"When asked where I was from, I substituted upstate New York for Gloversville, a deft maneuver that allowed me to trade embarrassment for guilt, which, having been raised Catholic, I was used to." Richard Russo," "The Destiny Thief"
Richard RussoA product of WASP suburbia, embarrassment was to be avoided at all costs, while guilt seemed a wasted emotion. The one time I shop-lifted - two .45 records from Woolworth's in Ambler- my fear was that I'd be caught, not that I'd sinned. Farting in class, seen with your fly open, your dad asking if you'd had a BM in the presence of friends - all things to be avoided lest you'd be ribbed mercilessly.
Trump's refusal to act gracefully in defeat is a horrific embarrassment to the nation and a threat to the peaceful transfer of power - yet another hallmark of our system that the grifter is willing to jeopardize for his own self-interest.
The Doobie Brothers are 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, along with T. Rex, Nine Inch Nails, Whitney Houston, and Notorious B.I.G. One of my favorite Seventies bands, the Doobies, from San Jose, California, had such great hits as “Listen to the Music,” “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “Long Train Runnin’,” and my favorite, “China Grove.” Michael McDonald joining the group in 1976 extended the band’s career in the spotlight, and he has a great voice; but I like the early Doobie output the best. A few years ago, they started touring again, and 2020 marks their fiftieth anniversary.
The Hall of Fame honored musicians that we lost in 2020, including the immortal Little Richard, guitar genius Eddie Van Halen, balladeer John Prine, Ric Ocasek of the Cars, Tex/Mex rocker Trini Lopez, plus Helen Reddy (“I Am Woman”), Bill Withers (“Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine”), Southern rocker Charlie Daniels, and many more including Adam Schlesinger from one of my favorite bands, Fountains of Wayne.
Jeopardy host Alex Trebek succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Taping shows until near the very end, he left us seven weeks of new shows to enjoy. While once he could be quite arrogant to contestants who missed an easy question, or especially a clue about his native Canada, in recent years he mellowed and often seemed genuinely sorry for those who don’t know the answer to a “Double Jeopardy” or final question. Among his many strengths was pronouncing foreign names or phrases or imitating the author of the clue being quoted. When good buddy Clerk Metz was alive, afternoons I’d stop at his place in time to watch Jeopardy with him. Since then my reaction time to answer has slowed down, but I’m still good at history and sports questions. A recent “Final Jeopardy” I blanked out on had to do with word origins. The clue was “Hall erected to honor nine Greek deities” and the answer: museum.
Aggie and Perry BaileyEleanor Bailey wrote:
My Grandma had a broom, a dustpan and a linoleum floor. She had a wooden mop handle with a metal spring clamp that held a piece of an old blanket or a piece of towel. She had a galvanized mop bucket. That's what grandma had.
What she didn't have was an upright vacuum cleaner and a swifter wet-jet and a swifter dry-floor duster and various kinds of disposable dust cloths and several kinds of cleaners in spray containers.
She didn't have a plastic, made in a foreign country, purchased in a big-box-store, shop-vac that falls apart all by itself and dumps its contents down the basement stairs when you least expect it to happen.
She had a dust rag and when she cleaned windows and mirrors, she would make a mixture of vinegar and water, wipe that on the windows and dry with old newspapers.
In the outhouse she had a Sears and Roebuck catalog for the readers and the wipers. And, the outhouse was scrubbed out every week, using some of the wash water on laundry day.
And a smile for everyone, that's what Grandma had.
Janet Smith noted that her mom also had a mop with a wooden handle with the old towel attached, adding: “I thought we had become millionaires when the first sponge mop was used.”
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