100 now and still going up. The pool beckons. It's mid 60's back in Cambria. Lana, who sometimes believes Cambria can be chilly, is lamenting how the heat "just knocks it out of her."
I didn't like the sweltering heat in humid climates, but the warmth here is entirely different. Stay hydrated, in a pool, shade or AC and you can enjoy the almost magical light
of the sun splashing over the mountains and desert.
(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.
My grandmother and her sisters used to call it "decoration day," the day you took flowers to decorate the graves. It was always a Memorial Day tradition, to take flowers to the cemetery and to listen to the Indianapolis 500, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," on the radio.
It is a weekend to remember, not only those who were lost in the service to our nation, or those who served, but to remember all of our family and loved ones.
My father and Mother, pictured above were diligent about remembering. That is probably why, whenever I am in Indiana, I visit the cemetery and place flowers.
This weekend I'm across the country, but I remember those trips over the decades. I also remember generations who now rest in peace, especially brothers John and Jim, taken in their prime.
John David
James D
If you wish, here is a beautiful moment of reflection.
NOW ABOUT SMILES
HERE'S SOMETHING TO PUT A SMILE INTO YOUR WEEKEND. BE SURE TO WATCH THIS.
Thanks to my friend The Travel Answerman John VanKirk
for the tip on this WEEKENDER'S :) Video. Take a European holiday from right there in your seat.
Hats off to Joege Niggli for a sensational piece of work.
NEW SCENES
FROM
THE OLD WEST
I shot these as the Friday Lunch Flash Mob, down in size due to the windy gale coming off the Pacific, celebrated the birthday of our pal John Madara.
An extraordinarily talented man, John was a father of
"The Philly Sound" and early rock and roll.
He wrote and/or produced many early hits including At the Hop-Danny and The Juniors, 1-2-3 by Len Barry, You Don't Own Me-Lesley Gore, Rock and Roll is Here to Stay-Danny and the Juniors.
For years John produced movie sound tracks, was music supervisor for television programs, produced Wayne Newton in Las Vegas, wrote music for TV specials and has recently
completed a musical screen play. A fascinating career for a dynamic and great guy. A personal aside-I enjoy watching John, watch a musician or band perform. His entire body seems to be measuring, processing and observing. Must be the hit maker producer at work. He can't help himself.
Hall of Fame and legendary radio news man Fred Heckman was my news director as I was breaking into a major metropolitan news scene.
"If Democrats and Republicans are both bitching about you, if liberals think you're a conservative and conservatives think you're a liberal then you're doing a good job. We are an equal opportunity offender."
Long before Fred's advice I'd read the wisdom of the
old "Sage of Baltimore" H.L. Mencken. The journalist, editor, essayist said the role of a journalist was to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
Those formed my creedo in all of my years in journalism.
ENTER THE NEW AGE OF "NEWS"
I took delight in the story that university research finds that Fox News viewers are the least well informed.
Delight, I say, because Fox introduced deliberately staking out a political/philosophical position as a foundational rationale to their approach to news coverage.
Now some will argue "the liberal media bias" already existed and that Fox News was at least honest about where they were coming from. You might recall however they made their mantra "Fair and Balanced." In all honesty they were neither, but it was a brilliant positioning and marketing strategy developed by Roger Ailes. It immediately created the perception the other media was not fair or balanced.
Ailes started developing his idea when he was a partisan employee of Richard Nixon, the President with an enemies list, less than a harmonious relationship with the media, trouble with the truth and that little think called Watergate. Yes, that's when Ailes first started babbling about creating a network with a point of view.
My gripe is not so much with the politics as with the idea
of creating a "my side vs. your side" approach to news.
Back to the admonition of my old mentor. Doing it right has everyone angry at you. Conservatives, Republicans and right wingers probably find little to be upset with about Fox. But
perhaps now they should be. By adopting a "perspective" and hewing to a "party line" you destroy your claim to credibility
and damage the overall process. I'm not ignoring MSNBC.
They have responded by taking a liberal perspective.
Maybe in this age of satellite, cable, Internet and broadcast offerings there is room for networks who are lackeys for an ideology or point of view. Maybe, but they should not call themselves news or journalistic enterprises.
Bravo to the academics who are willing to test, measure and survey issues like quality of information, knowledge and such. Of course I can hear a few Fox viewers saying "well what do you expect from liberal academia?"
Roger Ailes is like putting draino in a wine bottle and calling it a well aged vintage. This report is a bit like a consumer taste test. Truth is just that.
DAY BOOK
A VISIT TO THE SHORE
How's that for a change of pace? See you down the trail.
