Dearly Beloved

Prince's first concert ticket, public domain/fair use, Wikipedia, full cite below in the sources.

Greetings All:

The big and tragic news story from this week is the passing of the musician Prince.  Born Prince Rogers Nelson, he blew up the music scene, first in Minneapolis and then the music world.  President Obama called Prince a "creative icon" and there have been countless tributes pouring in about the man and his music.  I've got a few stories posted in the sources about him.  The photo that follows below is from a web posting of an interview with Paul Westerberg.  Westerberg was part of the music scene in the early 80s in Minneapolis and knew of Prince.  It's worth a listen. 

My favorite tribute is from Bob Mould.  Mould also hails from Minneapolis and is arguably my favorite artist.  I love the fact his star is right by Prince's in the photo below.  Here's how Mould concluded his eulogy for Prince:

"Make no mistake: Prince was the brightest star in these Northern skies. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fellow musicians. Prince’s music will give consolation and comfort to the collective grief. Godspeed."

The First Avenue "Wall of Fame," fair use claimed, full cite below in sources.

I cannot say I am a huge Prince fan.  I did like a number of his songs, especially "Let's Go Crazy."  The second to last credit in the sources is a link to his amazing halftime show at the 2007 Super Bowl.  It's making the rounds on Facebook (along with a number of heartfelt tributes to Prince) and it is terrific to watch.  He opens with, what else?  (I won't tell you, you'll have to watch it for yourself.  :))

I had forgotten how hard it had rained at that Superbowl.  When the producers told Prince it was raining, he asked,  "Can you make it rain harder?"  

Other artists would have demanded changes to the show or scrapped it all together.  Not Prince, not this artist who played and sang thru the rain...and used FOUR electric guitars.  Rock on.

Prince was a complicated man.  His music caused outrage to some.  One may recall Tipper Gore's visceral reaction to "Darling Nikki."  For others, he was a source of liberation.  He did not just push the envelope, he shredded it.  

He also was a tenacious fighter for what mattered to him.  He went to war with Warner Bros, his label.  It took almost two decades for the two to make up and make music together again.  When they did, he made sure he got his catalog of songs back.

He also had a  deeply spiritual side.  This he kept to himself.  Some would say he was a hypocrite.  I would say he was exercising his right to practice his religion as he sought fit.  I understand he gave generously to many causes and did so privately.  Again, that was his choice.

Here's my best Prince song memory.

In 1984, I was riding in my friend's Camaro and he had the auto-reverse tape deck, a huge deal back then.  "Purple Rain" was the last song on side two.  My friend, I.D., posted this photo of the cassette and I thank him for allowing me to share it here on my blog.

The cassette version of Prince's epic album Purple Rain.  Photo used by permission.

So we're driving along and "Purple Rain" ends.  The tape flips over and "Let's Go Crazy" begins with Prince's voice over what I think is a keyboard mimicking a church organ.  

He begins:

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to get through this thing call life..."

This goes on for a few minutes before the music starts.  A crash of percussion, a keyboard creating an impossible to stop head bopping and the slashing guitar chords, all mixed together is an incredible song.  

Meanwhile, we're in the Camaro, flying down the road.  This was no baby V6 engine, dear readers.  No, my friends, this was the V8 and it roared in approval to the music, the RPMs climbing and falling as the engine shifted, akin to a gyrating dance floor.

I don't know why I remember this, yet I do.  Perhaps it was something about being young and the magic of Friday nights.  Or maybe it was about being in a car I admired, coveted even.  Well, I'll stop now as this is getting way too deep for a Saturday morning.  I still like the song and am sorry the artist who gave it to us cannot perform it live ever again.

As Prince wraps up the monologue of "Let's Go Crazy," he offers this advice:

"If the elevator of life tries to bring you down, 
Go crazy, punch a higher floor."

Something tells me Prince has reached that higher floor.  

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

Opening photo:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29#/media/File:Ticket_to_Prince%E2%80%99s_First_Concert.jpg 

https://bcnn1wp.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/president-obama-issues-statement-on-princes-passing/

https://soundcloud.com/scottnewsman/paul-westerberg-talks-about-the-passing-of-prince

https://www.yahoo.com/music/read-bob-mould-eulogy-prince-163100606.html

http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9832-everybody-is-a-star-how-the-rock-club-first-avenue-made-minneapolis-the-center-of-music-in-the-80s/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341522/prince-dead

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/prince-dead-at-57-20160421 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Nikki

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6062423/prince-deal-with-warner-bros-new-album-coming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys 

http://www.metrolyrics.com/lets-go-crazy-lyrics-prince.html 

3:00, Frank

The iconic "Sands" hotel marque, circa 1960, Wikipedia, fair use claimed.

Greetings All:

I returned from Las Vegas two Thursdays ago after attending the National Conference of Exchangors.  This was a business trip, no really it was.  In fact, from Sunday evening until Thursday morning, I never left the resort property.  

We stayed at The Tuscany.  It's off the strip by about a block and is not exactly where the "hip crowd" hangs out at night.  That was fine with me.  After all, this was a business trip.

Yet it was not all work.  On the last night in town, I had the good fortune to see "The Rat Pack is Back!" in The Copa Room at the hotel. 

It was a super show.  I mean, it was just terrific.  I've got a couple of photos below, one of me with the cast and of the promo poster for the show.  I have also a link to the show in the credits.  If you are in Vegas, GO SEE THIS SHOW!  You'll thank me afterwards.

Yours truly with "The Rat Pack," photo by J. Berta.

"The Rat Pack is Back!" poster, photo by J. Berta

A bit of history is in order.  "The Rat Pack" has been synonymous with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and to a lesser extent, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.  However, this is not the genesis of this group.  It goes back to Humphrey Bogart, who was the original leader of "The Rat Pack."  The story associated with this group's birth is when Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacall lamented after Bogart had returned with his crew (after a night out in where else, Vegas) by saying:  "You look like a goddamn rat pack."

And thus the legend was born.

By the time 1960 rolled around, "The Rat Pack" was in full effect and were the undisputed royalty of Vegas.  The show I saw was such a wonderful tribute to these amazing men.  Drew Anthony plays Dean Martin (I have a link to his site below, please check it out) and the other two cast members' names escape me.  All of them honored both the spirit and story of these amazing performers, icons actually.

The irony is that Frank, Dino, et al did not like the name, "Rat Pack."  Instead, they preferred, "The Summit," with Frank being "The Chairman of the Board."  They were on top of the world.

However, it was not always the case.  Case in point, Frank Sinatra.  

After a meteoric rise, he experienced an equally dramatic (and painful) fall.  The 1950s were an especially brutal time for him.  The music stopped, the fame went away and, of course, the money.  Yet what was perhaps the deepest cut were the people who turned their back on him.  One minute everyone wants to buy you drink and the next, they walk right by you without saying a word.  How that must have stung.

I read this story from the book, Sinatra 100 by Charles Pigonne about how Sinatra was so alone that he had no where to go for Thanksgiving.  From the book, as told by Joe Scognamillo, proprietor of Patsy's Italian Restaurant:

"After he finished eating, Frank says to my father, 'I think I'll have Thanksgiving here with you guys.  What time are you serving?'  My dad looked at Frank, and understood how alone he felt.  He could have told Frank that the restaurant was closed on Thanksgiving and invited him home to dinner.  But he knew that would hurt Frank's pride, so he just said, 'Three o'clock, Frank.  We're serving at three.'"

I've got a link to a New York Times story below that also relates this tale.  This is a story that reminds me no matter "great" or "famous" someone appears to be, no one is immune from loneliness, from rejection.  In the same story, Mr.  Scognamillo related how when Frank was down and out people would walk by him at the restaurant, ignoring him.  Here is the same man that just a few years' later would be larger than life, headlining The Sands and being THE act to see, THE man to hang out with, cheer, love, adore, worship even.

A book that has recently had a profoundly positive impact on me is Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.  People I admire like Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferriss have spoken positively about this book and with good reason.   Meditations is the private diary of the Aurelius, a Roman Emperor.  It's an amazing book and I have a link to it below in the sources.  One of the lines that came to mind as I was working on this blog post is"...that poor thing called fame..."

Poor is fame indeed.  Those who have it know in their hearts that some day it will end.  I suppose that when Frank, et al, were holding court at The Sands they knew the wild cheering would fade, snuffed out like a cigarette in a blackened heap of smoke.  

...and end up having to find a place to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

 
Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

Opening photo:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sands_Hotel_and_Casino_logo.jpg

http://ratpackisback.com/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Pack

http://www.deanlives.com/ 

http://www.amazon.com/Sinatra-100-Charles-Pignone/dp/0500517827

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/why-sinatra-liked-patsys-restaurant/comment-page-1/?_r=0 

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius

  

A Welcome Bit of Madness

The 2016 NCAA Men's Division I basketball pairings (NCAA/CBS), fair use, photo by J. Berta.

Greetings All:

It's that time of year, the college basketball tournament.  Commonly referred to as "March Madness," it is arguably one of the major sporting events in America.  It started last Thursday and now the field, started at 64, is down to eight.  By Sunday night, it will be cut in half, with the "Final Four" selected to play for the National Championship.

I've never followed college basketball closely.  However, this year, Iowa gave us genuine hope that this could be "our" year.  Long story short- it wasn't.  Although we made the tournament and won our first game against a tough Temple team, we ran into a buzz saw in the form of the Villanova Wildcats in the second round.  It wasn't even close.

Still, the tournament has had its moments of fun, of excitement, living up to the "Madness" name.  Case in point:   Last Friday night, The University of Northern Iowa, UNI, won a game against a highly favored team with a miracle shot.  Paul Jesperson chucked the ball at the hoop from damn-near half court, hitting the glass and bouncing into the net as the backboard turned crimson.   

I have a video link below in the credits to this amazing shot.  Madness indeed.

After Sunday's loss I pretty much tuned out basketball.  Let others revel in the "madness," and to those lucky few who had picked the "right" teams to lose in the first rounds, my hat's off to you.

For those of you who might be wondering what I mean about picking the right teams, I'll elaborate.  One aspect of this tournament that is unique from other sporting events is the seeding of the teams.  The opening photo is how the 64 teams are ranked and how they winnow each other down to the eventual champion.  The best ranking is a #1 seed, the worst, #16.  In fact, there are a few teams who have to "play in" for the chance to get into the tournament.

As you might imagine, this generates the...opportunity for folks to try their luck/skill/wild guesses to figure out who might win it all.  It is estimated that over 40 million people have filled out one or more such brackets were filled out in 2015.  I've got a link to this story and others about this uniquely American sports phenomenon below in the credits, please check them out if you'd like.  

I did not fill out a bracket this year.  I had several opportunities and decided that this was a great opportunity to practice some selective "saying NO" to non-essential things.  I was glad I did, considering how some of the "favored teams" did not make it out of the first round.  Those poor souls had their "bracket busted."  More importantly, at least for me, I found myself not spending time wondering how my "bracket" was holding up and could do other things.

Still, on Monday I was a bit sad that Iowa was out of the tournament.  I had secret hopes that maybe, just maybe we could find a way to re-capture the lighting in a bottle we had in January.  Yet I knew the chances were slim.  Slim gave way to nil before the first half of the game on Sunday was done.

I was happy for my friends who still had a team in and would likely watch at least some of the remaining games with passing interest.  I suppose I was disappointed that I no longer had a reason to follow the tournament and that it was back to the normal, the mundane.  


Then Tuesday happened.

Most of us awoke to learn that another terror attack had befallen Europe, this time Brussels.  Once again, cowards chose to kill those with no chance of fighting back.  It was a shameful and senseless act.  I can live to be 100 and never begin to understand the rationale for such evil acts.

As of this writing, BBC News reports 31 civilians have been murdered with another 60 in critical condition.  Hundreds of others have also suffered injuries, both to the body, brain and soul.  

I saw this picture on Facebook and thought it was such a fitting, beautiful, silent tribute to the resolve of the Belgium people to stand together and stand up to the purveyors of mayhem and terror. 

The Brussels Main Train Station, lit up in the colors of the Belgium flag, March 23, 2016.  Photo credit to SNCB, (Belgium public transportation) Facebook, fair use claimed, full citation below.

I doubt there are many folks in Brussels who are following our little sporting event here.  I can't blame them.

As I mentioned, I was not going to fill out a bracket this year.  Then the opportunity came to enter a a friendly competition with a few friends for the remaining 16 teams.  I decided I could use the diversion, however momentary.  Here are my picks:

My "Sweet 16" bracket, 7 of 8, not too shabby.  Photo by J. Berta

There will still be many moments of hardwood drama to come in this year's basketball tournament.  There will be last-second heroics and heart-breaking missed shots.  To whatever school cuts down the nets and hoists the championship trophy, I offer my hearty congrats.  It is an accomplishment of note, perhaps even worthy in the annals of intercollegiate immortality.

Still, let us remember that for some, this week was not about bouncing balls but exploding bombs, of screams, not cheers.  For some, for many the diversion of sports, of any entertainment is simply not possible.  It may be a long time until they are able to enjoy such carefree fun.  For now, they are too busy looking over their shoulders and clutching tightly their child's hand.

When I think about the terror attacks of Tuesday against the backdrop of this tournament, I realize just what a charmed life I lead.  While I shudder at the images on the TV, I know this is many miles away.  I am able to pull my gaze to a bracket and indulge in a trivial endeavor, knowing that winning or losing is a meaningless result.  There is comfort in such action.  Filling out a bracket is normal, it's what we're supposed to do this time of year.  

In short, it's a welcome bit of madness.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2016/3/19/11267450/northern-iowa-stuns-texas-with-halfcourt-game-winning-buzzer-beater

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Championship

http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/03/17/march-madness-employee-productivity-problem-is-overstated-yet-influences-corporate-change/#3faac000b2b8 

http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/12465741/estimated-70-million-brackets-9-million-bets-ncaa-tournament

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/mar/22/brussels-airport-explosions-live-updates

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-35869266

https://www.facebook.com/SNCB/photos/a.844798168903527.1073741830.484217188294962/964964226886920/?type=3&theater
 

The Mirror of a Half-Century Ago

Senator Kennedy in Indianapolis, 1968.  Photo credit, Wikipedia, fair use claimed, full cite below.

Greetings All:

Last Friday night, things got rough in Chicago.  A certain candidate for a certain Federal office called off a campaign event.  It was probably for the best, as tensions had risen to an untenable level.  Even with the event cancelled, there was still violence.  Last Saturday night in Kansas City things were less violent.  However, whenever the police deploy pepper spray, it's a sign that things aren't exactly calm.

I watched some of Saturday night's rally with a mixture of profound disappointment and a sense of gallows' humor.  Here was an example of our democracy in action, or perhaps "acting out" is a more precise phrase.

This election year has gotten particularly vicious.  It makes me long for the days of Bill Clinton's sex life plastered all over The Star and other check-out line tabloids.  I have to shake my head at just how dysfunctional things are right now.  If Tuesday night's primary results (March 15th) are an indication of what the future holds, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but last Saturday night I watched CNN's series on the 1960s.  This episode featured the year of my birth, 1968.  It reminded me that we Americans have a long (and certainly not proud) tradition of mixing violence with our politics.  Certainly not to the extent of certain third world nations where losing an election can be a death sentence.  

Still, go back a generation (wow, am I that old, I guess I am) to '68 and you'll see that Chicago was the setting for another violent clash.  It was the Democratic National Convention.  While there was tension, even physical altercations in in the hall, that was nothing compared to what was going on in the streets.  

There, police brawled with protesters and reporters.  I've got a link to the story below in the sources.  As the TV cameras rolled, Americans were engaged in the pitched street battles of 1920s Germany.  As arrests were made the chant of, "The whole world is watching!" mixed with the whine of police sirens and the burning stench of tear gas.  It was ugly.  

The Democratic Convention was the third act in that year's tragedy.  The previous act was two months before with the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy.  The opening act was yet another killing, that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  That crime occurred in April.

Robert Kennedy, then campaigning for president, was in Indianapolis.  It was there that he gave, at least to me, one of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century.  I have a link to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTW5Gq03KM

To me, this This thing I admire about Kennedy's speech that sad April night is that he viewed the crowd as fellow citizens, as peers.  Peers not in the sense of wealth or influence or power or privilege.  No, instead, peers in a more genuine form of measurement:  shared grief.  

He crystallized this when he quoted Aeschylus, a ancient Greek poet.  It is both hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking:


"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

As I look back on the sad and tragic events of '68, basically a half-century ago, I can't help but think it is a mirror of today's event.  A mirror, after all, gives an imperfect image of what one is viewing.  The reflection is close, yet not perfect.

We live in a time of strive, without question.  There is a LOT of anger out there and unfortunately, I do not see a cooling off period anytime soon.  Yet we're Americans.  We find a way to get through our times of struggle and come out on the other side better, stronger.

Perhaps things are not as bad now as we think they are.  Then again, perhaps we haven't learned a damn thing in the last half-century.  I like to believe the former.  In support thereof, I turn to Mr. Tim Ferriss and his praise of the Stoic philosopher, Seneca.

Ferriss is a fan of the Stoic movement and has just released an audio book, The Tao of Seneca.  I have in in my library and plan on listening to it soon.

One of the letters of Seneca Ferriss profiles is #13, "On Groundless Fears."  Here is a portion of the letter, right below the image of the man himself:

Inspired sculpture of Seneca, 17th Century, artist unknown, photo credit, Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, sharing authorized, obtained from Wikipedia, full citation listed in the credits.

"There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality. I am not speaking with you in the Stoic strain but in my milder style. For it is our Stoic fashion to speak of all those things, which provoke cries and groans, as unimportant and beneath notice; but you and I must drop such great-sounding words, although, heaven knows, they are true enough.

What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes; since it may be that the dangers before which you paled as if they were threatening you, will never come upon you; they certainly have not yet come. Accordingly, some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow."

I wonder if people back in 1968 had the some concerns and fears we have today.  I'm guessing they did.  The parallels are too many to ignore:  A lengthy, unpopular war; political and racial unrest; economic uncertainty; and the list goes on.  Yet I choose to be an optimist and believe that we, as Americans, will get thru this current sad state of affairs.  We will do it not by focusing on the differences between us, but that which binds us close.  When Kennedy spoke to the crowd in Indy that April night, he did so not so much as a politician, but as a fellow mourner.  His own loss rendered unto him a legitimacy to cross racial and class divides.

Perhaps when my kids look back at this year, they will draw comparisons to their own time.  If they do, I hope it will be for the good things, and not the bad, they are experiencing.  I hope that is the case.  That would be a much more pleasant image to view than the one reflecting back at us now.

Be well my friends, 
Jeno

Sources:

(Opening photo) 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy's_speech_on_the_assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.#/media/File:RFK_speech_on_MLK.png 

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-12/trump-calls-off-campaign-rally-in-chicago-after-large-protests

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-interrupted-times-kansas-city-rally-calls-protesters/story?id=37607094&nwltr=abcn_fb  

https://worldhistoryproject.org/1968/8/28/police-riot-at-the-democratic-national-convention

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy's_speech_on_the_assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschylus

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2016/01/22/the-tao-of-seneca/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0_S%C3%A9n%C3%A8que_-_Mus%C3%A9e_du_Prado_-_Cat._144_-_%282%29.JPG

http://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-13-on-groundless-fears/

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2009/04/24/on-the-shortness-of-life-an-introduction-to-seneca/



 

Death & Taxes

My friend Dave's golf ball his family graciously shared with me.  Photo by J. Berta.

Greetings All:

Early March is known for several things, at least to me.  One is the arrival of spring, or at least the end of winter.  Today the temperature flirted with 70 degrees and it was truly wonderful.  Another is the college basketball tournaments.  As an Iowa Hawkeye fan, my hopes for this year are clearly limited.  Still, whether they win one game or a bunch, I'll be cheering for them.

Then there is tax day.  Ah, taxes.  There is perhaps no other word that can inspire feelings of negative emotion than taxes.  Since the first time copper coins were collected, taxes is a subject chalk full of emotion.  This year, we get a three-day reprieve.  It is not the normal April 15th.  Instead, it is April 18th.

Even with the extra three days, we're behind schedule.  I just dropped in the mail some docs to our CPA in Jersey and there is more to come.  Every year, I pledge to be more organized.  Every year, I fail miserably.

There is the old saying, "The only two inevitable things in life are death and taxes."  I think there is some (a lot) of truth to that.  More on that in a moment.

I think it is worth  a brief tip of the hat to the role opposition to taxes played in the founding of our nation.  Our Founders were not opposed to taxes, just not having a say in how those funds were spent.

Most of us have heard the cry, "Taxation without representation!"  Otis was an early leader in the colonial opposition to taxation of the colonies without a voice in Parliament.  This movement became known as the, "No taxation without representation," cry.  One of the early leaders of this movement was James Otis, Jr.  Here's a photo of his statue.

From Wikipedia, "Bronze sculpture of James Otis, Jr stands in front of the Barnstable County Courthouse." Public domain and fair use claimed, full citation below in the credits. 

I saw a cartoon where death (an image of a skeleton wearing a black hooded robe and carrying scythe) and an IRS agent are waiting outside a hospital room.  The IRS agent says to death, "Mind if I go first?"

That leads me into the other subject of this post, death.

I received a text early Saturday morning from a dear friend about the passing of a mutual friend of ours.  He died tragically and far too soon.  I was so struck with the fitting and genuine tribute my friend paid.  Although I had not seen the Departed for over decade, it stung to know he had died on the wrong side of 50.  Still, my grief is nothing compared to my friend.  I shudder at thinking how I would react if I had been the one sending the text.

On Sunday, we learned of the passing of Nancy Reagan.   Mrs. Reagan, like almost all public figures, had her fans and her critics.  I wish to highlight a few things about her I did not know.  For example, I did not know that in 2002 she was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work with our POW & Veterans' community, her efforts on behalf of foster grandparents and her anti-drug use campaign.  This award is the highest civilian award our government presents to civilians.  

While this is impressive, I also wanted to share a more human side of her.   Alex Hitz wrote for Town and Country yesterday.  Here are his thoughts:

"That was the Nancy I knew—she loved politics, she loved to gab on the telephone, she stayed current on gossip, and let's face it, did not suffer fools gladly. Then again, why should she?"

Why should she, indeed?

I remember seeing President Reagan's funeral.  I recall the way that Mrs. Reagan, normally an entirely private person shared her grief, that profound, genuine grief, with all of us, the day of her husband's burial.  It was both beautiful and painful to watch.

Mrs. Reagan's final farewell to her husband.  Public domain, full citation posted in the credits.

I am glad this photo is in the public domain so I can share it.  I believe it sums up love at its purest form.  It shows that no matter how "great" or powerful one person may become, at the end of their days, they pass on, like the rest of us.

That brings me back to the opening photo.  Two weeks ago, I attended a wake for an attorney I liked and respected.  As mentioned above, he was taken too soon.  At the funeral home, the family had placed a box of golf balls.  Tacked to the box was a message urging those of us who golf (or in my case, own clubs) to take a ball if we ever shared a round of golf with the departed.  Although it had been a couple of decades since I had done so, I gratefully took this ball.   The opening photo is that golf ball.  I will display it in a place of honor in my home office.  Some might say it is total coincidence that a golf ball balances perfectly on a beer bottle.  Others might say it was by design.  I suppose we will never know.

Here's what I do know.  Life is short, so life accordingly.  Have fun, but give back.  Take time to smell the roses, yet realize your roses will take some time to grow, to bloom, to give back.  In other words, love large, yet get up and go to work in the morning.

Yes, there are two constants in life- death and taxes.  While we live, we pay taxes.  When we die, we stop.  I am trying to find a cleaver way to conclude this post and have nothing.  Perhaps it is enough to say that it is better to be alive and have to pay taxes than to be dead and not.  And to that end, I'll get back to uploading docs to my CPA.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_taxation_without_representation

http://www.bustle.com/articles/146189-9-things-you-didnt-know-about-nancy-reagan-whose-accomplishments-were-more-than-just-say-no

http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/news/a5296/nancy-reagan-remembered/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Reagan#/media/File:Nancy_Reagan_says_final_goodbyes_to_RR_June_11,_2004.jpg

"That's Pride F..."

 

The movie poster from Pulp Fiction, Wikipedia, fair use claimed, full cite below in the credits.

Greetings All: 

It is the end of February.  Four weeks ago, my family and I gathered for our precinct caucus.  On that day, there were a bunch of folks running for president.  Now, the field has winnowed to two on the Democratic side and five on the Republican.  Yet one name has dominated the political landscape:  Donald J. Trump.

I will endeavor to never mention his name again in this blog.  (I'll salute him in uniform, should he win, but that's a tale for another time.)  Yet I must give credit where credit is due, he's winning.  

There are many theories as to why he has stormed the cockpit of the Republican's party Airbus.  Some believe he's going to crash it into the ground.  Others are convinced he's going to pull off a flawless landing onto the tarmac that is the "Morning in America" Ronald Reagan promised us.  Either way, we're in for one hell of an election year.

I'll just call it now to say that absent Rubio winning Florida two weeks from tomorrow, it's over.  In Cleveland, Trump gets the endorsement.  I understand the presumptive nominee does not drink.  That's OK, most of the establishment will be.

So how did this happen?  There are many schools of thought.  One being that the public was so outraged by conventional politics that the rise of any outsider was a foregone conclusion.  Another, as The Washington Post comments on below, is that supporters of this candidate embrace "authoritarianism."  Then there is the nicely written yet devoid of real facts article of Ross Douthat (a weekly columnist of The New York Times whom I truly enjoy reading) that the Republican front-runner (see, not mentioning his name) is due is some twisted part to President Obama being such a liberal rock star.  Nope, not seeing that one.  

What I do see and acknowledge is that this man has tapped into something.  For all his outrageous and disrespectful comments, for his previous unabashed support for liberal causes and candidates, for his temerity (if you're an establishment Republican) for attacking George W. Bush over 9/11, he is stoking a certain fire.  A fire that continues to burn hot and bright.

So what might that fire be?  Let's talk about it.  One answer could be economics.  I have a link to a Fortune article from a few days ago that sums up the issue with this opening line:  "Mississippi’s vast flatlands, laced with the remains of a fading industrial base, are fertile ground for the incendiary populism of Donald Trump."  The entire article is linked below, as are Mr. Douthat's and The Washington Post one I cited above earlier in this blog.  I encourage you to read all of them.  They all help educate the rise that is you-know-who.

So here's my explanation for why this guy is doing so well.  Please allow me to set the stage.

It's 1994 and it's the Twin Cities.  I was in my third year of law school and my friends had been telling me, "You gotta go see Pulp Fiction!"  This movie is about a gangster, a couple of hit men, an almost washed-up boxer, the gangster's wife, drug dealers and other assorted characters.  Think of it as Seinfield with heroin and multiple gun shots.

When I saw the movie, the theater was full.  There is a scene where the washed up boxer and the gangster comes to blows.  The boxer was supposed to throw a fight and in counseling the boxer to do so, the gangster says, "F... pride."  Later, as the boxer is beating the gangster, he mocks him by saying, "Feel, that?  That's pride f___in' with you."  I have a movie link to that scene, via YouTube, below in the credits.

Fast forward a few minutes into the film.  The gangster and boxer find themselves in a truly bad spot.  It is so bad that the gangster is being subjected to a most brutal, violent and humiliating crime.  The boxer is able to escape and as he is about to flee the scene, he hears the...crime still unfolding downstairs in the basement.  In a moment of truth, he realizes he cannot let this stand.  He chooses to fight back.

He's able to find a weapon and saves the gangster from a truly horrific set of circumstances.  As this is unfolding, my fellow movie attendees and I were expressing our profound approval of how the scene ended.  It was as if justice was served. 

I think the rise of this certain candidate is both a combination of people's need to have their pride restored (however they define it) and their desire to have someone do it for them.  They see this guy as their hero.

As for me, I see the irony in this candidate's rise is that you cannot have both. You cannot have the desire/need for national pride while at the same time dividing the very people whose collective strength and energies and resources you need do the things to achieve the accomplishments that make national pride a reality.

The guy at the top of certain polls is a master of dividing people.  Either you are with him or you're a loser.  Either you're with making America great again or you're part of the problem.  Us-v-them, sadly, we've seen this before.

And back in that movie theater in Minnesota, a diverse audience came together (robustly, I might add) in our approval of not the victory of pride, but justice over a certain set of circumstances.  Justice in two enemies joined together in a common cause of a heinous scene that had to be stopped.  And it was,...compliments of a Samurai sword.

So I say to the voters still eligible to cast a primary vote, ask yourself this question:  Are you more concerns with pride or justice?  If it's pride, then you've got your candidate.  If it is the other choice, I have far from certain you'll be pleased with the outcome.

After all, this is about an election, not a reality TV show or a movie.


Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

Opening blog photo:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pulp_Fiction_cover.jpg

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/authoritarians-agree-trump-for-president/2016/01/19/407f58ec-bef0-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/opinion/sunday/from-obama-to-trump.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

http://fortune.com/2016/02/24/donald-trump-south-voters/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1f2kjXiGpw 

"Through Sheer Force of Will"

The Funeral Mass of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia,  held on February 20, 2016.  Photo by Zach Gibson, The New York Times, fair use claimed, full citation posted below in the sources.

Greetings All:

"The cemetery is full of irreplaceable people."  Charles de Gaulle 

Today, de Gaulle's statement was perhaps never more true.  Whether one admired or strongly disliked Senior Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, there is no denying that he was one of a kind.  

He entered the Supreme Court as in a minority of one in his "originalist" view of the Constitution.  Yet that changed over time.  I put the title to this blog post in quotes because it comes from today's New York Times article.  I have a link to it below in the credits and it is worth a read.   The authors are Peter Baker and Gardiner Harris.  (Thank you both for this excellent news article.)


As I read this line, it struck something in me, "Through sheer force of will."  Justice Scalia believed what he believed.  From what I hear, he was not someone to be taken lightly in oral argument.  While Justice Thomas is well known for not asking questions, Justice Scalia was the opposite.  He relished oral argument.  It was as if he was a guest at a wedding who walked down the aisle just before the bride.  OK, that might be a bit much, but it is true that he loved the Supreme Court and being a part of it...a HUGE part of it.

It is worth noting that President Bush (43) appointed John Roberts to be Chief Justice.  It was a brilliant political move, ensuring for at least several decades (barring health concerns) he would be on the Court.  (We are talking lifetime appointments, after all.)  I thought that Justice Scalia deserved the gig.  After all, if a Republican President is appointing not just a Justice, but the Chief Justice, it should have been Justice Scalia.  Yet the practicalities of politics got in the way.  Such is life.

In retrospect, it likely did not matter.  Justice Scalia had, by that point, achieved a degree of celebrity that transcended any additional status offered by the title of Chief Justice.  If anything, it might have diluted his "brand" as the original "originalist."  Besides, there would have been more paperwork with the other job.

There is no doubt, Justice Scalia changed the Supreme Court.  His opinions were biting, angry, caustic, full of great writing and at times, historic.  The Heller decision is perhaps his most famous work.  I have a link to the case, (Wikipedia, with links to links) in the credits below.  However, I also find his dissents to be meaningful, perhaps more so, to who this man was who sat on the bench for three decades.

I sum him up this way:  He did not care what people thought of him, at least for his professional life.  Yet on personal levels, he did care, and greatly so, about those around him.  His friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsberg is significant not just because of its genuineness, but because it was so real despite of their remarkably different judicial philosophies.

Justice Scalia has passed on.  I a convinced he is in Heaven and has been embroiled in discussions and debates with the Founders about the issues he so championed while on Earth.  I understand there are those of you who were not a fan of his.  That' fine, it's your right as a citizen.  Yet Justice Scalia is due our respect for how seriously he took his job and advocated for his position.  We can all, in our own ways and lives, be like him.  You don't need a robe, just the belief you are right.  (Now, I'd suggest being damn sure you know the why behind you think you are right, if only for your own purposes, but that's just me.)  Who knows, whatever your issue, your cause, your passion, you might just convince others, perhaps only a few, more more than one is enough, to come over to your side.  

If that occurs, then by through your own force of will, you can influence events that matters to you.  If so, then you can inspire others to carry forth your vision.  By doing so, you will have disproved de Galle, that the cemetery is not full of irreplaceable people.  Instead, they are still walking the Earth, thanks to you.

As I looked at the photos of Justice Scalia's funeral, I saw many people who were similarly motivated by him to carry forth his vision.  And only in America can we share something in common with a Supreme Court Justice in influencing others.  

That's a force of will I like to think the Framers would gladly applaud.


Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

The New York Times article link, including photo credit to Zach Gibson, http://nyti.ms/1oA8oHv

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller