Throw out the Christmas cards

The people who candle your head for a living have the 5^th Version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders –commonly referred to as the DSM – to ponder over during the holiday season. This freshly issued update, several years in the making, is used to as a reference manual to categorize patients and not everyone is happy. Psychiatrists still cannot agree on what is normal. Like the rest of us some shrinks see the glass as half full and the others half empty. In the political science world it would come out as “one man’s terrorism is another man's patriotism.”

You could be swimming along in the canal of life and thinking good thoughts but you may have a problem you didn’t know existed. Do you hang onto received Christmas cards for decades? Do you make three right turns so you don’t have to make a left turn? Do you neglect recording checks in your check register believing that if you don’t write them down your bank balance won’t decrease? Of course, if all three of these interesting habits define you, stop reading now and grab the Yellow Pages.

Talking about your problems with a knowledgeable psychologist or psychiatrist can be beneficial; there is probably something in the DSM 5 to define your problem. Not cure it, but at least name it. Don’t be alarmed if after being on some kind of pill for six months the problem is still around. Some things never go away – you might simply be nuts.

Have a nice Christmas and a Happy New Year! (And throw out the cards on January 3^rd.)

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What not to yell on a plane

  There is a fresh book available -

Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett and Reginald B. Adams, Jr
INSIDE JOKES
Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
359pp. MIT Press. £20.95 (US $29.95).

and the authors re-tell this joke. 

You get on a plane and see a friend named "Jack." It is not going to turn out well if you yell, "Hi Jack."

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A week is too short for Paris

Everybody goes (or dreams of going) to Paris in the springtime; yet a visit in November can be equally exciting as merchants and government add Christmas lights to the already brilliant “City of Light.” Paris earned this sobriquet first from being a center of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment, and later to its early adoption of street lighting. No city in the world is lighted like Paris.

This was my third trip to this exciting metropolis and, as in the past, it did not disappoint. A trip down the River Seine in the early morning gave a boater’s eye view of historic sites, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Avenue Des Champs Elysees. A second trip in the evening over the same route when the lights were on in the city was even more thrilling.

I took several opportunities to view the city from above. The first at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a popular landmark located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city; then from atop the Arc De Triomphe Etoile on Des Champs Elysees, and finally from atop Montparnasse Tower on the Left Bank. Of all these, the Tower offers the greatest view. It is about 680 feet high and the view is from an open roof where you can walk the four sides and feel the wind.

A flea market held on Saturday and Sunday was on my bucket list. Approximately 400 vendors hawked their goods on two long streets and as the morning progressed the shopping crowds got larger. This is undoubtedly a major event on the weekend. (I wanted to see Paris Underground but it was closed due to an air conditioning problem so that remains on the bucket list.)

A Sunday side trip to Chartres to view the Cathedral was a comfortable hour train ride out of Paris. When I looked at the local map to see which direction I needed to walk the first thing to catch my eye was “Boulevard General Patton.”  The Cathedral dates to the 4^th Century when it originated.  In the intervening years it was destroyed by fire and the elements but rebuilt and today it is undergoing restoration. Another nearby Church of St. Pierre is more than 200 years old but is in terrible condition. This original church dates back to the 7^th Century. These are places which are of interest not only from a religious viewpoint but historical and political views as they played a major role in the development of France.

Food and drink were good. I started each day with fresh French bread and croissants and good coffee at the Le Royal Hotel on Boulevard Raspail in the Montparnasse region on the Left bank. This was the venue for American artists, writer, singers and entertainers in the 20s and 30s until WWII started. It is also home to the cemetery Montparnasse where Baudelaire, Beckett and Sartre are at rest. On a Sunday afternoon the cemetery was packed with visitors and sight seers. A few family/friends members were observed kneeling at fresh burial sites.

Paris is a walking city and I did a lot of that. The metro system was easy enough to figure out and by the second day I felt comfortable going about. When a problem came up, a friendly face and voice could be found to help. The shops were crowded and it seemed as though each tried to outdo the other in Christmas decorations and lights. The visit was over all too soon and, as in the past, I made a note to return some day and spend more time in the City of Light. 

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Ted Stern – 100 years old - He contributed

In the spring of 1966, I left my job as security director at the Weapons Station and Polaris Base in Goose Creek, SC, and joined the war on poverty as the founding director of the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, (an organization Congressman James Clyburn would ultimately head.)  Nine months later I decided to return to work for the Navy. It was one of the better decisions in my working lifetime.
I went to the Naval Supply Systems Command Center at the base in Charleston to interview for the job as the first civilian security director in the NSSC. This position had always been filled by a military officer, but a couple of years earlier a major theft had occurred in Charleston. During the subsequent Inspector General post mortem of the case I had served as an independent unofficial adviser to the Marine Colonel who was on the IG team. I argued that the most effective security demanded a long term commitment and memory that would come from a civilian security professional in the job and not through Naval officers who rotated every 24 or 30 months. The Center was charged with two-ocean support of the Polaris/Poseidon program which in the 1960s was extremely vital to the security of the nation. If material could be stolen, classified equipment and information was also at risk. 
Captain Ted Stern had been sent to Charleston to take charge of the Center and get the “ship righted.” He bought into the civilian security director argument. When I interviewed for the job it was a meeting of minds and I went to work in January 1967, During the next two years I learned more and better management techniques and people skills from Ted Stern than any other superior or mentor in my entire life. Ted had outstanding abilities and demonstrated performance; in many ways he was clearly ahead of his time. 
The Navy passed Captain Stern over for Admiral. Not since the days of President Kennedy, eight years earlier, had the Navy made anyone an admiral who was over 49 years of age. When Stern’s number came up he was almost 54.
Captain Stern, facing retirement, confided in me about two job opportunities he had: Assistant Comptroller General of the United States and President of the College of Charleston. There was no doubt in my mind which he would take. Ted Stern was not interested in being anyone’s assistant.
He changed forever the College of Charleston. He took the college into the state system of higher education, expanded faculty and course offerings and in general became a leading equal opportunity educator in the Southeast. Along the way he became a powerful and dedicated citizen of Charleston. He helped to salvage Spoleto when it was rocking on its heels.
Many years later Governor Richard Riley had a reception for Ted Stern in the mansion in Columbia. I was a member of the House of Representatives and when I reached Ted and Governor Riley in the receiving line, Ted and I embraced each other and enjoyed a happy reunion of former co-workers and friends. Friendship was one of Ted Stern’s strong attributes. After he left the College of Charleston, Ted moved to the North Carolina mountains. When he visited Charleston he regularly stopped by to see his former executive officer, Captain Vern Rivers who had come down with a life-ending illness. After his naval service Vern worked with Ted at the College of Charleston.
Now Ted is 100 years old. The Navy, College of Charleston, city of Charleston and the country are better places for his having moved among them. As am I for having known and worked with this outstanding, imaginative and bold leader. He is expected to be at the College on Wednesday, November 14, from 11 to 12 in the Stern Center.
(The entire blog is here.)

President re-elected

President Barack Obama was re-elected yesterday. It is now time for the country to come together and solve the problems facing us. The Republican House and Democratic Senate have to both work with the White House on finding solutions to the nation's problems. History will judge how well we perform.

                                                               Photo taken in 2009

An Obama opponent keyed my car

It takes a real mean spirited third-rate lowlife to key someone’s car simply because it carries stickers indicating support for President Obama, but that is what happened to my BMW this past week.

I have driven out only a few times this past week and did not go anyplace different than where I have gone many times before. I park carefully, take only the allotted space and try to be a good motorist. I had two bumper stickers on the car urging support of President Obama. One, for example, read “Osama bin Laden is dead, General Motors is alive.”

The keying struck a straight line on the passenger side from the rear door to the front door. This is a lengthy line on a BMW 745LI. I tried to rub it out but it still shows and probably will until I have it professionally attended to.

This keying comes on the heels of similar vandalism I experienced earlier this month when someone used a razor blade or sharp cutting tool to destroy a picture of me and a likeness of President Obama which hung on wall space outside my apartment door.

There are other reports from around the country telling of vandalism to signs and property identifiable as supporting President Obama. I don’t know why I have not seen the same kind of reports from people supporting Governor Romney. It is not that President Obama’s supporters are too liberal or too lazy. I like to think we are just fair minded.

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What ever bather wants (maybe)

Among the interesting objets d’art I discovered on my trip to London in September was a see-through bathtub. Just the thing, I thought, for the person (or persons) who prefer to bathe rather than shower. The tub comes in black or clear glass with all the necessary water source and drain attachments, as well as a rail to hold a towel or two. A salesman told me sales were brisk across both age and sex spectrums. I took that with a grain of salt.

The first picture is the black glass bathtub and the clear one is below it. (Click on photo to enlarge).

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The obituary in the Charleston, SC, newspaper last Thursday was datelined “Havana, FL” and I almost missed the notice of the passing on October 9, 2012, of a grand lady, Doris Alzada Henderson McNeely Segrest, 105 years old.  Teddy Roosevelt was President when Doris was born.

I was privileged to be her next door neighbor for more than 20 years in the classical bedroom community that is Hanahan, SC. She was always a lady with a calm demeanor and lively attitude about living. She forever had a smile on her face and a song in her heart. I guess she was about 92-95 when she stopped driving her own car, but when friends came to pick her up she was at the door of her house waiting and bounded into the idling car in lickety-split time and fashion. 

 (Not Doris)

While in her nineties she went to city hall one night during physical fitness week and gave the mayor and council a demonstration of how she used a small trampoline every day (which she slid out and under her bed.) Everyone at the council meeting, officials and visitors, was eye-popping amazed at her age and agility and joined in a hearty round of applause for her athleticism and devotion to keeping herself fit. One day her son Jimmie was visiting from Florida and he came to my house to borrow an electric drill. He wanted to put a handle on his mother’s trampoline so she could hang on while doing her daily jumps.

After the magnificent 13,200 feet cable-stayed Ravenel Bridge across the Cooper River opened in Charleston in 2005, Hanahan – not to be outdone - had its own bridge opening. This was the somewhat less than magnificent two-lane 1,200 feet bridge across Turkey Creek on Murray Avenue. A handicapped person could throw a rock across the creek, but that did not deter city officials, the school band, cheerleaders, scouts, civic organizations and hundreds of residents from turning out for the evening celebration and carnival-like atmosphere. Doris walked down from her house smiling to attend the festivities. She was warmly welcomed by all.

Doris asked me to come to her house one day to resolve a computer problem. Her computer was a keyboard attached to her TV which she used to send e-mails to friends and family. I had a modest amount of computer repair abilities, but I had no experience with her setup and had to admit I could not help her. She laughed it off and said some day she would get a real computer.

She was a regular church going lady, gave a few dollars every week to some needy cause and attended all the neighborhood holiday gatherings. She had a good appetite for a lady that probably didn’t weigh more than 100 pounds. Doris stayed behind in Hanahan when my late wife and I moved to Franke at Seaside in 2007-2008. Sometime after that she went to Florida to live with her son. I’m confident some of the souls in heaven will be on a trampoline once Doris gets settled in. She will be deeply missed by family and her legion of friends.