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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

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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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?

My 2025 Commencement Speech

​My 2025 Commencement Speech

The University Of Louisville In The Time Of The Trumpish Inquisition

Seeing The Old Louisville Places Then Saying A Goodbye

Our Return To Louisville

​​Our Return To Louisville

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