Now: if only I could be this creative! (Take a look!)

Although it’s been 38 years now, I can’t seem to forget this day.

This is excerpted from the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Leader-Telegram, May 4, 1970…

Non-Silent Minority Opposes New Thrust

To the Editor:

I [must protest] the decision, announced by President Nixon on April 30, to deploy American ground and air combat troops into neutralist Cambodia. This [action … further compounds mistakes] … [already made] by this and previous administrations …

I truly am unable to comprehend how the American people [are able to] tolerate such irresponsibility [on the part of our national leadership] …

American young men are dying in Vietnam, and now Cambodia. For what?

[If] the South Vietnamese people are determined to be free of Communist aggression, they themselves are the ones who must rally forces to fight and defend their land.

[Our presence] in Southeast Asia is unconstitutional … we are engaged in a large scale war operation without a formal declaration of war. [Surely this is a] mockery of the document upon which our form of government was established … !

[Are] not the “brave young men,” including reluctant inductees, dying needlessly [in a part of the world where we have no legitimate business]? I [believe] this [to be] the case and cannot agree with the President’s decision to expand the war efforts in Southeast Asia for any reason or for any length of time. Mr. Nixon, you must bring all the American troops home immediately and call a halt to this immoral, unjust and unconstitutional fiasco.

Respectfully, from one of the non-silent minority,

PEACE
James C. Arnold

Of course, also on this day (from the New York Times)…

4 Kent State Students Killed by Troops

Kent, Ohio, May 4 -- Four students at Kent State University, two of them women, were shot to death this afternoon by a volley of National Guard gunfire. At least 8 other students were wounded.

The burst of gunfire came about 20 minutes after the guardsmen broke up a noon rally on the Commons, a grassy campus gathering spot, by lobbing tear gas at a crowd of about 1,000 young people…

For the full text of the article, click here.

See also, the official May 4 website; and for an academic discussion of the day’s events, read The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy by Jerry M. Lewis and Thomas R. Hensley.

Soundtrack Suggestion

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

(“Ohio” – Neil Young)

I went walking along the Pacific Ocean beach of San Francisco’s Sunset District during the weekend. It was an incredible day: bright sunshine, cloudless, not-too-windy. I was dressed in layers, but many (individuals, couples, families) were attired simply in shorts and t-shirts.

As I walked up and down the beach, I couldn’t help but notice how, well, dirty, the landscape looked. This ocean-front bore very little resemblance at all to the array of pristine beaches I am accustomed to in Oregon.

I had to ask myself: what’s going on here?

Well, consider…

On November 7, 2007, not long after I moved to the Bay Area, a wayward container ship (the Cosco Busan) ran right into the Bay Bridge and spilled 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the water.

You must remember hearing about this. It was a mess. Beaches were blackened; more than 2,500 birds died. (And 20,000 more may have been put at risk.) And who knows what other health risks were created!

At the time, I was just starting a new job in the North Bay, and was pretty much totally focused on my own personal survival. The oil spill, to me, was sort of background noise.

Now, this spring, I get out on a nice day and look at the beaches…and think…ohmygod!

Here’s a little something from the website of the International Bird Rescue Research Center:

Bunker fuel spills are extremely toxic to marine life, especially birds that float and feed through a spill. The oil inhibits the birds ability to thermo-regulate and they become cold as their natural insulation in their feathers break down. The birds spend most of their time trying to preen the oil out of feathers and thus ingesting the oil. Weakened, they will often beach themselves and fall prey to predators or die from the toxic effects of oil…

Please remember : Do not attempt to wash, feed or house oiled birds and other animals! Spilled oil is extremely toxic. The use of proper gloves and protocols must be followed to insure the safety of the public AND the animals.

So, I am asking: am I really ok when I’m out walking around on these beaches these days!? How would I know?

I’m trying to do anything I can these days, whenever I’m away from work, to get my mind off work. The intensity of each workday right now makes that rather difficult.

So, it was with some sense of delight, recently, when I discovered a “wink” in my home email, from an East Bay woman who found my profile on match.com.

Yes, in case you didn’t know…I have a personal-ad profile listed online. And I’ve been involved, off and on, in the virtual dating world for quite some time now.

Years, actually. (Ah, the stories I could tell!)

Now, usually, I don’t respond to mere “winks” – much preferring someone who is drawn to my profile enough to write me a full (even if brief) message. But this time, for whatever reason, I wrote a short little note back – and after a couple of emails, we decided to meet for tea at an East Bay Starbucks last Sunday.

In short: it was wonderful. We talked for little over an hour and things went very smoothly, I thought. As we parted, she invited me to call or email her.

Which I did, a few hours later. I sent her an email indicating that I was “interested” and: could we get together again?

The answer: no thanks. “The chemistry just wasn’t there. So sorry about that.”

Isn’t it strange how rejection from someone I don’t even really know can still have such yucky feelings associated with it?

I hadn’t put myself out there like that for anyone in a long time. I guess I need to get more practiced, and thicker-skinned.

Maybe I’ll wink at somebody myself tonight. I really do need to get out more.

Soundtrack Suggestion

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

(“Home” – Michael Bublé )

The weather this weekend in Marin County, California, was absolutely perfect. Both days were clear, sunny and hot…with temperatures into the upper 80s. However, as recently as a few days ago (and then again today), the daytime highs were in the 50s - and the blustery winds made it feel even colder. Last Tuesday  was very chilly. That was the day I was making my preparations to attend the Olympic Torch Relay.

I had a vacation day scheduled for Wednesday, and planned to take the ferry into The City for a day of observing and photographing the event(s). It surely seemed like a day of potential excitement (what with the recent, well, passionate protests in Paris and London)…and one that held some promise for colorful photos of the planned demonstrations.

Ah, but the important question for me: how do I keep warm? After all, these happenings were to take place along the waterfront in San Francisco…not exactly the most comfy place in the world on lots of days, what with the probability for low temperatures and howling winds. Given the propensity of my body to tighten up with both stress and cold, and the fact that I’d be carrying heavy camera equipment, I would need to dress appropriately for the occasion and take a minimalist approach to packing and toting my gear.

So, folks, this is the most important factor for me these days as I prepare for a day of protesting. How do I keep these old bones and muscles from freezing up?

Well, I came up with some answers.

First off: long underwear. Yes, here it is April in the Golden State, and for the only time this year, I donned a pair of my silk, REI-brand long-johns. Then, of course, SmartWool socks and my ECCO cross-trainers. The rest of the outfit included:

• jeans,
• a short sleeve t-shirt, covered by a long-sleeved t-shirt,
• covered by a North Face fleece pullover, covered by a multi-pocketed photographer’s vest,
• all topped off with a baseball-type cap (with a peace sign on it).

Finally, to keep my body even more toastfully comfortable, I wore (underneath everything) two ThermaCare heatwraps: one around my midsection for my lower-back, and one across the tops of my shoulder blades.

I carried my smallest camera bag that held just one body, one lens, an extra battery, and compact flash cards.

And this worked!

I must report total success. I was there wandering around and taking photographs for three and a half hours. I was quite comfortable the entire time (it turned out to be a sunny, not-too-windy day), and survived the adventure in fine form.

One guy about my age, who was carrying a hand-made “Free Tibet” sign, called his wife on the ferry ride home and said that he’d had enough for the day. “My feet are killing me,” he reported.

Ahhhh…aging and the art of peaceful protest.