Yes, Mr. President - Slavery Was, in fact, Bad

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States as quoted in The New York Times today:

The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post. 

The President of the United States, in an effort to whitewash American history as presented in the Smithsonian, which is essentially our national museum of record, as well as other museums, has chastised the leadership of these museums because they are focusing on “how bad Slavery was.”

As an English teacher, I tend to still rely on things like dictionaries as an authority on the meaning of specific words. With that in mind, I share with you, dear reader, what the Webster dictionary defines as “slavery”:

1a: the practice or institution of holding people as chattel involuntarily and under threat of violence; b: the state of a person who is forced usually under threat of violence to labor for the profit of another; c: a situation or practice in which people are coerced to work under conditions that are exploitative;

2: submission to a dominating influence

So,by the very definition of the word, as shared in what is a highly respectable dictionary, it pretty much looks like slavery was, to say the least, BAD.  I mean,I can’t think of anyone on this planet at any time in the history of humankind, who would think that being held as property under the threat of violence and forced to labor for the profit of another person would be THE JOB OF THE CENTURY AND ONE THAT THEY CAN’T WAIT TO FULFILL!! 

It’s fucking slavery, for God’s sake.  It’s dehumanizing. It’s. . . . .BAD!!!  So yes,  Mr. President, at the Museum of African American History, slavery is going to be presented as a pretty bad thing - what else could it be????    A great job-training program (as Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has in essence described it in defending a new history curriculum that teaches as much, pointing out that some slaves became blacksmiths, tailors, and other manual tradesmen)??? 

It’s time to call out this President for what he is - a deranged individual who is slowly but surely pushing this country toward what can only be described as a collective state of imbecility.  

Slavery WAS bad, Mr. President. And I don’t need a damned museum to tell me that.

Edison, New Jersey

To Get Here

 Almost everyone I know  looks back on their childhood with some degree of nostalgia. No matter how tough the times, you can always find something that makes you smile and feel good.  I was a child of the seventies, having been born just days before President Kennedy was assassinated, meaning I came of age during the latter stages of the Age of Aquarius and developed into what passed for an adult during the era of gas shortages, Watergate and Fonzie.

Personally, I love the Seventies. The music changed as the decade wore on, but it was (and still is to a certain extent) the soundtrack of my life.  While nothing will ever replace The Beatles as the most important musical influence on me, Wings, The Doobie Brothers, ELO and Chicago did a lot to shape the person I was to become as the decade wore on. 

And while many call the automobiles of the decade those of the Malaise Era, these were the cars of my childhood.  Fortunately, growing up the Seventies meant I was surrounded by the great cars of the Sixties, and those that were to become nostalgic touchpoints for me in the Seventies, including the Gremlin and the Vega (two no-so-great cars of the decade which came to signify the decade), the Grand Prix, the Camaro Z28 and the Pontiac Trans Am.  Not to mention my beloved Corvettes (not mine personally - mine is from 1991, but that’s a different story).

Speaking of the Trans Am, that reminds me of my favorite movie of the Seventies, Smokey and the Bandit.  I don’t exactly know how many times I have seen that film but it has to number in the thirties at least.  It’s one of those that I don’t turn off when I come across it on TV on any given day (and one that I can easily pop the DVD in and watch whenever I want).   There were so many good films that came of out this decade, including of course The Godfather (I and II), A Star is Born (I’m pretty much a sucker for almost any Barbra Streisand film of the decade - I thought she was absolutely stunning back then), Saturday Night Fever and, of course, Grease.

The reason for this sudden quick trip down memory lane was really inspired by a more recent film that I just re-watched, called The Last Movie Star with Burt Reynolds.  Burt Reynolds WAS the Seventies - he was an action star, a dramatic star and a comedic star. He was the embodiment of cool. He was probably the reason (my uncle being the other) that I grew and maintained a mustache for so many years.  I loved Burt Reynolds in the Seventies and seeing him in his later years (The Last Movie Star was his last film) was sad, but it was also inspiring. His fictional character was really Burt Reynolds with another name. Even the flashbacks were Burt Reynolds movies from the Seventies.  Watching the film reminded me - in a good and bad way - that time has moved on and, with it, I have aged as well. I was a pretty carefree kid during the Seventies, with almost nothing to worry about except what kind of car I was going to drive someday (always a Corvette - which took decades to happen.  Almost always a Chevrolet, though), what music to listen to (see the above list), what movie to see, and who I was going to date.  That pretty much took care of itself when I dated the girl next door for the first time in 1979 - and we have been together ever since.

There was a great song in the film called “To Get Here”, written by Diane Warren and performed by Willie Nelson that reflected on life. And while it wouldn’t have made sense to me back in the Seventies, as I sit here in 2025, it sums up my life perfectly.  So I’ll end with those lyrics:

There are things I've done

I wish I could undo

I'd take back all the pain

I put the ones who love me through

And I'd make some better choices

I'd take some different roads

I'd hold on to what mattered

I would never let it go

Life is 20 20 hindsight

Might take a lifetime just to get some insight

Might not always get it right

But you get where you need to be

All the mistakes I made, I'm glad I made them

All the wrong turns I took, I had to take them

Can't look back with regret, 'cause the view is never clear

That's what it took to get here

There are things I said

I wish I could unsay

I'd erase all the hurt

From those I have hurt along the way

And I'd make the right decisions

And change some I made before

And I'd love a little deeper

And I would give a little more

Sometimes you get second chances

When they come you gotta go and grab them

Might not be the way you planned it

But you get where you need to be

All the mistakes I made, I'm glad I made them

All the wrong turns I took, I had to take them

Can't look back with regret, because the view is never clear

That's what it took to get here

And you can't go back and change anything

You can't make what happened happen differently

But you can get what you need

Get where you need to be

All the mistakes I made, I'm glad I made them

All the wrong turns I took, I had to take them

Can't look back with regret, because the view is never clear

That's what it took to get here

• Ocean City, NJ

Checks and Balances

While I ended up as an English major in college, and currently make my living teaching English to middle school students, I loved Social Studies (or History) when I was a student.  In fact, had I taken a class or two more, I would have been certified in that and who knows how my career might have been different.

With that said, one of the things I loved as a student was the study of American history - specifically the Constitution.  I seem to remember that the founding fathers created three branches of government to allow for checks and balances - keeping one branch from having too much power.   I always accepted that that was the expectation here in the US - the Legislative made the laws, the Executive carried out the laws and the Judicial made sure it was all kosher.

So you can imagine my dismay as I continue to follow the follies of the Trump administration and their blatant disregard of the judicial branch of government.  They seem to do whatever they want and, sadly, the Judicial branch seems to be completely ignored. But what is more disturbing is that the Supreme Court - the ultimate arbiter of Constitutionality in this country - seems to be, if not blatantly ignorant ,then at least anemic when it comes to assuming their rightful position in the whole "check and Balances" equation.

It's time for the justices to remember that their job is NOT dependent on who is in the White House once they've gotten the job. And it's time for the justices to remember that they have an obligation to uphold the  US Constitution - even if it pisses off the Chief Executive.

So what do you say justices?  How about doing your damned job. And not making the judicial branch simply an extension of the Executive branch. Because that's not what the founding fathers intended.

Do your job.

Oldies . . . and Goldies (or How the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are still relevant in 2025)

 Just a quick note for today to say how remarkable it is to me that, in February of 2025, both The Beatles and the Rolling Stones won Grammy awards.   Perhaps some of the votes were sentimental (I mean, how many more times might you, as a member of the academy, get a chance to check "The Beatles" or "The Rolling Stones" on our ballot).  But  the fact that they are still relevant - and still known by enough of the academy to warrant a statue, is just remarkable.  

Think about all of the groups and artists that have come and gone since both of these groups burst on the US scene in 1964.  Do you seriously think that Gary Lewis and the Playboys would have received a vote for any new record released in 2025?  And while that's an extreme example, it just  goes to show how culturally significant both of these groups were and are.

I have often said what I'm about to say yet again - it is remarkable that, for every day of my 61 years on Earth,  I have been privileged to be surrounded by the music of The Beatles. And that, for my entire record buying life, I have been able to add new music to that collection - be it by the band itself, or its individual components - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  Ringo just released a brand new album - at 84 years young!!

They have been the soundtrack of my life and I'm so thrilled to see that they are once again Grammy award winners.

Post mortem to election day

 November 6, 2024

The following was written in response to a comment on a New York Times editorial published earlier this morning. Actually, there were two responses, which I have sewn together into one. And given that nobody really knows how long digital files will exist to memorialize this work, I share it here (and stored in hard copy on human compliant paper) for all to see.  The original comment had to do with Kamala Harris not accomplishing a Herculean list of tasks in her short time on the campaign trail.  What follows is my response:

Earlier today, commenter “Axel” posted that, among the things that Kamala Harris should have done was to “have presented her  own bold program for change, including political institutional change and major constitutional reforms,” But let’s be realistic here - you wanted her to do all that in eleven weeks?!? And even if she did, do you think the Times and others would have given it the coverage it deserved? Trump started running again on January 20, 2021 and never stopped. Harris never had a chance.  Make no mistake - the Democratic Party enabled Trump, most notably by not primarying Biden this year. Then by waiting so long to have him step out. And the Obamas and other “rock stars” of the party laid low too long before stepping up. 

Perhaps Ms Harris wasn’t the perfect candidate but the media and the Times held her to an impossibly blue standard of perfection that certainly Mr Trump could never meet. Once again, the “oh that’s Donald being Donald” has played out - and played - the American people. And this time it looks like it’s a majority of them.  

Perhaps it is those of us who identify as Democrats who are wrong. Maybe the country really is as dark as Mr Trump and the GOP paint it. My city is not on fire, I’m not tripping over illegal immigrants on my way to work, I have a job and food on the table. Maybe I’m the one who is wrong here. Maybe the rest of the country is seeing these things. In which case, it’s the Times job as paper of record to report them. If not, it was their job to refute these claims. 

Show me one NY Times article proving beyond a doubt that the claims about the economy were false, or at least somewhat dubious. They’ve done neither.  The guardrail that was supposed to keep democracy strong - the fourth estate represented by the likes of the Times and the Washington Post - failed miserably in this election. 

Had this type of weak journalism or what passes for journalism these days been around when Nixon was president, he would have served his full two terms and who knows how the country would have turned out. But reporters and editors were, perhaps, more high minded back then. Or maybe we as readers were more demanding. We could actually read back then and didn’t get our news in quick 30 second bites.

And so, as stewards of the First amendment they have failed. But so too have we.

The blood of this nation rests on all of our hands.

• Ocean City, NJ

Election Day - 2024

 November 5, 2024

Today is Election Day in the US and a more contentious election I certainly can’t remember.  And today is a good day for me to practice what I have been preaching to my students for quite some time.  But first a bit of background.

I have spent the last year or so trying to better understand the philosophy of Stoicism. I’m not exactly sure what got me into this, but I discovered a guy by the name of Ryan Holliday and found that a lot of what he was saying was making a lot of sense to me. So I started to dig in a bit deeper and, as the year has gone by, I am actually finding that it is making a bit of a difference in my life.

One of the practices that Stoicism has taught me is that there is really nothing I can do about so many things - I can only control that over which I have control. And basically, as I have come to understand, that over which I have control is my own mind, my own emotions, my own body, and my own thoughts. I can’t control the weather, traffic, or other people for that matter. And I have been trying to get some of my students - especially my former students who are now finding life a bit harder as they get older - to understand that, especially when they are having a hard time getting along with others.

Which takes me back to this election.  I vehemently dislike the Republican candidate, mostly because I find him to be a detestable person.  He has so little regard for others - women, immigrants, middle class people, just about anyone not named Donald Trump - that I just can't fathom how we could elect him to the presidency - again!!

But, in the end, all I can do is vote my heart and my conscience. I’m just one vote - but it’s all I can do. I can’t change the outcome of the election. I can’t change the way people vote. All I can do is accept what is, and pray with all my being that the country will hold together regardless of who wins.  And so that is what I will do. I will vote. I will pray. And I will hope.

• Ocean City, NJ

A World without (printed) Newspapers

 I read the other day that the Star Ledger was going to stop publishing its print edition in February of 2025.  Now, I don’t take the Star Ledger and haven’t for quite some time. I don’t even subscribe to the electronic edition although I am a subscriber to two newspapers - both online - as I truly believe that newspapers are essential to fair and free communications in this world.

The reason that the news hit me so hard had more to do with what I had discovered in the top of my closet, ironically just two days prior.  While searching high and low for a missing Halloween shirt (don’t ask), I came across the box of “stuff” that I keep in the top of my closet. Among the miscellaneous stuff that one accumulates, I found several copies of seminal newspapers that marked several important moments in history.

There were two newspapers reporting the news of September 11, 2001 when the country was attacked and the World Trade Center was toppled.  There were newspapers marking the election of Joe Biden as president, replacing the (in my opinion) dangerous Donald Trump.  There were also newspapers marking significant sports events, such as the Mets winning the 2000 National League Championship (sadly, no New York Jets headlines - a topic for another post). 

As I thought back to this pile of yellowing news print, I started to wonder - how will future generations learn about the major events of our time, if there is no written record of it?  How can electronic news be archived so that those that are still to come can look back and see what was being reported about the major events of our time? (And in case you’re wondering, all of these entries are printed and saved for posterity - who knows how anyone would ever read these electronic musings in the future). 

I know that producing a printed product every day is a great expense, and one that is not easy to accommodate for a newspaper company. But with the need to archive major events, is this something a newspaper can afford to not do??  I guess time will tell - and perhaps replica editions can be archived, much like the microfiche of my generation - but with the major events happening just around the corner, is this a good time to stop producing?

In the end, it’s our fault. We are the ones who stopped buying or subscribing to newspapers. We’re the ones that adopted the electronic medium with such gusto that the publishers had no choice.  Can we turn back the clock? No.  But should we??  A question our future generations will have to answer.

• November 4, 2024

• Ocean City, NJ