 Yes, to quote the modern-day musical Jeremiah Randy Rainbow, who cries out - or rather sings out - like a voice in the wilderness, there is so much news flashing in one's eyes and zipping along the conduits to one's brain that sometimes one wishes there was such a thing as an SPF to prevent brain burn. But there's not, and so the only thing we can do is either block it all out and be happy as mushrooms growing in the dark, or take it all in and try to sort through, make some sense of, and decide what we think about things. To that end, here are a few of my brain stormings - by that I mean the storms going on in my brain - over a few of the big news events that have been flashing in all our eyes: 1. The Mueller Reports
 The above was Special Counsel Robert Mueller's synopsis which he gave in a brief public statement this past Wednesday of his team's investigation into whether Donald Trump committed a crime contiguous to Russia's interference in our 2016 elections. Robert Mueller is like Pythia, known as the Oracle of Delphi, who was the highest of priestesses in the ancient Greek world, purported to be filled with the spirit and wisdom of the gods in her dispensing of judgement and prophecy.  The only problem was that in general the Oracle's words were so enigmatic that nobody was one hundred percent sure what the she really meant, and so her statements could be interpreted however one wished to interpret them. Like Robert Mueller's statement the other day.  In fact, the whole Mueller Report is like the Bible, from which people can pick, choose, and interpret however they want to prove their own beliefs, whatever those beliefs might be. People claim as truth whatever they want to claim as truth and state that it's in the Bible. Or the Mueller Report. Even if they've never read the Bible. Or the Mueller Report.
 Impeach: To charge someone with doing something wrong, specifically a high government official, such as the U.S. president, a senator, or a federal judge. Fortunately, very few presidents have had the dishonor of being impeached. Impeach comes from the Latin impedicare, meaning "catch, entangle." - Vocabulary.com. The House Democrats keep on talking about impeaching Donald Trump. Now, it is the job and duty of the United States House of Representatives to oversee the actions of the President, thereby upholding our Constitution and protecting our democracy and the well-being of our country. So if Donald Trump, aka the President of the United States, has committed wrongdoing that calls for impeachment, the House must uphold its responsibility and bring formal charges against him for specific acts and lay these acts and charges out plainly and clearly to the public. If Donald Trump has committed an impeachable act or acts the members of the House should not sit back and wait to determine whether or not impeachment will score political points for their party,or worry that Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans will circle the wagons around Trump and kill the impeachment proceedings,  If McConnell and his minions did that the wrongdoing would be on them. But the fact that they just might do it is no reason for the members of the House not to do their duty and the right thing, which would be to write up articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. If his actions honestly justify impeachment. If, on the other hand, he has not committed offenses that unequivocally call for impeachment, then the Democrats should stop talking about impeachment and quit running the idea up the flagpole to see who salutes.
 In other words, either impeach or get off the soapbox.  3. The Abortion Bans In the past few months one conservative state after another has passed laws criminalizing abortion. These bans have ignited debate and dissension between pro-life and pro-choice groups, but I feel like there's a huge and critical point of agreement that's being totally ignored in the discussion and it's this: that in truth everybody is pro-life. Nobody is really pro-aborting a baby, and though we talk about women's bodies and women's right to choose, no woman who believed she had any other choice would choose an abortion. The problem is that sometimes women really don't have any other choice. And I think that if the mission of right-to-life groups in this country were really to end abortion they'd lobby for affordable health care, especially prenatal and maternal health care, as well as for other social safety nets to make sure that no woman or family ever has to fear for how they'll care for, feed, clothe, and educate a child. Because that fear is a factor that drives women to abortion. If the mission of pro-life groups were really to end abortion they'd lobby for sex education and free contraception - why not make it free, if that would be a way of preventing abortions? And if all babies are precious and have a right to be born, why would pro-life groups not work to make ours a society which truly does welcome and celebrate and care about every child born, totally judgement-free of the circumstances of the mother? And why would they not work to ease the circumstances of every expectant mother in our society, whatever those circumstances might be, so that no pregnant woman would ever fear moral censure or find herself so alone and in such desperate straits that she would have to consider an abortion? Why do right-to-life groups not lobby for women's civil and economic rights and hold men as the equally responsible parties that they are in every pregnancy? If saving the lives of the unborn is really the mission, why not address the underlying problems that cause women to have abortions? Because in truth simply making abortion illegal isn't the answer.  References:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/william-barr-robert-mueller-donald-trump-obstruction-of-justice-russia-investigation
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 It’s that time of year again, when commencement speakers, persons of great accomplishment and/or celebrity, may impart words of wisdom and encouragement to young graduates, and maybe even pay off their college loans for them.  Alas, I have not the means to pay off anyone’s college loans – though I wish I did, and that I could pay off everybody’s - and in my life I’ve accrued neither fortune nor fame, but, as I do every year, I’ll offer this year’s graduates a few words of advice - some previously dispensed, some new - gleaned from my many years kicking around this planet that, hopefully, may be of some worth to someone, some time, somewhere along the road. So Here it is, my 2019 commencement speech:
 2. And remember the quote used by motivational speakers everywhere, including my yoga teacher: "The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit."  3. When you are in social situations be sure to steer the conversation towards others: ask them about themselves before you jump in and start talking about yourself. And whatever you do, don't be a conversation hog who talks and talks and talks, making it impossible for anyone else to get a word in edgewise and boring them to death.  4. Don't talk about something you're going to do with a friend or friends in the presence of another friend or friends who isn't/aren't invited. Don't even do this when you're adults. Adults don't like being left out any more than kids do. 
 6. Don't sleep with anyone if accidentally getting pregnant by that person (or getting them pregnant) would wreak havoc on your life or the life of the person you're considering sleeping with. And remember, no matter what precautions you take, babies have a habit of doing whatever it takes to be born. 
 8. If you stay in a hotel, every morning leave a $5, $10, or $20 tip (however much you can afford) on the bed for the housekeepers. 9. When you exit the airport shuttle bus hand a tip of a few dollars to the driver. 10. If your restaurant order is wrong or bad, it's all right to ask the server to take it back or fix what's wrong, so long as you're super-polite to the server about it. 
 12. If you're invited to a potluck at someone's house leave what you brought with your host when you leave.  13. If you're hosting a pot luck and there are sufficient yummy left-overs it's gracious to invite your guests to take home a plate of food and/or dessert.
 15. And speaking of grilled cheese, Here's a recipe that was popular back when I lived in a college dorm room for making a grilled cheese sandwich with an iron: Heat your iron to medium heat. Make sure the steam is turned off and there's no water in the iron. Butter the bread slices. Place a couple of slices of cheese between the bread. Wrap the sandwich in aluminum foil. Place the foil-wrapped sandwich on your ironing board. Press the iron onto the sandwich, flip after a few minutes, then press the iron onto the other side. (Be careful not to burn your sandwich. You can unwrap and check the bread from time to time until you have the hang of the process). Unwrap the foil and if the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted, your grilled cheese is ready. 
 17. If you're ever feeling terribly down or depressed, try to look past the moment you're in; it's hard to do, but try. And turn to someone, get help, and remember that depression is a disease that can be treated with medication and therapy and the pain you feel is a symptom that's crying out for treatment. And remember that your life doesn't belong to you alone; it belongs to your friends, your family, your co-workers, everyone who loves and cherishes and depends upon you; your life belongs to your community and your country and this world that you were created for and placed in for the purpose of doing some good. Remember all that, no matter how badly you may be feeling at some moment in time. 18. If you have no idea what you want to do with your life or what career path you want to take, just pick something to do or something to pursue. It's better to be doing something productive than nothing. 19. Pick something to do with your life even if it's not your dream, and even if you don't yet know what your dream is. Often by choosing one path that path leads to another that eventually takes us to who or what we want to be in life. 20. Do something wonderful. People may imitate it (Albert Schweitzer).   Last week a lucky group of students dodged a bullet. They were saved from a bullet that was aimed at them because a generous, some would say heroic, man stood in front of them and took the bullet for them.
 How very fortunate for those several hundred young men who by chance attended a college that, their very year of graduation, happened to invite a commencement speaker who decided to pay off the loans of every graduating student of that class. But only the loans of those students in that class. How very unfortunate for the million upon millions of college graduates who happened not to have been members of that particular class in that particular school, the past, present, and future young people who have been and will be crushed by student debt, many of them too financially debilitated to move out of their parents’ houses for years, let alone get married, buy a house of their own, or start a family. However it’s not only student debt that’s economically crippling college graduates. It’s underemployment and low wages in the workplace. Forty-one percent of this year’s college graduates will enter the work force into jobs for which they are over-qualified and that pay hourly wages that may not cover the cost of independent living .let alone student loan payments.  True, unemployment in this country is currently low, but so are wages. But at least one small class of 2019 graduates won't have the ball and chain of student debt to drag along with them. Unlike the others.  Now, I am a believer of doing what one can, when one can, for whomever one can, and I know that no one person can save every star fish of the millions struggling on the beach.  Still, one good-hearted billionaire rescuing one class of college graduates by paying off their loans no more solves the student debt crisis in this country than one brave person saving a few people by stepping into the path of a gunman solves the problem of mass shootings in this country. Both problems need legislation, and - as has been pointed out in OpEd pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post (see references below) - far better than having a philanthropic billionaire occasionally giving a random gift of charity to some lucky few recipients would be for all the super rich members of our society, instead of paying nothing to almost nothing in taxes because of our loopholes-for-the-super-rich-laden tax laws, pay an equitable share in taxes that could then be used for government-subsidized tuition assistance to make an education affordable for all the young starfish from sea to shining sea.  References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/opinion/morehouse-college-debt.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/underemployment-for-recent-grads-worse-today-than-in-early-2000-s-180429491.html https://secure.marketwatch.com/story/why-robert-f-smiths-pledge-to-pay-off-morehouse-loans-is-a-turning-point-for-colleges-and-the-billionaires-that-support-them-2019-05-22?link=MW_latest_news https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7058019/Morehouse-College-students-loans-paid-billionaire-Robert-F-Smith-speak-out.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20190522/editorial-billionaires-gift-tackles-student-debt On Sunday morning, our last day in Honolulu, I found myself wide-awake at 6:30 am, so I went down to the lobby, where I found a number of other wide-awake folks, including Claire and Miguel.  Hence I procured an iced tea from the Java Cafe and joined them.  As soon as the remainder of our group were up we met at the Koko Cafe for what would be Tom's and my last breakfast there, at least on this trip.      After breakfast I wandered about the Hale Koa seeking out a few final shots of the place.      For the rest of the day everyone went about their respective activities, most opting for a beach day, though Miguel walked to a nearby theater in Waikiki to catch the Avengers movie on its opening weekend. Though he went to an early matinee the theater was packed with Avengers fans, with every seat filled.  Tom took one for the team and returned our rented Ford Explorer to the airport, taking a bus back, while Theresa and I decided to walk to the Ala Moana Center, a shopping mall about two miles from the Hale Koa and the largest mall in the Hawaiian Islands. Soon after we started out the clouds rolled in then the heavens opened with a rain shower. Fortunately in Waikiki one is never far from an ABC Store,  ...so before getting too wet we able to procure a couple of $1.99 rain ponchos, which kept us dry, if not stylish, for the rest of our walk to the Ala Moana Center. The Ala Moana Center, we learned, is a spacious, pretty indoor/outdoor mall,     
 Two, actually.  A middle school choir was singing ballads on a stage in the middle of the mall.  It was sweet watching and listening to their young voices because it brought back memories of all the choir concerts I used to go to years ago when Theresa was a member of the Columbus Children's Choir. Below, Theresa, about 18 years ago, hamming it up with some Choir members before a Christmas concert.  By the time we left the Ala Moana Center the rain had stopped and so we had a nice, sunny walk back to the Hale Koa,   ...where we later met up with the rest of the group for our final family dinner at the Koko Cafe.  The following morning. Monday April 29, Claire, Miguel, Tommy, Emily, and Theresa took a late-afternoon red-eye back to Chicago, which gave them time for one more Koko Cafe breakfast followed by half-a-day of beach and lounging-around time. Tom and I were back in the Lobby for our last time at 7:30 am,   
 ...where we ate breakfast at the Chow Mein Express.  It wasn't Koko Cafe fare, but it was actually a pretty good breakfast.  ...with a nice view.  Soon after we were on our way to our next destination from Hawaii, happily not yet Columbus, Ohio, but rather Los Angeles,  ...aka Hawaii Lite.   ...Continued from previous post: Below the lobby of the Hale Koa hotel,  ...there is a courtyard,  ...landscaped with beautiful tropical flora and fauna.      In the center of the courtyard there is a giant tree with some kind of vines or hanging roots that cascade downward from the branches.   I was fascinated by the tree, as I'm sure are most visitors to the Hale Koa, and I loved looking down at it from the lobby above.      ...especially at night when it was lit up with blue light.   It's a beautiful tree.  On Saturday morning most of the group - myself not included - left for a visit to Pearl Harbor, and when they returned on Saturday afternoon, though the sky was cloudy and overcast and the sea had turned from bright turquoise blue to grey-green,  ...we opted to spend the rest of the day at the beach.    That evening we walked into downtown Waikiki, 
  ...where the food was really good and exotic-looking.
 Ramen      After dinner we strolled around town,    ...and over to the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand next to the Royal Hawaiian Center.        Then we sat around for a while,  ...then walked around for a while,    ...soaking up the aura of Saturday night in Honolulu.   ...Continued from previous post: Friday afternoon, after we finished shopping and strolling around the market (see previous post),  ...Theresa and I - Tom had left to pick up the bikers, who'd finished their biking and hiking around Diamond Head - exited at the other end of Dukes Alley and found ourselves back on Kalakaua Avenue across from the Royal Hawaiian Center,   ...which, happily, happens to be next door to the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand (see post from 5/2/2019, "Hula Dancers And The Best Shave Ice On The Island").   After having spent the better part of the morning first walking around looking for the market then walking around the market, a nice, refreshing shave ice seemed the very thing.
 ...while I had a green tea and lychee with popping boba, which was indeed very refreshing. 
 Afterwards we went into the Royal Hawaiian Center mall next to the Grove, where there was a food court,  ...in which there was a bakery that displayed the most charming little pastries.   I swore that if I ever came back to Honolulu I would come back to this food court and snag myself one. But it was in the mall restroom where I discovered the most pleasantly surprising gem. A couple of years ago a member of my Panera Posse, the group of beautiful ladies with whom I meet every Wednesday morning for coffee, tea, and discussion,  ...anyway, one of the Posse members went on an educational tour of China. Among the photos of her trip that she shared with the Posse there was a picture of an item that so captured my imagination that for a while after seeing that photo of that item I had a strong desire to find and possess said item. The item - which my friend discovered in the bathroom of her hotel in Shanghai - is a jet-spray toilet called a Toto Washlet Performance Toilet (see post from 11/13/2014, "All I Want For Christmas Is A Toto Washlet"). This toilet had a remote control button that sent cleansing jet sprays of water upward. The press of another button controlled an upward-blowing air dryer. Hence there was no need for toilet paper. The Toto Washlet was invented in Japan, and while it is commonly found throughout that country, one would not expect to find such an amenity in any public restroom in the U.S. But when I entered the stall of the ladies' room at the Royal Hawaiian Center, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Toto Washlet Performance Toilet, 
 Was the Toto Washlet experience everything I imagined it would be? It was. Do I now wish I owned one? I do. Will I ever go out and buy one? Eh, probly not. Theresa and I then walked back to the Hale Koa,  ...to which the biker-hikers had returned, and were chilling in their hotel rooms, before we all headed back down down to the beach.    
 Then we headed back to the hotel by way of the botanical garden.  When dinner time rolled around we headed down to the Koko Cafe, where this night we were given our own dining room with a nice view of the beach and the sunset.  After dinner we walked down to the beach,  ...to join the crowd that had gathered to watch the Friday night fireworks.    Then we followed the crowd along the beach,  ...into downtown Waikiki,    ...that looked so pretty and alive on this Friday night.      ...Continued from previous post: On Friday morning some of our group went on a bike hike along the coast followed by a walking hike to the top of Diamond Head, pictured below,  ...while others headed directly for the beach. 
 ...which, along with the awesome dinner buffet, also offers an awesome breakfast buffet.           
 ...and a friendly chef.               I didn't try the coffee jello cubes, but I heard from those who did that they're great if you need a quick shot of caffeine. After breakfast Tom, Theresa and I walked down to the beach,  
 Then we headed back to the hotel, taking a stroll through the botanical garden along the way.   We next decided to walk into downtown Waikiki,    ...to look for a street market tucked away off the beaten path that Tom and I happened upon during our last visit to Honolulu (see post from 4/24/2017, "Busing Around Honolulu, Day Two). But now neither of us could remember where it was. We'd asked about the market at the hotel desk but the clerk pointed out an image on a city street map that appeared to be a recessed mall of upscale stores called the International Market. This, we knew, was not our market. We also asked a tour guide we met on our way into town but he, too, directed us to the International Market. We decided to try and find the place on our own by walking around the streets, 
  ...where we walked up the street,       ...and down the street,     ...but we had no luck. So we cut over to a parallel street, Kuhio Street, which we likewise wandered up and down,       ...with no luck until we were accosted by two hippie-looking young women who were trying to sell us something, a guided tour, or a time-share, or a tie-dyed tee shirt, none of which we wanted. However Tom asked them about the street market and they knew exactly what we wanted and where to find it. "Dukes Alley," one of the young women told us, pointing out the way, "a really small street about a block away, off to your left." We followed the girl's instructions and sure enough, there was a tiny street sign that we'd passed and re-passed without noticing, as the alley ran perpendicular between Kuhio and Kalakaua Streets. The market was tucked so far back into the alley that I can't figure out how we found it in the first place. But there it was,   ...in all its colorful glory,  
 ...on aloha shirts and dresses.  To be continued...
 ...Continued From Previous Post: The following day, Thursday, April 25, we were once again in the lobby of the Hale Koa before dawn,  ...joining the other early risers lined up at the Java Cafe,  ...to grab an early breakfast before heading out to our destinations for the day: The Maunawili Falls Trail and the Pupukea Beach tide pools. Then once again we had the chance to see Waikiki looking so pretty in the early morning light,  …as did Honolulu and the misty hills off in the distance.  The Maunawili Falls Trail was a half-hour drive from Honolulu through breath-taking landscapes.    The trail head began on a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood, so we parked the cars in the the cul-de-sac,  …and entered the trail, our plan being to walk two miles down to the Maunawili Falls, which was at the bottom of a valley and, according to our guidebook, one of the hidden gems of Oahu.           Eventually the trail became very steep and muddy and treacherous with roots.    Tom and I decided that, while we could most probably conquer the remainder of the trail if we had our hiking sticks, not having them we’d be wiser to leave the rest of the trail to the youngsters. So we turned back, 
 …and taking instead a walk through the neighborhood next to the trail,        As I walked around this neighborhood I could hardly imagine what it would be like to live here in the midst of these panoramic views and natural wonders. But in truth, even though I enjoyed seeing this beautiful spot, I wouldn’t want to live here. Way too quiet and isolated for me. As it turned out the rest of our hiking party ended up eventually aborting the mission before reaching the Maunawili Falls, concluding, as Tom and I had at an earlier point, that, although this trail had been advertised in the guide book as family-friendly, it was becoming too treacherous for this family.
 …stopping along the way in the town of Wahiawa for brunch at a little diner we found called Koa Pancakes,   
  ...and the omelettes and potatoes were good, too.  After brunch we continued driving for about another half hour until we reached the north shore,  …and Pupukea Beach,   …where the tide pools are.  Tide pools are shallow pools of sea water left behind on rocky shores at low tide,   ...in which one can find interesting fish, plants, and other forms of sea life.   While everyone else played in the tide pools,  ...I was perfectly happy to sit on the shore and watch our stuff and snap pictures.  
 ...where we arrived in time for dinner at the Koko Cafe (see previous post).  After dinner we walked down to the beach,    ...then we strolled around Waikiki,     ...making a stop at the ABC Store (see post from 4/30/2019, "The ABC Store And A Poke Bowl Picnic"), 
 ...to the Hale Koa.     ...Continued from previous post: On most nights during our stay at the Hale Koa we had dinner at our favorite of the hotel's several restaurants, the Koko Cafe, which looks out over the ocean,  ...could always quickly and easily accommodate all eleven of us, 
 ...and offers the best dinner buffet on the planet.                 Baked potato bar 
    And then there were the desserts,    ...and the ice cream sundae bar.   After dinner a walk was usually in order. On Wednesday night the youngsters walked into downtown Waikiki,  ...and afterwards they came back to hang for a while at the Barefoot Bar, the Hale Koa's beach-side bar.  Tom and I opted to walk along the beach,   ...where Diamond Head looked surreal in the light of the setting sun.   
 ...and walked to the Halekulani Hotel.    We went out to the hotel's patio bar to see if by chance the wonderful Hawaiian trio we'd hear play there on our last visit to Honolulu might still be there. As it turned out that same band was playing, but they were on break when we arrived. A few minutes after we were seated on the patio it began to rain. The wait staff immediately rushed out to the patio with dozens of umbrellas, enough to keep all the patrons dry.   After the rain stopped the Hawaiian trio returned to the stage,  ...and were soon joined by a wonderful hula dancer.  We stayed until the band finished their set, then we walked back,  ...to the Hale Koa.   ...Continued from yesterday: Wednesday afternoon, after our picnic lunch of poke bowls from the ABC Store (see yesterday's post), our group dispersed, some heading back to the Hale Koa to do some work or read in the lobby,  ...others, after having spent the morning snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, to now try out the snorkeling on the coral reefs off the beach behind the Hale Koa.   Those who tried it found the snorkeling on our hotel beach to be wonderful, maybe better than the snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, as the reefs here were deeper, which gave better views of the fish swimming below the surface of the water. My daughter Claire saw this strange fish, called a flying gurnard, at the Hale Koa reef.  While some relaxed and some snorkeled, a couple of us opted to walk to the main strip in downtown Waikiki, Kalakaua Avenue,     ...for a shave ice. Shave ice, an iconic Hawaiian refreshment, is a mountain of pulverized ice over which fruit-flavored syrups are poured and typically served in a flower pot-shaped cup. Shave ice is considered a must-eat while in Hawaii, as Tom and I discovered on a trip to Kauai in 2015.  We had learned that the best shave ice on the island could be found at a small stand on Kalakaua Avenue called Island Vintage Shave Ice.   It turned out that Island Vintage Shave Ice offered not only the usual variety of syrups, such as strawberry, pineapple and mango, but more exotic flavors as well, such as lilikoi, lychee mint, acai, green tea, and mochi, which is a sweetened rice paste. But this place takes shave ice to a new level with its specialty items,  ...such as the Tropical Island that I ordered,  ...which consisted of a heavy snowfall of the powdery ice over a mound of soft ice cream and mochi then syruped with mango and pineapple flavorings, topped with a zigzag of icing, and a "snow cap" of fresh pineapple,  ...and garnished with delicious little fruit juice-filled balls called popping boba,  ...and some marshmallowy white things that I could not identify but which were also delicious.  Next to the Island Vintage Shave Ice booth there is a popular public park called the Royal Grove or Royal Hawaiian Center, next to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel,   ...where we went to eat our shave ices, 
  Afterwards we walked back to the Hale Koa,   ...but a few hours later we returned to the Royal Hawaiian Center for the free hula class being given in the Royal Grove.     We opted to watch rather than participate,  ...though next time I intend to learn to hula.
To be continued... |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY 
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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