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg. Remembering India’s Early Support For “One World”
28. Aug. 6, 2015 August 6, 2015: The Atomic Bomb at 70. Reflecting on Peace.
29. Aug. 10, 2015 Nagasaki, August 9, 1945. A Message to the Peace Movement
30. Aug. 16, 2015 A Thank You to President Jimmy Carter
31. Aug. 24, 2015 Tom Atchison’s Memorial, and Two Upcoming Events [Hiroshima Nagasaki Exhibit at Landmark Center St Paul (ongoing) and Iran Nuclear Deal (see Aug 27)]
32. Aug. 27, 2015 Dealing With Differences. The Iran Nuclear Agreement, the Koreas, North and South, et al.
33. Sep. 5, 2015 That little Kurdish boy who drowned.
34. Sep 7, 2015 The Little Kurdish Boy Who Drowned (continued)
35. Sep. 11, 2015 September 11.
36. Sep. 18, 2015 The International Day of Peace 2015
37. Sep. 21, 2015 The International Day of Peace; A Pope and the Year of Mercy
38. Sep. 24, 2015 Creating a Workable World: Transforming the United Nations System
39. Sep. 27, 2015 The Pope’s Speech to the U.S. Congress
40. Oct. 6, 2015 A Conversation about the United Nations: Looking at the UN at 70
41. Oct. 7, 2015 Bombing the Hospital in Afghanistan. Who’s at fault about the killing at Roseburg, Oregon?
42. Oct. 12, 2015 Getting Perspective on the UN System at 70
43. Oct. 18, 2015 From Darkness to Light. A Journey Towards Peace and Reconciliation.
44. Oct. 26, 2015 Ehtsham Anwar: Seeking An Answer To A Disconnect. Americans as Peaceful People; and America’s International Image As Warmonger.
45. Nov. 5, 2015 Video from Workable World Conference Oct 9&10, 2015; Ehtasham Anwar Video Interviews of Minnesota Peacemakers, May & June, 2014
46. Nov. 11, 2015 Armistice Day, 2015

#970 – Dick Bernard: Reflecting on My 1977 Christmas Letter

December 16, 2014/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, Minnesota, Quietings /by dickbernard

All best wishes to you and yours at this season, however you recognize it – and that can get confusing. I just came from the post office, which annually offers a large variety of Christmas and holiday themed stamps, hopefully to treat respectfully the largest number of people in this wonderfully diverse country of ours.
It occurred to me yesterday that this year is exactly half a life-time since I sent my first “home-made” Christmas card (in 1977, below). It had three panels: very simple. The sentiments I expressed then, fit today as well.
(click to enlarge)

1977 Christmas Card

The year was 1977, 37 years ago. Son Tom, then 13, drew the Christmas tree (we didn’t have a “real” or even artificial one that winter).
Of course, the only means of transmission then were in person, or by U.S. mail.
The “tradition” came for me to identify one particular significant event each year, and to write something about it.
The first time I went primarily to electronic transmission was well after the year 2000.
Fast forward to today.
This greeting can go anywhere/everywhere. But likely fewer people actually read it, than read that handmade card 37 years ago. Many of my own age range have never warmed to even e-mail; many more, like myself, are slow on the uptake with the already old-fashioned Facebook, and more recent Twitter, and the other shorthand ways of “touching base”.
We’re still in a canyon of non-communication*. In the midst of infinite means of communicating, everywhere, any time, instantly, something like this won’t reach people who don’t do internet; many on internet don’t do e-mail, or are so glutted with “communication” that a survival skill is the delete key…and sometimes worthy communication is missed. It’s a trying time, in so many ways.
I’ll be long gone when the next 37 year mark is reached. I wonder how people will be communicating then, if there are even people left to communicate with (a scary thought, but worth contemplating – we are the difference between having a future, or not).
For now, though, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
And if you wish, here are recent blog posts that might speak to you in some way or other: “St. Nicholas“; “The Wallet“; “The Retreat“; “The Dinner Party”
* – This came home to me in a handwritten note with a Christmas card from long-time friend Joanne, received Dec 15: “I was going to e-mail you this Christmas letter as I know you prefer that but no e-mail address for you! Please send it and I’ll make sure it gets on my computer.”
She forgot to include her e-mail address….
Yes, it is difficult to communicate these days of mass communication!
POSTNOTE: Dec 22: Saturday morning I was at my usual “station”, Caribou Coffee in Woodbury, writing Christmas letters (in this case, to people for whom I had no e-mail address, advising them of this blog post). After all, everyone knows someone with computer, even if they don’t know how to use it! I’ve also learned that printed out versions of blogs don’t look as good as on the screen – tiny type font and all. Another problem in transitioning to a new way.
An older guy, who I know as another regular, came up to note that I was probably doing Christmas cards. Yes I was, I said. He said, he doesn’t do Christmas cards any more. We didn’t explore the topic in any depth; we really didn’t have to.
1977 is long gone, but it was good while it lasted….

#967 – Dick Bernard: The Wallet, Pearl Harbor Day, 2014

December 7, 2014/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, Minnesota, War /by dickbernard

NOTE: November 25, 2016: The Dec. 7, 2016, post will include a link to this post, and more information relating to the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Directly related post here.
PRE-NOTE: I have written often, here, about the death of my Uncle Frank, my Dad’s kid brother, on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, and how there was an unexpected family reunion – one I attended, as a one year old – in Long Beach CA less than five months before he died. Here and here are two related posts about this.
Dec. 7, 2014, at Landmark Center in St. Paul, I shared a small part of my own family story at a commemoration of December 7, 1941. A summary of what I said follows below, at “Pearl Harbor, a Family Reunion”. More details can be read here: frank-bernard001
The Wallet.
A month ago a mystery envelope appeared in our mailbox – the small packet from Scottville MI was postmarked Nov. 6, 2014.
It was from a cousin of mine, and when I opened the envelope the content was an old leather wallet (photo below, click to enlarge all photos).

The Wallet, 2014

It was very fragile, this billfold (another name for wallet). I was curious.
There was no money, but plenty of paper, all of which I removed. The Identification card said the wallet belonged to Vincent Busch, Berlin, N. Dak. Vincent is my Uncle, who I’ve spent a lot of time with especially this past year. Below are the entire contents of the Wallet.

See “More about the wallet” following “Pearl Harbor, the Family Reunion”
PEARL HARBOR, THE FAMILY REUNION
(Click to enlarge)

The family members in the story are, at right: Richard, Henry and Esther Bernard. From left, Henry and Josephine Bernard, Josie Whitaker, and Frank Bernard, Henry’s parents and siblings, in Long Beach.

Summary of remarks made at Landmark Center, Dec 7, 2014
I am one of very few Americans today who can honestly say they actually physically met one of those killed aboard the USS Arizona, Dec. 7, 1941. My last meeting with my Uncle Frank Bernard was at the end of June, 1941, five months before he died. I was one year old. I have the photo to prove it (above)!
The constellation of each and every victim that fateful Sunday, carry their own stories, in various ways.
Here’s some fragments of mine.
Frank served on the Arizona for six years. He was a shipfitter. Getting in the Navy was an accomplishment during the Depression. He seemed headed for a career in the Navy, but then there’s that letter he typed aboard the Arizona on “Nov 7 1941” (a Friday) where he asks his brothers advice: “I think I will get hitch to that little girl up in Washington she is a honey…what do you think of that…?”
I don’t know when that letter arrived back in ND. Neither do I know where the letter was written. From 27-31 October 1941 the Arizona was dry-docked at Pearl Harbor, and subsequent records went down with the ship.
Then, there’s a family picture I have, taken in late June, 1941, at Long Beach CA, of the entire family – there were 7 at the time. On the back of the photo Grandmother later wrote “the first time we had our family together for seven years and also the last.” It says it all. (The reunion was a surprise. No one expected the Arizona to pay a call at San Pedro, just down the coast from Long Beach.)
Forty years later, in 1981, Dad wrote a long and comprehensive history of his life and gave it to me. Ten years later, I was preparing a book of memories to give him on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and found in that history which he had written, not a single word about Pearl Harbor. This is how repressed memory works (or doesn’t work).
On the other hand, my parents next male child, born in Nov. 1945, was named Frank Peter, doubtless in memory of Dad’s brother.
I asked Dad about the missing memories. My folks had a battery operated radio but Dad recalled that on December 7 they were not listening to the radio. The first word of the bombing at Pearl Harbor was received when [a colleague teacher] returned …late in the afternoon.
“During the week following the attack it was first announced that John Grabinski, a sailor from Grafton and Frank’s friend, had been killed. It was only later in the week that it was learned that John Grabinski was safe, but that Frank Bernard had been killed aboard the Arizona.” (Mr. Grabinski lived into his mid-80s, much of his later years in Arizona.)
Of course, the early chaos brought no news of who had died. A high school student in Dad’s class recalled years later that “I don’t remember us ever talking about [Dad’s brother] losing his life from the Japanese attack.”
The family did not get together, and to my knowledge there was no memorial service, or funeral. My grandparents, of Grafton ND, were in Long Beach; their daughter was in Los Angeles, and my parents were in rural North Dakota.
There was nothing much that could be done.
Many years later, a relative of mine found a very long article in the Grand Forks Herald of February 17, 1942, and sent it to me. It was about a North Dakota picnic in Los Angeles (in those days, state picnics were major events, attended, sometimes, by thousands). Reference was made to a talk by the Polish Consul in Los Angeles, in which he remembered “a young man of Polish descent at Pearl Harbor, the young man being a native of the Grafton area.”
The article continued: “When he had finished reading a man and his wife arose in the audience, the man asking if he might interrupt for just a moment…the man said the report of that boy’s death later was found to be in error, but that the man actually killed at Pearl Harbor was the pal of the boy mentioned in the first report. “The boy killed,” said the man, “was our son!” The couple standing were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bernard, long time residents of Grafton. The entire audience arose and stood in silence for a moment in honor of the dead hero and the parents who made the sacrifice.”
There are no winners in war. Let us not forget.

Frank Bernard, Honolulu, some time before Dec. 7, 1941

…More about the 1941 Wallet

Finally, the rest of the contents spilled out. Here they are, speaking powerfully for themselves (look for and note, especially, the name Francis Long): Busch Vince Wallet004
I surmise that this wallet was a Christmas gift to Uncle Vince in 1940, probably from his parents (he would have been 15, then). The assorted photos and cards are classmates including his 12 year old brother, Art, a couple of nearby cousins, Anita and Melvin Berning, and other classmates from the Berlin High School. There were also some Gas Ration cards from WWII. There are two photos of Art, lower left of the four visible photos above, and at the top of the first pdf page.
Vince and Art shared a tiny little room in the farmhouse until Art graduated from high school in 1945. The winter heat source was the furnace chimney which came through their room. Bedrooms were for sleeping, period.
If I’m right, that the wallet was new in 1940, it was probably in Vincents pocket when the below picture was taken on Mother’s Day, 1941, at the farm.

Vincent and Art and Anita and Melvin are the kids towards the right of the photo. Are left are Vince’s parents, my grandparents, Rosa and Ferd Busch; and interspersed are by parents Esther and Henry Bernard and my other Grandparents Josephine and Henry Bernard, down from their home in Grafton ND.
This was a peace-time photo, at least in the United States.
Seven months after this picture, December 7, 1941, the Bernards youngest son, and my Dad’s brother, Frank, went down with the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. We last saw him in late June in Long Beach, apparently a surprise visit as the Arizona was in port at nearby San Pedro. Every American instantly became a part of America and the World’s most deadly war, till now.
In the wallet, there’s the card for Francis Long, a neighbor and school mate of Vincent.
On Thanksgiving I showed Vince the wallet and its contents, and I also showed him parts of some of the many albums his family kept over the years.
In the collection was this photo:

Francis Long, probably spring or summer 1944. He was apparently killed in action shortly after going on active duty.

“Who’s that?” “Francis Long”, he said.
Francis went off to WWII. Apparently shortly after he went to the Pacific theatre, things went wrong. August 20, 1944, Grandma wrote a letter to another son, George Busch, a naval officer on a Destroyer in the Pacific Theatre, and said this: “Fri we had a memorial Mass for Francis Long killed July 2 on Saipan in action….” (This photo was developed by Brown Photo, Minneapols, Oct 5, 1944. In those years, few pictures were taken, and it often took a long while to finish off an 8 or 12 exposure roll.)
War is never a solution, but for some reason we persist in our insanity that it is possible to kill off our enemies, and thus achieve piece. We are all “enemies” to somebody, somewhere. Let’s change the conversation.

#965 – Dick Bernard: The Minnesota Orchestral Association Annual Meeting

December 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Community, Economics, History, Labor, Minnesota /by dickbernard

(click to enlarge)

A brass quintet of orchestra members expertly closed out the public meeting.

Pre-note, side comment, and recommendation: In light of current events it seems almost superfluous to write about a meeting of the Board of the Minnesota Orchestra. There is a great deal happening on the national scene, most recently the non-indictment of the policeman involved in the death of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Ferguson, Mo and spreading unrest around injustice. And all signs suggest that the U.S. Congress will be even more dysfunctional and confrontational with President Obama in 2015 than it is now, attempting its own power play with no good ahead for our country.
We are a country at war within ourselves. Still, a few words about an Orchestra organization trying to heal after one of the worst lockouts in American labor history seems worthy of some time.
On the national scene, the best daily source I have found, (6 days a week), summarizing major contemporary national and international issues of the previous day and offering intelligent comment, is a blog called Just Above Sunset, published by a retired guy in Los Angeles, Alan, whose brief bio is at the end of each post. Today’s post is about the Eric Garner situation. Here, here, here and here are links to a couple of others. Subscription is free. It silently finds its way to my e-mail at about 2 a.m. most days. My personal bias is clearly articulated at right on this blog.
Personally, I’ve never been a quitter, though sometimes, like now, I feel whipped as an ordinary citizen. It is not a constructive attitute.
It was good to listen in on the Orchestra Board meeting Tuesday night, and maybe there is some hope. But as with everything, its up to me, and to you, to get anything useful accomplished.
The Minnesota Orchestral Association Annual Meeting Dec. 2, 2014.
Tuesday night I dropped in on the public meeting of the Minnesota Orchestral Association Board at Orchestra Hall. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a good summary of the one hour session which, apparently, included about 150 of us, only a couple who asked questions.
I came to listen, and took the photo at beginning of this post of a brass quintet of Orchestra members. For those interested, here is most of the 2014 Annual Report: MN Orch Ann Report 2014001
At Tuesday’s meeting, you would have to have been an “inside baseball” type to gather that between October, 2012, and February, 2014, there had been a bitter and near fatal dispute between the Orchestral Association and its Musicians, and ultimately, Music Director Osmo Vanska, with the Audience as unseen bit players off on the side somewhere, though I would guess that everyone of us in the room knew full-well what had transpired over that long period of time.
My “filing cabinet” of that dispute is here.
We are one of those ordinary people with more-than-ordinary interest in the short and long-term success of the Orchestra. For example, after the meeting, I met my daughter and 14 year old grandson, Ted, in the lobby. He’s a music guy at his high school, especially interested in Jazz, and I wanted them to have a chance to see Wynton Marsalis and Ensemble from Lincoln Center that same day, best tickets available. It will likely be a long-time memory for Ted.
My guess is that we’ll lay out about $1000 for assorted things at Orchestra Hall this first full season back – for us, it is affordable, but noticeable in our circumstances. There are endless other entreaties for contributions from other worthy agencies. The well is only so deep.
As I sat, listening Tuesday afternoon, I kept thinking that the real dilemma for the Orchestral Association Board is to truly come to understand who we in the seats, the audience, really are, and how we can best participate in the Orchestra’s long-term success.
And it will be a difficult task.
Those who are the Orchestral Association Board are, I would guess, from a very comfortable economic class, well connected in the upper echelons of business and society, and influential in their circles. Indeed, this is a main reason they are appointed to this board: they not only have a passion for the music, but have both money and access to other important sources of money and power. The rest of us (once well described to me by head of a major twin cities Charity as “the poor ones”) don’t bring enough “value added” to effectively serve on such a Board, much less be listened to.
So, the only “power” the general audience possesses is whether we enter the doors or not, and keep this magnificent institution, this legacy of past benefactors, in business. It behooves the people on the Board to know us very, very well, and to talk with and about us as equals – not an easy task.
“During the meeting, a point was made of some “anonymous” donor who contributed $10,000,000 in the last few months to the Orchestra Endowment. Simply stated, that is 10,000 times our paltry $1000.
The big money is very important, granted, but it is people like ourselves who must fill the seats long term, and who must choose where to spend our discretionary income (if we’re lucky enough to have that).
The way this Orchestra (and most similar large cultural institutions everywhere) are structured, the sole responsibility for understanding the common folks in the seats rests with the uncommon folks who sit on the Orchestra Board and cannot really understand less privileged realities. And that $10,000,000 donor on any given night can occupy only a single seat as can I….
Put another way: Money most certainly talks, but that doesn’t mean it understands; to paraphrase the liquor ad, “with great privilege comes great responsibility”….
Understanding those of us come to the hall will help bring long term success. Without such understanding, long term recovery will be difficult.

Grandson Ted at right, Grandson and Ted/s cousin, baseball guy Parker, at center, Nov 29, 2014. Both Ted and Parker’s Moms were good at piano.