Archive for the ‘Columbia County’ Category
January 19, 2016
Minnesota Los Angeles Fred Pinkard Rocky II Ron Bernstein Adagio Nik Buian The Eagles Glenn Frey Hotel California Paul Krich David Bowie Donald Trump British Parliament about Trump Martin Luther King Day JFK RFK Nazis Genocide
In the long ago and far away, I left Minnesota and ended up in Los Angeles. Volunteering at a theater as an usher, I met Fred Pinkard, an African American actor who guest starred in television shows and was in Rocky II; never famous but almost always working.
I needed work and he put me together with Ron Bernstein who owned Adagio, a little “Cafe California” kind of restaurant down the street from Paramount. As a favor to Fred, Ron hired me. I was not good. I was actually going to be fired. I could feel it.
Staying up half the night one night, I kept thinking about it and worked out a system. The next day everyone on the staff gathered round me at the end of my shift and asked: what happened? I had worked out a system. I went from being the worst to the best.
Late at night after all the customers had left, Nik Buian, the manager and I, would crank up the music system and pull out all the bottles of wine that had been left behind with something in them. We’d drink them, talk about life and fold napkins for the next day, sometimes to four in the morning.
We’d listen to The Eagles non-stop. They were his favorite and I can never hear “Hotel California” without thinking of those nights with Nik, folding napkins, learning about wines and sharing good times with a good friend.
Eagles founder Glenn Frey died today at 67. Not much older than I am.
I am surrounded by mortality this week. Wednesday I will be giving a eulogy for my friend Paul, much of it written but in need of a bit of burnishing. My friend Paul, David Bowie, Glenn Frey and I now find I am at the time of my life when friends are beginning to go and it is sobering.
Life is sobering. As I am sitting in my dining room the world is full of all kinds of travails. I know that and am frustrated because I can do so little to change any of it.
This morning I had a conversation with an old work friend who confessed to me how scared he is about this coming election. No one appeals to him; they all frighten him and he will vote based on which one frightens him less.
This is not good. It seems worse than the choice between the lesser of two evils.
Extraordinarily there was a debate in Parliament today about whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK because of “hate speech.” Now it is the purview of the Home Secretary to ban someone from the UK but it was an extraordinary opportunity for the Brits to weigh in on the American election process. One member of Parliament described Trump as “an idiot.”
He is far from that. He is manipulative, decisive and pandering. He is bringing out the worst of us. He reminds me of the crass politicians of ancient Rome and that’s not good.
What is good is that today is Martin Luther King Day and we are remembering an extraordinary man who changed the fabric of American life. He taught black Americans to move beyond their fears and called to white Americans to be the best they could be. When he died I was but a boy and already reeling from the death of JFK. His death and that of RFK mangled my mind, probably for the rest of my life. I still reverberate with all those deaths from the ’60’s when I was young and realizing the world for the first time, making my first realizations of what life was about and what life seemed to be about in those days was killing.
And it hasn’t changed. We have not had many high profile murders as those but we have fallen into the grinding news of killings on a daily basis all over the world, killing that is disgusting, motivated by twisted religious beliefs as the Nazis twisted people into genocide.
Tags:Adagio, British Parliament about Donald Trump, David Bowie, Donald Trump, Fred Pinkard, Genocide, Glenn Frey, Hotel California, JFK, Los Angeles, Martin Luther King, Mat Tombers, Mathew, Mathew Tombers, Minnesota, Nazis, Nik Buian, Paul Krich, RFK, RockyII, Ron Bernstein, The Eagles
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, European Refugee Crisis, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
January 16, 2016
When I woke this morning, the grey sky was sheeting rain and I could hear it pound on the roof. It was a somber morning, reflecting my mood.
Yesterday, as I was about to go into a meeting with the Associate Dean at the college where I begin to teach on Wednesday, I listened to a voice mail on my mobile. It was Andrew, the son-in-law of my good friend Paul Krich.
As soon as I got the message I knew what would be waiting for me when I returned it. Paul, who had been fighting a stoic battle against cancer, had succumbed.
It was news that stunned me almost more than I could handle.
Years ago, when my now ex-partner and I first had the cottage, we quickly developed a routine. My schedule was more flexible than his; I took the 5:35 out of Penn, went to the house, turned up the heat, laid a fire and then went down to meet the train that left Penn at 7:15.
There was a crowd always at the station, many, like me, waiting for significant others to get off. Almost always in the crowd was an elegant man with what white hair he had, carefully shorn, always dressed elegantly. I noticed he met an equally elegant woman who invariably got off the train with bags of food.
It became our custom to go to the Red Dot for dinner. The other couple did too.
The man and I began to nod to each other while waiting on the platform and then, one night, the elegant woman had too many bags and my ex helped her with them as she was getting off the train.
Not more than fifteen minutes later we were at adjoining tables at the Red Dot. Laughing, I said we really should introduce ourselves and we did. It was Paul.
We pulled our tables together and had a lovely evening that became the first of many.
My partner and I split. Not long after Paul and Lorraine separated.
There came a time in the summer after Paul and Lorraine had separated when Paul and I found ourselves at the Dot, seated at the bar, eating dinner. The second time it happened, we left the bar and got a table, starting a tradition of Saturday evening “dates.”
Paul was one of the most amazing men I have ever met. An avid gardener, he knew so much about horticulture, Whenever we were walking he would point out to me plants and tell me their lineage.
He adored and collected botanical prints. He appreciated antiques and taught me about tramp art. To go with him to an antique show or an auction was to be both entertained and educated.
He savored the fine things of life with palpable pleasure.
He rode a Harley – Davidson and wore biker jewelry.
Once he told me he loved to come to the parties at my cottage because I always had such an interesting mix of people at them. And they were an interesting mix, artists and neighbors, filmmakers, real estate agents and restaurant owners, retired state patrol officers and a former lineman for the local electric company. Young and old, gay and straight, all fun and all welcoming of each other…
Paul was inclusive. He had long ago shed the middle class fears and snobberies that flowed through our world as we were growing up. He embraced people of color, the gay men and women who moved in his orbit, the musicians and the dancers and the artists.
He constantly praised my blogging, encouraging me to keep on at a moment when I was thinking of wrapping it up.
He worked at being fair to everyone, to treating them equally. He had a ready laugh and a constant, wonderful twinkle in his eye.
He was the man you counted upon. Everyone who knew him, knew he could be counted upon, to work to his best to be his best. He was a human being, not flawless, none of us are, but he worked hard at his humanity and inspired me.
He invited me to his mother’s 100th birthday party, not a large party but one dominated by warmth and caring, for Millie, his mother, and for him. I will always look back with warmth at the softly lit room and see Paul sitting at the head of the table smiling, his eyes laughing.
The world is diminished with his passing. I have felt bereft since I heard the news. As I was driving into Hudson today for errands, I realized it seemed impossible to me we would not ever again sit in the garden of the Dot, the fountain splashing, chatting about our weeks and our lives.
I cannot imagine a world without Paul but that world now exists and I will have to learn how to cope with it.
Tags:Paul Krich, Red Dot
Posted in Claverack, Columbia County, Gay, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 14, 2016
The sun has set and I’m freshly home from a haircut which means I’m a little itchy around the neck. A fire burns in the stove and jazz plays in the background. Lights illuminate the creek and I have made myself a martini to sip while writing. I spent three hours today volunteering for Habitat for Humanity of Columbia County, helping clean up their database.
The stock market didn’t swoon again today, which is good news for almost everyone I know. It was up 1.41% after falling 2+% yesterday. I was at the gym yesterday on the treadmill, watching CNN. They were tracking the market by the minute, which was too depressing to watch while on the treadmill. So I watched an ancient Kay Francis film on TCM.
It was great to escape into a world where you knew it would all come out right in the end.
Which is what we don’t know about the life we’re living now. It could go in any direction and we have no way of knowing what that direction might be.
And that, my friends, is why I treasure evenings like this at the cottage. For a moment, the world seems on hold, even as I am assimilating events from the day.
In Jakarta, IS claims responsibility for multiple explosions in the capital. At least seven are dead and there is concern that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim State, which has a secular government, is going to be under fresh attack after several years of calm.
In brighter news, at least three people can claim a piece of the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot though others may surface.
And today the Oscar nominees were announced. “Revenant” with Leonardo di Caprio leads the pack with twelve nominations. Also up there is “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Not long ago an industry insider wondered why they were even mounting a campaign. Today provided the reason why.
Alan Rickman passed away today. He played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films. I saw him live in a relatively obscure Ibsen play, “John Gabriel Borkman” at BAM five years ago and he was electrifying. His characters were mostly cold and sinister, very different from the man portrayed in the memorials today.
As I type there is another Republican debate beginning. Politics is becoming reality TV in more ways than just having The Donald dancing on the scene. Whose idea was it to have all these debates so far in advance of the election? I want it over already! Really! What did my students used to say? Gag me with a spoon?
There are two iconic television series I have never seen a complete episode of, much to the amazement of my friends. One of them is “Seinfeld” and the other is “Friends.” There will be a sort of reunion of the “Friends” cast in the February tribute to James Burrows who created the program. Matthew Perry may or may not be there as he will be in London for rehearsals of a play.
My martini is finished. The fire is playful. The jazz is beautiful. I am going to sign off and watch the newest episode of “Sherlock” and then head off to bed. Have to be up early in the morning for phone calls and meetings.
It’s been a lovely day. Hope yours was too.
Tags:Alan Rickman, BAM, Benedict Cumberbatch, Claverack, CNN, Friends, IS, Jakarta bombings, Kay Francis, Leonardo di Caprio, Mad Max, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Obama, Revenant, Seinfeld, Sherlock, Snape, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 12, 2016
It’s late afternoon, Tuesday the 16th, and I am in the Acela Lounge waiting for my train north. I could grab an earlier one but it is probable if I wait for the 5:47, I will see one or two friends I haven’t seen for a while.
Before opening the laptop and letting my fingers tap the keyboard, I was reading about the death of David Bowie at 69. He did not much share the news of his health and the announcement of his death did not reveal the kind of cancer which felled him nor the place where he died.
I was told not long ago that he had a place up in the Hudson Valley. The now ex-wife of my friend Paul Krich, Lorraine, was a good friend of Iman, now Bowie’s widow and she was visiting them one night when I was there for dinner. She was quiet and shy and was with their daughter. She and her daughter retired early, smilingly and charmingly.
Bowie has been prolific in the last months of his life, co-writing a play titled “Lazarus” along with a music video of the same name. Now he is dead, they can be seen as his communicating to the world his time was short.
Time is short for all of us. It’s a blip of time we inhabit this planet, no matter how old we get.
Making the most of his blip of time, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to the ex-wife of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, the former supermodel. This is her second marriage, his fourth. She is 59; he is 84. Between them they have ten children.
In Istanbul, not far from the Hagia Sofia, a sixth century Orthodox church now a museum, a young Syrian blew himself up, killing at least ten, mostly Germans, and wounding more. The Turks believe it is IS and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has decried the event.
Putin has hinted today that if Assad ever feels the need to leave Damascus, he might well find welcome in Moscow. If he made that choice, it would lessen the complications for a Syrian peace.
Humanitarian workers who have reached the town of Madaya have found “barely moving skeletons.” It is the worst they have seen in the five year Syrian wars and the image causes me to think of the photos taken of Jews as the camps were liberated from the Germans.
The political circus continues. ANOTHER Republican debate is upon us with Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina now relegated to the “undercard” debate. Rand Paul says no way and he is off to do more campaigning in person than appearing in the second tier debate. Paul could be smart or desperate. Remains to be seen…
Bernie Sanders has a lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and has just moved slightly ahead of her in Iowa. Chelsea has been sent out to campaign.
Though it will probably offend my conservative friends, the NY Times today did a scathing piece on Ted Cruz accusing him of exploiting evangelicals and actually espousing actions that are cruel, painful, and harmful — ones that certainly aren’t very Christian.
As Solicitor General of Texas, he went to the Supreme Court to keep a man in jail who had stolen a calculator from Walmart. Because of a judicial mistake, the man got sixteen years instead of two. When the mistake was discovered, Cruz went into overdrive to keep him in jail the full sixteen. Eventually the poor man was freed after six. All over a calculator? Cruz seems petty and mean and mean spirited all the way round.
Not feeling specially mean spirited and with suspicions friends would be on the train, I went down to Penn Spirits and purchased a bottle of a nice Sauvignon Blanc and a small bottle of sake. And I got several cups.
Now the train is moving. My friends are here. Soon we will open the bottle and enjoy good spirited company. Here’s NOT to you, Mr. Cruz!
Tags:Angela Merkel, Assad, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, David Bowie, Hagia Sofia, Hillary Clinton, Hudson Valley, Jerry Hall, Lazurus, Lorraine Krich, Madaya Syria, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Music Video Lazarus, NY Times, Paul Krich, Penn Spirits, Penn Station, Putin, Rand Paul, Rupert Murdoch, Syrian War, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television | 2 Comments »
January 8, 2016
Stock market rout Jamison Teale Christ Church Hudson Roy Moore Alabama Gay Controversy Tiffany Martin Hamilton Tommy Ragland Charlie Hebdo Anniversary Oklahoma earthquakes Netflix Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton John Kerry Syrian Peace Process Iran Saudi Arabia California storms Ted Cruz Burns, Oregon
Well, I was smart enough today to not look at the market as it was another BAD day as China’s market shudders riled every other market in the world. While they were plunging, I had a pleasant day.
Answered emails, ran errands and wrote out the first draft of my syllabus for my class that starts on the 20th. It was actually kind of fun, if headache inducing.
Now it is evening and I have turned on the lights outside, classic jazz is playing and I think I will light a fire as it is going to be chill again tonight.
My Christmas tree is still up and I am not taking it down until Sunday. Having been gone for two weeks, I feel I deserve a little more time with it. It is a white artificial tree and I think this is its last year. But it has been a beautiful, for me, tree.
Jamison Teale, the Senior Warden at Christ Church [where I attend services] and his longtime companion, James, were married on New Year’s Day by Hudson’s first woman mayor in her first official function. They are coming for dinner on Saturday with the church’s Musical Director, Tom Martin, father to Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton of Hudson.
One of my errands today was to find them a small wedding present.
While James and Jamison married easily here in New York, the Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, Roy Moore, has ordered that state’s probate judges not issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Federal authorities immediately ordered them to do so. Some have thrown up their arms and aren’t giving marriage licenses to anyone.
Ah, Justice Moore, this has been decided. No back pedaling allowed I think.
One probate judge, Tommy Ragland, summed it up best, saying, “We have a Chief Justice who is confused.”
One of the other errands I did today was to look for a clock radio to replace my ancient one that no longer works. You know, they are rather hard to find. Not nonexistent but hard to find. I am going online to see what I can find there.
My toaster also broke and I looked at those too and thought they all looked shoddy. More investigation needed.
It is the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Let there be a moment of silence.
The French police killed a man brandishing a meat cleaver today, who was screaming “Allahu Akbar [God is Greatest].” He was wearing a fake suicide vest. That confuses me. Why bother?
Oklahoma had a swarm of 70 earthquakes yesterday. In 2013 they had a couple of hundred. In 2014 they had over 5,000. That is an exponential increase. 2015 statistics are currently being gathered. There is a suspect: fracking.
Earlier this week Netflix was available in 60 countries. Today it is in 190 countries. 130 countries “turned on” Netflix while its President and CEO was giving a speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
I’ve attended a couple and they are always mind boggling. This year is not quite so much according to pundits but still generating lots of wow.
Politics continues. Bill Clinton is stumping for Hillary in Iowa. Lots of people I know would like him back but since he can’t….
Cruz is cruising in Iowa which frightens the bejesus out of me.
California is pummeled by storms and that worries me about friends there though I hope it is helping the drought.
In Burns, Oregon the unlawful occupation of a wildlife center continues. On social media people have been asking what would be happening if the occupiers were black or Muslim instead of gun totting white guys who are outraged over Federal land policy?
There are no easy answers to anything. Kerry says that the Saudi Arabia/Iran feud will not slow down the Syrian peace process but how can it not? I mean, how can it not?
I am taking solace in the cottage and in my hope that our better angels will prevail.
Tags:Alabama gay controversy, Bill Clinton, Charlie Hebdo, Christ Church, Claverack, Fracking, Hillary Clinton, Jamison Teale, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Netflix, Obama, Oklahoma earthquakes, Reed Hastings, Roy Moore, Stock market rout, Tiffany Martin Hamilton, Tom Martin, Tommy Ragland
Posted in 2016 Election, China stock market rout, Claverack, Columbia County, Earthquakes, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Great Recession, Gun Violence, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Obama, Paris Attacks, Paris Killings, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 6, 2016
There is a pinkish tint to the sky as I head north on the train, heading home after thirteen days of being away. The sun is beginning to set and the Hudson River flows south on my left. We have just passed Bannerman’s Castle, a munitions depot that blew up long ago on a small island in the river. Its wracked remains still stands and, sometimes, in the summers it is used to create a light show.
Bruce Thiesen, who reads my letters from time to time, commented that 2016 might test my optimism and it already has.
Yesterday, the market had a nose bleed after the Chinese market plummeted. On its way to closing, it is up modestly today but hardly enough to get anyone breaking out champagne glasses.
Donald Trump has found himself used in a recruiting tape for terrorists. He shrugs his shoulders about it, indicating there is nothing he can do about it. While he is doing nothing about it, the British Parliament is getting ready to debate whether or not they will ban The Donald from Britain.
That would be interesting. I don’t think that’s ever happened before.
The Sunni Saudi Arabian kingdom executed a leading Shia cleric and government critic. The Shia of Iran rioted and burned the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, further inflaming the Mideast.
The Iranians have announced this will not cover the crime committed by Saudi Arabia but today one of Iran’s generals condemned the attack on the Embassy.
Meanwhile, the Iranians are showing off another underground missile, likely to give conniptions to the US and some others who hoped the nuclear treaty would lessen Iranian obsessions with things military.
The US has remained silent about the executions as it needs Saudi Arabia in its fight against IS, which is mostly Sunni as are the Saudi Arabians. The Iraqi and Syrian Shia get huge abuse from IS as do any others who don’t believe as the Shia do, including Christians and others.
In Washington, President Obama has issued Executive Orders regarding gun sales while surrounded by victims of shootings, including some of the parents of children killed in Newtown.
The proposals are modest but Rand Paul has already denounced them and the NRA has called them theatrics to deflect from his failed presidency.
Anti gun advocates are gathering some big donors like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and are working state by state to tighten gun laws.
One result of his actions will be that the gun issue is now politicized and will be sure to be a topic of debate in the 2016 elections.
Not too surprising if disheartening is that gun sales have soared since news of Obama’s actions leaked out. It is a good time to own Smith & Wesson stock I guess.
The journal Science is calling for more human computational effort in solving the world’s problems. It took only ten days for humans using a computational game to solve a protein problem associated with HIV. Let’s do more of that, say scientists. So do I.
I am now back in the cozy clutches of the cottage. Returning home, I discovered my kitchen pipes have frozen and I am working to thaw them out. Nothing, thank God, burst.
It was also forgotten by me that I left behind the detritus of my last night here. I emptied the dishwasher and reloaded it but can’t run it until the pipes thaw.
Before I left, I checked the 14 day forecast and it was all in the 40’s. That changed as it hit 4 degrees last night, the point at which the kitchen pipes freeze.
Having missed the season premiere of the last season of “Downton Abbey” I am off to catch up. It’s good to be home, more than I can tell you. Here, I feel cosseted by the comforts of my cottage and the joy it brings me.
The world outside is dangerous and it is tempting to retreat here and ignore it, I can’t.
The world exists and I must live in it. As must we all…
Tags:Amtrak, Bannerman's Castle, Bruce Theisen, Chinese Market Plunge, Donald Trump, Iran missile underground, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, NRA, Obama, Obama Executive Orders on guns, Rand Paul, Saudi Arabian Executions, Saudi Iranian tensions, Shia, Sunni, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gun Violence, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Obama, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 26, 2015
Boxing Day. Shepherdstown, WV, Olde Hudson Cheese. Dena Moran. Sarah Malone. Kevin Malone. Michelle Melton. Jim Malone. Syria. Mosque fire in Texas. Corsican fire. Australian fires. NY Times Virtual Reality. World Food Program. Hope, AK. Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton.
Outside it is as grey, as it has been for the last few days. It is warm, too, near 50 degrees in Shepherdstown, WV. It will be grey all day with rain probable in the evening.
It is the 26th of December, Boxing Day in those countries once affiliated with the British Empire. Boxing Day derived its name from two traditions. One is that for servants it was the day they had off to celebrate Christmas after devoting the actual day to waiting on their “betters.” The other reason was that on the 26th of December, children would roam the streets of England collecting alms for the poor in boxes.
Often in the past I’ve had a “Boxing Day” party. When Dena Moran, proprietor of Olde Hudson Cheese in Hudson heard I was gone between Christmas and New Year’s, she frowned and said, “What, no Boxing Day party?”
But I am gone, sitting at the dining room table of my friends’ home in Shepherdstown, sipping coffee the morning after a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
My oldest friend, Sarah McCormick Malone, her husband Jim, their son Kevin and his wife Michelle, and I gathered around the dining table and have feasted. We have sipped wine and consumed appetizers and desserts and wonderful mains, crab cakes and duck.
We spent two hours opening presents around a small tree we purchased on Christmas Eve to ensure that there was Christmas spirit in the house.
Now, on Boxing Day morning we are all gathered in the kitchen, preparing for French toast and more feasting and a concert tonight.
While I’ve been coddled in the warmth of my friends and the coziness of this home, the world has been relatively quiet as I looked at the news this morning.
In Corsica and in Texas, mosques were burned on Christmas Day as antipathy against Islam grows in the West. In Hope, AK the childhood home of Bill Clinton burned in a case of suspected arson. Was he the target of the anger or his spouse, Hillary, who is leading the Democratic field for the Presidential nomination?
Disastrous fires burned over a hundred homes outside of Melbourne, Australia while tornadoes and flooding ravaged northern Alabama.
While we feasted, celebrated, opened presents, and enjoyed the coziness of this house, the war waged on in Syria with a rebel leader killed on Saturday. He was anti-Assad and his death will have ramifications in the confusing cauldron of that country.
As we were prepping our Christmas duck last night, Kevin shared a VR NY Times video about refugees, taking us as visually close as we could to the lives of three young refugees, one from Ukraine, one from Syria and one from South Sudan, two boys and one girl. It was stunning and affecting and each of us experienced it felt closer to their experiences than we would have simply by reading articles.
The Ukrainian boy fled with his family as rebels advanced. When they returned, his grandfather’s body had been in the garden all winter, the school destroyed and most homes damaged. The Syrian girl lives in a refugee camp and gets up at 4 AM to work in the fields. In Syria they had toys, now they only have each other. The Sudanese boy fled with his grandmother into the swamps. His father was killed, his mother has disappeared. They fend as best they can.
VR Video made this painfully real.
When I begin teaching in January and someone asks me what to look at in media, I would suggest looking at Virtual Reality as a career opportunity. It is changing our media experiences.
We spent time after opening presents to discuss what charity we might want to support this year. High of the list was World Food Program which supports the feeding of refugees. I tended toward that organization after seeing the plight of the three children.
We have more refugees since any time since the end of World War II.
It is a great deal to think about as I wander through another day, in a warm house, surrounded by warm friends, knowing that my friends and family are safe but from all but the most normal of hazards, living without, for the most part, any fear of suicide bombers, starvation and having to live with idea of fleeing at a moment’s notice from their homes and towns.
Not like so much of the rest of the world.
Tags:Alabama tornadoes and flooding, Australian fires, Bill Clinton, Boxing Day, Dena Moran, Hillary Clinton, Hope AK, Jim Malone, Kevin Malone, Michelle Melton, Mosque fire in Texas, Olde Hudson Cheese, Sarah Malone, Shepherdstown, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 23, 2015
It is relatively early in the morning and I am on the train, heading to New York City, where I will board a train to DC where I will board a train to Martinsburg, WV where I will be picked up by my friends Sarah and Jim Malone for the Holidays in Shepherdstown.
As I move south, rushing now between Rhinecliff and Poughkeepsie, the fog is so dense, it is impossible to see the Hudson River to my right. It provides an eerie atmosphere to the morning, so warm that a light jacket is all one needs. It is supposed to be seventy in Claverack on Christmas Eve.
Yesterday, I celebrated Christmas twice. Once with young Nick, his partner Beth, and their three year old daughter, Alicia. It gave me great smiles and bright eyes to see a three year old devour Christmas. Earlier I gave her a “communicator” that allows her to talk with Santa Claus each day from December 1 to Christmas. Nick and Beth tell me she is having a blast.
Then I cooked “Christmas” dinner for Lionel, Pierre and myself, mushroom soup, salad, a roast pork loin, mashed sweet potatoes and asparagus with a butter garlic sauce. We had no room for dessert.
All day yesterday, I pretty much ignored the world, living in the solitude of the cottage, listening to Christmas carols and prepping for dinner. The exception was at the gym, on the treadmill where I listened to the sad story of the young woman accused in the car rampage in Las Vegas. A troubled youth who turned her life around and then…Las Vegas. People are attempting to understand.
Then there was a long exegesis of the Middle East with Wolf Blitzer, the CNN perennial, and a Congressman and retired General, that left me feeling depressed.
The Congressman predicted that we will be engaged there for decades and the retired General opined our efforts are inadequate. The Congressman wants more bombing, forget the civilians. They are the necessary sacrifices to move the needle. It underscored for me that “W” let the genie out of the bottle and he’s never going back in.
The Afghans have the best army they have had in years but corruption in Kabul is keeping them from getting bullets.
The Iraqis are fighting to retake Ramadi and have sent more troops in to help in the effort to hand IS its biggest defeat in two years.
The Donald keeps marching forward in the polls, up to 39% at this point, twice Ted Cruz’s standing and, according to recent polls, the Republicans are beginning to accept that Trump will be their standard bearer. What? Is this really happening? Can’t I change the channel?
I lightened my mood a bit by reading the wild adventures of Madame Claude, arguably the most famous brothel owner in Paris’ history. Her clients included most of the great names of the ’60’s and ’70’s. She died in France at the venerable age of 92.
The fog is still thick as we begin the last leg into New York, having just pulled out of Croton Harmon. There are forty minutes left before we hit the city. At noon I will board an Acela for the next leg.
Behind me there is a woman who has been on the phone now, non-stop, for well over an hour. Occasionally when she needs to do something, she puts her caller on speakerphone. I didn’t realize anyone talks on the phone that way anymore just like I can’t believe the Republican Party is thinking Trump is the hope for 2016.
Tags:Afghanistan, Christmas, CNN, Donald Trump, Irag, IS, Kabul, Las Vegas Car Rampage, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Polls, Ramadi, The Donald, Wolf Blitzer
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 21, 2015
It is Monday morning and Christmas is four days away. It is noon and I am sitting at the dining room table looking out at a grey world. Across the creek, barren trees are swaying in the gusting wind.
My friends, Lionel and Pierre, arrived at their home across the street late last night and we had breakfast together this morning, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast while carols played in the background.
While we breakfasted news came flashing across our devices that some dozens had been injured and one killed in Las Vegas when a woman plowed her car into a crowd on the sidewalk outside the Paris Hotel and Casino. With a toddler at her side the woman repeatedly plowed into the crowd.
The police said it appeared intentional but not an act of terrorism. The three year old with her was not harmed and the woman was taken into custody after doing her damage and then leaving the scene, parking some blocks away.
The 1996 Oldsmobile had Oregon plates and the woman had reportedly recently moved to Nevada.
How? Why?
Lindsey Graham has suspended his presidential campaign. Not so long ago he complained that he couldn’t believe that Trump had so outdistanced him in the polls. Obama has stated that Trump is “exploiting” anger and fear among working class men to propel his candidacy. Yes, I think that’s true.
Also true is that Blatter and Platini, the two most powerful men in world soccer, have been banned from the sport for eight years for ethics violations.
Near Bagram, Afghanistan, six NATO soldiers including some Americans, have been killed by a Taliban suicide bomber who plowed his motorcycle into a NATO/Afghan foot patrol.
Donald Trump sold the Miss Universe Pageant. It was held in Las Vegas last night not far from where the car rampage occurred. In a ghastly gaffe, Steve Harvey, the host, announced Miss Columbia was the winner when it was actually Miss Philippines. Miss Columbia was first runner-up.
You can imagine what the Twitterverse was like! Lots of jokes about where was Trump when you needed him?
In other entertainment news, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has broken all box office records for a weekend opening, topping “Jurassic World.” 538 million dollars worldwide. The Force has opened our pocketbooks.
Space X, Elon Musk’s space company, is launching from Cape Canaveral a payload of 11 satellites for Orbcomm, a communications company. All eyes will be on what happens after the launch, to see if the rocket can land safely on land. It would be the first time a rocket carrying an orbital payload will have done that.
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, successfully launched and landed a test rocket last month.
Space is becoming the last frontier for billionaires, out to make even greater fortunes by making space more accessible.
It reminds me a bit of the 19th century’s railroad millionaires, battling it out to conquer the continent with their rail lines.
Shortly, Lionel and I are going grocery shopping for dinner, having our friend Matthew Morse over. I have a few more packages to bag and need to start packing for my Christmas trip. It is a funny sort of day for a funny sort of beginning to winter. It will be in the 50’s this week in the Hudson Valley.
It will be a white Christmas only in our minds.
Tags:Afghanistan, Bagram, Christmas, Donald Trump, Las Vegas Car Rampage, Lindsey Graham, Lionel White, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Miss Columbia, MIss Phillippines, Miss Universe, Paris Hotel, Pierre Font, Steve Harvey
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 20, 2015
Christmas Cards. Pandora. Christ Church. Hudson. Red Dot. Nick Dier. Christmas Quiche. Democratic Debate. Syrian Refugees.
It is Saturday night and I am at home. Christmas carols are playing on Pandora and I am at the end of day in which I have been amazingly, perhaps disgustingly productive.
It is the pressure of the season. Waking early, I did some weeding of my email inbox while sipping morning coffee. I went to the gym then headed down to Christ Church to help serve coffee for the indoor Winter Market but there were enough people so I wasn’t needed.
Going to the Red Dot I had brunch, a wickedly delicious Eggs Benedict on potato latkes with a side of crisp American bacon. I felt like a depraved man but it was so good.
Coming home, I went over to Lionel and Pierre’s because Nick was there. I wanted to bawl him out. He had surgery two days ago and was working, which he shouldn’t have been doing. I was relieved to find his father with him, helping him.
Going home, I organized the making of quiches. It’s my tradition to give neighbors and close friends a “Christmas Quiche.” Today was the day to make them. After leaving Lionel’s, Nick arrived and helped within the limits of a young man in a sling.
We made fourteen quiches. I have wrapped my Christmas presents. I have done my Christmas cards.
Though has anyone noticed how few Christmas cards we actually get these days? I send back to everyone I get one from and this year that has been only seven cards. Last year it was thirty some. Paper cards are going out of fashion.
I remember the days of my youth in which my mother would spend what seemed like weeks getting out Christmas cards. She had a basket in which she kept every Christmas card that came in and held it until the following year when she answered them all.
Must have been hundreds every year.
I bagged my presents this year. Admit it, we all use bags now rather than the elaborate wrapping sessions of our youth. I remember them well. Intricate hours spent wrapping packages. After enough of us had left home, my mother had a room devoted to wrapping.
Now I bag! Don’t we all?
While I am writing this the Democrats are having a debate and I’m not watching.
I haven’t watched the Republican debates either. They have been train wrecks from what I can assess.
And the Democratic ones have been on Saturday nights which, as I recall from my media days, may be the lowest ones for households using television. Why are they doing them on Saturday nights?
I simply can’t believe all this is happening a year out from the election. Have we turned politics into a reality TV show?
I am sitting in my lovely little cottage, listening to jazz Christmas music and am wondering about the world in which I am living.
And I am recognizing how lucky I am not to be a Syrian refugee or a refugee from anywhere. There are sixty-million of them right now. I think it is about to be worse than the refugee problem at the end of WWII. And that is tragic.
I am wrapped in the coziness of my cottage. It is where I want to be tonight, separated from the trials of the world though I will probably always be cognizant of them, wondering what I can do.
Tags:Christmas cards, Christmas Quiches, Democratic Debate, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Nick Dier, Pandora, Red Dot, Syrian refugees
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 01 18 2016 Hotel California to present day travails….
January 19, 2016Minnesota Los Angeles Fred Pinkard Rocky II Ron Bernstein Adagio Nik Buian The Eagles Glenn Frey Hotel California Paul Krich David Bowie Donald Trump British Parliament about Trump Martin Luther King Day JFK RFK Nazis Genocide
In the long ago and far away, I left Minnesota and ended up in Los Angeles. Volunteering at a theater as an usher, I met Fred Pinkard, an African American actor who guest starred in television shows and was in Rocky II; never famous but almost always working.
I needed work and he put me together with Ron Bernstein who owned Adagio, a little “Cafe California” kind of restaurant down the street from Paramount. As a favor to Fred, Ron hired me. I was not good. I was actually going to be fired. I could feel it.
Staying up half the night one night, I kept thinking about it and worked out a system. The next day everyone on the staff gathered round me at the end of my shift and asked: what happened? I had worked out a system. I went from being the worst to the best.
Late at night after all the customers had left, Nik Buian, the manager and I, would crank up the music system and pull out all the bottles of wine that had been left behind with something in them. We’d drink them, talk about life and fold napkins for the next day, sometimes to four in the morning.
We’d listen to The Eagles non-stop. They were his favorite and I can never hear “Hotel California” without thinking of those nights with Nik, folding napkins, learning about wines and sharing good times with a good friend.
Eagles founder Glenn Frey died today at 67. Not much older than I am.
I am surrounded by mortality this week. Wednesday I will be giving a eulogy for my friend Paul, much of it written but in need of a bit of burnishing. My friend Paul, David Bowie, Glenn Frey and I now find I am at the time of my life when friends are beginning to go and it is sobering.
Life is sobering. As I am sitting in my dining room the world is full of all kinds of travails. I know that and am frustrated because I can do so little to change any of it.
This morning I had a conversation with an old work friend who confessed to me how scared he is about this coming election. No one appeals to him; they all frighten him and he will vote based on which one frightens him less.
This is not good. It seems worse than the choice between the lesser of two evils.
Extraordinarily there was a debate in Parliament today about whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK because of “hate speech.” Now it is the purview of the Home Secretary to ban someone from the UK but it was an extraordinary opportunity for the Brits to weigh in on the American election process. One member of Parliament described Trump as “an idiot.”
He is far from that. He is manipulative, decisive and pandering. He is bringing out the worst of us. He reminds me of the crass politicians of ancient Rome and that’s not good.
What is good is that today is Martin Luther King Day and we are remembering an extraordinary man who changed the fabric of American life. He taught black Americans to move beyond their fears and called to white Americans to be the best they could be. When he died I was but a boy and already reeling from the death of JFK. His death and that of RFK mangled my mind, probably for the rest of my life. I still reverberate with all those deaths from the ’60’s when I was young and realizing the world for the first time, making my first realizations of what life was about and what life seemed to be about in those days was killing.
And it hasn’t changed. We have not had many high profile murders as those but we have fallen into the grinding news of killings on a daily basis all over the world, killing that is disgusting, motivated by twisted religious beliefs as the Nazis twisted people into genocide.
Tags:Adagio, British Parliament about Donald Trump, David Bowie, Donald Trump, Fred Pinkard, Genocide, Glenn Frey, Hotel California, JFK, Los Angeles, Martin Luther King, Mat Tombers, Mathew, Mathew Tombers, Minnesota, Nazis, Nik Buian, Paul Krich, RFK, RockyII, Ron Bernstein, The Eagles
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, European Refugee Crisis, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »