I've tried to feel gladness at Tony Perkin's house being flooded and destroyed by the disaster in Louisiana. Mainly because of his pretense at knowing of God's moods and actions regarding Gay and Lesbian people. His handbook bible contains for him a belief that a man being with another man is an abomination and should not be tolerated. He interprets this as meaning women too. This chapter also states that a woman who wears something made of two different kinds of thread should be stoned. I never hear him calling out the fabric industry for violations in the Bible. As he calls out the LGBT society for following their mind and hearts.
As I wrote that although others might feel pleasure, I simply can't. It's just not in me. I feel nothing but sorrow for all the people there who lost so much including Mr. Perkins. I have no concept of God as some old man who lives in a mythical place no one has any experience about; having human emotions like anger and displeasure. I rather picture God and Nature to be one and the same. As the rain fells on the just and the unjust alike. Nature caused a weather system to stall over the area and it just kept raining in the same place instead of moving out to the northeast as usual.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Home Chapter 2
Morning came muggy, hot and overcast. A typical September day on the Gulf Coast. A very weak cool front was moving in setting off rain showers. The first warm drops hit Jim's forehead and he and Oscar huddled together under an old black umbrella someone had probably salvaged from a dumpster. When the shower passed they were a wet bedraggled pair of animals. Oscar shook himself reasonably dry while Jim decided to let the sun which just came out dry him a little bit.
In mid-afternoon Des returned from her morning errands and together they worked on clearing out the abandoned old tent of debris; trash, dirt, old empty can and bottles. It took three trips to the trash pile before it was reasonably clean and semi-livable. They took dry blankets and spread them out on the floor and an area on some boxes that provided an elevated surface.
That night they talked and slept securely under a roof. Even though it was a green canvas roof, it kept the night forest animals at bay. Also dry and protected from the occasional shower. They felt their lives were settling in and they could get started with getting back to where they were when this nightmare started. Harder for Jim not having the resilience of his youth unlike the much younger Des.
Friday, August 19, 2016
The Whole Homeless Story
We first lost my job, then our car and finally our home. We banged around from one place to another for some time and finally arrived at our temporary camp in the woods on Labor Day in 2013.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
A Homelrss Story
What was it like to be homeless and live in a tent in the woods? Like an extended camping trip and not a very good time. Hopefully it will not happen to most Americans but if it does one can be assured they will survive and things will change. By the grace of God and love, nothing mortal is forever except death. Change my happen gradually or instantly but it inevitably will. Accept whatever come with an open mind and heart and trust that the flow of life is always toward good.
In my own life being homeless lasted fifteen months although it felt like years. Our condition was voluntary and taken out of love for a dog and each other. Our only other option were shelters and separateness. My wife wouldn't abandon her dog and I wouldn't abandon them both so we took the woods and our tent with all three of us together.
What it was like, we wrote so notes which when taken together was a true story in fiction form that happened to two other made up people, Jim and Des. Oscar was not made but was very real. I will tell that story in alternate blog posts unless it's contrary to posting rules at Daily Kos. I would appreciate someone advising me.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Latest Mobile Phones
I might have written something about cell phones and smart phones. If it was more than a couple of weeks, it's total disinformation by now. The industry is rapidly changing as fast as consumers can accumulate enough money to buy the latest model which is reputedly able to shave men every morning and women shave their legs every day.
I bought a prepaid phone for about $14.00 a little over 10 years ago along with a card that was another $20.00 and good for 120 minutes of talking. Even though it was inadvertently left out in the backyard during a hurricane and laid out there in the sun for two weeks or so to dry out, all it needed was to charge the battery. To this day it still works fine.
When I got old and poor, the government gave me a free Reagan phone with 500 minutes every month. It's just like my old prepaid phone except it has a camera. The old phone has a setting to download pictures you can't take with its imaginary camera. As I noted, the industry has made some improvements. My phones won't do anything except connect people to talk which is why I own them in the first place. People in public places look at me sadly and just can't believe I still drive a Model-T when the new Thunderbird just became available.To me they are the same for going from point A to point B without getting rained on. Like my Timex gives me the same time as your Rolex at a tiny fraction of the cost,
My first home landline number was 19. No dials, you simply picked up the receiver and a lady said "number, please." You gave her a number and she connected you up. She would even tell you the time if you asked. If you had a party line you could listen to other conversations. Just as you can now with a scanner that can set to cell phone frequencies. Who among us isn't curious about what other people talk about? I admit I am.
The very best things about cell phones is their portability. As well as the fact that everybody with an ear has one. It wasn't so long ago that people had to be at home or standing in a phone booth or close to a pay phone. If you took a survey I think it would show that phones have evolved faster than fruit flies or anything else except computer speed chips.
I bought a prepaid phone for about $14.00 a little over 10 years ago along with a card that was another $20.00 and good for 120 minutes of talking. Even though it was inadvertently left out in the backyard during a hurricane and laid out there in the sun for two weeks or so to dry out, all it needed was to charge the battery. To this day it still works fine.
When I got old and poor, the government gave me a free Reagan phone with 500 minutes every month. It's just like my old prepaid phone except it has a camera. The old phone has a setting to download pictures you can't take with its imaginary camera. As I noted, the industry has made some improvements. My phones won't do anything except connect people to talk which is why I own them in the first place. People in public places look at me sadly and just can't believe I still drive a Model-T when the new Thunderbird just became available.To me they are the same for going from point A to point B without getting rained on. Like my Timex gives me the same time as your Rolex at a tiny fraction of the cost,
My first home landline number was 19. No dials, you simply picked up the receiver and a lady said "number, please." You gave her a number and she connected you up. She would even tell you the time if you asked. If you had a party line you could listen to other conversations. Just as you can now with a scanner that can set to cell phone frequencies. Who among us isn't curious about what other people talk about? I admit I am.
The very best things about cell phones is their portability. As well as the fact that everybody with an ear has one. It wasn't so long ago that people had to be at home or standing in a phone booth or close to a pay phone. If you took a survey I think it would show that phones have evolved faster than fruit flies or anything else except computer speed chips.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
American Humor
I haven't done a lot of research into humor around the rest of the world. This topic is one of those searches that give too many answers to learn anything universal by Google, Bing, Dogpile or DuckDuckGo. So I will have to go with my own observations of the evolution of humor in my particular lifetime.
My starting premise is from the Bible; "When I was a child, I thought as a child.." This was the era of innocence like knock-knock jokes we sometimes can't forget even when we want to. Next cane cruelty jokes. Children and adolescents liked them. I think because they hadn't developed a repugnance toward pain in other people. When people grew up they lost their sense of humor in the disabled, but retained a sense of amusement toward themselves. I worked with a man who had lost two fingers. As he typed with his remaining three, he looked up at me and said "hire the handicapped, they're fun to watch" as he laughed at himself.
In the middle of the century puritanism took over movies, printed matter, radio and television. Henry Miller was all the rage with "Tropic of Cancer" that defied all the no-no's. The Hayes Office controlled film with iron fisted rules. You can't show two genders in a double bed. George Carlin, a comedian, listed the seven filthy words you couldn't say on the airwaves. Now they are often heard in mainstream media. Pornography was only seen in smoke filled back rooms at conventions and lodge meetings.
With the advances in maturity and new devices like the digital cameras, digital computers and the internet, people demanded more realism in media. Sugar coated shows like "Leave it to Beaver" fell out of favor replaced by shows like "Baywatch" which was really soft core nudity and bottomed out with "America's funniest videos" featured by what I call banana peel humor. A man slipping on a banana peel and busting his butt was as funny as a child on a tricycle running into a brick wall. Or so the funny video people would have us believe. Yet millions watch and anticipate each new disaster that befalls every participant in this contest show.
Where did we jump the tracks in this latest time period. Something went wrong with American humor. Hopefully we can move in some new direction fairly soon.
My starting premise is from the Bible; "When I was a child, I thought as a child.." This was the era of innocence like knock-knock jokes we sometimes can't forget even when we want to. Next cane cruelty jokes. Children and adolescents liked them. I think because they hadn't developed a repugnance toward pain in other people. When people grew up they lost their sense of humor in the disabled, but retained a sense of amusement toward themselves. I worked with a man who had lost two fingers. As he typed with his remaining three, he looked up at me and said "hire the handicapped, they're fun to watch" as he laughed at himself.
In the middle of the century puritanism took over movies, printed matter, radio and television. Henry Miller was all the rage with "Tropic of Cancer" that defied all the no-no's. The Hayes Office controlled film with iron fisted rules. You can't show two genders in a double bed. George Carlin, a comedian, listed the seven filthy words you couldn't say on the airwaves. Now they are often heard in mainstream media. Pornography was only seen in smoke filled back rooms at conventions and lodge meetings.
With the advances in maturity and new devices like the digital cameras, digital computers and the internet, people demanded more realism in media. Sugar coated shows like "Leave it to Beaver" fell out of favor replaced by shows like "Baywatch" which was really soft core nudity and bottomed out with "America's funniest videos" featured by what I call banana peel humor. A man slipping on a banana peel and busting his butt was as funny as a child on a tricycle running into a brick wall. Or so the funny video people would have us believe. Yet millions watch and anticipate each new disaster that befalls every participant in this contest show.
Where did we jump the tracks in this latest time period. Something went wrong with American humor. Hopefully we can move in some new direction fairly soon.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Desperation
One of quiet desperation as Thoreau said of most men's lives. Some think he meant that men and women too often dream in their youth of what they will do and accomplish in their life. Then for one reason or another those dreams and hopes fall by the wayside. A great number of people hate the work that fate chose for them. But they stay trapped there out of responsibility for a family and economic necessity.
It's true that some do achieve their dreams but the vast majority of us think we don't have the time or means to become the great artist, painter, writer, singer or athlete whose potential lies within ourselves. Just remember that nothing in this life is forever. Circumstances can change gradually or in a heartbeat. Your children grow up. Your spouses ardor cools with age and familiarity and they might leave or become your best friend still standing by you.
Now is not the time for complacency. Now is the time to look for that job you think you would enjoy going to every day. Take a cut in pay if necessary. It's worth it. You will survive. I lost a job I grew to hate after twenty seven years. Consequently we lost our house. There were no savings since I spent every penny raising and educating seven children of my own. Even now my youngest is starting his fourth and last year of college. So for two years we lived in a tent in the woods because neither of us would abandon a dog we both loved. We are still together although living apart for various reasons. But we both survived is my point.
You can read about how very many people achieved their goals late in like Grandma Moses or Colonel Sanders. In college I wanted very much to be a writer. Now at seventy eight I write and publish every day. I want people to read but if they don't I will continue writing because it gives me great pleasure and satisfaction. My son is studying journalism and is already a staff writer for a print newspaper as well as on internet sites. I'm so glad he found his passion early and not like me after over seventy years.
It's true that some do achieve their dreams but the vast majority of us think we don't have the time or means to become the great artist, painter, writer, singer or athlete whose potential lies within ourselves. Just remember that nothing in this life is forever. Circumstances can change gradually or in a heartbeat. Your children grow up. Your spouses ardor cools with age and familiarity and they might leave or become your best friend still standing by you.
Now is not the time for complacency. Now is the time to look for that job you think you would enjoy going to every day. Take a cut in pay if necessary. It's worth it. You will survive. I lost a job I grew to hate after twenty seven years. Consequently we lost our house. There were no savings since I spent every penny raising and educating seven children of my own. Even now my youngest is starting his fourth and last year of college. So for two years we lived in a tent in the woods because neither of us would abandon a dog we both loved. We are still together although living apart for various reasons. But we both survived is my point.
You can read about how very many people achieved their goals late in like Grandma Moses or Colonel Sanders. In college I wanted very much to be a writer. Now at seventy eight I write and publish every day. I want people to read but if they don't I will continue writing because it gives me great pleasure and satisfaction. My son is studying journalism and is already a staff writer for a print newspaper as well as on internet sites. I'm so glad he found his passion early and not like me after over seventy years.
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