America puts its best foot forward
fiction
edward w pritchard
Less I appear unpatriotic, for I love my Country let me praise it.
I have traveled to a few places and met the sophisticated citizens of Paris, France and Madrid, Spain and London, England. All three believe their culture to be superior to ours here in America.
True or false- I know not. I can no longer afford to go back there to recheck. However this I know. Although we may lose the edge in some areas, or have never had it in others compared to those Europeans; in one mundane category America far excels their achievements.
I talk of beer. America now makes the most drinkable beer in the world in my opinion. Speaking only of taste and enjoyment, without snob appeal, American beer companies make and distribute the finest low cost beers in the world. Cold and drinkable, readily available and affordable American light beers and modestly priced premiums are the world's best.
At least that's what I think and although I stand ready to be convinced otherwise, I doubt that I change my opinion.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
revolution 2 American style
revolution 2 American style
fiction
edward w pritchard
Charles Dickens in A Tale Of two Cities writes of the aristocracy going about their depravities and routines as innocent wood and trees grew in France or far away Norway later to be used for guillotines to behead those same nobles.
In America in 2010 are there dusty contracts of adhesion,- mortgages,- health insurance master contracts,- or tax codes that whisper the same warnings the trees and wood did back in 1788 France?
Our majority of citizenry sinks back and falls behind. The gap between rich and poor grows in America, although both groups are losing relative position to the rest of the world. Is the situation sustainable. Will everyone peacefully and passively fall lower and lose what they once had?
The frontier is closed and the Indians have no more land for us to appropriate. Where will the growth come from to move America forward? Answer unknown, but its probably not educating everybody poorly and saddling them with borrowed tuition debt and fretting that we fall behind in math and science.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Charles Dickens in A Tale Of two Cities writes of the aristocracy going about their depravities and routines as innocent wood and trees grew in France or far away Norway later to be used for guillotines to behead those same nobles.
In America in 2010 are there dusty contracts of adhesion,- mortgages,- health insurance master contracts,- or tax codes that whisper the same warnings the trees and wood did back in 1788 France?
Our majority of citizenry sinks back and falls behind. The gap between rich and poor grows in America, although both groups are losing relative position to the rest of the world. Is the situation sustainable. Will everyone peacefully and passively fall lower and lose what they once had?
The frontier is closed and the Indians have no more land for us to appropriate. Where will the growth come from to move America forward? Answer unknown, but its probably not educating everybody poorly and saddling them with borrowed tuition debt and fretting that we fall behind in math and science.
Little Bell makes a discovery
Little Bell makes a discovery
fiction
edward w pritchard
Little Bell's grandfather let her play at the back of the farm along the Cuyahoga River. Her friend Jamie who was nine always brought his pocket knife along for their protection, which worried her because she was afraid he would fall on it and cut off his finger. Today Bell was alone and was studying the terrain along the back of the farm leading up to the Cuyahoga River.
Her Grandfather had told her that the Iroquois Indians used to come to this part of Ohio to fight with other tribes. They called the River here Cuyahoga because it coiled and furled around and around. Her Dad called it a meandering River.
Bell was drawing and had a pad and a couple of colored pencils. Both pad and pencils were put aside for now for Bell had made a discovery. There was an indentation in the brush and weeds that lead up to the River and Bell had followed the indentation and trail through the fields and brush and eventually it came out on the main road through Clinton, Ohio which is where her Grandfather lived. She deduced that animals must have came down the path she discovered to drink at the River a long time ago and people must have used the animal paths to build the original roads through this area. Unlike the River which meandered and swerved the animal path and main road were very straight through here. Bell ran back to the farm to tell her Grandfather about her discovery.
Later at School when the class had a picture to draw of themselves the teacher had called her Dad because her picture was the only one where her face didn't fill the entire front of the paper the children were given to draw on. Little Bell had drawn herself as a small part of a wooded landscape. The landscape was colored and there was a river at one end and a road at the other. Her Grandfather put the picture on his refrigerator and kept it there for a long time until the magnets holding it up got ruined.
end
fiction
edward w pritchard
Little Bell's grandfather let her play at the back of the farm along the Cuyahoga River. Her friend Jamie who was nine always brought his pocket knife along for their protection, which worried her because she was afraid he would fall on it and cut off his finger. Today Bell was alone and was studying the terrain along the back of the farm leading up to the Cuyahoga River.
Her Grandfather had told her that the Iroquois Indians used to come to this part of Ohio to fight with other tribes. They called the River here Cuyahoga because it coiled and furled around and around. Her Dad called it a meandering River.
Bell was drawing and had a pad and a couple of colored pencils. Both pad and pencils were put aside for now for Bell had made a discovery. There was an indentation in the brush and weeds that lead up to the River and Bell had followed the indentation and trail through the fields and brush and eventually it came out on the main road through Clinton, Ohio which is where her Grandfather lived. She deduced that animals must have came down the path she discovered to drink at the River a long time ago and people must have used the animal paths to build the original roads through this area. Unlike the River which meandered and swerved the animal path and main road were very straight through here. Bell ran back to the farm to tell her Grandfather about her discovery.
Later at School when the class had a picture to draw of themselves the teacher had called her Dad because her picture was the only one where her face didn't fill the entire front of the paper the children were given to draw on. Little Bell had drawn herself as a small part of a wooded landscape. The landscape was colored and there was a river at one end and a road at the other. Her Grandfather put the picture on his refrigerator and kept it there for a long time until the magnets holding it up got ruined.
end
Hunter Green
Hunter Green
fiction
edward w pritchard
We framed all the doors and windows in hunter green paint and planned on repainting the whole world that way.
We had a hunter green van and kept beautiful children in there and tried to keep them from growing up.
We bought stocks and gold and silver and watched them closely for they were the future.
We kept up all the insurances for it guarded us against life's risk and we were confident that we were safe and secure.
We lead the whole world and we felt a little sorry for them because they lagged behind us and didn't know how to keep up.
One day the houses weren't homes any more and the vans were no longer stylish. The gold and silver belonged to someone else and the stocks were viperous. The insurance worked fine but there was now more insurance than value to insure. The children grew up and despite their massive potential we saw their lives would be hard and we suffered for them.
The rest of the world felt a little sorry for us because they knew these things all along. The rest of the world had learned them long ago.
We in America had felt that for the last twelve thousand years events had happened one after the other to bring about the blossoming of our culture in about 1995. It took about fifteen years but time and circumstance caught up with America and now every day we slip back a little and we don't understand why.
fiction
edward w pritchard
We framed all the doors and windows in hunter green paint and planned on repainting the whole world that way.
We had a hunter green van and kept beautiful children in there and tried to keep them from growing up.
We bought stocks and gold and silver and watched them closely for they were the future.
We kept up all the insurances for it guarded us against life's risk and we were confident that we were safe and secure.
We lead the whole world and we felt a little sorry for them because they lagged behind us and didn't know how to keep up.
One day the houses weren't homes any more and the vans were no longer stylish. The gold and silver belonged to someone else and the stocks were viperous. The insurance worked fine but there was now more insurance than value to insure. The children grew up and despite their massive potential we saw their lives would be hard and we suffered for them.
The rest of the world felt a little sorry for us because they knew these things all along. The rest of the world had learned them long ago.
We in America had felt that for the last twelve thousand years events had happened one after the other to bring about the blossoming of our culture in about 1995. It took about fifteen years but time and circumstance caught up with America and now every day we slip back a little and we don't understand why.
a fight at high school
a fight at high school
fiction
edward w pritchard
A fight at the high schools beckons the students into the halls in droves. Maybe something exciting will happen. Maybe there will be some action.
They haven't learned to mind their own business and they don't realize the danger to themselves. They become part of a mob. If nothing goes down they slink back into the room and stare out the window the rest of the day. They wonder how their teacher got so much like an old woman. Preaching about safety and worried about cops.
fiction
edward w pritchard
A fight at the high schools beckons the students into the halls in droves. Maybe something exciting will happen. Maybe there will be some action.
They haven't learned to mind their own business and they don't realize the danger to themselves. They become part of a mob. If nothing goes down they slink back into the room and stare out the window the rest of the day. They wonder how their teacher got so much like an old woman. Preaching about safety and worried about cops.
Buddhist detective-preview
Buddhist detective-preview
fiction
edward w pritchard
Patel was the only Buddhist on the force. He was not the only detective from India however. More by chance, he came to become partners with Bhai, a Zoroastrian, who also happened to be a detective in America.
Patel and Bhai despite their philosophical differences made good partners and excellent detectives; working on the East side of Cleveland, down Euclid area. Bhai drove and Patel jumped out of the car first in emergencies. Neither was violent by American standards but they always got the job done. They had a lot of fun too as they went about their days. Lunch was always challenging.
end part 1
fiction
edward w pritchard
Patel was the only Buddhist on the force. He was not the only detective from India however. More by chance, he came to become partners with Bhai, a Zoroastrian, who also happened to be a detective in America.
Patel and Bhai despite their philosophical differences made good partners and excellent detectives; working on the East side of Cleveland, down Euclid area. Bhai drove and Patel jumped out of the car first in emergencies. Neither was violent by American standards but they always got the job done. They had a lot of fun too as they went about their days. Lunch was always challenging.
end part 1
bliss
bliss
fiction
edward w pritchard
Bliss comes occasionally.
When we are no longer children there are too many obstacles that keep bliss from happening. Most of the obstacles are of our own making or our perceptions and reactions to the external world. The world is large and keeps a-comin so we must become guarded and political for protection of our self. Doing so we become fragile at times which keeps bliss from flowing through our being.
Sometimes bliss is rekindled by exposure to another. A new baby, a suffering friend or an intimate connection. Briefly all to briefly bliss is there. Once, twice, blissfulness exists; a little later gone, and we want to reconnect with our bliss. When we sat alone as a little child and listened to the wind high up, before we knew the wind knocked down houses and trees, we felt blissful for an hour or two.
Now bliss flows like lava once in a while into us. It's not far off as nirvana or heaven. It's a physical state on our inside granted to us from I don't know who.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Bliss comes occasionally.
When we are no longer children there are too many obstacles that keep bliss from happening. Most of the obstacles are of our own making or our perceptions and reactions to the external world. The world is large and keeps a-comin so we must become guarded and political for protection of our self. Doing so we become fragile at times which keeps bliss from flowing through our being.
Sometimes bliss is rekindled by exposure to another. A new baby, a suffering friend or an intimate connection. Briefly all to briefly bliss is there. Once, twice, blissfulness exists; a little later gone, and we want to reconnect with our bliss. When we sat alone as a little child and listened to the wind high up, before we knew the wind knocked down houses and trees, we felt blissful for an hour or two.
Now bliss flows like lava once in a while into us. It's not far off as nirvana or heaven. It's a physical state on our inside granted to us from I don't know who.
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