A Classical Cheat Sheet so Asians Won't Think You're Just Another Uneducated American

This probably won't be useful in America because Americans have mostly given up on classical music. The great performers now come out of Korea and China, but you could become attracted to someone from one of those backgrounds and have to show that you're just not another uneducated American.

A couple of years ago I saw a violin competition in Southern California for elementary school children. Every kid was Asian. Asian parents think a child should either learn the violin or the piano. They will make sure their child practices. Whites spend their days extolling the values of Donald Trump.

So here's a quick bit of information that may pull you through what otherwise will be a tough conversation.

The first period of classical music you would be expected to recognize is the Baroque. The two big shots in that period were Johan Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Bach composed a lot of great pieces including two long pieces that look like symphonies (one was used in the movie Love Story). Some of the other famous pieces included the Anna Katerina notebook.  Vivaldi"s most famous composition was the Four Seasons(in fact the Japanese have a marvelous version of it played on the Koto and the Shacuhachi, Japanese instruments. Handel is another guy who composed in this period (Hallelujah).

The next period is the classical. Hadyn wrote 104 symphonies while Mozart wrote 41. Papa Hadyn made it all happen, but Mozart was an even greater talent. He had so many beautiful compositions. I can't begin to name them in the small space I'm given here.

By the time Beethoven wrote his third Symphony (The Eroica) the romantic period was upon us. Beethoven wrote nine symphonies and his last one included a chorus. It is spectacular. I love about everything he wrote except for his string quartets, which mostly confuse me.

Some other great composers In the Romantic period included Johannes Brahms, who wrote four symphonies, Variations on a Theme by Haydn, and the Academic Festival overture. That beautiful piece was constructed from German student drinking songs.

Tchaikovsky was great and the Classical period didn't end until the start of the 20th century with the death of Sergei Rachmaninov. Some of the other great composers were Schumann and Schubert, whose Fiorellen (Trout) quintet can brighten the darkest day.

Okay, that's all I can do for you in this short blog. If you screw up, excuse yourself after saying you're Canadian.

Did Apple Lose by Winning?

Did Apple lose by winning? They've been trying to prove they are not really an American company by keeping their money overseas so they won't have to pay US taxes; manufacturing their devices overseas; and lately by telling the Justice Department they refuse to provide a backdoor so the government can read what's on the iPhone of a terrorist who's already gone to Paradise.

I had mixed feelings about the government's request to break in to that specific iPhone. I figure after they let that happen, Xi Jinping would order them to give him the backdoor to the encryption in China.

That wouldn't have been good at all. But here's the funny thing, today the Justice Department says they don't have to meet with Apple. They say they've got a guy who can break-in to that iPhone without destroying the data on it.

Well, so much for  Tim Cook walking around the stage in Cupertino laying down the gauntlet.

If this guy can break-in, soon a lot of people will be able to get data off my iPhone. I wonder what it means for my Apple stock (please, light a candle for me, this stock has not been good for a while)

We will probably find out that he did it with something he got from Legos. From our studies we all know what the result is for those who have hubris. We're watching that now.

Sell Time Warner to North Korea

I've met a lot of fine people who work for Time Warner cable who have tried to give me assistance over the years. I believe they have been working hard to provide decent services.

The problem is that management is only concerned with one thing. They desperately want to sell the company. If the CEO can sell the company he would make a lot of money. He doesn't seem very interested in running an effective cable service.

Selling the company to North Korea would simplify everything. Time Warner management doesn't really care what happens to its customers, so they can escape with the money without worrying about doing a good job.

Working for Kim Jong-un would provide an incentive for new management to run the kind of company that would make its customers happy. If they didn't, Kim Jong-un  could invite them back to North Korea where he could strap them to the end of an antiaircraft gun and blow them away. (This is how he killed his uncle)

Since Time Warner is the subject of many jokes, this would help their public image. Kim Jong-un has said he can send a missile to Manhattan. Those late night comments about Time Warner's incompetence could be eliminated quickly.

Trump calls Sanders a Communist

Given the fact that most Trump supporters don't have the brains that God gave geese, I had counted on this happening. Today, Trump called Bernie Sanders a "communist."

I always figured that the American people didn't understand the difference between "socialist" and "communist," but I was actually selling them short. It seems that when they looked at Denmark and Sweden it didn't  scare them one bit.

So Trump counted on the stupidity of his followers and called Sanders a communist. He did it this morning in an airplane hangar where a lot of us dummies thought he would denounce the violence his hyperbole had launched. So much for the expectations of people who think presidents should be looked up to and admired for their truth and honesty.

Who knows what he'll say next. But it won't be pretty. We haven't encountered this kind of politician since George Wallace said segregation should last forever. In history we've had Father Coughlin and Huey Long who've counted on the stupidity and racism of their followers. Hell, Henry Ford used to hand out this fraudulent protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was a  document that was anti-Semitic to its core. He got away with it and Ford did transactions with the Germans well past the time it was acceptable behavior.

So now we have Trump, who is the incarnation of evil. If someone shoots him the autopsy will show us where the 666 is hidden on his body. But I suppose, even that wouldn't convince the evangelicals they're walking down the path behind the antichrist.

As for me, I've taken Pascal's wager and hope that one fine morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away.

Now Foreigners Have a True Picture of America

Back when there was an Iron Curtain across Europe separating the free nations from those that were communist dictatorships, we had Radio Free Europe. It would provide hope for those imprisoned under Russian rule and talk about America. Our country has had many programs like that spreading the vision of a free America where good things happened.

So for 50 years, people had an image in their mind of what America was like, and many of them longed to start life anew over here. We were a nation of immigrants, a bunch of fair people who wanted others to get ahead.

We have blown those views out of the water with the candidacy of Donald Trump. 20% of the Trump voters in South Carolina believe that slavery should still exist. He called out to those filled with hatred and prejudice and brought them on board. The more we knew about those who followed him, the more we were frightened by what they told the people doing the exit polls. If there was one thing that United them all, it was their belief in authoritarian principles.

We could no longer look at the Germans and wag our fingers at them for producing Hitler and the Nazi party. We can no longer look down at Japan, whose schoolbooks deny that Nanjing massacre, deny the existence of  "comfort women," enslaved by Japanese troops as prostitutes, or the Bataan death March.

The world can see plainly that for all the good people we have who always give money to help with an international tragedy, there are disgusting, bitter Americans who blame immigrants for their problems. The sick side of America is on full view for everyone, from the Mexicans to the French, to shock a world that hoped we were a better place.

I'm a Mayflower descendent who will always love this country, but I am reminded of walking into the "colored" bathroom in Columbus, Georgia. I remember wondering if this was my country? It truly was, and now Trump has shown all nations just how bigoted, evil and nasty some of my fellow countrymen can be.

The next time an embassy holds a Fourth of July party, I wonder what the guests will be thinking about their hosts.

The Importance of Thank You

A lot of people forget the importance of the word "thank you." We all want to be thanked if we do something worthwhile. Sometimes, even if you don't receive it, you may want to repeat your gesture, but probably not.

I received my PhD from the Maxwell school at Syracuse University. I'm really proud that it's ranked number one among schools of public affairs, with Harvard's Kennedy school at number two.

But I'd taught at the Newhouse school of Syracuse and believed then, and still do, that it's a wonderful journalism school.

So in December I sent Syracuse University a check that was to be split between Maxwell and Newhouse. A week after my gift, I got a nice note from the people at Maxwell. I appreciated that.

Today I received a form from the Newhouse School. The signature of the Dean, who allegedly signed it, was preprinted.

Understanding a little of how fund raising works, I was  appalled and wondered about how the school was administered.

Next year, of course, the entire check will go to Maxwell.

The Pied Piper of Hate

The famous social commentator from the early 20th century, H.L. Mencken, once described Donald Trump's appeal: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

A noted educator, whose family was in the Holocaust, recently remarked that Trump reminded her of Hitler.

Let's take a quick look at this man who has captured the support of so many Republicans.

While he likes to talk about his success, many have commented that if he had just put the money his father left him in a good mutual fund, he would have the same amount of money today. This is not a self-made man. This is not a Lincoln who read by candlelight to become a lawyer. This is the guy who is one of the scumbags that made some of the deals that put America into the great recession. He isn't known for scrupulous financial behavior. He will declare bankruptcy on one of his properties the minute it gets into trouble. He will use a government's power of eminent domain to throw people out of their homes so he can build a parking lot for the high rollers at his casinos.

It was America's immigrants who built this country. I'm a Mayflower descendent who knows that our country would not be great if we had inhibited the immigration of everyone from the Germans to the Chinese. America is a country of self renewal, where the newest immigrant with pluck and fortitude can produce something that will improve our nation.

Since ISIS now uses the screams of Donald Trump, railing against Muslims, as a recruitment tool, we should look closely at a man who most clearly represents the lack of compassion of the 1%.

You won't see Donald Trump at a soup kitchen making sure the unemployed will get needed sustenance. Instead, you'll see him on a stage trying to bring out the worst in the American people. He is the guy who organizes the lynch mob. This is the man who has people break into the jailhouse to pull out someone of color to be torn apart by the mob. He represents everything that is wrong in America. There are, however, too many uneducated, angry, white people who haven't figured out who the real enemy is. Let's hope they don't destroy our democracy while they follow the Pied Piper of hate.

America and Its Changing Social Geography

America is constantly changing. For travelers from other countries who have views about what they want to see, it's important that they bring themselves up-to-date. For example no matter what the recruiters tell you, if you're Chinese you should never go to the University of Southern California, because the area is very dangerous. If you grew up on the Motown sound, you'd probably be surprised that Detroit is where the American dream ended.

When I was young, Stockton, California, was a great city.

Lodi, California, the next town over, was infamous because of the John Fogerty song:

                if I only had a dollar for every song I've song

                and every time I've had to play while people sat there drunk

                you know I'd catch the next train back to where I live

                O  Lord I'm stuck in Lodi again

Today, because Stockton is a city that declared bankruptcy and can't afford to pay cops the new joke is:

The best part of Stockton is Lodi.

Keeping up on a dysfunctional America is crucial if you're going to visit here. America, she'll keep changing on you

The Political HurricaneHeading For Our Democracy

If Bernie Sanders resonates with you, you have a problem. Many of the things he advocates, including a free college education, make a lot of sense to me. Until I think about paying for it. Getting rid of insurance companies and having the government be responsible for healthcare sounds nice. Then I remember how insurance companies and their support made Obama care possible.

In short, I would like to have a lot of things that Bernie Sanders wants but know that our right wing Congress would never let these things happen. A lot of us are angry at banks, at the 1%, and at how Congress is always pimping itself out.

So Sanders appeals to the young, who are being crushed under college loans and see how difficult it is a get a job with only a bachelors degree.

We can't nominate Sanders, because anybody who calls himself a socialist will get destroyed in the general election. On the other hand we have  the rabid right-wing of the Republican Party in full cry. The party establishment has lost control and we've seen a nasty man, who everyone in the Senate seems to hate, winning the Iowa caucus.

Democrats probably should've figured out how many people dislike Hillary Clinton before they anointed her as the person to beat. Every time the emails get mentioned, people are reminded of how the Clintons always thought they could have their cake and eat it too.

At this stage of the game, I've prepared myself to hold my nose and vote for Hillary. I'm going to pretend she didn't make all that money giving speeches to the big banks. I'm going to pretend she actually cares about America's middle class and its disintegration.

But if I have to do that, how many other people will decide they don't care enough to compromise. Ted Cruz, whose wife works for Goldman Sachs, is part of the Republican crowd that protects big bankers and the rest of the 1%. There are people in this country who deserve to be angry at the 1% and their unconscionable corralling of such a large proportion of American assets. Then there are the right-wingers who don't seem to understand that they're for a party that has no interest in helping them out with their financial problems.

This is not going to end happily, even if I hold my nose. There is righteous anger, as well as misplaced anger, that is heading  for our democracy like a stage 5 hurricane

Reading and Survival

There is a reason I didn't end up pumping gas in Sandy Creek, New York. I have to thank reading for that. From the time I was seven I was knocking off a book a day. But there were limits. Because I've had ADHD ever since I can remember, the books had to be able to take me out of my own life. If I couldn't go somewhere else and experience "suspension of disbelief," then the runaway train that was always rocketing through my body would be in control. A lot of nice people had written me off until I got in the 99th percentile in verbal on my SAT.

Lately, because of my reading, my mind has been living in northern England's Lake district. Of course, just when it was almost too late to matter, I finally got diagnosed with ADHD and received medicine that slowed down that railway train inside my body.

To explain what it had been like most of my life: I had written my doctoral dissertation in Syracuse University's Byrd Library, where I could concentrate for 20 minutes and walk around for 40 minutes looking for people to talk to.

So nowadays I can knock off one or two novels a day, but histories take longer.

When I was UPI reporter in Concord New Hampshire, Ted Sorensen had come up to meet with me and the Associated Press reporter. Sorensen, of course, was famous for writing Pres. John Kennedy's inaugural address where he said "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." He was arrogant and quite sure of himself when he said to us that Bobby Kennedy would not run for the presidency in 1968. I always believed after that that Sorensen had lied to us and was really pissed.

It wasn't until I read in another history that Kennedy had earlier made a deal with Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago that somehow later got abrogated which  allowed RFK to run. If I hadn't taken a lot of time on that particular history, I might still be angry today.

So while I'm enjoying Jon Meacham's great biography of George Bush, I think I need some time with Baldacci or Grisham before I can return to my careful reading of his large tome.

Parenting and Principles

When you're in the process of bringing up a daughter, your long-term goal is to create a self-confident, self-reliant' autonomous human being. You want her to be able to stand on her own feet and be secure enough not to be pushed around by a sweet talking guy who requires a submissive woman.

In the end, you want someone autonomous, not someone who will spew your own prejudices and fears in some kind of uncomfortable obeisance.

When my daughter was in second grade she told me her hero was Martin Luther King. Since 30% of my college students were African-American, it gave me a good feeling. But I didn't necessarily expect it to guarantee a core belief in the  equality of man. My attitudes were formed by the Sunday school song that went: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Brown and yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." I always believed that was true. However, I knew my daughter should find her own truths.

That's why when she was making up a chart of core beliefs in her Marriage and Family Therapy Masters program, I was thrilled to see the words "Black lives matter."

It's good when you're daughter becomes autonomous but it's even better when somehow she ends up endorsing your own principles. However or whenever that happens.

Star Wars, Canes and Walkers

We were driving into the parking lot in Westwood village that I use when going to the pharmacy. The first thing that surprised me was that all the disabled parking places were taken. This was the first time I couldn't slide into a spot on the ground floor for a quick exit onto the street.

When we went back it was almost impossible to exit our parking place because the line of cars trying to leave the structure just sat there, seemingly immovable. It wasn't until I remembered that "Star Wars" was playing a block away that I understood what was going on. The movie had just finished

After all, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is in his mid-70s. These people, just like me, probably could still remember the first "Star Wars," and had lusted after Carrie Fisher.

Since I'm in my dotage and have been hanging around Kings Landing looking for a way to get knighted, I was just glad none of them were white walkers.

A President's Tears and Outrage

Recently, my daughter got to shake hands and talk with Barack Obama. My daughter, who is a registered independent, told me that she believes the president is really a good man. Since she's a counselor and deals with people from different backgrounds all day, I trusted her instincts.

Although I've been disappointed in the way the president has handled the Middle East, his speech today on gun violence really connected with me. When mentioning the Newtown, Connecticut slaughter of first graders his eyes teared up.

He is taking executive action on closing guns show loopholes and implementing the other limited efforts that the executive branch can take without the support of Congress. He truly believes that too many Americans are dying because Republicans want to get reelected.

I'm tired of the violence and in the way the legislative branch is too frightened to make a difference. In those tears today I saw one man's attempt to hold back the vicious tide consuming America.

American Middle-Aged Whites are Dying in Increasing Numbers

In many places around the world, we've seen mortality rates continue to decline. However, one of the exceptions is among middle-aged white Americans. These findings, announced today by two Princeton professors, Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton and Dr. Anne Case, are shocking and may account for the support of Donald Trump.

These Americans whose education stopped at high school are dying by suicide; substance abuse; alcoholic liver disease; and overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids. The mortality rates for whites, age 45 to 54 years old, with no more than a high school education, has increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 between 1999 and 2014. At the same time mortality rates for African Americans and Latinos have been decreasing.

The increase in mortality among this subgroup is enough to raise the mortality rate of all whites in this age cohort.

It used to be you could get a job on an auto assembly line and be middle-class in America. Those hard-working union members in many industries did well enough to send their kids to college, and retire comfortably. That's no longer the case and the people who've been left behind are extremely angry, ready to blame people of color or national origin for their problems.

As the son of a man who never finished high school I find it hard to judge them. Their country changed around them and they were left with little hope. However, finding easy targets like immigrants or Muslims will not improve their situation. All I can say is "there, but for the grace of God, go l."

As I reflect on my latest blog, I'm struck by how much my home county fits in with the world in which white middle-aged Americans are dying in greater numbers every year. Both my brothers live within 15 miles of my great-grandfather's grave. They live in Oswego County, which has seen the brewery boarded up; the Nestlé plant close; and where now one of the two nuclear plants is shutting down. It's hard to find good work in this county, which lies below the Canadian border and faces Lake Ontario.

The image I believe that sums up the county is of a basement where they never completed the house that was supposed to sit on top of it. So they still live in the basement, but the last time I was there I noticed they added a satellite dish.

Katherine Pathak and the Sense of Place

It was Wordsworth, of course, who produced "spots in time"(capturing an image immortally).In poems like the "Solitary Reaper" you can experience fully the man working the fields. He portrayed the Lake district in northern England in a way that made it incredibly attractive I once stayed in Ambleside, an experience I will treasure forever.
Catherine Pathak has the same ability. I've read all of her DCI Dani Bevan series of
novels and they are  police procedural mysteries that are exciting, but are steeped in Scottish culture. After reading her novels I feel like moving to Garansay, an island off the East coast of Scotland.
Now that I've started reading her Hugh and Imogen Cross series, I'm even more awed by her capture of what it must've been like to grow up on  Garansay (although I have no idea if she ever spent time there). She is a great writer whose books are on Kindle unlimited
After I finished my first novel, Tommy Babcock, I had hoped to construct a series which would take him through the Second World War. I became disabled while finishing the book  I can no longer type on the computer. I dictate my blogs; but I get to find great authors such as Catherine Pathak and live through their writing.
By the way, a search for Garansay on Google Earth and Wikipedia only comes up with an island off Scotland called Taransay, which  makes Pathak's writing even more interesting.

Trump, the Sociopath

First of all, I would like to say that Donald Trump is not necessarily more evil than Joe McCarthy, who tried to convince us that our government was full of  communists. He's probably not more evil than David Duke of the Klu Klux Klan. And he's not powerful enough to be compared to Hitler.

That said, he seems to be the incarnation of evil, the kind of guy who comes along like Huey Long or Col. Sanders and others whose basic appeal revolves around hatred of people that don't look like us.

He wants to build a wall between our country and Mexico. This is the case although there's been a net out migration back to Mexico over the last couple of years. He wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States, despite the fact that 11,000 Americans were killed by guns, fired by other Americans, a much larger amount than the 45 people killed since 9/11 because of terrorism.

Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His daddy had a lot of money and he passed it on to his son. He's not the kind of American who comes from poverty and builds something great. He isn't  the kind of guy who has shown great compassion for people. Most everything he says is about him.

He hates Latinos. He hates Muslims. Donald Trump, in short, is someone supported by people full of hate and fear. You'll never see him in a soup kitchen ladling food to the disenfranchised.

He is a sociopath, who by definition cares only for Trump. If in the process he injures the American way of life, he'd probably say, "well the media didn't have to cover me."

America, the Lost

I'm descended from two different Mayflower pilgrims. I love my country, but today I look around and hardly recognize it.

When I was young, there was a rumor that a gang fight was going to occur five blocks from my house. What worried people the most was that someone might have a zip gun. (You make a zip gun with wood, some kind of substitute for a barrel and something like a very strong rubber band to trigger the bullet ). We didn't worry that someone would have a real gun because kids  and most people, didn't own pistols.

Today in San Bernardino I watched police deal with the murder of 14 people and the shooting of 17 others. All the Republicans running for president want people to have access to guns.

As a commentator from CNN, remarking on the military vehicles possessed by the San Bernardino Sheriff's office, said "America is the only place where you can buy automatic weapons and armor piercing bullets, so of course you have to have these vehicles.

Horse shit. The National Rifle Association has convinced people they have a right to armor piercing bullets and AR 15's like the killers used today. We've been sold a bill of goods and I can't wait to hear the Republicans explain why we have to put up with events like San Bernardino because owning assault weapons is a God-given right. Jesus didn't want us killing each other and when the states in the Bible Belt decided not to take Syrian refugees they never asked "what would Jesus want us to do." I'm adrift in a land in which I didn't grow up. I feel like a stranger.

A Connection to the Land

Before I was in academia I worked for an energy company that prided itself on being environmentally friendly. It was run by a bunch of Boston Brahmins and respected in the community. Then one day they bought an enormous strip mine. Given their education they were smart enough to buy a Robert Frost poem that began "the land was ours before we were the land's." I learned a lot about corporate culture working there.

However, many of us have a relationship with the land which makes us deeper individuals. I once owned a house in La Canada, California that was built on a hill. I planted peach, avocado, Apple, four different blood orange trees, and many other varieties. My dog and I would walk the land every day and check out the trees. It was wonderful. Since I spent my early years on a farm this was a reaffirmation of my belief that watching things grow is rejuvenating. I also bought a thoroughbred-warmblood horse that had thrown everyone at the Flintridge riding club except for the former head of the German dressage team. She, of course, enjoyed throwing me.

After that, I married a med school professor and moved close to the University, because she would work some nights till 3 AM on National Institute of Health grant proposals. Living in a condo cuts you off from the land, but the realities of California real estate make some decisions for you.

I also became disabled, so that it would have been too difficult to handle either the horse or the fruit trees. But that doesn't mean I've given up lusting after trees and horses. You can keep some things in your heart that will never leave you. Those memories help sustain you.

Understanding Missouri's Racism

I once worked at the most racist place I've ever been-- the University of Missouri. My job title was assistant to the president. In Missouri the president is over the four Chancellor's who run the campuses which stretch from St. Louis to Kansas City.

I was there a month before I began planning to leave. The racism was overpowering. Once African-Americans complained. The then mayor of Columbia told them if they didn't like it they could leave.

I was put on the task force to take University investments out of South Africa. I met some wonderful people on that panel, including an African-American professor who was an exceptional human being. He was close friends with a professor from Lincoln University, a black state run University. He was referred to as the " father of black history." These two men helped me understand just how racist the University of Missouri is.

As you know, during the Civil War Missouri was half slave, half free. You could still see the plantation housing in parts of Columbia.

Of course it wasn't just at the University. I was once in a truck stop where you couldn't help hearing a bunch of low class whites comparing African-Americans to apes. There was no law enforcement there to object to this horrible display of hate, and I suspect they wouldn't have done a thing.

In the end, it took much longer than I had hoped for the University to deal with this issue. Thank God the football coach felt he was like "a father" to his players and supported them wholeheartedly. Given the hatred in that state I hope the powers that be don't try to fire him. It will take years, or decades to change the mentality of that University. I only pray that fewer African-Americans will have to undergo the pain I saw when I was there.