We switched it up this year!

On Friday, we shopped in St. Louis and on Saturday we journeyed to our favorite Christmas Spot…St. Charles, Missouri.

As we were in the St. Louis Galleria…enjoying our Holiday Revelry…there began a protest…and it was loud and disconcerting.

As I began texting Mary Jane and Aaron and Jonathon as to where they were and if they were alright…I noticed that the stores were shuttering their doors almost in sequence with my passing each of them.

A protest is frightening and loud and off-putting…and it comes from serious and long term civil and racial unrest.

A protest is not like watching it on television…when you are there and see and hear the protestors screaming in unison to ‘Shut it Down’…and you see the police in groups…trepidatious and cautious and armed and with many plastic handcuffs.

And, you witness the shoppers…both African American and White…fearful and moving towards the exits as you sit by one of the managers in Nordstrom’s who is on pins and needles as is his colleague, who is African American, and you wonder if this Action is going to solve the racial and civil and human unrest that exists in this Country?

Saturday, yesterday, was…Dickens and Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim and Carolers and Santa Claus’s from all over the world.

We stopped in Jansen’s Clocks…which seems like family…as we have been shopping there for almost 20 years.  The Barrett family is a wonderful family.

We visited Main-street Books which is an outstanding independent Bookstore.

One thing that was apparent to me over Black Friday and Small Business Saturday is that there is a chasm of racial and political and human family divide…splitting the residents of our Country…and it is painful and it should be unnecessary  and it is uncomfortable for Black and White Americans…and it was uncomfortable for me.

We all want to sing Christmas Carols and feel a part of this great country and rejoice in the gift of Christ to the Human Family…but there is a great and loud voice of discontent and loneliness and sadness and a history of abuse and shame and being excluded and marginalized and not being heard….that suggests we need to reassess and renew our dedication to ‘All Men are Created Equal’…and not just some of us!

‘For unto us a child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the Increase of His government and peace There will be no end.  Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom.  To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.   Isaiah 9:6-7   NKJV

As I was taking my daily walk, on Campus, I was struck with the quiet of the normally bustling surroundings.

I encountered almost no one…and could even hear the sound of my foot falls on the walkways.

When I was still working, at SIU, I enjoyed the day before Thanksgiving and the day before the Christmas and New Year Holiday.

These days were ideal for reflecting on the past year and looking toward the future.

They were also days, for me, to appreciate the opportunity that I had been afforded to be a member of the Southern Illinois University Community.

Shadows, were part of my walk today…and they are a part of our lives as well.

In the midst of the quiet and peace and beauty of nature…an ambulance siren peeled it’s purposely loud warning.

Such is life…where we are enjoying the peace and the quiet and the joy of living…suddenly trauma and suffering and the loud warning of a siren…causes us to stop and focus on our needs or those of of our family and friends.

Let us pause and thank God for our many blessings on Thanksgiving…and reach out to someone who have a, Siren, in their life.

2017 has flown by much to quickly!

I was thinking back on our year…that is passing us like a ‘freight train passes a bum,’ and I was surprised to discover that I have been able to accomplish two things that I love to do, almost daily.

Since January, I have walked for health most days.  This has become such a habit that I miss my Campus Explorations when I am unable to indulge in them.

Of course, I combine my daily walks with my love of photography and the event is many times more enjoyable.

When I am on the Campus, that I love, and where I spent over thirty-two years as an employee, I reflect on the rich past and hope for a great future for our wonderful SIU.

Our University is preparing to undergo a Great Experiment…in that the entire academic structure is going to be changed to facilitate a more nimble and hearty institution.

I can not help but think of former SIU President, Delyte Morris, as I pass his statue on  Old Campus each day.

According to first hand witnesses, who recounted Dr. Morris’s greatness, to me, when I first began at the University in 1978…he had an ability to make everyone feel that they were a part of the success of the Campus.

The people that spoke to me about, their President, extolled the time that he took to meet each member of the University Community…individually, and the interest that he displayed in their contributions to the School.

I was in Morris Library today and saw a large photo of Delyte and Dorothy riding their bicycles across Campus.  I am told that they did this on a regular basis and that they would stop and talk with the janitors and the grounds workers and the professors.

My friend and former chancellor, Dr. Jo Ann Argersinger, was very similar to the description of Delyte Morris, in that she projected a bonding and a collegiality and a friendship with, professors and grounds workers and janitors…and the excitement surrounding her, less than a year leadership, was palpable.

When Jo Ann was terminated there was an outcry from faculty and staff and students…that perhaps will never be forgotten.

It was my great honor and distinct privilege to experience, firsthand, what it was like to have  Campus Leaders project to me their genuine confidence in me and to seek my counsel on matters.

When a leader demonstrates real confidence in you and your ideas…it is an unmistakable call to rise to your very best.

And, so, I wish new chancellor Montemagno nothing but success.  He has been given the Wheel of a massive ship of opportunity…that is filled with people that not only love the University but who have decades of institutional knowledge and passion and zeal… to be called into the service of turning the ship around and heading it into calm waters.

I have also been able to write on most days in 2017.  This was a goal of mine when I retired at the conclusion of 2010 and I have throughly enjoyed my daily writing experience.

I write…for myself…and I hope that others enjoy my scribblings.

I find writing a peaceful enterprise.  I have enjoyed the exercise of writing since I was very young and it give this 60 year old a feeling of accomplishment.

My friend, Margo, tells me that I might want to combine my blog posts into a book…I think she is on to something!

I am thankful on so many levels.

My buddies, Ron and Ira Kaye, will be joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner and they will be bringing Mrs. Moore…who in December will be 101 years old.

Mary Jane, who loves Thanksgiving, has been hosting the event for 30 years…and she is as excited to be doing so… as the first time that she did.

We have invited my brother Brock and Sister-in-law Marcy and my nephew Jeb and my niece Jamie for next Thanksgiving…and I hope they can come as they are our new found family and we love them!

I think when the time arrives for us to leave this wonderful life…we will not be thinking that we wished we had worked longer hours or that we had obtained another promotion…but rather we will be thinking about the people that we loved…and those that loved us.

‘We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.’   G.K. Chesterton

For many years our church has participated in the Interfaith Council Spirit of Christmas Project.

Each year, our church members buy gifts, that have been requested by children who are anonymous to us and we to them.

Each Christmas Season that I have been privileged to be a part of this wonderful program…I have been blessed.

As we shop for the little toys and books and other requested items…I am transported to my childhood…where one or two gifts, that I had been hoping for, meant the world to me and made Christmas shine with a special brilliance.

Legend has it that Santa visits every house on Christmas Eve and that he slides down the chimney with a sack full of colorfully wrapped presents and candy and fruit and joyful surprises.

The truth is…many children do not receive a visit from the Jolly Old Elf…and the world takes on a coldness and a grayness and a harsh edge.

I did not receive a lot of Christmas gifts when I was a child…at times…there just was not the money for them.

The gifts that I did receive were precious and I remember each and every one.

Christmas, is a bit of a reset of life…don’t you think?

Whether it has been a harsh year or a year of poor health or failed relationships or loss of a job and financial worry and care… or a a time of grief and the loss of a loved one…Christmas gives us a time to pause and reflect and renew our spirits for the road of life that is ahead.

There is no better way to have your faith in God renewed or reset…than to have someone care about you and reach out to you…and give you a gift…with no desire of a gift in return.

‘A Brooks Tale

‘Well, are we going to get up as early as we did last year to shop on Black Friday,’ Mary Jane asked?

‘I think that we should try something different, this year, do you remember how crowded the the Galleria was…and we had to search for a parking place for over an hour,’ I retorted.

‘I remember how impatient that you were and that you swore that you would never go shopping the day after Thanksgiving again, Mary Jane said.

‘Why don’t we visit St. Charles, this year, I have heard that they have a tremendous Christmas Celebration complete with Dickens characters and Period Santa Claus’s, I responded.

‘That sounds great to me,’ Aaron said.

‘Last year, I could not find a place to sit down…and there was almost no standing room either,’ Jonathon chimed in.

And, so, the decision was made, by mutual consent, that we would spend our historic shopping day for Christmas at the historic city of St. Charles, Missouri.

Upon arriving at St. Charles I almost immediately encountered Carolers singing the most beautiful rendition of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’…with the most luxurious smell of chestnuts roasting on a, real, open fire.

St. Nicholas wished me a ‘Joyous Noel’ and subsequently gave me a card with his picture on it and an explanation of his origins in history.

Soon, a band came marching down the street that included; elf’s and fairies and Santa Clauses from all over the world and Mr. Scrooge and Bob Cratchit and his beloved son…Tiny Tim.

We stopped for lunch and the bartender, a most precious woman of good demeanor and judgment, poured me a fulsome portion of Grand Marnier.

As I lustily drank the first draft…she immediately poured me the second…and I felt the Christmas Spirit.

At lunch’s, long completion, we returned to our revelry upon the cobblestones.

Several years ago, we visited Madison, Wisconsin, where I purchased two, historically authentic, Dickens Period Hats.

One hat is a, Carriage Man’s hat, while the other is a Bowler or Derby hat.

As I travel the candle lit streets of St. Charles…I am often mistaken for one of the actors depicting the Dickens Characters.

As a woman exited one of the stores that we were in she exclaimed to her partner, ‘There is the man who drives the carriage!’

As the, late fall, sun begins to set and the candles glow more brightly…there occurs an otherworldly air…or an experience of time travel.

The candle lit shadows of St. Nick and his elf’s and Scrooge…and the Ghost of Christmas Past…who I did not remember from earlier?

And, there was my Dad and Mom and I setting under a massive Christmas Tree…in Chicago, Illinois.

We were laughing and opening gifts…and it seemed that all of the gifts…were mine.

We did not have a care in the world…and we were safe and warm…and we loved each other…and I was four years old…holding Laughing Santa…and every time I turned the crank, that protruded from his back, he laughed an uproarious and unapologetic laugh of zeal and gusto and Christmas Joy.

Suddenly, I was transported to Christmas Eve and my buddy Steve and I were driving to Eldorado, Illinois to spend Christmas with my Mom and Stepfather.

Steve had a 1950’s automobile and it was ideal for a Christmas journey.

On the radio was playing, A Country Christmas.

No sooner was I enjoying the vintage car ride with my pal, Steve, than I was shopping with Mary Jane for our first Christmas Tree at Wal-Mart.

We purchased a six foot tall artificial tree and victorian ornaments to decorate it.

There, was Aaron and Jonathon, three and five years old and full of wonder, as we decorated the tree and placed the, wonderful and mysterious gifts, under the massive yule-tide symbol.

Christmas Morning…the looks of delight and wonder and surprise on the faces of my boys…was the most special of Christmas’s…and one I seek to replicate…each year!

Tiny Tim asked, ‘Have you seen my father?’

I rubbed my eyes and wondered just how much of the wonderful Grand Marnier that I had consumed?

I mentioned to Tim that I thought that I had seen his Dad on the next corner.

He gratefully replied, God bless us…everyone!’

Please read this, insightful, post.

A great Drama is playing out before our eyes and it is hight time that it did.

Democratic Senator, Al Franken, has been accused of forcibly kissing and groping a woman with whom he was performing in a USO Show in Afghanistan.

Franken has apologized and said that he will cooperate with a a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of his behavior.

It has been reported that nearly seventeen millions dollars has been paid in settlement of law suits regarding sexual harassment and discrimination between 1997 – 2017.  The money was paid to settle 268 cases.

This was taxpayer money.

Republican Senatorial Candidate, Roy Moore of Alabama, now has eight women accusing him of sexual harassment.

The accusations include:

Leigh Coffman – ‘Corfman told the paper that she met Moore outside a courthouse in 1979 where here mother was attending a child custody hearing.  Moore, was then 32-year-old assistant district attorney, volunteered to wait with the teen while her mother went inside for the hearing.’

‘When they were alone together, Corfman told the paper that Moore asked for her phone number.  Coffman said he later picked her up for a drive around the corner from her house and drove her to his house, where Moore kissed her.  She alleges that Moore removed his clothes during a second visit and touched Corfman over her underwear and also guided her hand to touch him.’    Washington Post

Kay Ivey, the Governor of Alabama, said that she plans on voting for Judge Moore and that she has no reason not to believe his accusers.

In defense of his actions, Judge Moore said, that he, as a rule, asked the parents permission before taking a woman on a date.

Former President Bill Clinton was guilty of an affair with a young White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, during his time as President and he was impeached for two counts, one of perjury and one for obstruction of justice, arrising from the Paula Jones Case.

President Donald Trump, tweeted, ‘The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words.  Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?’

The President has been accused of sexual assault by sixteen women.

He was heard on tape, just prior to his election as President, that he could do anything to women that he wanted…including ‘grabbing them by the p—-,’ due to his being a celebrity.

This is not a time for Tribalism.

This is not a time to circle the wagons around your ‘Party’s Guy’….in order to facilitate your political agenda…and the suffering of harassed and abused women…be damed.

Indeed, someone is going to be damed…if we continue to take the attitude that humanity and dignity of over half of the Planet’s population…is not real important…or customs are different…in certain sections of the country.

Roy Moore’s lawyer said to Newscaster, Ali Velshi, the other morning…that he had read Mr. Velshi’s background and insinuated that Velshi would understand that age and dating were different in different parts of the United States and in Mr. Velshi’s experience.

Stephanie Ruhle, Mr. Velshi’s co-host and news anchor, was enraged and demanded what the lawyer for Moore was referring to…as Mr. Velshi was from Canada.

The cloying and sickening, supposedly,  hidden. …in plain sight… prejudice and bias…of some…is disgusting.

Today is my son’s birthday.  He is 36…and I am so proud of him.

Thirty-six years ago today…Aaron’s Mom and Dad…were excited beyond belief!

I fed him his first bottle and he had on a little blue hat.

When Aaron was very young, his Mom was at work, and I was with him at home.  I asked him if he could keep a secret…and he assured me that he could.  I then proceeded to tell him that Momie was going to receive a delivery of live flowers, that she loves, tomorrow…and that he must not tell her until they arrived.  He again assured me that our secret was safe with him.

That evening, while I was at work, Aaron asked his Mom if she liked live flowers.  She replied that indeed she did.  He then proceeded to tell her that tomorrow she was going to get a surprise!

The Nurse in charge of the Nursery at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Illinois said that he was a baby with a lot of character…she was so right!

There are so many things about Aaron that I like, it is difficult to name just a few.

He is a natural artist.

He is a photographer.

He is a leader of men and women and his maturity in handling problems and challenges that he encounters is something to behold.

Aaron has faced requirements and hurdles in his employment that I do not think that I faced throughout my carer.

I see myself in Aaron…I see my Dad and his Grandfather in him…and I see the single-mindedness and practicality of his dear Mom and my sweet wife.

His uncle Brock and he…look like brothers.

Springfield, Ohio “69”

When I was much younger I often heard men and women speak about their reliance, upon their grown children,  and the  support and encouragement  that they received from them…I now know what they were speaking of…when I look at my first born…#36…Aaron David Brooks.

And…it is a neat trick having a son that is 36…when you are only 42…yourself. 🙂

During the past few weeks we have witnessed, almost daily, new accusations of sexual harassment and rape…coming forward from many women…regarding powerful men in both the entertainment and political realms.

The Twitter and Facebook title, #Me Too, identifies women who have been sexual harassed, often many years ago.

I think that the sexual harassment of women begins with objectifying them.

To believe that a person…a fellow human being…exists for your personal gratification…is to de-humanize the person being harassed.

I would ask, a sexual harasser, how would you feel if another human being required you to undress and then subject you to their physical gratification…as the price you had to pay for a job…a carer advancement…the ability to continue to work and support your family…and the power broker who is abusing you…only sees you as a object of sexual pleasure?

To extrapolate on that idea further.  What if your education and your work experience and your good ideas that would benefit the organization…were simply not considered…until you de-humanize yourself and subject yourself to being treated as an inanimate object…devoid of feeling…other than the perverted abusers projected fantasies?

Men…what if you were being abused…as the price of admission to the workplace…or the continuation thereof…and you have illness in your family and your are battling debt of depression or your own devastating medical diagnosis…and the person who has power over your future…sees you as having the value of a piece of furniture?

How would sexual harassment and misogyny be if you were; ‘darling’ or ‘honey’ or your worth portrayed by a ‘wolf whistle?’

Would that be alright?

Would you feel complimented if women…looked you up one side and down the other and mentally undressed you with their eyes?

Would you feel empowered?

Would you be at the ready for love making…when it was required for you…to have money for the light bill and the mortgage and some groceries?

How would you feel if you had the required work experience and the required education and you had demonstrated flawless dedication to your chosen profession…and you saw a man get the job that had less work experience and less education and virtually no dedication to the profession…but he was friends with the boss…and they golfed together…and he was a good old boy…’a hale fellow…well met?’

My Mom raised me.

I witnessed men speak to her in a harassing fashion.

Before I retired as Superintendent of Building Services at Southern Illinois University, I had promoted five women to the highest rank, other than management, in our organization.  There were eight of these positions and five of them were filled by extremely qualified women.

When I retired…I recommended two of the five women, that were on my staff, to be promoted to the Superintendent and Custodial Supervisor of the organization.

These are the two management, and the highest positions in the organization.

I applauded the women that have had the courage to identify their harassers.

The veil of darkness that has covered these powerful men’s misogyny…is being lifted.

It is not alright for our most powerful leader to get a pass…or ‘he was better than the alternative,’ when he bragged about his ability, due to being a celebrity, of being able to sexually harass women!

It is not alright for one of the preeminent actors of our time and a two time Academy Award Winner, to be allowed to sexually harass and abuse countless young men…we can not look the other way!

It is not alright to look the other way and say that he is better than the Democrat… for a Senatorial Candidate who several young women…including two who were under age at the time of the accusation…and who the Candidate admits to knowing the, slightly, of age girls…but not the underage girls… and he retorts…’that he usually got their mother’s permission to date them when he was an Assistant District Attorney in Alabama and the girls in question…were in High School.

It is not alright to bring forward the analogy…that Joseph was older than Mary…and she was the mother of Jesus!