This piece was written for publication in The Gardner News.
It is written by Pam Blair, Academic Dean of The Winchendon School
I have included it in my blog with the permission of Pam Blair, who happens to be my wife.
Maybe you’ve viewed the You Tube site “Shift Happens.” If not, I recommend taking a look. More than four and a half million Americans have checked that eight-minute video. It presents a series of statements that describe the world we live in and envisions likely scenarios for the future. They bear serious consideration.
Watching the video, as nerve-jangling music plays in the background, we learn that the top 25% of students in China outnumber the total population of North America. In other words, to quote the text, “They have more honor students than we have students.” We find that China will soon have more English speakers than any other country in the world. We learn that the population of China is expanding at four times the rate of our own, while India’s grows five times faster than ours.
Speaking of population, the video announces that if My Space, with 106,000,000 registered users, were a nation, it would be the eleventh largest in the world. But computer users aren’t interested only in the personal and social. They make 27 billion searches on Google every month.
These facts lead us to ponder what the future will be like, but other statements from the video more directly impact my area of interest: education. For example, consider this:
Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley predicts that the top ten jobs in 2010 don’t exist today. He claims, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist --- using technologies that haven’t been invented --- in order to solve problems that don’t yet exist.” Today, knowledge is doubling every two years.
How do facts like these affect the education that we provide to our students today? How exactly do we tackle such a challenge? How will we equip young people for a future so uncertain? How can we teach our students to be ready for the ten to fourteen jobs that they’ll have --- before they reach the age of 38?
Some skills we consider essential now are likely to be needed even in the unpredictable years to come. Young people will always need to express their thoughts clearly, both in writing and orally. Therefore, we focus on building competence in those areas. We design courses that teach students to develop their ability to craft clear and meaningful sentences, paragraphs, and essays that effectively communicate ideas. We provide opportunities for them to voice their ideas aloud. Math, important now and undoubtedly in the future as well, demands logical and disciplined thought processes. Math study prepares our students for lives that will certainly require increased mathematical competency.
Still, while not easy to accomplish, the elements of education I describe seem quite traditional and suggest nothing new to equip students for the unknown demands of the future. This is where the ability to think critically comes in.
Supporting success in both language and math studies is the ability to think critically, to explore and assess ideas, to evaluate, to predict, to interpret, to apply. Teaching these skills requires careful planning and design from teachers. It demands intentional approaches that provide chances to do more with information than memorizing and mechanically answering questions that demand no independent mental manipulation. This kind of higher-level thinking is hard work, so teachers must be creative in inspiring their students to participate willingly in tasks that foster it.
These elements are requisite in education for any age. However, we can no longer teach these skills as if we exist in a neatly contained American world. The burgeoning nations on the Asian continent, the emerging, if beleaguered, nations of Africa, and our neighbors to the south will all share with us the question mark that is the future. We are all aware that our world is shrinking, aware that as Donne claimed in the 17th century, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” We are more interconnected with our counterparts around the world than ever before, so we must devise courses that require young people to direct their thinking skills to the issues that face humankind on an international scale.
At the Winchendon School, we maximize the benefits of a student body comprised of students from 14 states and 21 foreign countries; we consider issues that impact the lands we represent. Students explore attitudes and opinions, similarities and differences. They communicate with their friends, teammates, and dorm mates, who just happen to be citizens of the world. They work together in groups to learn about and impact issues like the loss of limbs from abandoned land mines in Angola, improperly disposed plastic bottles washing into the Pacific, and comparative governments, to name a few. Next fall, we will begin a study of the world, continent by continent. We believe that familiarity with other cultures, political systems, religions, and thought patterns different from our own is essential for young people who will need to interact with the people who practice them.
Most schools, however, are far more homogenous than ours. Their students live across the street or across town from one another. How can they address the ever-demanding need to think beyond our borders? Educators must consider additions to curriculum that encourage mental odysseys to other parts of the world. They themselves must lead the way by deep and broad exploration of many aspects of other nations. How many schools teach courses on the Middle East? Africa? Asia? And if those courses are offered, how many students avail themselves of these electives? Maybe it’s time for these courses to move to a core course designation that would say to young people: This information is central to your life. Knowledge of this subject is crucial enough that every student must study it.
Educators must also take the initiative to read about other lands and both inspire and require their students to do likewise. Three Cups of Tea transports its readers to tiny villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan where education is forbidden for girls. A Long Way Gone traces the bloody career of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun communicates the fury and fear of white Zimbabweans as Mugabe’s forces eject them from their homes and fertile farms, leaving a wake of untilled soil and a collapsing economic system. The Colors of the Mountain carries the reader not only to a different country, China, but to a different time, the Cultural Revolution, to witness the greatly altered youth and education of a boy of formerly privileged parents.
These titles are but a few of the compelling narratives that sweep us into lives far different from our own. Such reading explodes our orderly world views and makes us stare at stark evil and the intense determination of the human spirit. As we turn the pages, we enter the lives of people like ourselves who exist against unfamiliar landscapes, and we learn that ours is but one take on human existence. Reading these stories is a pleasure, not a chore, and students should be introduced to them.
All schools must find their own way to open the door to the tangled, messy, interconnected world that surrounds us. But open the door they must, for this new world will not wait. We must provide educational experiences that will propel our students from the familiar to the unknown, or this new world will leave them behind.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Random Comments on Education by Pam Blair
This insightful article was written for publication in The Gardner News.
Random Comments on Education
Pam Blair, Academic Dean, The Winchendon School
Maybe you’ve viewed the You Tube site “Shift Happens.” If not, I recommend taking a look. More than four and a half million Americans have checked that eight-minute video. It presents a series of statements that describe the world we live in and envisions likely scenarios for the future. They bear serious consideration.
Watching the video, as nerve-jangling music plays in the background, we learn that the top 25% of students in China outnumber the total population of North America. In other words, to quote the text, “They have more honor students than we have students.” We find that China will soon have more English speakers than any other country in the world. We learn that the population of China is expanding at four times the rate of our own, while India’s grows five times faster than ours.
Speaking of population, the video announces that if My Space, with 106,000,000 registered users, were a nation, it would be the eleventh largest in the world. But computer users aren’t interested only in the personal and social. They make 27 billion searches on Google every month.
These facts lead us to ponder what the future will be like, but other statements from the video more directly impact my area of interest: education. For example, consider this:
Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley predicts that the top ten jobs in 2010 don’t exist today. He claims, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist --- using technologies that haven’t been invented --- in order to solve problems that don’t yet exist.” Today, knowledge is doubling every two years.
How do facts like these affect the education that we provide to our students today? How exactly do we tackle such a challenge? How will we equip young people for a future so uncertain? How can we teach our students to be ready for the ten to fourteen jobs that they’ll have --- before they reach the age of 38?
Some skills we consider essential now are likely to be needed even in the unpredictable years to come. Young people will always need to express their thoughts clearly, both in writing and orally. Therefore, we focus on building competence in those areas. We design courses that teach students to develop their ability to craft clear and meaningful sentences, paragraphs, and essays that effectively communicate ideas. We provide opportunities for them to voice their ideas aloud. Math, important now and undoubtedly in the future as well, demands logical and disciplined thought processes. Math study prepares our students for lives that will certainly require increased mathematical competency.
Still, while not easy to accomplish, the elements of education I describe seem quite traditional and suggest nothing new to equip students for the unknown demands of the future. This is where the ability to think critically comes in.
Supporting success in both language and math studies is the ability to think critically, to explore and assess ideas, to evaluate, to predict, to interpret, to apply. Teaching these skills requires careful planning and design from teachers. It demands intentional approaches that provide chances to do more with information than memorizing and mechanically answering questions that demand no independent mental manipulation. This kind of higher-level thinking is hard work, so teachers must be creative in inspiring their students to participate willingly in tasks that foster it.
These elements are requisite in education for any age. However, we can no longer teach these skills as if we exist in a neatly contained American world. The burgeoning nations on the Asian continent, the emerging, if beleaguered, nations of Africa, and our neighbors to the south will all share with us the question mark that is the future. We are all aware that our world is shrinking, aware that as Donne claimed in the 17th century, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” We are more interconnected with our counterparts around the world than ever before, so we must devise courses that require young people to direct their thinking skills to the issues that face humankind on an international scale.
At the Winchendon School, we maximize the benefits of a student body comprised of students from 14 states and 21 foreign countries; we consider issues that impact the lands we represent. Students explore attitudes and opinions, similarities and differences. They communicate with their friends, teammates, and dorm mates, who just happen to be citizens of the world. They work together in groups to learn about and impact issues like the loss of limbs from abandoned land mines in Angola, improperly disposed plastic bottles washing into the Pacific, and comparative governments, to name a few. Next fall, we will begin a study of the world, continent by continent. We believe that familiarity with other cultures, political systems, religions, and thought patterns different from our own is essential for young people who will need to interact with the people who practice them.
Most schools, however, are far more homogenous than ours. Their students live across the street or across town from one another. How can they address the ever-demanding need to think beyond our borders? Educators must consider additions to curriculum that encourage mental odysseys to other parts of the world. They themselves must lead the way by deep and broad exploration of many aspects of other nations. How many schools teach courses on the Middle East? Africa? Asia? And if those courses are offered, how many students avail themselves of these electives? Maybe it’s time for these courses to move to a core course designation that would say to young people: This information is central to your life. Knowledge of this subject is crucial enough that every student must study it.
Educators must also take the initiative to read about other lands and both inspire and require their students to do likewise. Three Cups of Tea transports its readers to tiny villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan where education is forbidden for girls. A Long Way Gone traces the bloody career of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun communicates the fury and fear of white Zimbabweans as Mugabe’s forces eject them from their homes and fertile farms, leaving a wake of untilled soil and a collapsing economic system. The Colors of the Mountain carries the reader not only to a different country, China, but to a different time, the Cultural Revolution, to witness the greatly altered youth and education of a boy of formerly privileged parents.
These titles are but a few of the compelling narratives that sweep us into lives far different from our own. Such reading explodes our orderly world views and makes us stare at stark evil and the intense determination of the human spirit. As we turn the pages, we enter the lives of people like ourselves who exist against unfamiliar landscapes, and we learn that ours is but one take on human existence. Reading these stories is a pleasure, not a chore, and students should be introduced to them.
All schools must find their own way to open the door to the tangled, messy, interconnected world that surrounds us. But open the door they must, for this new world will not wait. We must provide educational experiences that will propel our students from the familiar to the unknown, or this new world will leave them behind.
Random Comments on Education
Pam Blair, Academic Dean, The Winchendon School
Maybe you’ve viewed the You Tube site “Shift Happens.” If not, I recommend taking a look. More than four and a half million Americans have checked that eight-minute video. It presents a series of statements that describe the world we live in and envisions likely scenarios for the future. They bear serious consideration.
Watching the video, as nerve-jangling music plays in the background, we learn that the top 25% of students in China outnumber the total population of North America. In other words, to quote the text, “They have more honor students than we have students.” We find that China will soon have more English speakers than any other country in the world. We learn that the population of China is expanding at four times the rate of our own, while India’s grows five times faster than ours.
Speaking of population, the video announces that if My Space, with 106,000,000 registered users, were a nation, it would be the eleventh largest in the world. But computer users aren’t interested only in the personal and social. They make 27 billion searches on Google every month.
These facts lead us to ponder what the future will be like, but other statements from the video more directly impact my area of interest: education. For example, consider this:
Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley predicts that the top ten jobs in 2010 don’t exist today. He claims, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist --- using technologies that haven’t been invented --- in order to solve problems that don’t yet exist.” Today, knowledge is doubling every two years.
How do facts like these affect the education that we provide to our students today? How exactly do we tackle such a challenge? How will we equip young people for a future so uncertain? How can we teach our students to be ready for the ten to fourteen jobs that they’ll have --- before they reach the age of 38?
Some skills we consider essential now are likely to be needed even in the unpredictable years to come. Young people will always need to express their thoughts clearly, both in writing and orally. Therefore, we focus on building competence in those areas. We design courses that teach students to develop their ability to craft clear and meaningful sentences, paragraphs, and essays that effectively communicate ideas. We provide opportunities for them to voice their ideas aloud. Math, important now and undoubtedly in the future as well, demands logical and disciplined thought processes. Math study prepares our students for lives that will certainly require increased mathematical competency.
Still, while not easy to accomplish, the elements of education I describe seem quite traditional and suggest nothing new to equip students for the unknown demands of the future. This is where the ability to think critically comes in.
Supporting success in both language and math studies is the ability to think critically, to explore and assess ideas, to evaluate, to predict, to interpret, to apply. Teaching these skills requires careful planning and design from teachers. It demands intentional approaches that provide chances to do more with information than memorizing and mechanically answering questions that demand no independent mental manipulation. This kind of higher-level thinking is hard work, so teachers must be creative in inspiring their students to participate willingly in tasks that foster it.
These elements are requisite in education for any age. However, we can no longer teach these skills as if we exist in a neatly contained American world. The burgeoning nations on the Asian continent, the emerging, if beleaguered, nations of Africa, and our neighbors to the south will all share with us the question mark that is the future. We are all aware that our world is shrinking, aware that as Donne claimed in the 17th century, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” We are more interconnected with our counterparts around the world than ever before, so we must devise courses that require young people to direct their thinking skills to the issues that face humankind on an international scale.
At the Winchendon School, we maximize the benefits of a student body comprised of students from 14 states and 21 foreign countries; we consider issues that impact the lands we represent. Students explore attitudes and opinions, similarities and differences. They communicate with their friends, teammates, and dorm mates, who just happen to be citizens of the world. They work together in groups to learn about and impact issues like the loss of limbs from abandoned land mines in Angola, improperly disposed plastic bottles washing into the Pacific, and comparative governments, to name a few. Next fall, we will begin a study of the world, continent by continent. We believe that familiarity with other cultures, political systems, religions, and thought patterns different from our own is essential for young people who will need to interact with the people who practice them.
Most schools, however, are far more homogenous than ours. Their students live across the street or across town from one another. How can they address the ever-demanding need to think beyond our borders? Educators must consider additions to curriculum that encourage mental odysseys to other parts of the world. They themselves must lead the way by deep and broad exploration of many aspects of other nations. How many schools teach courses on the Middle East? Africa? Asia? And if those courses are offered, how many students avail themselves of these electives? Maybe it’s time for these courses to move to a core course designation that would say to young people: This information is central to your life. Knowledge of this subject is crucial enough that every student must study it.
Educators must also take the initiative to read about other lands and both inspire and require their students to do likewise. Three Cups of Tea transports its readers to tiny villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan where education is forbidden for girls. A Long Way Gone traces the bloody career of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun communicates the fury and fear of white Zimbabweans as Mugabe’s forces eject them from their homes and fertile farms, leaving a wake of untilled soil and a collapsing economic system. The Colors of the Mountain carries the reader not only to a different country, China, but to a different time, the Cultural Revolution, to witness the greatly altered youth and education of a boy of formerly privileged parents.
These titles are but a few of the compelling narratives that sweep us into lives far different from our own. Such reading explodes our orderly world views and makes us stare at stark evil and the intense determination of the human spirit. As we turn the pages, we enter the lives of people like ourselves who exist against unfamiliar landscapes, and we learn that ours is but one take on human existence. Reading these stories is a pleasure, not a chore, and students should be introduced to them.
All schools must find their own way to open the door to the tangled, messy, interconnected world that surrounds us. But open the door they must, for this new world will not wait. We must provide educational experiences that will propel our students from the familiar to the unknown, or this new world will leave them behind.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Much Ado About Nothing
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Jackson Blair
Jackson Blair
Washington is abuzz these days over the expulsion of a famous bust of Sir Winston Churchill, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, from its perch in the Oval Office.
The bust was loaned to the United States in the aftermath of the “9-11 tragedy” by our greatest ally, as a symbol of support and encouragement.
A grateful President George W. Bush placed it in the Oval and it remained there for eight years.
The current president, Barack Obama, sent it back to the British.
Those are the facts of this world-shaking situation. Folks in DC are not dealing with financial crisis, nukes in Iran or filling cabinet slots, they are wringing their hands over a perceived slight to our current friends across the Pond.
Behind the facts are always more interesting stories. Here are some of those.
George Bush liked Winston Churchill and saw him as a personal hero. Besides, he was
building a coalition for the Iraq War and he wanted to keep Tony Blair and
Downing Street happy.
Barack Obama has some feelings about Churchill and the British government’s handling
of a variety of problems in Africa that may, or may not, have cost Obama’s
relatives their lives. Besides, Obama doesn’t have to keep Tony Blair or
his successor happy because he isn’t planning on needing them in Iraq.
George Bush liked Winston Churchill because he was similarly stubborn.
Barack Obama likes Abraham Lincoln, for a variety of reasons including his
commitment to equality of life in America.
George Bush had views and opinions and he wasn’t budging. Same for Sir Winston.
Barack Obama wants to be like Abraham Lincoln, which requires contemplation
and a more philosophical approach to governing.
George Bush won an election and decorated his office.
Barack Obama won an election and decorated his office.
Neither of them is interested in what the “Pros” on the HGTV network think about
their decorating skills.
Who really believes George or Barack had anything to say about the decorations? No married man thinks that.
Laura probably unpacked Winnie and said something like: not in the family quarters!
Michelle probably looked at Winnie and said something along the lines of: Laura didn’t go far enough. Give him back to the Brits.
But most importantly, Elizabeth II probably said, before either Laura or Michelle were involved: send this thing over to the colonies. If we tell them it is a special message of our love and solidarity, they will hardly remember 1776 and they will be afraid to send it back because it might be insulting.
Reading stories of this current dust-up in the newspapers brings back memories of Winston Churchill and his special relationship with the U.S. Many Americans do not realize Sir Winston’s mother was American. Many do not know that a grateful U.S. Congress made Sir Winston a citizen of our country.
Winston and FDR were so involved in planning and executing strategies in World War II that they often spent many days together in meetings. Since Winston was more mobile than the wheelchair bound Roosevelt, Winnie was often a guest in The White House, for long periods of time.
If you read the Roosevelt books, you will understand that Winston was a little unusual in his personal habits. The American Press was aghast at President Lyndon Johnson holding meetings while he skinny-dipped in The White House pool, bathed in the upstairs family quarters, or while dressing in the morning. If they had known that Sir Winston had similar preferences, they could have file some pretty good stories in the 1940’s.
Winnie liked to smoke cigars and to drink. While there isn’t anything unusual about this, the fact that he started early in the morning and continued throughout the day, without any seeming loss of capacity, is mindboggling.
Winnie also liked to work naked. There is a well-reported story of his being stark naked in his bedroom at The White House when, after a quick knock, FDR wheeled himself into the room. Winnie stood their naked and commented: As you can see Mr. President, the Prime Minister of Great Britain keeps no secrets from the President of the United States.
While Roosevelt didn’t seem to mind Winnie’s quirks, other books reported that Eleanor Roosevelt did not appreciate running into a naked Winston Churchill walking the Great Hall of the family quarters.
So Sir Winston Churchill had an American mother.
Sir Winston Churchill was made an American citizen.
Sir Winston Churchill drank, smoked and walked the halls naked in The White House for years.
That would all seem to argue that President Obama reconsiders and bring Winnie back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That would be a Lincolnesque solution to a prickly international problem.
A proper perch for the bust might well be in the Men’s’ Room off the formal entry to The White House. If that isn’t acceptable to the Obama’s they might consider placing the bust in the Wine Cellar.
I cannot help but think that Sir Winston would love the thought of either.
And as a goodwill gesture, we should send Queen Liz a bust of Lyndon Johnson holding his hounds up by their ears. Since she loves all those Corgis she might well provide Lyndon with an impressive perch in the Royal Kennels.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
LET IT SNOW
NOTES OF CONCERN….
…..Jack Blair
SNOW
I am very biased. I love snow.
Now that we have that out of the way, my prejudices stated up front, we could talk about snow.
As I drive through town and I see the snow piled so high along the streets, especially in the downtown area, I recall trips to ski resorts where snow was always around and things always looked wintery.
People wore bright clothes, their faces were ruddy from being out in the sun and skiing or snowboarding, and there was an air of excitement and enjoyment.
Over the years I have come to realize that most of this was Disney-like. The world really isn’t like that. The resorts use a lot of smoke and mirrors to create that feeling. Yet many Americans spend huge amounts of money just to spend a week or two in the snow.
In towns across America, folks like me who really enjoy winter enjoy not just the skiing or the parties or the bright clothes. We like to watch snow falling. We don’t have to be out in the snow. We can have a feeling of satisfaction just looking at it out the window.
When the snow is really fluffy and coming down in big flakes, my wife and I like to take our Labrador retrievers and go for a walk. We put on our big coats with our hoods, get our hands into gloves, pull on our boots and away we go. We have almost as much fun as the dogs!
The most rundown house looks great in the snow. No one cares about landscaping because the snow produces a landscape all its own. Cars move on the streets as if in slow motion. Drivers are more cautious. The everyday things of life seem surreal. Everyone takes more care with their daily activities .
Most kids like snow. They like it because it usually means no school, or at least a late opening. They can go out and play in the white stuff. They make angels in the snow. They construct snowmen, they engage in snowball fights.
Somehow when it snows a cup of coffee tastes better; a pot of tea brings back warm memories, and hot chocolate with marshmallows-to die for.
Is there anything like sitting in front of a fireplace, warming oneself with a drink and a good book, while the wind howls outside and the snow falls? I don’t think so.
So my friends, you can either look at the “white stuff” with excitement and optimism, or you can moan at the inconveniences it brings and the drudgery it creates in your life.
If you are in the latter group, you are really missing out on one of nature’s gifts to us. Nature gives us the beauty of fall leaves, the hope of a new spring, the relaxation of a long and sultry summer, so we should assume that we are intended to get equal enjoyment out of the white and snowy winter.
It is true lots of folks hate winter many of them become the “Snowbirds” that southerners like to talk about. They fly out of the north and head for the south as soon as the cold weather arrives. Then they return to the north and flee the south as soon as the hot weather arrives there. They spend their time and money trying to change the seasons of life.
How about engaging in an experiment.
Greet the snow with open arms. Get out in it. Don’t focus on the work it brings but rather on its beauty. I know the work is still there, but you can even make that part fun.
I knew a lady once who had a rather long driveway. When it snowed, she saw it as an opportunity to create something beautiful, to be artistic.
She would wait until the snow was fairly deep, then she would go out with her shovel and create what looked like a carefully crafted three or four foot wall of snow, beautifully sculpted, on both sides of her drive. She didn’t shovel and throw, she shoveled and designed. It took her a long time. But when she was finished she had created a thing of beauty. It was her way of making a chore into an adventure.
To the snowplow driver, the mailman on foot, the elderly who cannot safely get around in winter, and many others I know, this is a bit of Pollyanna talk.
Nevertheless, for those of you who seek the enjoyment of winter, it is there for the taking.
Let it snow!
…..Jack Blair
SNOW
I am very biased. I love snow.
Now that we have that out of the way, my prejudices stated up front, we could talk about snow.
As I drive through town and I see the snow piled so high along the streets, especially in the downtown area, I recall trips to ski resorts where snow was always around and things always looked wintery.
People wore bright clothes, their faces were ruddy from being out in the sun and skiing or snowboarding, and there was an air of excitement and enjoyment.
Over the years I have come to realize that most of this was Disney-like. The world really isn’t like that. The resorts use a lot of smoke and mirrors to create that feeling. Yet many Americans spend huge amounts of money just to spend a week or two in the snow.
In towns across America, folks like me who really enjoy winter enjoy not just the skiing or the parties or the bright clothes. We like to watch snow falling. We don’t have to be out in the snow. We can have a feeling of satisfaction just looking at it out the window.
When the snow is really fluffy and coming down in big flakes, my wife and I like to take our Labrador retrievers and go for a walk. We put on our big coats with our hoods, get our hands into gloves, pull on our boots and away we go. We have almost as much fun as the dogs!
The most rundown house looks great in the snow. No one cares about landscaping because the snow produces a landscape all its own. Cars move on the streets as if in slow motion. Drivers are more cautious. The everyday things of life seem surreal. Everyone takes more care with their daily activities .
Most kids like snow. They like it because it usually means no school, or at least a late opening. They can go out and play in the white stuff. They make angels in the snow. They construct snowmen, they engage in snowball fights.
Somehow when it snows a cup of coffee tastes better; a pot of tea brings back warm memories, and hot chocolate with marshmallows-to die for.
Is there anything like sitting in front of a fireplace, warming oneself with a drink and a good book, while the wind howls outside and the snow falls? I don’t think so.
So my friends, you can either look at the “white stuff” with excitement and optimism, or you can moan at the inconveniences it brings and the drudgery it creates in your life.
If you are in the latter group, you are really missing out on one of nature’s gifts to us. Nature gives us the beauty of fall leaves, the hope of a new spring, the relaxation of a long and sultry summer, so we should assume that we are intended to get equal enjoyment out of the white and snowy winter.
It is true lots of folks hate winter many of them become the “Snowbirds” that southerners like to talk about. They fly out of the north and head for the south as soon as the cold weather arrives. Then they return to the north and flee the south as soon as the hot weather arrives there. They spend their time and money trying to change the seasons of life.
How about engaging in an experiment.
Greet the snow with open arms. Get out in it. Don’t focus on the work it brings but rather on its beauty. I know the work is still there, but you can even make that part fun.
I knew a lady once who had a rather long driveway. When it snowed, she saw it as an opportunity to create something beautiful, to be artistic.
She would wait until the snow was fairly deep, then she would go out with her shovel and create what looked like a carefully crafted three or four foot wall of snow, beautifully sculpted, on both sides of her drive. She didn’t shovel and throw, she shoveled and designed. It took her a long time. But when she was finished she had created a thing of beauty. It was her way of making a chore into an adventure.
To the snowplow driver, the mailman on foot, the elderly who cannot safely get around in winter, and many others I know, this is a bit of Pollyanna talk.
Nevertheless, for those of you who seek the enjoyment of winter, it is there for the taking.
Let it snow!
Alfred A. "PAT" Knopf, Jr
Great Reads and a Good Life
ALFRED A. KNOPF, JR
By Jack Blair
If you love books as I do, you probably have encountered some great best sellers. Among books that qualify for that title are:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White
The Rothschilds: A Family Portrait by Frederic Morton
Soldier in the Rain by William Goldman
These and so many other books were published by Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, Atheneum Publishing House, Charles Scribner's Sons, or MacMillan, Inc. In each of these places, the wisdom of Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. played a critical role.
The world knew him as Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., the scion of a very famous publishing family. I knew him as "Pat."
Pat passed away in New York City last week at the age of 90. His passing was noted in every major newspaper. He was a legend in his industry.
The Pat I knew rode the New Haven Line every morning from Green's Farms, Connecticut, to Grand Central Station. Every night he reversed the trip. For over fifteen years we rode the rails together.
Spending a couple of hours a day with a fellow provides you a keen insight to his personality. Pat Knopf always rode in the same train car, the head car.
Those of us who played bridge every morning and gin every night rode in that car with him. Although he was occasionally a card player in our group, more often than not he was a kibitzer. Much of his ride was involved in reading manuscripts and selecting books for publication. His brief case was always over filled to the point that it could not be completely closed.
Pat was a rumpled man. He very much resembled what might be the caricature of a man who spends all his time in a library, alone with his books. However, he was far more interesting. He loved to laugh and to talk of the events of the day. He was interested in the lives of his children, who were away at boarding school when we rode the rails, and he talked about them with us often. While he could easily have resided in a beautiful Park Avenue residence, he liked to get out to the country every day. He said it recharged his batteries.
Pat's publishing house held many book parties, events where he would introduce the author or subject of a book to a group of potential readers or opinion makers. Every now and then he included a couple of his pals from the train.
On one such occasion I was invited to a private party at The Metropolitan Opera house for the launching of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's biography.
What a thrill to meet Dame Kiri, who later sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, and all those people who move in her circle of friends and acquaintances. She signed a copy of her book for me, and I spent a good deal of time standing on the sidelines, with a glass of chilled white wine in my hand, watching her as she greeted many dignitaries.
Another time Pat invited me to the launch of a biography he published of the great opera singer, the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. At first I wondered why I was getting invited to launchings for musical folk, but then realized that Pat had picked up that I loved classical music, and he was kind enough to realize that of those events to which he could invite me, these would mean the most.
Well, Marilyn Horne is not one that you can stand on the sidelines and watch. She is full of vim and vigor, she has a contagious (and loud) laugh, and she was the center of her party the entire evening.
At these events, Pat was always the impresario. He planned and executed the party. He selected the guests. And it was obvious that he had made a friend of the person who was the honored guest.
Pat had suggested to me on one of our rides that I write a book. We talked about it on many of our train trips, and it actually got to the stage where he sent one of his ghostwriters to meet with me in Westport, Connecticut, to talk in greater detail.
As I look back on that experience, I realize that Pat found lots of people passing through his life that he could encourage to write their book. Like a salesman making 100 calls to get one sale, I suppose Pat planted the seed over and over again, and the result was those best sellers, and other equally wonderful books he published.
Lots of people think they want to write a book. Many think they can write a book. I found myself with one of the great men of the publishing industry interested in encouraging me to do just that. And I could not. I admit I sat down a number of times and put pen to paper, without success. What did I learn? I learned that most people can't write a book.
I spoke with Pat two years ago. He was retired and residing in New York City. We had a good "catch up" conversation. He was less animated than I remembered, but he may well have thought the same of me.
As we live, people pass through our circle of life. It is one of the greatest opportunities life offers. We need to cherish the moment, enjoy the personality, and build the memories.
They are all too quickly gone.
But like the books he published, the final chapter in the book of the life of Alfred A. "Pat" Knopf has been written, and the cover is closed.
ALFRED A. KNOPF, JR
By Jack Blair
If you love books as I do, you probably have encountered some great best sellers. Among books that qualify for that title are:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White
The Rothschilds: A Family Portrait by Frederic Morton
Soldier in the Rain by William Goldman
These and so many other books were published by Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, Atheneum Publishing House, Charles Scribner's Sons, or MacMillan, Inc. In each of these places, the wisdom of Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. played a critical role.
The world knew him as Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., the scion of a very famous publishing family. I knew him as "Pat."
Pat passed away in New York City last week at the age of 90. His passing was noted in every major newspaper. He was a legend in his industry.
The Pat I knew rode the New Haven Line every morning from Green's Farms, Connecticut, to Grand Central Station. Every night he reversed the trip. For over fifteen years we rode the rails together.
Spending a couple of hours a day with a fellow provides you a keen insight to his personality. Pat Knopf always rode in the same train car, the head car.
Those of us who played bridge every morning and gin every night rode in that car with him. Although he was occasionally a card player in our group, more often than not he was a kibitzer. Much of his ride was involved in reading manuscripts and selecting books for publication. His brief case was always over filled to the point that it could not be completely closed.
Pat was a rumpled man. He very much resembled what might be the caricature of a man who spends all his time in a library, alone with his books. However, he was far more interesting. He loved to laugh and to talk of the events of the day. He was interested in the lives of his children, who were away at boarding school when we rode the rails, and he talked about them with us often. While he could easily have resided in a beautiful Park Avenue residence, he liked to get out to the country every day. He said it recharged his batteries.
Pat's publishing house held many book parties, events where he would introduce the author or subject of a book to a group of potential readers or opinion makers. Every now and then he included a couple of his pals from the train.
On one such occasion I was invited to a private party at The Metropolitan Opera house for the launching of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's biography.
What a thrill to meet Dame Kiri, who later sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, and all those people who move in her circle of friends and acquaintances. She signed a copy of her book for me, and I spent a good deal of time standing on the sidelines, with a glass of chilled white wine in my hand, watching her as she greeted many dignitaries.
Another time Pat invited me to the launch of a biography he published of the great opera singer, the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. At first I wondered why I was getting invited to launchings for musical folk, but then realized that Pat had picked up that I loved classical music, and he was kind enough to realize that of those events to which he could invite me, these would mean the most.
Well, Marilyn Horne is not one that you can stand on the sidelines and watch. She is full of vim and vigor, she has a contagious (and loud) laugh, and she was the center of her party the entire evening.
At these events, Pat was always the impresario. He planned and executed the party. He selected the guests. And it was obvious that he had made a friend of the person who was the honored guest.
Pat had suggested to me on one of our rides that I write a book. We talked about it on many of our train trips, and it actually got to the stage where he sent one of his ghostwriters to meet with me in Westport, Connecticut, to talk in greater detail.
As I look back on that experience, I realize that Pat found lots of people passing through his life that he could encourage to write their book. Like a salesman making 100 calls to get one sale, I suppose Pat planted the seed over and over again, and the result was those best sellers, and other equally wonderful books he published.
Lots of people think they want to write a book. Many think they can write a book. I found myself with one of the great men of the publishing industry interested in encouraging me to do just that. And I could not. I admit I sat down a number of times and put pen to paper, without success. What did I learn? I learned that most people can't write a book.
I spoke with Pat two years ago. He was retired and residing in New York City. We had a good "catch up" conversation. He was less animated than I remembered, but he may well have thought the same of me.
As we live, people pass through our circle of life. It is one of the greatest opportunities life offers. We need to cherish the moment, enjoy the personality, and build the memories.
They are all too quickly gone.
But like the books he published, the final chapter in the book of the life of Alfred A. "Pat" Knopf has been written, and the cover is closed.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Amateur Hour in Washington DC
Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
OBAMA ENCOURAGES TRANSPARENCY
Amateur Hour In Washington, DC
The President has told us that he wants his administration to be transparent, for everything to be out in the open, done in the light of day, making no attempt to deceive the American people.
This new transparency was on display when Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico withdrew his name after being appointed by Obama to be in the new cabinet.
Once his selection was announced, the FBI began to investigate the Governor’s background. They provided their report to the president.
It seems the Governor awarded a large contract, not to a New Mexico firm (which would have been expected as he governs that state) but to a California firm that made a six-figure donation to his campaign.
There were many news reports that Richardson was shocked that he was encouraged to step down.
According to CNN, the president commented after Richardson withdrew:
"Governor Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office."
More recently the president got another shock. He announced that he wanted Timothy Geithner to be the new Secretary of the Treasury.
Again, the FBI investigators got busy and Mr. Geithner was found to have failed to pay taxes in past years.
Here is a statement from Tribune Media
“Timothy Geithner, now the Treasury secretary, quite clearly tried to defraud the government of tens of thousands in payroll taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund. The IMF does not withhold such taxes but does compensate American employees who must pay them out of pocket. Geithner took the compensation — which involves considerable paperwork — but then simply pocketed the money.”
Another news comment about Geithner, again in Tribune Media:
His explanations for his alleged oversight don’t pass the smell test. When the IRS busted him for his mistakes in 2003 and 2004, he decided to take advantage of the statute of limitations and not pay the thousands of dollars he also failed to pay in 2001 and 2002. That is, until he was nominated to become Treasury secretary.
Geithner and the president decided to tough it out. So much for the consequences of transparency.
President Obama defends Geithner, saying that his was a “common mistake, it is embarrassing but happens all the time. “
Now there is some transparency!
Geithner, in addition to his other duties, will supervise the Internal Revenue Service.
Recently, former Majority Leader of The U.S. Senate, Tom Daschle, ran into a problem on his way to becoming President Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary.
After being defeated for reelection he took a job that paid millions of dollars. With the job came a car and chauffeur. After being nominated for the Obama cabinet position, and having lots of knowledge about how the FBI investigators operate and how the Senate grills nominees, he has been reported as “voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007.”
Seems like there is a question as to the accuracy of his tax returns for a number of years that involve salary, car and driver, and undocumented charitable contributions.
Of course, former Senators are accorded certain deference in Washington, so rather than have a fully televised hearing on his confirmation, which would clearly be transparent (there is that word again), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,” Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., called his colleagues for a private meeting to discuss the complications surrounding Daschle's nomination.”
In other words, when the hearings are held everyone will had a script and they can play nice with their former colleague.
Senator Daschle no doubt hoped that Treasury Secretary Geithner would accept the “it happens all the time” explanation he plans to proffer, if the president doesn’t beat him to it.
Actually, the president released this comment through his White House Spokesman:
"The president has confidence that Sen. Daschle is the right person to lead the fight for health care reform".
That was a day or so before he was no longer "the right person" and the president accepted Daschle’s offer to withdraw.
Then there was Nancy Killefer, nominated as Chief Performance Officer for The White House.
Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government, the White House said Tuesday.
How about that. She was going to be in charge of checking on all the others as to how well they followed the law.
Also, rumors are rampant that our neighbor, Senator Gregg, named to be the Secretary of Commerce, told the president that before he would take the job Obama had to get the democrat Governor of NH to promise not to appoint a Democrat to fill Senator Gregg’s seat. There we go with that above board stuff again! And of course, a Republican has been named by the Democrat Governor.
It will be interesting in the confirmation hearings as Gregg explains how he voted to do away with the Commerce Department one year and now wants to be the head honcho.
Then there is the president’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis. Just as the hearings were to be held at the Senate they were canceled. Guess why! Seems her husband just yesterday paid up the money he owed to settle tax liens against his business, liens that had been outstanding for 16 years!
So here is the scorecard.
The first guy discovered by the FBI, Governor Richardson, has to withdraw rather than delay confirmation of the new president’s cabinet picks.
The second guy discovered by the FBI, Mr. Geithner, gets to pony up all the taxes he didn’t pay, and pay a penalty, and then gets confirmed to run the Treasury (and the IRS).
Boy those IRS employees must be especially excited.
The third guy, Senator Daschle, also ponies up hundreds of thousands of dollars he attempted to keep from the government, and he gets a closed-door hearing. Then he withdraws. He is probably wondering if there is any way to get those hundreds of thousands of dollars he belatedly paid back.
Next, a Republican Senator is picked to head a Cabinet Department he once thought should be abolished. Oh, and he won’t take the job unless he can pick the party of his successor.
Then the lady who was going to check up on all the others , Nancy Killefer ,withdraws. Tax problems!
Finally, the nominee to be Secretary of Labor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis, has her confirmation hearings canceled because her hubby took 16 years to pay his tax liens. Surprise, he only paid them a few days before the hearings were scheduled.
Who knew that a policy of transparency simply meant that instead of hiding criminal acts we would just have them announced up front and then try to confirm the fellows for high government jobs anyway.
I have to admit, it certainly gives me lots of confidence to know that these folks have lately become very transparent and have now laid out for us to see what the FBI would have laid out eventually.
I was watching the Geithner hearings on television the other day. One poor U.S. Senator was stating that the Senate had refused to confirm people in the past who had done far less than Geithner, that the people deserved a higher standard in their government servants, especially those so close to the president.
Since he happened to be a Republican, and as we know they lost the election, the committee let him have his say and then went on and ignored him.
And another Senator asked that the Daschle nomination please be withdrawn. In this case, someone up the street in a Big White House was listening.
We have come a long way in the country. Remember, under former presidents a great jurist was denied a spot on the Supreme Court because he had smoked marijuana as a teenager. And then there was the fabulous jurist, Judge Kimba Wood from New York, who lost her shot to be Attorney General for Bill Clinton because her Nanny was an undocumented worker.
It was much tougher in the days when we had standards.
Now with the transparency guidelines one simply admits to bad acts and the slate is wiped clean and he gets to be called “The Honorable” when he comes into a room, and the people all stand up for him. Wow. Somebody should have thought of this before.
The list of people who have failed to be confirmed for high-level jobs because of previous bad behavior is quite a long one.
We are now operating in an age where previous performance does not seem to be a predictor of one’s acceptability to work for The President of The United States.
Some readers may think I am being pretty hard on Obama.
I find no reason to assume that President Obama knew of these issues in advance of appointing any of the people. I leave to you the question of whether he should have.
I think his first reaction, to encourage Bill Richardson to withdraw rather than taint the presidency was the correct one. I admire him for that.
My admiration diminishes however when he revisits his approach to these issues and gives both the Secretary of the Treasury a pass for egregious behavior in his previous position, and recommends the same for the nominee for Health and Human Services.
As my friends in Georgia used to say: “That hound won’t hunt”.
This new administration is demonstrating a lack of experience and preparation and in these first missteps is setting itself up for a lot of criticism and a lowering of expectations. I hope the "on the job" training that is evident in selecting members to lead cabinet level positions improves before decisions are made that relate to national security.
One day soon these “Honorables” may come to your town to give a talk.
Be sure to stand up when they are introduced.
…Jack Blair
OBAMA ENCOURAGES TRANSPARENCY
Amateur Hour In Washington, DC
The President has told us that he wants his administration to be transparent, for everything to be out in the open, done in the light of day, making no attempt to deceive the American people.
This new transparency was on display when Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico withdrew his name after being appointed by Obama to be in the new cabinet.
Once his selection was announced, the FBI began to investigate the Governor’s background. They provided their report to the president.
It seems the Governor awarded a large contract, not to a New Mexico firm (which would have been expected as he governs that state) but to a California firm that made a six-figure donation to his campaign.
There were many news reports that Richardson was shocked that he was encouraged to step down.
According to CNN, the president commented after Richardson withdrew:
"Governor Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office."
More recently the president got another shock. He announced that he wanted Timothy Geithner to be the new Secretary of the Treasury.
Again, the FBI investigators got busy and Mr. Geithner was found to have failed to pay taxes in past years.
Here is a statement from Tribune Media
“Timothy Geithner, now the Treasury secretary, quite clearly tried to defraud the government of tens of thousands in payroll taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund. The IMF does not withhold such taxes but does compensate American employees who must pay them out of pocket. Geithner took the compensation — which involves considerable paperwork — but then simply pocketed the money.”
Another news comment about Geithner, again in Tribune Media:
His explanations for his alleged oversight don’t pass the smell test. When the IRS busted him for his mistakes in 2003 and 2004, he decided to take advantage of the statute of limitations and not pay the thousands of dollars he also failed to pay in 2001 and 2002. That is, until he was nominated to become Treasury secretary.
Geithner and the president decided to tough it out. So much for the consequences of transparency.
President Obama defends Geithner, saying that his was a “common mistake, it is embarrassing but happens all the time. “
Now there is some transparency!
Geithner, in addition to his other duties, will supervise the Internal Revenue Service.
Recently, former Majority Leader of The U.S. Senate, Tom Daschle, ran into a problem on his way to becoming President Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary.
After being defeated for reelection he took a job that paid millions of dollars. With the job came a car and chauffeur. After being nominated for the Obama cabinet position, and having lots of knowledge about how the FBI investigators operate and how the Senate grills nominees, he has been reported as “voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007.”
Seems like there is a question as to the accuracy of his tax returns for a number of years that involve salary, car and driver, and undocumented charitable contributions.
Of course, former Senators are accorded certain deference in Washington, so rather than have a fully televised hearing on his confirmation, which would clearly be transparent (there is that word again), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,” Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., called his colleagues for a private meeting to discuss the complications surrounding Daschle's nomination.”
In other words, when the hearings are held everyone will had a script and they can play nice with their former colleague.
Senator Daschle no doubt hoped that Treasury Secretary Geithner would accept the “it happens all the time” explanation he plans to proffer, if the president doesn’t beat him to it.
Actually, the president released this comment through his White House Spokesman:
"The president has confidence that Sen. Daschle is the right person to lead the fight for health care reform".
That was a day or so before he was no longer "the right person" and the president accepted Daschle’s offer to withdraw.
Then there was Nancy Killefer, nominated as Chief Performance Officer for The White House.
Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government, the White House said Tuesday.
How about that. She was going to be in charge of checking on all the others as to how well they followed the law.
Also, rumors are rampant that our neighbor, Senator Gregg, named to be the Secretary of Commerce, told the president that before he would take the job Obama had to get the democrat Governor of NH to promise not to appoint a Democrat to fill Senator Gregg’s seat. There we go with that above board stuff again! And of course, a Republican has been named by the Democrat Governor.
It will be interesting in the confirmation hearings as Gregg explains how he voted to do away with the Commerce Department one year and now wants to be the head honcho.
Then there is the president’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis. Just as the hearings were to be held at the Senate they were canceled. Guess why! Seems her husband just yesterday paid up the money he owed to settle tax liens against his business, liens that had been outstanding for 16 years!
So here is the scorecard.
The first guy discovered by the FBI, Governor Richardson, has to withdraw rather than delay confirmation of the new president’s cabinet picks.
The second guy discovered by the FBI, Mr. Geithner, gets to pony up all the taxes he didn’t pay, and pay a penalty, and then gets confirmed to run the Treasury (and the IRS).
Boy those IRS employees must be especially excited.
The third guy, Senator Daschle, also ponies up hundreds of thousands of dollars he attempted to keep from the government, and he gets a closed-door hearing. Then he withdraws. He is probably wondering if there is any way to get those hundreds of thousands of dollars he belatedly paid back.
Next, a Republican Senator is picked to head a Cabinet Department he once thought should be abolished. Oh, and he won’t take the job unless he can pick the party of his successor.
Then the lady who was going to check up on all the others , Nancy Killefer ,withdraws. Tax problems!
Finally, the nominee to be Secretary of Labor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis, has her confirmation hearings canceled because her hubby took 16 years to pay his tax liens. Surprise, he only paid them a few days before the hearings were scheduled.
Who knew that a policy of transparency simply meant that instead of hiding criminal acts we would just have them announced up front and then try to confirm the fellows for high government jobs anyway.
I have to admit, it certainly gives me lots of confidence to know that these folks have lately become very transparent and have now laid out for us to see what the FBI would have laid out eventually.
I was watching the Geithner hearings on television the other day. One poor U.S. Senator was stating that the Senate had refused to confirm people in the past who had done far less than Geithner, that the people deserved a higher standard in their government servants, especially those so close to the president.
Since he happened to be a Republican, and as we know they lost the election, the committee let him have his say and then went on and ignored him.
And another Senator asked that the Daschle nomination please be withdrawn. In this case, someone up the street in a Big White House was listening.
We have come a long way in the country. Remember, under former presidents a great jurist was denied a spot on the Supreme Court because he had smoked marijuana as a teenager. And then there was the fabulous jurist, Judge Kimba Wood from New York, who lost her shot to be Attorney General for Bill Clinton because her Nanny was an undocumented worker.
It was much tougher in the days when we had standards.
Now with the transparency guidelines one simply admits to bad acts and the slate is wiped clean and he gets to be called “The Honorable” when he comes into a room, and the people all stand up for him. Wow. Somebody should have thought of this before.
The list of people who have failed to be confirmed for high-level jobs because of previous bad behavior is quite a long one.
We are now operating in an age where previous performance does not seem to be a predictor of one’s acceptability to work for The President of The United States.
Some readers may think I am being pretty hard on Obama.
I find no reason to assume that President Obama knew of these issues in advance of appointing any of the people. I leave to you the question of whether he should have.
I think his first reaction, to encourage Bill Richardson to withdraw rather than taint the presidency was the correct one. I admire him for that.
My admiration diminishes however when he revisits his approach to these issues and gives both the Secretary of the Treasury a pass for egregious behavior in his previous position, and recommends the same for the nominee for Health and Human Services.
As my friends in Georgia used to say: “That hound won’t hunt”.
This new administration is demonstrating a lack of experience and preparation and in these first missteps is setting itself up for a lot of criticism and a lowering of expectations. I hope the "on the job" training that is evident in selecting members to lead cabinet level positions improves before decisions are made that relate to national security.
One day soon these “Honorables” may come to your town to give a talk.
Be sure to stand up when they are introduced.
The Ship of State
Notes of Concern…..
….Jack Blair
THE SHIP OF STATE
There is a new Captain at the helm for the 44th time in the history of the ship.
He now steers the vessel out to the rough seas. Each captain has brought different experience to the assignment and some have steered the ship onto the rocks and others have provided the passengers with calm sailing.
As the ship set sail on January 20th record numbers of people stood on the shore and cheered the vessel, her captain and crew, and extended best wishes for a great cruise.
We shall not see the vessel in port again for a minimum of four years or possibly a maximum of eight.
During that period of time unexpected weather will be encountered, storms will toss the ship, and dangers will be faced.
God bless this ship and all who sail on her.
As Americans continue to watch the crumbling of our financial institutions we realize the bears on Wall Street are in charge. I have included in my column today a photo of one of the bears holding the doors closed so the bulls cannot get in. the fact that this bear was blue and had snow on his back is a pictorial comment on the brisk and unfriendly winds that blow across our land today.
A second visual, one of athletic men trying to climb a very steep wall, could be seen as a depiction of all the intellect and talent brought to the table where decisions on our economy are made. All this brain power has failed to save us from our current situation.
The bottom line is that none of these knows what to do. Everything that is being tried is guesswork.
We must hope that we get lucky as the economic roulette wheel continues to turn and no one really knows where the little ball will finally land.
We must all hope it lands on black rather than red.
….Jack Blair
THE SHIP OF STATE
There is a new Captain at the helm for the 44th time in the history of the ship.
He now steers the vessel out to the rough seas. Each captain has brought different experience to the assignment and some have steered the ship onto the rocks and others have provided the passengers with calm sailing.
As the ship set sail on January 20th record numbers of people stood on the shore and cheered the vessel, her captain and crew, and extended best wishes for a great cruise.
We shall not see the vessel in port again for a minimum of four years or possibly a maximum of eight.
During that period of time unexpected weather will be encountered, storms will toss the ship, and dangers will be faced.
God bless this ship and all who sail on her.
As Americans continue to watch the crumbling of our financial institutions we realize the bears on Wall Street are in charge. I have included in my column today a photo of one of the bears holding the doors closed so the bulls cannot get in. the fact that this bear was blue and had snow on his back is a pictorial comment on the brisk and unfriendly winds that blow across our land today.
A second visual, one of athletic men trying to climb a very steep wall, could be seen as a depiction of all the intellect and talent brought to the table where decisions on our economy are made. All this brain power has failed to save us from our current situation.
The bottom line is that none of these knows what to do. Everything that is being tried is guesswork.
We must hope that we get lucky as the economic roulette wheel continues to turn and no one really knows where the little ball will finally land.
We must all hope it lands on black rather than red.
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