Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Thanks to you few who post - you bring perspective to the Forum.    
Thanks to you who lurk and take time to respond, albeit privately.    
Posting on the Forum provides the uncomfortable opportunity to communicate - I cherish it as a gift.    
Thanks always.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Merrick Garland is a fellow Niles West alum.

Holly Semiloff (Ciotti)

This is a Merrick Garland story, parts of which might be apochrophal:  He graduated in 1970, same year as my sister Diane.  He was the valedictorian (no surprise). I was at the graduation, and the seniors had chosen a "special speaker,"Lee Eiden (my sister's boyfriend) to speak.  Lee gets up and launches into a denunciation of the Vietnam War.  The principal yanks the plug on the microphone.  Pandemonium in the stands  -- hawks and doves.  Apparently, the mic is then turned back on and Merrick Garland, the "safe" valedictorian speaks.  He takes out a piece of paper with his speech on it, tears it up, and gives an impromptu speech on the First Amendment.

Quite a story, even if parts have gotten embelished in recent years.

I also heard that the year Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court, and that shameful debacle ensued, that the Niles West Class of 2016 (?) invited him to speak!!!  And he did.

Holly Ciotti (Semiloff)

Rosalle Stemer

Wonderful story, Holly!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Holly, do you know any stories about Liz Cheney?

Holly Semiloff (Ciotti)

Ha, ha, no Liz Cheney stories.  What would I know about Wyoming????

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Liz Cheney is a woman of national consequence.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

August 21, 2017, Billy Joel appeared onstage for an encore at Madison Square Garden wearing a yellow star on his black suit.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

True Story:    
A contemporary told me his mom stopped going to the doctor because every time she went, he told her she was pregnant;    
she stopped going to church because God wasn't answering her prayers not to get pregnant again.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"It is startling sometimes shocking, and occasionally humbling to listen to the views of diverse groups of people from our communities. In equal measure, you end up gaining insight into why our democracy works and wondering how it survives."          
-- Doug Jones

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

One day, the phone rang, and a little boy answered.

"May I speak to your parents?"      
"They're busy."        
"Oh. Is anybody else there?"      
"The police."        
"Can I speak to them?"      
"They're busy."        
"Oh. Is anybody else there?"        
"The firemen."      
"Can I speak to them?"      
"They're busy."

"So let me get this straight -- your parents, the police, and the firemen are there, but they're all busy? What are they doing?"

"Lookin' for me."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

  I scream,   
  You scream,   
  We all scream
  for ice cream.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

The palace is preparing the world...

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

QEII dies at 96.     
London Bridge is down.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Prime Minister Liz Truss [who met QEII Tuesday (9/6)] speaks to UK, the Commonwealth, the world.

Long live the King.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Without gas or without you?      
 Without you.        
 Without light or without you?          
 Without you.      
 Without water or without you?        
 Without you.    
 Without food or without you?        
 Without you.      
Cold, hunger, darkness, and thirst are not as scary and deadly for us as your 'friendship and brotherhood'. But history will put everything in its place. And we will be with gas, light, water, and food ... and WITHOUT you!"
-- Volodymyr Zelenskyy's words for Russia as Ukrainian troops swept through the northeastern region of Kharkiv

Russia's collapse in northeast Ukraine ignited Putin's fury and deliberate missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in parts of eastern Ukraine followed by fresh airstrikes on Kharkiv.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

According to Ronald Reagan's own diary entry, which was published years later in Vanity Fair, the White House committed a tea-related offense in 1981:  
*Fri May 1 •* Highlight was noon visit by Prince Charles. He's a most likeable person. The ushers brought him tea -- they served it our way with a tea bag in the cup. It finally dawned on me that he was just holding the cup & then finally put it down on a table. Mike [Deaver, deputy chief of staff] apologized. The Prince said, "I didn't know what to do with it."

In 1985 at an evening reception during a return trip to the White House with Princess Diana, Nancy Reagan orchestrated the iconic Travolta dance for a photo op. The First Lady had a message delivered to John Travolta that it was the princess' fantasy to dance with him.

During an unspecified visit to the U.S. a fellow guest (an American) said, "Hi Prince!"      
The Private Secretary informed future hosts that short of his full title, the Prince preferred to be called "Charles".

To be sure, Meghan and Harry airing their grievances with Charles and the rest of the royal clan would have been explosive in any venue. Who better than Oprah to stir the royal tea and coax Harry to spill it? She served up an iconic interview to strain the Monarchy's "special relationship" with the United States.

Charles served as Prince of Wales for decades; Brits are confident he is well prepared to serve as King.  
King Charles III extended an olive branch to Harry and Meghan. Let us step back.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

A fact is information minus emotion.

An opinion is information plus experience.

Opinion that lacks information is ignorant.

Opinion that ignores information is stupidity.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"You can't have your cake and eat it."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

It does have to be a process that's followed.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"The hallmark of a resilient, productive, and sustainable culture is that disagreements aren't risky.

When someone cares enough to make an assertion and show their work, a healthy organization or society takes a look.

The alternative is the brittle, closed culture of talking points, loyalty oaths, and unquestioned status quo.

What happens when we disagree?      
Because the world changes (and it always does) we'll probably end up disagreeing sooner or later.      
Being good at disagreeing is a (life) skill."

-- Seth Godin

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Thomas Merton said he could "not make good choices unless (he) developed a mature and prudent conscience that gave (him) an accurate account of (his) motives, (his) intentions, and (his) moral acts."     

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Tempted by everything, we can become insensitive to those who have nothing.    
The poor also have names.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

The sun is shining and flooding continues to threaten Floridians.  
Hurricane Ian has left staggering destruction in Florida and has not yet made landfall in South Carolina.    
President Biden remains focused on the ravages of Hurricane Ian in Puerto Rico and Florida, and as it strengthens, taking aim at South Carolina.

Ian is a whole new kind of hurricane, a force of nature.