Archive for May, 2007

Vote early …

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

vote often.

That turned out well

Monday, May 28th, 2007

I fixed dinner for Marion this evening. Although I often have timing problems, this time everything was ready at the same time. We had Alaskan salmon grilled on a cedar plank, grilled corn on the cob, wild rice, and a salad of field greens, sweet peppers, and mushrooms. Dessert was a blackberry crumble. It was all quite good; I’m pleased with how the meal turned out.

Memorial Day 2

Monday, May 28th, 2007

Peter Collier has a very good article over at OpinionJournal on the stories behind Memorial Day. I don’t have his book on Medal of Honor awardees; I have this one.

I haven’t finished it yet. It’s the sort of thing I can only read a little at a time. I just find it a little too intense to read more than a few stories at a time. I remember getting choked up when I’d read the citations on the dioramas around the periphery of Memorial Hall, portraying the actions for which several Medals of Honor were awarded. As I’ve told people before, I’m just a sucker for stories of duty, honor, and sacrifice.

Memorial Day

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

I originally posted this on my old web site in 2004. I decided it was worth reposting. Slightly edited from the original.

As a young man, Robert Service had a serious case of wanderlust. He spent time in the Yukon, coming out with a number of poems, the most famous of which is probably The Cremation of Sam McGee. They were collected in a book called The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.

After that, he moved to France, to become the proverbial starving poet in a garret. When World War I started, several of his friends joined up to fight. Eventually, he agreed to serve in an ambulance service, described in Ballads of a Bohemian. He wrote the following in late August 1914:

PARIS.

Back again. Closed shutters, deserted streets. How glum everything is! Those who are not mobilized seem uncertain how to turn. Every one buys the papers and reads grimly of disaster. No news is bad news.

I go to my garret as to a beloved friend. Everything is just as I left it, so that it seems I have never been away. I sigh with relief and joy. I will take up my work again. Serene above the storm I will watch and wait. Although I have been brought up in England I am American born. My country is not concerned.

So, going to the Dôme Café, I seek some of my comrades. Strange! They have gone. MacBean, I am told, is in England. By dyeing his hair and lying about his age he has managed to enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders. Saxon Dane too. He has joined the Foreign Legion, and even now he may be fighting.

Well, let them go. I will keep out of the mess. But why did they go? I wish I knew. War is murder. Criminal folly. Against Humanity. Imperialism is at the root of it. We are fools and dupes. Yes, I will think and write of other things. . . .

MacBean has enlisted.

I hate violence. I would not willingly cause pain to anything breathing. I would rather be killed than kill. I will stand above the Battle and watch it from afar.

Dane is in the Foreign Legion.

How disturbing it all is! One cannot settle down to anything. Every day I meet men who tell the most wonderful stories in the most casual way. I envy them. I too want to have experiences, to live where life’s beat is most intense. But that’s a poor reason for going to war.

And yet, though I shrink from the idea of fighting, I might in some way help those who are. MacBean and Dane, for example. Sitting now in the Dôme, I seem to see their ghosts in the corner. MacBean listening with his keen, sarcastic smile. Saxon Dane banging his great hairy fist on the table till the glasses jump. Where are they now? Living a life that I will never know. When they come back, if they every do, shall I not feel shamed in their presence? Oh, this filthy war! Things were going on so beautifully. We were all so happy, so full of ambition, of hope; laughing and talking over pipe and bowl, and in our garrets seeking to realize our dreams. Ah, these days will never come again!

Then, as I sit there, Calvert seeks me out. He has joined an ambulance corps that is going to the Front. Will I come in?

“Yes,” I say; “I’ll do anything.”

So it is all settled. Tomorrow I give up my freedom.

He served with the Red Cross for about two years. His collection, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, came out of that experience. When the United States entered the war, he joined the US Army. At the Argonne, his left arm was “shot away.” He had this to say about his time as a soldier:

As far as time and health permitted, I kept a record of those years, and also wrote much verse. All this, however, has disappeared under circumstances into which there is no need to enter here. The loss was a cruel one, almost more so than that of my arm; for I have neither the heart nor the power to rewrite this material.

Here is one of his poems from Rhymes of a Red Cross Man.

PILGRIMS

For oh, when the war will be over
We’ll go and we’ll look for our dead;
We’ll go when the bee’s on the clover,
And the plume of the poppy is red:
We’ll go when the year’s at its gayest,
When meadows are laughing with flow’rs;
And there where the crosses are greyest,
We’ll seek for the cross that is ours.

For they cry to us: Friends, we are lonely,
A-weary the night and the day;
But come in the blossom-time only,
Come when our graves will be gay:
When daffodils all are a-blowing,
And larks are a-thrilling the skies,
Oh, come with the hearts of you glowing,
And the joy of the Spring in your eyes.

But never, oh, never come sighing,
For ours was the Splendid Release;
And oh, but ’twas joy in the dying
To know we were winning you Peace!
So come when the valleys are sheening,
And fledged with the promise of grain;
And here where our graves will be greening,
Just smile and be happy again.

And so, when the war will be over,
We’ll seek for the Wonderful One;
And maiden will look for her lover,
And mother will look for her son;
And there will be end to our grieving,
And gladness will gleam over loss,
As – glory beyond all believing!
We point … to a name on a cross.

This Memorial Day, remember those who serve, and those who have.

Lloyd Alexander, R.I.P.

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

JunkYardBlog points to an obituary of Lloyd Alexander, who died on the 17th. He outlived both his wife and his adopted daughter.

I came across his books fairly late, but I’m glad that I read the Prydain Chronicles before seeing the Disney movie – I really didn’t care for it, and that would probably have turned me off looking for them.

I have two copies of the Prydain Chronicles (one hardback omnibus edition, and one set of paperbacks). The omnibus edition is currently lent out to a co-worker’s son. I also have a copy of Time Cat. I had no idea he had written as many books as he had.

Wicked fun

Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Last night, Marion and I went to see Wicked at the DCPA. It was quite a wonderful show, although it was hard to make out the words sometimes, particularly during the songs. It was certainly more commercialized than most other shows I’ve seen there – there must have been a half-dozen or so booths in the lobby selling related merchandise.

One thing I could have done without was this gratuitous bit of BDS from the program magazine:

Actor David Garrison agreed. Garrison played the Wizard in the touring production the first time it came though Denver and loved the fact that all of these familiar characters had been fleshed out. As for the Wizard himself, Garrison said, “He is a charming fellow of limited ability who, quite accidentally, finds himself in a position of power. In order to deal with it he employs the politics of fear. Sound familiar?”

“This is a cautionary tale of what happens in a society that doesn’t question authority.”

“It’s not a children’s show, but kids enjoy the fantasy of it, adolescents get the love story and adults see the political allegory.”

Like nobody ever questions authority in this country. “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” misattributed quotes and all that.

Anyway, now that I’ve seen the musical, I may have to borrow the book from my daughter. I’m sure there’s much more going on there than made it into the stage production, even if it is almost three hours long.

I did have one disconcerting thought during part of the play, though. Given the look of the costuming for the citizens of Oz, I almost expected this song to be performed.

It was a 50-50 chance, and

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

… he did not pick wisely.

Very nice, but a bit out of my price range

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

The Optimus Maximus keyboardevery key has an OLED display for the ultimate in reconfigurable keyboards.

Blogroll update

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

It was time; I had a few things I needed to add.

She’s Back!

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Rachel Lucas is posting again. I found this out by reading Bill Whittle’s site. Somewhere, I may still have the printout I made of the post in which she first promoted him to the front page.

Like many others, I’m glad to see her back.