It is a lovely…almost spring day. My neighbor to my left is having his yard cleaned in a major fashion. My neighbor across the street had her yard cleaned in a similar matter last week…and now she is gone. Her husband passed away during the first week of January. Just a short time back I was photographing hundreds of geese on our frozen Campus Lake. Now it is time to think about grass mowing.

Christmas we were told that the government was going to provide the most effective face masks for everyone for free. Now we hear take your face mask off and live a little. What changed? When MJ and I returned from Mirimar Beach, Florida during the second week of January…we contracted Covid, along with Jonathon. The Omicron Variant has killed many people in Jackson County…where we live. This is the time of year…in 2021…that our Pandemic spiked. China is suffering a new outbreak.

The most recent slogan of good news is that we must, ‘Learn to live with Covid.’ Many in the early days of our Pandemic said that we would never beat the Virus until we achieved Herd Immunity This uniquely named Immunity has not occurred anywhere in the world to my knowledge. The abrupt reversal of going full throttle down the race track of prudence and protection…to the ‘Devil May Care,’ philosophy of Mad Magazines primary spokesperson…Alfred E. Newman…’What Me Worry,’ is causing whiplash among many of us.

Pointing to the graph which illustrates that new cases of Covid have dropped dramatically is cold comfort to the families of those victims who will die…today…

Billy B. wondered where he was at. A bomb had literally fallen on St. Louis, Missouri and there were black particles in the air in Eldorado, Illinois…his town. He and his mom and dad and Chet and Thelma…had sheltered in their backyard bomb shelter. They had been in it for a month. Jane had been with her family in their bomb shelter. They wondered if Southern Illinois had been a good place to live when the Russians fired upon the United States. School had been canceled…indefinitely. The Food Center had no food and neither did Big Johns Supermarket. The smaller neighborhood markets had saved some food for their loyal customers…but it was running out quickly.

Chet remembered President Kennedy warning the Soviet Union to remove the nuclear missiles that they had placed in Cuba…ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Thelma, Chets’ mom, had told him that what was happening had been prophesied in the Bible. Joe, the owner of the Orpheum Theatre, had told Chet and Billy B. not to worry…as the news of imminent danger was the same superheated talk that he had been hearing for most of his life. Joe and Ivy did not seem to be worried in the least…why Chet and Billy B. and Jane had attended the Science Fiction Classic Film, The War Of The Worlds, just a week before the bombs fell.

Neva J. had been coughing a lot. She also said that her hair was coming out by the comb-full. Jefferson told Billy B. that he would take Neva J. to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana, but he had heard that it had been leveled to the ground. Billy B. wondered what ‘Leveled to the ground,’ meant.

Walter Cronkite was no longer on television with the Evening News With Walter Cronkite. New York City was a wasteland. The BBC was broadcasting on Ham Radio. Mr. Gray, the Washington School 7th Grade Science Teacher was a certified Ham Radio Operator. Mr. Gray gathered Billy B. and Jane and Chet and Daryl into his classroom and told them what he had heard. Mr Gray was a teacher that connected to his students…he had a servant’s heart. He made Reel to Reel tapes each year of his 7th Grade Science Students. He loved what students said on the tapes and what students told him. He was a local Art Linkletter…of Kids’ Say The Darndest Things…

‘How did this happen, Mr. Gray,’ asked Billy B.? ‘Well, people become greedy and they want what they do not have…and they are willing to take it by force,’ said Mr. Gray. Now, Mr. Gray was a scholar in many subjects and not just science. He loved people and he loved learning. He understood that his student was just little people and that they deserved the respect and appreciation for their opinions and thoughts as any grown adult.

Bozo the Clown was on Billy Bs’ TV. Bozo was telling the kids not to worry and that this was just a test of the Emergency Broadcasting System…and in the event of a real emergency that they should stay tuned to the television station that they were watching for further instructions.

‘Supper Time,’ cried Neva J. Billy B. awakened from his unplanned slumber. There he was wth his head resting against the block hallway wall of Hillcrest School. And…he wondered how he had heard his mom’s voice at the School? And, he awoke in his bed…he had been taking a nap after school…which he dearly loved as he seemed to be tired most of the time. President Kennedy was announcing the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis…and Billy B. ruminated that the answer to our fear of bombs…was Supper Time…

Since childhood, I have wondered why nations go to war. As the popular songs states, ‘War…what is it good for…absolutely nothing…’ Vietnam was very real to me. It was on the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite…Monday thru Friday evenings. The dismal reports of how many Americans had been killed that day along with how many Vietnamese…was chilling. I quickly learned that I was growing up to probably be drafted into war…and that war kills young men and women. I wondered what life was all about when young lives could be cut so very short on the whims of old men with personality complexes?

We often speak of our scientific and technological advances and our intellectual achievements…and forget the main concern…we like to kill each other… Are we an advanced society…or are we cavemen to the extraterrestrials watching us? We have been suffering the cruel onslaught of our Pandemic for well over two years…one million have succumbed in the United States…and now we have a War in Europe such has not been since the Second World War. If you have visited Europe one of the first things that you will notice is that the little countries are similar to our States. Sometimes you may not realize when you have left one country for another…especially in the European Union. Russian bombs have fallen a few miles from the Polish border. Poland is a member of NATO. The only thing that you can count on in war…is that it is totally unpredictable.

Ukraine is suffering and its precious people are dying…and they look into the eyes of we in the west…and wonder how we can sit back and watch the genocide… When we cry for God’s tender mercy for our suffering…will he say that he has the same help for us that we had for his children in Ukraine…

Bullies have no conscience. A Bully terrorizes those that he perceives weaker…until a person of courage stands up to him. Throughout my life, I have observed that there are the elite and that there are always protections afforded them. They are considered essential and must be saved at the cost of countless Chess Pawns…who are little more than foot soldiers and whose’ lives do not matter. I am totally against proactive war…but to fight for the protection of the innocent would be akin to what the man did when he shouldered the heavy cross of Jesus…as he carried it to the Hill called Golgotha…

Chet had forgotten to remove his hat when he entered Mrs. Ks’ First Grade classroom at Hillcrest School. Mrs. K said, ‘Chet, please remove your hat in the house.’ Billy B. wondered why the first-grade teacher called the School…the House? Jane had been troubled by the increasing number of Bomb Drills that they had participated in. It was October 1962 and the news had been scary. Russian Premier, Nikita Khrushchev had sent Nuclear Bombs to Cuba which was 90 miles from the coast of the state of Florida. Billy B. and Chet and Jane had been to Mirimar Beach, Florida in 1961 and swam in the Gulf of Mexico. Billy B. considered that Florida must be a lot like the Garden of Eden in the Bible. It was such a peaceful time and carefree and happy…Billy B. wondered how it must be now with the threat of imminent nuclear bombs striking it. He wondered what Miramar Beach would look like after receiving a bomb…

Chet loved the television show, Lost In Space, and he had received some minor star status for his spot-on portrayal of the Lost In Space Robot. Between playing with his Action Figures, with Daniel Boone being his favorite, and planning Halloween with Jane and Buddy and Daryl and Billy B….he could not imagine something so terrible as a nuclear bomb…and the cartoonish adult protection against its’ devastation was to duck and cover…your head… Chet had seen better plans of protection in the B Movies that he and Billy B. and Jane loved to watch in the Orpheum Theatre that was in Eldorado. In those movies, there were bunkers and bomb shelters and missiles to shoot down the errant bombs.

Brenda who was Billy B.’s cousin…ran into the first-grade classroom and yelled for Billy B. to come with her now! At the same time, the bomb alarm peeled… Billy B. and Chet and Jane and Brenda filed out to the hallway to Duck and Cover against the hallway wall. Billy B. asked his cousin if she had heard anything…and she said that Miramar Beach had already been hit…

President Kennedy’s voice was being broadcast through the School’s intercom system. The President said that our worst fears have been realized and that he was speaking to the country from a secure location. Chet thought…probably a bunker lined with steel…

Snowing it is…big flakes and sticking on the ground. Twenty-eight degrees and Red Bud Trees are blooming on Campus. Spring is a little over a week away…but you would not know it…today. March is a month that is full of surprises. ‘In like a lion…out like a lamb.’ Today we are experiencing some Lion…

My Brass Gnome, that Jonathon got me, says do not count your chickens before they are hatched…and I think he is wise beyond his size… I was pondering the lack of institutional memory …and thus the absence thereof. I noticed the absence of this most important memory for the success of institutions such as the University…both when I worked there and for the 11 plus years since. We seem to continually seek answers to old problems that were solved many years before…but we did not bother to write the answer down. We continue to make the same mistakes. Or as a form of innovation at SIUC…new chancellors who change the University Logo…as their mark of leadership for the flagship Campus.

Churches have the incapacitating knack of forgetting their history. Endemic problems that occurred not more than a decade ago…are forgotten as they move the deck chairs on the Titanic. Hope for positive change yields to a recognition that change will not happen when the leadership ship is steered by those who forget the past.

Seek we do wisdom among the sycophants and ladder climbers. We look to the Court Jester for the wisdom of the ages…and we weep when destruction falls down around us…

It feels like early spring….real early. I am on the Writing Porch and it is 44 degrees. It is brisk…like Lipton Tea. I walked what was called when I began working for Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…Greek Row. Greek Row was the home of the Universitys’ many sororities and fraternities. My first evening at SIUC was October 10, 1978. Jimmy Carter was our President and the Iranian Hostage Crisis had not begun. I worked in Thalman Hall which was the home of General Accounting. I could hear the Kappa Fraternity having parties, next door to Thalman. Cars raced up and down the streets from the time that I arrived at 5:00 P:M: until I left at 1:00 A:M:. There was no new Lesar Law School at that time and the Law School was contained in three and one-half of the small Greek Row buildings. In those days there were over 20 thousand students on the Campus and the number rose to almost 25 thousand in the early 90s’. Now, Greek Row is little more than a Ghost Town. Many of the buildings have been vacated for some time and they are in various states of entropy.

Feel at home…I do…when I walk among the Small Group Housing Buildings. I did so on a nightly basis when I was 21 years old…and thrilled with being a part of our University. During my first week, Custodial Supervisor Harold Young came to my building and told me that he had heard that I was doing a good job and that as soon as Personel would allow me to take the Building Custodian Exam…that I should take it. Building Custodian was the title of my supervisor. I could not believe my good fortune and subsequently, woke MJ when I arrived home at 1:30 A:M: to share with her the great news…I was on the fast track to success…

I watch with some concern and amazement as new administrators attempt to reinvent the wheel of our great Campus. I wonder if they think to ask someone who has seen a lot of living at Southern…what happened in the past? I am friends with professionals that could cause these 90 Day Wonders…to be glowing success stories…but they would rather do it their way…as Frank Sinatra sang about. Sadly…I have witnessed a plethora of these folks enter one door of the University…and exit through the Revolving Entrance.

Southern Ilinois University @ Carbondale is a beautiful resource and opportunity for the people of Southern Illinois and the nation…and the world. Interlopers and Carpet Baggers…and those with self-serving agendas have diminished a Jewel…and then walked away to burnish their resume.

If the war in Ukraine has taught us anything it has taught us the courage and beauty of fighting rather than surrendering. Fighting is really the secret of life. Many of us are born with physical or intellectual disabilities that we can either submit to…or fight against. We can accept our place in the hierarchical structure of society…or we can fight to ascend the ladder of opportunity. I watched a wonderful documentary on the lives and careers and fame of Lucielle Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lucy freely admitted that she was not innately talented…but she worked and rehearsed to make up the difference. Desi was from a rich family in Cuba who lost everything and had to leave their homeland…he was seeking for home, according to his daughter, for the remainder of his life.

I have found that life loves the downtrodden who refuse to accept their place in life. My friend, Jeff, was an orphan living on the streets of Chicago, Illinois. He not only was kicked from pillar to post…but was institutionalized for a time. Today he is a multi-millionaire business owner in the United Kingdom. Something to prove is a good thing when it motivates you to aspire to excellence.

Illness incapacitates one person and empowers the next. For some, it is a brick wall…while for others it is an open door. Defying the odds is a beautiful thing… The only person that can keep you from success…is you…

The war in Ukraine is a defining moment in our history. Will we support a fledgling democracy…or will we do the safe thing and attest that the Ukrainians did not fulfill every dotted I and crossed t…? Will we watch the Russian Bear devour Ukraine as Zelensky illustrates what a hero looks like? Will we say that we must be prudent…we must be conservative…we must bend over backward to ensure safety…when the anthesis of safety is brilliant before our eyes. Will we assure ourselves in the all-engulfing darkness of midnight that the Ukranienans had to be sacrificed in order to guarantee our safety?

Bomb Sirens peel their disconcerting warning in New York…Ukraine is gone…and now so are we…

Geese and Ducks…and a Great Blue Heron were my entertainment this morning. Since I have retired…which is heading toward 12 years…I have relished the magnificence of nature. Sometimes I smoke an evil cigar while I photograph God’s Creation. Life is so much more than working for the Yankee Dollar…

Fragile we are… no matter what we tell ourselves. We actually are the unique combination of tremendous resilience and the fragility of the china in a china shop…with a Bull patrolling the aisles. The John Wayne macho ideal of the old west men and women…does not reveal the whole story. Often we fail to consider each other…when each other is all that we have. In my younger adult years, I often said that we humans are a combination of dirt and water…that makes mud. The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Disturbed I am when I see wonderful productive people…marginalized in their employment. I worked to change that destructive paradigm during my over a 32-year career with Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. I witnessed on a daily basis staff who were lauded and applauded due to their rhetoric and macho machinations…while others labored silently in the dark…unrecognized and unappreciated.

Mental Illness is hidden in our society…and unrecognized and often mislabeled as behavioral issues that law enforcement should address. It is not, ‘Having a bad day…’ We are members of a sick society that refuses to acknowledge its’ illness. The answer is not being tougher…or bucking-up…or more macho in the mix… Today, there is no shame in being diagnosed with cancer…but there once was a stigma associated with this disease. Mental illness is not something to hide from or to turn our heads from…but to embrace with all of the sensitivity that all physical illnesses are embraced.

Terrible are the times that we live in. Stress and angst are our companions…24/7… Human Help…and a Community of Helpers…and Understanding…and Friendship…are what is in order.

Inventing Anna is a Netflix nine-part series about a Russian woman portraying a German heiress. Anna Sorokin claimed to be Anna Delvey. She convinced the rich and powerful that she was a German heiress and bilked luxury hotels and planted herself in New York society as she attempts to start a club for artists…The Ana Delvey Foundation. She formulated an accent that was impossible to trace. It is fascinating to watch a true con artist tell just enough truth..among her many lies…to convince wealthy entrepreneurs and educated people. We believe what we want to believe.

Certain Political Figures would have us believe that they have risen by their profound financial acumen and mental abilities…and that they are a straight talker that represents what is best for our country. Many religious leaders cajole us to accept what they tell us…on faith. However, the faith that they tell us to accept is to take their word for it… Russian leader, Vladimir Putin says that he is on a quest to join Ukraine with Russia for the benefit of the Russian people…but he will not let the Russian people see or read or know the genocide that he is performing in Ukraine. He says that he will jail anyone saying something different than what he approves about the current war…that he will jail them for 15 years…while our former President says that Putin is a great leader and ‘savvy.’

The hypothesis regarding truth is our stock in trade. Our environment and our mental formulation of events cause us to look for things that support our beliefs. I have seen ministers take scripture and tie disparate passages together to prove their doctrinal point of view…when in fact the scripture was in no way related to each other.

Conspiracies are supported by our desire to believe them. Grifter and con-women and con-men are the direct results of our quest to ascertain what is on the other side of the Looking Glass…and what makes the Cheshire Cat smile so broadly…