If I knew anything about what I'm doing with this computer

I'd know how to formally tell you to go read this guy.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/

He's a fine writer.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a pretty schizophrenic holiday, these days. It's a 3 day weekend, and in this area of the contiguous 48 means beaches and barbeque.

Yet, I come from stock who saw "Decoration Day" in a much more serious way, and it falls too close to the mad relief of VE day (and before the futuristic terror that preceded VJ day) for it to escape without an overtone of the poppies on Flander's fields, and the proud old soldiers of the Spanish American War marching straight in their antiquated uniforms down past the picket fences on old Main.

And that's where it becomes difficult. I see those soldiers, and honor them, as the kids wave American Flags and eat popsicles, and the whole family retires back to the house for cold potato salad and stuff off the grill, to lemonade, whose ice makes the condensation on the glass pebble and finally run from our fingerprints to an unexpected drop, to badminton in the yard, and baseball across (and partly in) the street.

The soldiers, those fine old men who fought for Liberty, they were the survivors of America's first effective war of imperialism. Not the last, sadly. Not the only.

So, in honor of those soldiers, and of their heirs and descendants today, fighting bravely for all the right and true reasons (whatever the merits or demerits of their cause) in areas around the world, those who have fought and died or fought and survived, I leave you with a link to one of the greatest thinkers America has produced.

Mark Twain, "The War Prayer."
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer

Support the Troops. Stop the War.

And be careful what you pray for, my friends.

Many people never prune their mailboxes.

Mine needs barbering frequently. During the growing season I vary, in my approach, and, although I generally prefer a small pair of hand clippers, sometimes I give in to the impetuous efficiency of hedge trimmers, and buzz it down like an Elvis Chia-pet.

Today being a clement Spring Saturday, my introspective and evaluative components were uppermost, and it was pruned like an aged bonsai. That’s one of the pleasures of a prunable mailbox. It is not a hedge, or a grafted apple. It's not risky, but rewards exactly the amount of time and energy you invest in it. It is success oriented.

If you improve your home, there’s a mathematics of resale value that always creeps into the process. We’re told that the return on new kitchens is greater in percentage than the return on extra bedrooms. An upgrade in insulation is of more importance in some areas than others. Closets have standards. It is easy to find yourself weighing your personal desire for a feature with the possible impact on a shopping stranger you fervently hope isn’t born yet. Even gardens begin to carry an element of that. That, I believe, underlies the commitment-phobic gardens of most suburban landscapes. A few flats of annual color are tolerated, when the act of faith required to install a strawberry bed is too great. Who can wait a couple of years for fruit? What if it doesn’t bear? What if you don’t like it?

So maybe people could start with their mailbox. Mine has a couple of hardy vines that tolerate abuse, in the form of road salt and exposure. I never take any interest in which predominates. That’s part of life’s mystery, as far as I’m concerned. I keep it tidied back enough that an ambulance can see the numbers, and the door and flag move freely, and I keep a pair of trimmers near the front door, so I can give it a random haircut whenever either of us need it.

My mailbox is not the specimen feature of my garden, and I plant strawberries and other perennials like a modern Johnny Appleseed. But the mailbox provides an element of dryad charm in an otherwise mundane location, fall color, a place for birds to perch and observe passers-by, and a mindless and innocent source of connection for me with my natural world. Much as we may love them, the honest gardener must admit that sometimes Gardens can be judgmental and demanding, but the vines on my mailbox aren’t like that.

Enjoy your weekend.

I have a small concussion, it goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of it is more than I can see...

So bear with me, I’m distractible, today.

News in no particular order.

First, I know your calendar is circled for Paris Hilton. How unfair IS it that she doesn’t read her mail and the government doesn’t care? I don’t read MY mail all the time, and yet, that’s never been a reason I’ve been jailed. Of course, if I was doing something illegal, I wouldn’t take pains to draw attention to myself, and if caught I would send no particular message on the electibility of the prosecutor.

Second, I hope Larry Birkhead and Danilyn have a long and loving relationship. I hope that for all parents and children, actually.

Third, good news from the world of elections. In the state of Michigan (near South Bend, Indiana) is a spot called Three Oaks, which rejoices as part of the River Valley School District, they recently had a school board election.

Don’t bother to tell me you didn’t know that. Even people who are ‘chronic voters’ miss the occasional school board election in their OWN districts. The results of school board elections are typically reported only on bulletin boards within walking distance of the polls.

But we’re making an exception for River Valley. The results there should be more widely reported. And that’s because they not only turfed out the incumbents (almost always a good idea) but they did it by write in vote. According to this fine article in the South Bend Tribune http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070510&Category=News01&ArtNo=705100403&SectionCat=&Template=printpicart they beat the incumbents in Three Oaks itself by a FIVE TO ONE MARGIN.

That’s some nice on the ground organizing, that is. The phone directory for the River Valley School district (newly online) runs to 2 pages. The elementary school in Three Oaks has 20 teachers, looks like. But they had over 600 write in votes for each new candidate. Someone did a study in 2001 in Michigan about voter turnout in school board elections. http://www.epc.msu.edu/publications/databrief/databrief5.pdf (I love the net.) They concluded that average turnout in these elections was 7.8% among registered voters. Now I don’t know whether this turnout was substantially better than that, but it was certainly more focused than a lot of voting is.

So, three shout-outs.

One, to the newly elected members of the River Valley School Board.
Congratulations. Your neighbors have trusted you. Don’t screw up.

One, to the Social Science teachers of RVSD.
You have built in lecturers in Civics, in the parents that put this together. Get them in.

And one, to any political operative in a presidential campaign within sound of my voice.
Get over to Three Oaks and take a few notes. After you’ve listened, you’re permitted to talk, if you must. Government of, by, and for the people, remember?

The folks in Three Oaks do.

ow. head hurts. see you later.