Category Archives: Inner Struggles

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 28

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, Historical, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving

August 18, 2026- Hana does not like it when her meal gets cold, especially the meat. She began fussing, but stopped when she saw that I was not reacting, and was just sitting and waiting for her to stop. I then reheated her chicken, and she finished it. She leaned over and put her head against my chest, when the meal was over and I had cleaned her up. It was her way of asking if I loved her, in spite of her little tantrum.

I love her the way I love her father, and the way I loved her grandmother- unconditionally. I don’t get sidetracked by her being disagreeable, nor do I reward her for it. She is seeing that there are rules that need to be followed, even when it is not what she might want in the moment. She is approaching toddlerhood, already. She has some agency and dignity, which is respected. Likewise, she is being taught to respect the agency and dignity of her parents-and of her grandfather.

HANA’S NOTE- I hate it when my food gets cold. But, I like to play at the table. Papa makes me behave.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2001

In my years of handling disturbances, crises and other difficulties, I have had no trouble rising to the occasion and seeing things through to a resolution. I was not prepared, though, for a well-organized, slow-rolling absconding by two students, two days before Valentine’s Day. Multiple people were involved in this, and I, focused heavily on the day-to-day grind of running a residential school, was the last to know. Students told me, later, in shame, that there were one or two staff members, at least one parent and several of the residents who helped the girls, The kids didn’t think I’d be held responsible, when they did their part in the caper. I held myself responsible, though, and resigned that same night. The girls were located, the next day, and faced the law.

I fell back on Substitute Teaching, and Penny, having finished her semester in Mesa. did the same. We made the best of it, and truth be known, I was physically and mentally exhausted by my work at the Academy. I was actually glad to be done with it, and I was definitely done with school administration.

In August, Penny got a full-time job at El Mirage Elementary School, west of Phoenix. We moved to an apartment complex in midtown Phoenix, near what was then Metrocenter. Sierra Pines was, at first, reasonably well-run, and we felt fairly safe. I signed on to Substitute in two nearby school districts, while applying for various School Counselor positions.

On the morning of September 11, I went to a grocery store to buy a few items for the week. When I turned on my car radio, afterward, Morning Monkey broke into his playlist to announce that an airplane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, in New York. It hit me that this was a terrorist act. When I got home, Penny noticed that my face was ashen. She went to work and Aram went to his middle school. I stayed at home and was glued to the TV screen, going out only for a sandwich at lunchtime, just to reconnect with the outside world for an hour. My wife and son both came home early.

I would work at substitute teaching, the rest of the year, I went to the business of a Sikh man who was slain, in the aftermath of the terror attacks, and paid my respects to his family. Penny and I ate at Arab-owned restaurants, to show that we did not hold the average person responsible for the acts of extremists. On the long weekend of Veteran’s Day, we were visiting Penny’s parents, in Prescott. On November 12, we woke early and had the TV on. News came of another plane crashing into an apartment complex near the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, also in New York.The complex was home to many New York City police officers and firefighters. The official version was that this was pilot error. I sense differently, in my bones, to this day.

In any event, not much has been the same, since September 11, 2001.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 27

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 17, 2026-Our girl is getting ever more intense about being able to stand, and about learning to walk. She can stand with support, for nearly five minutes and was taking steps, while her father was holding her up, this evening.

Hana is also practicing hand-eye coordination. Given some skinless grapes that had been cut into small pieces, she meticulously picked up even the smallest piece and put it in her mouth. She stayed focused on a particularly slippery morsel, getting it to her mouth after five tries.

HANA’S NOTE- I am going to be a helper, not a taker. So, I want to keep working hard.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2000 Our world did anything but end. We rang in the New, at the home of a Baha’i friend, watching a variety of social viewpoints on TV, and having called Penny’s parents to wish them Happy Anniversary, as they did not feel up to traveling “in a time of uncertainty”, felt like this New Year’s Eve was unlike any other. There was, however, no finality about any of it.

We finished up our year at Salome, and moved on, once my Assistant Principal got the nod to run the school for the 2000-01 Academic Year. We spent the summer at the Fellmans’ house, in a rustic development called Kingswood Estates. It had a Homeowners Association, so we had to follow certain rules. Our long-haired dachshund, Lady, was very much with us. There were roving bands of javelinas in the community, as well as mountain lions, so we were careful not to let her out alone. On one early morning, before sunrise, I was walking Lady and we came upon a small family of javelinas. I picked her up and held her, while she instinctively kept quiet. The herd went about their business and left us alone.

Penny took a couple of classes at Mesa Community College, and so had an apartment in Mesa, which Aram and I stayed in, while I also tried to get a job in the Phoenix area. A week or so into the Academic Year, I was offered a Principalship at Mingus Mountain Academy, a facility for adjudicated girls. I took the job, knowing that we had the house in Kingswood for the year. I got off to a fairly good start, despite the lingering presence of my immediate predecessor, who was basically waiting for me to mess up, so that he could come back and “fix things” and the noisome Assistant Principal, who interfered with my work, more than helped. Still, I earned the trust of the girls and had a generally good relationship with the teachers and with the facility’s Executive Director.

It was, though, a 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. job, with no holidays (as the residents did not get to go home for breaks). There was a weekend crew, as school was Monday-Friday, so that was a relief. I worked Thanksgiving and Christmas, even working extra hours on my 50th birthday, as a resident had run off and we all needed to track her down. It took a few hours, but we found her. The girls were mainly from the city, and did not take into consideration that there were bears and mountain lions in the area,

It was a true labour of love, but I was a tad too trusting of some residents. The year to come would bear that out, with hard consequences.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 26

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

August 16, 2026- Both Aram and I have told Hana the story of the boy who cried wolf. She has adopted the practice of crying every time her parents tell her “No” or make her wait for something. When I told her the story, this evening, she listened with rapt attention-and decided that crying about every little thing is not such a useful idea. Mental processing precedes the ability to speak.

We made a family outing to Carrollton, this afternoon, enjoying Korean noodles and a couple of dessert items: Three of us shared a piece of ice cream cake, then shared a Korean “Snowflake” bowl, which has fruit, ice cream and shaved ice. We mixed the three together, to make a fun treat. Hana watched all this, with a good nature, though her face said “Where’s mine?”

In the early evening, I went to a fund-raising bazaar, at the Plano Baha’i Center, and picked up about a dozen books for Hana, Some of them are mini-books that she can easily look at, for several minutes at a time. She was delighted, when I showed her the books.

HANA’S NOTE- When my Daddy tells me to stop doing something, using his Daddy voice, I have to listen. When Papa tells me about somebody being naughty, I listen to him also.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1999 The bottom fell out in Chilchinbeto, in April. I turned down a request by a Governing Board member for reimbursement, on an item that would have been double dipping. Between that, and the ongoing suspicion regarding the deceased Paraprofessional, I was terminated, effective June 30. I told the Board that perhaps a Dineh would be more to their liking. They did hire a qualified Navajo educator. (As it happened, they fired him, too, after a year.) I was able to upgrade the professional development of the teaching staff, send the eighth grade class to Hawai’i and to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game and hire a competent financial services team. We would have continued on an upward arc, but for the insecurity of five people.

I continued to take Penny to see a neurologist, in Flagstaff, during the Spring and Summer. Eventually, we also began seeing an acupuncturist,and another neurologist, in Phoenix. Between all those services, her brain health stabilized. Aram went on a Tae Kwon Do tournament in South Korea,, and was able to visit his birthplace, Jeju, again. While he was away, we left Jeddito, and the Navajo Nation.

I secured a one-year appointment as Principal of Salome High School, in the desert west of Phoenix. I worked under a former professor of mine, who served as Superintendent. We got along, for the most part. My assistant principal was also in training to become the principal, the following year. At times, I felt like I was sandwich filling. At least, the Superintendent was mostly supportive of my efforts, save when I trod on his turf.

Penny worked as the lone Special Education Teacher, as we had but eighty students in the high school. She bonded well with them. Aram had a rough first semester, in the Sixth Grade of the Elementary School. He gradually, with professional help, managed to recover his equilibrium.

My outreach included a visit to each of the feeder schools, once each semester, as well as evening town meetings with parents in each of the communities sending students to the high school. These visits were well received. I got along well with the teachers and with the majority of the students. Keeping peace between the Hispanic and Anglo students required active mediation and conflict resolution sessions. I also brought in a program called “Responsible Thinking’, which Penny had studied in one of her classes at NAU. It was seen by some in the community as mumbo jumbo, and didn’t really get much traction.

We approached Y2K with a sense that there would not be as drastic a change as some were expecting.

The Hana Chronicles: Month7, Day 5

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Travel

July 26,2026- When I got back from my Red Cross volunteer stint, this afternoon, the family was gone. A bit later, I received a photo of Aram enjoying a gelato cone, while Hana looked up at him, wistfully. The little girl is grateful for all the nutritious food we give her, but I think part of her wishes she could have have the treats we enjoy.

Her father is convinced that, as long as she can’t speak English or Korean fluently, she is not really thinking. I see too much of her, day to day, to ever make that mistake. She and I have a deeper communication, and she will not hesitate to tell me what she is feeling, even using English phrases, every so often.

At dinner, she had her first taste of pureed stewed tomatoes. She grimaced at the first few bites, then took the rest without any fuss. When she saw us laughing at her grimaces, she laughed also. I am glad that my granddaughter doesn’t have a congenital feeling of inferiority. I hope she will keep on being able to laugh at herself.

HANA’S NOTE- I like to try new foods. I just wish they included the stuff that’s in the cones that Mommy and Daddy were eating today. Maybe some day, I will get to try it.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1978 The Maine years drew to a close, in September. It was 45 F ,(7 pm, EDT) at Bangor International Airport, when I boarded an American Airlines jet, bound for Phoenix. I landed at Sky Harbor at 11 pm, MST. It was 104 F.

To no one’s surprise, I was let go at the end of the school year, due to “budget constraints”. I was actually glad to be leaving. The Title I math tutoring job was alright, but I didn’t fit in well. I spent a month or so working in the summer program, called Maine Journeys-an interesting premise that took seventh graders around the state, even into New Brunswick-and Mactaquaq Park, near Fredericton. I just didn’t have the composure to tolerate admittedly minor misbehaviour. It was time to leave.

My sister, Cheryl, and her boyfriend, Steven, were married in late June, so I hitched my way down for the wedding. Going back was by Greyhound. After staying at a boarding house in Dexter, west of Bangor, and helping the owner paint her front porch, I landed a job at a Boarding School for the children of wealthy patrons, in Toltec, Arizona-halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. Before I left, Mrs. Knox told me that I’d enjoy my Thirties (I was 27 at the time) and that Arizona was full of breathtaking sights.

I arrived at Villa School (later called Villa-Oasis School), in the company of my immediate supervisor, Patrick Giovanditto, who got me situated into a spacious apartment, around midnight. The next day, I met the Headmaster and his wife, and the administrative team.The students showed up a week later. I was the senior high math teacher. The lessons went fairly well. I was additionally given the assignment of teaching Physics to one Senior, an otherwise pleasant young man from Australia, who had absolutely no interest in the subject. Before we really established any kind of footing, though, he got into a loud argument with one of the administrators and was expelled. The administrative process was rather strict, and several of the brighter, more outspoken students found themselves in similar states.

The Villa was, if nothing else, my gateway into Arizona. I explored much of the central part of the state, during the Fall and, at Christmas time, joined one of the administrators on a road trip as far as Michigan. We stayed at a 5-Star hotel, in the Chicago Loop,as it was managed by his brother. I stayed in a room whose last occupant had been Henry Fonda. I don’t think I’ve been in such swanky digs, before or since.After he dropped me off near Ann Arbor, I found a ride to Toledo, and from there caught a bus to Boston. New England for the holidays was again a special treat.

My climb out of the emotional hole I had dug was well underway.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 2

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Striving

July 23,2026- “Oma!” Hana was worried about her mother, when I mentioned that her parents were on their way home. Both her Mom and Dad got home safely. So, the little girl’s worries were for naught. Still, I can only imagine what goes through a child’s mind.

Aram was with us for part of the day, as he had a medical appointment in late morning. So, the three of us walked together, on our usual route through the park. A neighbour engaged us in conversation, for about twenty minutes, during which Hana slept soundly.

The rest of the day went smoothly. We played a lot, with Hana crawling all over her grandfather, my putting rings on a cone and her alternately tipping the cone over or taking one ring off the cone at a time. The neighbour mentioned above said that, sooner or later, I would treasure my alone time. Right now, I’d say that is off the mark.

HANA’S NOTE- I saw Mommy driving while she was tired, so I called out to her, in Korean. Nothing bad happened to her.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1975 This was an interesting year. I lived in two different places- a rooming house in Northampton and a shared apartment, in South Deerfield. I completed my baccalaureate, and had a mediocre stint as Teaching Intern. I was determined to up my game, when the actual jobs came about. I worked in the spring as a short-order cook in a country cafe (I was terrible at this one), in the summer as a custodian at Northampton Public Schools and in the fall as a stocker in a package store (alcoholic beverages). I had the unique experience of being fired at the latter, on my 25th birthday. It turned out that the assistant manager’s son needed a job, and the A.M. felt I was doing work that he considered his turf.

The rooming house found me with four housemates-two rather testy older men, a woman who was also at UMass and an 87-year-old widow, who was the nicest of the four. When things got too heated between me and one of the older men, I left and found the apartment. I first shared the place with three stoners, and did painting and small repairs on the place, when they left. A nice couple with a little girl came in after them. We got along well, and I left the place to them, when I graduated.

I spent about a week, between the summer and fall jobs, hiking the Presidential Range in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. I met quite an eclectic bunch at the various Appalachian Mountain Club huts and actually hauled two bags of trash from the hut on Mount Jefferson to the base of Mount Adams.

1975 was definitely an interesting year.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 27

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, Historical, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Striving, Travel

July 18. 2026- Hana greeted the ladies who came to visit us, this afternoon. This was Yunhee’s first real house party, and five of her former co-workers came. Hana likes a small, intimate gathering, but doesn’t like too much noise, or what seems to her like a crowd. I helped her get comfortable with the idea of so many people sitting around the dining table. She understood, when I told her that all the ladies were nice and that they were there to see her, as well as her mother.

It meant a lot to her Mom, and to us men, that this afternoon went well. We enjoyed Korean-style fried chicken, Malaysian empanadas,and Filipino purple yam cake. The conversation centered on dealing with the heaviness in the logistics industry, but floated to topics of fashion, child-rearing and the anomalies that pop up in moving a household, in which two of the ladies-mother and daughter-are now engaged. A comparison between living in Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Greater Atlanta entered into discussion. We also talked of travel in east Asia-Singapore, Korea and the Philippines. It was a lovely afternoon.

When the ladies got ready to leave, Hana spoke loudly, seeming to say “Thank you for coming.” She also smilingly took part in the ladies’ group photo. This evening, it was hard for her to wind down, but after I told her that tomorrow will be another happy day, if she gets a good rest, her father put her in the crib and she rolled over to go to sleep.

HANA’S NOTE- I had fun in the playpen with the first two ladies that came and went to take a nap, after a while. When I woke up, there were three more ladies here. That confused me and at first I was upset. Mommy and Papa got me to understand what had happened. It was fun after that.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE- 1970 This year was spent keeping the mail delivery system at the Tri-Service Barracks at Fort Myer well-functioning. I was able to move into that barracks, myself, after five months. There were many weekends spent in Washington, primarily in Georgetown. I also walked-a lot, around the city, at one point going all the way to Rockville, MD and on another occasion, found myself in Coral Hills, a northeastern suburb. My co-worker, Charlie, was from southeast DC, and commuted each day. He was flabbergasted that I had walked all that way, but it is what I’m used to doing.

I took part in a couple of anti-war demonstrations, and associated with a progressive group that had set up a free university, they called “New University”. I sat in on a few of their lectures. I walked away from the demonstrations, though, after some of the participants started attacking DC police officers. I later learned that there were agents provocateurs among the crowd. My association stopped altogether, after I was directed by my Commanding Officer to join a detail that stockpiled pro-war pamphlets in a DC Public Schools warehouse. Somehow, I was photographed in fatigues at that exercise, and the photos were circulated among identified radical groups,

I met different public figures, during the year: Vice President Spiro Agnew and his wife, on a Georgetown street, with Agnew telling me he was “for the war and am anti-you”; Senator J. Strom Thurmond, who was jogging near the Capitol, and encouraged me to always stay active; Chicago 8 defendant Rennie Davis, who was nervous about being re-arrested and Abbie Hoffman, at a large anti-war event. Hoffman said, “Watch this, kid”, then turned to a TV set that featured Richard Nixon making a speech. He kicked the TV off the stage, into an empty grassy area. I was not impressed, and left right afterward.

I went back and forth from DC to Massachusetts, several times during the year. I met a few young ladies, and basically we passed through each other’s consciousness like ships in the night. In the middle of 1970, one of my neighbourhood friends from Saugus was gravely wounded in VietNam. He survived and is still alive. That, however, along with my increasing annoyance with both sides in the war debate, made me decide to go to Viet Nam and see for myself, what was going on. I asked HQ Company, U.S. Army First Sergeant Harper for help in getting re-assigned, infuriated my pacifist friends-and gave up the easy life at Fort Myer, early in 1971.

It was time for innocence to end.

Korean Onion Chicken

Filipino Purple Yam cake

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 26

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 17,2026- Hana and I were asleep in the recliner, so deeply that I didn’t notice Aram going in and out to get the mail. My granddaughter has the same calming effect on me that I have on her.

We had a busy “half day”, in that her parents came home from work early, to take her to a medical appointment. We thus managed our walk, “wrestling” (her crawling on me and my lifting her up in the air, in vestibular motion) and lunch time into a shorter frame. There was also story time, centered on “Sleeping Beauty”. Maleficent is portrayed in this brief version only as the “Old Fairy”. She ends up getting turned into a frog. Hana thought that was funny.

She is always overjoyed when one of us comes back to the house, after having been away for a brief errand. Having the family all together is a big deal to my granddaughter. She is delighted to just sit in the high chair at each meal, even at breakfast, which for her is a liquid feeding, still. She has complete meals at lunch and dinner.

HANA’S NOTE- I went to have my blood checked-AGAIN. This time, the nurse only stuck me once with the needle. So, that was not as bad.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE- 1969 This was a year of firsts: My first time on an airplane; my first trip outside New England; my first extended time away from family; my first time really hallenging myself.

I left Star Market in January and went to work at General Electric’s Riverworks Plant, in Lynn, MA. My fahter, and several relatives and neighbours worked there, as well. Dad got me in. I worked in the rotometer calibration section. The senior technician told me my work was substandard, but he never bothered complaining to the higher=ups. Nor did he offer specific criticism that might have helped me improve.

It was a placeholder job, anyway, as I had asked the Army Reserve Unit to let me enlist in the Regular Army. My plan was to enlist for 3 years, then apply for an early release, so as to return to college. My enlistment date was set for June 16, and the recruiter determined I’d be best suited for the Army Postal Corps. I left G.E. on May 1, and focused somewhat on physical training.

Basic Training was at Fort Jackson, SC. I started off as a mewling klutz, but slowly and surely got with the program. I scraped by in marksmanship, missed Combat Fire-but never was made to re-take it, though I asked to do so, and excelled in the Physical Training Test. I did fairly well in the G-3 (General Knowledge) Exam, which was oral. On weekends, we had free time, and I went with a couple of guys who were from Columbia, to their favourite hangouts. I was the sole White guy with four African-Americans, but none of the Whites we encountered gave us any trouble over it.

Woodstock happened while I was doing things like learning how to properly handle grenades and re-sight my M-16. We were brought into a room and allowed to watch the launch of the first Apollo rocket to the Moon. Training was canceled that day. I made enough of an improvement that the cadre sent me on a 3-day pass to Myrtle Beach, on Labor Day weekeend.. I saw that there was little difference between it and the beach towns of New England, though the water was warmer. I stayed in a two-bed shack for $1 a night, and had the place to myself.

Fort Ben Harrison and the postal training were footnotes. I didn’t really bond with anyone in the unit, but went into Indianapolis by myself a few times on weekends. I never did get to the racetrack, though. Many of the guys went to VietNam, after AIT. I was sent to Fort Myer, Va. I was assigned to straighten out a mail operation, as my predecessor had ended up in Fort Leavenworth, for various postal crimes. That made a distinct impression on me. I got the job done quickly, to the satisfaction of the Inspector General. That November, a high school friend was killed in Viet Nam, and I began to re-assess what my responsibilities were. I fasted that Thanksgiving, and decided to give Fort Myer a year, after which I would re-assess my situation. Seeing Washington, D.C. on weekends was great fun, though, and I began to bond with civilians in the Georgetown neighbourhood, whose views on life were similar to my own.

Thus did the ’60s come to an end.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 23

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Family, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 14, 2026– Lunch is peaceful, when a bit of tactile feeding is involved. The food that ends up in Hana’s hands, as opposed to the spoon with which I feed her most of it, still ends up in her mouth-either by her own actions or by my scooping it from the body bib, high chair tray or food catcher at the base of the chair. What little finds its way to an unsanitary area, like the foot rest of the high chair-or the floor, is of course, discarded. She ate everything on her plate today.

How lunch proceeds also depends on the quality of her mid-morning nap. Even though that was brief today, she was energetic and happy, when she woke up. So, she probably slept pretty deeply. We also went out earlier than normal, so she had the extra pleasure of a cooler morning walk.

Hana is calling us “Papa”, “Daddy” and “Mama” more these days. She even used her own name and pointed to herself, for the first time, this afternoon. Her vocalizations, in general, have vastly increased, this week. She can also be quite loud.

HANA’S NOTE- I am happy with my name-and happy with the meals that Mama leaves for me. They feel nice and taste good.

YEAR IN REMEMBTANCE0 1966 Sophomore year went well, in every subject except Algebra I. Coach Stead tried his best, but I till didn’t get the hang of it. I managed to finally get a B in the course, in Mr. Quinlan’s summer course.

Most of our family summer vacations entailed a few days somewhere in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and 2-3 days at Johns Pond, in Mashpee, on Cape Cod. This year, after Mashpee, we took a day trip from nearby Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard. I like walking around Vineyard Haven, but more enjoyed a visit to a Wampanoag community, on the west of the island.

Junior Year, in the fall, brought Geometry, Chemistry and U.S. History, along with a dismal year of French- mostly because it entailed memorizing long lists of conjugated verbs-not my jam, then or now. One of my best friends was a freshman girl, who I had met at the beach over the summer. She was dating a sophomore boy, who also became a good friend. He and I sat in the back of Geometry Class and enjoyed one another’s snarky humour. We also managed to get through the class with Cs.

I hung out with a variety of kids this year. I had a ways to go with picking up on social cues, Joan and Charlie, to whom I alluded earlier, helped a lot, as did several of the guys in my neighbourhood- even though their name for the group was rather lame: “The Ave. Boys”. (We lived on or near Adams Avenue.) I walked over to Howard Johnson’s Restaurant, where one of the kids on my street worked. A number of teens from Saugus and nearby Melrose gathered there, mostly during the summer nights. We seldom drew the attention of the police-but Officer Gus Belmonte would chat us up and made it clear he expected no trouble from anyone. Gus was one of the better cops.

The Hana Chronicles, Month 5, Day 15

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Family, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

June 5, 2026- Granddaughter reveled, in eating pureed cabbage, this morning. She seems to revel in eating just about everything so far. (Zucchini being a question mark.) Hana is definitely a member of the Clean Plate Club, without being coaxed. If this persists through toddlerhood and the Fussy Eater years, so much the better.

Our day went well, with lots of independent play time in the pen, as well as Papa being in there, for the sake of reassurance and companionship. We explored a horseshoe-shaped side street, Chester Drive, which starts one block north and curves around to the east, behind our cul-de-sac. A young couple had just come back from Friday prayers, clad, head-to-toe in black. Otherwise, the street was quiet and empty. Hana didn’t mind the quietude.

As she napped, this afternoon, I read a piece about the Dutch director, Wim Wenders, who expressed regret for having depicted a certain actress in the nude, when she was only thirteen. He has removed the objectionable scenes from all versions of that film. The actress in question, now in her 60s, recently expressed how painful it has been, all these years, to have been so depicted in that film, and in two others a year, and three years, later. One hopes that the other two films may also be expunged of the tawdry scenes.

Many men, myself included for many years, gave scant thought to how it must have felt to girls and women baring all, in films, and even in glossy magazines. I knew better, by the time I was thirty, and Hana’s paternal grandmother had come into my life, along with the Baha’i teachings, which stress the dignity and worth of all human beings. Before that, there was always the double standard: A man’s (or boy’s) female relatives were held high above the world of sensuality. We respected our friends’ sisters and mothers also. There was a friend zone, which included a measure of respect, for the girls around us. Somehow, that did not extend to the world of “entertainment”.

More’s the pity. I started to take exception to the cavalier treatment of teenaged female actors, when very young girls were presented to audiences, in various states of deshabille. I did not watch any of those films, more out of shame over my past private thoughts and cavalier attitude. Then came Penny, our shared Faith and my career in education, which included the protection and guidance of girls and boys alike. There was no longer a double standard.

What this has to do with Hana is that, from Day One, her father and I are all the more committed to her well-being and development of her entire person. She is a sharp-eyed, intuitive person, making it all the more imperative for us to eschew any semblance of a double standard. Besides which, the old attitudes are just rotten for any man’s soul.

We are all so much more than eye candy.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 14

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

June 4, 2026- My granddaughter had a few comments on the singing birds and on encountering the same mother and baby we met yesterday. She was quite happy with our walk, even along the somewhat bumpy grass path that brought us closer to our house, on the way back. It was warmer today, and the sun was more direct, but Hana was shielded by both a sun visor and her stroller’s canopy. Her skin was warm when we got back, so I put infant-safe lotion on her arms, legs and neck. Sunscreen is not recommended for children under the age of two.

She likes the solid foods to which she’s been introduced so far-and that includes the broccoli that she’s had for the past three days. Tomorrow, it will be cabbage’s turn. Sitting in a high chair, for ten-minutes, has also proven easier than I had thought. She sits straight and keeps her posture-and I have a tray in place, for extra support. Sitting in the chair for more than ten minutes is probably not a good idea until she can sit up straight, without support from furniture. Still, the high chair makes feeding easier.

She misses her parents, along about the time that her body clock tells her that they should be home. That is her challenge, but she also knows that she is safe with her Papa. Their schedules will even out, starting next week, so this should be less of a problem. Her awareness is, nonetheless, very keen.

Overall, though, Hana is a bright, engaging and generally happy little girl.