Interconnections

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Rosie and I were having an uneventful ride home from Kansas City yesterday when a couple of events happened in quick succession near Seymour on Highway 60, a major and very busy four-lane highway that stretches across southern Missouri.  There are two stoplights, about a mile apart, along the highway at Seymour.    That happens to be Amish country, and it is not unusual to see Amish buggies being pulled by large Percheron horses along the highway's right-of-way.  It's not the safest of circumstances for anyone, but it is a place where two cultures merge, and everyone tries to be extra careful and respectful.

As I was driving along between the stoplights, I passed two young Amish boys around the age of twelve or so who were riding bareback on pair of large black horses, galloping down the right of way, going east like Rosie and me.   The Amish who travel the roadways in their carriages, sometimes with children sitting in the back facing the on-coming traffic, always appear dour and serious, but these lads had broad smiles and may have even been laughing, no doubt delighted that church was over for the morning and they were flush with exuberance for the day awaiting them.

I'm fairly certain that their names were Tom and Huck.

They were in a grand mood, and so were their horses.  I had been in a bored funk from driving several hours, but the enthusiasm radiating from those two youngsters brightened my mood considerably, and, I suspect, uplifted many of the others who drove past them on that glorious afternoon.

I stopped at the next light to fill my little Kia with gas and to take Rosie out for her constitutional.  After Rosie had done her business, I put her back in the car and headed into the Casey's to do mine.  As I got close to the door, a young man exiting the store pushed the door open, and then recognizing a grandpa when he saw one, held the door open for me.  But before I could reach the door and thank him for his courtesy, he stared toward the gas pumps and got an odd look on his face.  I followed his glance and noticed a large woman, who was struggling to walk with a cane in the headwind.  She was also heading for the door but a few feet further out than myself.

The woman was progressing slowly against the wind and toward the door.  The guy holding the door open looked perplexed as he debated how to handle the two old people heading his way from different directions.  He was in the center and obviously going to be in the way of someone.  But I was still feeling light-hearted from seeing the two Amish boys as they reminded the world of what joy was all about, and I reached out and grabbed the door from the impromptu doorman and told him that I would handle it.

The woman smiled at both of us as she reached the curb, and the other guy stepped out of the way and went to his car.  "Thank you," she said, standing at the curb but making no effort to step up onto it.  "Can I help you?"  I asked, though I was not sure of what I could do to help.  "No," she replied, "I just need to stand until the wobblies go away."   I have a history of falling and understood exactly what she was feeling.  

The woman regained her balance and gingerly put her right foot onto the 6-inch curb, and then slowly followed with her left.   But as he was trying to defeat the wobblies from atop the curb, she swayed, exactly the way I had swayed the previous week on the church steps at a family reunion and almost tumbled into oblivion.  As she was swaying she began leaning backward.  I was in the right place at the right time, and my right hand instinctively shot out and grasped her left hand and she regained her stability.

"Thank you," she said, as we were entering the store.  "I'm fifty years old and I'm beginning to lose it."

"I'm seventy-seven today," I told her, "and I've already lost it several times.  But we bounce back, don't we?"

The point of this tale is "interconnectedness."  While you may not believe in some magical being who sits on a cloud all day smoking a hookah pipe as She pulls the puppet strings of more than eight billion individual people on Planet Earth, I believe it is evident that all of our lives impact the lives of others and that we are connected as a species and as a life force.  We are ripples in a pond, or an ocean, threads in a fabric.  Each of us touches more lives in more ways than we can possibly imagine.

Two young Amish boys, Tom and Huck, saved a woman from grievous bodily harm yesterday, and neither she nor them have a clue as to how they connected.  And today that same woman is out in the world, upright and mobile, and through happenstance, or design, or example, has already done something that will impact the lives of others, and they, in turn, will impact still more.

Enjoy the world around you, and share it with others.

They Say it's My Birthday!

 

by Pa Rock

Old Fart

Another year - another birthday, and now I am finally as old as Ranger Bob  -  and I only feel a few years older than I did at this time last year!

It's been a good trip, and I think I may have broken a one-day store sales record at Costco, but Costco employees are good, well-treated and well-paid people, so I like sharing with them.  Also, Costco is one of the few major retailers to have actively maintained its DEI policies in spite of the dangerous bigots who are now running our country.

And here I am, a paragraph further along and that much older than when I began this post.  Time is a river, and the more of it you navigate, the more rapidly the water flows.

Rosie and I are fixing to leave Roeland Park and head back to our little place in the Ozarks.  We brought her bed along on this trip, so she should sleep comfortably for most of the 279 miles.  I probably will, too!

Enjoy my birthday - I know I will!

Adventures in Bed

 

by Pa Rock

Nocturnal Warrior

It's been awhile since I was last attacked in my sleep.  I did ride out a couple of earthquakes on my old iron bed during my last stay on the Japanese island of Okinawa more that a decade ago, but the last time I was physically assaulted while slumbering was in Arizona in around 2008 when I woke up tangled in the sheets and fighting like hell to get away from an angry scorpion.  The little bastard got me three times before I finally snuffed him.

Rosie and I are in Kansas City for a short visit.  Normally it is hard for me to get to sleep in a different environment, especially if I am tired - such as after a long drive - and last night was no exception.  I had laid in bed for more than an hour when I finally started to get drowsy.   I was just on the cusp of that magic moment of sleep arriving when my world suddenly exploded.  As I lay there in a strange bed, in a dark room, from literally out of nowhere a very surprised cat landed on my face.  I was, of course, equally surprised and knocked the late-night marauder to the floor.

Re-run, the family cat, is a stealthy creature who never goes outside, and consequently does all of his big game hunting darting from room to room and cleverly hiding during the hunts.  Unbeknownst to me or Rosie, the sneaky cat had secreted himself somewhere in the bedroom before I closed the door and turned off the lights.  But by the time he jumped on the bed and landed on my face, Re-run had apparently forgotten about me or misjudged where I was at on the bed, and he seemed every bit as surprised as me when I sat up and knocked him to the floor.

Rosie stayed quiet and apparently slept through all the excitement - or maybe she was too terrified to get involved.   I elected just to stay in bed, cover my head, and forget about the damned cat because I knew that if I got up, turned on the light, and began looking for furry marauder, Rosie would join in the free-for-all.  An hour or so later, just as sleep was about to arrive for a second time, I heard a soft mewing and could see the bad kitty sitting in front of the door asking to be let out.  I got up and obliged him, ending an evening that neither of us is likely to forget.

America Don't Need No Stinking Teslas!

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

I wanted to spend some time today talking about Tesla.

A couple of years ago my son and I pulled up behind a Tesla here in Kansas City.  I saw a few in a showroom in Hawaii, but the Tesla in Kansas City is the only one that I have ever seen in the wild.  I was somewhat impressed - but not nearly as impressed as the day the same son and I drove up behind a new Lamborghini on the streets of Los Angeles.

I am no longer impressed by Tesla - at all.   There is no way that I would ever channel my my monthly Social Security pittance into the pocket of the immigrant who is trying to take it away from me.

The past few days there has been a trifecta of power plays coming from the White House pushing people to buy Tesla automobiles as well as to purchase Tesla stock.  And yesterday there was also a not-so-subtle threat from the Attorney General warning people against protesting outside of Tesla dealerships and damaging vehicles, things she referred to as "domestic terrorism."

I don't remember a time when a President of Our United States has ever publicly endorsed a particular commercial product, yet a week ago there was Donald John Trump standing on the South Lawn of the White House along with his top campaign donor (and founder and CEO of Tesla), Elon Musk, filming an informercial for the car company using our White House as his backdrop.  Not only was the sales pitch tawdry, it was highly unethical.  If Trump wants to be a pitchman for Musk-mobiles, let him do it at Mar-a-Lago after he leaves office!  

But it gets worse - of course it gets worse.  Yesterday Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, a Trump appointee, appeared on a Fox News show, and, in what seemed like extraordinarily strong terms, urged the show's host - and the viewing public - to invest in Tesla stock.  Lutnick said (correctly) that the stock is cheap right now, and he encouraged people to load up on it.   

(Tesla stock is low for a reason, just as Tesla cars are experiencing low sales for a reason - and that reason is Elon Musk mucking about in the US government putting things like peoples' health insurance, retirements, and general financial stability at risk - or perhaps people have just not warmed to the idea of the United States of America being turned into a racist, homophobic, and uneducated hellhole.)

And now we have the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, another Trump appointee, warning Americans that they will be regarded as "domestic terrorists" for things like demonstrating outside of Tesla dealerships or, God forbid, actually damaging a car.  Ms. Bondi smiled as she said the punishment for such evil acts could be as much as twenty years in prison.

If we had a US Department of Justice or a Congress that actually worked for the people, they would be waist-deep into investigating these unethical political shenanigans by now.

There have been memes all over the internet reminding us that killing a couple of dozen young school children in their classrooms, in the United States of America, garners little more than "thoughts and prayers," but now standing outside of a car dealership or damaging a car can result in twenty years behind bars.  If it's a child, how sad - but if it's a Tesla, send in the Marines!

Children are our bridge to the future, the world yet to come - and a Tesla is just a car!  Get a grip Pam!  And you, too, Donnie and Howard.  The world is about a lot more than just you and your rich friends.  Human rights should have at least as much value as property rights.

For those who haven't figured it out yet, the Tesla demonstrations and boycotts have definitely hit a few raw nerves.  The price of the stock has tumbled - and it fell again after Lutnick's shameless promotion of the stock, and people are shying away from the growing stigma of owning a Tesla.

Don't buy Teslas - and don't buy Tesla stock!   Be better than that, America!

A Mighty Wind

 

by Pa Rock

McBlogger

Another day, another trip to McDonalds to bang out a blog.  The winds hit again yesterday, God almighty did they hit, but this time there were no twisters.  However, the internet  at the Poor Farm did, of course, go down.  I have called to make sure that the company was aware of the outage, and they were, and there is an estimated repair time of 7:00 p.m. today.  I am taking it all very calmly because I know people who are still without power from last Friday night's storms.  Their issues need to be addressed first.  My problem is a trivial inconvenience compared to being without power for nearly a week - and no relief in sight.

Yesterday I saw a utiility crew out next to Highway 63, our major thoroughfare, struggling to keep a power pole from falling down onto the highway.  Whatever compensation those people are making is undoubtedly inadequate.

I don't remember wind being much of an issue before Trump came into office.

Here is my mot recent senior moment:  I am thinking about possibly going to Kansas City this weekend - haven't been there since before Christmas.  In preparation for the trip which may or may not happen, I stopped at a gas station yesterday on my way to cardiac rehab and filled my car's gas tank.  Then, later in the day when I got home from rehab and sat down to the computer  and discovered the latest internet outage, I thought to myselt, hey Pa Rock, why not use this sudden "free time" to go to town and fill the gas tank.  So I did - and when the pump stopped at less than two dollars and I couldn't squeeze any more out of it, the poor pump got a good cussing..  To my credit, I apologized to the pump before getting back in the car and going home - where I obviously belonged!

I blame Trump for that, too!

Musk, the Next Generation

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of Elon Musk's thirteen (or is it fourteen?) official off-spring made an interesting claim this past week.  Vivian Jenna Wilson said that her estranged father uses in vitro fertilization (IVF) and gender-selection when creating new members of his family - and that he uses gender-selection for the purpose of creating boy babies.  

The process of gender-selection in IVF consists of identifying the gender of the embryos, and then using those of the preferred gender for the actual pregnancy.  (Enquiring minds would probably like to know what became of the embryos which were not selected by the picky billionaire.)

Musk and his first wife, Justine Wilson, had six children, the first of which was a baby boy named Nevada Alexander.  That infant passed away at 10-weeks of age due to Sudden Death Syndrome (SIDS).  After that very sad experience, the couple decided to use IVF for future pregnancies.   They became pregnant two more times:  first with a set of twins: Griffin and Xavier, and then with a set of triplets:   Kai, Saxon, and Damian.  All five were boys, lending some credence to Vivian's claim.

In 2022, Xavier Musk petitioned the court to have his name legally changed to Vivian Jenna Wilson and to have her gender officially recognized as female.   She explained in court documents that she no longer wanted to be related to her biological father "in any way, shape, or form."  

Musk, for his part, claims to have a good relationship with all of his other children and blames Vivian pulling away from him on the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by "neo-Marxists."  Musk said of his situation with Vivian, "Can't win them all."

Musk went on to father seven or eight more children.  He and the singer, Grimes, had a son in 2020 whom they named "X AD A-Xii" who is more commonly referred to as "X."  (To her credit, Grimes seems to be very supportive of Vivian.)

The next year Musk had three more children:  a set of twins, a boy named Strider and a girl named Azure with Shivon Zilis, an executive with Musk's Neuralink company.  Shortly after that he had another child, via surrogacy, with Grimes, a girl who was named Exa Dark Siderael.

In 2022 Musk and Grimes had their third child, a boy named Techno Mechanicus who goes by "Tau."

Two years later Musk and Shivon Zilis had a daughter whom they named Arcadia. A year after that, in February of 2025, Musk and Zilis had their fourth child together (and luck number 13 for Musk),  Seldon Lycurgus.

But, little Seldon may not be number 13 after all.  A woman named Ashley St. Clair, has recently posted on "X" that she and Elon had a child together last September.  She said they kept the birth secret to protect the child's privacy, but she came forward because tabloids were preparing to break the story.  That child's name and gender have yet to be made public.

So, jumping back to the claim made by Vivian Wilson that her father, Elon Musk, has a preference for boy babies:  it looks as though he has fathered at least 10 boys and 3 girls by three women and possibly another child, gender kept private, by a fourth woman.  

That should be fodder for some good Christian fundamentalist discourse.

It's a wonder he has time to run the government!

Shattered Lives

 

by Pa Rock

Kibitzer 

Our area of the Ozarks suffered massive winds all day last Friday, and several tornadoes that evening.  My little place suffered no physical damage, and for that I am grateful, but many of my friends and neighbors were not so lucky.

My only loss was the wifi connection at my house which went out just before daylight on Saturday morning.   I know that because my bedside alarm, which is controlled by Alexa, went off at its regular 5:15 a.m. time that day, but then when I asked Alexa for the morning news update a few minutes later, she was no longer connected to wifi.  It stayed off for two full days, coming back on Monday morning.  

Not being connected to the rest of thr world through wifi is damned inconvenient.   Something which I had not even heard of thirty years ago is now so central to my life that I felt lost and helpless without it.  My routines were upended.  My alarms and news updates were gone, so was the ability to surf the internet and type the daily blog updates.  There was no music during the day, nor any television to fall asleep in front of in the evenings.  I was shocked at how dependent I have become on wifi.

Not having internet service had wrecked my life, or so I thought until I got out and about yesterday and started hearing from others - those who had suffered real hardships.  I talked to people with damaged homes, people who knew others who had lost their homes entirely, people whose electrical service was down and they had no idea when it would be restored, some whose yards had been stripped of trees and outbuildings, and many who were obviously still shell-shocked at the violent destruction which had suddenly upended their lives.

There were stories of fear and anxiety and desperation, of freezers filled with spoiled meat, of uprooted trees blocking roads and driveways, of downed power lines, of keepsakes which had blown away, of shattered lives. 

It will be awhile before things get anywhere near back to normal in this area.

My internet outage wasn't even worthy of a mention, so I kept it to myself.

No More Kings - Or - Game Over?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I favor living in a society with enough structure to keep people safe.  I am not a fan of mayhem and chaos, and, at the same time, I am certainly opposed to iron-fisted authoritarianism.  When it comes to governance, give me the basics:  a constitution which outlines our rights and privileges as citizens, along with a mechanism for creating and enforcing laws to keep us safe in accordance with the constitution.

(I also support full suffrage and representation for all citizens including those living in Washington, DC, and United States Territories.)

Constitutional Democracy is a simple process, one that has served our nation well for nearly a quarter of a millennium.  But now our entire system of governance appears to be at risk as our executive leader, backed by a compliant Congress, seems focused on carrying out a radical agenda without the approval of the third branch of government as outlined in the US Constitution, the courts - and failure to abide by the rules of our government, as set forth in the Constitution, is a mortal threat to American democracy and our way of life.

A person living in the United States who has been issued a "Green Card" has the same rights and responsibilities as a US citizen,  yet over the past few weeks there have been several high-profile cases in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) agents have forcibly detained and imprisoned Green Card holders without providing them their constitutional right to due process.

The best known of these cases is that of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City who had helped to lead the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last spring.  Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent was seized and removed from his home in New York in the middle of the night on March 8th by ICE agents.   At the time of his removal no charges were filed.  When his wife mentioned that he was a Green Card holder, she was told that it was being revoked.  The Department of Homeland Security said later that Khalil had been removed because he had led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.

Khalil was removed from New York to a detention facility in New Jersey, and soon after that to one in Louisiana, moves some suspected were to keep him from quickly retaining legal counsel.

Fabian Schmidt has been a US Green Card holder since 2008.   He is a German citizen who lives in New Hampshire and works as an electrical engineer.   Schmidt was picked up by ICE as he reentered the country after a visit to Europe, and although ICE was being cagey regarding the reason for his arrest, it appears as though it might be related to an incident where he was found with marijuana in his car several years ago - a misdemeanor, but the family says there are no current charges - even by ICE.  His mother told reporters that her sone had been "stripped naked" and "violently interrogated" by ICE agents upon his arrest.  When reporters tried to learn more from ICE, they were put on the information merry-go-round and referred to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - and a spokesman for that agency said the arrest might have to do with drug charges.  But again, no charges seem to have been filed.

Rasha Awawieh, a 34-year-od doctor (kidney specialist) who is based in Rhode Island and holds a valid US Visa, was deported to Lebanon by Customs and Border officials over the weekend despite a court order prohibiting them from doing so.  And now the White House has also apparently chosen to ignore an order from a court that two planeloads of ICE prisoners headed to future confinement in El Salvador be returned to the US until their fate can be adjudicated in US courts.

The Trump administration is currently saying that they are not violating court orders, although press reports strongly suggest otherwise.

Some of this is likely to begin landing before the Supreme Court very soon.  When that happens, and when a Supreme Court decision is ignored or defied by the Trump administration - an Andrew Jackson moment - we will have a true constitutional crisis on our hands and democracy will be in danger of being snuffed out by rich demagogues who care only for themselves, their personal wealth, and organizing the world to fit their prejudices.

It will be "game over" as far as our centuries-old democracy is concerned.

There, that's my cheery thought for the week.

No more kings!

Sreaves Reunion 2025 Highlights.

 

by Cousin Pa Rock

(Note:  Still no internet service due to the storms.  This is another McBlog from the local Mickey D's.)

A reunion of descendants of Daniel "Dan" Alexander Sreaves and Nancy Jane "Siss" (Roark) Sreaves was held this past Friday, March 14th, at the Swars Prairie Baptist Church in rural Newton County, Missouri, not far from where Dan and Siss raised their seven children.  Siss had been born in that area in 1889, and Dan, who was born in Madison County, Arkansas, in 1888, arrived as a young adolescent in a covered wagon with his family in 1901.

Six of the Sreaves children went on to have children of their own, and all those families lived close by in the two-county area except on outlier family who were in the Kansas City area most of the time that the cousins were growing up.  Siss liked to cook, and it was a common practice for the various kids and grandkids to gather at their home on Sunday afternoons and holidays for large family dinners and social visits that would often last until late in the day.  As a result, the cousins all knew each other well, and even the two from Kansas City were able to be around enough so that they were also closely connected to the group.

The Sreaves cousins numbered twenty-four at one time.  There were twelve with the surname Sreaves (from two families), eight who were named Macy (from two families), two whose last name was Dobbs, and two with the surname of Marble.  Of that big group of twenty-four grandchildren of Dan and Siss, ten have now passed on, including three in the last year alone, and of the fourteen who are left, seven were able to make it to the reunion along with one great-granddaughter of Dan and Siss and one great-great-granddaughter.

Though the group who attended was small, the chatter and camaraderie seemed to go remarkably well, with everyone encountering someone they hadn't seen in years.  There was plenty of reminiscing and a great deal of catching-up.  Cousin Joyce came the farthest to be there - from her home in Tucson, Arizona - and Pa Rock probably clocked in second with his four-hour drive from the Poor Farm in West Plains.  

I had a particularly good visit with Cousin Danny Joe, someone I had not been around in many years.  (Our mothers were sisters and our fathers were first-cousins, making Danny and I first-cousins on the Sreaves side of the family, and second-cousins on the Macy side.). Danny Joe is now the eldest of the Sreaves cousins, and I place second by two days.  Cousins Nedolyn and Joyce, who are  a little over two months younger than Danny and I, place third and fourth in seniority, respectively.with Nedolyn being one day older than Joyce.  (1948 was a big year for Sreaves' grandbabies!)   The "kids" at the reunion were my sister, Abigail, Cousin Brenda, and Cousin Wallace "Wally." 

I had spent the previous night in Bentonville (Sam Waltonville), Arkansas, where I had dinner and a nice visit with Abigail and Cousin Joyce, and also had the opportunity, while at dinner, to see and briefly visit with Abigail's oldest son (and one of my two favorite nephews), Justin Smith and his wife Lisa and their son, Graham.  

I left Bentonville early in the morning because the traffic there is always awful, and  made a couple of necessary stops in Neosho, Missouri, the place where I was born and once lived and worked, and then headed out to the church where the reunion was being held.  I arrived at 11:00 a.m., a tad too early for the reunion which was to begin at 1:00 p.m.  My plan was to spend most of that extra time walking through the large church cemetery where several generations of Sreaves' family members are buried, which I ultimately did do. My arrival at the church and cemetery, however, was accompanied by abnormally high winds that blew across much of Missouri and Arkansas and were most unwelcome.  The winds were blowing so hard that it was difficult to even open the car door - but I prevailed and made it out to the burying ground where I stumbled along the rows trying to hold my hat on with one hand, and my pants up with the other.   It was a scene worthy of a Benny Hill skit!

The wind was a defining event of the reunion.  There was also a scattering of rain.   The church had been reserved for four hours, but I left at about the two-hour mark realizing that my four-hour drive across half of southern Missouri was likely to be difficult in the wind and rain.  That proved to be a serious underestimation of the situation.  While driving home not only did the continuing winds push my little car and the huge trucks around on the busy interstate highway, but I also had to drive through three or four torrential downpours where it was difficult to even see the road, much less stay on it!  Benny Hill or the guys from Monty Python could have done a lot with that situation, too.

But, I made it home, basically unscathed, and brought many good memories of a day with the cousins with me.  We all seemed to realize that there won't be many more, if any, get-togethers for our group.  Seeing them once again was worth the challenges of the drive through the awful weather.

It was a very nice visit.  Thank you, Abigail, for planning the day and getting us all together!  

It was wonderful to see everyone!

McBlogging After the Storms

 

by Pa Rock

Survivor

This evening finds me in the parking lot of one of the local McDoanld's typing what will be a very short blog entry.   There were high winds in the area all day yesterday, and last night a series of tornadoes danced around Missouri and Arkansas.  

The governor is saying that nineteen tornadoes touched down in Missouri last night and at least twelve people were killed.  I have heard that there was extensive damage in Bakersfield, a wide spot in the road twenty-five miles from where I live, and quite a bit of damage in Alton, which is about thirty miles from here. 

My home internet is down, and the anticipated time it will be back up is tomorrow afternoon by 4:30.  I'm not complaining - as long as Mickey D's doesn't run me off - because I'm one of the lucky ones.  There was no damage in my area even though we were were under a tornado warning most of an hour, and my power didn't go out - just the internet service.    I didn't even lose any trees or big limbs.  Many in the area without power, and the fast food places in town have all been hammered with hungry customers today.

If McDonald's sends someone out to run me off, I will act like I am at Sonic and place an order.  Old people who act confused can get away with all kinds of crap!

Thank you to the good friend from the Kansas City area who keeps up on weather emergencies and called last night to advise me to head to the basement - which my son and I and the two dogs did.  I appreciate you, xobekim.  And today my son in Kansas City, good friend Marjorie from Phoenix, Cousin Wayne, and Ranger Bob all called to to check on Pa Rock and the situation in West Plains.    I love you all.

I did hear that an abundance of Trump signs had blown away during the storm.  God reveals herself in remarkable ways!

Tomorrow I will try to post about the Sreaves family reunion and my interesting four-hour drive home through several downpours and constant high winds.  That was a drive that I won't soon forget.

Stay safe - and always take weather warnings seriously!

Sreaves Family Reunion 2025

 

by Pa Rock

Sreaves Descendant

I am at a motel in Bentonville, Arkansas, this morning.  Later today my sister, Abigail, and our visiting cousin, Joyce, we will all be attending a SREAVES family reunion that my sister has organized.  It will be held at the Swars Prairie Baptist Church in Newton County, Missouri, (near Seneca), where most of our Sreaves relatives are buried - even most of the ones who were Methodists.

Abigail lives in Rogers, Arkansas, a city which is connected to the south end of Bentonville and to the north end of Springdale.  Springdale, in turn, is connected to the north end of Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas.  Woo . . . Pig . . . Suey!  From Bentonville, home of Walmart, south through Fayetteville, it's all just one big, traffic-clogged city - urban sprawl across land that was cow pastures in my youth.

Abigail has three grown children and four grandchildren living close by.  Cousin Joyce resides in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter, and Sandpoint, Idaho, during the summertime.  I have visited her twice in Idaho over the past few years - Sandpoint is one of the most beautiful towns in America.  Abigail dropped in on Joyce in Tucson last year during the winter.    Our mother and Joyce's mother were two of the four Sreaves girls who grew up on a farm near Seneca, Missouri, and there were also three Sreaves boys in the same family.  Six of those seven Sreaves youngsters went on to produce 24 children of their own.  Of those 24-grandchildren of Dan and Nancy Jane "Siss" (Roark) Sreaves, ten have already passed on including three during the last year alone, and the remainder have been invited to attend the reunion.   We are hopeful that most will.  I guess we will see how many show up.

As an unofficial family historian, I prepared five handouts for the cousins who do make it to the reunion.  Those documents include:  

• a pair of 5-generation family trees for each of our grandparents, Dan and Siss.  The include 21 ancestors for Dan, and 18 for Siss.
• "Recollections of Fannie Matilda Sreaves."  Fannie Sreaves Ulmer was one of our grandfather's younger sisters.  She was born in Huntsville, Arkansas, in 1898, and filled a notebook of her memories of growing up more than eighty years later.  One of the highlights of Fannie's story is her recounting the four-day trip by covered wagon that the family endured when they moved to McDonad County, Missouri, very early in the twentieth century.  Typed, her notebook covers six full pages.
• "Made from Scratch" by Mary Sreaves Clotfelter, a niece to my grandfather.  Her article was a piece that was published in the Crowder College literary magazine, "The Quill," forty years ago.  In it Cousin Mary talked about visiting in her grandparent's (Alexander and Mary Jane Sreaves) and some of the wonderful special dishes that her grandmother made from scratch.
• "Sreaves Relationship to Benjamin Franklin" which I compiled listing all of the connecting relatives between the famous founding father and our remaining cousins.  Our group members are first cousins, ten times removed to Ben.
• "Alexander Sreaves" Something else which I compiled giving biographical information on the father of our grandfather, Daniel Alexander Sreaves.  Alex, our great-granfather, was a family mystery until recently with no known history prior to the time when he married Mary Jane Ellis in Madison County, Arkansas, in early 1888.  I have made two trips to the Family Search (Mormon) Library in Salt Lake City over the past few years and each time I learned more about this unique ancestor.  I have now identified his parents and grandparents - as well as a few individuals beyond even that.  The document that I compiled will introduce the cousins to their great-grandfather and provide some highlights about his origins.

If anyone reading his blog entry feels that you might have a connection to the Sreaves family of southwest Missouri (it was originally spelled "Shreeves" and came from West Virginia through Ohio to Arkansas and Missouri) please contact me through this blog.  I would be more than happy to answer questions and share what I have collected.

That's the day that I have planned.  I will be heading home to West Plains in the evening.

(One more note:  I stayed at a chain motel in Bentonville last night.  It was a nice room, and above my bed was a framed black and white photo (about five feet by six feet) of a river scene which I immediately recognized.  It was taken on Elk River just north a Noel, Missouri, where I grew up.  The scene is an empty canoe parked next to a small gravel beach across the river from a massive bluff.  The bluff has a sordid history.  The movie, "Jesse James" was filmed in and around Noel in 1939.  It starred Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, and Nancy Kelly, all of whom stayed in private homes in Noel during the filming.  Several horses used in the movie were run off of that bluff while the movie was being made, and all, of course, died.    I told you the story was sordid.   The big framed photo brings back many memories of float trips down the Elk River, and most of those memories were of really good times.)

Influence Peddling 101

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Tesla has been on a tough run recently, and it couldn't be happening to a more deserving individual than Tesla's CEO and majority shareholder, Elon Musk.   Ever since Donald Trump became President (again, ugh!) nearly two months ago and brought his major campaign donor, billionaire Elon Musk, into the White House with him, Tesla sales and share prices have plumeted.  Trump has placed Elon in charge of cutting the size of government through mass firings and layoffs, as well as targeted firings of people whom Trump regards as his enemies.  It'ss not a popular job from the point of view of government employees, but it is one that Elon charged into with a vengeance and seems to relish.

But the cruelty that Elon has enjoyed dishing out over the past several weeks has come with a cost.   The price of Tesla stock has dropped 50% since Trump and Elon assumed office and began wrecking government and the economy, and this past Monday the company lost 15% of its value in that one day alone.  Tesla sales have slumped, celebrities are excoriating the company, and protesters are demonstrating outside of Tesla dealerhsips nationwide.  The situation is so grim for the electric vehicle manufacturer that Elon had to turn to a professional huckster for help.

On Tuesday there was a row of shiny new Teslas parked along the drive on the South Lawn of the White House where Trump held a combination press conference and infomercial for the cars.  Elon, and his four-year-old son, X, were there as well.  Trump used the event to praise Musk and pimp his cars.  Trump whined that Musk had been treated unfairly, and he referred to protesters at Tesla dealerships as "domestic terrorists."   The elderly politician said that he had bought a new Tesla "Cyber Truck" for his granddaughter, and that he would be purchasing a Tesla car for himself.  Then Trump and Elon climbed into a Tesla together.  It looked very cozy.

Who knew that Donald Trump could drive?  And who knew that he could even fit into a Tesla?

All in all, the sales pitch was a success and Tesla stock climbed 3.8% that day, clawing back a tiny bit of the ground that it has lost since Trump and Musk took office.

It's called "influence peddling," and Trump was using some of his poloitical influence to peddle a few cars;  The man and the job seemed to be a good fit.  Trump looked at though he was born to sell cars.

Stand strong, America.  Boycott Tesla!

Access Peddling 101

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

According to a story which broke last week in "Wired" magazine and was picked up and repeated across various news sources, it is now possible to buy private access to the President,  A wealthy person who has business that he would like to bring directly to Donald Trump's attention may purchase a private one-on-one candlelight dinner with the politician at his Mar-A-Lago club in Florida.  And for those on a budget, there is also an option of purchasing a seat at a small-group candlelight dinner with the President for the bargain rate of just one million dollars.

The meal itself certainly would not be worth that level of expenditure.   (Trump famously served a "Big Mac Buffet" to the Clemson football team at the White House.).   But people who shell out millions of dollars to attend aren't going for the food - they are going to be seen and appreciated by the President of the United States, a man who has the power to make or break their business interests.  It's not a meal, it's a business investment

It's also one more example of the privileges that wealth can purchase.

Trump held two of the small group dinners after he was elected to his second term last November, one in December and one in January on the night before he was sworn into office.   Invitations are going out to America's ultra-wealthy, the people Trump serves, from a Super PAC called MAGA, INC, and  those who RSVP are expected to do so with the appropriate "donation."    It seems to be unclear at this time exactly how the proceeds are being used.  But what is very clear is that for a seven-figure donation, the big hogs at the trough can get some quality "me" time with the old boar himself.

And if the wealthy diners want to take home a keepsake from the big event, there will probably be a table close by where they can purchase their fill of Trump meme coins, imaginary trading cards, Bibles, stickers, chocolate bars, and clothing.  Just imagine the adoration and envy that will come from wearing a pair of Trump golden sneakers into the next board meeting!

P.T. Barnum, a big fan of the grift (and clowns), would have loved Trump!

Political Sleight of Hand Used in Renaming Ft. Bragg

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a US. Army base, was established in 1918 and for decades has served as the home of the 82nd Airborne Division.   It was named after Braxton Bragg, a general in the Confederate Army.  In 2020 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, a national outcry ensued which inflamed racial tensions throughout the country.  As a part of the response to the nationwide protests, Congress passed legislation renaming nine military bases in the United States that had been originally named for Confederate officers.  Donald Trump, a victim of bone spurs who was President at the time, promptly vetoed that measure.

The legislation to rename the bases was brought up again in the Biden administration, and in 2023 President Biden signed the bill which changed the names of the nine bases.  At that time Ft. Bragg became Ft. Liberty.

One of Donald Trump's many campaign promises when he ran for the presidency again in 2024 was that he would change the name of Ft. Liberty back to Ft. Bragg, a move which looked like a nod to racist elements within his base - and a feat which he was able to accomplish within his first two months in office.  In February former Fox sports broadcaster and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum directing that the base's name be changed back to Ft. Bragg, an act which was completed last Friday, March 7th.

But the name change was not as straight forward as it sounds.   Instead of resurrecting the honor of Confederate General Braxton Bragg, a man who was not necessarily revered for his military prowess nor respected by his troops, this time the base name was changed to honor a different Bragg.    Now it was being named for PFC Roland Bragg of Maine who served as a paratrooper in World War II.   Private First Class Bragg saw service in the Battle of the Bulge and was a prisoner of war for a time before escaping his Nazi captors and rescuing some wounded fellow prisoners in the process.

Roland Bragg received the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for service to his country.  He died in 1999 at the age of seventy-five after spending his post-war life working in construction and physically moving houses from one location to another.

Members of Roland Bragg's family were reportedly shocked to learn that Ft. Bragg was being named after their father.  But it was a clever move on the administration's part, one that fulfilled a campaign promise for Trump, served as another blow to the "woke" culture (whatever the hell that is), and probably left more than a few Trump supporter's feeling (mistakenly) that the South had risen again.

PFC Roland Bragg was certainly far more deserving of the honor of having a major military base named after him than the slave-holding and militarily inept Confederate General Braxton Bragg, but Roland's elevation in the annals of American history has more to do with his last name than it does with his very distinguished military service.

If Roland Bragg had been born Roland Smith or Roland Jones, he would still be lost in the dark tides of history.

Congratulations, PFC Roland Bragg, on the honor of having a major US military base bearing your name, regardless of how that honor ultimately came about. 

And thank you for your service, sir, in defense of the free world.

Salute!

Quackpot Medicine: Measles Parties

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Measles is a childhood disease caused by a virus.  It can be deadly, and before the advent and ready availability of measles vaccines, most children caught the disease and hundreds died from it each year - not a staggering number unless one of those who died happened to be a member of your family.  A vaccine was developed to ward off measles in 1963, and by the 1970's most children were being vaccinated with a series of MMR shots (measles, mumps, and rubella) that began when they were around a year old. 

Most states require a series of vaccinations for children to attend public schools, and those include the MMR vaccines.

Measles shots work, and by the year 2000, the disease was thought to have been eliminated in the United States.  But then the internet happened and people who had once turned to medical professionals for their medical advice began using other sources of information, and some of it was malarky.    Measles began a slow comeback.  In 2003 there was one death in the United States attributed to measles, and the next death did not occur until twelve years later 2015.  Then there was a ten-year-break, and this year there have been two more deaths - an unvaccinated adult and an unvaccinated 6-year-old child - as a measles outbreak takes hold in western Texas and eastern New Mexico.  In addition to those two deaths, more than 190 cases of the disease has been reported in that area, an there have been at lest twenty hospitalizations.

This new surge is a result of people choosing not to avail themselves, and more importantly, their children, of measles vaccines.  There has been a strong anti-vax movement festering on the internet for years, and it came of age during the COVID pandemic when the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and others who should have known better, were promoting quack remedies for keeping COVID at bay.  (Remember drinking bleach and using the horse medication Ivermectin?)   Interestingly, Trump got the vaccine for himself but still heaped scorn of health leaders like Dr. Fauci who promoted it. 

Today the on-line medical quackery is still running rampant.  There are medical "experts" all over places like "X (Twitter)" and "Facebook" and QAnon who are trying their damnedest to shield Americans from the  medical advice of "woke" medical institutions like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The current hot trend appears to be something called "measles parties" which were a thing before measles vaccinations came about.  Some parents in those early days would intentionally expose their younger children to the disease in order to build up an immunity so that they would not catch it at an older age when it would supposedly be more dangerous.  Measles parties spread the disease, and the more people who catch it, the more opportunities there are for serious outcomes - and deadly outcomes - and many of those deaths will be children.

If there is something contagious making the rounds, there will be bad advice readily available on how to deal with it.

Good health outcomes are the result of healthy lifestyles and being examined, treated, and advised by trained medical professionals.    When it comes to treating health issues, see your doctor and stay off of the damned internet!

America Goes to War - Against Tesla!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Several days ago in this space I wrote about my fellow Missourian, singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow, announcing that she was selling her Tesla and donating the money to National Public Radio (NPR).  Now there is a similar report out that Cassandra Peterson , who is known professionally as "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" is giving her Tesla to NPR.

Before Elvira gave her Tesla away she had some fun with it.   The entertainer applied a large, custom decal to the side of her vehicle which read "Elon Sux," with the "X" designed like the one on Musk's social media site, and then drove it all around Portland, Oregon, where she lives, and received an outpouring of applause, fist bumps, and  blown kisses.

Elvira said she loved her car and it was not easy to part with, but it wasn't the car - it was Elon.  She bought her Tesla in 2015 because she believed that Musk was a genius, but now that Elon has pivoted away from innovation and into politics and is firing federal workers as he dismantles government, she is no longer enamored of him.  In clarifying her reasons for donating her Tesla to NPR, Elvira said:

"I believe in democracy, I believe in freedom.   I think what's happening to our government is absolutely frightening and I could never believe it would happen in my entire life.   So I don't want to drive something around that represents a person who is directly trying to take away our freedoms."

Then, to frost that protest cake, Elvira made a video of her "Elon Sux-mobile" on a flatbed truck as it was being driven away, presumably for delivery to NPR.  She was waving a one-fingered salute and wielding a chainsaw as the truck drove off with her car - all to a blasting soundtrack of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" - and she posted the happy event on Musk's "X"!

Elvira, you rock!  My heart's on fire-uh for Elvira!

The price of Tesla stock has dropped around 40% in the past six weeks, dragging Elon's much ballyhooed net worth down with it.  Yes, it may bounce back and smart investors may wind up making a killing on the stock, but, then again, it may not.  There have been large noisy protests outside of Tesla dealerships nationwide over the last month or so, and some have even spawned violence.    Last week a late night shooting at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, when no one was present, knocked out showroom windows, damaged cars and a cyber truck, and caused damage reported in the tens of thousands of dollars.

A woman in Colorado was arrested for spray-painting Nazi references and igniting molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership, several other dealerships have been defaced with graffiti, and a Tesla charging station in Massachusetts suffered an arson attack.  A demonstration at a Tesla Dealership in New York City drew nearly four hundred demonstrators, and arrests were made.

Things are getting dicey in Tesla-land!

Elon, I'm not certain whether I placed an order for a new Tesla or not, but, if I did, cancel it!

Elon Gets It Up - but Can't Keep It Up

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There's a reason Elon Musk does not ride one of his Starships into space - because the damn things keep blowing up!  

Well, to be fair, the latest one (test flight #8) blew itself up last Thursday nine minutes after it launched from the faux space cowboy's "Starbase" in south Texas. the result of an "energetic event" that took place in the vehicle's aft section which led to the loss of several Raptor engines and a communications breakdown.

Well, to be extra-fair, it didn't actually blow-up or explode.  Elon's company described the event as "a rapid, unscheduled disassembly."

On January 16th, less than two months ago, another "rapid unscheduled disassembly" occurred with an Elon Starship (test flight #7) when it was just eight-and-a-half minutes into its flight - so yesterday's flight sounds like a win for the billionaire businessman who doesn't seem to own a suit.   He posted a net gain in flight time of thirty seconds.  (I wonder how much that half-a-minute will wind up costing US taxpayers?)

The first three test flights of the SpaceX Starship also ended in failure.  The goal of the test flights is to safely drop the craft into the Indian Ocean.  The Musk crew launched two in 2023, four in 2024, and now two in 2025.

Test flights #4 and #5, which happened in 2024, were successful, and #6, which also happened in 2024, had a successful flight, but the rocket that had pushed the craft into space failed to return as planned and instead had a rapid, unscheduled disassembly as it splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico.

(A news report on National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday referred to the wreckage  and debris as falling into the "Caribbean Sea," and then later "the Caribbean," and finally "the Gulf").

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that this Thursday's Starship explosion (yes, the FAA used the "e-word") disrupted 240 flights, with space debris causing more than two dozen flights to divert.  The FAA also ordered ground stops at four major Florida airports:  Orlando, Miami, Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood.

Elon is planning a total of 25 test launches, and that will require the approval of federal regulators.   Those federal regulators who have not already been laid off by Elon's DOGE team of aging adolescents will undoubtedly give that request the due consideration it deserves!

Elon says he plans to try again in around four weeks, but if he gets it up, can he keep it up - or will it once again result in a rapid, unscheduled disassembly?

Jason Smith Don't Need No Stinking Town Halls!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My congressman, Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri's 8th congressional district, hasn't been embarrassed in any of those impolite Town Halls like some of hjis colleagues have.  No siree, Bob, he has not!

Several Republican congressmen and at least one US senator have come face-to-face with vocal and angry constituents at recent Town Halls and listening events.  People are flocking to those gatherings demanding to be heard.  They are raging at the way Elon Musk and his overpaid crew of entitled teenagers and twenty-somethings are destroying government services.  It has gotten so bad that Republican Party officials and even House Speaker Mike Johnson are encouraging members not to host public events - and instead hold tele-conferences which can be more easily controlled.

Public access to elected officials should be limited, they say, and opportunities to ask questions strictly restrained.  That's how democracy works best, you see, in dignified silence.  

Well, I'm proud to report that my congressman, Jason Smith, has been out in front of this issue ever since he has been in Congress.  Jason, who likes to constantly boast about his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, has never held public Town Halls (that I am aware of) in his own district, and most likely never will.  That's not how he rolls.  Jason gets all the information he needs from his many friends at Fox News.

I am proud of my congressman for being well ahead of the curve on this very important matter.   Why would Jason need to listen to the folks back home when he has Maria Bartiromo to keep him up to speed?

How are the increased tariffs on China going to play out with international sales of soybeans from Missouri, Jason?   What does Maria think about it?

The Death Knell for Public Education

 

by Pa Rock

Former Teacher

Donald Trump must have some interest in education because he has a history of disparaging others for what he believes is their lack of it.  Trump routinely berates political opponents or people he just does not like as being "stupid," " or "dumb as a rock," or having a "low IQ."    But if Trump truly values education, why did he nominate a wrestling promoter to be the US Secretary of Education? 

Linda McMahon, one of the founders World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), was confirmed this week on a 51-45 party-line vote in the US Senate to be the next US Secretary of Education, a position she accepted with the full knowledge that her primary mission would be to shut the department down, a major goal of the Republican Party ever since the department was created by Congress during the Carter administration in the 1980.

Trump is expected to issue an executive order within the week to begin dismantling the US Department of Education.   It's a vengeful plan that will "return" the power of running public education to the states - where it has historically resided anyway.  But now the federal government will no longer be overseeing and funding programs which provide services to low income students or those with special needs, nor will it be involved in setting education standards and determining best practices, or even in testing to determine which schools are producing the best results.  The states will run will those areas (or not), and needless to say, without national standards or oversight, some states will fail miserably at the task of educating their children.

Many of the red states, those that form Trump's conservative rural base, have already been racing to defund their public schools by lowering school funding levels and redirecting public funds to religious and private schools.  Much of the money the feds release to the states to run their special programs is also likely to find its way into private schools.  The losers, of course, will be the students who remain in the traditional public school systems, some by choice and others by the economic reality of not being able to afford private schools, or those in areas where there are no other choices than the underfunded and understaffed public schools.

Some people seem to believe that an economic underclass is necessary in society so that others may live in better circumstances, and structuring education so that the poorest among us have the least opportunity to receive an education is one sure way to insure an abundant and continual source of people to perform the drudge work.    

It will take an act of Congress to officially eliminate a department that Congress created, but a mean-spirited President can choke and starve it to death and leave Congress to deal with the corpse.

Another day, another major loss for the American people.

The Wind, She Blows - and So Does DOGE!

 

by Pa Rock

Weather-Watcher

March came in peacefully this year in the Ozarks, but by yesterday morning there were signs of the Lion's imminent arrival, and by last night he was here and in full-roar.  The forecast was for strong winds to begin around midnight (they were early) and to last throughout the day today.  Now, from the window next to my typing table, I see trees swaying forcefully in the breeze.

My house is old, but solid, built by a master-carpenter more than sixty years ago as a home for him and his family.  He had a large family - a wife and four boys - but they got by on just two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so it is not large.  It does have a nice half-basement where we can go when the tornado siren goes off in the middle of the night - something that might happen once or twice a year.

I am not concerned with the house blowing away, because it is so solid that is unlikely to happen.  What does concern me, however, are the very large trees on the acreage surrounding the house.  There are several pines that are forty-feet or more in height that could blow over onto the house in a bad storm, and a couple of massive oaks that are also within striking distance.

I worry about wildfires, too, the chances of which increase drastically during windy conditions.  They can spring up from downed power lines, people carelessly flipping lit cigarettes out of car windows, the frugal folks who burn their trash rather than pay the trash collector to pick it up, and the total morons who think a windy days is the perfect time to burn leaves or brush.

So when the weather is windy, Pa Rock pays attention.

March may have gotten off to a slow start, but it is roaring in now - and I'm not lyin' about that!

(I understand that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA - which is involved in long-range weather predictions - is one of the agencies that Elon is kneecapping.  I''m going to miss reliable weather-forecasting.  Of course, not all is lost because we will still have the trusty Farmer's Almanac, and Elon's Starlink will probably also provide weather forecasts - for a fee, of course.)

The wind isn't the only thing that blows!

One Key to Success: Learning a Second Language

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday in this space I mentioned a small, rural Missouri school where several years ago the principal briefly tried to make his fiefdom a one-language institution by issuing an edict that only English could be spoken at the school, even among students on the playground, although half of the student body spoke Spanish at home.  Community pressure brought about the end of that policy - almost immediately.  

The school was a K-8, one of five within the school district, all of which fed into one high school.  But this particular K-8 was unique in that it's primary economic engine was a large poultry processing plant which drew in many Hispanic families from out-of-state to work beneath constantly running lines of cold, dripping chickens.   (As a young adult I had worked in that same "chicken plant" for several months and knew firsthand the soul-wrenching drudgery that it involved.)

While living and working on the Japanese island of Okinawa a few years earlier, I had watched in amazement as little Okinawan and American children played together in my neighborhood, and they jabbered freely among themselves in an ever-evolving combination of both of their native languages.  They picked it up so easily.

I had also taken multiple Spanish courses while in college and found the language very difficult for me to master.  It occurred to me, and research bears this out, that learning a second language is easier for young children than it is for adults.  The younger a child is, the easier it is for him or her to absorb and acquire a second language.

So when the problem arose with language issues at the rural school in Missouri, I wondered why there wasn't some effort being made to formally teach Spanish to at least some the English-speaking students.  They would have many children around with whom to practicing their new language skills, and in the process, the Hispanic children would undoubtedly learn more English.

One day, after I had left the field of education, I encountered one of the local school board members in a social setting, and I asked her if the Board would be open to such a radical idea.    She told me that it had been discussed among members and that some of the board was ferociously opposed to the notion teaching Spanish in the schools.  They would rather eradicate the foreign language than do anything to promote it.

And that is a sad reflection of the provincial mindset in rural America, or at least in the Ozarks.  There is a desire to keep the culture, and by extension the language, pure and free of any outside influences

But here is the catch.  Children who grow up in a setting like that, with one major employer, will witness both groups of young adults, English and Spanish, feeding into the workforce at that plant.   Who will get the quick promotions to line-foremen and supervisors, where the better pay is at?  It will be those young people who are bi-lingual and have the ability to converse freely with anyone who happens to be working on their line, and because of deeply-held community prejudices, those supervisory personnel will be Hispanics, the ones who had to learn two languages while growing up.

The school was, in fact, preparing many of their children who grew up in English-speaking households to be second-class citizens in the local economy because they had been denied the opportunity to acquire a second language as elementary school students.

The world of today is international, and leaders recognize the need for diversity in cultural awareness and understanding.   A knowledge of languages expands horizons and opens many doors.

The Problems with an "Official" Language

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The United States used to take pride in our multi-cultural, melting-pot heritage, but with Trump now back in office we are quickly retreating to those good old xenophobic days of yesteryear with the emphasis back on European heritage, white privilege, and speaking God's chosen tongue, English.  We want English spoken throughout our society so that those of us who are not bilingual will still be able to understand everything that is going on around us.  It's less about the needs of others than it is about the convenience of the majority.  It's about "us" - not "them."

We seized and cleansed this savage land through God's grace and brute force, and anyone who tries to sully our title to it by speaking in another language can just go back to where they came from - one way or another.

This week Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring English the "official" language of the United States.  That is legislation by presidential whim without the involvement of a bothersome Congress with its expansive expertise and many viewpoints.  It is the viewpoint of Donald John Trump which reigns supreme.

The United States Census Bureau, which Trump and Elon are in the process of fixing, or gutting, has reported that a language other than English is spoken in more than 20 percent of American households, or by more than 68 million individuals, with Spanish being the primary language spoken in 13 percent of American homes.  Many of those homes have at least one or two residents who are bilingual and have English-speaking skills (and often those are children), but many also contain household members who speak no English whatsoever.  And while English-speaking Americans may wax indignant and declare that everyone should learn English, learning a foreign language to the point where one is conversant in that language, is not an easy matter - particularly for people who are aging and whose mental acuity is slowing.

Just "declaring" English to be the national language is not the major issue.  English has been our unofficial language since colonial times.  The problem lies in how this new edict is enforced and plays out across society.  If English is the "official" language, does that mean that it will no longer be necessary - or even allowed - to print official government forms in another language, or to have someone on staff to translate for people who speak no English?  Will schools even be allowed to provide special assistance to children with limited or no English skills? 

Society and our social order are becoming more cruel under the Trump administration, and it is happening at an alarming rate.  Making English the "official" language seems like a plan that could be specifically designed to make our laws more difficult to navigate and our educational systems harder for our immigrant families and communities to access.  Assimilation into American society is a much more complex process than just flipping a switch.

Having an "official" language is also something that could be misinterpreted by low-level bureaucrats and education officials, allowing them room to weave their own biases into their dealings with people who have come to our shores to start a new life with a safer and more secure future.  Here is an example from my own past when I was working in county-level child protection, and had come into that field from a background in public education:

Over recent years part of the county in which I was working had seen a steep increase in Hispanic residents who were employed at a local poultry processing plant.  Those immigrants into the community were, for the most part, American citizens from south Texas who had brought their families with them to our (until recently) lily-white rural community.

Many had been there several years by the time the following incident occurred and were adapting to the culture, with lots of the children quickly acquiring English skills.  Our child protection office had fewer contacts with the Hispanic community than their local Anglo neighbors, primarily because the Hispanic households were very often multi-generational with an adult always at home to manage and care for the children, while in Anglo households where both parents worked, that was not always the case and unsupervised children had more opportunities to be harmed or cause harm.

One morning two obviously upset Hispanic ladies showed up in my office.  Their grievance was with their local school, a place where I had once worked and was very familiar with the facility and the educational program.  They said that the principal had threatend to throw their sons out of school (a suspension) because they had been speaking to one another in Spanish while they were on the playground.  An older teacher had complained and taken them to the office.  In response to the teacher's complaint, the principal had quickly issued a rule that "English only" was to be spoken in the school.  

It took one phone call on my part to remedy that situation.  I knew the superintendent and also knew that he was smart enough to recognize a civil rights violation when it plopped down on his desk.  The matter was corrected before the ladies even had time to get back to their homes.

But what if that same incident would have happened in today's political environment, especially if school administrators chose to view an executive order making English the "official" language as a legal bypass

of the Constitutions's guarantee of Freedom of Speech?   Would our increasingly weak courts roll over and deny children the right to converse freely in their native tongues?

It's been less than a hundred years since children who were kidnapped into Indian Boarding Schools in the US and Canada were being beaten, tortured, and killed because they could not or would not learn English.

We are in ugly times.  Never doubt the Trump administration's ability and desire to get even uglier.  An "official" language could be another doorway leading into that downward spiral.

There is strength in diversity - and decency in caring.

Saturday Night Take Out

 

by Pa Rock

Man About Town

Most days I am at home taking care of a couple of entitled dogs and typing at the computer during their nap times while my son is out enjoying his relaxing day at work.  Yesterday after he got home from his job and I had had my fill of canine-sitting for the day, I decided to drive into town just to get away for a few minutes.  Nick had made supper the past several nights, so I told him as I was leaving that I would pick up something for our evening meal while I was out.

I was thinking about food options as I headed into town.    West Plains has a population of 12,000 which is large enough to attract most of the most of the standard fast food chains.   We have four Casey's, two McDonald's, two Subway's, two Taco Bell's, and one each of Hardee's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Arby's, Steak 'n Shake, and even a new McCallister's - so finding something to eat would not be a problem.  By the time I got to town a few minutes later I had settled on KFC, a pint of livers and enough pieces of Original Recipe to last a couple of meals would hit the spot.  Cardiac rehab be damned!

West Plains is an elongated community with the northern half of the town sitting along Porter Wagoner Boulevard, and the southern half lining Preacher Roe Boulevard.   Those two primary segments of the town are connected by the Jan Howard Expressway. Porter and Jan were country music stars and Preacher Roe earned his fame playing professional baseball.  All three were from this humble little berg.   

I live just outside of the city limits on the northern edge of West Plains, and the KFC is in the southern segment of the town, so it took me a few minutes to get there.  I spend more time in the northern part of town where my doctor's office, pharmacy, and the hospital are located than I do in the southern section which is dominated by Walmart, a place I never frequent - and consequently when I travel into the southern part of town I am leaving my comfort zone.

It had been a month or more since I last visited the Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment, and I noticed as I pulled in to park in the farthest space from the door - something I always do to increase my daily number of steps - that the parking lot looked different, and I decided that the parking spaces which had been outlined in white had now been repainted yellow, making them more distinct.  Nice move, I thought, as I headed for the side door where I always enter.  As I reached that door, I noticed that it, too, looked to have been recently painted a deeper shade of red and that it opened easier than it had in the past.  Nice, again!

But it was not until I got inside that I realized the full extent of the renovation.  They had painted, acquired new furniture, and the tile floor was also not the same as it had been on my last visit.  As I stepped to the counter and was trying to focus on the new curved ordering menu displayed above the counter, a young lady approached seeking my order.

"The place looks really good," I told her.  "You have changed it up quite a bit since the last time I was in just a few weeks ago."

"What'll you have?"  She said for a second time, obviously not in to mood for some old person's chatter.  

So I began to study the menu, but instead of seeing quantities and varieties of the colonel's chicken, I saw a list of "Arby's Classic Sandwiches."  Well, that explains it, I thought, the Colonel has acquired Arby's and the new company has upgraded the building.  But Arby's be damned, I still wanted chicken, so I shifted my gaze to the other side of the menu - and there was still no chicken!

I was lost in space!  Pa Rock had driven to the wrong damned building!

Not wanting to appear more confused than I already was by walking out, I ordered a couple of sandwiches and went home!

Maybe next week I can have some of the finger lickin' good chicken!

Ambush at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was summoned to the White House yesterday to formalize an extortion of Ukraine's mineral wealth by the United States and to open a negotiating process to end the war between Russia and Ukraine - at least that was what Zelenskyy was led to believe before he arrived.  What quickly became apparent as the President of Ukraine seated himself in the Oval Office was that humiliating him was to be the first order of business.

What followed was undoubtedly one of the most embarrassing incidents to ever take place in the People's House.  Vance lectured Zelenskyy on the importance of saying "thank you," and then Trump latched onto that and launched into one of his gaseous and meandering diatribes in which he seemed to be saying that Ukraine had already lost the war and needed to be making a settlement.

It was obvious ambush, a pre-planned beatdown and public humiliation of a respected world leader by a pair of entitled bullies who were in the throes of implementing a new US policy toward that leader's country based solely on the personal beliefs and whims of Donald Trump.

While yesterday's meeting in the Oval Office devolved into something less than a dignified occasion, it was not without hard consequences.   Ukraine was left in a weakened position, the security of Europe is more precarious now than ever, Russia was empowered to the point that, as one commentator put it, they were probably drinking vodka straight from the bottle in the Kremlin last night, the pro-Russia wing of the Republican Party is more empowered, and Zelensky left the White House without signing away the rights to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

The meeting was an embarrassment, a real shit-show that has rocked the world order and placed our own nation at greater risk.  It brings to mind Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev's dark prophecy from the 1950's:

"We will take America without firing a shot.  We do not have to invade the U.S.  We will destroy you from within."