GOOD FOR GAGA

UNLIKELY PARTNERS TEAM

TO BATTLE BULLYS

Joel Page Reuters

It is buried under news of the G-20 Summit and 

the continuing Occupy movement, but it may

have more personal significance in the lives of

many youth than any other news of the day.

Lady Gaga has teamed with the John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University to launch the Born this Way foundation.

The nonprofit will deal with youth empowerment, self confidence, well being, mentoring, career development and one of the most critical issues of youth development bullying.

The name of the foundation of course is from her

hit song-born this way.

Gaga is a reigning superstar of pop culture.

Her creative expression seems limitless.

The long form video of Born this Way can be

compared to a Tolkien or CS Lewis style fantasy and allegory of good and evil.

Gaga says it like it is and while that outrages some,

her effort with this new foundation attacks one of

the evils of our age. Her statement says it well.

"Together we hope to establish a standard of 

bravery and kindness, as well as a community

worldwide that protects and nurtures others

in the face of bullying and abandonment."

Can't the world use a little more nurturing, bravery

and kindness?  She commands attention and

good for her for taking on an issue she could

simply ignore.  An act of bravery and kindness

in itself.

 See you down the trail.

DECK THE HALLS

ALREADY?

I love the yule and Advent season.

Christmas is one of those times of year

that has the power to enchant.
One of my first posts spoke of the magic.
But----

This the first residential tree I've spotted.
Not sure what my disdain does nor where it goes
as I exude it passing Christmas displays at department, big box and even drug and grocery stores.  I've been tossing
that disdain at the all too early set ups since before Halloween.
My mother said it was improper to decorate or even
seriously prepare for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.
So as I continue on my journey to being a full fledged
crank, I guess I should pull down Dickens
or hum a few bars of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
let nothing ye dismay...
May I be the first to wish you
MERRY CHRISTMAS
See you down the trail.

CREATIVITY

PLAY AND CREATE

"WITHOUT THIS PLAYING WITH FANTASY

NO CREATIVE WORK HAS EVER YET COME TO 

BIRTH. THE DEBT WE OWE TO THE PLAY

OF IMAGINATION IS INCALCULABLE."

Carl Jung

 It is not a great shot, but this

"Jellyfish" was one of the most

imaginative costumes I saw last night.

See you down the trail.

HALLOWEEN CONFESSIONS

AN INVITATION TO DELINQUENCY

We weren't really so bad, my brothers and me.

Once we were too old for Trick or Treating

we reveled in the freedom of the night to

be junior hooligans-of a mild sort.

My mother ordained a simple act of "terrorizing."

She told us that when she was young, they would

toss dried corn kernels at windows.  We did 

a lot of that.  There was also this thing with a 

wooden sewing thread spool, notched and 

put against and window and then spun with fishing line.

When it worked, it made a clatter. But it seldom worked and you had stomp on flower beds to get near windows.

The corn kernels were easier and gave us more safety

of distance.

My brother John and I saved a stunt for a couple of

folks we didn't like.  They wouldn't pay their newspaper bill-we were carriers-or we'd had a run in of some sort-football

in their yard, bike parked on their sidewalk-that sort of thing. For them we did the big deal.

Dog poop in a paper sack, set afire on the front step.

Set it there, light it, ring the door bell and run for the

bushes.  Oh what a delight to watch the "jerks" stomp it out

and then swear any manner of oaths.

Oh there was a year when I must have been having

an identity issue.  Too old for trick or treating, but

I loved dressing up like Zorro.  So I waited in bushes

near a mail box, and as people approached-we actually used 

mail boxes back then-I'd jump out, make the sign of 

Zorro-the big Z-with my plastic swoard and then

hand them a cluster of grapes. Yes truly-I gave them grapes.  

As I think back on it now, it wasn't so much fright,

shock or surprise that I got in return.  I think it was

a look in the eyes that said "what the hell kind of 

nut job is this kid?"  I think it was the next

year that my brother and I moved up to 

paper sack arson.

SPEAKING OF GOOFY COSTUMES

In response to a previous post about pampas grass,

Bruce, aka, Catalyst, sent a picture of the day

we flew from his Phoenix home back to the mid-west with our California pampas grass in hand. Bruce is the handsome swashbuckler on the left with his beautiful lady SWMBO at his side. Lana is the lovely young cowgirl with the pampas grass.

Notice how there is a lot of unexplained plaid in the 

picture.  Oh, the geeky smirker with the jr.Solzhenitsyn beard?  Don't know who that is.  Looks like he could be

one of those latent Zorros.

But what is it about that plaid?

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) A WIT

DO YOU REMEMBER MORT SAHL?

Sahl was on the cover of Time Magazine in
1960, hailed as the best of the new school of
comics.  I first connected with his brand of
social commentary seeing him on TV.  In an
age when most comedians did a line of jokes,
Sahl seemed to be plucking observations from 
the paper under his arm, or from daily life.
He wrote jokes for JFK and later his obsession with the Kennedy assassination turned some against him.
He was the first comic to record a live album and recently
a new generation has come to appreciate his observational 
wit and humor. 
Here is a brief BBC profile, featuring some other
great comics.

Here for your weekend enjoyment
are three clips of Sahl over the years.
Enjoy. 
A TELEPHONE CALL TO GOD

SAHL ON LIFE IN VEGAS

AN AGING SAHL ON LA AND MALIBU

Thanks Mort.  You've made us laugh and think. Yep,
you are a dangerous man!
See you down the trail.

GOOD THINGS

FRIDAY GRATITUDE

The Friday Farmers Market is

one of the delights of life in the village.

 Fresh, local, friendly and a social meeting ground.

 It is in a very real sense, the town square

where personal lives, politics, art and food ideas

exchange.

 On one of our first trips to California, late 60's era, we were so smitten with pampas grass, that Lana carried some

on the plane as we flew back to Indiana.

Our friend Bruce aka Catalyst, possesses a picture of such.

A great Friday evening often includes work on this

work bench.  The old bowl Weber replaced by 

one that creates no charcoal sparks, dirt or as much clean up.  There are advantages to being an aging boomer though 

it seems many a good hour passed in the presence of 

the old grills. Still, the clean up difference is persuasive!

See you down the trail.

WHO WOULD SAY THAT TODAY?

A POLITICIAN WHO SPOKE A TRUTH

He is probably unknown by the majority of voters today, but he said it like it was.  Alben W. Barkley was Vice President of the United States under President Harry Truman.

Born in a log cabin, yes he was, in Kentucky he was named Willie Alben but later changed his named to Alben William.

He served in Congress and in the Senate, where he was

was majority leader from 37 to 47.

He coined the phrase "give 'em hell, Harry" as Truman was 

about to begin his famous "whistle stop" campaign by taking

a train across the country and speaking from a platform

at the rear of the train.

Barkley ushered a new age of presidential campaigning when he initiated a series of "prop stop" appearances-flying 

to several locations in a day.  It is hard to imagine

a campaign that doesn't involve air travel.

Barkley was a great campaigner, being called 

an "iron man" for giving as many as 16 speeches a day.

So in that context here's something he said

that we'd never hear one of the modern politicians say

"THE BEST AUDIENCE IS INTELLIGENT, WELL

EDUCATED AND A LITTLE DRUNK."

Wouldn't it be fun to hear a candidate

with that kind of spunk and humor.

It seems the modern strain of politicus candidatus 

is a bit anemic by comparison.

DAY BOOK

See you down the trail