Good evening, 919 Gang. Last night I promised you a set of
outstanding photos. Here they are, courtesy of Chuck Boyd.
CHUCK BOYD writes:
Have not seen very many photos lately in the newsletter so
I submit some that will be familiar to Southern Californians and anyone ever
stuck in hectic heavy traffic. Yes, it's a vacation photo.
A month ago I found myself in Paris at the top of the Arc de Triomphe and looked down to see the
swirl of fast moving traffic.
Well, there were plenty of vehicles merging in from the 12
avenues that meet there but the flow was anything but speedy. You'll note there
are no traffic lanes painted down there.
I had read that cars entering have the right of way and
those in the circle must yield. The opposite of how we use roundabouts here.
Sounds simple, but, I have to assume any actual movement depends on the good
nature of other drivers, patience....and driving with one hand on the horn
button.
Another photo shows the value of having a clever ad/sign
that catches attention and reminds one it's time to eat.
I also really got into the Van Gogh painting I saw of the
artist's bedroom.
--------------------------------------------
DAVID FARMER writes:
Following
Suzanne Mack's tale of dealing with bureaucrats, public and private: the thing
that irritates me most is not being able to talk to a human when I first call a
large company.
I
get recorded messages suggesting that I fix my problem with advice from their
websites. But I'm from a generation that needs to talk with a human. I simply
can't accomplish most technical things with online instructions. By the time I
move to Step 2, I've forgotten what Step 1 told me to do.
In
addition to shunting you to their websites, companies play recorded messages
advising that someone may listen to or record your conversation--"for
quality assurance," whatever that means. The idea of being recorded used
to bother me. However, I'm finally convinced that Toyota of Hollywood won't
turn me in to the NSA if I ask to speak to the parts department.
Other
recordings sometimes inform you that "Call volume is higher than
normal." This can happen any day at any time, and you have to wonder what
caused the high volume. I think it just means that not enough employees came to
work to handle the phones that day.
There
actually is a way to reach a live person. GetHuman.com has lists of phone
numbers for many companies. The site promises that you'll get a person through
their numbers.
Then
there's DialaHuman.com, which also has phone lists in many categories. This
service has some strange instructions for getting from the original (nonhuman)
hello to reaching a person. For example, you want to talk to Fidelity
NetBenefits. You simply press 1 and then #################. That's right, # 17
times. (I didn't try it myself. You could get carpal tunnel that way.)
GetHuman.com
has figured out how monetize their service. They ask (online) what's your
problem with a company. Then they offer to fix it for $20. They claim that they
can do it in three minutes and one step while it may take you 13 minutes and
six steps, or worse:
I
decided to pretend that I had a problem with GetHuman itself. I asked their
site to give me their number. It appeared all right, but on the same page was this
notice: If I wanted to fix my problem myself, it could take 115 minutes and 12
steps. Or, they could do it in their standard three minutes and one step. And
don't forget that $20.
---------------------------------------------------------
REBER: Two of last night’s
messages were truncated. One was my fault and one was a glitch somewhere else.
I am running the part of Joni Halpern’s message that did not show up. And I’m rerunning
Michael Cavna’s to include the dropped material.
JONI HALPERN writes:
I really enjoyed Robert Hawkins' post on political correctness.
I think most human beings have committed similar errors, whether by using a
terrible name, making assumptions about character and capacity based on racist
or other stereotypes, or simply by being ignorant of how our words sound to
others whose sensitivities have been rubbed raw through their life experience.
I think it is difficult to try to pick our way through the thicket of human
interactions without racking up offenses we can commit without ever intending
them or even knowing our conduct could imply them. But that is the nature of us
humans. We can have the best intentions and still hurt one another so deeply by
accidentally, or ignorantly, fracturing the fragile crystalline networks of
each other's feelings. If it happens, it doesn't mean we are bad persons, no
matter what the injured person thinks of us. But it is an opportunity to
inquire of ourselves whether we can make our good intentions more clear, or
whether we harbor hostility toward others because we lack understanding of
their story. It is also a chance to ask for forgiveness, a humble form of
healing that all of us need to give and receive.
And last...
Do any of our photographers recommend a simple guide to
using a 23 Speed Graphic that has been fitted with a 120 back? I am not a
photographer, but I have such a camera and I would like to use it. It is part
of my exit from the merry-go-round of the Internet. I have an IBM Lexmark
typewriter that works. I have a 1930s Underwood. And I have a fountain pen. I
am in search of a feeling I once loved -- that of writing something to only one
person, investing myself with the freedom of thinking some individual reader
was the single most important person to hear what I wanted to say. I had this
feeling whether I was writing a letter or writing for a newspaper. There was
just that one reader, and all I had to do was dig deep enough in myself and in
the subject matter so my reader could understand what I was trying to say. I
miss that feeling, and I aim to get it back. Something about writing is crowded
out by the unlimited reach of the internet, and I am trying to reclaim that
something. I have never been on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media
services. I know the 919 Gang is a blog, but to me, it's a written discussion
among colleagues and friends. If it ends up as a blog, I never read it, because
I do not want to lose that intimacy, even if illusory, between writer and
reader.
MICHAEL CAVNA
writes:
On
Saturday at the National Press Club, I attended the public memorial of syndicated
cartoonist and illustrator extraordinaire Richard Thompson, who died of
Parkinson's disease last month, age 58. Several hundred mourners attended, yet
his talent alone could have merited a National Cathedral-sized turnout and
outpouring.
Richard
was known as "the cartoonist's cartoonist," which is another way of
saying that he was held in the highest regard by fellow cartoonists and
humorists, but was far from a household name among the general public. You have
surely heard of some of his greatest admirers and champions -- Pat Oliphant,
Garry Trudeau, Bill Watterson, Gene Weingarten and Pixar director Pete Docter
("Inside Out") among them. As the high artistic and satiric gifts of
this "Cul de Sac" and "Richard's Poor Almanac" creator were
fondly remembered Saturday, I couldn't help but consider why more people
weren't familiar with Richard's oft-cited "genius" (here, actually
applicable). And I believe I have a central answer.
Richard
was a bit of a victim (though he was prone to no self-pity) of his times,
because he did not arrive at syndication till this century, as overall comics
sales to newspapers began to dry up like an inland August hillside, twinned
with the rise of social media and its insatiable hunger for the divisive and
incendiary words that, as clickbait, are often cheap rhetorical chum.
Richard
did not write "mean." Instead, he wrote skewed human truths, sharply
observed.
That
is to say, Richard did not stoop to the easy surface gag, such as Donald
Trump's hair or Bill Clinton's peccadillos. Richard did not write
"jokes"; he wrote wit that was rooted in the real, as interpreted
through his own kinetic bent. He was part Twain and part Thurber in his gift
for the just-right word and perfectly struck comic tone, yet his slight body
also housed an artist whose line could rival that of Ronald Searle or Saul
Steinberg.
 |
| Ross Perot caricature |
In
other words: In an internet world that often thrives on the simplistic,
lizard-brain binary -- us vs. them, black vs. white, left vs. right, men vs.
women, cis vs. LGBTQ -- Richard did not stoop, and so he did not conquer. And
yet ultimately, he won.
Richard
was a divinely gentle soul with a devilishly sharp sense of humor. His was wit
born of erudition and illumination partly seasoned by "Pogo" and the
Bard. He challenged assumptions, and led you to see things anew. He was as
mischievous as Bugs Bunny co-parent Chuck Jones, and he could be an ink-stained
wiseass when the situation called for it. Yet comedicly and artistically, he never
was caught working without elan or aplomb:
No
situation could not be leavened by his askew view. Several years ago, while he
was receiving deep-brain stimulation treatment for his advanced Parkinson's --
basically, imagine your exposed noggin being jump-started by battery cables --
he was asked to draw to test his dexterity while hooked to the juice. So
Richard sketched his own brain, uttering the thought balloon: "Whee!"
Below that, Richard noted that this napkin-sized brain was not drawn to scale:
And
when Richard got "political," his style was not to rail and rant.
Instead, he craftily composed a Bush the Younger inauguration speech composed entirely
of the president's very own words (the cartoon went fairly viral):
I
say all this because what place does the subtle and humane humorist have in an internet
culture that, as Time magazine's Joel Stein recently noted, seems to have
mutated monstrously because its diet of malnutrition often seems set and
maintained largely by the most vitriolic of trolls? In this virtual realm, you
are not only what you eat, but also what you spew back up after you dine. And there
is not enough antacid in the world to quell the hacking Internet.
I
felt a personal and professional kinship with Richard in part because I was
raised by a humane artist; my mother, when not creating art from the soul, for
years taught art to developmentally disabled kids, often through the same San
Diego Regional Center that my dear ol' friend James Hebert referenced Monday.
(She also immediately perceived that my young blind nephew was also on the
autism spectrum.)
My
central hope here is that the internet does not lose the better angels of its
humanity to the infernal instincts loosed often by anonymity.
Ken
Burns once said to me, while working on his Twain documentary, that deeper
humor that probes humanity will always outlast the ephemeral topical one-liner.
And just as key, he added: When Twain satirized the damned human race, he
always included himself in on that equation; he was not only the head that
sprung the joke, but also was the butt of it. He was We.
Richard,
too, typically made sure that he was not only the inky archer, but also that he
had included himself within his painted bull's-eye.
Richard
never lost his comedic integrity, or humane authenticity, and so he never
surrendered his dignity. And that is how, in life as in death, he won.
(Note:
I write this for my 919 friends; now fired up, I just might have to blog about
this elsewhere, too. Thanks for being part of the inspiration.)
J.D. CROWE
writes:
Hats
off, kudos and amen to Mike Cavna for his tribute to Richard Thompson, “the
cartoonist’s cartoonist.” His words were spot on.
For
me, the genius in Richard’s work was just how much fun he packed into each
brilliant doodle within each drawing. He had the audacity to leave in those
whimsical little lines – an extra nose here, an odd frown there – those little
masterpieces most of us would mistake for mistakes.
I
never met him, but I think he probably experienced more pure joy – the
zen-child-like joy – of drawing - than most of us stressed-out pedestrians will
ever know.
Excellent
tribute, Mike.
Thank
you, Richard Thompson, for showing us how joyful the lines should be drawn.
----------------------------------------------------
MICHAEL GRANT writes:
Re Bob Hawkins’ call for life lessons, here’s an old one
(I’ve written about it before) with a new wrinkle.
The year was 1983. My son was 6. I was 40. "Dad,"
he said, "do you think I will die in the 20th . . . the 20th . . . "
"The 20th century?" I said. "Naw. I sure hope not." "I
hope I die before you do," he said. "Why?" I said. "Well,
if you died before me, I would be sad." I leaned down in his face.
"What about me?" I said. "If you died before me, I would be
sad." "Well," he said, "we could just die on the same
day." He had given me a gift for a lifetime. "No," I said.
"You will always be too young." Today, he is 40. I am 73. He is still
too young. Turns out (here’s the new wrinkle), so am I.
REENIE SHEA
writes:
I'm
often intimidated to offer my thoughts to the talented wordsmiths on 919 but
given the opportunity to write about life lessons I offer one of mine.
During
high school at Monterey Union High in Monterey, Calif., I worked part-time as a
car hop at A&W Root Beer in Seaside, in between Monterey and Ft. Ord. My
dad was stationed at Ft. Ord, and we lived on base. Thankfully I did not have
to use roller skates at A&W which would have been dangerous with constant
fog and drizzle.
The
time was 1963-1965, the buildup of the Vietnam war. My father was in charge of
the reception center at Ft. Ord. He processed thousands of young men for
training who would were destined to serve in Viet Nam. What many people do not
know is that my dad often had the heartbreak of accompanying a recruit
who committed suicide in his barracks home to his
family.
During
my late night shifts at A&W many lonely soldiers would visit just hoping
for friendly conversation. I had no idea what was ahead of these young men.
They would stay for hours in their car drinking coffee just wanting someone to
talk with. I think coffee was 10 cents
at the time but they would leave me one dollar which I would refuse. They
insisted I take it.
My
father served two tours in Viet Nam. I'm older than my brothers so had left the
house before he retired. My brothers challenged him about Viet Nam and later I
did too. My father was the most disciplined, honorable man I have ever met but
he finally admitted both Korea, where he was horribly injured, and Vietnam were
a mistake.
I
often think of those sweet, lonely young men who just wanted to drink coffee
and speak with a friendly person and who probably never returned home.
---------------------------------------------------
JIM OKERBLOM writes:
Jay Johnson
presented a searing condemnation of the Great Society programs of the 1960s.
Not only did they not succeed, according to Johnson, their legacy is
"higher rates of crime, violent death, incarceration, illness,
unemployment, alcohol and drug use, and lower rates of educational achievement
vs. every other racial group in the US (except Native Americans, who join black
Americans at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder). This hasn't changed in
my lifetime."
There is no denying that
there is a problem with drug use, crime and violence in many black and minority
neighborhoods in the U.S. The incarceration rate among black youth is a
national scandal. Black Americans as a whole do remain at the bottom of
the socio-economic ladder, experience more crime and receive less education
than other minorities and whites. (Is that really surprising, given their and
our history?)
But to suggest, as Johnson
does, that there has been no progress in these areas, that we "continue to
double down on the same failed solutions that are driving poor Americans of all
races deeper into despair," is a nice conservative talking point. The only
problem is, it isn't true.
Much has improved for black
and poor Americans since the 1960s. Some of the improvements have been
dramatic. Here are a few examples:
Education:
In 1960, forty-three percent of the
white population completed high school, while
only twenty percent of the black population did the same. In 2006, 86% of
blacks between age 25 and 29 had graduated from high school and 19% had
completed bachelor's degrees.[13] As of 2003, the percentage of black
householders is 48%, compared to 43% in 1990.[14]
Crime: Rates of serious crime
by black youths have dropped dramatically.
Today’s young African
Americans display the
lowest rates of crime and
serious risk of any generation that can be reliably assessed.
In the last 20
years in particular, the FBI reports, rates of crime among African American
youth have plummeted: All offenses (down 47%), drug offenses (down 50%),
property offenses (down 51%), serious Part I offenses (down 53%), assault (down
59%), robbery (down 60%), all violent offenses (down 60%), rape (down 66%), and
murder (down 82%)
New2012 figures from California’s
Criminal Justice Statistics
Center reveal that the state’s black youth show the lowest level of
homicide arrest since statewide racial tabulations were first assembled in
1960. Nearly every type of offense—felony, misdemeanor, and status—is much
rarer among black youth today than in past generations.
Indeed, the statistics of California
in 1990 were alarming:
·
221 black youths were arrested for murder,
·
4,235 for drug offenses
·
6,884 for violent felonies,
·
22,441
for all felonies, and
·
45,703
for all offenses.
·
In
2012, in a California black-youth population of similar size (around 250,000
age 10-17) and a similarly complete statewide crime report:
·
20 black youths were arrested for murder,
·
1,019 for drug offenses
·
2,886 for violent felonies,
·
8,288 for all felonies, and
·
24,889
for all offenses.
How
can this mammoth decline not be front-page news—especially to inform the
ongoing Trayvon Martin and Fruitvale murder discussions?
The sad reality is
that authorities, academic experts, politicians, and geriatric-media reporters
(the average age of news consumers is well over 50) of 2013 simply do not know
how to deal with a young black population that is not committing shootings, robberies, drug mayhem, and
gangsterisms in mass numbers—let alone one that is dramatically less criminal
than the older generations deploring them.
From the Center on
Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2013
Crime: Murder in major
cities - Although
several U.S. cities have seen an increase in murders in recent years, over the
long term the murder rate has declined substantially in most cities. For
example, New York City, which has a large black population, has seen a steady
decline in murders. It has fewer murders now than in 1928.
Nationwide rates of
serious crimes: The national
rates of violent crime and murder also challenge Johnson's "deeper into
despair" conclusions.
As this graph of violent crime
rates for the nation shows, the rate is lower than it has been since 1970. And
the rate has been on a steady decline since it peaked at 758.2 in 1991. It was
less than half that, 365.5 in 2014. But it was lower in the 1960s than it has
been in recent years. (The FBI describes its data as “estimated,” and as we
mentioned it comes from voluntary reports from local law enforcement agencies.)
The murder and nonnegligent
manslaughter rate nationwide, at 4.5 in 2014, was at its lowest point since at
least the early 1960s, when the rate dipped as low as 4.6. (Note the numbers do
not include lives lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.):
Drug use (except
marijuana): Down
But virtually all of the (relatively small) increase in
drug use came from the growing ranks of pot smokers. Cocaine use is actually
down (only about 0.7% of the population admits using coke, compared to 1% in
2006). The rate of prescription-drug use rose in the early- and mid-’00s, but
it has been flat since 2007. The rate at which we use methamphetamine is also
unchanged. And as the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported earlier this
year, hard drug use among 8th-, 10th- and 12th- graders continues to decline.
Meth use among kids is down by at least two-thirds since 1999.
Rate of births to unmarried women: Although the
he didn't mention it, the rate of births by unmarried women -- while still high
-- also been in decline in recent years, particularly among blacks and
Hispanics. After increasing
between 2002 and 2007, birth rates for unmarried women were lower in 2012 than
in 2007 for all race and Hispanic groups (Figure 3). Hispanic
women had the highest nonmarital birth rate in 2012 (73 per 1,000) but also the
greatest decline since 2007 (28%, from 102 per 1,000). The rate for black women
declined 11% between 2007 (71 per 1,000) and 2012 (63 per 1,000).
Another
perspective:
http://tinyurl.com/gsa72eu
There is a black
underclass in America. It was created over many generations of slavery, Jim
Crow laws, segregation and racism. That problem is not going to be solved
easily or quickly. It will take generations. Many anti-poverty programs were
far too ambitious, and failed to achieve their goals.
But contrary to
what Jay Johnson contends, things haven't gotten worse since Great
Society programs were implemented. In most areas they have improved -- in some
cases dramatically. I am not saying the War on Poverty deserves all, most or
any of the credit. The passing of the crack epidemic, better policing, longer
prison sentences, the economy and many other factors could also be
involved. There is much debate about why the gains I site have occurred.
What I am saying is
that Johnson ignores all these trends and paints a dire picture of failure,
which simply isn't accurate. The sky may be falling in his neighborhood. It
isn't in mine.
------------------------------------------------------------
REENIE SHEA
writes:
Jack, I was glad to see there may be a federal law
restricting big rigs to 60-68 mph on highways. I drove from Chula Vista to
Ogden, Utah, in June where speed limit on I-15 was 80 mph in certain areas. I
was terrified because I-15 is a major route with big rigs who barrel down the
freeway often locking cars between them. At one point I was pinned between two
and could not pass to the left with the rig behind me no more than 15 off my
tail. I was so nervous I swerved a bit and he backed off. I understand they
have deadlines but come on, who wants a monster truck tailgating you at 80 mph.
REBER: Also the computer
in Nathan’s truck will not allow him to drive more than 11 hours a day. That
should be in all trucks. You don’t want to meet a sleepyhead driving a big rig.
----------------------------------------------------
GENE CIECHANOWSKI
forwards:
9 beautiful tiny homes you can buy
right now
P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.
