Vagabondism #270 "Everyone's life is a story that should be told."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Monday, January 30, 2012
Drive On
We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?
Rick Danko
*******************
Hello Marty
*******************
My mother was an excellent driver. When I was a youngster my sister lived in Boston and we would occasionally visit her by driving up there from New York. In those days the main highway out of the city was known as the Merritt Parkway. Along the way there were strips of commerce, restaurants, gas stations. motels, shops. Otherwise the scenery along the way was very pleasant. The Merritt passed under many bridges, there were side roads and the evidence of communities near it.
The Marritt Parkway is still there but it has since been replaced as the major road by a super highway, I 91, which runs through Connecticut and hooks up with the Massachusetts Turnpike. It's also surrounded by some very attractive scenery, planted and landscaped to adorn the highway.
As I grew older and made the trip to Boston and back I wondered what had been there. What communities, patches of forest or lake had been removed to make way for the Interstate. Whereas the Merritt had given glimpses of local life along its path, I 90 merely had signs and exit ramps. Whatever was there before the highway was built is gone forever. It can never be brought back.
In the 40s and 50s there was a city planner in New York named Robert Moses who, although he didn't drive himself, saw the automobile as the future of America. He built a major highway in northern New York City called The Cross Bronx Expressway. If you drive down it you will see on either side apartment buildings. In order to build that highway, many blocks of apartment buildings had to be torn down and a huge trench carved into the ground. A great many people had to be removed from their homes and neighborhoods. People who could walk a few blocks to their doctor's office or their favorite shops could no longer do that. There are pedestrian bridges that cross it, but not many. The buildings, homes. parks, neighbors, lives are all gone now and will never be returned.
New York City changes so fast that there's a joke which says that if you turn your back on it for one day they have torn down one building and put up a bigger one.
No one would deny those two highways and others like them all around the country make travel faster and easier for the motorist. The unfortunate thing is that no one can remember what was there. It is forever gone from sight and memory.
Progress and development is taking place all over American to provide better transportation and housing. Forests are being cut down, bays and wetlands are being filled in, mountain tops are being leveled. And all the while changes are taking place in the American people. We have become a nation of the convenient, the instantaneous and the forgetful. Instant coffee, fast food, immediate entertainment, instant gratification. What is gone about us that will never return?
In his epic poem John Brown's Body, Stephen Vincent Benet wrote about the mountains, the people and things that are gone
They are our last frontier.
They shot the railway-train when it first came,
And when the Fords first came, they shot the Fords.
It could not save them. They are dying now
Of being educated, which is the same.
One need not weep romantic tears for them,
But when the last moonshiner buys his radio,
And the last, lost, wild-rabbit of a girl
Is civilized with a mail-order dress,
Something will pass that was American
And all the movies will not bring it back.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Rick Danko
*******************
Hello Marty
*******************
My mother was an excellent driver. When I was a youngster my sister lived in Boston and we would occasionally visit her by driving up there from New York. In those days the main highway out of the city was known as the Merritt Parkway. Along the way there were strips of commerce, restaurants, gas stations. motels, shops. Otherwise the scenery along the way was very pleasant. The Merritt passed under many bridges, there were side roads and the evidence of communities near it.
The Marritt Parkway is still there but it has since been replaced as the major road by a super highway, I 91, which runs through Connecticut and hooks up with the Massachusetts Turnpike. It's also surrounded by some very attractive scenery, planted and landscaped to adorn the highway.
As I grew older and made the trip to Boston and back I wondered what had been there. What communities, patches of forest or lake had been removed to make way for the Interstate. Whereas the Merritt had given glimpses of local life along its path, I 90 merely had signs and exit ramps. Whatever was there before the highway was built is gone forever. It can never be brought back.
In the 40s and 50s there was a city planner in New York named Robert Moses who, although he didn't drive himself, saw the automobile as the future of America. He built a major highway in northern New York City called The Cross Bronx Expressway. If you drive down it you will see on either side apartment buildings. In order to build that highway, many blocks of apartment buildings had to be torn down and a huge trench carved into the ground. A great many people had to be removed from their homes and neighborhoods. People who could walk a few blocks to their doctor's office or their favorite shops could no longer do that. There are pedestrian bridges that cross it, but not many. The buildings, homes. parks, neighbors, lives are all gone now and will never be returned.
New York City changes so fast that there's a joke which says that if you turn your back on it for one day they have torn down one building and put up a bigger one.
No one would deny those two highways and others like them all around the country make travel faster and easier for the motorist. The unfortunate thing is that no one can remember what was there. It is forever gone from sight and memory.
Progress and development is taking place all over American to provide better transportation and housing. Forests are being cut down, bays and wetlands are being filled in, mountain tops are being leveled. And all the while changes are taking place in the American people. We have become a nation of the convenient, the instantaneous and the forgetful. Instant coffee, fast food, immediate entertainment, instant gratification. What is gone about us that will never return?
In his epic poem John Brown's Body, Stephen Vincent Benet wrote about the mountains, the people and things that are gone
They are our last frontier.
They shot the railway-train when it first came,
And when the Fords first came, they shot the Fords.
It could not save them. They are dying now
Of being educated, which is the same.
One need not weep romantic tears for them,
But when the last moonshiner buys his radio,
And the last, lost, wild-rabbit of a girl
Is civilized with a mail-order dress,
Something will pass that was American
And all the movies will not bring it back.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bach In B Minor
In the face of all that is crooked about the world, when I listen to the music of Bach things straighten out.
Dana Bate
**********************
Hello Frosty
**********************
Dear Friend, I know you are probably not going to do this, but I'm telling you to do it anyway. At some point soon in your progressing life you must listen to a performance of the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wasn't a Catholic but he wrote a lot of religious music, most of it in German, The Christmas and Easter Oratorios, The Saint Mathew and Saint John Passions and many Cantatas. So composing to the Latin Mass was a special venture for Bach. What he created is a conglomeration of some of the greatest music ever composed.
If you can't bear to hear the whole thing then at least listen to the opening section. It's a stately fugue for chorus and orchestra based on only the first 2 words of the Mass: Kyrie Eleison. It is a landscape of music. I promise.
If you keep going and get to the middle you'll hear Cum Sancto Spiritu, which lifts off and flies.
Later on Et Resurrexit jumps up out of silence and dances with so much joy it almost tumbles over itself.
As you listen don't just think it's beautiful, which it is, but listen into the music, try to hear every note from the kettle drum to the high trumpet, from the bass to the sopranos.
If you make it to the final chorus, you're life will have progressed, I guarantee it.
If you don't listen to this music I will still talk to you anyway.
DB - Vagabond
Never Give Up
********************
Dana Bate
**********************
Hello Frosty
**********************
Dear Friend, I know you are probably not going to do this, but I'm telling you to do it anyway. At some point soon in your progressing life you must listen to a performance of the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wasn't a Catholic but he wrote a lot of religious music, most of it in German, The Christmas and Easter Oratorios, The Saint Mathew and Saint John Passions and many Cantatas. So composing to the Latin Mass was a special venture for Bach. What he created is a conglomeration of some of the greatest music ever composed.
If you can't bear to hear the whole thing then at least listen to the opening section. It's a stately fugue for chorus and orchestra based on only the first 2 words of the Mass: Kyrie Eleison. It is a landscape of music. I promise.
If you keep going and get to the middle you'll hear Cum Sancto Spiritu, which lifts off and flies.
Later on Et Resurrexit jumps up out of silence and dances with so much joy it almost tumbles over itself.
As you listen don't just think it's beautiful, which it is, but listen into the music, try to hear every note from the kettle drum to the high trumpet, from the bass to the sopranos.
If you make it to the final chorus, you're life will have progressed, I guarantee it.
If you don't listen to this music I will still talk to you anyway.
DB - Vagabond
Never Give Up
********************
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Vagabond 268
Vagabondism #268, "In order to know the answer one must understand the question." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Be Like The Moon
People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy.
Oliver Goldsmith
*********************
Hello Sienna
*********************
The moon is not a disk. I will not forget the first time I watched a lunar eclipse through high powered binoculars. It was amazing to see that huge globe suspended in space with no apparent means of support. I could clearly see that it was a rounded object, with a front, sides and a mysterious back, which added to the spectacle of the eclipse.
When the final words of farewell are said and the rocket blasts off, the ship is taken into outer space where all things are dark. There is the constant sun, shining by its own light. But it produces no light in the solar system unless something is facing it. And then, as with the moon, it is reflected light.
Once into outer space many conditions are no longer present which we have come to depend on. There is no up or down. There is no left or right except as defined by the human body. It is only from a defined quarter like the International Space Station that we can even define in and out. And we are sure it is an either/or situation, like a coin is heads or tails. The obverse side of the coin is "in", the reverse side is "out." There is no transition place, no place that is neither in nor out, no place where in is becoming out or out is becoming in.
There are some metaphysical lessons to be seen and possibly learned from these observations. Like the limited in or out of the space station, our lives often take on the absolutes of our character and behavior, and the influences upon them. For example, we seem to be forever held in a suspended orbit of self expectation and self satisfaction; an obverse and a reverse, two side of the coin. We look to others for approval and to ourselves for justification. We want our lives to be better and look outside ourselves to imagine the better life. We may know we are capable of improvement but judge our capabilities only by what we already know of ourselves. We may like what we see of ourselves but we think there is another, mysterious side to the coin which we can't see. We find in other people examples of the person we would like to be and attempt to emulate them. Some of those models are appropriate to us. Others aren't and if we try those models on for size we step into a masquerade of pretense and artificiality. When we emulate the good, the appropriate models we may bring into our lives, without pretensions, the genuine qualities of those models. In such a case no artificiality is involve because we are adopting qualities which harmonize with the ones we already have. We are improving our own model by increasing its dimensions. There are now modifying elements to adopt. There is no longer an in or out of character, no more accepted or rejected behavior. We become freer of the limitations of stern absolutism. Now there are transitions. We worry less about consistency and more about creativity. And every part of our lives has its effect on every other part, what is simplisticaly called a "well rounded person," as we spin through our lives ia complete individual, not a disk.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Oliver Goldsmith
*********************
Hello Sienna
*********************
The moon is not a disk. I will not forget the first time I watched a lunar eclipse through high powered binoculars. It was amazing to see that huge globe suspended in space with no apparent means of support. I could clearly see that it was a rounded object, with a front, sides and a mysterious back, which added to the spectacle of the eclipse.
When the final words of farewell are said and the rocket blasts off, the ship is taken into outer space where all things are dark. There is the constant sun, shining by its own light. But it produces no light in the solar system unless something is facing it. And then, as with the moon, it is reflected light.
Once into outer space many conditions are no longer present which we have come to depend on. There is no up or down. There is no left or right except as defined by the human body. It is only from a defined quarter like the International Space Station that we can even define in and out. And we are sure it is an either/or situation, like a coin is heads or tails. The obverse side of the coin is "in", the reverse side is "out." There is no transition place, no place that is neither in nor out, no place where in is becoming out or out is becoming in.
There are some metaphysical lessons to be seen and possibly learned from these observations. Like the limited in or out of the space station, our lives often take on the absolutes of our character and behavior, and the influences upon them. For example, we seem to be forever held in a suspended orbit of self expectation and self satisfaction; an obverse and a reverse, two side of the coin. We look to others for approval and to ourselves for justification. We want our lives to be better and look outside ourselves to imagine the better life. We may know we are capable of improvement but judge our capabilities only by what we already know of ourselves. We may like what we see of ourselves but we think there is another, mysterious side to the coin which we can't see. We find in other people examples of the person we would like to be and attempt to emulate them. Some of those models are appropriate to us. Others aren't and if we try those models on for size we step into a masquerade of pretense and artificiality. When we emulate the good, the appropriate models we may bring into our lives, without pretensions, the genuine qualities of those models. In such a case no artificiality is involve because we are adopting qualities which harmonize with the ones we already have. We are improving our own model by increasing its dimensions. There are now modifying elements to adopt. There is no longer an in or out of character, no more accepted or rejected behavior. We become freer of the limitations of stern absolutism. Now there are transitions. We worry less about consistency and more about creativity. And every part of our lives has its effect on every other part, what is simplisticaly called a "well rounded person," as we spin through our lives ia complete individual, not a disk.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Friday, January 27, 2012
Vagabondism 267
Vagabondism #267 "It's hard to know what you're getting into until you get into it." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
The Editors Two
Nature alone can make a man judicious, experience can make a judicious man wise.
Immanuel Kant
**********************
Hello Indigo
**********************
My country has been one that tried, through the years, to encourage virtue, valor and excellence, and to have them rewarded. The United States is not the only country in the world where those ideals and goals are to be found, for sure. But I have come to believe that, as with many other activities of our lives, there is a characteristically American way of doing things in the pursuit of those values. We simply don't do things the way other peoples do them. And that may be one of the reasons why we have some difficulty understanding folks from other lands and why they have trouble understanding us.
Many years ago I listened to a speech given by the Managing Editor of The New York Times. During the speech he talked about a meeting he had with the Managing Editor of The London Times, of London, England. They were two of the most important men of two of the most important newspapers of the world. They were having lunch.
The Editor of The London Times described his career. He was born into the right upper middle class family. He went to the best schools. Then on to Cambridge University where he achieved a graduate degree in journalism. His entry level at the Times was a desk job with some minor production responsibility. But he gradually worked his way up to eventually become the Managing Editor, the kind of position his birth and education assured him he was destined for.
Then The New York Times Editor told the story of his life. He was born into a lower class Jewish family in New York City, educated in the public schools and eventually at City College of New York, where he went on to get a degree in journalism. His entry level job at the NY Times was running copy around, cleaning out news bins and occasional proof reading. But he gradually worked his way through all the departments, gaining experience of how the newspaper was run and learning what his contributions could be. He took on some minor and then major writing assignments. And then one day he emerged as the Managing Editor.
Their backgrounds could hardly have been different: the wealthy boy from England and the poor boy from New York. And yet there they were Managing Editors of two International Newspapers.
When the Englishman heard the New Yorker's story he said "Only in America."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Immanuel Kant
**********************
Hello Indigo
**********************
My country has been one that tried, through the years, to encourage virtue, valor and excellence, and to have them rewarded. The United States is not the only country in the world where those ideals and goals are to be found, for sure. But I have come to believe that, as with many other activities of our lives, there is a characteristically American way of doing things in the pursuit of those values. We simply don't do things the way other peoples do them. And that may be one of the reasons why we have some difficulty understanding folks from other lands and why they have trouble understanding us.
Many years ago I listened to a speech given by the Managing Editor of The New York Times. During the speech he talked about a meeting he had with the Managing Editor of The London Times, of London, England. They were two of the most important men of two of the most important newspapers of the world. They were having lunch.
The Editor of The London Times described his career. He was born into the right upper middle class family. He went to the best schools. Then on to Cambridge University where he achieved a graduate degree in journalism. His entry level at the Times was a desk job with some minor production responsibility. But he gradually worked his way up to eventually become the Managing Editor, the kind of position his birth and education assured him he was destined for.
Then The New York Times Editor told the story of his life. He was born into a lower class Jewish family in New York City, educated in the public schools and eventually at City College of New York, where he went on to get a degree in journalism. His entry level job at the NY Times was running copy around, cleaning out news bins and occasional proof reading. But he gradually worked his way through all the departments, gaining experience of how the newspaper was run and learning what his contributions could be. He took on some minor and then major writing assignments. And then one day he emerged as the Managing Editor.
Their backgrounds could hardly have been different: the wealthy boy from England and the poor boy from New York. And yet there they were Managing Editors of two International Newspapers.
When the Englishman heard the New Yorker's story he said "Only in America."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
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