(No Longer) The Smartest Kid In Class

The Trump sign that someone placed in my yard in April.

Greetings All:

I woke up early the day after the election. I had not slept well that night and suspect many of you did not either. I checked my phone to confirm what I already knew in my heart: Donald J. Trump had won the presidential election.

Wow. My next Commander-in-Chief is this guy. “WTF, over?”

I did not support Mr. Trump in either the primary process or the general election. My main gripes with him was my belief of his simple unfitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. However, I had plenty of criticism for him on other issues. As for his moral bearing to be President, I had written that off a long time ago. I viewed him as a distraction and quite frankly the death of the Republican Party in its current form. It is why I laughed when I saw someone had put a Trump sign in my yard this spring. I posted a picture on Facebook and immediately secured it safely in my garage. This was an artifact that needed to be saved. After all, “Trump’s flaming out,” or so I thought.

My fellow citizens disagreed.

I won’t bore you with a bunch of citations to facts, figures, charts, as I suspect you’ve seen plenty of hand-wringing analysis as to why Trump won. I do want to share with you Dr. Kathy Cramer’s interview with Jeff Guo of The Washington Post. Dr. Cramer’s book, “The Politics of Resentment” is her work on helping to explain why there is so much anger by working-class people in rural Wisconsin. Here’s a link to Mr. Guo’s story:

Here’s a quote from the article from Dr. Cramer that sums up, at least for me, one of main reasons Trump won:

“Part of where that comes from is just the overarching story that we tell ourselves in the U.S. One of the key stories in our political culture has been the American Dream — the sense that if you work hard, you will get ahead.

Well, holy cow, the people I encountered seem to me to be working extremely hard. I’m with them when they’re getting their coffee before they start their workday at 5:30 a.m. I can see the fatigue in their eyes. And I think the notion that they are not getting what they deserve, it comes from them feeling like they’re struggling. They feel like they’re doing what they were told they needed to do to get ahead. And somehow it’s not enough.”

Oh, and by the way, this story was published on Election Day. If that’s not a procrastinator of things to come…

I live in Iowa, yet no where near a farm. If you were to drive around my area, you would think you were in any other suburb of America. I am doing just fine economically and the things that I fret about are clearly “First World” problems. True, I like to think my wife and I work hard, contribute and are good citizens. Yet for me to claim I have some “economic kinship” with the people Dr. Cramer has profiled would be laughable. And I will be the first to tell you my standing in my community and in this country, economic and otherwise, is attributable to many, many people who helped me along the way.

So as I have been thinking about this election, I think it is only fair I acknowledge one simple fact: I was wrong, flat-out wrong.

I was certain Clinton was going to win. I had already worked out some of the things I would say to my Republican/conservative friends (and I consider myself fortunate to have) about the election. I’d listen patiently and with sincerity to their lamentations of how terrible a Clinton Administration would be, that America would be forever scarred by her. And, of course, at some point, I’d say, 

“Well, I told you so.” 

I would be the smartest kid in class.

I don’t feel that way today. And I suppose if I want to be really honest with myself, that might be one of the biggest reasons I am upset about the election.

And if any of you reading this feel the same way, that is OK. I think people can do things for many different reasons. I do so everyday. What is not OK is to claim some moral high ground without at least giving nod to ego and the internal need to be right, to be the smartest kid in class. After all, isn’t acknowledging you’ve got an issue/problem the first step to a cure?

So I’m not the smartest kid in class. I got this one way wrong. I got too comfortable with The New York Times’ election predictions. I was so sure enough people would see the election the way I saw it that there was NO WAY Trump could win. Then the rest of America weighed in….

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time reading up on Stoic philosophy. Ryan Holiday has done some terrific work in this area. His book, The Daily Stoic was what I listened to during my walk Wednesday morning. The great thing for me about Stoicism is the road map it provides for living life in the world as it is. For me, it boils down to this: Don’t worry about the stuff you cannot control. Focus on what you can control, your thoughts and actions. I’d encourage you to visit Ryan’s site at The Daily Stoic here and check it out for yourself.

Rosie and I walking on the Wednesday after Election Day. She could have cared less who won.

As I walked with my dog Rosie last Wednesday morning and listened to Ryan’s book, recalling the wisdom of the great Stoic thinkers I realized that I had no control over the election results. I did my part and voted. I expressed my opinions and contributed as I thought best. Could I have done more? Sure. Would it have mattered? Nope. As we came back home, I saw the sunlight stream out from behind the trees. It was pretty. Everything was going to be just fine.

So for those of you still reeling from last week’s loss, I invite you to let it go. Go volunteer for a charity, go read some Stoic works, watch the winning field goal in Iowa’s epic triumph over Michigan from Saturday night, or whatever you feel will make you feel better.

And speaking of feeling better, maybe it is because I am half-Irish, but I endeavor to be an optimist. I do see something positive from this election, here it is:

All the experts and self-proclaimed smart guys like me did not count on folks voting who did. These people participated in the process, they had their voice heard. I can question their judgment and still celebrate their involvement. That is the beauty of our system.

There is much to learn from this election. Once the dust settles, I intend to review what happened and figure out why so many people voted for President-Elect Trump. 

It is clear I still have a LOT to learn. So much for me being the smartest kid in class.

I congratulate President-Elect Donald J. Trump.

Be well my friends,

Jeno

Looking Over The Abyss

Apollyon (top) battling Christian in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, from Wikipedia, Public Domain, full link here.

Greetings All:

The election is tomorrow.  I am writing this Monday evening.  I am guessimating that in about 24 to 27 hours, we will know who the next POTUS will be.  For some, that will be euphoria.  For others, rage.  If the current Nate Silver/New York Times polling/prediction holds up, then a majority of folks, however slim, will feel relief.

I feel confident in saying that we will all be glad when this election is over.  This year makes me long for the "good ole days"of hanging chads and Supreme Court intervention.  Yup, this one has been brutal.

Some have viewed this election in apocalyptic terms, end of the world and so on.  I was putzing around the internet and found the above image and information on Apollyon.  He's a featured character in the Book of Revelations in the Bible, 9:11 to be precise.  Here's what is written:

"They had a king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer)."

Pretty heavy stuff, "Destroyer" and all.  Oh, and in this ugly election year where polls are the car wreck we curse and still stare it, just remember, you can't spell Apollyon without "poll."

There's been a lot of talk and musing and speculation and blah, blah, blah about the dire consequences if he or she wins.  Here's my two-cents:  

We'll be fine either way.  For all of Trump's grand boasting and Clinton's four-inch thick briefing books, it's doubtful much will truly change.  And for all our cursing and hand-wringing about government, the Framers wanted it that way.  It is as if they recognized that if the public really, really wanted change, they would need more than one election to do so.

So be of good cheer.  While it may seem like we're looking over the abyss with this election, we're really just looking out the window of our body politic that is in need of a roll of paper towels and some Windex.

And maybe when we get done cleaning, we might just find we're not staring into through a window, but instead a mirror.

Now that could be frightening indeed.

Be well my friends,
Jeno 

Post script.  This is the 250th blog post I have published.  I appreciate everyone who has read my blog over these past several years, thank you.

No Control

A couple of trees near my local bike path.  Photo by J. Berta.

Greetings All:

Today is October 30, 2016.  For many, the world is less than perfect.  We, in America, find ourselves in the middle of a miserable general election.  Unless you are the most partisan-political animal, you have to be worn down by this campaign, at least a little.  I know I am.

If you're a Clinton supporter, you cannot be happy with the news that came out Friday that the ghost of emails past is again rattling its chains.  If you're a Trump supporter, you have to still be frustrated that your candidate is under attack by the perceived establishment.  

Then, there is baseball.  As I write this, the Chicago Cubs have their backs against the Ivy-covered wall, down three games.  Math is not my strong suit, yet even I can do this simple equation:  The Cubs gotta win all three remaining games.  

I suppose the one bit of comfort Cubs fans can take from this situation is this: The same city where the Indians call home is shared with the Cleveland Cavilers.  That team earlier this year rallied from the same 3-1 deficit against the vaunted Golden State Warriors.

So, to my Cubs fan friends, keep the faith.  Perhaps this photo below might help sooth your troubled self.  I know the walk a recently took with my dog where I snapped these pictures did wonders for me.

A photo of Duck Creek by my local bike path.  Photo by J. Berta

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, despondent, fill-in-the-blank over things beyond our control.  Add into the mix the sheer injustice of certain (any) situations and we can feel our blood pressure rise.  We curse to ourselves, or perhaps outloud, "Dammit, it's not FAIR!"

So it is.  Such is life.

So how to combat such a situation?  I assure you, I have not the answer.  What I do have is a small suggestion.  Here goes:

I have been spending a bit of time in an informal and highly un-organized study of Stoicism.  Stoicism, as defined by our friends at Google, is this:

sto·i·cism

ˈstōəˌsizəm/

 

noun

noun: stoicism; noun: Stoicism

1. 1.

   the endurance of pain or hardship without a display of feelings and without complaint.

   synonyms:

   patience, forbearance, resignation, fortitude, endurance, acceptance, tolerance, phlegm "she accepted her sufferings with remarkable stoicism"

   antonyms:

   intolerance

2. 2.

   an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge, and that the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.

Ryan Holiday is an author I have followed and read for some time.  He is someone whose lived an interesting life and on his own terms.  I admire him for his willingness to lay bare his life and experiences for all of us to learn from.  I have just read (listened to, actually) two of his recent books:  Ego is The Enemy and The Obstacle is The Way.  I recommend both of these books and you can find the Amazon links to purchase them here and here.  (If you would like a recommendation for which one to start with first, it's a close call.  For recovering narcissists like myself, go with
Ego is The Enemy.)

In his writings and talks with Tim Ferriss, he has mused on the virtue of Stoicism.  He's also taken this to another level with his site, The Daily Stoic.  Here's the site:

http://dailystoic.com/

He has also released a book by the same title.  I will not recommend it as I have not read it yet.  However, as soon as I finish the "Booker Award" winning novel, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, I plan on listening to it as well.  I suspect it will be as terrific as the other works Holiday has published.  In the meantime, I unconditionally endorse Mr. Holiday's work and encourage you to check out his site here.

My wife, Dawn mused yesterday at lunch that to her, Stoicism seems like a form of anger management.  I think she's onto something.  

One of the things Holiday talks about with Stoicism is both understanding and accepting just how little in life we have control over.  He also offers cautionary tales from history (General and President U.S. Grant) who let their ego get the better of them in vain attempts to impress others.  Again, trying to control things simply out of our grasp.

What's my take on Stoicism?  Well, I think it is great, it is beautiful.  And not unlike many other things great and beautiful, it is extremely difficult to understand, let alone master.  




So where to start?  Here's a suggestion.  It comes from the quote my friend, the Rev. Jay Wolin, shared this on Facebook this morning by John O'Donohue:


"May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder."

I like this quote.  I think it ties in nicely with, for me, what is the root of Stoicism- control what you can and appreciate whatever beauty may come your way in a day.  

Take this photo below, for example.  On the day I snapped it, water was barely flowing, a trickle.  Did it diminish its beauty?  Not for me.  True, in the winter, it is far more striking to see it frozen solid.  Or in the spring, when the rains have come and made its trickle a robust flood it is more "impressive."  Yet those days are far removed.  I can no more make that a reality than I can cause time to rewind and help the Cubs have a better second or seventh inning of last night's game.

But what I can do is appreciate what I see and feel around me.  And I think it is OK to only experience the "in the moment" feeling for a short while before being pulled back into the other external stuff.  
What mattered is you had that experience, however brief.

A tiny waterfall off my bike path.  Photo by J. Berta.

Oh, and lest anyone think I am some proficient practitioner of Stoicism, I'm not.  Truth be told I acted pretty damn un-Stoic this weekend on several occasions.  I even had a couple mirco-bouts of mini-depression/anger.  I'd like to tell you I re-read Meditations and all was well.  Nope.  I just went to bed, counting on the next day being better.

And it was.

I'll close with a reference back to the opening photo.  Here are two trees.  One stands majestic, wrapped in a royal red robe of crimson leaves.  The other, standing subordinate and behind it is bare.  But for the image saved on my iPhone, I would never be able to see these trees this way again.  Should I mourn for having missed seeing the second tree's fall folage?  Of course not.  That would be both stupid and silly.  It's a damn tree after all.  

Yet I can look at this image and recall seeing it in person and know that was able to see it, experience it, enjoy it.  I had no control over the leaves changing, or falling, or the wind blowing or any of that stuff.  I had no control over the sun shining or the temperature being a glorious 70+ degrees.  No control, no control at all.

Except over my appreciation of the experience.  

I'll take it.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

p.s., here's a link to order Meditations via Amazon.

 

It's Almost Over

My absentee ballot for this year's general election.

Greetings All:

I just noticed it has been about six weeks since I last posted.  I'll spare you all the litany of excuses why I haven't written for a while and instead, simply say:  It wasn't enough of a priority.  

Yah, and um, what is going on in the world...let's see?

Well, first the good news:  The Cubs won the pennant.  Yes, that's right, for the first time in seven decades, The Chicago Cubs are playing in the World Series.  Although I am clearly a bandwagon fan, I am happy for all my fellow Cubs fan friends.  Last night, we were in our friends' backyard and they had the game on the big screen, projected onto a screen.  It was fun to watch.  And far more fun to watch my friends revel in the joy of the moment.  If Iowa ever goes undefeated and wins the National Championship, I know I'll feel the same way.

There is the little matter of winning the next few games.  And Cleveland is no slouch as a team this year.  Still, here's where I stand on who I think is gonna win...

My $10.00 wager on the Cubs winning it all from the sports book at my favorite Vegas hotel.

The other big thing we're all dealing with is the election.  This has been a particularly brutal election.  I read something today about how nasty the 1828 election was.  I was going to link to it but cannot find it.  And then again, that was then, this is now.

We've got our own problems.

Here's my two-cents on this election:  

1.  It will be over soon (thank God); and
2.  We will be OK, whoever wins.

I get it that people are upset about the choices, the issues, the circumstances...the bullshit.  (I do not think I have ever used profanity in my blog before, yet I cannot think of a more appropriate or accurate word to describe what is going on with our body politic.  Sigh.

I have not gotten too deep in the weeds about politics on this blog.  Maybe that is one of the reasons I have not written much on my blog.  I suppose it is one way I have avoided the elephant defecating in the room.  But here it is.

And since it is with us, I should make it clear that I do have a horse in this race and it is not the gentlemen from New York.  Based on the latest polling, it is pretty damn clear that Trump, like the Dodgers last night, is down to a handful of outs.  According to The New York Times, Clinton has a 93% chance of winning.  Here's the link.

As I commented on a friend's Facebook wall, this is NOT the time for those on side of HRC to take a victory lap/spike the ball/fill in the blank about talking shit about this win.  

Although I am glad it appears one Donald J. Trump will not be President, this is not without the clear recognition that many, many (that's code for tens of millions) of my fellow citizens are voting for him.

And before anyone jumps down my throat and calls them all members of the alt-right or "deplorables," they are far from it.  They are tax-payers, active/reserve duty members of our Armed Forces, Veterans, civil servants and first-responders.  They are people for whom certain matters, social issues if you will, are critically important.  They do not place Mr. Trump on the pedestal of hero worship.  Instead, they simply view him as the vessel from which their beliefs would be best served.

Then there are those for whom this election is a higher elevation of torture.  They are certainly no fans of Clinton.  Many are lifelong, committed Republicans.  The thought of not voting for their party's nominee is repugnant.  And yet, and yet...

And yet they cannot do so.  They are locked onto the true north of their own moral compass.  For them, the needle consistently points away from casting a ballot for Mr. Trump.

One of my friends on Facebook is such a person.  He is one of the finest people I know.  He has not only fought for this nation, he has led others in battle.  He is a thoughtful, gracious, intelligent, and compassionate person.  He is unapologetic in his faith, yet I never feel he is forcing it down my throat.  If anything, he slides out a chair and invites you to sit down with him.

And he's taken some HEAT rounds for this position.  For some, the "either your with us or against us" stance is non-negotiable.  That's sad.  

It is fine to be passionate about causes that matter to you.  It is not fine (uncool, actually, if you ask me) to get upset at someone else, especially a friend who does not agree with you.  I know I've been guilty of this myself in the past and I'm working on it.  What's the old saying, "Knowing you've got a problem is the first step in a cure..."

This morning (October 24, 2016), it was announced that former California State Senator and former student radical Tom Hayden had passed away.  You can read his obituary here.  He was someone who spent over half a century fighting for what he believed.  Some of those fights were ones I could not support, such as traveling to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  (Interestingly, The State Department looked the over way during the first trip, utilizing it as a way to initiate formal peace negotiations.  I still think it was an anti-American thing to do and Hayden said as much in his book, Reunion.)

Like him or hate him, one cannot deny the impact of Tom Hayden.  He was involved in the process.  Like him or hate him, Donald J. Trump has gotten millions of people involved in the process.  Like her or hate her, Hillary Rodham Clinton has gotten millions involved (or perhaps kept them involved, but participating none the less).  Let's not forget Senator Sanders from Vermont.  I did not support him this year, yet am impressed, and yes...grateful for his contribution to the process.  Millions of new voters, mostly young, came out to the polls and crowded into caucus locations to "Fell the Bern."  That heat was felt in the Clinton campaign all primary season.
It's almost over, that's the good news.  Here's the bad news:  the problems and challenges we face will still be there...

I've heard several well-known political observers quote and paraphrase the famous response that Benjamin Franklin gave to the woman on the streets of Philadelphia who inquired as to what type of Government this new "Constitution" had given the people?  Franklin replied, "A republic....if you can keep it."

With all the negativity and anger surrounding this campaign, it is easy to feel down.  The yard sign below is a sentiment I suspect more than a few folks feel this year.

From my cousin Ivan's Facebook page, kinda sums up the way a LOT of folks feel this year.

Whether we like it or not, it's our job, all of ours, to keep our republic.  So how do we reconcile our (collective) feelings of dismay with our civic obligation to engage in the process?  
That is admittedly not an easy answer.  Yet I do offer a few suggestions:  

1.  Vote.  Go to the polls, do early voting, get an absentee ballot, but vote.  If you cannot bring yourself to vote for the top of the ticket, fine.  But please do not ignore the many down ballot races.  Oh, and educate yourself on the candidates;

2.  Stay Informed.  After the elections are over, it will be natural for many, many people to say, "Thank God this is over!" and do the mental equivalent of balling up the Christmas lights, shoving them in boxes and hiding them in the garage.  We cannot do that.  Stay informed, at least on a few issues that matter to you.  With the internet, the information is easy to obtain but PLEASE, vet the source;

3.  If you have a friend who you had a following out with, who posted something on social media that just, well, pissed you off, let it go.  Reach out to that person.  Have a conversation, listening for the lion's share of it.  Trust me, you'll feel better; and

4.  Recognize that no matter what happens, we'll be fine.  I hope the Cubs win, but if they do not, we'll be fine.  If ______ wins, we'll be fine.  Deep breath, big smile, it's all good.

Yes, the election will be over soon.  Then the hard work begins.  Lets all get to work.

Be well my friends, 
Jeno

And p.s., GO VOTE!  Thank you.

A City Silenced

A mailbox in New York City covered with missing people fliers from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Public domain/fair use claimed, from Pinterest, website link posted in the credits secion.

Greetings All:

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children."
 
President George W. Bush

Two days ago we acknowledged the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  There have been many tributes to those lost and the end of our "normal."  

It was 15 years ago today that I experienced what it was like to see the "end of normal."  Please allow me to elaborate.

9/11 was a Tuesday.  For those of us who worked in New York City, no one went to work the following day.  It was day off no one wanted.  Then came the following day, Thursday.  

Back to work...back to The City...but far from back to normal.

A normal commute would be noise and bustle.  Not so this day.  The best way I can describe it is what was missing from that day.  It was the noise, the honking horns, the general bustle of a city of millions of moving feet.  

All that was missing that day.  I returned to a city silenced.

What was new were the fliers.  The fliers of the missing.  They adorned lamp posts, buildings, and mailboxes.  I recall staring at them, reading the names, absorbing the faces and knowing in my heart they would never be found.  

This past Sunday, Dawn and I went to The Figge Art Museum.  It's a terrific place and as someone who can barely draw a straight line (with a ruler) I am so impressed with the artists whose work adorns its walls.  There was one piece in particular that struck me.  It is entitled, The List by Georges Schreiber.  

Here is what The Figge Museum writes about this work on its website:  "The List presents a timeless reminder of the horrors of war. In it, mothers, sisters, sons, and brothers strain to see the names posted on a casualty list."

The List by Schreiber, from The Figge Art Museum website, fair use/sharing authorized, full link below in the sources.

This painting is so gripping in its silent emotion.  The subjects utter not a word, instead staring intently at that single piece of paper nailed to the tree, hoping, praying not to read a name.  For so long as that name was NOT THERE, hope lived that their loved one did as well.

Not so on 9/11.  We knew, we ALL knew that by that "first Thursday after" that anyone not heard from while the sun still stood that sad Tuesday was lost.  

And yet the posters still went up.  I'd have done the same thing.

War, whether when in Schreiber's time or ours, is tragic.  Tragic, stupid, wasteful, and yes, necessary.  When war ends, hopefully victory is the result.  

Yet even in victory, there is a cost.  It is a cost paid in blood and treasure and joy and sound.

Perhaps the interest that war charges to our collective soul is that most awful silence.  Sort of like that silence experienced that Thursday 15 years ago.  A silence that is a first cousin to the subjects is Schreiber's painting seven decades ago.  

Whether a village or a city, the silence of war drowns every other sound out, from our ears...and from our souls. 

As I often type on my Facebook posts:  To remember is to honor.  Let us all remember those who were lost that tragic day, the voices forever silenced.  I think the city's silence that somber Thursday was a homage, perhaps only subconsciously, to those lost.

I'll send you off from this blog post with Paul Simon performing his hauntingly iconic song "The Sound of Silence," on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  You can listen to it here.

Be well my friends,
Jeno 

Sources

Opening photo, full webpage citation:  http://tinyurl.com/jeygls8

http://figgeartmuseum.org/Collections/American/S/The-List,-1941-45-0826.aspx


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG7RKpoi3lo  

Penalty Declined

My ticket from Iowa's opening game, September 3, 2016

(Quick author's note:  I am experimenting with inserting weblinks directly into my blog posts.  If you see a word underlined, left-click on that word and it should bring you to the story.  Thanks, as always, for reading my blog.)

Greetings All:

Saturday, I was able to attend Iowa's first football game of the 2016 season.  It is always fun to be back in Iowa City and as my friend Dave and I drove into town, we marveled at both the changes and the similarities to when we were there...three decades ago.

We caught up with a few of our fraternity brothers and families.  Although this game did not have the representation future B1G Ten games will certainly have, it was great to see old friends.

 The game itself went thankfully according to plan.  Iowa eventually wore down a spirited Miami of Iowa team, securing a 45-21 victory.  I have no doubt that other games this season will not be so lopsided so I may it a point to enjoy this one.

The scoreboard at Kinnick Stadium, September 3, 2016. Photo by J. Berta.

As I have written before, college football is a minor passion of mine.  I like it for a variety of reasons and am probably a bit too invested (w-a-y too invested my wife might say, depending on the game and score) in my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes.  Part of it is a genuine joy I experience in the game and having a shared experience with the place I went to school.  I suppose another reason is my less-than-noble desire to see a team I have pledged allegiance to win.  In any event, I do remind myself (sometimes sooner than later) that it is a game.  A game, win or lose, that will be with me next week and next season.  It is timeless.

While football may be timeless, players are not.  They get older, then old.  Long hair gives way to receding hairlines, if not outright baldness.  Some go on to stellar NFL careers.  Others never play another down after college.  

Then there are those who do not age...because they cannot.  They are gone.  One such player that always comes to mind is Nile Kinnick.  

Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy, playing for Iowa.  He was also an amazing student and by all accounts an outstanding human being.  He also died far too young.

When I lived out East I would occasionally run into Michigan fans.  One day, some "Go Blue" fan snidely asked me, "Does Iowa even have a Heisman winner?"  It was more of a taunt than a question. 

I replied:  "Well, we have one.  But when your Heisman winner is a WAR HERO, you only need one."  

Discussion over.  

Nile Kinnick perished in the Pacific during World War II as a Navy pilot.  Rather than crash land his plane on the deck of a carrier and risk damaging the flight deck, he chose to ditch in the water.  In doing so, he lost his life. 

Nile Kinnick gave an immortal speech when he received the Heisman.  Here's the link to it and if you have not heard it before, of if it has been a while, I encourage you to take the two minutes to listen to it.

(This is your first "left click" moment, just FYI.)

Despite Kinnick's undeniable status as a fallen hero, something tells me Kinnick would have NOT approved of my comeback to my Michigan fan friend.  He was a humble man who disdained bluster and bravado.  Here's a quote from him that graces the back of a t-shirt I bought from my friends who run Public House in Davenport:

A quote from Hawkeye great, Nile Kinnick.  Photo by J. Berta, t-shirt from Public House bar, Davenport, Iowa.

So to the memory of Nile Kinnick, I do apologize for what was a blatant effort to leverage his memory to win an argument.  I will endeavor to not do that again.

Speaking of fallen athletes, two college football players were lost this summer:  One was the former punter for Michigan State (2011-2014), Mike Sadler.  The other was Nebraska's punter, Sam Foltz.  They were athletes at the height of their college careers with their whole life in front of them.  They were denied the opportunity, as William Butler Yeats wrote to live long enough,"... to comb grey hair."  (This is a reference to Yeats' work, The Wild Swans at Coole, (1919) "In Memory of Major Robert Gregory."  I have a link to the this work int credits.))

At their game Saturday (September 3, 2016) Nebraska did a truly class act.  They took the field for a punt and let the clock run down, taking a delay of game penalty.

As the clock ran down, it was clear that this was a memorial to a fallen friend, a teammate lost.  Nebraska was heavily favored against Fresno State and five more yards would have helped their field position against the mighty Nebraska Cornhusters.

Frenso State would have none of it.  In true sportsmanship, they declined the penalty.   Here's the link to that story.


College football is many things.  True, it is a game.  It does not determine election outcomes or the stock market's value or the Geo-political balance of power in the world.  What is it, besides a game, is a reflection of our values, of the things that matter to us.  When I saw what Nebraska did and when I saw the response from Fresno State, I smiled.  

While Fresno State lost the game, they won the hearts of Nebraska fans.  They declined a penalty...and claimed the honor of the day.
 I'll leave you with this photo of the formation.  You can read the story and see a video clip here:

Nebraska took a delay-of-game penalty on its first possession after just 10 players took the field as a tribute to fallen former punter Sam Foltz, who was killed in a car crash in July. AP Photo/Eric Olson.  Photo originally posted on ESPN's website, fair use claimed for this non-commercial blog.

R.I.P. Sam Foltz & Mike Sadler. 

Be well my friends,
Jeno 

Sources:

http://www.espn.com/classic/000802nilekinnick.html 

https://www.facebook.com/publichousedavenport/

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17460007/nebraska-cornhuskers-honor-late-teammate-sam-foltz-lining-punter 

http://www.bartleby.com/148/2.html

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/9/3/12788464/nebraska-punter-sam-foltz-tribute?utm_campaign=sbnation&utm_content=article%3Afixed&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/nebraskas-tribute-to-sam-foltz-on-first-punt-of-the-year-will-give-you-chills/

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/09/nebraska-football-honors-punter-sam-foltz-delay-of-game


 

Checking In On The Last Two Months

My KISS ticket from the August 5, 2016 show.

Greetings All:

It has been almost two months since I have posted on my blog.  I used to post a couple of times a week.  For the past couple of years I've been averaging a post a week.  So what happened?

The simple answer is this:  I chose not to write.  Oh, I suppose I could point out that things have been a bit full in my calendar and life.  Still, that is an excuse.  It all comes down to time and how one spends it.  I simply chose to not write.

Now it is true that this has been a busier than usual summer.  We had some serious remodeling done to the house.  To give you an idea of just how serious, please see below:

Here's the kitchen in full "demo" mode...

The new laundry room and (cough, cough) a LOT of dust...

 

Here's the dining room, postmortem, soon to be re-born as the mud room.

This project began in earnest in late June and just now it is about over.  We were without a functioning kitchen and ended up washing coffee mugs in the bathroom sink.  Despite the nagging inconvenience, it was clearly a "First World" problem.  We were still living better than about 99.79% of the world.

Nonetheless, our daily routines were altered...a bunch.  This was not a typical summer and more nights than not I simply did not have the energy or desire to write.

So what has happened in the last couple of months.  The other big news is I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve.  I do not talk much about being in the military.  One reason is that I want this blog to be about subjects that I find interesting and hopefully thought-provoking to others.  It is not that I am not proud of being in the military.  If anything, I consider my being an Army Reservist to be a major aspect of who I am.  I'll make an exception here and share a promotion picture.

Dawn pinning on my new rank at my promotion ceremony on July 7, 2016

 The other big news is that I started hosting a weekly, pre-recorded radio show, "QC Veterans' Roll Call."  The show is sponsored by our local classic rock station, 97X and its parent company, Townsquare Media.  I owe my friend Greg a debt of gratitude for passing on my name to the powers that be who gave me a shot at hosting the show.

The show's purpose is to provide honest, relevant (and when possible, entertaining) information to our local Veteran and military audience, as well as their families.  The show has been running for a few months now (almost parallel with house re-model) and

http://97x.com/category/qc-veterans-roll-call/


This was a summer that was pretty typical with events that occur this time of year.  I "ran" the Bix 7 (well, most of it anyway) and paid the price for failing miserably to even make the effort to train for it.  We had the John Deere Classic golf tournament and I marshaled the 16th hole during the Pro Am with my Rotary Club.  My personal highlight of the summer from a "fun" standpoint was seeing the rock band KISS perform.

KISS performing at The Mark, er I mean the iWireless Center, August 5, 2016.

 

 It was a terrific show and all the more amazing that two of band members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, are old enough to be drawing Social Security and are still rocking it and rocking it HARD.  As Dawn and our daughters were out of town, I went with my friend Dave and we had a terrific time!  

As I think back on the summer and all that has happened, I am grateful for it.  We got thru the construction and the petty inconveniences.  The radio show is up and running and we've been incredibly fortunate to have a wide variety of guests participate.  Now, although the temperature is still safely in the 80s, fall is around the corner.  The kids are back at school and football is about to start.  Fall is always a fresh start, at least for me.

Perhaps it will be a fresh start to my blog writing as well.

Be well my friends,
Jeno