Are You Dying For Soda?

New York City Mayor Bloomberg plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, mobile food carts, movie theaters and delis to fight obesity.

Michael M. Grynbaus reports, "The proposed ban would affect virtually the entire menu of popular sugary drinks found in delis, fast-food franchises and even sports arenas, from energy drinks to pre-sweetened iced teas. The sale of any cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces — about the size of a medium coffee, and smaller than a common soda bottle — would be prohibited under the first-in-the-nation plan, which could take effect as soon as next March."

 The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores. (Michael M. Grynbaum, "New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Sugary Drinks," The New York Times, May 30 2012)

A spokesman for the New York City Beverage Association, an arm of the soda industry’s national trade group, criticized the city’s proposal on Wednesday. The industry has clashed repeatedly with the city’s health department, saying it has unfairly singled out soda; industry groups have bought subway advertisements promoting their cause.

In New York City, where more than half of adults are obese or overweight, Dr. Thomas Farley, the health commissioner, blames sweetened drinks for up to half of the increase in city obesity rates over the last 30 years. About a third of New Yorkers drink one or more sugary drinks a day, according to the city. Dr. Farley said the city had seen higher obesity rates in neighborhoods where soda consumption was more common.

What the Heck?

The government wants to dictate to businesses what size portions of a product to sell? They also wish to discriminate and tell these businesses what products are allowed to be sold in larger portions? Isn't this proposed law tailored and specifically directed towards one group judged by outdated weight tables that categorize the "obese" people? It clearly discriminates -- private businesses and large or thirsty people lose money and convenience.

Try to understand this part of the proposal: At fast-food chains, where sodas are often dispersed at self-serve fountains, restaurants would be required to hand out cup sizes of 16 ounces or less, regardless of whether a customer opts for a diet drink. But free refills — and additional drink purchases — would be allowed. Duh, buy two 16 ounce drinks to skirt the law, right?      

Here is Bloomberg's answer:“Your argument, I guess, could be that it’s a little less convenient to have to carry two 16-ounce drinks to your seat in the movie theater rather than one 32 ounce.” I guess "sipping and sharing" a large drink with kids or a date just doesn't sit well with the mayor.

He also said he foresaw no adverse effect on local businesses, and he suggested that restaurants could simply charge more for smaller drinks if their sales were to drop. Charge the consumer more -- great!

Why not fill the cups with ice and very little soda and let businesses make whopping profits while making the pissed off, poor consumers lose even more weight? 

In recent years, soda has emerged as a battleground in efforts to counter obesity. Across the nation, some school districts have banned the sale of soda in schools, and some cities have banned the sale of soda in public buildings. I can understand these restrictions in public schools and public buildings, but in the private sector?  

I mean, what's next? Ban the Big Boy? Wipe out the Whopper? Slay the Super Size? Make us all order children's portions? I don't get it. You know if you're fat, and you know how you got that way. Just because someone bans the size of large portions will not change the minds or the eating habits of the chunky. Why not make those who want large sodas do three or four laps around Micky D's before taking their money? Or, why not make every customer who wants a large soda first climb on the scales and meet weight requirements proving he or she is not officially "obese"?

And speaking of food and large portions, how about the grocery stores? Let's rip all oversize food containers off the shelves and limit the number of "fatty" or "sugary" items a shopper can purchase in 24 hours.

That would work well, wouldn't it? And, while you're at it, mayor, cut out food stamps to all those fat-ass, lazy welfare people. We all know they're an obese bunch, right?

I think people are going to get their ounces no matter the law. Prohibit the "biggy" portion and inconvenience those who have a legitimate reason to buy the larger size. Dictate the portion of an approved product a business can sell with idiotic government controls. Put the inevitable rise in cost on all the consumers. Control the fat, disgusting piggies with some unenforceable law.

Hey... maybe a person who orders a large drink is sipping and drinking one large soda throughout the entire day. Maybe some of these people are in tremendous shape and are simply large individuals, requiring more liquid to hydrate (Ever watch NFL football?) Maybe others are buying a large container to serve many other people more economically. Maybe people don't want to eat at all, just to drink one big sugary drink. Maybe some are aspiring Santa Claus stand ins looking for a winter job.

Or, maybe, these soda pop gluttons are just dying to wrap their fat lips around a Double Gulp and order a BK Veggie Burger. Who is going to stop them from getting their wants? And who thinks this ban will actually work to curb obesity?

This kind of control makes me want to go to New York City after the mayor's ban takes place, drop into the nearest convenience store, buy a six pack of Colt 45 forties, and engage in a healthy, sudsy game of "Edward Forty Hands."  

  

Vandalism of Graves and Memorials: Who's To Blame

After reading reports of vandals damaging lights at the KIA-MIA Memorial at Tracy Park (again) and at Garrett Maloney's grave site in South Webster, I was angry and confused.

Angry? How could anyone desecrate a memorial to fallen heroes or a grave of a respected young man? It makes me sick to think the sanctity of such places is not taught, respected, and rigidly controlled. Is it because people today do not instill respect except in relation to their own families? I seriously doubt if any person would vandalize a memorial or a grave site of a close loved one.

But, what makes me furious is a growing attitude that hollowed ground and sacred ceremony do not deserve reverence by all. Think about how individuals and even cults breed lack of respect for institutions such as the United Stated Armed Forces.

Fred Phelps, Sr. and the members of Westboro Baptist Church picket funerals of American servicemen and desecrate the American flag while believing in this philosophy: "Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime."

The so-called Westboro "Christians" blame the military for allowing gays to serve and wave signs that read "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers." For their own reasons, they also picketed the funerals of  Micheal Jackson, Steve Jobs, heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio, and Christina Green, a 9-year-old victim of the 2011 Tucson shooting.

My blood boils over such disgraceful, heartless protests. While protesters have the freedom of speech, veterans say when saying goodbye to someone who died for that freedom, people should put those protests to rest. I wholly agree.

BUT, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the rights to protest at soldiers' funerals, reaffirming the protections in the U.S. Constitution. What price are we paying for allowing "hate speech" freedom to extend to those who would operate under the cloak of religion?

Exclusions of the First Amendment right include the following:

1. Incitement to Crime

Supreme Court rules: You cannot falsely yell "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater.

2. Fighting Words

Supreme Court rules: You cannot say "nigger" as an incitement to immediate violence or defamation.

3. Student Speech

Supreme Court rules: You cannot hold a banner reading "BONG HITS FOR JESUS" at a school-supervised event which was not on school grounds.

Yet, the highest court in the land says

 you can attend a funeral

for a fallen hero with signs that read:

"God Killed Your Son"

"You're Going To Hell"

"God Hates Jews"

"Semper Fi, Semper Fags"

"9-11 Gift From God"

"Thank God for IEDs"


Do these protesters incite crime at a funeral as much as the "Fire!" example incites crime in a crowded theater? Is "fag" as much a fighting word as "nigger"? (Please don't judge me for making a specific example - I hate both of these words.) Does the student sporting his immature "BONG" banner hurt the sanctity of Jesus and religion as much as the student of the Bible blaming God for killing an American son?


I know the Supreme Court decision doesn't mean the soldier's family must listen to the repugnant speech or view the extremist language on the picket signs. Thank God that 900 bikers from around the country are making sure they don't have to.The Patriot Guard Riders, many of them former veterans, protect funeral-goers from the hurtful speech by creating a "wall" of American flags and soaring patriotic music to shield families from the protest.


Yet, in a democracy, in their worst time of grief, soldiers' families must feel even more grief when protesters show up uninvited. Angel Vasquez, a Vietnam Marine veteran was alarmed by the Supreme Court's ruling. "Well, there's the right to get their "expletive" kicked," he said.

I tend to agree with Angel. And, maybe, just maybe... correct thinking Moms and Dads should have whipped a few young hate mongers' "expletives" before Angel and other vets get their chance.

Why the Parallel to Vandalism and Funeral Protests?

Although some police agencies hold onto the idea that such destruction is usually evidence of classic hate crime such as occult involvement, theft of objects for vintage collectors, or spiteful actions of revenge or protest, many experts believe most vandalism occurs, not out of spite or hatred, but rather simply because it can. So, let's see how "it can."

In some cases, these places have become havens for wild parties, complete with beer cans, drugs, fast food and condoms. The combination of the haunting appeal of an isolated graveyard and the risk-taking will of an impaired youth can lead to terrible, irreverent acts of vandalism. We all understand this, yet most of us assume we have instilled a sense of reverence, homage, and respect in our youth that would prevent them from desecrating these places. We cannot fathom such criminal behavior. These youth should never put themselves in such a position in the first place.

I got news for you optimists -- this sense of what must be sacred has not been taught or practiced by many modern American families. Let me remind you of my beliefs on respect: Many families have respect for their own biological units but show little concern for the rest of the "family of man." These folks would likely believe "letting Junior and Sis blow off a little bit of steam in a field of stones ain't no big deal." Somehow, people can exhibit anger and aggression in the midst of joy. Interesting twist? A lot of Americans call it "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll." Hollywood calls it "business as usual: no foul intended."

Watch how mobs of people celebrate winning a national sports title or a professional championship. Good, educated people join the mob mentality to start fires, overturn vehicles, loot and generally ignore the efforts of law enforcement to stop their criminal activities. And, all in the name of celebration? People raised with little respect for others mix their emotions at the drop of a hat.

Since vandalism tends to be a crime mainly committed by juveniles. I, like many others, suspect such destructive behaviors start at an early age because the people who vandalize are not learning how to have respect for others and for other people's property. In general I would say vandalism is the result of poor parenting since parents should be responsible for teaching their children respect -- and, not just a selfish respect for their own kin and possessions but a respect built from honor for the rights of all.


I think vandals are also basically angry people who think it is acceptable to take out their anger on other things. Dr. Jeffery Chase, a license clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, says many times people, especially children and adolescents, will use vandalism to vent.

Chase says, “It can be displacement — displacement in the technical sense is that [vandals] wish to do something against a more threatening object or individual, so they vent their anger on something safer.” Other people's property is one fairly "safe" alternative.

Social psychologists have found these young people are more likely to attribute their failure to external forces. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as the self-serving bias. Many of these youth have no problem attributing their success to personal characteristics, yet they blame outside variables for their failures. Researchers believe that blaming external factors for failures and disappointments helps protect self-esteem.


As a teacher, I have seen this self-serving bias time and again. Take a teen who gets a bad grade and refuses to take responsibility for his or her own inept performance. They immediately look for something else to blame. "I failed because the teacher included trick questions" or "The classroom was so hot that I couldn't concentrate" or "That stupid teacher just hates me" are examples of excuses a student might come up with to explain poor performance. These explanations lay the blame on outside forces rather than accepting personal responsibility.

In my opinion, we are giving youth too many models that represent opportunities to shirk responsibilities of common decency and respectful behaviors. These young people see the actions of Westboro Baptist Church and believe in unbridled rights of freedom of speech and expression. They think, "Why shouldn't I be allowed to hate what I wish and openly confront any sacred belief or desecrate any place I want to?"

Teens see the Supreme Court as an ally in their hateful actions such as vandalism. They think, "How can I possibly be wrong when I am exercising my freedom of expression? I live in America where the ACLU will back me up." The sad part of this reasoning is that, in part, they are right.

Today honoring one's community and country pretty much means "anything goes because my rights to express are more important than your rights to sanctity." What have we become? Soon, people will not have any opinion except the ideas being force fed by the liberal media, big business, and self-serving government. Can't you taste the vanilla already? We are becoming spineless individuals, afraid to honor our own beliefs.

So, parents, let Junior and Sis "do their own thing." Don't worry about things as stupid as taking your hat off during the National Anthem, showing respect and not taunting the opposition during a sports contest, and solemnly honoring the graves of the departed. Spray your graffiti on monuments and buildings. Smash some stupid public displays. And, tell the dead soldier's parents their son is in hell. You can do this because you live in America, the land of freedom and justice for all.

But, when you raise your children to be heathens and vandals, remember this: My grandfather, my father, my uncles, my brother, me, my sons, and a whole lot of deceased veterans are going to be part of an angel's legions. This particular angel's name is Angel Vasquez, and we each plan to mark off a little space of your ass to kick through the gates of hell. Oh, sorry, I mean "little space of your expletive."

It's Always Crowded Down At the End of Lonely Street

"About one in five Americans is lonely,

a gnawing emotional state

that is a patchwork of feeling unhappy,

stressed out, friendless and hostile."

-National Institute on Aging

For the past three decades John T. Cacioppo has studied human isolation and connection. In his recent book, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, coauthored with William Patrick, he arrives at a startling conclusion:

"Humans are inherently unselfish,

or at least they need to be for their health

and the perpetuation of their genes."

According to Cacioppo, we survive and prosper only because we are socially connected to each other. He contends the proof to this theory relies upon the existence of loneliness.

What is loneliness?

Psychosocial rehabilitation specialist Kendra Cherry says,

"While common definitions of loneliness

 describe it as a state of solitude or being alone,

loneliness is actually a state of mind."  

(Kendra Cherry, "Loneliness," About.com Guide, 2012)

Of course, we know loneliness can cause feelings of being empty and unwanted. People who feel unwanted crave human contact, but something in their state of mind makes it difficult for them to form connections. Psychologists believe loneliness is not necessarily about "being alone" in a physical sense. Instead, it is the perception of being alone and isolated that matters most. Perception refers to a person's mental organization and interpretation of sensory information

For example, think of how a college freshman or a soldier deployed to a foreign country feels lonely. Although both are surrounded by peers and other people, they may enter a lonely state of mind. Cacioppo believes the perception of loneliness is strongly connected to genetics and some other variables that may affect loneliness are physical isolation, moving to a new location, low self esteem, divorce, death of a loved one, or depression.

So, what do lonely people do?

* They tend to be more hostile.

* They tend to eat food with higher contents of sugar and fat.

* They have greater resistance to blood flow in their veins.

* They produce more cortisol, a stress-related hormone that also helps regulate the conversion of carbohydrates to energy.

* As they become older, 

(a) They develop impaired immunity.

(b) They get less restful sleep.

(c) They experience greater cognitive decline.

A Little Loneliness Can Be Good

Cacioppo believes the increased production of cortisol is part of the evolutionary story of loneliness.

"Much like the threat of physical pain, loneliness protects your social body. It lets you know when social connections start to fray, and causes the brain to go on alert for social threats," claims Cacioppo. ("Loneliness 'Can Kill You', Scientists Say," Health, March 5 2012) 

A primitive man who was alone was in constant fear of predators, which caused stress. Being socially connected was a means of survival for him and his genes. Loneliness is the signal that the wells of empathy and care around us are in danger of going dry.

Cacioppo had previously found evidence that suggests loneliness is partly inherited. He explains that there is sort of a "genetic thermostat" of loneliness that measures differently in different people. "You're not inheriting loneliness; you're inheriting how painful it feels to be alone," Cacioppo says.

Loneliness doesn't just make people feel unhappy; it actually makes them feel unsafe. Cacioppo surmises that the distress people feel is their body sending warning signals when people feel they are drifting away from the their group.


Too Much Loneliness Can Be Bad

Burt Uchino, a professor who led a research study at the Universities of Utah and North Carolina, found: "People who have no social life are fifty per cent more likely to die early than those who are well connected." The research showed that people with little social support have a mortality rate as high as alcoholics, while the impact of making friends is comparable to the effect of giving up smoking. These researchers analysed data from 148 studies over three decades and involving more than 300,000 people. ("Being Lonely 'Can Kill You', Research Shows," The Telegraph, September 14 2010)

The Need For Further "Loneliness" Understanding

John Cacioppo believes we still are in need of serious scientific research on the determinants of interpersonal attraction and satisfying, long-term relationships. As I read his articles, I found myself better understanding some concepts about loneliness and social contact that are very close to me. I often wonder how life seems to have gotten "more lonely in the crowd," and I wonder what the future holds in a society that devalues actual human contact. I felt I had to use some long quotes from Cacioppo today to help us all consider "all the lonely people."

"Through most of human history, life consisted of a set of reciprocal obligations to parents, to children, to other relatives, to the honor of the family and perhaps the village. During the 20th century, the importance of social bonds has been given little more weight than the importance of clean air and water.

"The decline of stable communities, along with the mechanization of life and death had introduced a sense of alienation. The traditional means of pair-bonding, guided in large part by family and societal considerations, gave way to the influences of juvenile fantasies and outward appearances.

"Walter Lippman warned us a century ago that "we have changed our environment more quickly than we have changed ourselves.'

"A. E. Houseman described a new kind of person, 'alone and afraid, in a world I never made.'"

Cacioppo continues to extol the need for study concerning interpersonal attraction and satisfying, long-term relationships.

"What is the evidence that such a science is needed? The divorce rate remains around 50%, and the conditions of social isolation are growing at an alarming rate. In 1990, 21 percent of U.S. households with children under 18 were headed by a single parent; by 2000, the proportion of single parent households had grown to 29 percent. There are now more than 27 million Americans living alone.

"According to the middle projections by the U.S. Census Bureau (1996), the number of people living alone will grow to almost 29 million by 2010 - more than a 30% increase since 1980. General Social Survey respondents in 2004 were three times more likely than respondents in 1985 to report having no one with whom to discuss important matters. The modal respondent reported three confidants in 1985, and no confidants in 2004.

"Although we like to think of ourselves as mythic individualists, we are fundamentally social organisms. We are born to the most prolonged period of abject dependency of any mammal. For the species to survive, human infants must instantly engage their parents in protective behavior, and the parents must care enough about their offspring to nurture and protect them.

"Even once grown we are not particularly splendid physical specimens. Other animals can run faster, see and smell better, and fight more effectively than we can. Our major evolutionary advantage is our brain and ability to communicate, remember, plan, and work together. Our survival depends on our collective abilities, not our individual might. Our very health and well being depend on our ability to form and maintain satisfying social connections with one another."

(John Cacioppo, Ph.D., "It's Time For a Science of Social Connection,"

Connections in Psychology Today, July 16 2010)

 

"If we can improve the compatibility

and health of couples,

children will be raised

in more nurturing

and stable families,

which in turn

will produce better schools,

neighborhoods, communities,

cities, and societies."

-Neil Clark Warren

Memorial Day: A Time for Commemoration, Not Celebration

I was listening to WLW radio on Saturday, and the talk show host was discussing the holiday of Memorial Day and extolling the need to thank all veterans, past and present, for their service to the country. I respect and appreciate the service of all people in the armed forces, but I thought that commemoration of Memorial Day had a special and significant purpose. I think many folks have lost sight of the reason Americans should observe the national holiday.

Memorial Day began after the Civil War, to honor the fallen. In 1868, General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, officially proclaimed Memorial Day as a day to place flowers on the graves of all soldiers, Union and Confederate, at Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all. It was originally known as Decoration Day and celebrated on May 30.

Memorial Day also began in the South after the Civil War. Freed slaves gathered at mass graves of Union Soldiers and reburied them in proper cemeteries. In the years that followed, they would have picnics in the cemetery and care for the grounds as a community. The men and women, still bearing their slave names, cared for the nameless soldiers that died for them in an area that was at best indifferent to both of them.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

After World War I, it became a day to honor those who died in all American wars. A 1971 act of Congress made Memorial Day a national holiday, to be celebrated on the last Monday of every May.

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

This editorial published in The Oklahoman on May 30, 1912, refers to those who died in the Civil War, but the message the anonymous writer expresses of honoring the dead and the hope for peace still rings true.

“Today a mighty nation pauses to put wreaths on the graves of soldiers. It is a day of thoughts that pertain to the bivouac of the dead.

Flags will be displayed at half mast; mourning will be in use; bells will toll.

Over on the hill where marble shafts mark the resting place of those who fell in the conflict where brother was arrayed against brother, flowers will be placed. The living will not forget the dead.
It is a day of sorrow. The older among us can realize the horrors which the day recalls. The younger generation cannot understand.

Today we should be reminded of peace. If the peace movement had been as strong in 1860 as it is today the nation would not have been plunged into civil strife. Memorial Day should impress upon us the horrors of war, it should make that impression so deep that the peace of the world will be assured.”

What may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, that act made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. In truth, many now see Memorial Day as National Cookout Day or The Official First Day of Summer.

As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."

On Memorial Day we need to stop and pay with sincere conviction our respects for those who died protecting and preserving the freedoms we enjoy, for we owe those honored dead more than we can ever repay. From the beginning, Memorial Day is a day for reflection and reconciliation, not a day for celebration.

As a grateful nation, we should make a solemn effort to decorate all the graves of our fallen heroes, the victims of all past American wars. Do we even consider the importance of this commemoration now? How many graves of our fallen do we in America leave dishonored by leaving their resting places forgotten and neglected? We should take Memorial Day to honor those who have gone before us, set a tradition and share it with our children. Traditions can inspire and inspiring patriotism is an American tradition that we should not break -- they can remind us to seek ever greater means of preserving peace.

Sergeant Ben Hartford said these words while delivering the Memorial Day address during an assembly at his old high school in 2012:

"America has recently found it hard to be somber, solemn and grateful. Once upon a time, we could muster more than a moment of silence. There are many cultures around the world where memorials play a big part of civic life. Central Asian countries have cemeteries that can be seen for miles because of all the colorful flags flying that can signify life accomplishments, family, tribe, religion and how death was met. In America, we shy away from cemeteries; perhaps we don't want to be reminded of the easily frayed this mortal coil can become. But cemeteries and remembering the dead can also teach us how strong this chain of life can be."

We have Veterans Day, an annual United States holiday observed on November 11. And, we also have Armed Forces Day, presently observed the third Saturday of May. Those days can serve to honor all veterans. Memorial Day has a definite, important purpose reserved for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

At the very least, this Memorial Day, we should honor our war dead by observing, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution that was passed on December 2000. This resolution asks this:

At 3 p.m. local time all Americans "voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of Remembrance and Respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.'”

Hopefully, this will help everyone remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.


To assist you in remembering on Memorial Day, here is "Taps."





A fitting end to your Memorial Remembrace -- "Amazing Grace"

Online Daily Times English Quiz

I was reading the May 28 edition of portsmouth-dailytimes.com today. I reread one sentence in the paper to be sure my eyes were correct. One of my pet peeve English usage errors caused me to pause and consider how to direct a response in my blog entry.

I read the rest of the paper and found some other rather disturbing errors. I wondered how many of you readers could spot the problems. So, I thought I would use text from the May 28 paper to construct a little English quiz.

As a retired English teacher, I, too, make embarrassing errors due to haste and oversight. I do not expect perfection from anyone, but a little usage review may prevent future stumbles. See what kind of error you think is contained in each example. My answers will follow.

1. Anchored at the museum with jaunts to nearby highlights like Shawnee State Uuniversity’s music labs and planetarium, Cirque d’Art, and other places.

(a.) spelling,  (b.) usage,  (c.) sentence fragment,  (d.) subject/verb agreement.

2. SmARTcamp is designed to bring young imaginations directly into play with at-hand elements of art, music, drama, and architecture all around them and, especially, to encourage their personal creative responses to it all.

(a.) parallel structure,  (b.) pronoun usage,  (c.) sentence structure,  (d.) dangling construction.

3. Donini thanked the public for there assistance and said anyone wishing to leave drug information for the Southern Ohio Drug Task Force, can contact the Sheriff’s Office drug line at 740-351-1094, the Portsmouth Police Dept. drug line at 740- 354-DRUG (3784), or email

(a) spelling,  (b) usage,  (c.) comma fault,  (d.) sentence structure.

4. Tyler will turn 16 on Aug. 1 and has already reserved a plane to take his official solo flight. There is a lot that I have to work on before then, but I feel ready now,” Stidham said.

(a) punctuation,  (b.) sentence structure,  (c.) subject/verb agreement,  (d.) vague pronoun usage.

5. The unidentified rental unit employee said they were somewhat puzzled by the cut locks.

(a.) punctuation,  (b.) spelling,  (c.) verb tense,  (d.) pronoun agreement.

6. On the television show “Storage Wars,” bolt cutters are used to open the storage units, sometimes exposing valuable items.

(a.) passive voice verb,  (b.) parallel structure,  (c.) sentence structure,  (d.) adjective/adverb usage.

7. The memorial ceremony usually includes and invocation and color guard, and brief comments by featured speakers.

(a.) subject/verb agreement,  (b.) usage,  (c.) sentence structure,  (d.) dangling construction.

8. Marietta—equipped with Wheelersburg alum Aaron Hopper, Valley graduate Zach Bukiewicz and recent West product Anthony Knittel—started defense of its title last night off with Whitworth (WA) College and the Pioneers are on the quest to make it back-to-back crowns.

(a.) verb usage and run-on sentence,  (b.) spelling,  (c.) pronoun agreement,  (d.) capitalization.

9. Each player has a different paths, different viewpoints and different perspectives heading into the double-elimination tournament.

(a.) sentence structure,  (b.) spelling,  (c.) pronoun/noun agreement,  (d.) adjective/adverb usage.

 10. As the team was on the bus ride Wednesday to Wisconsin, Hopper knows this is business is as usual but recognizes it’s a different year.

(a.) punctuation,  (b.) subject/verb agreement,  (c.) wordiness,  (d.) passive voice verb.

11. To participate in the prom, tickets are free and are available beginning May 28 at all branches of the Portsmouth Public Library.

(a.) dangling construction,  (b.) capitalization,  (c.) verb tense,  (d.) run-on sentence.

12. Books such as “World War Z” by Max Brooks, and comedy-horror movies such as “Dark Shadows,” “Shaun of the Dead,” and “Zombieland,” have herald the coming supernatural trend.

(a.) sentence fragment,  (b.)  capitalization,  (c.) pronoun agreement,  (d.) verb tense.
13. The teens participated in presentations informing them of the application process, scholarships, financial aide, housing, challenges of college life, the educational opportunities and many benefits of attending Shawnee State University and earning a college degree.

(a.) run-on sentence,  (b.) usage,  (c.) pronoun agreement,  (d.) dangling construction.

14. The Daily Times has been in business for more than 150 years serving the hard working citizens of area with a dedication to local news and information.

(a.) word omission,  (b.) sentence structure,  (c.) punctuation,  (d.) sentence fragment.

15. The Daily Times is the overwhelmingly dominant media property/brand in the area with TV stations in markets one to two hours away and very few local radio options.
(a.) adjective/adverb usage,  (b.) confusing idea/content,  (c.) capitalization,  (d.) verb tense.

Answers:

1. c  2. b  3. b  4. a  5. d  6. a  7. b  8. a  9. c  10. c  11. a  12. d  13. b  14. a  15. b

Ron Kovic: Considering "Memorial Day on Wheels"

"I am the living death
the memorial day on wheels
I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy
your John Wayne come home
your fourth of July firecracker
exploding in the grave"


-Ron Kovic

I have read Ron Kovic's best-selling autobiography Born of the Fourth of July and watched the movie of the same name many times. Kovic was a gung-ho patriot who was eager to answer his  country's call to arms. He served two tours of duty as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. In combat on January 20, 1968, he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

When he came back home, he was still a patriot, yet very hurt and offended by the hostility he experienced from the anti-war movement. Before long, his attitude about patriotism and the Vietnam War changed, and Kovic became a leading anti-war activist.

"Maybe instead of anybody getting up in Congress

and apologizing for the Vietnam War,

 they could simply hold a screening of this movie

on Capitol Hill and call it a day.

-Roger Ebert in his review of Born of the Fourth of July   

Kovic and My Feelings

Ron Kovic's life has made such an impression on me, a person who was drafted a low number 104 in 1969 and who entered college with a II-S deferment.

Later, in 1971, the government reclassified me I-A because I attended college part time. After passing the physical and readying myself to go to basic, I received yet another classification, and due to Nixon's policy of increased Vietnamization, I didn't have to report for duty.

Reading and viewing the life of Kovic, I feel the entire range of sentiment present during the Vietnam War, and I find myself reliving my own young life in that time when an unpopular war so divided an entire country.

Since I had many classmates and friends serve, I have always felt a hole concerning my lack of participation. That is to say, I feel guilty for not serving with other American youth my age during Vietnam.

What was my stance on the war as a young man? As far as politics, I did not really know how I felt about the war then because the conflict to me seemed pretty distant: I was busy with college classes, chasing girls, and working. Until I was classified I-A, I was just "flowing with" the simple plan of my life, and I kept very busy living the "college life" on the home front. When I received my greetings from the President, I actually felt both relief and nervous anticipation.

Information about Vietnam filtered into my small hometown through the nightly news, the college press, and talks with my friends who returned from the conflict. At Ohio University a huge anti-war movement was in full swing, so I was surrounded by talk of moratoriums and burning draft cards.   Of course, many of my friends had already been drafted and had served. After returning home, most wouldn't talk about their experiences in the war although I was shocked when one of my closest friends, a high school fullback and combat veteran, came home addicted to heroin and was forced to spend time in rehab.

My father and seven of my uncles had served in World War II.  And, my only brother and another uncle had served shortly after the close of that war. In fact, I was raised to be respectful of the military -- my family, church, cub scouts, and boy scouts had all reinforced that attitude. Yet, learning of my low draft number, my own father told me he did not want me to go to Vietnam. I did not really understand my allegiance to family or to my country then.

Ron Kovic's book brought many issues of my own life together. Unlike Kovic, I did not serve my country in Vietnam. But, like him, I found some values and "John Wayne hero" mentality challenged and severely shaken.

I saw people in my own community come home from the war in unrecognizable states. I remember watching Walter Cronkite tell the American people in his February 1968 news telecast: "It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate." And I heard that President Lyndon Johnson was reputed to have said when he saw Cronkite give that report, "I've lost middle America." Indeed, Johnson did not seek re-election.

"We have been too often disappointed by the optimism

of the American leaders both in Vietnam and Washington

to have faith any longer in the silver linings

 they find in the darkest clouds."

-Walter Cronkite

But, Kovic does not editorialize in Born on the Fourth of July. He relives his young American life: the innocence and the cruel reality are on full display. Through his autobiography, he puts the reader into the all-too-familiar situation of growing up with strong patriotic and family beliefs, giving service to those convictions he holds most dear, and then finding corruption and deceit in the governmental system endangering those it is meant to protect. Kovic is forced to question and face sacred, programmed concepts of heroism, patriotism, and the immorality of killing in war.

 Ron Kovic's Life


In Born on the Fourth of July, the reader gets to know Kovic as a child with patriotic dreams that blossom early in his mind and heart -- dreams that lead him to join the U.S. Marine Corps and then to the jungles, rice fields and beaches of Vietnam. Ron Kovic retells his childhood, high school years as a competitive wrestler, his dreams and hopes of becoming a great Marine.

Inspired by President John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" speech, Kovic joins the United States Marine Corps after high school in September 1964.

Kovic volunteers for his first tour of duty and is deployed to Vietnam in December 1965 as a member of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines H&S Company. He returns home on January 15, 1967 after a 13 month tour of duty, and was assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point, North Carolina. Several months later he volunteers to return to Vietnam a second time.

In October 1967, Kovic accidentally shoots and kills one of his Marines when a NVA unit ambushed him and his men near a village along the Cua Viet River. Kovic claims it was an accident and no one has ever disputed his claim.

On January 20, 1968, while leading an attack on a village just north of the Cua Viet River in the Demilitarized Zone, he is shot while leading his squad across an open area. He is shot first in the right foot, which blew out the back of his heel, then again through the right shoulder, suffering a collapsed lung and a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down. The first Marine that tried to save him is shot through the heart and killed, then a second Marine carries Kovic to safety through heavy enemy fire (Kovic learns years later that this second Marine was killed later that afternoon).


In a military hospital in the U.S., Kovac enters a military care system that is hopelessly overburdened. At one point, Kovic screams out for a suction pump that would drain a wound that might cost him his leg. Although he knew he would never have feeling in the leg, he wants to keep it all the same. Then, a distracted doctor absent-mindedly explains about equipment shortages and "budget cutbacks" in care for the wounded vets.

Kovic recalls the VA hospitals:

"The walls are almost as dirty as the floors and I cannot even see out of the window... I push the call button again and again. No one comes. I am lying in my own excrement and no one comes. I begin shouting and screaming..I have been screaming for almost an hour when one of the aides walks by."

Kovic recalls the American Legion:

"They (Kovic and another disabled vet named Ed) sat together watching the big crowd and listening to one speaker after another, including the town dignitaries; each one spoke very beautiful words about sacrifice and patriotism and God...but he kept thinking of all the things that had happened to him and now he wondered why he and Eddie hadn't even been given the chance to speak."

It took a couple of years for the damage of the war to spread to Kovic's mind and spirit. Back in civilian life, he is the hero of a Fourth of July parade, but there are peaceniks on the sidewalks, some of them giving him the finger. He feels more rage. But then his emotional tide turns one night in the backyard of his parents' home, when he gets drunk with a fellow veteran, and he finds they can talk about things nobody else really understands.

Kovic's life becomes a series of confusions: bar brawls, self-pity and angry confrontations with women he will never be able to make love with in the ordinary way. His parents love him but are frightened by his rage. Eventually it is suggested that he leave home.

Kovic travels to Mexico, where other crippled veterans have sought escape in booze and drugs and Mexican whorehouses. By the time Kovic hits bottom, he is a demoralized, spiteful man.

Afterward, the book shifts, first to Kovic's purifying confession of his sins to the parents of the boy he killed, and then to his transformation into an anti-war activist. This metamorphosis culminates in his speech before the 1980 Democratic National Convention.

Ron Kovic became one of the best known peace activists among the veterans of the war. He has been arrested for political protest twelve times.

On January 20, 2008, Kovic observed his 40th anniversary of having been shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War.

Kovic, in March 2005, said:

"The scar will always be there, a living reminder of that war, but it has also become something beautiful now, something of faith and hope and love. I have been given the opportunity to move through that dark night of the soul to a new shore, to gain an understanding, a knowledge, and entirely different vision. I now believe I have suffered for a reason and in many ways I have found that reason in my commitment to peace and nonviolence. My life has been a blessing in disguise, even with the pain and great difficulty that my physical disability continues to bring. It is a blessing to speak on behalf of peace, to be able to reach such a great number of people."

The Film


Born on the Fourth of July was made into a 1989 Academy Award-winning movie directed by Oliver Stone (also a veteran of Vietnam) with Tom Cruise playing Kovic.

Kovic received the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay on January 20, 1990, exactly twenty-two years to the day that he was shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. (Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone co-wrote the screenplay for Born on the Fourth of July).

I will never forget the life of Ron Kovik. I highly recommend the book and the movie. Even though the film has some raw, vulgar language, the history department and the English department of the high school where I taught (with the grace of parental permission slips) offered an after-school viewing during our study of history and literature related to the Vietnam War. I believe the movie made quite an impact on the students.

Each time something makes me remember the book, I think about a man's most basic and tragic physical loss and how it relates to Ron Kovic, once a strong, virile young man. Consider the loss on the observance of this Memorial Day. You may understand the line above: "I am the living death."

“I want a woman, Dad.
I want somebody to love me.
I wanna to be free again.
I wanna walk in the backyard on the grass.
 I wanna put my bare feet in the ocean.
I wanna run along the sand and feel it on my feet.
I wanna stand up in the shower with the hot water
streaming down my legs, in the morning...
I wanna explode, Dad.
I wanna get out of this fucking body I'm in.
I wanna be a man again...
I just wanna be a man again.”

Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July

This Memorial Day -- War Is Kind

Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind  

-Stephen Crane

"Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.

Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky

And the affrighted steed ran on alone,

Do not weep.

War is kind.

 

"Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom --
A field where a thousand corpses lie.

"Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.

Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,

Raged at his breast, gulped and died,

Do not weep.

War is kind.

 

"Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

"Mother whose heart hung humble as a button

On the bright splendid shroud of your son,

Do not weep.

War is kind."

Steven Crane

Steven Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.He was born in Newark, New Jersey, the 14th child (the eighth surviving child) of a Methodist minister and his wife.

Crane began writing at the age of four and had published several articles by the age of 16.

Crane studied at Lafayette College and Syracuse University. After his mother's death in 1890 - his father had died earlier - Crane left school and moved to New York in 1891. There, he began work as a reporter and writer for the Bachellor-Johnson newspaper syndicate.While supporting himself by his pen, he lived among the poor in the Bowery slums to research his first novel -- the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, which critics generally consider the first work of American literary Naturalism.

Crane won international acclaim for his 1895 Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote without any battle experience.

In The Red Badge of Courage, the main character both longs for the heroics of battle but ultimately fears it, demonstrating the dichotomy of courage and cowardice. He experiences the threat of death, misery and a loss of self.

From the beginning of Red Badge, Crane wished to show what it felt like to be in a war by writing "a psychological portrayal of fear." Conceiving his story from the point of view of a young private who is at first filled with boyish dreams of the glory of war and then quickly becomes disillusioned by the reality of war, Crane borrowed the private's surname, "Fleming", from his sister-in-law's maiden name.

He would later relate that the first paragraphs came to him with "every word in place, every comma, every period fixed." Working mostly nights, he wrote from around midnight until four or five in the morning. Because he could not afford a typewriter, he wrote carefully in ink on legal-sized paper, seldom crossing through or interlining a word. If he did change something, he would rewrite the whole page.

At the appearance of Red Badge in 1893, Crane was just twenty-one. His manuscript was turned down by the publishers, who considered its realism too "ugly." Crane had to print the book at his own expense, borrowing the money from his brother. In its inscription Crane warned that "it is inevitable that you be greatly shocked by this book but continue, please, with all possible courage to the end."

In England readers believed that the book was written by a veteran soldier - the text was so believable. Crane dismissed this theory by saying that he got his ideas from the football field.

In 1896, Crane accepted an offer to cover the Spanish-American War as a war correspondent.

As he waited in Jacksonville, Florida for passage to Cuba, he met Cora Taylor, the madam of a brothel, with whom he would have a lasting relationship.While en route to Cuba, Crane's ship sank off the coast of Florida, leaving him adrift for several days in a dinghy. His ordeal was later described in "The Open Boat."

During the final years of his life, he covered conflicts in Greece and lived in England, where he befriended writers such as Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells. Plagued by financial difficulties and ill health, Crane died of tuberculosis in a Black Forest sanatorium at the age of 28.

The Poem

“War is Kind” is the first poem of Stephen Crane’s second collection of poems, War is Kind and Other Lines, published in 1899, less than a year before he died. The poem is sometimes referred to by its first line, “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.”

The subject of the poem is war and its effects. In this way it echoes the stories and scenes from Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage.


Though Crane had been turned down because of poor health when he volunteered to enlist in the U.S. Navy, he saw his share of war and death as a journalist while covering conflicts in Greece, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Spain. He uses his experience to create realistic images of battle.




The title of the poem sets its satirical tone, as it is very difficult to imagine war being kind in any way.

The pattern of the poem features a direct address to three groups most tragically affected by death in war: lovers, children, and mothers. The speaker seems to be trying to comfort each group. But, after devoting a graphic stanza (black) that captures the realistic nature of a "glorious" death in battle, Crane affixes the cynical, ironic statement "War is kind."

In Greek tragedies the chorus comments, as a narrator might, on characters and events, frequently making moral judgements about them. Crane seems to employ this same technique of asides with the italicized (blue) stanzas.

The stanzas in italics address the reader of the poem or perhaps even the soldier, himself. The narrator explains that men fighting in war are destined to die, but there is some "unexplained glory" about their dying -- perhaps a larger virtue they are defending. Later, the narrator explains that soldiers must be made to understand that killing large groups of an enemy is honorable -- a just result of their "excellent" work.

The theme, of course, deals with the duality of war as it relates to glory and to loved ones. This poem displays the vast difference between fantasy -- the view of a patriotic, antiseptic war full of glory --and reality --the unimaginable horrors and death resulting from a savage conflict. It is absurd to think there is anything glorious about killing and death.

In this poem, Crane questions whether or not war is ever really worth anything to anybody. He clearly does not think so, considering the level of sarcasm he uses throughout the poem. Lines in the poem underscore the senselessness of war and also touch on Crane’s attitude towards the stupidity and insidiousness of the military: "Little souls" convinced of "the virtue of slaughter" and entering "the great kingdom of the battle god where a thousand corpses lie."


Crane's deterministic philosophy, a feature of naturalism, is evident in the graphic ways he represents the soldiers' deaths. As bullets, shrapnel, and poison gas do not discriminate among their victims, the warriors die alone, fearful and full of rage.

People, in general, often ignore or politically justify the human costs of war. Combat veterans who do speak of the experience usually decry war and its terrible carnage. Even when war seems necessary and justified, the toll of lives is excessive and exceedingly brutal: souls are ripped apart,  bodies are torn and hearts are shattered.

Realistic War: Looking Back In Literature


The purpose of war is killing, and the act of killing can create a twisted mindset of unspeakable proportions. Consider Achilles, the great Greek hero of the Trojan War, and his exploits in The Iliad.

When Achilles' friend Patroklos is killed, he enters a state of berserk rage that is eerily akin to that experienced by numerous soldiers in Vietnam: a state of merciless, murderous inhumanity, accompanied by delusions of invulnerability and immortality.

Deranged by grief, Achilles first tries to commit suicide. He then refuses food. When he returns to battle, he commits atrocities, something he has never done before. Even by the standards of The Iliad, his killing spree is grotesque. He cannot sleep or eat; he thinks only of killing: "what I really crave / is slaughter and blood and the choking groans of men."

Achilles slakes his bloodthirst by felling men, by filling the waters of the Scamander so full of bodies and gore that the river deity himself rises up from the depths in anger. It is "all day permanent red," to borrow the memorable title of one of ­Christopher Logue's ­poetic reimaginings of The Iliad. (Charlotte Higgins, "The Iliad and What It Can Still Tell Us About War," The Guardian, January 29 2010)

He cuts the throats of 12 Trojan captives, to serve as a death-sacrifice in honor of Patroklos. When his enemy Hektor begs for mercy, Achilles answers him with homicidal scorn:

"Hektor, I'll have no talk of pacts with you . . .
"As between men and lions there are none,
"No concord between wolves and sheep, but all
"Hold one another hateful through and through . . . ." (Iliad; 20; 308ff)

Boston psychiatrist Jonathan Shay has written a compassionate new book, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (Atheneum, 1994), after hearing many confessions of Vietnam veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Shay found veterans who had behaved in much the same way as Achilles. The ghastly mind-set that led to incidents like the My Lai massacre shows up here in a red glare of rage:

"I became a f-----g animal," a veteran confessed. "I started f-----g putting f-----g heads on poles. Leaving f-----g notes for the motherf-----s. Digging up f-----g graves. I didn't give a f--k any more .... They wanted a f-----g hero so I gave it to them. They wanted f-----g body count, so I gave them body count. I hope they're f-----g happy. But they don't have to live with it. I do."

Homer's gods, powerful and invulnerable, are likened in Shay's book to "Great Leaders in the Sky," a term of scorn used by ordinary soldiers to describe the braided and bemedaled colonels and generals who surveyed the battle from safe helicopters high aloft, or who sat in headquarters hundreds of miles away, issuing Olympian orders over the radio, sketching the war with grease pencils on Plexiglas maps in air-conditioned rooms.

A recent Defense Department survey has concluded that at least 250,000 Vietnam veterans manifest the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to a greater or lesser extent. Some 40 percent of all veterans from that war reported engaging in violent acts three or more times in the previous year. Between 10-25 percent of all males in prison are veterans. (Michael Browning, Achilles' Wrath And the Vietnam War,"The Seattle Times, May 25 2012)

In the end, Achilles recognizes death as “the great equalizer” that will make even him, the timeless warrior hero; equal to the lowliest Trojan soldiers he has killed. Achilles also realizes that all of his time and kleos (A Greek hero earns kleos, "renown" or "glory"" through accomplishing great deeds, often through his own death.) will inevitably be lost, and then Achilles begins to question whether the war is worth fighting for the Greeks.    

Stephen Crane

This Memorial Day


This Memorial Day 2012, let's remember our fallen heroes. But, let's also consider the inglorious nature of war. Thanks to classic pieces of literature such as "War Is Kind" and The Illiad, and thanks to gifted authors like Stephen Crane and Jonathan Shay, we may see the dark reality of enmity in armed conflict.

As we Americans celebrate Memorial Day and ALL it means, we must realize the flags we salute and the memorials we place are not symbols of glorious deeds but rather reminders of our country's never-ending dedication to peace and liberty. Our history is not free of those who have practiced the immorality of war. We can accept this and stop future incidents of depraved brutality fueled by money and political deception.

We should consider the price of war with a soldier's understanding. And, we must vow to never fight unless the cause is just and is the last resort to preserving our nation. This Memorial Day, as we mourn those lost in war, we must also consider the precious lives of our living sons and daughters. So, we need to pray for peace and an end to man's inhumanity against man. May we all have a clearer understanding of the true nature of war. May we help all those veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.



"War Is Kind"  Video by Meg Michelena



"War Is Kind" Sung by Jakob Dylan