Favorite Songs of 1977

Of all the years that I have reviewed or will review, 1977 has the sad distinction of being the worst one for me musically! There were only two really super-good songs from this year and one of them actually came out earlier! But I’ll still mention a few of the ones that I “moderately” liked. Billy Joel came out with his The Stranger album and with it, two good singles: Movin’ Out and Just the Way You Are. Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop was a positive song that had nothing to do yet with Bill Clinton. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta teamed up to perform the catchy You’re the One That I Want from Grease. Rose Royce had a good hit with Car Wash, the theme song for the same-titled movie. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band completely transformed a Bruce Springsteen song, Blinded By the Light, with a little help from Chopsticks. K.C. and the Sunshine Band continued their disco stardom in ‘77 when they produce something I actually liked: I’m Your Boogie Man. Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke, his tribute to the jazz great Duke Ellington, was one of his best ever. Boz Scaggs also peaked with Lido Shuffle. One of my favorite Eagles songs, the melancholy New Kid in Town, came out in 1977. How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees, despite being severely overplayed, still was a pleasant enough tune to sit through. As was Debbie Boone’s blockbuster hit You Light Up My Life. If I were to give a #3 favorite song of 1977 award out, it would probably go to Rita Coolidge for We’re All Alone. Dave Mason sang his heart out with his beautiful We Just Disagree, my #2 favorite song from that song-forsaken year. The best song (to me)? On my local album-rock station, one song from earlier that received a lot of air play in '77 was Song for America by Kansas. It was an epic sort of track that had a very strong classical flavor to it. And it impressed me enough to make it my favorite song from 1977.

Boston Marathon

I was able to watch some of this year's Boston Marathon on the Versus Channel on TV. On the men's side, Kenyan Robert Cherulyot won handily, while Dire Tune of Ethiopia won an extremely close race against Russia's Alevtina Biktimirova. All during the race, I kept hearing the announcers referring to the different cash prizes given to the participants who won, placed, or even set a Boston Marathon time record. So this race obviously had absolutely nothing to do with amateur athletics. And perhaps that's just as well, since the winners came from very poor backgrounds in very poor third world nations. The lofty Western notions of amateurism may seen pretty hollow for people in their situations. But these winners will no doubt compete this year as "amateurs" in the Summer Olympics, and that is where I have a bit of a problem with all this. After all, these professionals have a clear advantage over true amateurs, who have to support themselves and their families with their jobs and don't have the time and financial resources to devote to their sport as the pros do. But when the Olympics come, suddenly the pros aren't pros: they're amateurs for a couple of weeks!

During the race, I felt that motorcyclists and motorists often crowded out the runners themselves. It looked to me as if Biktimirova actually had to shift over once to get out of the way of a straying motorcyclist! Look, it's hard enough to run and finish a marathon, much less do it at a breakneck speed in frantic competition with others. They don't need fools crowding in on them, interfering with their sport! At the end of the race, on both the men and women's sides, I saw officials angrily yelling at friends who were congratulating the winners to get out of the way as well as manhandling the athletes themselves, grabbing and pushing them around to be in the "right" positions for post-race photographs and publicity events. I don't think that I would have been willing to put up with any of these self-important "suits" touching me, much less roughhandling me as they did the runners.

The race itself was an impressive demonstration of the capacity of people to excel under enormous stress. These are superb athletes. But I would not want to compete as an amateur against them in any race in which they would receive money just to compete in it (not that I would be remotely capable of keeping up them). But that is sadly the way things are in competitive running nowadays.

Several Gainesville-area runners competed in this year's Boston Marathon. Here are their finishing times, courtesy of the Gainesville Sun. Seeing how many finished in the 10,000th places and beyond, I wonder how many minutes transpired after the race started before these runners were even able to reach the starting line. And even afterwards, how long would it have taken before they were able to freely establish their own running paces? And yet, how many of them will probably cling to their final "times" as legitimate results? Seeing this, I think that it would be a great experience to run the Boston Marathon. But beyond actually finishing the race, I don't think I would get too hung up over my time.

Starbucks, Beer, and Lines

Well, it seems as if I have gotten something of a handle on my pollen allergies, for I am once again sitting outside of the Magnolia Parke Starbucks on a warm, clear, breezy afternoon. Starbucks has come out with a new brand of coffee they call “Pike Place”, but I can’t for the life of me distinguish it from any of the other regular drip coffees I get from them. I sometimes wonder why so many people go to Starbucks for coffee when they could just brew some at home, and then I answer myself: I DO brew coffee at home, too. But I just like a change of scenery, and to get myself out in public in a setting that is positive. And, by and large, the Starbucks Coffee Company does make having the customer feel well-served and comfortable a high priority. So I’m not really just buying coffee when I come here; I’m also buying the service, the pleasant environment, and a place to sit and write or read. But still, the money spent here can add up over time, even though I usually buy the drip coffee and avoid the espresso-machine drinks.

About four weeks ago, I came out here to this little shopping center to buy a coffee before work, just as I am doing at this writing. But the parking lot was packed, and there were people walking all about. Finally, I came upon a small field adjacent to the parking lot. And on it was a very, very long line of people waiting for something. At its head were some stands and tents. Well, I gave up on trying to find a parking spot, and I went on my way. It wasn’t until later that I found out that they were holding a beer-tasting “clinic” for the public that day! Which made me wonder why so many people will stand for long periods of time in extremely long lines for such a small payoff. These folks could just as easily gone to a store and chosen from a wide variety of beers, to drink at their own convenience. But then again, why do people camp out overnight on Thanksgiving, just to be the first ones to rush into the stores the next morning? Weird!

Monday Newsbreak: 4/21

--Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met this past Friday with exiled leaders of Hamas in Syria. Hamas, which was democratically elected into power in Palestine, now controls and governs the densely populated Gaza Strip, which is separated from the Palestine-Authority-controlled West Bank by Israeli territory. I’ve heard and read a lot of criticism against Carter for talking with Hamas, which is widely called a terrorist organization. But it makes no sense for President Bush to pretend that he is seeking a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians while refusing to acknowledge the presence and importance of Hamas in the region. I’m really getting tired of this asinine notion that we can get our adversaries to buckle under and give up by shunning them! Carter is helping us, not hurting us.

--CNN commentator Jack Cafferty is undergoing a lot of criticism from some folks who identify themselves with the Chinese-American community because he called China’s leaders “goons and thugs” and its exports to us “junk”. Those calling for Cafferty’s firing claim that his speech was racist against the Chinese. But although I think Cafferty’s comments were crass and undiplomatic, they were aimed at that country’s political leaders. And his “junk” comment was based on recent scandals about lead in toys and poison in pet foods that were imported from China. What, I ask, does “race” or being a Chinese-American have to do with that? But Cafferty is just one of a increasingly long list of untalented shock-announcers who spew out insults instead of framing and analyzing issues and problems in a constructive and inclusive manner. Aren’t you getting tired of this trend in broadcasting as well as knee-jerk unfounded accusations of racism?

--Pope Benedict XVI continued his successful visit to America, being well-received everywhere he has traveled. May his days be plenty and successful!

--A ridiculous (to me) development project in the heart of an already-overcrowded section of Gainesville has been stalled for more than a year due to a court battle over whether the developers can actually receive certain tax breaks offered by the city to encourage development. Instead of several small businesses that were serving to the surrounding university community, we have, after all the buildings were torn down, a vast fenced-in area of nothingness! But I guess that’s better than what will be when they put up eight-story condominiums after the legal disputes end.

--After the “successful” surge against insurgents in Iraq, the abject failure of the Iraqi government to follow through with reconciliation of that country’s opposing factions is now leading to the inevitable disastrous situation that is now starting to unfold between Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the government over al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. And in the north of Iraq, there are signs of Sunni insurgents regrouping as well. So there goes our window of opportunity!

--Tomorrow’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could help to encourage superdelegates to make their choices public, especially if Obama wins or even just finishes close to Clinton. I may be wrong about this (but I strongly doubt it), but even if Hillary Clinton wins Pennsylvania convincingly, she still wouldn’t have the numbers to wrest the nomination from Obama. So the big question is, after Pennsylvania is over, how is she going to conduct her campaign (if she continues it, as she probably will)? By attacking Obama with increasing desperation and viciousness, or by shifting the targets of her criticism to the November opponents, the Republicans under their soon-to-be nominee John McCain?

Friends of the Library Book Sale

Yesterday resumed a semi-annual tradition in Gainesville: the Alachua County Friends of the Library book sale, held in April and October. Although I haven’t been able to make it out there yet, I have plenty of time, since the sale goes on through this Wednesday. It’s quite a fun event to go to, even though the crowds of shoppers and browsers there can be a bit overwhelming at times. But you can often find a lot of books that you never thought that you would be able to get a hold of for such cheap prices as 25 cents to a dollar each. Of course, with the Internet used-book companies out there, I could find and get through the mail just about any title I wanted, but I’d also have to pay a heftier price for it as well. Since I already possess an imposing amount of used books, I’m going to have to be careful this time around to select just those books that really “grab” me. Like some Stephen King books of his that I’m missing or one of those antique Power Boys books that I used to read as a kid. I want to make sure that I have plenty of time to go browsing, since the books there, although separated by genre, are often shelved without regard to alphabetical order. And with the droves of people there, it’s sometimes a task to just browse through one section while trying to crane around folks who seem planted in one spot. They also sell old phonograph records, as well as VHS videos and DVDs. Over the years, I’ve come away from these sales with some pretty good books, so we’ll see what happens this time around!

NBA West Logjam

For the past three seasons, I have been a fan of NBA basketball. Specifically, the NBA Western Conference. Even more specifically, the Phoenix Suns. Why the West? It’s probably because of the fact that I get off from work at midnight, come home, flick on the boob tube, and can usually find very little of value to watch. But, wait, what’s that? Yes! It’s a basketball game, usually between two NBA Western Conference teams, and it’s also in the more interesting second half! And this repeating scenario is how I let myself get sucked in to following the NBA. Why Phoenix? Although Shawn Marion has left the team, the Suns are an exciting, fast paced team lead by multiple-MVP Steve Nash and the astounding Amare Stoudemaire. And now the legendary Shaquille O’Neal is with them as well! Unfortunately, Phoenix’s first-round opponent is the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, who knocked the Suns out of the playoffs last year.

This has to be quite a strange year in the NBA West, for all eight teams making the playoffs have won at least 50 games! And Los Angeles with the best record at 57-25, is only seven games better than the “eighth” team Denver, which sports a record of 50-32. Now that’s a unique level of parity among some very excellent teams! I can’t wait for the playoffs this year!

The Eastern Conference is quite a bit more spread out than the West, with Boston, Detroit, and Orlando dominating. Atlanta, with a losing season, nonetheless managed to slip into the playoffs for the first time in many years. But they’re going to have to go up against the Celtics, who are the big favorites to win it all this year. I’ll be surprised if Boston doesn’t make it to the league championship series, but they just may not be up to the task against the Western winner!

Pope Benedict XVI

On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI made his arrival in the United States for his first visit since becoming the Roman Catholic Pontiff in 2006. Seeing how idolized the previous Pope (John Paul II) had become, the new Pope clearly had an unenviable task in following in his predecessor’s footsteps. When first entering the media spotlight at his ascension, he was portrayed as more of an ideologue, wanting to reverse recent reforms made in the Church. He also suffered some criticism within the Islamic community for some comments he had made about some of that religion’s history (although he was actually quoting someone from the fourteenth century). What’s my impression of him?

First of all, let me say out front that I am not a member of the Roman Catholic Church. So I am not “in” on all of the various issues that Catholics may be concerned about. And I’m sure that, with many of these issues, many Catholics feel strongly either in agreement or disagreement with the current Pope’s stances. But that aside, just going on how I directly see and hear him on TV, all I can say is that I like this man. He strikes me as being a humble, compassionate, sweet human being who strongly believes in using his current position to spread goodness and love around the world. He also seems to be candid about discussing his Church's various problems. Hopefully, he'll be able to restore some of the Catholic Church's lost trust due to the recent priest/child sex scandal here in America. Sure, Pope Benedict seems a bit more introverted than Pope John Paul II, but I can identify with that as well!

I wish the “new” Pope the best during his visit to the United States and that the great Church of which he is its “earthly” head will be able to solve its problems and to continue its missions and ministries with success.

Favorite Songs of 1978

Quite frankly, the years from 1976 through 1979 were not very kind to me musically. One of the main reasons for this may have been the preponderance of disco music on the airwaves. I like some dance music, to be sure, but they went way overboard with this fad! Still, each year I did manage to filter out a few very good songs. In 1978, though, there just wasn’t very much to report. Boney M.’s Rivers of Babylon was a song that I chiefly heard on my short-wave radio. It’s an example of a tune that could have become a much greater hit in America had disco not so dominated the music industry here then. Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London and Jimmy Buffet’s Cheeseburger in Paradise were very funny (with a very dark twist for Zevon’s song). Pablo Cruz’s Find Your Place in the Sun was an upbeat, encouraging song that helped me get through this personally difficult year. At this time, I rode my bicycle everywhere. So naturally, Queen’s defiant Bicycle Race became a sort of anthem for me. Al Stewart continued making quality music with his very thoughtful Time Passages. Electric Light Orchestra released their greatest album ever, Out of the Blue, in 1978. It kicked off with Turn to Stone, a fast, sad, trademark old-style ELO song: non-disco with plenty of harmony and strings. My #3 song from 1978 was Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street. Rafferty, who was nominated for a Grammy that year, inexplicably couldn’t follow up on his great success in the following years. Whenever I hear that song, I think of Baker Street in my old hometown of Hollywood, Florida (there it’s a minor residential road I’d pass by on my way to school). Billy Joel came out in ‘78 with a couple of good songs: the “independent” My Life and my #2 favorite song of the year, his epic Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. But my top favorite song of that musically-depleted (for me) year was a very quirky, brooding and beautiful record by The Sweet: Love is Like Oxygen (full-length version).

The Random Character

There is a special phenomenon in some movies that fascinates me: the random character. So you say, what’s that? A random character is one who plays a special role in the story precisely because of the unpredictable nature or his/her personality and behavior. Let’s look at some examples.

One of the greatest war movies ever made, The Bridge on the River Kwai, boasted an incredible cast, featuring Alec Guiness and William Holden. Holden’s character was that of an American soldier whose main mission in the war (World War II) was to survive it. His creed was to take no chances and volunteer for nothing. And yet, as the movie wore on, his actions betrayed that belief system. He found himself compelled to aid the British in their quest to blow up the main bridge leading to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in occupied Burma. Holden’s character was the random element in how the movie ended: would he stay true to his professed beliefs in a moment of crisis or would he behave in a radically different manner? This movie’s conclusion is definitely one of the top three of all time (to me), partially because of this random element of Holden’s character and its crucial role.

The Andromeda Strain, by Micheal Crichton, also introduced a character who had been picked to solve a biological crisis because of his unpredictability, or random nature. And as it turned out, it was this character, Dr. Mark Hall, the one of the bunch who had the least amount of training for the task, who solved the puzzle and saved the day!

Finally, the ultimate random character has to be that of Keanu Reeves’s Neo in the Matrix series. His character’s entire essence was based on the notion that the Matrix would have a built-in but unavoidable imperfection that was embedded within him. As with Bridge on the River Kwai and Andromeda Strain, it was this unpredictability that led this character to also solve the dilemma of the Matrix in his own peculiar way.

In each of the aforementioned examples, the character was selected for his role by others without that character’s enthusiasm. And each character felt unworthy and incompetent about his role to perform. But in each case, when time had run out and it was time to decide and act, they all, true to their natures, performed the crucial deeds.

To Mars Or Not?

I remember once going to the University of Florida microfilm collection and surveying newspaper articles from back in the Nixon era. If you’ll remember, it was Richard Nixon’s arch-political rival John F. Kennedy who, as President laid out the challenge for this nation to put a man on the moon and safely return before the 1960s ended. Nixon himself wasn’t interested in JFK’s dream, and our Apollo moon missions were actually cut short before their scheduled completions. However, at the same time, Vice-President Spiro Agnew was calling on the U.S. to land a man on Mars (and safely return) by 1989! Apparently, Agnew and Nixon weren’t exactly on the same page with our space program. Instead of making Mars plans, we decided instead to spend decades circling the Earth in various spacecrafts. The enthusiasm for space exploration during the 70’s was so politically weak that when the design of the Space Shuttle was to be decided, a cheap, inferior tile-protected shuttle was selected over a more expensive, but much safer and more durable casing. We have that to thank for the Columbia disaster! Anyway, in 1990, a year after we would have safely returned from Mars (according to Agnew’s “challenge”), then-President George H.W. Bush publicly challenged the country to land on and safely return people from Mars by 2020! And nothing that I know of was done then, unless you consider the paltry space station efforts with the Russians over the past few years to be of some value. Then, a few years ago, our current President George W. Bush decided that the space program should also have a safe Mars landing and return as a major driving goal. So, what I am missing here? Is anyone actually listening to these people? Is anything actually being done? I think that it would be a great project to go to Mars and back, but it would be greater to do it as part of an international effort that involved Europe, Russia, Japan, and China as well. I think we should get over our nationalist urges for glory on alien globes and do this one for humanity, period. I remember a few years ago how ridiculous it was when the ice cleared over the North Pole and the Russians proudly planted a Russian flag at the bottom of the sea there!

Monday Newsbreak: 4/14

--One of the front page headlines in yesterday's Gainesville Sun was "Obama's 'bitter' voter comment may revive Clinton's chances". Oh, com'n, people! Barack Obama is an articulate gentleman who thinks on his feet and can speak his mind without prepared statements that have been designed to achieve the desired "buzz" effect among the audiences. So, from time to time, something will come out and it will be mercilessly distorted by Obama's opponents. In my opinion, though, it's a little late in the game for Hillary Clinton to be going at it this hard against the probable Democratic nominee. Who knows, maybe she's thinking that McCain might want her as HIS running mate---NOT! I don't see what's wrong with any of Obama's statements. Especially in comparison with those of his two current rivals.

--It's mid-April and temperatures are dipping at night into the thirties. Here in Florida! I welcome the unusually chilly winter and spring we've been enjoying, but I also feel a little concerned that many will choose to see this very short-term phenomenon as a repudiation of global warming as a real ongoing threat.

--As the Olympic Torch goes from one major world city to the next, it is followed by human rights protesters who are determined to spotlight the deplorable state of human rights in the People's Republic of China, which is hosting this years Summer Olympics. And those protesting are fully within their rights to do so, as long as they don't actually interfere with the Olympic ceremonies. The problem I have with all this is that China's human rights shortcomings have been common knowledge for years, and comparatively very little has been done to protest them. And now, when this great nation is hosting the Olympics, the Olympics themselves are being ostracized as some kind of collaboration with oppression. Politician and celebrities are under great pressure in the media to boycott the opening ceremony events. And there has also been a push to simply boycott participation in the Games themselves. But I remember President Jimmy Carter's decision to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980. I felt back then that it was a bad decision and I still feel so. I believe that one of the best ways to liberalize and reform an oppressive society is to engage with it culturally and economically, not by ostracizing it. And it was exactly this sort of engagement that helped to bring down the Iron Curtain in East Europe in 1989 (remember West Germany's policy of Ostpolitik?).

--The annual University of Florida Orange and Blue football game was held here in Gainesville this past Saturday. So what? The football team was split into two squads who played each other. One side won, the other lost. Who cares? And yet this event was considered to be so important that ESPN actually hyped it on the air and actually presented play-by-play coverage. And what about all the other college teams? Why do the Gators merit this mania? I see this as a disturbing trend about UF football, where excessive hype, fan hysteria, and hero worship (of athletes and coach) have distorted the image of my hometown team into something that is, frankly, ugly to me.

--I am sad to report that the cable TV channel AZN, devoted to programming for Asian-Americans (and me as well) has left the air due to financial problems. I enjoyed their morning news broadcasts, especially the one in Chinese.

Global Warming and Energy Independence

One of the paradoxes in our society today is the tendency of much of the conservative right to deny the existence of man-made global warming. To hear some of them talk, you would think that the anti-global warming movement is an anti-American socialist internationalist plot. That Democratic former Vice-President Al Gore is one of “them” seems to add fuel to the fires of denial. But let’s look at this a little closer.

It’s true that the United States is often presented as the main target for criticism about carbon dioxide emissions. And carbon dioxide contributes to the greenhouse effect that traps the sun’s heat within the earth’s atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels, chief among them petroleum, releases a great amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And don’t we depend in America greatly on other countries to supply us with this petroleum? And aren’t some of those countries, like Venezuela, Libya, Iran, and Russia, places whose national interests don’t necessarily coincide with ours? And aren’t we embroiled in a seemingly endless war in oil-rich Iraq, prohibitively costly both in terms of lives, injuries, and the enormous financial cost? Would we have been doing this in a country that wasn’t a major oil producer?

Conservatives and liberals alike say that they want the U.S. to be energy-independent. By that, I mean independent of other countries. We shouldn't be so vulnerable about our energy supplies that we feel compelled to mortgage our future in order to forcibly protect them. It’s high time we finally get serious with alternative, renewable sources of energy. And by that I mean water, wind, solar, and fusion. Sources that would not tax our atmosphere with excess amounts of carbon dioxide emissions.

Unfortunately, conservatives, in their proclamations for energy independence, stress exploration, mining, and processing fossil fuels that are on U.S. territory or under coastal waters, while belittling efforts to encourage renewable, relatively clean energy sources. The way I see it is that all we will accomplish by their suggestions is pollute our planet more while keeping us just as dependent on foreign sources as before. It will take great strides in both technological development and national commitment to get us truly energy-independent.

I haven’t mentioned two energy sources that hold some promise for the future: ethanol, and nuclear power. The problem with using corn-based ethanol for energy is that it threatens to drive up the price of grain beyond the point where people who really need it for food can afford it. And nuclear energy, despite the claims of increased safety, still has the problem of what to do with the enormous quantity of slow-decaying radioactive waste that is a by-product. So I would rather see more development with solar, hydrogen, wind, and fusion as a long-term solution, both in terms of making us energy-independent and raising the U.S. to be a world leader in preserving our fragile environment. I don’t see the point in wrecking the planet and getting us entangled in more wars when the end result regarding energy resources is going to be the same!

Mundane Matters on the Eights: 4/12

Back when I was a kid in the late sixties, I stopped playing out in my backyard for a few months (this was in 1968). And for the various reasons that can crop up in families, the maintenance of our backyard went by the wayside as well. One day, I decided that I would just step out there and throw the ball around, or maybe just see how many chin-ups I could do on the clothes-line pole out by the back fence. When I stepped out, the yard looked unfamiliar, with heavily grown-up grass and weeds coming up around my waist level. I felt like going back inside and putting on my father’s (a letter carrier) “jungle” hat to fully convey the sense of the environment. But out I bravely went, and actually enjoyed myself for a few minutes. Until I looked back at the house, that is. On the outside wall, about halfway between the back door and the dining room window, was a moth. Almost a foot long! Suddenly, I realized that I was in a very strange, primitive, wild place and began to carefully tiptoe back to the back door, so as not to disturb Mothra. I didn’t go back out again until a few weeks later, when my parents suddenly decided to tackle the back yard situation with a vengeance. The whole family worked together mowing, cutting, and carrying stuff to the front of the house. There had been a growing pile of brush by the back fence that had been accumulating for years. When we picked it up, we discovered it was full of cockroaches, which fled to tree branches above us as we worked! How creepy can you get, right? Well, when we reached the bottom of the pile, the roaches there were albinos! We did get the back yard looking really nice and used it a lot in the following years. I don’t think it ever got much out of hand after that, and I never saw Mothra again, either in my back yard or anywhere else.

I say all this, thinking that I have allowed too much junk to accumulate within my house (especially the garage). It’s really beginning to stifle my lifestyle, as well as that of my family. I feel the urge to embark on a great project reminiscent of the late-sixties yard clearing that my parents did. And while we’re at it, a few home improvements like repairs and new flooring seem to be in order as well!

This “mundane matters” project of mine, where I make a concerted effort to take care of ordinary things concerning me, just hasn’t taken off yet, sad to say. But I’m not giving up. My emphasis needs to be on habit transformation. But first things first. The house needs some extensive work.

Colonoscopy

Just recently, the 64-year-old brother of one of my nearest neighbors died of colon cancer. This disease is one of the more curable types of cancer when it is detected early. Being that I am now in my fifties, my physician advised and referred me to a specialist to get a colonoscopy, primarily for the sake of early cancer detection and prevention. So Wednesday, I “prepped” for the procedure by going on a liquid diet and taking medication designed to cleanse out my intestines. That wasn’t so hot! Yesterday, I went down to have the procedure done. All those I encountered were very professional, efficient, and polite. I had an IV inserted, to which was added something to temporarily “knock me out”. A few minutes later, I was wide awake again, and the colonoscopy was finished. The doctor furnished pictures of various stages within my large intestine, and he gave me a clean bill of health! I strongly advise others to seek out this procedure for themselves as they enter their fifties. Their lives may eventually depend on it!

Having said the above, I also recognized that I have a good, inexpensive but comprehensive health insurance plan. Others don’t. And it’s this sort of preventative medicine that can bypass less fortunate people who need it just as much as I do. Without my insurance, this procedure would have been very expensive. This is another reason why I support an effective universal health care policy for my country.

Favorite Songs of 1979

For me, 1979 wasn't a very good year, either in terms of music or my life in general. There were a few musical standouts, although these really weren’t comparable to later years. One good thing about 1979 was the start of the decline of the disco era. Sure, I liked some disco songs, but enough was enough! Ironically, just as disco’s popularity began to wane, the group Electric Light Orchestra seemed to want to become a disco band. I liked their Shine a Little Love, while their Don’t Bring Me Down was just gold old-fashioned rock n’ roll, Dave Clark Five-style. Rod Stewart had a likable disco-type song in Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, and I grew to like Andy Gibb’s dance hit Shadow Dancing. But other types of music were emerging in ‘79. New wave, reggae/rock, and rap made their influence felt with Blondie (Heart of Glass), The Police (Roxanne and Message in a Bottle), and the Sugarhill Gang (Rapper’s Delight), respectively. The Knack briefly exploded into rock superstardom with their relentless My Sharona. Dire Straits impressed me with their guitar virtuosity for their enduring Sultans of Swing. Several old-time acts had good records in 1979: Elton John’s Mama Can’t Buy You Love, George Harrison’s Blow Away, and Neil Diamond’s romantic Forever in Blue Jeans (my #3 favorite song from back in 1979). My #2 favorite song was the exciting and grossly underplayed Get It Right Next Time by the talented Gerry Rafferty. The top favorite of mine, as I lived through 1979, was What a Fool Believes (which actually won the Grammy Award that year) by the Doobie Brothers This was one of those songs that I grew to appreciate the more I heard it. The happiest song of that pretty unhappy (for me) year? What else but We Are Family by Sister Sledge!

Tracks in School

When I was a student during my childhood, I derived a great sense of self-esteem from being at the top of my class. And conversely, a great sense of failure and humiliation from those times I was at the bottom of my class. When the general student body was split up into classes without regard to the students' perceived aptitudes, I usually found myself doing pretty well. But often, the curriculum was split into tracks. For example, in high school math, we had three tracks: track three for the math-challenged, track two for the vast body of “average” students, and track one for the math whizzes. I was a math whiz (I took the SAT twice, scoring 780 in math the first time and 800 the second). So naturally, the good folks at my high school kept putting me in track one math. The only problem was, that put me in a situation where it was very difficult to claw myself to the top of the class. If I had stayed in track two throughout my high school career, I could have still learned everything at my own pace, gotten excellent grades, and been at the summit of my classes. But with track one, I felt like an idiot and floundered there. It sure would have been swell if one of those “professional” teachers and counselors in my school had even once considered advising me that perhaps I would be better off staying with track two math. But of course, no one did.

I believe that many kids nowadays feel great pressure from parents, teachers, and counselors to try to claw and scratch their way into as many “track one” and advanced placement courses to enhance their academic records for college admissions and scholarships. But many kids (myself included) have a psychological need to feel a sense of success in relation to the group they find themselves in. A student struggling to stay afloat in an advanced placement class may feel stupid and discouraged, especially if he/she had been used to being at the top of other classes. Now someone may argue that this is just preparation for the competitiveness of adult life: inevitably, the best will “float” to the top and eventually find their optimum “place” in their careers. But I believe that it’s more important to keep a kid’s spirit and enthusiasm going strong than it is to throw down hard experiences on him/her that may be more damaging than educational. But that’s just my opinion, based on my own experiences.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

I’ve finally come around full circle to April 8 again, meaning that this blog has been going on for one full year! I hope that you readers have enjoyed it and gotten something useful from it. My main purpose in writing it has been to practice writing as a daily discipline. Along the way, I’ve tried to be transparent and honest regarding my personality and opinions. Some articles have been easier to write than others. And looking back, there are a few that I probably would have written a little differently! But all in all, it’s been a fun ride.

I plan to continue this blog indefinitely, so keep tuned! I keep thinking that I’m going to add photos and other graphic enhancements, so you’re not just going to be confronted with the written word whenever you drop in. Maybe at some time in the future, I’ll add a regular section that includes some pictures with captions and comments. We’ll see. But the main emphasis will still be writing!

Monday Newsbreak: 4/7

--President Bush met with "outgoing" Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia Saturday. Interspersed with serious disputes about NATO's role in East Europe and Russia's flagging democracy were photo ops showing the two joking around and acting like long-time congenial good ol' buddies. Putin, scheduled to leave office in May to be replaced as Russia's president by Dmitry Medvedev, wants to rule Russia as its prime minister, reducing the country's presidency to a relatively ceremonial position. Bush is planning to meet with Medvedev, too. For all the difference that's going to make!

--With the Presidential campaign, people are getting all hung up over personalities and the likability of the remaining candidates. Just don't forget that once whoever gets elected is sitting in the Oval Office, the issues that will affect us aren't going to be personality-related. They will be which bills the new President signs and which ones he/she vetoes. And of course, what decisions will come down about international relations and war/peace.

--In the midst of grim announcements that the University of Florida is strictly limiting admissions to applicants, it was revealed that Dr. Bruce Kone, dean of UF's medical school, bypassed school admissions policies and, on his own, admitted a politically-connected applicant whose father raised money for the Republicans and helped organize Charlie Crist's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. To me, this sort of thing needs to be "nipped in the bud" or else we'll be seeing a lot more of this double standard going on.

--In the NCAA championship men's basketball tournament, UCLA and North Carolina, the two teams I had picked to play in tonight's championship game, choked up in a big way in their semifinal games against Memphis and Kansas, respectively. I'm picking Memphis to win the final tonight (not that you should heed my opinion).

Decline of Amateur Athletics

I believe in amateur athletics. After all, even though I’m 51 years old, I myself still harbor a desire to excel in sports (within my age level, of course), in particular with regard to running. Unfortunately, the very existence of amateurism in sports has come under severe attack in recent decades. And there are some glaring reasons for this.

After World War II, most of the Communist countries used athletics as a propaganda tool to promote their ideology to the world. Athletes were furnished with token “jobs”, but were in essence completely professional athletes with higher privileges than their non-athletic compatriots as well as access to all of the training resources that their governments could (and would) provide. In Olympics after Olympics, these countries (most notably the Soviet Union and East Germany) would lead the total medal count for the list of nations. It was the West’s response to this challenge that furthered the slide of amateur sports, for they chose to loosen the rules for their own athletes. This enabled the athletes to work full-time within their sports and technically retain the title of “amateur” during the actual Olympic (or other) competition. This, of course, has become a complete farce, as evidenced by the United States Olympic “dream teams” of multi-millionaire NBA players pretending to be amateurs. Nowadays, in many sports that are open for “public” participation (like track and running), big-name athletes are often paid large sums of money up-front to lure them to participate. What an abomination (in my opinion)! It seems now that everybody is on the take, and just competing for the love of the sport is widely considered to be the attitude of a chump.

Even in college athletics, perhaps the last attempt to at least present the appearance of amateurism, superstar athletes are almost always assured of financial windfalls and just as often as not don’t even complete their college careers before turning professional. My hometown University of Florida men’s basketball team had most of its starting lineup turn pro after their junior years. On one hand, I decry the mercenary nature of their actions. But on the other hand, I also feel that so many other parties, both in the University, Gainesville, and anywhere else where Gator products are marketed and publicized, have exploited these athletes, who generated a lot of money for them without being able to enjoy any payments themselves in the process. So I wish them all well. But we sure could have used them this past season! I wonder how far the Gators would have gone had players like Corey Brewer, Al Horford, and Joakim Noah stayed for their senior years.

Nowadays, amateur college athletics have been even more distorted by the win-at-all-costs attitude of alumni and booster clubs. Coaches and their staffs often receive exorbitantly high salaries. Fans and Internet-auction hucksters alike seek out star athletes for their autographs and any mementos they can get hold of. I myself recently witnessed how UF football star players had to walk a gauntlet of autograph seekers just to get from the practice field back to their locker room. However, I also recognize that organized spectator sports, be they amateur or professional, depend for their growth and sustenance on the fact that they are essentially public entertainment. A star athlete should, as an essential part of his/her role, be generous and gracious to the general public as they seek things like autographs. Especially with kids, who are probably the purest fans around.

Recently, I witnessed a local star amateur college athlete, widely known as a man of “character”, just walk away from a group of children for whom he was signing autographs, when he decided that he had had enough of it. And I know that at least one of these children came away from the experience feeling rejected, humiliated, and disillusioned. I even wrote this athlete a letter explaining my objection to his behavior and wondering how big he really thought he was. That was two weeks ago and this great “hero” has yet to respond to me. I don’t like to see anyone humiliated, but that’s what happened to this child, whom this athlete repeatedly ignored while attending to others (including adults). That all aside, I recognize that we all have our own faults. But we should be careful not to project an image of ourselves that we can’t even remotely hope to live up to.

Amateurs, not just in sports, are treasures who merit more respect and admiration. Whether one speaks of music, photography, art, writing, astronomy, athletics, or one of a myriad other fields, amateurism is the foundation on which excellence and progress are built. Let’s return to a spirit of loving to do something for its own sake, without being concerned about money, fame, or self-aggrandizement!

Finding Some Good in Anything

Sometimes I find, during my daily walk through life, that there are situations that I cannot avoid going through. And of course, the "wise" thing to do during one of these tedious and trying times is to find a way to make the most of the experience while minimizing the negative effects. But what if I deliberately pick out something that I don't like and then try to discover something worthwhile about it? I've started trying this idea with my television viewing recently.

A few months ago, I got my local cable TV company's expanded digital service, adding many new channels to my TV lineup. One of these channels was a Fox soccer station that broadcasts games from all over the world. Now to me, soccer is one of the most boring games there is to watch (although playing it can be quite fun). But one night I tuned in and was greeted with a game in the English Barclay league between two longtime rivals. I was about to "surf on" to something else when I noticed the jabbering between the game's two TV announcers. Both had thick local accents, with one announcer supporting one team and the second the other. And they would whoop and holler like regular fans sitting in the stands. They trashed the referee if they felt he made a bad call (this happened very frequently) and viciously criticized players for mistakes or just poor play. I found this kind of game commentary very entertaining and stayed on to watch the game. Unfortunately, that kind of play-by-play announcing is the exception to the rule of boring soccer coverage, but it's an example of how I could get something of worth out of what could have been a pretty tedious experience.

I also listen to a variety of shows on the radio, including conservative talk radio. Almost without exception, the hosts on these programs are rude, vicious proponents of their ideology and cut down those who express a differing world view. But still, from time to time even these folks will say something of value.

And now I come to my "acid test" to see if this principle works. I just picked up yesterday's Independent Florida Alligator, a free rag put out by University of Florida students that I usually have trouble getting anything out of. Let's see, I'm looking through it now: the front page features an article about tragically-killed-by-drunk-driver Gainesville Police officer Corey Dahlem being remembered one year after his death...my city, confronted by neighbors' opposition, delays action on a new homeless shelter...many articles (and letters to the editor) about the student senate here (mostly boring!)...man tries to steal electric guitar by hiding it in his pants (that made the front page)...Stephen Lewis, an AIDS specialist for the UN, spoke on campus about the plight of 14+ million women and 500,000 children infected with it...apparently, some 2000 Starbucks workers across the country had to share their tips with their managers (maybe that explains the TWO tip jars at the register)...lots of classified ads...typical UF sports articles...the "worship guide" listing various Christian and Jewish places to go (and which ones serve cheap food for students)...a couple of crossword puzzles...there's going to be a free classical music concert tonight at the downtown plaza (I have to work, though)...assorted other articles...(sigh) I guess, upon inspection the Alligator is better than I had been rating it. But nothing that really captivates my interest, though. I did find that the ads were more interesting than the articles. And I'm going to have to bring up the tips scandal with my Starbucks manager pal the the next time I run into him. But then again, I don't quite get the whole business about tips at places where I have to stand in line to order, pay, and pick up my product! Seems like I should be bringing my own tip jar for THEM to contribute to, seeing how much I'm contributing to their business!