This is Where I’ve Been

  Week Twenty-three: Born in the 50’s You don’t understand us So don’t reprimand us We’re taking the future We don’t need no teacher Born in the 50’s --The Police, Born in the 50’s, from the album Outlandos d’Amour (note: Years ago I went through a Police phase, listening to their music until I somehow reached my quota. Recently Born in the 50’s came on the radio. The last time I heard this song might have been thirty years ago. It is certainly a “deep track” meaning it might be another thirty years before I hear it on the radio again.) These things were “born” in the 1950’s: Credit cards Super glue Mr. Potato Head Diet soda Transistor radios “the pill” McDonalds the Hula Hoop Barbie The Beatles and me. We Baby Boomers had a tough act to follow. The folks referred to as the Greatest Generation earned their nickname and are directly responsible for ours. As WWII ended, American prosperity and the ecstasy of more than seven million returning service members resulted in 76 million bi...

  Week Twenty-two: Us and Them Us and them And after all. We’re only ordinary men —Pink Floyd, Us and Them, from the album Dark Side of the Moon Commencement ceremonies are being delivered all around our country, and each one comes with a motivational speech designed to not only congratulate the graduates but moreover to motivate them to use their accomplishment to contribute to society, to do great things. Such speeches can vary from truly memorable like Ted Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss) 75 second rhyming masterpiece (see below) to football player Harrison Butker’s controversial, rambling admonition of Catholic priests which included his advice to the female graduates to become “homemakers.” David Foster Wallace told graduates that “Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” His speech at Kenyon University has been described as meandering. At several points in the speech he referenced suicide, which as it turns out, was his fa...

  Week 21: Superstition Thirteen month old baby Broke the looking glass Seven years of bad luck The good things in your past When you believe in things That you don’t understand Then you suffer Superstition ain’t the way --Stevie Wonder, Superstition from Talking Book  I once had a conversation with our dog’s veterinarian to discuss his health. She asked how he had been since his last visit, and I answered by saying, “No seizures for four months. Fingers crossed.” She immediately rapped on the door of the examination room and said, “Knock on wood.” Superstitions like crossing fingers and knocking wood are ingrained in our society, and these two examples and plenty more were a very real part of my childhood. For my mother there were a number of ways to invite trouble and there were ways to avoid it. At our house if the salt shaker fell over, some of it went over the left shoulder. A guaranteed way to ward off the devil although she never explained how that worked. Breaking a m...

  Week Twenty: Hello in There You know that old trees just grow stronger And old rivers grow wilder every day Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello.” So if you’re walking down the street sometime And spot some hollow ancient eyes Please don’t just pass them by and stare As if you didn’t care, say, “Hello in there, hello.” —John Prine, Hello in There, from the album John Prine I have often said that you never really know to whom you are speaking. I mean that on several levels, but mostly I mean that until you bother to find out, you can’t be sure. It doesn’t really matter who either. From your favorite teacher to the guy who held the door for you, until you find out, you can’t know where that person has been, what that person has done, and why that person operates as he or she does. Here’s an example: On a certain day not unlike many others, we decided to travel around town with the purpose of returning a number of things we bought in the p...