Musings Outside Starbucks

Once again (at this writing), I am sitting outside of a Gainesville Starbucks during the mid-afternoon. This one is on Newberry Road and is probably the best-run Starbucks in Gainesville. The manager was chatting one morning with some joggers who happened to work at LifeSouth (a non-profit blood-donation organization), which is just down the road a little bit. One thing led to another and the suggestion was made that Gainesville hold its own marathon race. And from this conversation eventually came the result that LifeSouth is sponsoring a marathon here in Gainesville soon on Sunday, February 24. The running course crisscrosses all over Gainesville, and the race should be fun to watch. A five kilometer (about 3.1 miles) race is scheduled to accompany it as well. I'm considering whether or not to enter it (the 5K race, that is). But I first have to get used to running on outdoor surfaces, not just on a treadmill like I've been doing. This may take more time than I have to prepare for that race, so I may just pass it up for a future race. I would like to know where the 5K course will be, though.

The weather here this afternoon is beautiful, slightly cool in the shade with a moderate wind and no clouds in the sky. Something tells me, though, that this idyllic setting won't last too much longer, and, as they like to say on The Weather Channel, conditions will eventually deteriorate. This has to be one of the mildest winters I've ever experienced in Gainesville. And being someone who likes cool, dry weather, I feel vaguely cheated out of something I've come to expect each year. The plants around me seem to sense the impending end of winter already (and this posting will ironically occur on Groundhog Day), with a fine film of pollen covering my car to greet me this morning. Over the past few years, I had been increasingly suffering from pollen allergies. But then I started doing something that, on the surface, didn't make sense: I began to spend more time outdoors where the pollen was and less time in the air-conditioning. Whether or not this reversed my allergies or something else did, the fact is that this past year marks an improvement with my allergies. I wonder if anyone out there has had similiar experiences.

Well, I guess I'd better get up and head for work now. Too bad I don't have a "reset" button that I can push tomorrow morning to get today's weather again!

Presidential Campaign Now

With all of the talk about how badly Florida had goofed in moving its presidential primary up one week (and suffering penalties from the two parties), it is pretty surprising to me to note that, on the heels of that primary, the race has now suddenly crystallized into a two-candidate struggle in each party (I put Mike Huckabee way back in third for the Republicans). Most "experts" had expected Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrat John Edwards to stay in the race at least until after the Super Tuesday primaries on February 5. But right after Florida, both bowed out with Giuliani turning around and endorsing John McCain. Edwards is apparently guarding his options, waiting to see whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama prevails next week. I'd be surprised if he didn't end up endorsing Obama, barring a landslide Super Tuesday victory for Clinton.

I'm a little bit miffed at how much some in the media are making of the campaign "fight" between Clinton and Obama. Of course, they're going to stress their own perceived strong points and the other's perceived weaknesses. That's not dirty, grudge politics, though. It's just good, effective "hardball" campaigning (with a nod to MSNBC's excellent Chris Matthews). I remember back in 1980, just before the presidential election between incumbent Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan, the press suddenly began relaying accusations of "meanness" at Carter. Which I never could figure out. The same sort of struggle is going on with the Republicans as well, with McCain and Romney really starting to tear at each other's records. I say "GOOD" to all of this! This is the time that we need to sort through the candidates' pasts and get a read on their true opinions and character. After all, whomever we elect to be the next president is going to be in there for the next four (and possibly eight) years. And he or she will have great sweeping powers, most notably the power of war vs. peace, as well as the future composition of the United States Supreme Court. Let's try to figure them out now before it's too late!

Favorite Songs of 1988

Two albums in 1988 produced several good songs: Now and Zen by Robert Plant and Rattle and Hum by U2. Plant's extremely Led Zeppelin-like Tall Cool One got everyone talking (unsuccessfully) about a reunion of the survivors of that great band. Desire (with the Bo Diddley beat) and Bullet the Blue Sky (a searing musical etching of the American landscape) were more hard-flavored hits that U2 scored with in 1988. Van Halen, with their "new" singer Sammy Hagar, also had two hits I liked in Feels So Good and Finish What Ya Started. My all-time favorite John Mellencamp tune came out this year with his wistful Check It Out. Terence Trent D'Arby sang his brooding, romantic Sign Your Name. Ex-Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle's best solo work to me was her 1988 Circle in the Sand. Bobby McFerrin had his pop moment of glory (before moving on to other achievements) with his upbeat, iconic Don't Worry Be Happy. My favorite Michael Jackson post-Thriller song was his monument to conscience, Man In the Mirror. INXS tore up the airwaves with their rousing New Sensation and the loud romantic ballad Never Tear Us Apart (both with excellent accompanying videos). George Harrison's track This is Love, off his comeback Cloud Nine album, was my favorite of his since his You in 1976. Edie Brickell and New Bohemians brought back memories of the Greenwich Village scene with their kooky What I Am. My second and third favorite Bruce Springsteen songs (after the later Streets of Philadelphia) were Tunnel of Love and One Step Up, respectively. Guns and Roses had their signature "we're the rowdiest of the rowdiest" hit in Welcome to the Jungle (with an apparently heavy influence from Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love). The Escape Club looked ahead to the '90's with their catchy dance hit The Wild Wild West. My #2 favorite song from 1988 (as I lived it) was the incomparable Tracy Chapman's gut-wrenching tale of a young woman's hopes and ultimate disillusionment, Fast Car. And my favorite of that year was the unlikely collaboration between the Pet Shop Boys and the great, late Dusty Springfield to produce their masterpiece What Have I Done to Deserve This.

Reading On the Eights: 1/30

I divided my reading for the past eight weeks between science-fiction and Stephen King works. And began my first Mary Higgins Clark novel. As for the sci-fi, I finished reading the second of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The mini-series I saw a few years back ended where this book ended. But there are at least three more Hitchhiker books to go, so I should have more fun in the future reading on in this series (not already knowing what is going to happen). I read the next of Isaac Asimov's Robot Novels, titled The Robots of Dawn. It was longer than the others and had some pretty tedious sections, but the knockout ending was worth the reading. And I've just started reading his fourth (and last) of this series: Robots and Empire.

I continued reading Stephen King novels by getting through two of his lengthy works: Needful Things and Bag of Bones. Needful Things was basically a retelling of Ray Bradbury's great Something Wicked This Way Comes in a Maine setting, using some old characters from King stories like Cujo, The Dark Half, and Insomnia. To me, this novel was a great indictment against human nature and how people can become hooked on things to a degree that can lead to delusions and tragedy. Bag of Bones was another "Maine" novel that shifted its emphasis from one theme to a completely different one as the story progressed. Definitely worth the time I put in reading it! I've also begun Stephen King's Dark Tower series, having read The Gunslinger (Volume 1) and being now about two thirds of the way through his second volume (The Drawing of the Three). The Dark Tower started out slow (vaguely resembling Clint Eastwood's old spaghetti westerns), but it has now picked up a lot of steam! My interest in The Dark Tower was stimulated by references to it in two other Stephen King novels (Insomnia and Hearts in Atlantis) and a short story (The Little Sisters of Eluria from his collection Everything's Eventual ). Also, I began reading his early short novel (written as Richard Bachman) The Long Walk. It seems to have a science-fiction flavor to it so far.

And finally, I tried a completely different author with Mary Higgins Clark and her novel Nighttime is My Time. I still haven't reached the halfway point in it, but it's quite clear that Clark has a very different style to her presentation than Stephen King!

Walking Works

I am a walker. Whenever I really want to get down to some serious thinking about something, I will often go out and pace around. And it helps, besides relaxing me. To be sure, I don't walk anywhere near to the degree that I used to in years past (maybe I don't think as much, either). In "olden days", I would often simply walk to wherever it was I wanted to go, even if it was several miles away. Usually, though, I would take the longest walks during periods when the weather was mild or cold. I remember one winter in early 1978 when I often walked for hours at a time (back when I was a student at the University of Florida).

For the sake of exercise, there is nothing to compare with walking for its combination of a low impact activity with benefits to the body in so many areas (especially cardiovascular). And one can walk anywhere, so it doesn't take any special equipment or location (although I notice quite a few people using the local YMCA to walk on their treadmills). Walking is also something you can do with someone else without getting bogged down in athletic competition (something that has happened to a degree with running). Nor do you have to dress any particular way to do it. To me, just walking outside for a while and vigorously breathing the outdoors air while looking around at the scenery I'm passing makes any hint of drudgery commonly associated with exercise disappear.

As I've written before, I am working at becoming a better runner, and have experienced some moderate success with this. But I don't run every day. To fill in the gap, simply walking sounds like the prescription for me! How about you?

Monday Newsbreak: 1/28

--We're coming up to the Florida Primary on January 29. Unlike in Michigan earlier this month, there will be a full slate of Democratic candidates on the ballot. Even though Florida will be barred from seating its delegation at the party convention, I am looking forward to voting. For Barack Obama. The Republicans are only penalizing Florida for its early primary by cutting their delegation in half, and their candidates, unlike the Democrats, have been covering the state. It looks as if it's going to be a down-to-the-wire duel between John McCain and Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani seems to be fading badly, and maybe it's just as well since he doesn't seem to have his heart completely in the campaign. Mike Huckabee seems to be settling into the Republican version of a John Edwards, playing the role of a Southern, more populist candidate than the others (and being pretty much the third-place candidate as well).

--On Tuesday, not only do we vote our choices for president in Florida, but there are other issues as well. Statewide, there is a vote on whether to add a state constitutional amendment increasing the Homestead Exemption for property taxes. Also, locally here in Gainesville, we have three city commission races. I'm looking forward to my ritual of going to my polling place (a fire station) and filling in the bubbles!

--There is a movement to reconsider the use of plastic bags, especially with grocery shopping. They take too long to break down, are rarely recycled, and can pose a hazard to aquatic animal life. I'm sure that a better system can be instituted that is more environmentally friendly. Even if the plastic bags don't get replaced with something else, the least that can be done is allow for residents to have their old plastic bags picked up separately as part of their recycling (something my hometown has yet to do despite all of its pro-environment posturing). I have noticed some local stores offering recycling facilities for used bags, but for recycling of plastic bags to really take hold and be significant, it needs to be available from home when other recyclable items are picked up.

--This time next week, we'll know who the new National Football League Super Bowl Champion is, for the Super Bowl is to be played this coming Sunday evening. At stake is perfection for the 18-0 New England Patriots. But I think that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is pretty tired of always having to play second fiddle to his more famous and honored brother Peyton, who led his Indianapolis Colts to the championship last year. I'm pulling for Eli and the Giants, but I also recognize that it will be an uphill fight. Prediction: New England Patriots 38, New York Giants 20.

--Stephen King is coming out with his new book Duma Key. Since he's spent a lot of time over the past few years here in Florida, I was wondering whether he'd write a novel set here as well (seeing how fond he is of writing about his northern home state of Maine). Faster than King is writing new novels (which is pretty doggone fast), I am reading his old ones. Sometime this year (or next) I should "catch up"!

Conversational Stability

Whenever I find myself in a free-flowing conversation with another (and not with a specific, preset topic established), the conversation tends to flow in one of three directions: about me, about my "co-talker", or about a subject external to both of us.

A conversation, I have found, can be a tricky thing. For what may seem to be a stable topic of discourse for one may be a rather unstable, bothersome area for another. The two sides either must be in sync with each other regarding what is being discussed, or they must somehow negotiate to informally divide the time spent talking between the two parties, to give each a turn being in his or her "comfort zone".

Personally, I feel the most comfortable talking with others about extraneous subjects, like the news, weather, or sports, than I do about myself. To be perfectly honest, I don't particularly care that much about what others outside my family are doing with their lives, and I likewise don't care too much to share what's going on in my life with them. So the folks that I tend to gravitate toward talking with informally are the ones who feel comfortable talking "outside themselves". But I have come to learn that there is an enormous number of people in the world who are utterly incapable of thinking outside themselves, much less talking on that level! To them, everything has to be brought down to their personal level, and if not, then it isn't worthy of consideration. With people like these, I either find myself being probed to irritation about my personal life or bored to death by their incessant chatter about themselves. But if I bring up something to them that happened in the news, it goes through one of their ears and out the other.

I like give-and-take with conversations, with the two sides maturely recognizing the need for giving (speaking) and taking (listening with expressed interest). Often there will be the ideal matchup of a "big talker" who finds a "big listener" to pour his or her heart out to. But I find it demeaning and insulting to be around someone who is only interested in expressing their views and experiences to me while giving me little or no opportunity to inject some of myself into the conversation (other than the mandatory cues "uh-huh","yes", "oh", and the like, to show that I'm still listening). It thus appears that there are quite a few people out there who feel that their lives are the only ones with significance, while people like me are only out there in a "supporting role" to bounce their precious opinions off of.

Dale Carnegie, you may already know, wrote a book several decades ago titled How to Win Friends and Influence People. Well, winning friends and influencing people may seem like an awfully hefty project, but how about me just learning to be a better conversationalist? Some of Carnegie's book goes down that road as well. The most important elements that he emphasizes are to express genuine interest in the other person and to emphasize the positive over the negative. Awfully simple, isn't it? But yet, how many people (including myself) actually apply these self-evident rules?!!

Fredo Corleone and Agent Smith

[Contains some plot spoilers for The Godfather Part II and The Matrix]

There may not be two so fundamentally different, but in a paradoxical way, similar, characters in big screen history as The Godfather's Fredo Corleone (masterfully played by the late John Cazale) and The Matrix's "program" Agent Smith (equally well-played by Hugo Weaving, also of Elrond-in-Lord of the Rings fame). Fredo was the hedonistic, irresponsible, childish man in the Godfather who was deemed by Don Vito Corleone to be too irresponsible to pass the leadership of his family to. Fredo was a true believer in what I have come to term "the high life": in order to truly "live", one has to plunge willy-nilly into high stakes gambling, urban night life, promiscuous sex, conspicuous consumption, and serious drug use (in Fredo's case, alcohol). With the assumption that this is the sort of thing that any normal person would engage in given the opportunity. Also, Fredo would mistrust the very people (like his brother Michael) who really looked after him while allowing smooth-talking, slimy strangers (like Johnny Ola and Hyman Roth) to walk all over him. And he would always direct his anger at those who held his best interests at heart. Ultimately, this would lead to his own downfall.

Agent Smith was a security program installed within the Matrix to fight humans who had left this deceptive "virtual life" to establish their own place in the real world in opposition to the machine-run world. Near the movie's climax, Agent Smith had captured Morpheus, one of the good guys, and was explaining to him the origins of the Matrix. He said that, in the beginning, the Matrix was designed to be a happy place, where the inhabitants could enjoy their lives and have whatever they wanted. But nobody, it turned out, would accept the reality of such a framework, and that first attempt failed. Instead, a version of the Matrix, which did work, was installed, based upon the notion that humans defined their worldview around their own misery (There is an implied allegory here to the Garden of Eden and man's subsequent struggles on Earth). Agent Smith, if he (it) had actually been alive, would have understood the paradox of Fredo's overt never-ending quest for pleasure and covert resentment and misery.

Over my life, I have known people who are similar in ways to Fredo Corleone. Although they may live out their lives in a very conventional manner, events may suddenly break down to the point where they have the opportunity to grasp their long-held-but-inhibited dream of living the"high life". Often, if not fought successfully against by those who care for them, they will succumb to this and eventually, like Fredo, stumble and fall (while regarding the ones who really love them as the ENEMY, even to the point of betraying them). And like Fredo, while turning their backs on friends and family, they will often let con artists and predators take them for everything they have without any scrutiny whatsoever!

While opposites on the surface, Fredo Corleone and Agent Smith share the same limiting dichotomy of belief: either one lives a life based on compulsively pursuing pleasure and material gain, or one must live a life based on misery and suffering. This, to me, is a false choice. Each of us has, within ourselves, the ability to choose for ourselves the things that will bring us pleasure, and they don't need to correspond to what others in society think (like the so-called "high life"). A normal, sane, and responsible adult human being will have learned that life is a mixture of both pleasure and suffering, both of which have value, but neither of which should be pursued or avoided relentlessly. For survival depends on both!

Sick Happens

I am currently on antibiotics, recovering from a severe sinus infection/viral attack (they all seem severe to me) that sidelined me from work for Tuesday and Wednesday. I am fortunate to work in a place that provides cumulative sick leave throughout one's career (a benefit won through collective bargaining between my union and management). And I've been accruing it since I began working here in 1987. I've also used it very sparingly, and probably have one of the highest accrued totals of sick leave hours among those working there as long as I have. As management often correctly points out, my cumulative sick leave serves as a kind of insurance policy against more long-term sicknesses or disabilities. And so I only use it strictly for times (like this) in which I am truly incapacitated for work (and likely to infect others as well). And that usually means that when I am ill enough (in my estimation) to call in sick, that also means that I should see a doctor for it. And I did, getting my prescription as well as a doctor's note confirming the illness for my bosses at work. But here's where I diverge from management regarding sick leave. Even though I obviously use my sick leave sparingly and was also obviously sick this time (with documentation), I am bound to be taken aside by someone in management a few days or weeks from now and be lectured to about using my sick leave wisely (most likely by someone who calls in sick more often than me). And I suppose that, when that happens (as it has in the past), I will ask to speak to my union steward! I understand that there are co-workers who might abuse the sick leave benefit, calling in just to get time off. So management is within their rights to try to curb excesses in this area. But there is a big difference between being strict about sick leave usage and being unreasonable. That being said, I am glad to be able to have sick leave to use (wisely and sparingly). But then again, that's one of the reasons I chose to work where I do in the first place (which is a pretty good job)!

Favorite Songs of 1989

In the year 1989, I went through a country and western music phase when I listened to a local Gainesville country station (which now plays light jazz). And there were several good tunes that I heard then. Rosanne Cash made an excellent cover of her father's (Johnny Cash) Tennessee Flat Top Box. Californian Dwight Yoakam had a hit I liked in the humorous, sweet I Got You (To See Me Through). Michael Martin Murphey's sad I'm Gonna Miss You Girl was my favorite of his. And That's My Job (originally from 1987), by Conway Twitty, has to be one of the greatest tearjerkers of all time, not just for 1989 (when I heard it).

But I listened mostly to rock/pop in 1989. Young MC and Tone Loc came out with good rap songs in Bust a Move and Funky Cold Medina, respectively. The hair metal band Warrant had their best tune (to me) in The Down Boys (which resembled Bye Bye Love by the Cars). Rod Stewart showed his mellow side in the beautiful Downtown Train. Stevie Nicks had one of my favorites of hers in the grossly underplayed A Long Way to Go. Aerosmith hit the height of their resurgent popularity with their loud and titillating Love in an Elevator. XTC's Mayor of Simpleton was a fun-sounding tune with a compelling harmony. Janet Jackson introduced her Rhythm Nation 1814 album with the first single Miss You Much. This period, to me, was the pinnacle of her career. Neil Young, with a big chip on his shoulder from George H.W. Bush's election as President, put out a very critical, sarcastic, and effective protest song with his Rockin' in the Free World. The supergroup Traveling Wilburys, featuring George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison, were very popular on the radio in 1989. My favorites of theirs were End of the Line, Margarita, and my top favorite song of 1989 (back then): Handle With Care. Tom Petty excelled with his stubborn I Won't Back Down and the rollicking Running Down a Dream. My #2 song from 1989 was by Tears For Fears for their tribute to the Beatles and the 1967 Summer of Love: Sowing the Seeds of Love. The video for it was also very, very entertaining (and clever).

Only Human

Not too long ago, I heard someone make a plea to a group that he was addressing to the effect that people who come to him with grievances would not be so overtly hostile. After all, he was only human, with feelings like everyone else. And while I agreed and sympathized with him, his invocation of his own humanity gave me some food for thought. Maybe you've heard Billy Joel's old mid-1980s hit Only Human, where he states "You're SUPPOSED to make mistakes!" After all, we all know about "human nature", which seems to be the disposition of people to take the easiest, least painful way out of a bad situation (or to a good situation), even if it involves behavior against others. But to be "humane" seems to go against this human nature, since there is obviously a more altruistic principle involved: compassion for others, beyond oneself. Humanism is a philosophical movement which, at its purest form, is a defense of relatively powerless people against abuses from the powerful and the institutions they control, such as business, government, and religion. Although embraced by many who profess atheism, humanism itself actually embraces and elevates one of the most important creeds in Christianity: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, regardless of the trappings of our wealth, positions, or power, we are each of us ultimately human, and as such must share an ethical responsibility with each other to care for each other, for the sake of the greater good of humanity. And this brings me back to the man at the beginning of this article who only asked to be treated like a human being. Just treat me, a human, as you (just another human) would want me to treat you would have expressed his sentiment more precisely.

Foreign Languages on the Eights: 1/22

I have continued to plod along with my textbook-study of Vietnamese (using Robert Quinn's Beginner's Vietnamese), although my progress has become a bit bogged down because of other distractions in my life. From time to time, I also watch the AZN Channel during the morning hours when they are showing the news in Vietnamese. There is also a kind of historical romance soap opera, dealing with traditional Chinese martial arts, called The Little Fairy, that is dubbed in Vietnamese with Chinese subtitles. It's interesting for me to watch this show, because I usually can't discern the meaning of what is being said in Vietnamese unless I read the Chinese at the bottom of the screen! Which brings me to a circular argument that I've been carrying on with myself for years: shouldn't I just concentrate on the most important language(s) to learn and leave the rest until later? Vietnamese, although personally very important to me (I've actually spoken it with others more than any language besides English), is secondary to other languages like Chinese, Russian, German. French, and Spanish, languages all of which I have a substantial knowledge in.

But I look at my age (51) and see the years ahead of me. Why not make things as interesting as possible? And Vietnamese is certainly a very interesting language. So, I'm still going to work on Vietnamese until I get through this textbook. And then I'll see where I want to go next. Also, I purchased a new MP3 and plan to download VOA broadcasts in Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish to listen to at various times. I'm still looking for a source for German (VOA doesn't broadcast in it), but this is probably due more to my ignorance of computers and the Internet than to a lack of German-language downloadable podcasts.

Monday Newsbreak: 1/21

--The presidential campaign season is now going on in full intensity. Unlike four years ago, when the nominees for both parties had been pretty much decided by this stage, both party races are wide open. There are a few stragglers who may be dropping out soon, such as Democrat John Edwards and Republican Fred Thompson. But then again, I'd be surprised if they didn't at least wait until after the results of Super Tuesday on February 5, when many states, including California, New York, and Georgia, will hold their primaries. My own hometown newspaper, The Gainesville Sun, yesterday endorsed John McCain and Barack Obama (both my choices as well) for the January 29 Florida primary.

--Today is officially Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, although his actual birthday was on January 15 last week. He would have been turning 79 had not murder cut short his mighty life at such a young age. What would Dr. King's take have been on various historical events had he lived? I'm thinking about things like men walking on the Moon, Watergate, Jimmy Carter's rise to the Presidency, the Reagan years, the two Iraq Wars, Bill Clinton's Presidency, and 9/11. But then again, Dr. King would naturally have had his own special influence on the flow of history, and the events which did occur might have gone in much different directions had this visionary for peaceful social progress been spared his cruel fate in April, 1968.

--The National Football League playoffs have now progressed to the point where we know who will be playing in this year's Super Bowl: the New England Patriots against the New York Giants. My preseason picks, Dallas and Denver, couldn't muster up the needed talent and clutch play to reach this stage. I'm just hoping for an exciting, close game, with the Giants coming out on top!

--Although we in Gainesville are currently experiencing relatively cold conditions for our area (highs in the upper 40's), this has been a pretty warm winter, all things considered. It's getting to be that, in our neck of the woods, the most crucial period of the year to be concerned about is the early spring and the amount of rainfall that we're getting then. That's because wildfires have plagued this area too often recently, due to severe dryness. This spring will mark the tenth anniversary of the terrible firestorms that swept through some northeastern Florida areas, especially in Volusia and Flagler Counties, but also including some of my Alachua County.

Gators Basketball This Year

It's looks as if this year's edition of the University of Florida Gators Men's Basketball team will be very competitive after all, in spite of being dominated by freshmen and sophomores. They currently have a 16-3 overall record and are 3-1 within the tough Southeastern Conference, having just defeated divisional rival Kentucky in overtime, 81-70. Their only conference loss so far was a road game with ranked Mississippi, 89-87. Coach Billy Donovan is employing a three-guard system on this team, which is a bit out of the ordinary. Each of the starters are making their contributions and a name for themselves as well. They are: guards Nick Calathes, Walter Hodge, and Jai Lucas; forward Dan Werner; and center Marreese Speights. The Gators this year also have a very strong bench. The problem with their two other losses this year (to Florida State and Ohio State) was that, in each game, the entire team seemed to have a poor shooting day. As long as some teammates can step up for others who get cold with their shooting, Florida will continue their winning tradition. I think they are worthy of a Top 25 ranking, but are far from the national championship-calibre squads of the last two years. But the future looks very bright!

Scapegoating As Political Strategy

It is with great sadness that I feel the need to withdraw my support for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for the Republican Presidential nomination. Mr. Huckabee has recently, in South Carolina, decided to lower himself into the mud pits of scapegoating while, at the same time expressing a desire to change the U.S. Constitution to conform to the Bible.

Huckabee is pushing hard for the "scapegoater" vote, and is emphasizing his desire to push through a Constitutional amendment to exclude gays from marriage. He rationalizes his position as wanting to save the institution of marriage (even though nearly half of all exclusively heterosexual marriages currently end in divorce in America). No, Huckabee said that he wasn't just picking on gays: the amendment would also exclude marriages between a man and a child, a man and an animal, or a man and three women (an inclusion that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann astutely pointed out was a bigoted dig at rival Mitt Romney's Mormon history). I'd like to ask Mr. Huckabee, since he thinks the Bible should be the basis for law here, whether the "preservation of marriage" amendment shouldn't also go to both prohibiting marriage between people of different faiths (strongly discouraged in the Good Book), and allowing the rich and powerful to have multiple wives (Kings David and Solomon among many others). And exactly whose interpretation of the Bible would the Constitution be changed to suit? Undoubtedly, to fundamentalist Baptist preacher Huckabee, it would be HIS interpretation.

Scapegoating gays who wanted to get married was very successfully used by the Republicans in 2004 to get Bush/Cheney reelected by placing a "marriage is only between a man and a woman' referendum on various state ballots (including the crucial swing state of Ohio). Suddenly, voters who couldn't care less about "trivial" issues like the exporting of jobs abroad, diminishing privacy rights, the Iraq War, or fighting terrorism stood up in large numbers (including many of the abovementioned divorced ones) to "save marriage" and keep homosexuals from getting married. This time around, the average Joe (or Sally) isn't as concerned about gays as they are about the new scapegoat for everything: undocumented Mexicans in this country. If there's crime, it's the illegal aliens' fault. If the economy falters, it's the illegal aliens' fault. If someone gets in front of them in line at the store or at the gasoline pump who looks Latino, it's the illegal aliens' fault. If they're out in public and hear people speaking Spanish and not English, it's the illegal aliens' fault. So most of the Republican candidates, with the notable exception of John McCain (to his credit), are dueling each other to see who can be the biggest demagogue on this issue. And this streak of meanness that I see people perk up and respond to in masses scares me a bit. So that's why I now give my backing to Arizona Senator John McCain for the Republican nomination. McCain has his own problematic positions on some issues, but he hasn't stooped to the low level that some of his rivals have. Reasonable people with differing opinions on difficult and volatile issues can often work together to find solutions to them which, although not necessarily the ones most desired by the different sides, nevertheless help to diffuse them instead of inflaming them. Civil unions for gays is one of these solutions that, at least in today's political climate, has been successfully instituted in some states. And I would like to suggest to others who are prone to scapegoating in dealing with their problems to look more within themselves for solutions and stop blaming other groups.

Wading Into the Ocean

When I was a boy in South Florida (during the late 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s), my family would go out to the beach on occasions (either at Haulover or Hollywood Beach). And one of the great rituals of the trip would be to gradually wade out into the ocean. I'd often carry with me one of those flimsy inner tubes that lifeguards no longer allow (except in swimming pools). And then I'd go out, deeper and deeper. I would spend what seemed like hours out in pretty deep water, riding my inner tube and getting severely sunburned. And occasionally I'd get stinging salt water in my eyes and nose. This I used to do years before I actually learned how to swim (when I was twelve)! But that's another story altogether.

Recently, on a beach trip to much colder waters off Ormond Beach, I noticed that wading out into the ocean and withstanding the incoming waves can serve as an analogy to life. Sometimes you're just standing there and the sea is completely calm. Which is pleasant for a while, but eventually boring. Life, in this way, can also be pleasant without any stress or concerns. But it can quickly turn into monotony if this goes on too long. Sometimes the water, when I enter it, is nice and warm. But sometimes it's ice cold, and I need to just "stick it out" and stay in the water long enough to get used to the temperature. And likewise, with some days, I have quite a bit of trouble just getting out of bed and going, while with others it seems as if I just spring out of bed with purpose and energy. But the most accurate analogy between ocean wading and living is how deep I am willing to go and how well I take on the waves when they hit me. When I am out in the water, I like to look out to the sea and see the waves as they form and approach. Sometimes I'll predict which ones will develop into large waves, and that's fun. But the greatest fun is meeting up with the waves when they hit and "suffering" the consequences. In life, it's important to have challenges ahead of oneself and to gage their degrees of intensity and importance. And then to enthusiastically meet them head-on, regardless of the consequences. It wouldn't make any sense for me to say at the beach, "I don't want to go out into the ocean", and then wade out and stand there with my back to the waves, continually becoming upset each time one of them suddenly crashed into me from behind, knocking me down. But isn't this how some of us live our lives, continually being thrown off and worn out by events enveloping us that we walked into blindly?

The essence of this is that, like taking on the ocean, life can be approached either in a proactive or a passive manner. Having fun and a sense of humor (especially when you get knocked down) is crucial! And when the going gets too tough, step out of the ocean for a few minutes and take a break!

Favorite Songs of 1990

1990 saw the release of a great REM album: Out of Time. Although the hyped-up single Losing My Religion wasn't one of my favorites, the rest of the album was spectacular. End Game, Shiny Happy People, Belong, and Half a World Away (my favorite from Out of Time) were all great tracks. For the rest of my 1990 favorites, I relied solely on the radio, listening to 103.7-WRUF "Rock 104" and 105.3-WYKS "Kiss 105".

Janet Jackson's best tune ever (in my opinion) came out in 1990 with her Escapade. The late, great blues/rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn produced the riff-laden Tightrope, while George Michael sang my favorite song of his, the very somber Praying For Time. Paul Simon's Obvious Child was an underplayed but beautiful song. Athens, Georgia's B-52's brightened things up "all around the world" with their cheery Roam. INXS's Suicide Blonde and Jane's Addiction's Been Caught Stealing were both catchy, fast-driving tunes as well as enjoyable videos. My #3 favorite from 1990 was Guns and Roses's completely out-of-character, slow, and chilling Civil War. If only this very talented band had gone down that particular musical path further! My #2 from 1990 was Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence, a song that spoke deeply to my heart (as well as did the video). My top favorite song from 1990 was Blue Sky Mine by the Australian band Midnight Oil, featuring brutal commentary about exploitation of labor and the environment in an historical Australian setting, accompanied by possibly the most wicked harmonica riff I've ever heard! And 1990's tearjerker of the year award goes to Sinéad O'Conner's sad lament to a bygone love, Nothing Compares 2 U.

Sick People Everywhere

Well, it's flu season again and I am wandering around, trying to avoid sneezing, coughing, and sniffling people. Especially when they handle things (like money and merchandise) that are going right back into my hands. I was just in a short line at Publix (my grocery store) behind a young woman. Suddenly she began to violently sneeze, and then followed that by sniffling badly. First, I just turned my head. But suddenly, I swung around and walked across the store over to another register. The friendly cashier there, I noticed, though, was also sniffling badly. Oh, well.

I don't know whether I am changing for the better or for the worse, but as the years go by, I have grown much more sensitive to contact with others, especially during cold and flu season. My attitude toward shaking hands, the common social custom of greeting, has become close to that of the lovable TV detective Monk. Monk's problem was attributed to his general obsessive-compulsive disorder, though. He had a companion whose job was to help him get through the day, with its myriad obstacles confronting him. And the most pervasive of these was the continual pressure to shake others' hands. To handle this, Monk had his assistant always carry with her some hand-wipes, ready to instantly whip out whenever the good detective was cornered into an unavoidable hand-shaking situation. Well, I'm getting that way, too! At church, my least favorite time is when they tell the congregation to turn around and greet each other. And then I'm compelled to shake the hands of others, even those who I could plainly see are sick. I could go immediately afterwards and wash my hands, but I'd still be liable to run into somebody else, who, of course would stick out his hand. When I go to Sonny's Restaurant, I usually stock up on their packets of hand-wipes (and use them more and more often).

I acknowledge that, as biological beings, we live, not as closed, completely insulated systems, but rather as open systems, constantly interacting on a microscopic level with our immediate environment. After all, the air we breathe is everybody else's, too. So it's completely unrealistic to expect anything resembling a sterile environment. But nowadays, when I hear someone sneeze (like I just did here in the crowded Starbucks by that previously-referred-to Publix), it filters quickly though the many other sounds around me to set off an alarm. The alarm of self-preservation!

Still, we all need to practice common-sense measures to prevent infections (such as washing hands), especially during the flu season. Being vaccinated isn't enough (I caught the flu a few years ago despite having received a vaccine). Another measure would be to respect others by realizing when we're sick and avoiding the contact and presence that could possibly spread the sickness to them. And this may involve taking time off from school and work (as well as church)! But alas, many of the unenlightened leaders of those institutions still abide by the ridiculous notion that it is somehow virtuous for a student or worker to attend school or work while sick (and infectious)! How ultimately counterproductive!

Piano on the Eights: 1/15

My piano progress has slowed down a bit over the past eight weeks, and I have only myself to blame for it. I began lessons with the objective of playing piano as a lifelong endeavor. I know deep, down inside me that I have the innate talent to become quite a good player, and I have a great memory of many songs that I would love to be able to play, both for myself and others. But, like with other things, the demands of daily living and me feeling "pooped out" at the end of the day, have taken their toll on my practice. So, I am going to begin recording the time I actually spend each day in practice, in order to impart to myself a sense of accountability. I've still been going to my weekly lessons (with a short Christmas break) and have practiced my assignments. But not enough! But that's about to change drastically!

Monday Newsbreak: 1/14

--Last Tuesday's New Hampshire Democratic Primary results brought about two particular interpretations that are, in my opinion, slaps in the faces of the voters. As you may already know, Hillary Clinton, after leading there in the public opinion polls, had slipped considerably and was trailing her main rival, Barack Obama, by as many as 12 percentage points in polls taken close to the primary date. But when the actual votes were counted, she had narrowly won. Almost immediately, analysts began to spin the results. One spin claimed that while many white voters may have publicly proclaimed their support for African-American Obama, once they were within the anonymity of the voting booth, they switched to Clinton. This implied racism has no basis in fact. The other insulting spin was that Hillary broke down in tears on the day before the voting, and this caused women to get angry and come out in droves to her defense. Neither of these explanations are proven, and I suspect that those who are dwelling on them may just be trying to belittle the Clinton victory. There may be another explanation for the Clinton surge that I have yet to hear anyone express. And that is that there are a lot of people who really have faith in Hillary's ability to lead this country, but felt unsure about expressing this feeling publicly. That explanation (which is mine) is also unproven, but I think that it is more accurate than the others I've heard.

--Former Democratic Presidential nominee (1972) George McGovern has written an editorial piece calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush. He claims that Bush violated the Constitution, national, and international law. McGovern describes the incredible costs of the undeclared war in Iraq in terms of both lives and money. He points out that the treatment of foreign prisoners has featured torture and deprivation of fundamental due process. And he reminds us that the pretext given for the Iraq War was built upon the deceit that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. McGovern then questions the President's recent bellicose position toward Iran and its nuclear weapon program when he already knew that it had ceased in 2003. The former South Dakota Senator also decries Bush's mismanagement of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. And finally, he sites the President's selective interpretation of the law (FISA) regarding the wiretapping of thousands of American citizens. For my part, I compare all this with the reasoning used to impeach President Clinton in 1999. The evidence against Bush dwarfs anything that anyone had against Clinton, who was basically caught lying about a consensual sexual affair he had.

--There seems to be a difference of opinion among economists as to whether the U.S. has entered a recession or not. It's interesting that, after a recession has ended for a while, economists usually place its beginning and end earlier in time than when people thought it was occurring. One of the reasons that I think this is so is because workers and consumers are usually among the last to feel the effects of a recession's conclusion.

--Earlier this week, a 70+ vehicle pile-up accident occurred on a stretch of Interstate-Four near Lakeland (between Tampa and Orlando) and included some fatalities. The cause of the multiple accidents, which was severe fog combined with smoke from a foolishly executed controlled burn nearby, made vision virtually impossible. A couple of days earlier, I ran into some severe fog myself driving home from work. Pretty scary stuff, I must say, when you're going down the road at 40 mph and suddenly can't see anything but whiteness around you!

--There's a good chance that the New England Patriots may go undefeated and win the Super Bowl this year. But whether they do or not, there is one very overriding factor in their success that they share with the 1972 "perfect" Miami Dolphins: the members of both teams, on both their offensive and defensive squads, played as a single unit, and were characterized by unselfishness and devotion to the greater good of the team.