Monthly Archives: December 2014

The Road to 65, Mile 4: Standing Up versus Caving In

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

December 2, 2014, Prescott-  One of the things that happens, as one gets on in years, is that what the rich and powerful say and think becomes less and less important, unless of course one happens to be rich and powerful.

Being of common stock, I find it easier to speak up, on behalf of those who have been, and are still being, shoved to the sidelines.  This evening, our local school board decided that it was more to THEIR advantage to close two schools, and start preparing the grounds on which they sit for sale, than to hold on to $500,000 in non-transferable grant money.

I wrote last night about the lure of the dollar.  There is another lure at play, in many communities:  Dominance over the masses.  Here in Prescott, it is wealthy, often politically liberal, elitists who are more than glad to disregard the well-being of the “lower classes”, when there is money to be made.  A recent article about a community in the Bay Area shows a similar process at work.  Then, there is Chicago, where an arrogant elite attempted to close several schools,  a few years back, again with an eye towards cashing in on development.

I stay away from strictly partisan politics, both for religious reasons and because it happens that members of one party are as bad, if not worse, when money changing hands is at stake, than members of the other.  I also don’t regard it as strictly a Race Card issue, though that can enter into the picture, when the elite are of one group and the disadvantaged are mostly of another.  I have seen plenty of White on White repressive actions, though.  Members of the Tea Party are often bona fide recipients of economic and class snobbery.  One particularly repugnant “social service” provider in the Phoenix area, about five years ago, referred to its clients as “recipients”.  The heavy-handed treatment they received was a prime example of the arrogance of power.

This is how it is, whenever the people most-affected by a decision are shunted to the side, to make way for the bulldozers and the bankers.  It’s by no means a “white” problem, either.  Asian and Middle Eastern magnates excel at pushing the multitudes out of the way, when it’s convenient.

So, while I will continue to stand by the children of all neighbourhoods in Prescott, and wherever I find myself in the days and months ahead, I will also keep encouraging them, as well as their parents, to keep informed, to stay vigilant and to stay active.  It’s very important for those of all targeted groups:  Lower and Middle Class Whites, Hispanics, Blacks, Native Americans and Asians, to take matters into their own hands and resist, peacefully but persistently, the web of control that is being woven daily, for the benefit of a small group of opportunists. The first thing to be resisted is the “Divide and rule” mentality.  We who stand together cannot be moved against our will.  We who cave, who knuckle under, cannot move at all, of our own will.

The Road to 65, Mile 3: Seeing Beyond The Green ($)

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Posted by on in Social

December 1, 2014, Prescott-  I am involved in a local project, which will hopefully keep a key local elementary school form being closed by those who see the property on which it sits as the site of another hotel or shopping plaza.  It is far more valuable to the community as an educational institution than it ever will be as a commercial zone.  Less than a mile to the west, there is a large vacant building, at a major  intersection, that is begging for a tenant.  To the south, another property, which would make a fabulous guest lodge, also sits empty, at yet another key intersection.

We have just witnessed one of the most intense attempts ever, at dismantling a major national holiday, falter and stumble, with Wall Street weighing in, today, by selling off a pile of junk.  Sure, the easily-bored and disconnected among us showed up at the malls, and bargain hunters, who would have waited until Saturday, went in and scored their usual screaming deals.  The difference from last year seems to be that most of us have had it. For that matter, I haven’t been to a store on Thanksgiving weekend since 1996, and then only to use a birthday gift card from my in-laws.

I sense that, with all the drama in discount outlets like WalMart, and the bad weather in much of our continent, “Joe and Jane Sixpack”, who are also family people, are wanting to get back to the real sense of who they are, who we are, as sentient beings.  When my son and I took a brief walk along the beach front, at La Jolla Cove, San Diego, last Friday, it was comforting to see a huge number of families enjoying the day and the sea air.  A similar number were in evidence a bit further north, at Torrey Pines.

There will be more gains on Wall Street in the foreseeable future, and more people are likely to return to the workforce. There are also possible climactic and social disruptions, some severe, that will reverse the trend towards economic recovery.  Japan is still reeling, ecologically and economically from the Fukushima nightmare, and the northwest Pacific Coast, from Bristol Bay to the Bay Area, is witnessing troubling die-offs of marine and shore life.  Other parts of the world also report unsettling ecological changes.  For example, we had better hope, as a human race, that the Balkan Peninsula does not have a repeat of last year’s severe winter, given the relatively meager harvests reported from that area.  Thus does the pendulum wildly swing.

The answer is not to shrink back, but to reach out ever more fervently.  I will do my best to carry on my journeys of discovery, even if on foot and in relative paucity, as the true purpose of these is always to connect.  The same is true of my efforts here in Arizona.  It is the bonding, the networking, which will see us through all challenges.  The solution lies not in the Paper Green, but in the True Blue.

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The Road to 65: Mile Two- and The Books That Guide

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Posted by on in Literary criticism, Personal goals

November 30, 2014, Prescott- This was a quieter day than I expected.  The invited house-guest never called, or showed up, despite my TM and follow-up phone call.  It was a good day anyway, though.  I had breakfast with fellow American Legionnaires, courtesy of our Riders (veterans who ride motorcycles and do a wealth of charitable work on behalf of other veterans).  There has been plenty of time today for me to indulge in rest, and in healing foods and beverages, along with my essential oils.

An online friend noted, with regard to my post from yesterday, that my life couldn’t possibly be that organized.  He’s right- plans and goals are worth making, but none of us should be overwrought if the plans and goals don’t all get met.  After all, last year, eastern Canada was on my planned itinerary.  Life happened, and the area  will be a goal for another year.  The bottom line is always “God willing”.

I read fewer books this year than previously- a fair amount of attention was spent on Lonely Planet Guidebooks:  Belgium & Luxembourg; France; Germany.  Then there was The Discovery of France:  An Historical Geography, by Graham Robb.  In anticipation of next summer’s activity, I purchased and read sections of Lonely Planet Guides to  Alaska and to Canada. Looking further still, at 2016, brought me to delve into Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano.  It’s an examination of the abuse of that part of our world by both colonizing nations and by those who came along after independence was achieved.  I read the biography of Geronimo, by Angie Debo, Awakening Intuition, by Mona Lisa Schulz and Survivors, a novel of a possible dystopia, by James, Wilson Rawles (comma inserted by Mr. Rawles).  This last is intriguing, as it offers hints as to how one survives in a time of total economic and transportational calamity.  I don’t put much stock in tea-leaf reading, when it comes to catastrophe.  We do need to have at least two game plans, in case it does come to pass.  Dwelling on the worst case scenario, though, tales away from living intelligently.

As for the twelve months I have just started, I will finish reading Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen.  Then, it’ll be time to dive into: The Science of Skinny, by Dee McCaffrey; The Biology of Belief, by Bruce H. Lipton; Free Radicals:  The Secret Anarchy of Science, by Michael Brooks; The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak; City Repair’s Placemaking Guidebook; Ecovillages, by Karen T. Littfin.  These will take me through summer. In the Fall, Gandhi, An Autobiography; John Adams, by David McCullough; and Killing Kennedy, by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard will occupy my quiet hours.

Yes, it’s true that everything, or just a small something, could serve to keep my goals unrealized.  Still, working towards something discourages indolence, as Benjamin Franklin might have said.