December 7, 2020

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I noticed last week that my car radio had switch from Prime Country (1980’s and 1990’s music) to Country Christmas.  Since Melissa has been listening to Christmas music at home and she had taken the Jeep, I assumed she had switched channels.  I asked her about it on our Sunday drive and she said she had not changed the channel.  Instead, the channel itself had changed.  She had noticed this happened with her smooth Jazz channel as well.  It was now playing jazz versions of Christmas songs.  I guess we get Christmas regardless.

Most of the playlist was country renditions of songs from the Classical or Big Band eras of music.  I checked online and found that this was indeed true.  Most long-time Christmas classics are from prior to the Rock era, and still dominate the holiday charts. I have also noticed a lot of the classics were recorded around World War II.  This was a major period of transition.  Many of the favorite Christmas movies are from this same era, while most of the classic animated movies come from the 1960’s (the Boomer children of Builder parents).  While a few other songs have made the list (e.g., “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, and “Last Christmas” by George Michael), it is still the oldies that command the airwaves.

When I took a Music History course thirty years ago, I learned the importance of music in our daily lives.  I have a hearing difficulty and music never was a big deal for me.  Even today I rarely listen to music unless I am driving in a car.  Even then it is more for the distraction than the pleasure.  There are few songs I know the words to because I have never been able to hear them, instead I am attracted by the tunes.  Even so, I still attribute certain songs to times in my life.  That is why I listen to Country Prime, and why I still like the Carols at Christmas.  I guess there are many people like me.

Thoughts:  It seems a rite of passage in any genre of music is that when you make it big, you record a Christmas album.  Melissa is a musician and avid listener and she told me you can find Christmas songs in every (nearly every?) genre.  I joked about listening to “Rocking Around the Mosh Pit.”  When I checked, Melissa was right.  Popular Punk songs held tiles like, “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” and “There Ain’t No Sanity Clause.”  I also found several groups who had recorded “White Christmas,” with the original lyrics.  If music can cross boundaries, why do the rest of us stay apart?  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 5, 2020

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Like most this year, our anniversary fell amid the pandemic.  We were excited about going to one of our “fancy” (read expensive) restaurants for a special meal.  The date came as the cases soared and the Governor recommended restaurants drop to 25% capacity.  We have tried to be diligent and avoid going out unless needed.  This seemed like a bad time to go sit unmasked in an enclosed indoor space with other people.  We were both disappointed but decided to do the right thing and stay at home.

When we married 11 years ago, I made plans to make the day special.  Melissa was still in Arkansas, and said I could plan everything, as long as it was not a big deal  Since Melissa was a runner, I thought it would be fun to have a family 5K followed by breakfast.  This was the Saturday of the community Christmas parade that I helped plan and had participated in for five years, so that was next.  Then we were to be married in the afternoon.  That sounded like a lot to Melissa, but she agreed that would be fine.  Several friends worked with local media and they got wind of what we planned for our special day.  They ended up interviewing us for a local TV station and a spot in the newspaper.  Melissa asked if I understood what “a big deal” meant.

When we talked about how to make the day special early in the week, Melissa told me she did not want to do a meal at home.  This was too much like what we do every day.  I was resigned to this as well.  That is when I thought we should think outside the box.  Even though it might be similar, how could we do something to make it feel different?  It ended up we were both on the same wavelength.  Melissa surprised me with an early gift, and I surprised her with flowers and a special meal.  Then we did something we had never done before.  We binge watched Star Trek Discovery.  It was a special day.

Thoughts:  One of the good things I found amid the pandemic is been being forced to think about what we have always done.  So many things are done because we have always done them, and often without thinking about why.  Like our special day, we are now pressed to do things differently.  Sometimes we realize what we have always done is no longer important.  Sometimes we create new ways to celebrate.  And sometimes, we do the same thing in new ways to make it special.  Regardless of which way we go, the day becomes special because we know why and what we are doing.  That is what ultimately makes it special.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 4, 2020

One of the feared traditions of graduate school is the “Writtens”, followed by the Oral Defense.  This generally occurs at the end of the second year of the program and after the course work is complete.  The purpose is to test the knowledge of the student and to see if they were ready to enter their Thesis or Dissertation research.  I took three of these tests, in three different fields.  I failed the first one miserably and passed the others with ease.  The difference was what I learned from the first failure allowed me success on my later defense.  The key was knowing the test was not designed to trick me or cause me to fail.  I was able to ask what would be on the test in advance and (generally) was told.  When I understood the rules and asked, I passed.

When I was in grad school, I had a friend who had a Garfield cartoon pinned to his cubicle wall.  Underneath each picture he had written his own caption.  The strip began with Odie looking at a tree full of apples (choosing a dissertation topic).  The next cel found Odie shaking the tree until an apple fell to the ground (researching your topic).  Garfield then swooped in and stole the apple that fell (professor steals your topic).  The next cel found Odie and Garfield locked in a fight (dissertation defense).  The final cel depicted Odie alone, beaten up but proudly holding his apple (graduation).  While I did not fully understand the truth of this observation at the time, I thought it was funny.  It became clearer when I went through the process.

Another learning I gleaned was the oral defense is often more about the opposing views of the professors than you.  I have sat in on the defenses of friends and listened as obscure and contradictory questions were asked, only to have the candidate’s major professor jump to the students’ defense.  While this is not always the case, it is when there are competing views within the department.  I have seen (and experienced) this in Archeology, History and Religion.  It is difficult to mount an effective defense when others will not listen.

Thoughts:  There have been times when I have been forced to defend my views outside of academia.  Here again, it is because I have said something another disagrees with.  They believe they are right, so I must be wrong.  When I have taken time to step back from my adversarial position, I have often been able to understand the other’s point.  Even if I do not agree with it.  It is only when we find common ground that we can be united.  Or at least not at war with each other.  This ultimately requires both sides to step back and listen, but it can begin with you.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 2, 2020

The hard freeze we have been expecting for the last week finally arrived.  We have been cautious about our in-ground succulents.  I have mentioned that we covered them with greenhouse netting last week before we got the initial freeze.  They have done well and even taken on a little color due to being stressed by the cold.  Melissa was afraid they might not survive the hard freeze even with the cloth covering.  She waivered back and forth about putting a layer of plastic over them.  Finally, after dark and with the temperature falling, she decided they needed to be covered.  Rather than the plastic, we covered them with old afghans we had in the closet.  We went to bed as the temperatures dropped.

Melissa purchased a digital weather station originally intended to replace the thermometer we use to track the temperature on the porch.  This displays both temperature and humidity and has a memory setting that will display the maximum and minimum temps over the last 24 hours.  While it is easy to check the porch temp, it is more difficult to go outside and read the gauge under the mess netting.  That is especially true at night as the temperatures drop.  Several days ago, I figured out how to set the device up (relatively easy) and put it on the outside bed as a test.  The temperatures dropped to 26F, but the mesh kept the plants at 29F.  Still cold but doable.

When Melissa checked on the plants the morning after the hard freeze, they were doing fine.  None of the succulents had suffered frost burn and they all looked healthy.  The gauge confirmed the afghans had done their work.  The memory feature on the thermometer indicated the minimum reached was a toasty 29F.  The elephant ears (Colocasia) on the other side of the walk did not fare so well.  They have been continuing to flourish despite the cold, although the seed pods had never produced identifiable seed.  When I checked after the hard freeze, they had all withered and laid dead on the ground.   This is the annual cycle of garden life.

Thoughts:  There are several proven ways to learn what works and what does not when it comes to gardening.  Melissa relies on the experts to provide information from their experience to let her know what they have found.  Some of this is online and some from gardener friends she has cultivated (Ha Ha).  The other way is through trial and error.  If something you try works, you do it again.  If it does not, the plants wither and you start over with new plants.  The same can be said about the pandemic.  We can listen to the experts and do what has been shown to work in the past, or we can use trial and error and hope for the best.  Hoping for the best has not worked well so far.  People are not as interchangeable as plants.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 1, 2020

Melissa has begun to intrigue me with her cacti and succulent propagation.  After we talked about her plans to make these little guys flourish, I went online to find out more.  As I surfed, I came across a site about the ten rarest cacti in the world.  I opened the first picture and recognized this as one of the cacti in our collection.  As I scrolled through the list, I recognized at least two others we own.   All were listed as rare or endangered.  I asked Melissa about this and she confirmed we did own at least three of the ten, and probably one or two others.  When I read the fine print on the site, they stated the varieties were “rare in the wild,” but were common and in demand among growers.

The Sand Dollar Cactus or Astrophytum asterias (also called sea urchin cactus, star cactus, or star peyote) is a rare spineless cactus that is native to parts of Texas and Mexico.  Although there are only about 2000 wild plants, it is widely cultivated by succulent and cacti enthusiasts.  The Sand Dollar Cactus has been a popular ornamental succulent since it was first collected in the mid-1800’s.  It is this popularity that makes the wild version vulnerable, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List reports that people from around the world illegally remove the cactus from the wild and mail them home.  They stress the Sand Dollar Cactus should not be removed from the wild because it is quite easy to grow from seeds and cuttings.  Melissa told me that most of the rare and endangered species are being targeted by poachers.  She also informed me all our plants are grown and raised in reputable nurseries and are not from the wild.

When I checked poaching online, I found that cacti across the American southwest are being stolen from public lands in increasing numbers.  This ranges from the soaring saguaros (for landscaping) to tiny, rare species (indoor house plants).  The global demand is driving a booming underground market that risks destroying the sensitive species.  In 2015, US officials made a large seizure of Ariocarpus fissuratus and all 3,500 of those plants ended up at a greenhouse in Alpine, Texas, belonging to Sul Ross State University.  Authorities suspect the plants were stolen from nearby public lands. “Cactus theft is a huge issue in the Trans Pecos,” said Karen Little, Sul Ross’s greenhouse manager. “We have whole genetic lines of cacti that have been wiped out by poachers.”  Again, it is all about me.

Thoughts:  When I worked with the State of Utah, I assisted management of the resources on state and federal lands.  My federal counterparts were rangers and carried pistols.  This was a needed precaution against the armed poachers they encountered on the protected lands.  It is illegal to remove ANYTHING from state or federal lands (including cacti), and illegal on private lands without the permission of the owner.  Melissa knew several of her cacti were defined as “rare,” but she did not know how rare they really were.  Since we are expecting several nights in the low 20F, she decided to move them from the front stoop to the inside foyer to avoid freeze.  You protect what you are passionate about.  That is true for Melissa, and the Rangers.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 30, 2020

When we rescued Melissa’s succulents several weeks ago, we stopped at a local restaurant that had outside seating.  This had an order counter (with plexiglass covering) and the meal was brought to your table.  I was surprised by how many people were eating inside the restaurant, and at the number of 4-5 person groups who gathered.  We took our meal sign and went to a table on the outdoor patio and were the only ones there.  The restaurant was situated next to the local Mall and the parking lot was completely empty.  The door to the Mall entered a theater with 20 screens and an IMAX.  It was only while leaving the restaurant that I remembered this was the theater we have attended on Christmas Day.

One of the traditions Melissa and I have had since we married is to attend one of the new holiday releases in an IMAX theater.  While we attend family events around Christmas, we realized we needed to create our own traditions as well.  We have always gone to the first showing of the day, usually around noon.  These matinees were about half the price and provide a better chance of getting a good seat.  Preferably, our Christmas movie needs to be 3-D and combined with surround sound.  It creates an amazing experience.  When we first attended this theater, we were disappointed by the small size of the screen.  The theater where we used to live is billed as the largest IMAX screen in the world.   It does make a difference.

I have begun to hear of new releases over the last several weeks, but when I searched for them online, most are on one of the streaming networks and not in theaters.  While many movie theaters remain closed until further notice, and many studios have pushed back release dates on major films, there are select theaters that are open and showing movies.  These movies seem to be a mix of old classics and a few new releases.  Most of the blockbuster movies scheduled for release are being held until they can have a full release.  They are hoping for this spring.  

Thoughts:  During the early 1920’s, sociologists began cost of living surveys to create budgets for the poor.  This included all the essential needs (food, housing, utilities).  The cost of luxuries (cars, vacations, movies, amusement parks) were also recorded.  The budget surveys less than a decade later showed movies and amusement parks had become an essential need and not a luxury.  The IMAX webpage contained a link to saveyourcinema.com.  The pandemic has put both small independent screens and nationwide movie theaters at risk of closure.  As the link explains, “our local theaters employ over 150,000 people and have formed a cornerstone of the American experience.”  Once again, we are redefining what it means to be essential.  Follow the Science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 28, 2020

While I made good on my promise not to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Melissa did watch.  The three-hour parade is held in Manhattan, ending outside Macy’s Herald Square, and takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thanksgiving Day.  It has been nationally televised on NBC since 1953.  This year the parade only focused on the last section of the annual march.  While it did not feature the marching bands of the past, there were some floats and of course the balloons.  The finale was also intact, as Santa arrived in front of Macy’s famed flagship store on 34th Street to kick off the holiday season.

While I did not watch, Melissa called me in to see the giant SpongeBob balloon.  I have been a fan of the Sponge since it first aired on Nickelodeon in 1999, even watching the two SpongeBob movies released so far (a third is scheduled for American release in 2021).  I even started saving SpongeBob collectables and now have around 50 different items.  It is interesting that I did not buy most of my collection but instead they were given to me.  When my adult friends learned of my collection, they began to buy small SpongeBob items to give to me.  I think they must like the Sponge as well, but do not want to admit it.    

During the early 2000’s I went to a local Arts in the Park in my city.  The featured guest was SpongeBob SquarePants.  There was a long line to be able to have your picture taken with the Sponge.  I got in line and patiently waited my turn.  Just as I got to the front, the character’s front man declared a break and asked us to come back later.  I did not want to lose my spot in line, so I waited the twenty minutes until he returned.  When he opened again, I stepped forward and he asked where my child was.  I told him I wanted a picture of me and Sponge.  He just shook his head and took the picture.  Five minutes later I had another treasure.

Thoughts:  Some would call my affection for SpongeBob SquarePants a guilty pleasure, but I would disagree.  A guilty pleasure is an activity or piece of media that someone enjoys but would be embarrassed by if other people found out about it.  These might be books, movies, TV shows, foods, or most anything ese.  Generally, the guilty pleasure is something that might be viewed as shameful by some people, like trashy novels or overdone romantic comedies.  I am not embarrassed by my passion for the Sponge, nor do I feel guilty.  Too often we allow others to dictate what we do or how we should feel, and we hide our true thoughts.  You are only embarrassed if you allow another to embarrass you.  When you wear your feelings proudly, you may be surprised how many others feel the same.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 27, 2020

I mentioned how Melissa and I have tried to attend holiday celebrations for both sides of the family in the past.  This year we spent Thanksgiving Day on our own.  We had made some of the traditional trappings (green bean casserole and cornbread dressing) that we intended to go with snow crab and peel-and-eat shrimp.  After preparing everything else, we decided the shrimp looked so good we would save the crab for later.  I also ate my tiny pie.  When mom read my blog on Dessert, she called to tell me the four-inch pie she had ordered was the same size pie I wrote about.  Rather than eating it herself, she was planning on sharing it.  Good luck with that.

When I was joking about this to my sister, it reminded me of the pies we used to eat when I was a boy.  We did not eat a lot of pies, but I do remember the commotion it caused when we did.  My younger brother and I would argue over who got the biggest slice of pie (i.e., who was closest to the tin when it was put on the table, so they got to choose first).   Mom tried to alleviate the arguments by letting one of us cut the pie.  This still caused friction, so the rule became, “If you cut the pie, the other could choose their slice first.”  While this worked for a while, the disputes returned.  Finally, mom found a hexagonal pie tin (there were six in our family).   I am not sure if this resolved the problem or we just grew out of our phase, but that seemed to lessen the conflict.

I think one of the reasons we did not have pie often was because mom did not like to make them.  My dad loved pie, and he finally decided if he wanted to eat pie, he would have to make it.  Dad was not known as the baker in the family, but he did learn to make pies.  One day he realized how much work it was to pare all the apples for a pie, and instead just cut them up and mixed them in the pie.  This was the birth of his “famous” Apple Skin Pie.  This was surprisingly good.  Over the years he experimented with pie crusts and became particularly good at creating flakey pies.  When I looked at the box my 3-inch pie came in, it said the pie was 390 calories.  I may have been better off throwing away the majority of the Italian Wedding Cake.

Thoughts:  I am sure we will all have stories to share on the odd Thanksgiving celebrations we went through this year.  Some will be about the different foods we saw as essential and how a 20-pound turkey made sense for a family of three.  Others will be on how to keep masked and distanced, or gathering in small family gatherings trying to keep others safe.  I know there will also be stories of how nothing changed.  Stories of how we flew thousands of miles through crowded airports to attend large gatherings.  We will know in two weeks how well we handled this test.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 26, 2020

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers.  These were a group of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith.  The separatists were accompanied by other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World.  After a treacherous crossing that lasted 66 days, they made landfall.  They had set out for the mouth of the Hudson River, but were off by one degree north.  They dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod in November.  They were driven out by the local Native tribe one month later, and the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay and these “Pilgrims” began the work of establishing a village at what is now called Plymouth.

The first national Thanksgiving Day did not include any reference to the Pilgrims.  President Abraham Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November in 1863.  Lincoln was looking to reconcile a country in the throes of the Civil War.  One hundred years later President John F. Kennedy, whose family was from Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, immortalized the Native peoples in his own Thanksgiving Day proclamation.  It is this pasteurized version of Thanksgiving that is taught in elementary school and stays alive through such homages as “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

The historically accurate story of the Pilgrims and the founding of Plymouth Colony 400 years ago this month is not in most history books.  It is not the one you will find at Pilgrim Memorial Park in Plymouth, home of the famed Plymouth Rock and the replica ship Mayflower II.  The more historically accurate telling suggests the Pilgrims did not find themselves in a vast untouched land, but instead amid Indigenous people already wary and distrustful of Europeans.  These people were not invited to the first feast in 1621.  Instead, 60 warriors arrived as a show of force to let the settlers know they were a powerful people and not to be trifled with.  Within 50 years, the colonists would greatly outnumber the Indigenous peoples.  The resulting plagues, wars, and enslavement destroyed all but three of the original 69 bands of Wampanoag who used to spread across New England.

Thoughts:  Historian David Silverman published, This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, in 2019 as a precursor to the 400-year anniversary.  This unsettling history reveals why some modern Native people hold a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving.  The book is intended to demonstrate it is time to rethink how we tell the history of Thanksgiving.  “How are we supposed to improve on this sorry record if we don’t understand the sorry record?” asks Silverman.  It is only by acknowledging the ills of the past that we can make changes for the future.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 25, 2020

Mom called yesterday to tell me she had been thinking about me.  Even though she has been quarantined since last March she has learned to use the technology that keeps most of us connected.  One of these is to order her groceries online.  She has arranged to pick up Thanksgiving dinner from the kitchen at her retirement community.  The complete turkey dinner did not include desert.  Instead she ordered a four-inch pumpkin pie to be delivered from the grocery’s bakery.  When it arrived, she was amazed how small a four-inch pie was.  She and my sister in law were planning on splitting the pie.  She said it would not provide more than a couple of bites each.    

My mom loves to tell the story of my being given a piece of wedding cake when I was a small boy.  We lived next to the church and after a wedding the mother of the bride was kind enough to bring a piece of cake over to the house for me.  She proudly gave me the cake and waited for my thank you.  Instead she got, “Huh, looks big enough for a mouse, if he is not hungry.”  I am sure my mom was mortified, but it is still retold as one of her favorite stories of me as a child.

Mom’s pie reminded me of my own experience at the bakery.  I have noticed small Italian Wedding Cakes in our market’s bakery.  These are only about 4 inches wide and 8 inches long, and two layers high.  They are covered in the cream cheese frosting and nuts that I love so well.  When I told this to Melissa, she encouraged me to buy one, along with her favorite, frozen Pepperidge Farms Apple Turnovers.  I looked at the cake for a long time before moving on.  I realized I would only eat a small slice and then freeze the rest for later.  The black hole I call my freezer would have kept it a long time.  Then I would have thrown out the freezer burned remains.  I bought a tiny pecan pie instead.

Thoughts:  I have noticed the markets are starting to package deserts in smaller servings or single pieces.  This began prior to the shortage caused by the pandemic but has increased during the last year.  While I used to readily find 16- and even 18-inch pies, now the 4- or 6-inch pies purchased by mom are more prevalent.  It seems marketers are finally realizing the large families and appetites required to take down the larger offering are no longer as common.  The single servings most seem to want would satisfy, and not produce the waste.  Or perhaps they realize they can make a big cake, cut it into ten pieces, and sell each piece at a markup.  I admit, the three-inch pecan pie is not quite big enough for a hungry mouse.  At least there will be no waste.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.