What an Odd Refusal!

I offered to take in my JFK memorabilia to Lu's class - original newspapers, contemporary magazines, LP's, photographs, books, a plaster bust, etc - to tie in with today's anniversary, but my offer was rejected by her social studies teacher.

"Maybe next year," he wrote.

Yes, yes. Because the *51st* anniversary is the perfect time to use media attention to generate interest in a historical event.

JFK - 50 years later

50 years ago today John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, an event no Baby Boomer will ever forget.

My own connection to the event began twenty years later, in 1983. I was nine years old that year and had just started the fourth grade when my Grandfather, a man I loved and idolized, passed away. To say that his death put me in a tailspin is almost an understatement, but sometime in the weeks that followed my Mom gave me a book on JFK. It was just a thin children’s book, full of more myth than fact – I particularly remember one scene where Jack fell in love with Jackie when he first saw her over a dinner table – but it hooked me.

I began to read everything I could about JFK. In retrospect it’s easy to see I was simply substituting one fallen hero (my Grandpa) for another (JFK), but in those dark months it was just about the only joy I remember. Somewhere around that time, and I don’t remember if it was with my knowledge or not – my Mom mailed out two letters about my newfound passion. Just before Christmas, two packages arrived in response.

The first, from Senator Edward Kennedy, included a short mimeographed note of thanks and contained information about both JFK and RFK, as well as two 8x10 black and white photographs, one of Jack, the other of Jackie and his children.

The second package was incredible. It came from the Kennedy Library, and included the following handwritten note from William Johnson, the Chief Archivist.

Inside was more information on JFK and his library, and some items I’ve now forgotten. Here’s one I never have: an original copy of Life Magazine dated November 29, 1963 that chronicled the horrific events of Dallas and its aftermath.

 Remember, this was on the cusp of the 20^th anniversary of his death. There were books and magazines and television specials galore, and I collected whatever I could. I accumulated a scrapbook of articles from the Milwaukee Journal’s Green Sheet, a few record albums of his speeches, a plaster bust of JFK, book upon book – you name it.

So on the actual anniversary of his assassination (in 1983 it was a Tuesday, if I’m not mistaken) I took this little collection into my school for show and tell, passing it among my classmates. I’d like to say someone was inspired, or even that it was met with boos – either one makes a great story – but I don’t remember, so odds are it was met with quiet tolerance.

Over the years my adoration of JFK waned. The reality didn't quite match up with the legend, and that’s a hard pill to swallow when it was the legend you fell in love with. My politics changed too, and suddenly a New Frontier that mocked Eisenhower’s admirable time in office held much less appeal.

The pendulum has begun to swing full circle, tho’ it will never reach the zeal I had as a child. JFK and I would disagree politically, but not as much as I once thought; his reputation was pushed to the Left by nostalgia and the far more liberal records of his brothers. He was a fiscal conservative and a cautious Hawk, two qualities I find appealing in a candidate. And even if he was as liberal as some people work hard to believe, it would carry a lesson all its own: that you can disagree with someone’s politics while still admiring them as a human being.

Even 50 years on, JFK’s memory continues to inspire this nation.  Rest in Peace sir; you earned it. 

The Jingle Bus

This evening, while YaYa was at dance, Lisa took the three youngest to Turkey Bingo at their school, then headed down to the Holiday Lights Festival at Pere Marquette Park. There they saw fireworks, sang carols, saw the Mayor speak, and watched Santa turn on all the holiday lights! 

After class I met them there and we all took the Jingle Bus (a charter) around downtown Milwaukee, seeing the sights and the lights (rhyme unintentional).

On the bus they asked for kid volunteer's to sing carols, and Junie was the first to sing a solo, followed quickly by Smiley, and much later, a shy LuLu took the microphone. All three sang "Jingle Bells". 

Other than my fear that our van would be towed from where I sorta/kinda parked it illegally, it was a very nice, very sweet family night. Well done Mom!

Lulu's new bike

I purchased this for $20 at a rummage sale this summer and surprised her with it :)

Prince Fielder news

BREAKING NEWS: The Tigers and Rangers have agreed on a trade sending Prince Fielder to Texas and Ian Kinsler to Detroit.

Sylvia Browne

RIP purported psychic Sylvia Browne, age 77

Syd Field

A belated RIP to screenwriting guru Syd Field, who died recently at age 77.

The Gettysburg Address - November 19th, 1863

150 years ago today Abraham Lincoln journeyed to the Gettysburg battlefield to dedicate its cemetery, and delivered one of the finest - and shortest - speeches in history. 

The spirit of his mighty words lives on, as I hope they will forever. 

Take a moment to read them again, and offer up a prayer of thanks for all those who gave their lives to save freedom and our Union all those many years ago. 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

20 Years

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the recording of Nirvana's Unplugged performance

I've Seen It All

I've seen it all. Hubby rearranged fish tank plants/skull to make pathways wider for our handicapped fish. He loves all creatures, big and small...lol....except mice. - Lisa

Goodbye Dear Swingset

RIP gentle swingset.

My Maternal Great-Grandpa's Business

Please Keep an Eye Out

LuLu's Girl Scout vest is missing. I'm sure it's somewhere in the house and we'll find it sometime in 2016 when looking for the remote, but the fact is it has about a gazillion irreplaceable badges sewn on the back. If you accompanied her on a field trip with the Scouts, or hosted her overnight, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE double-check to make sure that she didn't leave it behind. Thanks!

Smiley's Thoughts Today

Smiley's quote of the day, spoken out of the blue: "All it takes is one zombie to wreck the whole world"

Flooding

23 years ago my first job was working for a land surveyor. His day job was working on the Deep Tunnel project, and I remember him telling me it would end the city's sewage and flooding problems. Fast forward to 2013. Today's awful storm flooded the streets from the midpoint of the park to two blocks east of my street, as well as most of the side streets in my neighborhood. Meanwhile, my basement, once prone to routine flooding, survived without a drop, courtesy of the french drain I dug in 2010. Maybe MMSD should call me for some tips.

Neat!

A Present for Smiley

I just bought Smiley a Christmas present "officially licensed by the U.S. Army" - 'cuz you know, 99% of all toys for boys must train them to kill on the word of a Washington fatcat - and guess what the back of the box says? Quote: "Designed and built in Canada and Germany".

He's hard to buy for because he doesn't want toys that kill....ridiculous, he's 8 - Lisa 

Ward-Gatti

Yesterday I watched all three of the epic Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fights. The first one totally lived up to the billing, as did the rubber match, when Gatti fought on after breaking his hand. Match 2 was lopsided and a disappointment all things considered, but round 3 . . . man, round 3 was beautiful. Hollywood Worthy, and arguably The Best Round of Boxing I've ever seen.  They're worth a watch.

note:  I sat Lisa down to watch the 3rd round of the second Ward-Gaetti fight. Oddly, she did not find it as moving as I do.

Brrr

It is damn cold in this house. Mayhaps I should turn on the heat, or at least pull that last window air conditioner . . .

My Boy Quasi

My Day

Lousy snow. The first of the season and I'm already wishing it was spring. Anyone who likes this stuff should check themselves in at County.

Anyway, I'm at Marquette School of Dentistry getting LuLu an exam. 

Later:

Now shopping at Goodwill

Quasi the Pleco

A (Giant) New Pleco!

A productive day. I waterproofed the back porch - and the handprints of the kids we made in the cement back in '07 - then fixed the latch on the back door. Meanwhile Lisa went grocery shopping and made a great chicken dinner. And to top it off, confident that the Ich was gone, Smiley and I went shopping for a new pleco. 

We found one. But instead of the 1" version we had, we went home with a giant 8" beast that looks like an aquatic dinosaur found its way into our tank. Heck I was scared to even hold the bag when we left the store. 

The best part is, we paid only $4.99 for him. His spine is permanently bent, and so he's gone unsold and unwanted for weeks. It was his disfigurement that sealed the deal, just as GusGus's glaucoma ridden eye made me snatch him up. Yes, I felt sorry for a pleco :)

But, there was more to the adventure. On the way home Parker and I stopped at a store, and when we came back out I noticed the car was leaking onto the pavement. My first thought the radiator went, but no: the giant pleco bag had broken, flooding the backseat and pouring out the door! We managed to save just enough water to cover the pleco and hightailed it back to the pet store, with Parker holding onto him and talking him through the ordeal. 

We made it, and this time when we left the bag was securely sealed in a box for transport!

A great day

A good day overall, and a happy opposite to Friday's misery. Dance in the morning, then a nap, followed by Mass (the priest led off the sermon with a discussion about Aaron Rodgers' injury), then dinner with the family and two of Lu's friends. :)

The End of An Era

The final issue of (Milwaukee based) The Onion will hit newsstands on December 12