America the unflappable
fiction
edward w pritchard
Last post author mentioned the Italian attribute to personally have figura, an unshakable faith in oneself.
Us Americans, that's you and me project our collective unconsciousness as unflappable me. Everything under control.
For richer or poorer, in sickness or health everything is so good. No worries my friend.
Meanwhile here it's the dead 7 am Sunday of the first winter day in mid January and the roads to anywhere are partially closed this morning, the stores are raising prices, 17 days to the first of next month and more bills, and yes the government of America is partially closed today.
The Chinese collective unconsciousness say " the ten thousand things interact and I watch for the rebound."
As a teenager we went to church Sunday and I often skipped services and went to the basement and shot basketball. Sometimes some of the girls would rebound dressed in their Sunday finery. Things were good then.
I can still hear the basketball bouncing across the thin veneer of normalcy here in my country.
America the unflappable.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Saturday, January 12, 2019
keeping one's appropriate balance
keeping one's appropriate balance
fiction
edward w pritchard
The Italian's have "la bella figura" meaning one should always look properly good in the sense of being irresistible, appropriately dressed, and making a memorable presentation in each and everything one is, delivers or does.
The ancient Chinese had yin and yang. Proper balance in everything.
Aristotle and the Greeks proclaimed the golden mean.
I once told my children when they were young to keep your balance as a sort of running joke as when they were jumping about breaking up the furniture to " keep your balance" [in life] . The first rumblings of their philosophical training from the old man.
As for me, the most memorable Italians [after Giorgione, the painter of "the Tempest" and Antonio Gramsci, the Marxist was St Francis of Assisi a simple man.
Keep your balance my children.
fiction
edward w pritchard
The Italian's have "la bella figura" meaning one should always look properly good in the sense of being irresistible, appropriately dressed, and making a memorable presentation in each and everything one is, delivers or does.
The ancient Chinese had yin and yang. Proper balance in everything.
Aristotle and the Greeks proclaimed the golden mean.
I once told my children when they were young to keep your balance as a sort of running joke as when they were jumping about breaking up the furniture to " keep your balance" [in life] . The first rumblings of their philosophical training from the old man.
As for me, the most memorable Italians [after Giorgione, the painter of "the Tempest" and Antonio Gramsci, the Marxist was St Francis of Assisi a simple man.
Keep your balance my children.
Friday, January 11, 2019
sometimes I wish I was Catholic
sometimes I wish I was Catholic
fiction
edward w pritchard
The latest crisis in America is that the federal government is partially shut down and there is no one for the average person to grouse to if the shutdown seriously hurts them in some way because politically all the elected officials and federal and state public workers, like it or not are part of the problem and the buck doesn't stop anywhere anymore. Everyone is caught up in chaos of free markets run a muck.
My problem at the moment though concerns high US pharma prices not the federal government shutdown. Since I don't currently have pharma coverage for prescriptions with my medicare which I pay for each month by the way, every few months my prescriptions go up in price at the Walmart. If I had a better phone with going online anywhere capabilities I could print a coupon for a discount off the higher prices using the poor persons rate, only available once using special coupons online, or I could guess which of my heart pills I could stop taking while I applied for a State Medicaid prescription subsidy card even though I feel by doing that I would be taking money from the state food stamp program which feeds lots of hungry children each day. I am also considering ordering the heart medicines from Canada or Mexico because there the heart pills I need are 80% cheaper than in America because of the clout of the big pharma lobbyists.
Sometimes I wish I were Catholic so I could complain to the Pope about the inequity people of modest means face in America because of the ruthlessness of unrestrained capitalism and the free markets. I read once that back in 1077 a Catholic Pope made the King kneel in the snow before he would meet with him.
When folks in America have a good job and a big house in suburbia the system rewards them for their industriousness and good fortune. Given enough time in America however most simple folks find they or those they love are playing the game on an uneven playing field. That's about it from me for now since I don't even know the current Pope's name or address should I wish to contact him with my complaints.
fiction
edward w pritchard
The latest crisis in America is that the federal government is partially shut down and there is no one for the average person to grouse to if the shutdown seriously hurts them in some way because politically all the elected officials and federal and state public workers, like it or not are part of the problem and the buck doesn't stop anywhere anymore. Everyone is caught up in chaos of free markets run a muck.
My problem at the moment though concerns high US pharma prices not the federal government shutdown. Since I don't currently have pharma coverage for prescriptions with my medicare which I pay for each month by the way, every few months my prescriptions go up in price at the Walmart. If I had a better phone with going online anywhere capabilities I could print a coupon for a discount off the higher prices using the poor persons rate, only available once using special coupons online, or I could guess which of my heart pills I could stop taking while I applied for a State Medicaid prescription subsidy card even though I feel by doing that I would be taking money from the state food stamp program which feeds lots of hungry children each day. I am also considering ordering the heart medicines from Canada or Mexico because there the heart pills I need are 80% cheaper than in America because of the clout of the big pharma lobbyists.
Sometimes I wish I were Catholic so I could complain to the Pope about the inequity people of modest means face in America because of the ruthlessness of unrestrained capitalism and the free markets. I read once that back in 1077 a Catholic Pope made the King kneel in the snow before he would meet with him.
When folks in America have a good job and a big house in suburbia the system rewards them for their industriousness and good fortune. Given enough time in America however most simple folks find they or those they love are playing the game on an uneven playing field. That's about it from me for now since I don't even know the current Pope's name or address should I wish to contact him with my complaints.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
early celebrity doesn't always lead to fame and fortune
early celebrity doesn't always lead to fame and fortune
fiction
edward w pritchard
Early celebrity doesn't always lead to fame and fortune. You see when I was a kid I had my five minutes of fame on local TV far off Broadway and far from Hollywood.
I enjoyed as a boy building model plastic airplanes held together with glue and displaying them in my room. As my Father was in the Air Force in the War I suppose he influenced me in this hobby.
I remember we went down to local TV station WAKR, Akron-Ohio back in 1959 to the Professor Jack show and I on live TV got to show my model air plane I had built to the host Professor Jack. There might have been other boys there as well.
Me being on TV was talked about a lot around our house. But gradually came the 1960's, a time of great changes here in America and that was the last time I was on TV. Although I was on TV several times back in 1969 when I played high school football. Sadly that wasn't a speaking part.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Early celebrity doesn't always lead to fame and fortune. You see when I was a kid I had my five minutes of fame on local TV far off Broadway and far from Hollywood.
I enjoyed as a boy building model plastic airplanes held together with glue and displaying them in my room. As my Father was in the Air Force in the War I suppose he influenced me in this hobby.
I remember we went down to local TV station WAKR, Akron-Ohio back in 1959 to the Professor Jack show and I on live TV got to show my model air plane I had built to the host Professor Jack. There might have been other boys there as well.
Me being on TV was talked about a lot around our house. But gradually came the 1960's, a time of great changes here in America and that was the last time I was on TV. Although I was on TV several times back in 1969 when I played high school football. Sadly that wasn't a speaking part.
how I got cured from watching too much TV back in the 1950's america
how I got cured from watching too much TV back in the 1950's america
fiction
edward w pritchard
When I was five my Dad was at work, Mom slept a lot, our other kids were babies and I got to watch a lot of TV. My favorite show was local programming originating from Cleveland about 45 miles north of our house there in Tallmadge, Ohio.
Captain Penny was host of a local TV show sometimes on twice a day. I watched the show religiously. Keeping a running commentary of folksy humor and old time advice Captain Penny would announce an episode of the little rascals or three stooges and now and then a cartoon. I watched the show five days per week for two years before I started to school.
Once as a treat for me, my Mother took me by bus downtown Akron to the O'Neil's department store to see the Celebrity Captain Penny in person. Turns out Captain Penny was different in real life than he was on TV.
We waited a longtime in a long line to see Captain Penny and our bus, the last of the evening was leaving in a few minutes so my Mom and I jumped line to see the Captain up close. Ignoring my Mom and without missing a beat with the kid he was talking to in the front of the long line the Captain looked down at me and said "back of the line Kid. He said it mean like with an unfamiliar glint in his eye.
That's how I got cured from watching too much TV back in the 1950's america.
To this day I don't watch any more children's TV and I don't quite trust authority figures.
fiction
edward w pritchard
When I was five my Dad was at work, Mom slept a lot, our other kids were babies and I got to watch a lot of TV. My favorite show was local programming originating from Cleveland about 45 miles north of our house there in Tallmadge, Ohio.
Captain Penny was host of a local TV show sometimes on twice a day. I watched the show religiously. Keeping a running commentary of folksy humor and old time advice Captain Penny would announce an episode of the little rascals or three stooges and now and then a cartoon. I watched the show five days per week for two years before I started to school.
Once as a treat for me, my Mother took me by bus downtown Akron to the O'Neil's department store to see the Celebrity Captain Penny in person. Turns out Captain Penny was different in real life than he was on TV.
We waited a longtime in a long line to see Captain Penny and our bus, the last of the evening was leaving in a few minutes so my Mom and I jumped line to see the Captain up close. Ignoring my Mom and without missing a beat with the kid he was talking to in the front of the long line the Captain looked down at me and said "back of the line Kid. He said it mean like with an unfamiliar glint in his eye.
That's how I got cured from watching too much TV back in the 1950's america.
To this day I don't watch any more children's TV and I don't quite trust authority figures.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
our stuff won't survive us for long
our stuff won't survive us for long
fiction
edward w pritchard
Sad it was when I worked in a nursing home as a college student when an old timer, man or woman
died at the nursing home without any surviving spouse or friends or family who cared enough to get their few personal items out of their dresser drawers there in the room after they passed on.
We, the RN Nurse and I the orderly had to hurry and go through the pictures and love notes of some old ladies first boyfriend who her husband never talked about because there at the nursing home another old man or woman needed the room for their last remaining years. Of course by then, when the next old person nursing home resident passed on, I the orderly would have another part time college job and the RN would have a new job at a higher salary at the Children's hospital. That's the cycle of life I suppose. Someday the RN would be like the old lady who died and I would be like the dead husband.
I am not sure where most people's stuff ends up if they aren't prominent enough to have a presidential museum built to honor their personal items someday or if their daughters aren't organized enough to distribute the things of the deceased among the grand children. I do remember that the janitor there
at the nursing home I worked at would often burn the recently deceased things in the incinerator behind the building. One of my jobs as orderly was to watch the janitor burn the stuff because if the nursing home staff took things that would be considered stealing. I thought it was a little sad then but the janitor was a bit more c'est la vie and would switch the conversation between us to which of the nurses did I think was best built. After the burning I had to race back inside to help the new resident put her memorabilia away. Some times the new old lady would cry and I could see her soul as it was when she was a beautiful young woman. After that I would drive to college for class, and after that I would watch the years fly by.
When I remember working in a nursing home, and things like this little story sometimes I'll have a few beers if it's not too early in the morning, or I'll try to see the grand children, or I'll give some of my relatives a bible or Koran but usually I'll just get rid of some of my junk and stuff early.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Sad it was when I worked in a nursing home as a college student when an old timer, man or woman
died at the nursing home without any surviving spouse or friends or family who cared enough to get their few personal items out of their dresser drawers there in the room after they passed on.
We, the RN Nurse and I the orderly had to hurry and go through the pictures and love notes of some old ladies first boyfriend who her husband never talked about because there at the nursing home another old man or woman needed the room for their last remaining years. Of course by then, when the next old person nursing home resident passed on, I the orderly would have another part time college job and the RN would have a new job at a higher salary at the Children's hospital. That's the cycle of life I suppose. Someday the RN would be like the old lady who died and I would be like the dead husband.
I am not sure where most people's stuff ends up if they aren't prominent enough to have a presidential museum built to honor their personal items someday or if their daughters aren't organized enough to distribute the things of the deceased among the grand children. I do remember that the janitor there
at the nursing home I worked at would often burn the recently deceased things in the incinerator behind the building. One of my jobs as orderly was to watch the janitor burn the stuff because if the nursing home staff took things that would be considered stealing. I thought it was a little sad then but the janitor was a bit more c'est la vie and would switch the conversation between us to which of the nurses did I think was best built. After the burning I had to race back inside to help the new resident put her memorabilia away. Some times the new old lady would cry and I could see her soul as it was when she was a beautiful young woman. After that I would drive to college for class, and after that I would watch the years fly by.
When I remember working in a nursing home, and things like this little story sometimes I'll have a few beers if it's not too early in the morning, or I'll try to see the grand children, or I'll give some of my relatives a bible or Koran but usually I'll just get rid of some of my junk and stuff early.
Friday, December 21, 2018
it's a very good story
it's a very good story
fiction
edward w pritchard
Christmas is hard for me here in my old age. One thing that brings me a little comfort this time of year is to listen to the entire story of Jesus not just the praise songs of his exalted birth in a stable a long time ago. Seldom do I read the Bible though I do lots and lots of reading about Roman history from the fifth century BC forward.
Last night I got one of my art books and carefully studied the pictures of Jesus' entire life in the paintings of the master of Sienna Duccio.
It's a very good story the record of Jesus' life. Duccio the Italian painter could be a difficult and rebellious man. The business people of Sienna went to great lengths contractually to tie him to the project they wanted him to do back in 1308. Duccio di Buoninsegna's work is called the Maesta, the Master piece and was displayed first, his finished project of the complete life of Jesus in pictures, to the public on June 09, 1311. The day was declared a holiday and the entire town followed the finished sacred work to the Church.
I saw parts of Duccio altarpiece once in a church in Sienna, Italy. The pictures are worth taking our time to study and meditate on.
The history of Jesus' life, it's a very good story.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Christmas is hard for me here in my old age. One thing that brings me a little comfort this time of year is to listen to the entire story of Jesus not just the praise songs of his exalted birth in a stable a long time ago. Seldom do I read the Bible though I do lots and lots of reading about Roman history from the fifth century BC forward.
Last night I got one of my art books and carefully studied the pictures of Jesus' entire life in the paintings of the master of Sienna Duccio.
It's a very good story the record of Jesus' life. Duccio the Italian painter could be a difficult and rebellious man. The business people of Sienna went to great lengths contractually to tie him to the project they wanted him to do back in 1308. Duccio di Buoninsegna's work is called the Maesta, the Master piece and was displayed first, his finished project of the complete life of Jesus in pictures, to the public on June 09, 1311. The day was declared a holiday and the entire town followed the finished sacred work to the Church.
I saw parts of Duccio altarpiece once in a church in Sienna, Italy. The pictures are worth taking our time to study and meditate on.
The history of Jesus' life, it's a very good story.
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