Shame & Gratitude in New Year's Resolutions

A handful of friends keep me from descending, if not to obesity, to far greater amplitude. Being an ideologue, I keep my vow to the environment not to drive to the library, PO, stores, & friends', but I rarely run or walk purely for the sake of same.

So, lest I/we end up in a funk of contempt for failing, as most folks do at No. 1 American New Year's resolution (to regain my sense of balance), I took measures.  A couple years ago, researchers informed us that the people who are most successful at managing their weight have thin friends and family.

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DUH! In social groups these folks exert subtle psychological pressure on one another.

More tangibly even, they invite one another to walk/run or have regular exercise dates established . The better part of the time I have lived here, MK and J have come by & rousted me to walk or run. I guarantee you I would not on my own, but the shame factor keeps me going.

Don't just make a resolution! Reach out to friends and family members who will shame you into being faithful to it. In fact, keep a permanent, critical eye peeled for those folks!!!

The Shimmering Joys of Northern Climes

We awoke this Friday morning to a breathtaking sight: an overnight fog had frosted every weed, bush, vine, and tree with white sparkle. The world beyond our windows glistened breathtakingly and become more ravishing as the sun rose in the clear, blue sky. A small wind began blowing the sparkle around in the air. Then, as if to give us a lesson in the extreme fragility of such spectacular beauty, it  was gone. Leaving us with the lovely long blue shadows of a mid-winter morn on the bright, white snow. Anyone who slept in missed it!

 Eat your heart out, Sunbelt!!!

Keep a critical eye out for the beauty of the world.

Post-Christmas Gratitude

Hope you had a fine Christmas. I certainly did—got more presents than I deserved; more expensive than I gave. However, I consider the finest gift I received to be the one from Mr. Snowden. Especially in view of the grief having given it is likely to cause him.

 He is now living in asylum in Russia because Putin sees him as a nice way to vex us. With only a year visa, if he runs afoul of Vlad. . . Well, look at what happened to Khodorkovsky. Ed Snowden may spend his life running, if he can find a place to go.

Sad, that a hefty portion of the American population not only doesn't seem grateful but doesn't even seem to realize what a gift it is. Can't predict what will prompt young people who will post any inanity in public to finally conclude that privacy (the place where we entertain our doubts about ourselves) is essential. Is it because Millenniums have no doubts?

At any rate, this is what I wrote him, while he was still living in Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow:

Dear Mr. Snowden,

Because I am an old Boomer who has frequently criticized younger generations for general (& particular) gutlessness, I feel duty-bound to write and tell you how much I admire you for what you have done.

 The use of any/all means to accomplish an end without regard to the consequences is the primary characteristic of a powerful state, but not the exclusive property of the U.S. Though Barack conned me into believing he wouldn’t subscribe to it vis-à-vis Gitmo.  It’s easy to fool an old fool-idealist!

I’d send you some money if I had any, but other than a bowl of borscht, what can you buy in the Moscow Airport? I’d advise staying out of the duty-free, it’s nothing but items of conspicuous consumption. Anyway they'll arrest you in there.  Hit the Russkies up for some Stoly and caviar. 

Keep a critical eye peeled if you get out of the airport!

Undoing Mother Nature on a Pristine Sunday

A morning like today is the only reason to live in such an inclement climate as this! It snowed  overnight, and the sky was a cerulean canopy anchored cloudless and taut  at the white horizons. The ground sparkled like a diamond cutter's factory floor.

Couldn't resist: went to the basement and hauled out my old x-country skis, poles and boots, dusted them off, layered up and struck out. Not yet 10 a.m. there were already a legion of men with machines (Bobcats and snow blowers) out there undoing Mother Nature's lovely handiwork. Why on Sunday a.m. when most people are only going to church anyway?

 It seems there could be only one reason: to assure themselves they can. The history of the human race has been a long battle for dominance from inner to outer space—microbes to the moons of Mars. Any time we can score a point or gain a few yards on Mother Nature, the human bean doesn't hesitate, though we can see the destruction our control obsession has cost: end of species, destruction of habitat, erosion, pollution, ad nauseam.

In my absence for a Bloody Mary & breakfast, the men and their machines had been so successful that on the return trip, after I traced my tracks east of school and behind Althof's, I had to remove my skies and walk up the town hill. Carrying skis on one shoulder, poles in the other hand, I hit the cement hard where some genius with a snow blower exposed the ice—it had rained before it turned to snow.

Keep a sharp eye peeled for humans and their machines. Lest you end up like me-on a heating pad, or worse!!!

Talking Back to E-mailers

Talking back to e-mailers is such fun. Plus, they need the feedback. Last month somebody wrote to ask me to “Tell the Texas Legislature Not To Allow Creationism in Textbooks.”

I wrote back, “Honey, you can't tell Texans anything!”

The flippant response masks a more serious question—Why should Texans live with what an Iowan thinks? If Texans want to raise their kids believing something that may make them laughing stocks in the scientific community, should I--or even the Koch Brothers--interfere?

The Brothers Koch apparently feel that money entitles them to an end-run around democracy. They donated millions, I hear, to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's crusade last year to undermine state employees. Now Wisconsinites have to live with that.

I uphold the right of Texans to put whatever they want in their textbooks, no matter how totally boneheaded it is.

Keep a critical eye peeled!

Cascade Interpreter Resurrected after 25 Years

Cascade, Iowa—1 January 2014. After a quarter century molding in the grave, The Cascade Interpreter is being resurrected in cyberspace as a blog called Critical Eye Q.

Announcing the new, more incarnation of her former publication, Editor/Publisher S. Keyron McDermott explained the resurrected version will consider a far wider range of topics than its print predecessor, but certainly deal with local issues as well. However, with a brand new broader and wider international orientation made possible by sojourns in the interim.

Since ceasing publication of the Interpreter in early 1994, Ms. McDermott has spent two years teaching in Changwon, Korea, nearly five in Berlin, Germany, two in Tarsus, Turkey, a couple in southern Iowa venues and several years substitute teaching, so education issues will be high on the agenda.

In addition, she was the consortium editor/translator of a Korean novel by Park Kyung-ni called The Curse of Kim's Daughters along with Kang Choonwon, Lee Kayho and Lee Myunghee on a grant from the Korean government and published in 2004. She has written two memoirs Diamonds in a Privy and Adventures among the Awesomes—A Boomer Teacher Memoir, which describes her travel experience and provides a contrasting—often provocative—view of the American classroom. The blog will provide an outlet for selections from the book.

McDermott's most recent publication is a biographical sketch in the newest Wapsipincon Almanac (No. 20) called “Uncle Francis vs. God, Fashion & Television,” a portrait of her maternal Francis Callahan, who lived most of his life in Farley, Iowa and influenced her thinking profoundly.

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