Stewart Myrent

Bev, loved your story about everybody, somebody, anybody & nobody. It reminded me of Abbott & Costello's "who's on first?", but I thought yours was way funnier.  I wish I could remember it, but I'll probably forget it by tomorrow.  It's a very sad thing, indeed, when a mind turns to mush.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

2 + 2 = 4  

today

and every day

for everyone.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jack, Vermont is one of those enchanted places where I wish my time there could go on forever...  

Tomorrow my grandson departs Vermont for another enchanted place - Scotland... 
My wish for him is that time stretches out during his experiences and learning while a student at University of Edinburgh spring term
and travel in the U.K. and to the E.U. during university breaks...

Alex has been advised Beware the language barrier of the Scottish burr...

makes me wonder about Aussie prattle and phonetics for:    
"This girl (sheila) has game. Knock me down, I'll get back up."

P.S. Ben and Jerry's is part of the flavor of Vermont.
 

Have you watched "The Crown",  season 3, episode 6?  Tywysog Cymru

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We are defeating ourselves.  
Escalating anti-Semitic attacks should alarm all of us.
We need to stand up against hate and intolerance in the U.S.  
It even takes courage for Jews to stand up for Jews.  

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Bev,

when no one is to blame, everyone is to blame.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

In response to it taking courage for Jews to stand up for Jews:

Though when I think of Nazi Collaborators I do not usually think of Jews,
I have learned there were Jews who collaborated with the Nazi regime during WWII.
I often thought it was the Germans alone who were responsible for the Holocaust, for the identification and deportation of Jews to death camps. Am I mistaken to understand that there were Jews who volunteered to work for the Nazis albeit there were some who worked under duress?

I realize what I have read and understood may be born of gossip and hatred...

Particularly in Poland, there are stories of ghetto collaborators - Jewish police who helped keep "order" in the ghetto in return for privileges and the promise to be protected from the worst of what was to come.  

There are stories of Rumkowski who headed the "Judenrat" - the Jewish Council answerable to the Nazis.  Whether Rumkowski thought he was doing "the right thing" or not is moot - he actively helped the Nazis in transporting his fellow Jews. If he reasoned (hoped) it was better to sacrifice some so that others could survive, Rumkowski did not survive the Holocaust. He and his family ended up in Auschwitz where he was beaten to death by fellow Jewish inmates for the role he played in the deaths of thousands of children and elderly.

According to the Nuremberg race laws which were passed in 1935 and are still used in Israel today to determine one's heritage, it was determined that over 150,000 Germans of Jewish blood fought for the Reich. Of these 150,000 men, more than 6000 were classified as of "pure Jewish blood" - both parents were Jewish, as were their grandparents.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Truth is vital, but without love it is unbearable."  -- The Two Popes

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."  --Albert Einstein

Happy New Year  2020.    

The ball dropped at Times Square.

It's now 12:01 a.m. ET January 1, 2020 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

You guys bring back memories of my time teaching at York High School.  I taught in Title I support services.

Students asked me: "Why do you care so much?"

My response: "Why don't you care more?"

Classmates on all sides have chosen to leave or been driven from the Forum.  I have hung in - and again now - even though I may be the only classmate who has had posts (arbitrarily) deleted from the Forum.

Why have I hung in posting on the Forum? largely because of appreciation expressed to me personally.

I wonder - out loud - how long (the Forum) the fire will continue if so few take time to throw a log onto the fire.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Donald Henry Kuehn

Now that you have (hopefully) gotten through the holiday and the New Year's celebration, please take a minute to look at my post #1584 regarding a classmate in need and do what ever you feel is appropriate.

Thanks to those who responded earlier.  

DK

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Yes, now that we are through the holiday season we return to the real world:

the reality that our classmate Larry Nelson and his wife Julie continue to struggle

and the reality of bushfires in Australia burning to apocalyptic proportions.

It is probably too early to understand the impact these bushfires (2019 into 2020) are having / have already had on Australia.  Though bushfires are not new in Australia, bushfires in the past (most notably across the 1974 calendar year) have burned through well-grown grasslands in the far west.  The scale and location of the bushfires today are catastrophic, exacerbated by excessive heat and strong wind.  These bushfires are burning where people live, and have been fuelled by record-breaking drought. "The geographic range, and the fact the fires are occuring all at once, make the fires unprecedented...the prolonged fires are affecting so many Australians they have impacted the economy... a third to a half of the population is affected by the fires.  Australia is enduring an "unprecedented medical emegency from hazardous air pollution."  The Australian media's total focus is on the bushfires and we are only hearing of them now after months of devastation.  The climate crisis is lengthening the fire season; the bushfires are placing a great strain on Australia's volunteer firefighting brigades.  Endangered plant and animal species add to the impact Australia is suffering.

Life is earnest.  
We have been ignoring these stories for months.

God bless the world.

Stewart Myrent

Janis, I'm so glad you mentioned the bush fires in Australia, because I was talking to former classmate Bob Lawrence (nee Fimoff) & he mentioned the fires in Australia, how bad they were, which I had no knowledge of, & mentioned he was looking at photos online & that every municipality in Australia was being threatened by these fires.  I then fired up my laptop & took a look at the maps myself, which showed the entire country (continent) ringed by these fires, except for the extreme southwest corner.  In virtually every city in Australia, they are dealing with these out-of-control fires.  You mentioned some of the byproducts of these fires, such as air quality, but the ubiquity & intensity & breadth of these fires is almost of biblical proportions.  Egads!  Jack, I am guessing you are glad you're back in the U.S. (you got out of there just in time, apparently), but I'm sure you're very worried about the many friends I'm sure you have there & also fear for the millions who you do not know.  I also read that the fires are expanding because of heavy rains, but I'm not sure I understand that.  My guess is that the Aussies will be dealing with the fallout from this for decades (if they can survive it - I hope they will).

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

👎 to The Boston Globe

<nileswest64> beware

There's too much happening Friday, January 3, 2020
for "Just a home game for Brady, or end of the road?"

to be the headline above the fold.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Yes. the Australian fires are indeed catastrophic. I was surprised when I was over there that there was comparatively scant coverage by American online news sources (although FINALLY this has changed). We are looking at our own future here folks -- at least in the airid to semi-arid Western U.S. We ignore it at our peril. Australia is not the "Lucky Country" anymore. Three factors came together at the same time to produce the perfect storm of fires:1) Unprecedented drought (some places havent seen rain in 3 years); 2) Record breaking heat (some places hit 125); and 3) freakish almost-hurricane strength winds. The same factors were in place in Calilfornia and the Northwest the past few summers. But we got saved by rain. In a drought year those rains might not be forthcoming. And yes, Stuart, you were right in what you read, the storms actually have made the fires worse. These are storms created by the fires themselves. Hardly any moisture but lots of thunder and especially lightening -- which then ignites more fires. A friend today sent me photos of a "FIRENADO" outside of Perth. These are literally tornadoes of fire. They look like some giant fire monster from the depths of hell. Google firenado Australia if you're curious (but don't say I didn't warn you). I am feeling a little guilty that I enjoyed myself so much on my trip while others are struggling. The only place I saw evidence of fire was in Sydney-- at the beginning and end of my trip. There, the smoke was so thick you couldn't even make out Sydney's famous landmarks (Opera House, Sydney Haror Bridge etc). Sometimes the smoke was brown other times red. I got out of Sydney as quick as I could. The Outback was magnificent. Being desert, there was no fire threat. Pure cyystal clear air (if a tad hot). And in Perth, the reliable off-shore winds from the Indian Ocean blew smoke away from town. But even if Perth city is not burning, their economy has been dinged significantly. Not just the obvious things like tourism, but the one road and one railroad that links Perth to the populous East has been closed for 5 days and no idea of when it can reopen. This means no trucks, cars, or railroads can reach the city. They may have to have a "Berlin Airlift" to bring in supplies. And in the East, there's no way for dairy farmers to get their product to market. Zillions of litres of milk have been "dumped". Aussies are an optimistic lot though. They will pull through....I hope.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

And for those of you who are fans of classic '80s rock (I can't be the only one ) you may remember the Australian group "MIdnight Oil". The chorus of their often-played song "Beds Are Burning" is one of the most recognizable anthums in rock history. How ironic and creepy eerie are the lyrics when we listen now: "Where Can We Go When the Beds are Burning?; How Can We Dance While the World Is Turning?"... It gives me the shivers.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Where Can We Go When the Beds are Burning" gives me the shivers too, Jack.  The Austalian sky is blood red.  There is great fear in Australia.

The merging fires are dire.  Finally the U.S. is sending reinforcements to assist Australia's firefighters.  This is Australia's war.

Hopefully the possibility of wet rain will bring relief to Australia.

It's embarrassing - this many months late - to hear newscasters telling reporters in Australia that Americans are following their plight.  Hope springs eternal... better late than never.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Truth is important.
We are living in a consequential time of unintended consequences.  
We need moral clarity.  
Jews do not create anti-Semitism.  
Not until the attack on the rabbi's house during Chanukah did we learn about all the anti-Semitic attacks in December.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Jack, I don't know if you remember them, but through the years, The Seekers have been the best singing group to come out of Australia. Two of my favorite songs by them (both on You Tube):

"I Know I'll Never Find Another You" 

"I am Australian"   (Special 50th Anniversary performance) Listen for the haunting sound of the didgeridoo at the beginning.  

Also, if you haven't already, check out 3 great movies about the Australian people:: "Quigley Down Under", "Man from Snowy River" and "Return to Snowy River". 

Wonderful, caring people, those Aussies/Aborigines.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

On this day especially, I miss the devotion, the candor and the perspective Steve Hirschtick shared with our class, and the interest he brought to the Forum.  Yes, he made his share of mistakes (we all do).  I think about the lack of appreciation he experienced for his contribution, and hope somehow he knows how much he is missed.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Popes can't retire."  
Pope Benedict did retire.

Have you watched "The Two Popes" with Anthony Hopkins on Netflix?  
We are given insight into two aging men who are not usually accessible for such a close view.

"The Kominsky Method" (also on Netflix) gives us insight into two aging men who are not as inaccessible as popes.

Stay with  "The Two Popes" "Inspired by True Events"  'til Germany wins the World Cup (it happens while the credits roll and the music plays...

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Life is fragile.