Heads Up, Writers!

Heads up, Writers! 

It’s time to save the world! We need a Charles Dickens, to show us what the census numbers really look like walking; we need a Thomas Paine to tell us just what might really work; we need a Rachel Carson to bring us to our senses; we need a Martin Luther, to bring us back to God.

We’ve had plenty of minor players.  Who’s going to write the story that brings us fully back to center?

People who are great in their various professions, skills, and callings think profoundly but narrowly.

Only writers think of all the connections and the what-ifs; and some of you must wrap your imaginations around all our ideas, events, and characters, and write the words that will save the world.

You know who you are.  Heads up!

Neurons, Synapses, Economics, and Life

Kira is out of her blue funk, and is aptly leading a Library group here on Multiply.  She receives no pay for this.  It is excellent work.

Here on Multiply, and lots of other places on the Web, people are blogging away about all sorts of things.  Mostly we don't get paid.  We share ideas.  We expand each other's horizons.  The world has never been like this.  Or has it?

I read Ben Franklin's autobiography a few years ago.  He told me what it was like at the dawn of American history.  A few weeks ago I also read A History of the American People, by British author Paul Johnson.  He told me some very insightful things about the philosophical background of America, from a European perspective.

Barack Obama is our new president.  This man's greatest gift to us, from my perspective, is his motivational speaking.  He pulls together all our collective angst and rekindles our faintly remembered hopes, and helps us to believe we just might, collectively, be able to make sense of life on earth, and order it in such a way that everyone gets what they need.

Because of the Book Reviews posted on Kira's Library group, I made a trip to one of our local libraries today.  (Thank you, Ben Franklin, that we have public libraries in America.)  Besides the books I went there to fetch, I discovered, by browsing, another book that I just started to read tonight: Mirroring People, by Marco Iacoboni.  It's a neuroscience book, published in 2008.  It's subtitle is, "The New Science of How We Connect With Others."  To me, it is fascinating and exciting to read.  My own neurons are firing so rapidly as I read it ... I am having so many "Eureka" moments as I process and connect all that has entered my stream of consciousness these past couple of months. 

I am not sure that I am able, tonight, to write for you a full description of the path my thoughts have journeyed; but write I must nonetheless, because I've perceived some things that I just must share.

In our brains, our neurons fire, and we have billions of them.  Synapses are the connections between the neurons.  The more synapses, the more creative we are able to be.  Currently the phrase often used for creativity is "thinking outside the box."  That phrase simply means being able to have a fresh perspective on an old problem, such that you might actually increase the likelihood of solving the problem.  In other words, not being so wary of "reinventing the wheel" that you fail to consider that there may be an alternative to the wheel when it comes to efficient travel and/or portage.

I am coming back to the internet, and then moving on to the economy, so bear with me please.

This socio-political experiment called America was precipitated by intense exchange of ideas after the invention of the printing press.  America has just this year shaken off some things that bogged us down, caused a civil war, in fact.  We thought we were doomed to division because ideology was our only unity, and that ideology turned out to be diverse, and comprised of many cultures.  What's the same about Americans?  Is anything the same on a genetic level (as it probably is for, say, Italians)?

I think something IS the same about us genetically.  Be we Native Americans or any other cultural race by DNA, all of us here sprang from people who MIGRATED to a different place, BELIEVING LIFE COULD BE BETTER.

I postulate that some genetic marker remains in all Americans which gives us a propensity to believe that life can be better.  We've got a gene, I think, that makes us people who will TRY, people who will SEARCH, people who will -- dare I say it -- HOPE.

In fact, history, I think, has shown, that the darker the days, the more likely Americans are to rise to the occasion.  They used to call it "Yankee Ingenuity."  Whatever you call it, throw us into adversity and our genetic code kicks in, despite our present paradigms, and we work together and figure things out and end up better as a whole than even we think is possible.

So what have we here?  A massive exchange of ideas on the world-wide-web!  It was not thought spawned on American soil that spawned America, you know.  We stood on the shoulders of giants (to loosely quote from a movie, and I don't remember which one ... maybe it was Jurassic Park).  I think that what's happening here does not affect just us, but our little experiment affects all of humanity.

For the most part, there is no money changing hands as we all blog our little hearts out, and read each other's thoughts, and make our sundry neuro-connections, then go about our business.  But we sure do spark each other, don't we?

I just want to share with you my excitement about that fact.  I think good stuff is gonna come of all this sparking, kids.

As an aside (but a brief one) a commentator on election night observed that we'd had two baby boom presidents -- Bill Clinton and George W (now I thought George W was born during WWII, which makes him not technically a boomer, but I could be wrong about that).  The commentator went on to remark how the boomers were supposed to "change the world," and then he implied that they didn't, and then he said that Barack is a subsequent generation.

I just want to say that the boomers did change the world.  The paradigm shift that brought the seeds of an internet that is (at least presently) FREE, is Woodstock Generation through and through.

Okay, enough about that.  Now the ECONOMY.

What has value?  Well, what do we NEED?  What is ESSENTIAL?

We must all eat and drink.  We must all have coverings and shelters against the elements.

Because of those needs, certain things have REAL value.  Food has real value.  Food springs from the earth, because of the sun, and water.  Land is called "real estate" because it has real value.  The dollar equivalent of its value may change with so-called economic fluctuations, but even so, the land itself is what is truly of value -- particularly if the land is fertile and well-watered and in a favorable climate for production of food.  Or if the land contains other "natural resources" useful for the maintenance of life and health (timber, for instance, to name but one).

Another aside here -- haven't you noticed, kids, that the water we need FALLS FROM THE SKY, the food we need SPRINGS FROM THE GROUND ... I could go on an on, but ISN'T THAT COOL?  Was that by design?  DESIGN?  If you think not, I betcha you think a bunch of other goofy things too.  But enough preaching.  Back to the economy.

We are in a TERRIBLE recession.  World-wide, no less.  Why?  Has the earth decreased it's production of food? (No.)  Has the land disappeared? (No.)  Has the sun exploded? (No.)  Has the rain stopped falling? (No.)  Are there still sufficient resources to maintain life on this planet?  Um, Yes.

Do we all still want to work to harvest the things that need harvesting and convert the things that need converting to make them more useful or pleasing?  (Um, yes -- we need MORE JOBS as a matter of fact.)

Do we all still want to BUY food and other stuff?  ABSOLUTELY!

Are we willing to trade with each other?  We sure are.  Heck, we'll even do the types of things that most interest us free-for-nothing, so long as our basic needs are met.  (Like blog, for instance.)  We'll even share our food and other resources, expecting nothing in return but hoping only for respect or affection, on our more magnanimous days.

So what's the matter with our economy?  Oh, some of us (maybe a bunch of us) thought it might be fun to trade things that are not real.  Let's bet money on the future value of, oh, say "real estate."  Let's buy land and sell it, just to make money on the increase in it's perceived value (rather than to use it for the sustenance of life).

We built a house of cards, and eventually it collapsed.  If we took high school economics, we should have seen this coming.

Okay, the inflated speculative value has collapsed, and it's not going back up, either.  Some gamblers lost a mess of money.  Losses hurt.  Okay.  Get up and build something that's real.

I think that's what Barack Obama and our "leaders" are about to do with us.  We're going to provide "jobs" building some real and decent things that will benefit our children and grandchildren down the road, and pay the family grocery bills in the meantime.  Every little household gets the chance (I hope) to say about unnecessary debt, "Whew!  I won't do THAT again.  Too scary how it can bite you in the butt."  We might not get to do the jobs we thought were our birthright, but we will be productive again, and pretty soon our economy will have a positive "gross national PRODUCT," and everyone who wants a job will be able to have a job, and since we're basically a decent bunch of people, we'll provide for the people who cannot work, and probably even for the people who simply will not work.

I wish I was more eloquent, but this may be the best I can do.  I'm writing my ideas anyway, hoping I might "spark" a few of you who turn a phrase better than I do, or who are able to neuro-connect on a higher level than what I do.  I'm adding my little spark to humanity, I hope; and I'm giving it free-for-nothing, and I do not care if anybody ever remembers my name.  Since we are five degrees connected to each other (or whatever that idea was a few years ago ... maybe it was eight ... it doesn't matter) I'm hoping that somewhere down the line enough common sense and realistic optimism shines from my little synapses that a bunch of families benefit for generations to come.

Picture Perfect -- Worn

November 22nd, 1963

From the scrapbook I made when I was eleven years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following poem is on the last page of my scrapbook.  It is an adaptation of the eulogy given by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.  The adaptation was written by Rudolph Umland.  My apologies in advance, but I do not know what newspaper or magazine I clipped this from.  I had just celebrated my eleventh birthday days before President Kennedy was assassinated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a sound of laughter; in a moment, it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.
There was a wit in a man neither young nor old, but a wit
Full of an old man's wisdom and of a child's wisdom,
And, then, in a moment it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.

There was a man marked with the scars of his love of country,
A body active with the surge of a life far, far from spent
And, in a moment, it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.
There was a father with a little boy, a little girl,
And a joy of each in the other.  In a moment, it was no more,
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.

There was a husband who asked much and gave much, and
Out of the giving and the asking wove with a woman what could not
Be broken in life, and in a moment it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands,
And kissed him and closed the lid of a coffin.
A piece of each of us died at that moment.

Yet, in death he gave of himself to us.
He gave us of a good heart from which the laughter came.
He gave us of a profound wit, from which a great leadership emerged.
He gave us of a kindness and a strength fused into a human courage
To seek peace without fear.

He gave us of his love that we, too, in turn, might give.
He gave that we might give of ourselves, that we might give
To one another until there would be no room, no room at all,
For the bigotry, the hatred, prejudice and the arrogance
Which converged in that moment of horror to strike him down.

-- Senator Mike Mansfield
prose adapted to poetry by Rudolph Umland

Today's List

What I am reading:
A History of the American People (c) 1997 by Paul Johnson, originally published in Great Britain in 1997 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson; published in the USA by Harper Collins Publishers.  I began by reading the section on Industrial America 1879-1912, and was so impressed with the book, I started at page 1 and read through page 99 yesterday.

I am also re-reading Nicholas and Alexandra (c) 1967 by Robert K. Massie, published simultaneously in Canada by McClelland and Stewart Ltd. and in New York by Atheneum.

Book I read in high school or college I want to find a copy of and re-read:
Black Like Me.  I do not remember the author's name, but will find out and check second-hand booksellers locally.  Just noting it here so I'll remember to do so next time I go out.

What I am thinking about:
Economics.  Specifically now, Value.  The "true" valuation of goods and services.  Especially this morning, of real estate.  And the lie of "Location, Location, Location."  (That the 3 most important factors that affect the value of real estate are location, location, and location.)  I have always believed that to be a lie.  Which is why my home is in what is called "Urban" Grand Rapids, but was until very recently called "the Inner City."  The Value here is tremendous.  The materials and craftmanship of my home could not be replicated today without emormous expense.  The fertility and beauty of my back yard pleases me very much.  I have public transportation, nice neighbors, nearness of churches and stores.  But where I live, until very recently, most of my contemporaries were "afraid" to come, because I live near so many of "those people" -- you know, the ones with the same ethnicity as our President-Elect.  Sigh.

What I have to do today:
Rake leaves.

More on Albert and Jay

Here's Albert and Jay in 1901, with their sisters.  The oldest sister is my great-grandma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another of their military photos:

Kep, this one may be of some interest to you.

 

And here's their daddy's (and my great-great grandpa's) military headstone.  My grandpa Charles served in the Civil War.

 

For those of you who do genealogy research, please appreciate the difficulty of researching the last name of White!  As they say about Pokemon, "Gotta catch 'em all!"

I have, in fact, collected data on nearly every White family in the counties and states where my own ancestors lived in the 17 & 18 hundreds.

Veterans

These are my uncles, Albert and Jay.  Photo was taken in 1907.  They enlisted together.  However, Albert was told that he could not enlist with his brother.  So he left the line of volunteers, and rejoined the line at the rear, and used the last name of some family friends instead of his own last name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some photos of my uncles' military days:

 

My grandparents

The first of my immigrant grandpas was William.  He came to Massachusetts from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire via Leiden, Netherlands in 1620.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mosmd/leaders.htm

Shortly after William arrived, my grandpa, Christian, (a Mennonite) came to Pennsylvania, where he died 4 years before the American Revolution.

Right around the time Christian died, my grandpa, Aaron, also arrived in Pennsylvania.  When the War broke out, he migrated to Canada because this branch of my family favored the King.  They returned to the U.S. a couple decades before the American Civil War, in which they fought for the Union.

At about the same time Aaron's descendents returned from Canada, two grandpas, Pieter and Johann, came to Michigan from the Netherlands.

My most recent immigrant grandpa, Johan, brought his son, my grandpa Wilhelm, to America so that Wilhelm would not have to serve in the German military.  Johan was, according to family verbal history, the illegitimate son of Wilhelm I of Prussia.

None of these grandpas ever knew each other, but their children were all living in Michigan and eventually produced my two parents.

 

I have been studying genealogy, and history.  Unraveling riddles from my childhood.  Some day, when I have finished my research, and found my voice, I hope to write about those riddles.

     

Economics

I watched the News Hour on pbs a couple of hours ago.  I am going to post links to transcripts of two stories I thought were quite helpful and informative:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec08/stimulusplans_11-10.html

I thought the ideas expressed in the above-mentioned link were excellent.

And then this:

http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2008/11/10/20081110_china.mp3

Unfortunately, pbs did not offer a transcript of the china story; and so the link is in mp3 format.  It was, however, a very informative and hopeful story for the world economy.