Ailantha - Blog

Paying The Stupid Tax

7/7/2025

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Paying The Stupid Tax

The Stupid Tax: What you have to pay when you do something stupid

Last week, Sunday, June 29, I paid the Stupid Tax.
I was washing the kitchen and bathroom floors as I do early every Sunday morning while my mate is out attending Sunday service. My modus operandi is to cram all the furniture, chairs, trashcans, magazine rack, stepping stool, toilet paper holder,

...etc., everything except the kitchen table, into the family room so that my mop can swish over the entire territory of the floors.
Now, when one becomes a person of a certain age, one is constantly being reminded - by doctors, health advice columns, AARP magazine - of the danger of tripping and falling, and of the importance of being mindful when walking.
I am always mindful when walking. Except for that one time last Sunday morning when, while weaving my way through the furniture I'd sardined into the family room, I lost focus of the task at hand, which was to make it to back from the family room to the kitchen without tripping and falling.
I'm not sure which out of place item I caught my foot on. All I remember is going down, twisting one knee, landing on the other, and thinking, Oh, $%&#, $%&#, $%&#, that was SO STUPID!!
I iced my hurting knee - my left knee - for about five minutes whilst bemoaning my stupidity before deciding to cut to the chase and go to the ER. The nice medical staff there x-rayed my knee, informed me that nothing was broken, but, just in case I'd torn something that wasn't visible on the x-ray, like a ligament, a meniscus, or some other of the various tissues that surround the kneecap,

...they trussed me up in this ankle-to-thigh knee immobilizer, which eased the pain and which I was to wear 23 ½ /7. (Permission was granted to take it off while I showered, but not while I slept).

However, I was not to lie around too much, but should continue to be up and hobbling around in my knee immobilizer.
The nice ER doctor also informed me that if my knee still hurt after eight or so days I should seek treatment. Today was the eighth day, so I sought treatment.
Now, I digress here, but a few days after my ER visit I had an already-scheduled wellness check up, not with my doctor, who'd retired, but with another doctor who was just temporarily filling in for my retired doctor. He called himself a "floater."
Dr. Floater was very nice, and quite thorough with the wellness end of the visit and he was patient with all my questions. However, he advised me not to keep that immobilizer on my knee, but rather to try walking around without it, bending the knee, doing some stretching, and not wearing the immobilizer to bed.
So I took off my knee immobilizer, tried walking around, stretching, bending, and not wearing the immobilizer to bed. I was in so much pain.
And so I mostly disregarded the floating doctor's instructions and mostly followed the ER doctor's instructions, only because my knee felt so much better in the immobilizer than out of it.
And yet I was afraid not to follow the floater doctor's instructions because, I thought, what if he was right and I shouldn't be wearing the immobilizer all the time? Or what if the ER doctor was right and I should be wearing it all the time? I didn't know what else to do but split the difference and wear the immobilizer some of the time and not wear it some of the time. I figured, whichever advice was wrong, I'd at least only do 50% of the damage.
Anyway, today being my eighth day of knee pain, I was free to seek treatment, which I did at a local orthopedic walk-in clinic. The very nice nurse practitioner who saw me decided to do another, more comprehensive set of x-rays of both my knees. The x-rays suggested that MRI's were in order not only of the hurting knee (the one I twisted), but of the non-hurting knee (the one of fell on), which exhibited some "boney changes," which made me think of skeletons.

It might end up taking a week or so before my MRI can be scheduled. And then I'll see a joint specialist at the end of the month. And in the meantime, per the nurse practitioner's instructions, I'll be wearing my knee immobilizer all the time. And paying the tax...well, I guess until further notice.

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If You Thought It Was Such An Awful Bill, Why The #$%& Did You Vote For It?

7/2/2025

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If You Thought It Was Such An Awful Bill, Why The #$%& Did You Vote For It?

Yesterday the Republican-majority U.S. Senate passed Donald Trump's gargantuan domestic agenda bill - which Trump not too vainly named his "Big Beautiful Bill" - by the narrowest of margins. 50 Republicans voted for the bill and all 47 Democrats plus 3 Republicans voted against it. Vice-President JD Vance was called in to break the tie and pass the bill, 51-50.

This big stinker of a bill will, among its other iniquities, further enrich the rich, further impoverish the poor, cancel climate, clean energy and environmental initiatives, ban AI regulation, raise consumer energy costs by billions, cut back food assistance for those who need it, and cause 17 million Americans to lose their healthcare, all the while raising the national debt by a dangerous $3 trillion.
But in truth I'm less outraged that Trump's despicable "Big Beautiful Bill" passed, than that it was passed by Republicans who knew that the bill was bad, who even spoke out about what a bad bill it was and how it would harm their constituents as well as the whole country...then voted for it anyway! And then - and here's the real punchline - they spoke out against the bill again after they voted for it!
There was Missouri Senator Josh Hawley who wrote an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times condemning the bill's proposed Medicaid cuts.

He made his point with a heart-wrenching story about a mother of five with an 8-year-old daughter who needed a feeding tube and other expensive treatments to survive. "“Without Medicaid," the mother informed Senator Hawley, "we would lose everything — our home, our vehicles and, eventually, our daughter.”
And then Hawley voted for the very bill that he railed against in his Op-ed, the bill that will cut that child's Medicaid and send her family into destitution. When asked to comment on his vote Hawley said that going forward he was going to do everything he could to stop health care being taken away from working people - even though he voted to take health care away from working people!
There was Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski who opposed the bill for its new work requirements for Medicaid recipients and its cuts to SNAP, the Federal food assistance program.

But then Senate Republican leaders offered Murkowski to write into the bill an exemption for her state from the Medicaid work requirement and SNAP cuts, and also threw in a goodie bag of other benefits and exceptions that would apply only to Alaskans. Ms. Murkowski accepted the bribe, voted for the bill, and then afterwards had the gall to say that she didn't like the bill, struggled with the impact its Medicaid and SNAP provisions would have on the most vulnerable people in the rest of the country, but that she had to look out for the interests of Alaskans. She even added that she hoped the bill - that she herself voted for! - wouldn't make it through the House vote.
There was West Virginia Senator Jim Justice who warned that Medicaid cuts in Donald Trump's bill could cause the loss of many rural hospitals and boomerang politically for Republicans.

Then he voted for the bill.
There was Wyoming Senator Ron Johnson who proclaimed that he couldn't accept a bill that left the our national debt in excess of $1.9 trillion.

Trump's Big Beautiful Bill will bring on a national debt in excess of $3 trillion. Ron Johnson voted for it anyway.
Afterwards Johnson said of the bill he voted to pass, "I don't like it...But at some point in time you have to recognize reality."
Right. And the reality that's there for anyone to recognize is that any one of those four Senators who were so publicly vocal about the evils of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill could have sunk the bill with their vote. It would have taken only one more vote, only one more Republican following their conscience, doing what they knew was the right thing, to deliver the American people from the suffering that Trump's bill will bring down on so many of us. And that they know will bring down on so many of us.
But not one of them could bring themselves to join the three lone Republicans who dared to cross Donald Trump and vote their conscience: Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky,

...and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced that after his term was up he wouldn't run again,

...obviously recognizing the reality that crossing Donald Trump would be the end of his political career, a reality that other Republicans have unfortunately had to recognize.

Which answers the question of why the Republican Senators who knew that Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill was garbage and had the power to dispose of it voted for it anyway, and why the Republican members of the House of Representatives who've spoken out against the bill because they, too, know it's garbage, will also likely vote for it: Because those Republicans are less worried about the welfare of their constituents and our nation than they are terrified of Donald Trump's wrath and vengeance.

And of those hypocritical, cowardly Republican Senators who publicly condemned Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill but then took one for his power-hungry appetite I ask: So what do you expect now? A purple heart?

References
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-big-beautiful-bill-vote-07-01-25

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/gops-josh-hawley-condemns-medicaid-cuts-says-ll-vote-anyway-rcna215987

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5378970-medicaid-cuts-senate-republicans/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/politics/murkowski-republican-bill.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5378124-jim-justice-medicaid-trump-bill/

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-races-final-vote-trumps-megabill-after-weekend/story?id=123336634

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Why Did We Bomb Iran, Again?

6/30/2025

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The debate simmers on over whether Donald Trump's bombing last week of the supposed locations of of Iran's nuclear stockpile was a spectacular success, as Trump and his courtiers claim, or a dangerous, high-priced fiasco, as attested to by a Pentagon assessment of the operation that was leaked by we don't know who to CNN and the New York Times.
According to the leaked Pentagon report, the sixteen or so bunker-buster bombs (at $5 million a pop) and the more than a hundred additional support bombers, fighter jets, tankers, and surveillance aircraft used in the operation managed to make mere dents in the fortresses where Iran probably isn't even storing their uranium anyway, and, far from destroying Iran's nuclear development, set it back maybe by a couple of months, tops.
But really, the question shouldn't be whether the bombing was a success or not, but rather exactly why the United States had to bomb Iran at this moment?
Iran was in the midst of a bombing war with Israel, started by Israel; for it was Israel who began lobbing the bombs at Iran, purportedly because Israel, which has its own nuclear arsenal, didn't want Iran to have one, too. So Israel dropped bombs on Iranian military facilities, but made sure to also bomb Iranian civilians.

The Iranians, of course then retaliated by bombing Israel, likewise including civilians.

And on both sides people were displaced and died:

But how did this spectacle of destruction and death involve us here in the United States? Had Iran recently provoked us? Threatened us? Last we heard, we were tossing back and forth with Iran the possibility of negotiations, and attacking that country was not much more than a balloon Donald Trump was floating around, the way he's always floating around some or another balloon.
So why, exactly, did Trump suddenly give the order to get all up in the conflict between the two warring countries, and why choose to spend a few billion U.S. dollars to try and destroy Iran's not-yet-existent nuclear capability over Israel's already existent nuclear warheads?

After all, Iran has been oppressing its people for decades, while Israel has been engaged in the oppression, starvation, and genocide of the Palestinians for just as long. Each country appears to want to eradicate the other. Why choose to disarm one over the other?
But this is, of course a rhetorical question. It's common knowledge why Donald Trump acted as he did, isn't it?

References:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/politics/bunker-buster-bomb-isfahan-iran

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/politics/intel-assessment-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-sites

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-journalists-reveal-sources-iran-intel-report-1235375074/

https://www.google.com/search?q=giw+much+did+us+bombing+of+iran+cost&rlz=1C1OPNX_enUS1166US1166&oq=giw+much+did+US+bombing+of+Iran+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigATIHCAMQIRiPAjIHCAQQIRiPAtIBCjE2OTE2ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBTg1Dw5wjVEC8QU4NQ8OcI1RAg&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_arsenals

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Celebrating Tom's 75th

6/23/2025

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Celebrating Tom's 75th

On June 12 my mate, Tom, turned 75.

Three-quarters of a century on the planet, 75 rotations of the earth around the sun, this is one of those occasions that begs the question of what sort of grand celebration is fitting to mark such a momentous milestone.
Tom was happy to have a few family members over on Saturday, June 14 for a backyard cookout. With all the trimmings.
All the trimmings being my department, I put together a menu, one of the variations on the theme of the usual dishes that everybody likes to have at our family parties.
I spend a moment wondering, though, if maybe I should do something more special for the occasion. Or if people were getting tired of eating pretty much the same things time after time.
"Nah," said my daughter. "Everybody likes your usual party food, and they only get to eat it a couple of times a year. Go with your usual things." So I went with my more or less usual things.
Here was the menu:
Hamburgers, brats, and veggie burgers
Tater rounds
Sweet potatoes
Sauteed peppers and onions
Mexican street corn
Coleslaw
Guacamole and chips
Veggies and dip
Birthday cake
Brownies
Blueberry crumble bars
Cherry almond streusel pie
Peach pie
White chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies
I always feel like the first thing I need to do on a party day is set up the the serving table. I can't seem to get started on the food preparation until I have the food layout set before me. Though I can't explain why, it's somehow calming to know that everything has a place. Maybe it's like, "If you set it, the food will come."

Then it was off to work we went,

...thankfully, with some helpers,

...outside,

...and inside.

And when all the guests had arrived - there were a dozen of us in all -

...(not counting the littlest of us),

...and all the food was set out,

...we said grace then dug in.

Then after a few hours of more eating, chatting and visiting, the day was over. We said our good-byes,

...and the birthday honoree finished his day doing what he always does after a family party.

Sometimes it's good just to be able to do the normal things.

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Peace And Love At The 2025 Columbus Pride Festival

6/20/2025

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Peace And Love At The 2025 Columbus Pride Festival

A new command I give you: Love one another - John 13:34-35

In the past I've been to a couple of local Pride festivals,

...and one time my daughter and I protested in front of the Columbus Catholic Diocese office for their having fired a lesbian high school teacher just short of her retirement after she was outed by a cruel self-righteous parent.

At none of those times did I feel any fear of participating in an LGBTQ+ event.
But now things are different. With the suppression of LGBTQ+ rights under Donald Trump and his threat against corporations, universities, and other organizations that support those rights, I felt a little fearful about going to this year's Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival.
And my fear annoyed me. I thought, Why should I suddenly be afraid of doing something that I've never been afraid of doing before?
The answer, of course, is that Donald Trump, in his mistreatment of members of the LGBTQ+ community, has given implicit permission to anyone else who'd care to mistreat them to brazenly do so. And I feared that some hateful person or persons might use the Pride Festival as an opportunity to do so, maybe with violence.
But then I got over my fear and I decided to go, as did my mate, Tom.
This year, as last year, the Pride Festival was held in the downtown Columbus neighborhood known as The Short North,

...in beautiful Goodale Park,

...which gave the event a peaceful, pastoral feel, unlike when it used to be held in the busy commercial heart of downtown Columbus.

And, happily, in spite of my fears, this Pride Festival at Goodale Park did in fact turn out to be a peaceful one.
The park was full of folks of all ages,

...some representing,

...some quite decked out for the occasion,

...all of us taking part in what felt like a big, friendly group stroll on this balmy June evening,

...with folks stopping to chat along the way,

...and where we ran into our daughter, who was there with a friend.

There were booths, though not nearly as many as in years past, most of the usual corporate sponsors having pulled their support due to their new Trump-based fear of standing up for diversity, equity and inclusion of all human beings. However, a few businesses did bravely show up to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights.

There were also booths for small artisan enterprises,

...LGBTQ+ organizations,

...dozens of public services,

...and welcoming churches.

All around the park there were messages of acceptance and love.

And there was some neat and/or useful swag being given out.

Most interesting, I thought, was this recruitment booth for the Franklin County Sheriff's Office,

...and this one for Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts.

There were food trucks,

...drinks stands,

...and some first-rate porta-potties with porta-sinks, soap, and paper towels to wash and dry our hands.

Which was nice. In fact, the whole evening was nice.
At one point as I was taking in the sights, I thought of all the people who in former times had to live their lives hiding in quiet desperation, oppressed, criminalized, left out, apart. And it's true that even now there are those who are fighting hard to bring back those cruel old days. And that since Donald Trump has come back into power they've won some battles against LGBTQ+ rights, especially against the health, well-being, and right to exist of trans persons. But I don't believe that those people will win. I still believe, along with Martin Luther King, that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.
And besides, there were too many of us in that park on a June evening in Columbus, Ohio,

...who'd come together in a peaceful celebration of acceptance of all God's children, heeding the call to love one another.

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Hey, Donald Trump: You Want To Honor The U.S. Army? How About Giving The Troops A Day Off Instead Of Making Them March For You?

6/12/2025

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Okay, everybody knows that the gargantuan, $40-to-$50 million taxpayer funded military extravaganza that Donald Trump is throwing this Saturday, June 14 for his birthday is not to honor the soldiers who are going to be made to parade by him either in the hot June Washington D.C. humidity, or else in the rain that is predicted for that day.

The drenched, marching troops will swelter in their combat boots and fatigues and the tanks and other military vehicles will crack the streets as they roll by the birthday boy, who is in reality a vain, self-centered old man with a deep need for excessive attention and admiration and a lack of empathy for others.

That Trump is claiming to honor our soldiers by using them to satisfy his own vainglory is further proof of his narcissism.
If Donald Trump really wanted to honor the United States Army on its 250th anniversary, there are many ways he could do so. He could declare a holiday for all members of the Army. He could provide a special holiday dinner in every mess hall all around the world for the soldiers and their families, as is done on Thanksgiving and Christmas. He could give each soldier an extra week of leave this year. He could give each soldier a bonus. He could arrange a USO-style tour of performers to visit every post to give the troops some entertainment, instead of misusing the troops for his own entertainment. He could declare that this is the year that he would focus on improving veterans' access to health care instead of cutting 80,000 VA doctors, nurses, social workers, staff support and administrators and closing dozens of VA hospitals around the country.
Instead Donald Trump is spending all those tens of millions in one afternoon on one parade for himself. Where's DOGE when we need them?
And speaking of misusing our troops, Trump seizing control of the California National Guard and sending 4,000 Guard troops to Los Angeles to use against people protesting ICE treatment of immigrants is illegal and wrong,

...as is sending 700 U.S. Marines to war against their fellow Americans.

Those Guard members should be sent back home and the marines back to their base. And someone should tell King Donald that our U.S. Military is not a box of toy soldiers for him to play with and parade around as he pleases.

References:
https://apnews.com/article/veterans-affairs-cuts-doge-musk-trump-f587a6bc3db6a460e9c357592e165712

https://nurse.org/news/va-fires-nurses-doctors-trump-federal-cuts/

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My 2025 Commencement Speech

6/9/2025

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My 2025 Commencement Speech

The commencement ceremonies are mostly over, capping what for some students has been a turbulent year.

But graduates from sea to shining sea will nonetheless now be on their way to the next chapters of their lives,

...after having heard from keynote speakers many words of counsel, insight and encouragement to hopefully help them along their way.
And so the time has come for me to add, as I do every year, a few more hopefully helpful words of worldly wisdom and advice that might not have been covered by the keynote speakers.
And so here it is, my 2025 Commencement Speech:

1. If you sprinkle when you tinkle please be sweet and wipe the seat.

2. Remember that you don't always need to have the last word.

3. When adding eggs to a recipe, crack each egg into a separate bowl before adding it to the mix.
That way if you happen to get a rotten egg (and you'll know immediately if it's rotten) you won't lose the whole mixture.

4. If a bit of egg shell falls into your mix, the easiest way to scoop it out is with an egg shell.

5. If you ever intentionally bully, are mean to, or make fun of another person, trust me, some day you'll regret it. Unless you're a Donald Trump. Which I pray you aren't.

6. Just show up for work on time every day, follow instructions as you're told to, be dependable, don't cut corners, and don't cause any drama and you'll be considered an exemplary employee.

7. Don't gift people with a live animal,

...or a live plant.

8. If you're a fan of Magic Shell ice cream topping, it also works on fruit right from the refrigerator.

9. You can never overdo "Thank You," so say it a lot, even for the little things. Especially to the people you're closest to and might fall into taking for granted. But don't take them for granted - take notice of the little, ordinary everyday helpful things they do and always thank them.

10. And put a little sugar on your thank yous, as in: Thank you, you're so kind; Thank you, appreciate you; Thank you, that was so considerate of you, etc.

11. Cut up used balloons and use them for wrapping paper.

12. To cut down on plastic container use, use detergent sheets in your laundry instead of liquid detergent or pods. Believe me, these sheets work fine.

13. To avoid losing track of where you parked your car, after you've parked take a moment to be mindful: look around, pick out some landmarks: a tree, a row number, something nearby to look for. Say these reminders out loud before you leave.

14. Don't grab the conversation ball and refuse to pass it around. Be aware of how long you're talking, and cut your supremely interesting story short if need be.

15. Conversely, when someone else is speaking, don't launch a hostile take-over of the conversation.

16. In short, DON'T TALK TOO MUCH!

16. Being helpful feels good, so be helpful. But let others do for you, too, so they can feel good as well.

17. And now go out and pursue your destiny, whatever it may lead you.

Best wishes, class of 2025!

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The University Of Louisville In The Time Of The Trumpish Inquisition

6/6/2025

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...Continued from previous post:
During our weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, where Tom and I went to attend the celebration of life service for my college friend Jan,

...we spent some time visiting the University of Louisville, where years ago I worked as an archivist while Tom worked on his graduate degree (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/seeing-the-old-louisville-places-then-saying-a-goodbye).
Now, had I entered the campus a year ago I would not have been in the least taken aback to see this banner on a building:

But that was before colleges and universities across the country were being subjected to the Trumpish Inquisition,

...being carried out for him by his Grand Inquisitor of educational persecution, Linda McMahon.

McMahon has been using her position as Secretary of Education to bring heat on any institutions of higher learning suspected of having policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, which Donald Trump and his syndicate interpret as racial discrimination against white people.
To this purpose Linda McMahon has drawn up a list of 50 colleges and universities to be put under investigation for suspicion of practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Which is why it was for me so eye-popping to see the University of Louisville refusing to lay low, so to speak.
The University still has its Cultural and Equity Center,

...with the tough-looking UofL cardinal logo stuck right there on the building's sign like a guard sending a don't-mess-with-me message.

And there was the banner on the Pan-African Studies Department making sure that anyone who passed by would know that this University has a Pan-African Studies Department and isn’t afraid to show it.

Gottshalk Hall, a beautiful old building which houses classrooms and offices for the history department,

...owns up to the ugliness of its history.

All around the campus one sees artistic expressions of diversity,

...equity,

...and inclusion.

And all around the campus there are banners that could have implicit messages, if one were looking for them.
Messages of resistance,

...and defiance.

And one banner that evoked the anonymous quote "Be the change,"

...which is a degree or two of separation from Barack Obama's quote, "We are the change that we seek."
Finally, there there were a couple of trash cans around that, while they didn't necessarily seek to raise our consciousness to diversity, equity, or inclusion, did seek to raise our consciousness to all the garbage we make.

I salute and admire the University of Louisville, a public university that still openly represents its values for any campus visitor to see.
My prayer for U of L, and for all our American colleges and universities, is that they may stay from beneath the shadow of Trump's Inquisition, and may they never catch Linda McMahon's the evil eye.

Reference:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-universities-investigated-f89dc9ec2a98897577ed0a6c446fae7b

https://www.fox17online.com/news/national-news/gvsu-u-of-m-among-50-colleges-facing-federal-investigations-as-part-of-trumps-anti-dei-campaign

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Seeing The Old Louisville Places Then Saying A Goodbye

6/4/2025

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...Continued from yesterday:
Jan, my best friend from college,

...and an expert horsewoman,

...died last December a few weeks before Christmas when a freak accident caused her to be thrown from her horse (see post from https://www.ailantha.com/blog/good-bye-dear-friend).
Her family held her celebration of life service on Saturday, May 17, and this sad occasion was what brought us back to Louisville all these years later (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.www.ailantha.com/blog/our-return-to-louisville). Jan lived with her husband Jim in New Albany, Indiana, which was just across the river from Louisville and for all practical purposes a suburb of the city.
Jim with their much-loved dogs.

On Saturday morning we woke up to a view of the coppery morning light over the city,

...and since Jan's service wasn't until 4:30 pm, Tom and I had the day before us. We decided to spend it visiting some of the old places where we used to live, work, and go when we lived in Louisville 48 years ago.
But first, breakfast. The day before we had discovered that across the street from our hotel was what appeared to be a former warehouse renovated into a brunch eatery called Wild Eggs.

The decor was, not illogically, egg-themed.

The food was really good, especially the breakfast potatoes, which had a certain je ne sais quoi about them that made them crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside.

We topped off our eggs and potatoes by splitting the most decadently delicious cream cheese-topped cinnamon roll.

After finishing our sublime cinnamon roll we headed out from downtown,

...to the south end of town,

...to see if our old apartment complex on Utah Street was still there.
Turned out that it was. How it looks now:

How it looked back then (That's my sister and Tom in the courtyard):

And there was our old apartment: 3714 Utah Street, Apartment 2.

How it looked back then (that's me in my grandmother's coat):

I was standing in the courtyard snapping some pictures when a woman came out of one of the units with a pit bull on a leash. I called to her that I used to live here about 50 years ago and just wanted to see how the place looked now.
"Okay, that's cool," she called back then walked on with her dog.
I continued snapping and another woman came out of my old apartment followed by three small children. I likewise called over to her that I used to live in her apartment and just came back to see it again. She gave me what I thought was a glare and didn't answer. I thought mayhaps it was time to cut short my stroll down memory lane.
While I was walking back to the car several boys who looked about middle school aged came out of another unit and passed by me. I explained to them what I'd explained to the two other residents, that I used to live here.
"Must have changed a lot," one boy said as he walked by.
"Oh, yeah," I said.
Actually the apartments looked a lot better now than when we lived in them. Back then the siding was all stained and cracked and the exteriors appeared to be in a state of general disrepair.
Me in front of our apartment with Merhdad and Atal, a couple of Tom's friends from the University of Louisville grad school program who were over here from Iran studying engineering.

We then drove around around the block to Taylor Avenue to see if the A&P that I used to walk to was still there. We found the building, though it was no longer the A&P, but was now the PicPac.

We also passed what used to be a little neighborhood grocery store but was now a day care center.

Churchill Downs was about half a mile from our apartment, and we used to walk there sometimes and, as the public was free to enter, we'd meander around the track when there were no races going on.

We drove over just to see the place again.

I remember the first time I ever saw Churchill Downs I was shocked that it was not set majestically back upon rolling green acres, but rather plunked down in the middle of an urban neighborhood. The neighborhood surrounding Churchill Downs still looked pretty much the same as it did 48 years ago.

Our next stop was the University of Louisville where Tom got his masters degree in criminal justice and I worked as an archivist at the university Archives and Records Center.

We strolled around the still beautiful campus.

Tom in front of the Southern Police Institute where he used to have his classes.

Me in front of what used to be the entrance to the Archives and Records Center, which at that time was located in an old warehouse by the railroad tracks.

But that old building has since been renovated, and what was once the entrance to the Archive and Records Center is now the back entrance to the John Marston Houchens Building, which houses student services.

John M. Houchens taught electrical engineering and later became the university Registrar and was highly regarded and well-loved by both the students and his colleagues. I knew Mr. Houchens. After he retired from the university he was given an alcove in the Archives and Records Center where he would come every day meticulously dressed in a suit and tie to work on his papers.
When I first started working at the archives my 25-year-old self was intimidated by Mr. Houchens' presence, having been made aware of what an important distinguished person he was. But then one day I got up the nerve to go over to his desk - I don't remember why anymore, I think I might have had a question regarding the collection I was organizing and I thought he might know something about it, or something like that.
Rather than coming across as the honorable highbrow, Mr. Houchens was friendly, funny, interesting, and happy to chat even with a lowly young archivist such as myself. I found myself stopping daily at Mr. Houchens' desk for a chat and we became friends. He would invite Tom and me over to his lovely old home and we got to know his gracious wife Mariam, and we eventually struck up a friendship with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
John Marston Houchens was a good, kind, brilliant, decent man who left the world a better place.
Unlike another Louisvillian we know who doesn't have a building named after him on the University of Louisville Campus,

...even if he and his wife do have their own spot in the lower level of the campus library (See post from 11/30/2016 https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-grad-student-the-archivist-and-mitch-mcconnells-wife) .

Me in front of the Archives and Records Center, now located on the fourth floor of the library.

After our visit to UofL we returned to our hotel, and when it was time we left for the dénouement of our trip and the reason we'd come to Louisville.
Jan's celebration of life took place at the beautiful old First Unitarian Church in downtown.

The service was simple and heartfelt, with scripture readings and prayers, including St. Francis of Assisi's prayer for peace and a prayer once written by Jan. Jan's pastor, Reverend Alta Burnett, gave a homily on our soul's journeys. A guitarist sang a rendition of "Morning Has Broken" and we listened to the hauntingly beautiful song, "Fields of Gold."
Jan's husband Jim gave a eulogy and showed us a video of Jan riding her beloved horse Highlander on a forest trail and, just to bring us a smile, this video of Jan playing a "symphony" on a dandelion stem:

But the most tearfully heart-touching part of the service was a sharing of our memories, during which time a number of us stood in front of the gathering and recounted some of our happy, funny, fond memories of Jan.

There was a moment of silence for all of us to say our goodbyes to Jan, to bless her and set her spirit free. The service ended with a Prayer for Protection:
The light of God surrounds us;
The love of God enfolds us;
The power of God protects us;
The presence of God watches over us;
Wherever we are, God is.
Wherever you are, Jan, you'll always be alive in our memories and our hearts.

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Our Return To Louisville

6/1/2025

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Our Return To Louisville

When Tom and I were oh-so-happy newlyweds 48 years ago we lived in Louisville, Kentucky for a year and a half while Tom worked on his masters degree in criminal justice at the University of Louisville and I worked as an archivist at the University Archives and Records Center.
Here we are in front of our first apartment (cheap at $72 a month even for 1977),

...where we had the hot water heater in the kitchen along with a mini-stove,

...and three small rooms full of second hand furniture.

It had been about 45 years since we'd last been there when on Friday, May 16, we made the 5 hour drive from Columbus to Louisville.
We'd booked a room at the Cambria Hotel in downtown Louisville and were quite pleasantly surprised at how very nice the place was for its moderate price.

Louisville being the home of the Kentucky Derby, the charming lobby, which was actually on the second floor of the hotel, had a horse motif.

...as well as a nod to the bourbon and whiskey barrel-making industries that are also native to this part of the state.

On the first floor was the gym and a pool,

...and also a cafe,

...with an outdoor patio.

When we stepped out of the elevator on our floor we were treated to more photos of horses,

...and the hallway had an interesting shape and a pretty color scheme.

Our room,

...with a city view.

Our hotel was in a part of downtown known as Whiskey Row.
Now, back 48 years ago when we lived in Louisville there was no Whiskey Row that we knew of. Back then downtown Louisville was run down, the streets and old buildings empty, and going downtown could be a rather sketchy experience. That is, except for a stretch of riverfront known as The Belvedere that had been recently developed into a pleasant space where visitors could look out on the Ohio River and the bridges and the Indiana shoreline on the other side.
However now, to our surprise, downtown Louisville had been majorly renovated and brought to life since our days here, and many of the historic old buildings had been repurposed as restaurants, music bars, entertainment venues, art spaces, apartments, and offices.

Apparently the town has immersed itself in Kentucky's history as the world capital of the production of bourbon whiskey, which is made mostly in the distilleries around Louisville. And so now downtown Louisville is a tourist destination for those wanting to have the Kentucky bourbon experience.

We found the spotlessly clean streets of downtown Louisville alive with people out on this Friday night, people who were staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants, listening to the music, patronizing the businesses and, I expect, sampling Kentucky bourbon in the many establishments offering it.
After settling into our hotel Tom and I joined the crowds strolling Whiskey Row and taking in the downtown sights,

...passing on our way the new Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts - that is to say, new since the last time we were here.

(Okay, I looked it up. The Kentucky Center was built in 1983. I guess that makes it not so new). We also passed the likewise not-really-new-but-new-to-us KFC Yum! Center, the city's multi-purpose arena.

We decided to walk over to The Belvedere to see if it, too, had changed over the years.

We found that The Belvedere had also changed. Having gone in the opposite direction of the rest of downtown Louisville, The Belvedere, once a lively, built-up area, was now mostly an empty space.

However it still offered the same riverfront views of the bridges and of Indiana on the other side,

...and, in the opposite direction, a panorama of downtown.

We then walked back towards the hotel in search of somewhere along the way to find dinner. We passed a number of bourbon, beef, and barbecue places and most of them looked pretty crowded. However a couple of blocks from our hotel we came upon a promising-looking pizzeria called Bearnos,

...with a sports-themed dining room,

...and great pizza.

And over our dinner I pondered how much I would be enjoying this evening and our surprising rediscovery of Louisville, now so delightfully different from when we left it all those years ago, if not for the ache in my heart over reason for our return: We were here in Louisville to say our last goodbye to my old friend, Jan.

To be continued...

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Celebrating Tom's 75th

My 2025 Commencement Speech

Our Return To Louisville