Nobody 846

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Nobody # 846

Nobody Asked Me But:

AN ARIZONA MORNING AFTER A RAINSTORM

By jim turner

Blue-black clouds, frowning as if burdened with unfinished business,

A leftover bit of rainbow reborn in the first reflection

of the morning sun,

The air cool, dishonest,

Pretending that the summer heat won’t follow.

This is an Arizona morning after a rainstorm.

David Brooks had this in his Tuesday column – “But, the truth is, there’s just been a change in the shape of the world community. In a world of relative equals, the U.S. will have to learn to define itself not by its rank, but by its values.”

I don’t know about you, but if this change in direction turns out to be true, I welcome it. It is time that we go back to being admired not for what we have but what we stand for. The world can no longer be fooled by lip-service values. They will judge us by actions, not words. Starting this week, I will write about values that, in my opinion, would, once again, make the United States a shining beacon to the world.

I’ll start at the top. We should value people more than things. Not that things aren’t neat. Of course they are. If I didn’t like them, would I have too many hats and caps for one head to ever use? But in America we have come to value things too much. We put them ahead of schools, health care and the many other programs that make up the common good.

When we reverse our priority order, when we once again like things and love people we will regain much of the respect we have lost – not to mention our own self-respect, which is even more important.<<<

Senate votes to end 'don't ask, don't tell' – puts Senator John in a very bad mood.<<<

At Barbara’s urging, I started reading “Chicken Every Sunday “ about a year ago. It was my mother’s copy, given to her by her sister when we moved to Tucson in the early 50s. I enjoyed what I read, but put it aside for more serious reading. Recently I picked it back up and finished it. Good move.

Written by daughter Rosemary, it is about the Drachman family and their early years in Tucson at the beginning of the last century. Father Drachman was a man of many interests and investments. Some went south, but, in others, he was successful enough that he has a street named after him.

But the book, later made into a movie, is about mother Drachman, an enterprising women from the Old South and the boarding house she operated for many years.

I enjoyed the book for its stories, its humor and its history. In one of the latter chapters, the author notes the changes taking place in Tucson – new restaurants (up until this change, mother’s was the best Mexican dinner in town) and new fancier hotels like the El Con and the ARIZONA INN – capitalized here as a testimonial to my love for the place.

Reading “CES” made me remember that one of the downtown shops of 1920 Tucson was owned by a South Carolina boy turned florist named Hal Burns, Greg and Elizabeth's maternal grandfather. From this it was a short trip over the synapse circuit to other memories of my Tucson life. If I mentioned any of these in past Nobodies, I am sorry – but not very.

THESE THINGS I REMEMBER

Young love, first love – Thelma Jean, Diane (the diplomat’s daughter) and, especially, Judy O’.

Buds - Jim Bauersachs, Bob Strickland and Judy Smith.

Trinity Presbyterian and, then, Mountain View Pres with Dave Sholin’s sermons.

The Christmas lights in Winterhaven.

A What-a-Burger with friends.

Softball at Orey Park.

Working at the now long-gone Safeway on Stone.

Living on Mountain Ave. – one block from the U of A campus. (It is now part of the campus.)

Taking the controls of a plane while flying over this house. (It was a small plane and the flight was courtesy of our ROTC instructor, who gave us parachutes and said that in case of trouble he would be the first one to jump.)

Hanging at the Presbyterian Student Center – just across Speedway from our house. (now the site of the Law College)

Studying for exams at 5 am. (About the only studying I did.)

The 22^nd Street Drive-In – friends, and girls and girlfriends.

U of A football games and watching Art Lupino (the Cactus Comet) run wild.

The Broadway theater and its marquee for Howards Hughes’s “The Outlaw,” with Jane Russell – “The Big Ones Come To The Broadway.”

Elizabeth Taylor renting a house in the El Encanto neighborhood and then never showing up. (She heard about the crowds peering over the back wall.)

Not going to church summer camp, and feeling envious as I listened to the stories and songs of those who did. (Get your elbows off the table Molly Roller/Get your elbows off the table Molly Roller/We have seen you do it twice, and it isn’t very nice/Get your elbows off the table Molly Roller.)

Come to think of it – a kind of mean-spirited song.

My first car, a 1934 Chevy: I tried to drive it without oil. Not good.

Summer monsoons – thunder and lightning and flooded underpasses.<<<

Now that I know that Robert A. Heinlein was an Ayn Rand devotee, I am thankful that, as a teen, I read right past the propaganda and just loved “The Puppet Masters” and “Sixth Column,” aka “The Day After Tomorrow,” for the excellent science fiction stories that they were.<<<

Last week I condemned Muslim extremists for their barbarism. This week it is the Irish. Did you know that having an abortion in Ireland carries a penalty of life imprisonment?

As most of you know, I reside in the middle ground on abortion. I think right-to-lifers are nuts and fanatics, (perhaps that is redundant) but I also have some moral qualms about abortion on demand. However Ireland’s law is an obscene intrusion of church on state.

(And for fairness sake, if Ireland is going to retain the punishment, shouldn’t the aborted baby’s father be sentenced too? Or does he escape under the “boys will be boys” clause?)<<<

BEST OF 2010 LISTS – OTHER PEOPLE’S

It is great to see that film critics in LA, NYC and Boston agree with me that “The Social network” is the year’s best movie.<<<

I think Time Magazine’s choice of Mark Zuckerberg for their Person of the Year is a good choice. I had him second to the Unemployed Americans.<<<

My television focus is, to say the least narrow, so I was a little surprised to find that I watched two of Time’s Top 10 episodes of 2010 – The Suitcase episode of “Mad Men” and the pilot of “Justified.”<<<

I am not always a huge fan of LA Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke, but his column Friday about coaches who cheat was on point. Too many coaches teach their players by word and deed that right is measured by what you can get away with.<<<

I was surprised when Michael Vick received a standing ovation when he arrived for the game between the Lakers and the 76ers. I didn’t know there were so many dog haters in Philadelphia.<<<

DYK – that Tom Brady has not thrown an interception in his last 8 games including the near blizzard last week in Chicago?<<<

One speech does not make a great president, but Eisenhower’s farewell address in which he warns America about the danger of the “military-industrial complex” earns him forever applause.<<<

Excellent Bruin win at the Wooden Classic yesterday over 16^th ranked BYU.<<<

And finally, here is a beach to stay away from.<<<