Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Kristin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kristin. Show all posts

Friday, August 14, 2015

WHO'S LIFE MATTERS? DARK PLAYS

DARK PLAYS
   Street wise and an over comer, Ricky was a friend and a great truck operator. We ate together frequently, shared an appreciation of boxing and worked on deadline to do live television. Ricky's problem was not his.
   He'd come from a neighborhood that required a toughness to simply grow up. His arms bore burn scars from his time  working in a foundry. He began as a studio camera operator. He became an engineer/operator who would "scramble" a microwave unit to the scene. It was a truck full of electronics and television gear. He was fast, smart and enabled the news department to get on the air. That was not a problem.
   Ricky and his wife, a marketing and promotion specialist, lived on the North side, in a suburban community grown from a farm village into homes, condos, apartments, appreciating businesses with a village setting and near mega shopping. Ricky was frequently stopped by the local police.
    As an African-America Ricky was a profile stop.  Though he explained where he lived, worked and produced a car registration, Ricky was stopped repeatedly.  That was an offense to Ricky and to police work and the larger society. 
   Black lives matter.
    I investigated, covered and tangled with racist hate groups for 4 decades-racism close up, urban, rural, north, south and abroad. Many reasons for it. It breeds anger and response.
     All lives matter-not to diminish the inherent and special importance that creates and imbues the mentality and philosophy of Black Lives Matter.  It is not meant to be flip  to say-Of course they do. It is an affirmation only and should  not be construed as anything else.
   How police departments and black citizens interact is a nexus requiring a fix. It is critical. Police officers need  training to help buffer and to see things with a wider sensitivity. Training for state and city police agencies can condition officers to make critical decisions influenced by a better understanding of presenting conditions and a codex of alternative tactics to employ so as to defuse and stop a tragic escalation.
    All training academies and the departments they provide can up their performance. I've reported how local and state academies train, have watched as local police take advanced training at the National Academy and spent 16 weeks following a class of agents through the FBI Academy at Quantico. 
    There are good learning systems, exercises, drills and practical application training that can focus on race, including history and perspectives. I participated in a fire arms training program where my actions and shot placement were captured, analyzed and used in the training. It required a series of critical judgements and action.  After completing a simulation scenario, where you could shoot or be shot in the interactive life like reality, you were grilled by instructors asking what you saw, heard, when and why you made decisions to do what you did and the actions you took, etc.  Its intense and the examination pulses up the heart rate and certainly engages the mind.  It's a good program and such systems can make our local cops better at what they do.
    Lives matter.
BLUE PLAYS
 Humpback Whales frolic in warmer Pacific on the central California coast.  
    Pelicans fly air support.
   Canoeists launch for a blue ride.

BEHIND THE SHOTS
Your blogger, caught in the act by eldest daughter Kristin
Caught here at Jackson Browne concert by Mike Griffin

     A final thought. Ricky and I often drove to a spot in a near east side neighborhood where they sold deep fried cat fish on white bread with mustard. As the only white man in a place, or even in that part of the neighborhood I was never stopped. It was probably more odd for a white man to be hanging out on that block in that hood than for Ricky to  drive to his apartment.

    The sandwich was world class!

     See you down the trail.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

SOME BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE & THANKS FOR THE AWARD

MORE ENGINEERING MARVEL
     For a couple of years now Cal Trans has been building 
a new span along the majestic Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur.  Building the bridge while also tending to the routine rock slides and washouts.  
     If you desire confirmation of our ability to engineer and design, drive the famous Highway 1 from Cambria to Carmel.  It is evidence of intellectual capability that provides a 
route to put us right in the middle of and exposed to some 
of this planet's greatest beauty and awe inspiring scenery.
     The new bridge, scheduled for completion next year,will up the ante.
     Thanks to my daughter Kristin who grabbed these frames
as we drove through the work zone.










   As you can see this new span will elevate the road grade providing an even more spectacular perspective.
 The work of generations of engineers and builders are 
appreciated by those of us who enjoy scores of views that
are breathtaking. Highway 1 is a national treasure.
  Driving Highway 1 should be on everyone's bucket list.

I'm flattered and honored.
    While traveling I was alerted to being given an ILLUMINATING BLOGGER AWARD by CJ at Food Stories Blog
     CJ is a nurse with a personal interest in food and nutrition which you can learn more about on her blog. 
     She is the originator of the  Illuminating Blogger Award that you can also read more about at the second link.
     CJ asked that I share information about myself.  I am a 
devoted foodie.  I love food prep, dining, discovering great chefs and sharing an evening of food with friends.  
     If I could change one thing about the near perfect American Provence (the Central Coast) it would be to add the savor and aroma of those great little bistros and restaurants that dot the south of France in wine country and in the small mountain villages and towns.  We have marvelous dining in Cambria, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo, but those charming little local places are missing in our rolling mountain wine country.
      Thanks CJ.  
     I share this ILLUMINATING BLOGGER AWARD by nominating
these blogs


http://oddballobservations.blogspot.com/
Bruce Taylor aka The Catalyst-loves food, cats, music and has a unique view and sense of humor. He's made me laugh for decades. He is also a certified political and blues junkie.

The Chubby Chatterbox is an extraordinary writer and artist.
He is superbly entertaining and his blog is a bright spot in the blogosphere.

Frank is another superb writer and astute musicologist.  I've 
been taking his lead on music for decades.

Steve is one of the renaissance men of the Central Coast.
A talented writer with a great concern for words and how people use them creatively and politically.

Mollie writes with sensitivity, personal reflection and an exploring spirituality.  The twin daughter of a life long friend, Mollie represents the best of her generation's personal blogging. 
COMING TOMORROW
   A long way to go and an odd location for Foie Gras-now endangered in California.

    See you down the trail.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

MYSTERIES

MYSTERIES OF CALIFORNIA
     (On the road)Fleeting and random quizzing while in transit.
      Why does freeway traffic bunch and slow as it does when you are no where near an intersection, road construction, accident or any discernible cause of delay?
      How do people put up with it, day after day.  (My infrequent forays into the LA traffic sector smack me with the question.  I can do it occasionally, but everyday?
      How can 93 degrees at 10:00 PM feel cool?  It does as we leave a restaurant between Cathedral City and Palm Springs. The 101 earlier in the day was moderated by a dip in a pool. It is true however "it's a dry heat?"
       Why do some people get the "art genes?"  It was fascinating to watch my friend Steve provide a tour of a sample of his extraordinary work of over 50 years. The attentive included Lana who is also compulsively creative and talented and our eldest Kristin who is following in the senior's footsteps. Watching artists discuss art is like looking on at a secret world where the words may be common but connote an unspoken magic.
DAY BOOK
ALSO OF THE UNUSUAL



See you down the trail.