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San Antonio Strollin'

10/14/2016

This past Wednesday, October 12, Tom and I flew into San Antonio, Texas for a stop-over visit on our way to a wedding in Austin. We'd never been to San Antonio - I'd never been to Texas - and as strolling the San Antonio River Walk was on my bucket list, this was the moment to make it happen.
Tom booked us a room in the Holiday Inn along the River Walk.

The hotel lobby was on the minimalist side,

...but very pretty,

...as was our room on the 11th floor,

...where we had super-comfy beds,

...and a view of the River Walk below

We arrived in San Antonio around noon - 1 pm Ohio time, which was the time that our brains and stomachs were still on - but by the time we'd deplaned, retrieved our baggage and rental car, and made our way downtown to the hotel, it was 1:30 pm - 2:30 Ohio time - and we were commensurately starving.
So first on the agenda was snagging some belated lunch.
We stepped out of the hotel lobby - which exits to the street, as opposed to the River Walk behind the hotel - looked up and down the street right and left, opted for a left turn and started down the sidewalk.

After a few blocks we came to a restaurant

...called the Blanco Cafe.

Though the windows were darkened so that we couldn't see inside, the sign on the door said "Open", so we figured we'd give it a try.
The Blanco Cafe turned out to be a cute Mexican place,

...all decked out for Halloween ,

....and the November 1st Mexican Holiday, The Day of the Dead.

The food was really good and the portions huge.

Tom had fajitas,

...and I had tacos.

After lunch we walked to one of the many River Walk entrances to be found around downtown San Antonio.

We strolled along the River Walk,

...until we came to a sign pointing us towards the Alamo.
Then we ascended back up to the sidewalk,

...where we were helped by one of the friendly, helpful city guides stationed around the city,

...who gave us a street map and showed us the way to the Alamo

The Alamo

Though located in the heart of the city, once inside its walls The Alamo felt like a lovely sanctuary.

...within which the history of the birth of Texas came alive for we visitors,

...through a guide's lecture,

...a film,

...displays,

...and the remains of the old mission fort itself.

     After our visit to the Alamo we returned to our hotel via the River Walk and, by now feeling the effects of having been up since 4:30 am Ohio time, flopped onto our comfy beds from which we didn't budge until hunger came knocking once more, around 7 pm.
      Since it was pretty late for dinner, we decided we'd like to go for something on the light side. We both recalled - or were pretty sure we recalled - driving by a little hot dog joint on our way to the hotel and on the same street, so we decided to seek out that place.
     We left the hotel and began walking in the direction towards which we remembered - or thought we remembered - passing the hot dog place.
     We walked and walked, then walked some more until we were well outside of the downtown tourist area and the environs were starting to look a mite down at the heel, but we walked on in search of our hot dog joint, even though by this time we were feeling that the hot dog joint was no longer necessary, we'd take any old joint.
     After about a half-hour's worth of walking we could see that we were almost at the freeway and were about to turn back when I looked down a side street and noticed a string of lights that appeared to be hung over a patio so I suggested we walk towards the lights in hopes that what I saw might turn out to be a restaurant.
     As it turned out the lights were indeed hung over an eating establishment, an lovely little place called Guillermo's

...that felt like a setting from a movie set in Texas or maybe Mexico.

...except that the house music was a sort of jazz-pop fusion which we found very pleasant,

...as was the food. I had a tasty ahi tuna salad topped with bacon (most of which I passed over to Tom, not being much of a baconphile myself,

...while Tom had a vegetable panini which he also liked,

...and a beer, which arrived ice cold in a ginormus goblet.

     After dinner, as we sat for a while basking in the atmosphere and the music before heading out on the long walk back to our hotel, we considered our good luck that we came across this restaurant before we hit the hot dog joint we'd originally set out to find.
     As we were leaving we told our server how much we liked the place and Tom mentioned to her that we were glad we found this place instead of the hot dog place we'd been were looking for.
Our server gave him a confused look. She'd never heard of any hot-dog place around there.
    To be continued...

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Missing Obama Already

10/12/2016

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One of my friends posted on Facebook a video made by film maker Spiros Lena called "Don't Go: A Tribute To Barack Obama". The video is a montage of some of Obama's memorable moments during his presidency set to the song "Don't Go" by Jon Tarifa. Here's the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtiyAFf9ix4

     Watching "Don't Go" reminded me, in the midst of all the insalubrious election drama of the moment, that our country still has at the helm a leader who is strong, steady, inspirational, amiable, empathetic, a paragon of dignity, worthy in his comportment of the world's respect.
   And at the same time cool.
   It reminded me of how much and why I've always loved and admired President Obama,

...this is my favorite Obama photo,

...and how proud I've always been that he was our President.
And how much I'm already missing him as our President.
And how much I'm already missing Michelle Obama, whom I've likewise always loved and admired, as our First Lady,

...brilliant, charming, elegant, beautiful, and a mother first and foremost.

Who could imagine a more inspiring first couple,

...or a more beautiful first family?

   I've felt a special pride of our President during my two trips to Spain over the past three years when people from other countries, upon learning I was American, would tell me how much they, too, liked and admired our President. Sometimes they'd ask me why he wasn't more popular in his own country, why Americans were so against his wish for health care for everyone, why his Congress would not work with him. It always made me a little sad to have to explain.
      Anyway, have a look at Spiros Lena's video.
     And have a couple of Kleenex on hand.

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My FiveThirtyEight Habit

10/10/2016

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     For a political junkie, I pay very little attention to the presidential election polls.
     I don't check them because I don't set much store by them.
   And if I did set much store by them I wouldn't have time to check them anyway because I'm too busy checking FiveThirtyEight.
     All you fellow FiveThirtyEight obsessives know hat I'm talking about, right?
   For those who don't know what I'm talking about, FiveThirtyEight is a website created by statistician Nate Silver that uses statistical analysis to make predictions of the likelihood of outcomes in various human endeavors, including sports, science, economics, cultural trends and, during election years, races for political offices. The name FiveThirtyEight comes from the number of votes in the Electoral College.
      This being a presidential election year, Nate Silver has since June been running his election forecast on FiveThirtyEight. He has a 24/7 operation going that is constantly analyzing all the presidential and senate polls - or rather, those polls that Mr. Silver considers "high quality polls", reputable polls with a good degree of credibility - and as the odds on the outcome of the election change he publishes the latest results.
The odds on the presidential and senate elections usually change three, four, or five times a day.
      For example, here's where Nat Silver's prediction on the presidential race stood today, October 10, at 11:02 am:

... and here's where his odds on the U.S. Senate race stood at that same time:

One can also check the most current odds state by state:

...and one can see the hue of each state turn from shades of red to blue and back again.

Mr. Silver also includes all kind of graphs, charts, and analyses, plotting the ups and downs of each party's progress:

...my favorite graph being the one I call "The Snake",

...which looks like a red and blue snakey thing whose colors move closer to or farther from the center line depending on the odds. According to this schematic, whichever color slithers across the line into the other color's space on November 8 will be the color of the candidate who wins the presidency.

     The thing is, I've become addicted to looking at FiveThirtyEight. I pull the site up all day long, constantly needing of my FiveThirtyEight fix. When my candidate loses points on the odds, when my snake color slithers dangerously close to the line or is pushed across by the other color, I go into an anxiety state; when my candidate looks good odds-wise I feel relief.
       So I need to keep checking all day long just to keep my equilibrium.
     Even worse, I keep my own spreadsheets next to the computer that I update as Nate Silver's odds change hour by hour:

...for the general election,

...for Ohio

...and for the Senate.

I can't stop myself, but please, no interventions. Come November 9 I'll have to go cold turkey anyway.

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Et Tu, New York Times?

10/8/2016

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     Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop the presses! Donald Trump said  vulgar things about women!
     How shocking is that?!
     Oh.   Okay, well, then, how about that Donald Trump used the "P" word?
     That he used the "F" word?
     How about that The New York Times used the "F" word?
     That's right. Right there in this morning's edition:

The redacting is mine. The Times printed the actual word. I also blacked out Mr. Trump's reference to the woman's pectorals.

     Now, granted, the newspaper was only accurately quoting Donald Trump,s words; still the question is there for the begging: did The Times actually mean to print those words? Or in their excitement over the material did they accidentally neglect to substitute a couple of asterisks for letters?
       Not, I guess, that it should really make all that much difference, right? I mean, we are well into the 21st Century and off-color language is fairly ubiquitous, especially the "F" word. The word is part of standard dialogue in books, movies, cable TV, pop music, and, for some folks, normal conversation. In truth I might have even uttered it a time or two myself.
      In fact, since coming into its own in the lexicon, the "F" word has become quite a versatile term with a variety of meanings that can be used in variety of circumstances, if most of them not particularly auspicious.
        And yet here's the thing about that word: Common as it is, versatile as it is, still it has its place.   For example, while most of us may find a few "F"'s tossed about in an action flick on a movie screen to be acceptable, hearing the word being used aloud in a public place would register as offensive to most of us.
       The same can be said of hearing a candidate for President of The United States using it to describe the sexual relations he planned on having - but was denied - with a married woman.
         But back to the question of reading that word in The New York Times.   I mean, I guess don't exactly feel offended by reading it in the most reputable, most respected, most highly regarded newspaper in the United States...just kind of, well, surprised, I guess. Like, you just don't expect to read the "F" word in the New York Times, even for the sake of accuracy.   I don't know.
        But then maybe the off-color writing is on the wall. Today's Columbus Dispatch also carried the story of Trump's gross remarks and behavior towards women, and while the Dispatch article worked around the "F" word, it did include the "B" word - which I guess being published in The Columbus Dispatch is the equivalent of the "F" word being published in The New York Times -

...also here redacted by me.

The New York Times and The Columbus Dispatch may be ready for those words but Ailantha is not.

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That Mexican Thing

10/5/2016

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   During last night's Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine I couldn't believe I actually heard Mike Pence say to Tim Kaine in response to Kaine's criticism of Donald Trump for belittling women, Mexicans and war hero John McCain, "Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again."
    Wait, what? thought I; "Whipped out that Mexican thing"?! Did Mike Pence really just say "whipped out that Mexican thing??!! Is he allowed to say that? Is it okay with everybody that he just said that?
     But there was no indication at the moment that it wasn't okay, and later during the post-debate analysis that I watched on NPR none of the commentators mentioned the "Mexican thing" remark. Apparently none of them found it unbelievably offensive, but rather talked more about how calm Mike Pence was, how his form, if not his substance, was better than Tim Kaine's and how he came across as more likable than Tim Kaine.
       So apparently it was okay that a candidate for Vice-President of the United States said "whipped out that Mexican thing" on a nationally televised debate. He could even come out as very likable afterwards.
     The following morning there was an article about the debate in The Columbus Dispatch that made no mention of Pence's "That Mexican Thing" remark. The online news editorial sites and opinion polls were declaring Pence the winner for his calm, pleasant demeanor in contrast to Kaine's agitated one.
       Kaine was being called rude for frequently interrupting Pence during the debate.
     No one called Pence rude. No one seemed to find his rudeness to Mexican Americans beyond appalling. No one seemed to wonder how he didn't lose the debate on the spot from that ignorant slur that dismissed a group of human beings as a thing, no matter the smooth, dulcet tone in which the slur was delivered.
       But by this afternoon there was a stirring among the online news sites. It turned out that the sting of Mike Pence's "That Mexican Thing" insult did not go unfelt by the people at whom it was carelessly aimed. Pence's remark, though given a pass initially by the mainstream media, drew immediate - and huge - outrage on social media and Twitter has been on fire since with criticism of Pence.
      And yet, as sometimes wonderfully happens, that which began as a slur has - already - been liberated of its original intent and within the last 24 hours "That Mexican Thing" has been snatched up by Mexican Americans as a slogan of pride and adopted as a hash tag to share on Twitter what it means to be of Mexican descent in this country:

#thatmexicanthing is my mom who immigrated to this country, pays her taxes and put two kids through college while managing a business

#ThatMexicanThing is being born in the US but still told by racists to "Go back to Mexico"

#ThatMexicanThing is my abuelita who moved to San Antonio without speaking English & slept in a barn while picking lettuce every summer.

#ThatMexicanThing being proud of my heritage, becoming a citizen, & showing up to vote against hate this November #ImWithHer

#ThatMexicanThing is when we vote... all 27.3 million eligible voters.

#ThatMexicanThing where my mom has worked as a housekeeper for 25 yrs because her dream is to see her family's dreams come true.

#ThatMexicanThing pays 12 billion in taxes. The orange thing pays ZERO

        And so, Mike Pence, though you accused Tim Kaine of whipping out That Mexican Thing,

it was in fact yourself who gave it life.

And you can bet yours that you haven't heard the last from it.

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Golden Girl

10/3/2016

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Here's me on October 2, my birthday.

I expect we've all had a memorable birthday or two along the way.
For me there was, for example, my 20th birthday,

...me, age 20, with a friend, Michel,

...when I was a student in Paris and Mme. Vidalenc, the woman in whose house I was renting a room, threw me a birthday party with chocolate whipped cream cake which I ate it even though I don't much like chocolate cake or real whipped cream - I only like the fake stuff from the can or Cool Whip - and champagne which I drank even though I didn't drink and afterwards I threw up all night long.
I also remember my 33nd birthday, the night before which I'd been up all most of the night with a crying new-born, a sick 2 -year-old and a sick 4-year old, and thinking I felt more like 83 than 33.

Me, circa my 33rd birthday.

On my 55th birthday I was on my way home from a visit with my daughter Claire who at that time was working in the Nicaraguan jungle.

Me on a bus - well, actually, it was a truck - in the city of Leon a few days before my 55th birthday.

I remember on the evening of that birthday floating in the pool of the Best Western hotel in Managua, looking up at the moon and thinking, Wow, here I am floating in a pool in Managua on my birthday looking up at the moon.
On my 62nd and 64th birthdays I was in Spain with Tom hiking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

Circa birthdays no. 62,

...and 64.

      Though off the top of my head I don’t remember either of those days in particular, I guess I could always look them up - as could anyone who wished - on my Camino blogs, “Tighten Your Boots” and “…And Lighten Your Pack”.
      And I expect this past birthday should also go into my basket of memorable birthdays, maybe not so much for what I did on that day as for the fact that the day marked the 65th rotation of the earth around the sun since my arrival on the planet, officially signifying in my society and culture my entrance into a new phase of life as well as bringing some changes in my legal and social status.
       However I did in fact end up spending my 65th birthday involved in something memorable: on that day I was, in a small way, part of the 2016 Presidential campaign.

I spent the day canvassing for Hillary Clinton.

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Re-Living The Old Days With Old Friends

10/1/2016

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Among the many delights to be found in the earthly garden known as Columbus, Ohio,

...among my favorites are The Spaghetti Warehouse downtown out on West Broad Street,

...and the 1960's Coffeehouse presented once a year at the King Avenue Methodist Church located in the neighborhood just north of downtown known as The Short North,

...by retired NPR Ohio Statehouse reporter, now full-time folksinger, Bill Cohen.

Last Friday night I got to savor both of these Columbus delights with Tom and some good old friends, Kevin and Barb.

We started with dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse,

...where we ordered two Lasagne Platters to split four ways, each platter consisting of a huge square of 15-layer lasagne, an Italian sausage, two big meatballs and two slices of garlic bread, more than enough for us all and molto yummy,

...and, as each platter came with one salad, we also ordered a couple of extra side salads,

...all accompanied by those incomparable Spaghetti Warehouse loaves of warm, soft, delicious bread with herb butter.

     The others each ordered a glass of red wine with their dinner. During the meal our sweet, friendly waitress brought over another glass of wine.
    "The bartender accidentally poured this extra glass of wine and we decided you all should have it to share!" she bubbled.
     I imagined the young waitress telling the bartender, "Oh, there's a table of the cutest old folks! Let me give the wine to them!"
       You get good at spotting when younger people are giving you the "Cute Old Person" treatment.

Not that I'm complaining about it!

Well satiated after our great dinner, we headed over to the basement of the King Avenue Methodist Church,

...which, though we arrived plenty early, was already filling up with folks, most of a certain age,

...some dressed in 60's style.

On display around the room were artifacts from the 1960's from Bill Cohen's personal collection.

Bill Cohen in college.

By the time the program began the room was packed.

Bill Cohen took us through the the social turbulence, cultural upheaval, and iconic moments of the 1960's year by year and event by event, in lecture,

with slides and videos,

... in the songs of the time,

...joined for several vocal duets by a local gospel singer,

...and for several flute duets by Ann Fisher, host of WOSU's public affairs talk show All Sides.

...and, at one point, bringing us back to the fashion of the time.

And we in the audience, once the children of the '60's, sang along, reminisced about those times over half a century ago, and felt the wonder of having been a part of it all.

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Forward>>

San Antonio Strollin'

Missing Obama Already

My FiveThirtyEight Habit

Et Tu, New York Times?

That Mexican Thing

Golden Girl

Re-Living The Old Days With Old Friends

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