Remember when...
Between cleaning out my office at school and rearranging things in my home office displaced by the water leak, I've been looking through boxes of stuff that I haven't seen in years. Buttons and old photos are only a few of the things I found.
Half the Country
Four years ago I was trying to put the election results in the best possible light, hence my mathematically-challenged but defiant website HalfTheCountry.com.
For a few months I sold buttons, bumpers stickers and T-shirts with this message, but eventually it became obvious that to focus on the past was a frustrating dead-end.
I'm soooo happy to not have to go down this road in 2009!
I'm still using the one and only coffee mug I made back then. It's chipped and scarred even though I treat it extra-gently when doing the dishes. I want to hang onto this reminder of how things can change for as long as possible.
A couple of years back we had a Russian businessman staying with us as part of an exchange program and I liked to give Nikolai his morning coffee in this cup. I thought it would make a point about the American political system. I'm not sure he understood the message.
Working-class hero
That's Dad next to his grinder at Ohio Crankshaft on the day he retired at age 62. He spent 29 years next to that machine, missing only a handful of days when he was really sick. When I was younger I used to wonder why he didn't look for a different job, since from time to time he'd say how he hated this one. At the time I didn't understand nor appreciate how his generation did what they needed to do for their family without expecting to enjoy it.
Dad didn't fight in WWII because his job was too important: making crankshafts for tanks and heavy trucks. He never did anything heroic in conventional terms. No medals, no awards, no recognition. But now that I'm just about the same age as he is in this picture I realize that in his quiet way he gave his life for his country and his family. We never thanked him enough.
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