Tuesday, November 26, 2013

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Thanksgivukkah

First appeared on Blogcritics.

hanak 1 ny daily newsSubmit it for your approval; the next stop is the Menurkey Zone. “Menurkey?” you may ask, but it is indeed a word. A great story in the New York Daily News tells of an enterprising young lad from Manhattan named Asher Weintraub, who designed a combination menorah-turkey and dubbed it a “Menurkey.” According to his father Anthony, swift thinking Asher has sold over 5,000 of these lovely little tchotchkes to the public just craving something to mark the convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Or is that Thanksgivukkah this year?


As someone who celebrates Christmas, I have always been dismayed about Thanksgiving falling into a sort of abyss that we could have found on the The Twilight Zone. It seems each year it becomes increasingly overlooked in terms of a “no” holiday, as in November, that falls inconveniently between mega-holidays Halloween and Christmas.


Since I love the essence of Thanksgiving – being a holiday that lacks presents and only requires the presence of friends and loved ones – it bothers me that after the haunted hijinks of Halloween, we get people pulling down the witches and ghosts and slapping up the Christmas lights, without even thinking about an illuminated turkey or two. It truly bugs me that Thanksgiving – the very nature of being “thankful” is so essential – is relegated now to a day where we may gather, but need to rush because stores are open on this day as they never were before. It seems this year it could be a case of pass the stuffing and here’s your hat, I’ve got to go shopping now! Man, do I hate that idea.What about the wonderful slow process of  eating the pumpkin pie while sitting in front of the TV watching football? How dare they stomp on such sacred tradtions!


Now, I’ve been hearing Christmas songs in the stores since the day after Halloween, and for the last couple of weeks on the radio. By the time December rolls around I think I will want to pummel the dashboard anytime I hear Andy Williams sing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (which seems like every five minutes these days). I never thought it would come to this. Ever.


hanak 3 getty imagesMeanwhile, the lights and trees and angels are glowing, and Santas everywhere are “Ho-Ho-Hoing,” and the  menorahs are yet to be lit. I also feel as if Chanukah has always gotten the short end of the stick, which is usually because it falls so close to Christmas. I remember my friend’s home down the block from my house of glowing lights with its lonely menorah in the window, the blue light bulbs increasing each “crazy night” (according to Adam Sandler) until all the blue bulbs were glowing, sometimes for days after Chanukah officially ended. I used to think it was sad, but now somehow I think it was a defiant symbol of upholding tradition amidst all the crazy lightshow that Christmas had become.


I still feel bad for those of us who want to celebrate Thanksgiving and Chanukah every year. These seemed to be overwhelmed holidays, especially due to the crass commercialism that created the seemingly unstoppable Halloween-Christmas monster holiday. However, young Asher may have found a way to save the day in some way with his brilliant creation. By linking Chanukah and Thanksgiving with his Menurkey, he has thought of a way to not just bridge the gap but perhaps overcome it.


adamIf there is some way to make this an annual celebration (oh, overlooking the lunar calendar, of course), there could be a grand swelling of those who want to mark this fourth Thursday of November more passionately, standing up to the big eastern syndicate that longed to link Halloween and Christmas for so many years (you don’t think that Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin was just a coincidence, do you?).


So this year drink your gin and tonica, play your harmonica, light you Menurkey, and eat your turkey. Oh, and watch some football if you dare. It is definitely beginning to look like Chanukah and Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgivukkah to all, and to all a good (and crazy) eight nights!  


  Photo credits: weintraub-daily news; sandler nbc.com; menorah-getty images

Thursday, November 21, 2013

50th Anniversary of JFK Assassination – The Agony and the Legacy

First appeared on Blogcritics.

JFK - 1 (wikipedia)There are many people reading this now who were not alive when John F. Kennedy died, and those who were too young to remember him, but that is insignificant in terms of the meaning his death had on their lives. JFK’s assassination – as the untimely death of any President of the United States – changed the course of history. It also changed people’s lives in rather personal and distinct ways.


I’ve always heard people talk about the first president they can remember. My father said, “Herbert Hoover,” and my mother said “FDR.” My father’s dad remembered McKinley and the day that he was shot, and I suppose I can connect with that because JFK is the first president I remember, and it was because of his being shot and the subsequent funeral procession that I watched on TV that I still can remember him all these years later.


I was only four years old, and my mother was giving me a bath upstairs in the house. I remember my grandmother screaming my mother’s name upstairs – mom probably couldn’t hear because of the running water in the tub. Finally she did hear and turned off the tap. “What’s wrong?” my mother asked.


Until this day I remember Nana’s voice as clear as can be. “The president has been shot!”

JFK - 4 ny daily newsAll these years later those words reverberate in my heart and touch my soul. I guess it would be the first time that I would make a connection of the world to my life. I became aware of something larger than the fun and games of my little world in my own home, and as my mother took me downstairs swaddled in towels, the TV screen was filled with people talking and looking very sad.


The next most powerful memory for me was when I saw the horse with no rider. I recall seeing that to this day and feeling scared by it, like it made no sense. “Where’s the cowboy?” I supposedly asked my mother. I don’t remember that, but I do recall the image of little John. He was basically my age, a kid I could play with if time and space allowed, but there he was in the harsh sunshine saluting his daddy. My mother and grandmother were crying, and as it happens with kids I cried too, but luckily my daddy was coming home that night.


All these years later I think we are all still affected by JFK’s untimely death. I have been watching so many different TV shows and reports about it, leading up to the anniversary that marks fifty years. Fifty years? Sadly, it seems we have learned little or nothing as a nation in all this time. Looking back now it meant something inherently more to my family than just a president dying – he was our first Catholic president. Just as people will take pride in a person from their town or state being elected to the highest office in the land, it was perceived by Catholics that this was a monumental achievement. I don’t think after all these years people have fully understood this factor, but it was as big a deal then as Mr. Obama being the first black president is now. Whenever a barrier is knocked down, a prejudice overcome, it is a victory for not just those specific people but all people.


I will make it no secret that I have admired JFK most of my life. The fact that he was Catholic is barely a factor, but I do respect so much how he handled the nature of his faith as he dealt with the realities he faced. I think the best comment he made about his faith was this one: “I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.”


This should have immediately disarmed critics, but as we know that was and never is the case. We can certainly compare JFK to Mr. Obama in many ways – both being young, handsome, charismatic, and groundbreaking. We can also note (no matter how much guys like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly will protest) that Mr. Obama is subject to the most intense negativity, the most pernicious opposition, and the deepest disdain imaginable due to no other reason than his race. JFK may have faced the same things because of his faith, but back then it was not so glaringly apparent as it is today.


There were those who warned JFK about going to Dallas back in November 1963. He would not be welcome there it was said. This could have to do with many things, but let’s not forget that he was Catholic. Many of his opponents were against his policies, but the deep prejudice of that time also factored into the situation. History tells us what happened to other Catholics, as well as Jews and blacks, who dared to venture into unfriendly southern territory with a message people were not open to hear.


All these years later we see a president in his second term being attacked almost on a daily basis. You will hear it is about Obamacare now, or Libya, or the IRS, or whatever obfuscation his critics like to use, but Oprah Winfrey (and others) are right to point out that no president in recent memory ever had to withstand such negativity and seemingly pure hatred from the right the way Mr. Obama has had to do. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the case if things were different, if JFK had not died.


There has been great speculation in books and TV shows about “what if” scenarios. How would the world we be different had JFK lived? There are two ways to approach this: one is if he had never been shot; the other is if he had survived the shooting. I think they are different paths that we could explore ad infinitum. The one salient fact would be that this would be a far different country.


We could speculate that Civil Rights would have been embraced more passionately than ever. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King probably would have lived, with the likelihood of RFK becoming president directly after his brother’s second term. Vietnam would have ended earlier; there would have been no Nixon presidency, no Watergate, no Gerry Ford (sadly meaning no Chevy Chase impersonation of him), and perhaps no Jimmy Carter or Iran hostage crisis. We could go on and on, but the point is that JFK’s death changed not just some things but everything.


JFK - 2 (newsbusters.org)I mentioned earlier that we have learned nothing from history or JFK’s death. I mean this not just in relation to the fierce opposition to Mr. Obama, but in every other aspect of politics as well. Everything is a battle in Washington these days. “Bipartisan” is a dirty word, and both sides of the aisle resemble people seen in the show Doomsday Preppers. Instead of concentrating on today’s business the politicians are worried about preparing for tomorrow’s disasters. It’s incredulous that they are talking about 2016 already; quite frankly, the whole thing is making me truly sick of all politicians.



Simon and Garfunkel once sang, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” and we can easily sing it and insert “JFK” into the lyrics. Was it a simpler time? No, JFK faced off against the Russians, the Cubans, and an array of slings and arrows even then, but he did not have a fractured Congress with half its members hoping to undermine his every step; he did not have a news media out for blood, and he certainly had no issues with the peanut gallery of Internet bloggers and social media hovering over him.


You mention JFK and you think of something as long ago and far away as a fantasy place, where the presidency was respected by most everyone, where the reporters would ask tough questions but with respect, and that the public would unite behind the man without regard to their own political affiliations. I remember my father saying, “Once elected, whatever party; he is my president.” I don’t hear anyone saying that today.


So now on this 50th anniversary we mourn the passing of a legend. JFK – the rock star president and political comet that soared ever too briefly across the nation's sky. We should mourn not just his untimely death, but the loss of a time not tainted by the political charnel filled with minutiae that subsumes today’s Washington, turning into a disgraceful bloodbath. Truly, JFK's death changed the world as his election to the presidency promised to do.


Still, whether we can remember him personally or not, his time in office remains a beacon of hope showing us how things should be, what we wish still could be. We can only imagine now, but we are compelled to think back fondly about the handsome young president, his beautiful young wife, and their two children standing on the steps of the White House. Some people called it Camelot – a golden age – and for that moment, ever so briefly, his star shone brightly and now, as we look upward, there is still something notably missing in the firmament.


Photo credits: JFK-wikipedia; limousine-newsbusters.org; funeral-ny daily news

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Common Core Wars – The Phantom Menace: Parents!

First appeared on Blogcritics.

core 2 selfYesterday across the nation there were calls by parents and their advocates to pull their kids from school as a protest against the Common Core State Standards. This was a case of parents who have had enough, were mad as hell, and refused to take it anymore.



Despite the fact of reports saying that the protest “fell flat” – according to New York State school superintendents – there were indications of places across the country where students were pulled from classrooms as a protest. The salient element here is not how many kids didn’t attend school, but rather that parents are starting to think of their children’s rights as students and their rights as parents. It's about time!


In a reaction to what was happening (or not happening) around the country, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was quoted giving an explanation that is rather astounding. He said, “All of a sudden, their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought . . . and that’s pretty scary.” His words can be taken in many different ways, but mostly as an affirmation of President Obama’s Race to the Top which rewards schools for not only the implementation of the CCSS, but also for plans that connect teacher evaluations to the standardized tests based on these standards.


So is Mr. Duncan saying that the standards are viable, that students doing poorly on assessments linked to these standards have not been taught properly, and that the teachers are responsible for this and should be held accountable? That is definitely the mantra here in New York City and State, where Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have been salivating for the opportunity to use poor test scores as the basis to get rid of teachers – mostly experienced, tenured teachers who have high salaries and excellent benefits. This is cost savings at the most ridiculous and incredulous.


What is happening now is that parents who have been happy with their children’s schools, who like their children’s teachers, and believe that there is more to education than numbers from dubious testing instruments linked to poorly introduced standards, are starting to stand up for themselves.


Woe to Mr. Duncan and all the rest if parents really start invoking their rights not only as legal guardians but as taxpayers. The problem with the Common Core has never been the standards themselves but rather how they were introduced to the nation. In the worst case of force feeding ever, these new more rigorous and deep standards were rammed down the throats of students, parents, and teachers without the necessary preparation.


So the “phantom menace” that may just take down the evil empire of education departments, complicit superintendents, and other officials could just be those parents who have had enough. This “protest” may have fizzled, but that shouldn’t be mistaken as lack of interested parents. They are treading lightly now, but they are also concerned about the implications of the testing that has been increasingly demanding on class time.


As standardized testing increases quality time in the classroom decreases. As a former classroom teacher, I always hated test times. This was mostly because tests were a necessary evil and needed to procure grades in order to put marks on a report card. While many people (including teachers) think some testing is legitimate, the way standardized testing is being done now calls for an almost full-scale tilt toward the most dreaded words truly dedicated educators never want to hear – teaching to the test.


core 1 newsdayAs the debacle of Race to the Top, CCSS, and standardized testing continues to metastasize into an out of control disease, many parents are becoming aware of the pernicious effects on their children’s school experience. You do not have to be an educator to know that teaching to the test has nothing to do with learning anything – except how to succeed on that assessment. All the high expectations and rigorous standards in the world mean nothing in this scenario, especially if the end result is numbers that can be played with and used to advance the nefarious plans of state and local officials. I believe it is time for parents to invoke their rights and put commissioners, superintendents, and politicians on the hot seat.


Here in New York, for example, there have been calls for state education commissioner John King to resign, even by people as venerable as Diane Ravitch, who cites that King has gone too far and is actually hurting our children with his policies. She is not alone in her anger and frustration with policies that rob our children of real education in order to partake in the actual undermining of the system.


So maybe people like Arne Duncan think this is over, but this is far from over. Parents must ask questions, seek real answers, and fight for justice for their children. Parents all across the United States must unite against this tyranny; they have nothing to lose but the chains of the CCSS wed to standardized testing, a marriage of inconvenience that is taking real education away for their children.


Photo credits: protest-jim self/the state.com; students in class-newsday

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Anniversary of the Crash of Flight 587 – A Silence Too Loud for Words

First appeared on Blogcritics.

587 3When American Airlines Flight 587, heading toward the Dominican Republic on November 12, 2001, took off it was on a day as clear with a sky as blue as was the day two months previously, September 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks took place. On such days there is complacency, almost an inherent feeling, that all will be well when getting on a plane. Unfortunately, shortly after taking off from New York’s JFK International Airport, Flight 587 slammed into Belle Harbor, Queens, killing 260 people on board and five people on the ground. 


Yesterday there was a ceremony at the memorial on Beach 116th Street (NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended), though hardly covered in the media . There was a story in the New York Daily News, and I did hear radio reports about it, but the quiet was almost deafening for me. Maybe because I’m a New Yorker who lost people on 9-11, or maybe because I recall thinking that day that the terrorists did it again, but this crash is like lots of other plane crashes including the ones that took down the World Trade Center – most people in power (and certainly the airlines) wish we would just forget that they ever happened because, quite frankly, it’s just not good for business.


587 - 1If you take the subway to Beach 116th Street, come out of the station and turn left, you can walk down a rather interesting street that is the heart of the area known as the Rockaways. Once dubbed the “Irish Riviera” due to all the people of that nationality who lived in the area, now Beach 116th Street is home to a beautiful memorial to those who perished in the crash of Flight 587. On quiet days in the autumn you can basically visit there alone, seeing the names of those who perished etched in the stone and looking up at the ocean in all its tranquility.


It is an odd place for a memorial, wedged between street and boardwalk and sea, and yet it is fittingly aerodynamic, as if it will take off with the wind. Perhaps that’s the point of its construction, to feel some spirituality as you stand on what seems to be almost the edge of the city, looking out on the horizon that regrettably the plane never reached.


The public explanation of why the plane crashed is that it was the “first officer’s overuse of rudder controls” in the “wake of a Japanese Airlines plane” that had taken off before it. I guess someone will see me as a conspiracy theorist, but if I were a family member of anyone who died that day I would still question this official story. It was so close to 9-11 – too close for comfort if you ask me – and there would have to be many reasons why a terrorist action would have to be downplayed or even covered up. Imagine the reaction of the public if another terrorist group had managed to take over a plane so soon after 9-11? It’s easy to see why that fact would have been suppressed to ease fears and to keep the airline business from shutting down yet another time.


587 2Still, for me there is the simple truth of loss. 260 souls didn’t get where they were headed – they went from going on vacation or going to see relatives to the next world. Whatever happened that day – whether it was terrorism or not – it is the loss of human beings who deserve to be recognized and remembered. For all those who saw those people off at the airport and those who were waiting for a plane in Santo Domingo that never arrived, this day will live in infamy just as 9-11 does, and maybe now they wait for justice or a truth that will never come.


Perhaps the fact that it happened so shortly after 9-11is a coincidence, and maybe we will never know. Despite all the recovered black boxes and official stories, since 9-11 I view every plane crash differently. I suspect everything and everyone, and quite frankly I still get shaken when I see a plane in the sky, especially over New York City. I don’t care how many years have passed and how many times I’ve been told to “get over it,” because I am never going to get over it until the day I die.


For now I want to recognize the victims and their families of American Airlines Flight 587 that crashed on November 12, 2001. I also wish to remember those five people who died on the ground. None of you should be forgotten, and the ceremony is something to acknowledge your loss and suffering. I know that family members and friends of the victims all have no choice but to never forget, even though it will sometimes seem that other people wish you did.


Photo credit – plane and firefighters-NY Daily News; 9-11

Monday, November 11, 2013

Veteran’s Day - Remembering Why We Celebrate November 11, 1918

Appeared first on Blogcritics.

vets 2So long ago now that the day is no longer a memory for living souls, November 11, 1918, remains a significant day in history. On what was known back then as Armistice Day, The Great War (now known as World War I) ended after a grueling six weeks of battle in the French forest known as Meuse-Argonne. When it was all over 25,000 Americans were dead and more than 95,000 wounded. The price of glory, as always, was considerably high and involved the significant loss of American blood and treasure.


Looking back on it now so many years and Veteran’s Days later, we know that whatever was learned from such horrific numbers is largely forgotten. To my grandfather, who fought valiantly in that “war to end all wars,” there would come along something called World War II. This incredulous occurrence shook him because he and many of his friends thought that they had fought for something more than just a victory: they wanted to make sure it would never happen again.


Pop came back and lived his life. Many of his friends never came back, losing their lives over there. Some never returned home but lived, becoming expatriates because what they saw shook them so much, broke all belief in god and country, and made them wish to be anything but American. This wasn’t because they hated America but that they loved it, but now it was no longer possible to return home because part of themselves died in those forests and trenches. They had to remain behind as it were only to unite their lost selves with what was left of them.


As we all know war has never ended. There was World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Along the way more and more soldiers were lost, more treasure spent, and blood spilled in the deserts, on the beaches, and in the fields of the world all seemed for naught because peace remains elusive.


Yet brave men and women volunteer, go forward against all odds, and do what most people would not be able or willing to do. They are like those firefighters on 9-11 who went up while everyone else came down. There is something inherently noble and compelling about such dedication, such bravery, and this is more than love of country and honor of service - it is something bigger than the individual.


I have had family members who have fought in every war since the Spanish-American War. What I have always heard from them was there was a “sense of obligation” that encouraged them, inspired them, and drove them forward. They fought for something greater than themselves, believing in the idea that they were securing the future for their children and generations to come.


No one likes war; most of us despise it. All the people I have known who have been in the Armed Forces hated war too, but that didn’t stop them. They also loved their country and their families so deeply that they were willing to forego personal freedom and safety to do something to secure a better future.


vets 1However futile it may seem to us on the outside, no matter how much we disdain the politics of war and its hawks who wish to crush the doves, we must remember that these men and women are beyond that minutiae. They volunteer, they serve, and sometimes they die. They come home wounded or missing limbs and sometimes parts of themselves. They do not seek glory but they deserve respect, admiration, and some kind of consideration.

On this Veteran’s Day we should remember all those who died and all those who returned. Some never could march in a Veteran’s Day parade but still make their way each year in cars or in wheelchairs. No matter how I feel about all the wars - and for each of us that’s complicated by personal issues - I truly admire those who have served and who serve us now. These men and women are noble; they deserve a parade and more than we could ever give them.


Still, I think of Pop in his last years, the shaky hands that never went away. He had PTSD the rest of his life after the war, but it was dismissed as “shell shock” back then. He was supposed to go home and get over it.


vets 3In many ways he did just that. He joined a different force and became a New York City firefighter (no surprise to any of us), raised his family, saw his grandchildren grow up, and enjoyed life as much as he could. I picture him now sitting in his chair, holding a cigarette in one shaking hand and a glass of beer in the other. Yes, he never forgot what he lived through and the horrors that he witnessed, but he managed to live a life and in the end I don’t think we grandchildren (and now great grandchildren) could ask any more than that.


I salute all veterans today, but especially my grandfather, father, uncles, and cousins who all served with honor. Maybe one day we will see the enduring peace that they thought they were fighting for but never was achieved. That peace may come someday, and then the spirits of all those who served can rest knowing that their mission has finally been accomplished.


Photo credits: parade-veterans today.com; poster-ktvb.com; doughboy-aef-doughboys.com

Friday, November 8, 2013

The Unbearable Lightness of Virtual Being

First appeared on Blogcritics.

gordon brainline.org How do we react to life as we know it when that life includes a virtual reality? As I get deeper into the “online experience” - which almost sounds like an amusement park ride - I realize that I have indeed established relationships with people I have never met physically. Despite not having ever been in the same room with these people, I have become involved with them, have worked with them, and have developed friendships.


 It amazes me that sometimes I feel deep respect and admiration for these people. Based on my interactions with them, I become aware of their intense humanity and decency. In some cases, I encounter those with whom I do not wish to be associated just as I do in the real world; however, more often than not, I find these online people to be like minded and I wish to be involved with them. It seems to me that human interaction does not have to be actual to be meaningful.


As a writer and editor at Blogcritics Magazine, I have learned to appreciate people for their work ethic, their creativity, their talents, and for their dedication to the craft of writing. This becomes especially important when one of them steps forward, noticing that you are the new kid on the block, and offers something less than advice but more than a casual interest, helping you to grow as a writer and later as an editor. This person was named Gordon Hauptfleisch.


A fellow editor and writer at BC whom I admired and respected, Gordon and I established an online friendship of sorts. While I appreciated his work and editing skills, what always shone through was his inherent decency and that he was a gentleman. I never witnessed him feed into the manic commentary process, but rather noted that he was supportive and never judgmental. In short, he was everything a mentor should and could be. Alas, as in the actual world, we lose people in the virtual world as well. When we lost Gordon - and I say “we” because many of my fellow writers and editors on BC mourned his passing - there was a void that we knew would never be filled. Gordon’s loss was felt, and everyone had wonderful stories and things to say about him.


gordon linkedinUnfortunately, the efficiency and speed of our virtual world also equates to a measure of ignorance that seems impersonal and grossly inadequate in the human equation. Gordon remains “active” in the virtual world of LinkedIn, where, although his account is “disabled,” we still get bombarded with his image on a daily basis requesting endorsement of his skills. I have been trying to ignore this for some time, even though each time I saw his picture it bothered me on a personal, actual gut level. I felt deeply and truly disturbed by his image mostly because I knew he was no longer there.


Now it all changed today when I was sent an email requesting that I congratulate Gordon on his anniversary at Blogcritics. I guess I could no longer emotionally ignore this virtual charade. I wanted to do something, write a comment on LinkedIn, but I doubted that was appropriate. So that brings us to why I am here writing this now.


Blogcritics is a community and, dare I say, a virtual family. We have our “parents” in Barbara and Jon (please take a look at Jon’s take on this subject), and then we have all the aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and assorted Cratchits that make up our virtual brood. We work together, support each other, and some of us even interact on Facebook or LinkedIn or share personal emails. The personalities are vastly different and, at times as in all families, we may have a conflict here or there, but we do come together as a community and stick together, especially when rogue elements have tried to undermine our efforts.


Overall, being a part of Blogcritics has been a great and meaningful part of not just my virtual life but my actual every day existence. Yet this episode with Gordon serves as a reminder that we all can recognize as a truth of virtual reality: we can sometimes fall into the digital cracks and, even after we pass on, we still remain a presence, a name in the void, a speck of online light like a distant star in the sky that we see even though it burned out centuries ago.


I suppose I write this to honor Gordon’s memory and also all those who may have passed on but remain an incongruous virtual presence. The day will come when we each will face the same virtual reality, but this unbearable yet inevitable consequence of online life is like a living death, and unless someone can intervene and make a tangible effort to stop it, we no doubt will linger in the ether for all time.


So on your 8th Blogcritics anniversary, I salute you, Gordon Hauptfleisch, and hope you can rest in peace and forgive the online ignorance that no doubt will persist long after we have all passed from our actual and virtual lives to the evanescence of digital forevermore.


Photo credits: Gordon-linked in; virtual head-brainline.org

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Time Change - We All Time Travel Whether We Want to Or Not

First appeared on Blogcritics.

fall back 2 Time ... thou ceaseless lackey to eternity. -William Shakespeare



The touch of time is such an elusive thing, one that either drives us to action or causes complacency that ends in the dormancy of defeat. We all worry about time all the time. Watch people when time does not matter to you, when you are loitering on a park bench or leaning against a city wall. See the delirium on their faces as they rush here and there; notice how often someone checks his or her watch waiting at a bus stop; see how frustrated people can become in a doctor’s waiting room as time seems to almost stand still.


Our worries about time are a pressing human need to control that which is out of bounds. We fret over hours, minutes, and seconds when sometimes days and weeks pass by with tedium. Five minutes waiting for a train seems like eternity; five minutes playing our favorite sports feels like seconds. Time is a universal qualifier and we all must endure its wrath and burden. So, when we are thrust into yet another situation completely out of our control - a time change - it seems that whether we view the glass as half full (oh, we got an extra hour of sleep) or we see it as half empty (I slept through an hour I will never get back), the issue of the change being thrust upon us is the same.


I have had different feelings about time changes over the years. When I was young, my parents let us stay up an hour later than usual and watch TV because we were getting that extra hour. When I was a young man going out with my friends, the idea that the bar or club would stay open an extra hour was infinitely appealing; however, it always bothered me that on another Saturday in the spring we would lose that hour again and have to pack it in early.


Once I had my own children I too allowed them that stay up late option, but as I have learned this morning, that does not get them up earlier or even at their usual Sunday morning time. Staying up later invariably leads them to wanting to sleep longer the next day, and I must say I do understand this need as almost a way to stay in bed until nine o’clock, even if it is really ten o'clock.


fall back 5Now, I am also thinking about the philosophical implications of sleeping through the time change. As I am sleeping (and most of the local area is too), the silent stars pass over New York City and we ostensibly all go back in time. It’s not in H.G. Wells’ style (no time machine required), but we are time traveling. That opportunity, however involuntary, is perhaps a missed moment in time. Why sleep through that?


fall back 4One year I could not sleep and remember staring at the computer screen with a throbbing in my brain, and as the clock went from 1:59 back to 1:00, it registered in my mind that things are falling apart even as we all think they are structured and together. At that moment, in all it’s power and regal entitlement, the universe was basically telling me, “You have an extra hour to stare at that clock and not be able to sleep,” and there was nothing I could do about it.


Maybe we should appreciate the journey through space and time for what it is, and perhaps we can wonder how that extra hour could be appreciated, just like that subway train that comes on time or that empty department store at dinnertime. What we do with our time is inextricably linked to how we view the moment spent. Are we living for that moment and appreciating it? Or are we letting hours expire at great expense?


fall back 1All of this comes back to the time change. Today some of us will be reinvigorated by having that extra hour under our belts, or maybe we can have the problem that we arrived at the store that opens at 7:30 but forgot to set our watches back; therefore, we were there an hour too early.


They say what comes around goes around. That is true of the earth turning on its axis and spinning through space around the sun. We live our days and years and move through eternity on this rock hurtling through the infinite expanse of an unyielding universe. As we turn our clocks back this morning, sip our coffee, and glance at the newspaper, usually some kind of symbol will make us aware that time has gone backwards. What does it mean to us in the big picture: perhaps nothing or maybe everything.


What do we do with our time? How can we make it count? Maybe the idea is that every minute we live does not need to be qualified. Living our lives on the clock invariably means we will be dominated by it. Yes, we all have schedules and we face the reality of having to be here or there, but there are down times and we should really savor those. Walk on the beach, meander in the park, sit and watch the world go by and feel the strength in not having to be anywhere at anytime. We all need that now and then.


I hope you enjoy the rest of the day and make every minute count, but whatever you do please don’t count your minutes.


Photo credits: nyc night-thechive.com; harold lloyd-favim.com; worker-bubblews.com; fall back-houstonherald.com