Enjoy Labor Day

Not surprisingly the U.S. Department of Labor has put together a history of Labor Day. It is an excellent synopsis of the working history of the men and women of the United States. It is well worth a look as our Nation celebrates this holiday.  From the earliest days of the industrial revolution,  the workingmen and women of the United States have helped make this country the most prosperous and powerful nation of any time in history. Whether one was management or labor the individual contributions added up. If you ever drew a paycheck you can rightfully be proud of your contribution and kick back on this day.

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Cereal on bananas or Up the Down Staircase

Cereal on bananas or Up the Down Staircase

 Bel Kaufman died on July 25, 2014. She was 103. Born in Germany and raised in the Ukraine she learned English at age 12 and emigrated to the United States. She graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College and earned a master’s degree in English from Columbia University.

The New York City Board of Examiners consistently refused to give her a license to teach because of her Russian accent. She worked for years to overcome this and ultimately got her license. On the side she worked as a writer. In 1965 she published a novel that became a major film and turned her into a celebrity: Up the down Staircase, - “a portrait of a young city school teacher battling a soul-crushing bureaucracy and a blizzard of inane rules.”

Each of us likely has an up-the-down-staircase impulse that surfaces from time to time. Just something that says go against the grain. For me the impulse is to put cereal on bananas. 

The bananas on cereal rule learned as a child is not embedded in concrete.

Cereal on bananas

A little extra fruit.

Cereal on bananas - Up the Down Staircase

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