How is you motivation today? Are you excited to be alive and in the land of the living with all of the hopes and dreams that are ahead. It is sunny and warm in Southern Illinois with storms in the forecast. Much as our daily lives are…first sunny and then stormy and with snow and ice on occasion. I was thinking how important tradition is for our daily lives. It is the framework that we hang our life upon.

Our Pandemic has disrupted our traditions and in turn it has over turned the tables of our lives and chased out the money changers from our temple. Regular life in the Pandemic has been anything but regular…it has in fact been irregular. I cannot think of another world wide halting of traditional life for over a year…and the end is not yet upon us. Indeed our return to normal…will be a return to a new normal.

Holidays are in our future again…both the established ones and the vacation ones. Our ephemeral mortality has always been a concrete reality…now we understand that fact more than ever before. Each day is as if you are at the Louvre Museum, admiring the Mona Lisa, or the Musee d’ Orsay admiring the magnificent works of Vincent Van Gogh. Often we are eating the finest steak and searching of some cheap hamburger.

Joan Didion is an insightful author. She wrote of interviewing a pastor who told her that he was going to move his church from California…although they had just arrived there…to Murfreesboro, Tennessee…because God had told him that their California location was in danger of an earthquake. When Joan asked one of the congregants if she was aware that seismologist had said that their location was overdo an earthquake…she answered that they knew about earthquakes because the Bible spoke of earthquakes. Didion goes on to observe that this denomination seemed to rely on what their pastor told them that the Bible said for them to do, and that they relied little if any on science or the news or academic facts.

‘Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.’ Anonymous

‘It takes the exact same amount of Time and Energy to imagine Wonderful things as it does to Worry, and the results are incredibly different.’ Zen to Zany

Drizzle is the watchword of the day in Little Egypt. Jonathon and I traveled about engaged in the exercise of taking care of errands and to purchase Mother’s Day Cards…and a large Godzilla figure with an wonderfully articulated tail. In other words an eclectic day with Electric Larry. A Beagle dog just bawled as if he had discovered his prey and our lone Gander began to answer in a mournful goose cry… In my younger years I was determined to achieve all I could in my career and t traveled to every local that was within my budget…and to own every book that I could procure. I was always in a race with the clock and my means and my strength. I could not work enough hours nor travel sufficiently to ensure that MJ and Aaron and Jonathon had a good life and a well rounded experience. My University experience at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale caused me to be like the little kitten who was blind…until his eyes were opened.

As the years have ticked by I have learned that contentment is often found in a small life. The trek to discover a few things that you love being involved in is an epiphany. Doing a multitude of things as a Juggler at the Circus is a stressful calling. Focusing on a handful of adventures and being immersed in them…is delightful. Jesus taught the magnificence of the small life. The religious scholars of his day were amazed at the simplicity of his message. ‘This is my commandment, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you. John 15:12. KJV.

Confusion is the watchword for our world. Millions of voices cry for low or no taxes… in order that their riches can grow into mega-riches. Millions of others cry for bread and a roof over their head. We in the United States feel that the Pandemic is as good as over and are planing our spring and summer and fall holidays. Three hundred thousand people a day are dying of Covid 19 in India.

As children we sought approval of our parents. Once we entered school we wanted to please our peers. In the workplace, what our colleagues think about us is essential to our feeling of self worth. For the boss or the person in power to notice us and approve of our efforts is paramount to our assimilation into our colleague group. Yet, so often we are living our lives for the tacit approval of others. When we do not receive that approval we are discouraged and depressed.

In the event that you are meek and mild and do not want to offend your peers…they will outline your life for you…they may tell you what recreational activities that you like and where you want to go on holiday. When you set out on your journey of higher education…you may have a major that is not near what you wanted to study…but you were persuaded to do so by your parents and others.

Small life is a happy life. Someone once said that you should keep your accounts on your thumbnail. March to the beat of your own drummer…it is the sweetest music that you will ever hear…

I sent my friend the acronym, TGIF, meaning Thank God It’s Friday. Although I have been retired for over 10 years…I have not forgotten the significance of the blessed last day of the work week. I not only have not forgotten it, I vividly recall the lighter mood in the office and the workplace and […]

TGIF — The Jazz Man

I was just admiring our gigantic tree that is just beyond the Writing Porch. I write without my glasses as I no doubt need bifocals. I noticed that the tree looked resplendent and it has gotten wider during the winter. Then I put my glasses on and observed the brilliant orange bags that the dreaded bag worm lives in. I then remembered living in our little church when I was 17 years old. The pastor exhorted me to listen for the toilets when I passed by the rest rooms to ensure that the flush mechanism had not stuck and thus the water was continually running in the vain endeavor to fill the tank. To this day I can hear a toilet running…from a long way off. I also have been trained by life to see the good things that are afar off or just rounding the distant corner. We are going to have a meeting at our church next week. My colleague asked me if I had received my shots…and I in turn asked another participant in the meeting if they had received their shots. We laughed both times as it reminded us of assuring others that we would meet while walking our dogs…that they had all of their shots.

Joan Didion is a fascinating author. I am listening to her book, The White Album, which is a compilation of her essays regarding the 1960’s and 70’s. At one point she mentioned her diagnosis with a serious illness and then being struck with the knowledge that what happened to others could happen to her…and that she had a new normal. I am impressed with our President’s efforts to create a government plan that has not happened since Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal. I voted for President Reagan…twice…and yet it is painfully obvious that trickle down economics has not worked. There is such an evil divide in our country between those who have…and those how have not. While some of us live in comfort and ease and wonder when it is safe to return to the theatre and to travel to Europe…others wonder where their next meal is coming from and if they can find a roof to cover their head…for the night…

Friends are sometimes difficult to find. When I began my life in the Christian Community I decided that I wanted everyone in the church to be my friend. Subsequently I carried that vision in to the work place. When I disagreed with what someone was saying, unless it was gossip about another, I simply listened politely and continued with my day. I worked hard…harder than what was expected of me…I did not want anyone to feel that I was the golden term of we Baby Boomers, a Goldbrick. In the workplace the boss and the manager and the administrator are, first, looking for one primary character trait. Leadership is seeking someone who will not cause them trouble… When I was meeting with Chancellor Walter Wendler on a monthly basis I told him that if I had a concern or a constructive criticism…I would always talk about it in private with just he and I privy to the conversation. I went on to say that if he did anything for the civil service community…I would shout it from the mountain top. Chancellor Wendler did more for civil service staff than any Campus leader during my career.

Florida is on the horizon for the Brooks clan. Life is returning to normal…as long as our ears are attuned to the toilet running…

Stormy weather is moving in to our neck of the woods. The temperature is a pleasant 72 degrees and wet. I sit reflecting on leadership, which I often do, and the meaning of consistency in what they say and subsequently do. When I left the University over 10 years ago…I feared that I should have remained for January and February of 2011 as I had attained 78.5% of my maximum retirement benefit and felt that I was being imprudent in leaving the other 1.5 % on the table. However since my departure I have earned significantly more than if I had stayed with my employer. There have been almost no raises in pay for SIUC since my departure 10 years and 4 months ago. The first significant thing that comes to mind is that the staff have lost money due to the cost of living. The second concern is that the civil service staff have been consistently asked to cover the work of more and more jobs that were left unfilled due to budgetary shortfalls. The third concern is that these wonderful and hardworking and dedicated people are being pushed to the breaking point by an apparent blindness to their condition.

MJ often tells me that my feelings regarding the University are not held by all who have retired from there. I had some wonderful experiences with Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale during my 32 years and 2 months and 3 weeks. However I have witnessed wrongs that should have been righted and the buddy system for promotion and job assignment…in some areas of the Campus. I have watched, with some sadness, as people work their fingers to the bone…and only received…’Bony Fingers.’ I also have been the recipient of promises that were never kept and friendships by administrators that were conditional on what I could do for them. Most of the time I was able to take these things in my stride as I had enjoyed some success at advocacy for those who had no voice. Sadly…all too often…the people who keep the train running…are the nameless and the faceless…the unseen…and the forgotten.

I was encouraged to hear that Chancellor Lane is developing a training program for staff that will enable them to increase their skills and make them elegible for additional steps on the Career Ladder. The recognition by the Chancellor of the value that his civil service staff bring to the success of SIUC is of vital importance. There is an abundance and a plethora of hidden skills in the civil service community that could so benefit Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…and until Chancellor Lane’s insightful innovative…the value of this community has heard the words off their value…but not seen the substance…

The weather has warmed in our part of the globe. But then again it is almost May. Our lonely goose has a friend with him today. I wonder if Mrs. Goose came back to find her lost husband and show him the way home? He appears to be extremely content and subsequently followed her into […]

The Gift Of A Smiling Face — The Jazz Man

The sun is shinning brightly and the temperature is a pleasant 63 degrees. Two, happy, fishermen are on the pond with a little oar. They are laughing uproariously and I think that is because of the little oar. I have not seen a boat on our pond since my neighbors, Larry and Vickie, got in their paddle boat and paddled around the body of water over ten years ago. We had a lovely church service this morning and many of my fellow congregants reflected on what Earth Day meant to them. One of the members had a great slide show of some beautiful places on our third rock from the sun.

Often may readers response to my scribbles reminds me of the Literature Analysis class that I was enrolled in during the 1980’s. Of course the class involves the students reading a piece of writing and then breaking it down to explain what the author meant. I found that it was not an exact science. My first paper was applauded by the professor and read to the class, anonymously, to illustrate good analysis. I received an A grade and felt pretty good about my analytical abilities… That was the first and last A grade that I received in the class…and instead I progressively declined in grades on my papers. What I had seen so clearly on the first analysis…evaded me on all of the rest of the course study. At the conclusion of the semester the professor told me that he had never experienced a student who demonstrated in the first paper of the class that he understood all that the class was designed to teach…but that I had. He went on to say that although it seemed somewhat unorthodox to give me an A for the semester, it was the right grade due to my first attempt…and that he was perplexed as to my slow decline for the rest of the study.

O. Henry was known for his surprise endings. His works include the Gift of the Magi and Ransom for Red Chief. Many of my writings are patterned after Mr. Henry in that I strive for the surprise ending. Also, the theme of many of my blogs may not be evident until the latter portion of the document. I enjoy writing from personal experience but endeavor to correlate the experience with larger global themes.

I often speak of nature, which is a subject that I could write all day regarding, and yet my critical point is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A person can live in the most lovely natural surroundings and yet be bitter and afraid and depressed. Happiness comes from within. I am amazed at how much beauty that I see…when I am in the mood to receive it. I am equally amazed at how much awe inspiring Earth events that I miss when my heart is not right… I was watching a Danish film last night that is in contention for an Academy Award, entitled, Another Round, where a group of teachers decide that they are going to follow the advise of a study that illustrates that 0.5 alcohol blood alcohol content is the natural state of humans that should be striven to achieve for maximum career and social success. The insidious results seem, at first to be working, until the group ups their drinking…with comical results. I reflected that our society teaches us that perhaps we need that extra supplement of drug or drink to excel in our profession or social interactions.

Good writing makes the reader think. It should not be easily decipherable. It should not be in the network television shows practice of scene changes every minute or less. It should not be in the mindless approach of reality TV. Not so long ago the purpose of education and higher education was to make a better member of the human family. The goal was not to tell the student what to think but to teach them how to think. Einstein did not come from the conventional classroom. Dr. Martin Luther King showed us the way of nonviolent protest…he demonstrated to us a new and better way. Good writing enriches the mind with questions that do not have easy answers. Good writing brings peace to the troubled…and trouble to the complacent.

The Bible is an outstanding piece of literature. It speaks to us in allegory and inference and parable and the most heightened form of writing…story. Story has caused us to go to war…and story had brought us peace. President John F. Kennedy told us a story of going to the moon…and we did. Martin Luther nailed 95 thesis to the door of the church and thus began the Protestant reformation. We read the story of the baby Jesus…wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger…because there was no room for him in the Inn…and millions and billions of people have followed him until this day…

Jonathon and I were just talking about money orders. It occurred to me that I have not thought of money orders for several years and that the era of the Debit card and on-line purchasing had somewhat supplanted what was the go-to method of payment a generation ago. Now I realize that money orders are […]

Subtle Change — The Jazz Man

Earth is an enjoyable place to live. I have lived all of my 63 + years here…and have every anticipation that I will live the remainder of my days on our brilliant blue globe. I love nature. I take a nature walk every day. I am enthralled by water. When I travel to Destin, Florida I can literally sit and watch the Gulf for hours. Around our house is an abundance of nature’s sounds. Among the sounds are birds singing and frogs croaking. We currently have a lost goose in our yard and a great blue heron who is eyeing him suspiciously. We have a busy beaver in our pond who travels back and forth across our lane to forage for dam building materials.

We are constructed from the earth. There is a reason that we feel one with nature…we are nature. On a few rare occasions I have been in fellowship with deer in our Campus woods. I have been close enough to touch them. I did not feel like the supreme mammal in the mix…but rather I felt humbled that they allowed me to visit with them in their home.

Pounds Hollow was my sanctuary when I was a boy. Mom loved to swim and so did I. She drove me and often my cousin Brenda to the happy place…three or four times a week in the summer. At times my buddy Jackie Brooks would accompany us. Mom always cautioned me that water moccasin snakes were in the water and therefore not to swim out beyond the ropes that illustrated where the shallow water ended and the deep water began. I was not a strong swimmer…but I could float like a beach ball. Soon I was floating into the deep and all the way to the other shore. It was exciting and exhilarating and I felt like an explorer. There is a peaceful tranquility to floating…with your ears under the water and drifting out beyond all other human life. Life’s problems seem so small when you are surrounded by the vastness of earth’s abundant water.

Nature is there for us when all of the accolades of career accomplishments have faded. The earth welcomes us when it seems like our friends have forsaken us. When I was looking at the deer in his big brown eyes…he seemed to be saying, ‘How are you,’ and I replied, ‘I am fine…here with you…’

Heaven is the dream of many faith communities. Heaven is a beautiful concept but as of yet I have not spoken with anyone who has personally seen it. I do know many people who have witnessed heaven on earth. From the majesty of spring blossoms and new life…to the beauty of new fallen snow and a winter’s landscape. We humans came from the earth and to the earth we will return. Our home has incomprehensible mesmerizing beauty. I walk the campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale on a daily basis. I know that my friends must think why does Jay take the same photographs over and over again? I see something different in nature…every time that I look at it. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

Nature is a cup that I can not stop drinking of…and I never get my fill…

I still love floating into the deep water…