For my readers. . . . .* * * * * This is a wonderful story, wonderfully written. Brown’s descriptive writing in this nonfiction narrative story includes word pictures of the Dust Bowl, the Depression, Germany as Hitler began taking away freedom after freedom, and the 1936 Olympics. It also includes details of the training and the building of the boats, but just enough to educate and not enough to bore. . . . Brown seemed to know when enough is enough! I loved the story of the boys and their dedication, hard work, overcoming extreme poverty, and their determination and tenacity of fulfilling their American dream.
From Pocock , the English boat builder again: “Reaching farther into yourself to discover hidden strengths and capacities. Doing more than you individually thought possible and doing so in service of a team goal.”
“Standing there, watching them, it occurred to me that when Hitler watched Joe and the boys fight their way back from the rear of the field to sweep ahead of Italy and Germany seventy-five years ago, he saw, but did not recognize, heralds of his doom. He could not have known that one day hundreds of thousands of boys just like them, boys who shared their essential natures—decent and unassuming, not privileged or favored by anything in particular, just loyal, committed, and perseverant—would return to Germany dressed in olive drab, hunting him down.” ― Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Trustees to decide level for autonomy after protests
By Bethany Bump Times Union, Albany, New York
Updated 8:27 pm, Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Yesterday was a day unlike any I remember in Troy, New York. We have lived here for over thirty years and this is the first demonstration with a large group of students over any cause. RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a very serious school, serious students taught by serious faculty . Not that anyone one campus is not concerned about politics and safety, but they are all just focused on their goal of attaining the best education possible, an education worth the $60,000 a year price tag which they pay !
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“Tensions came to a head after several months of disagreement between administrators and students over theRensselaer Student Union, a 125-year-old body that controls, finances and organizes student activities. Every enrolled student who pays an activity fee is a member of the union, and is governed by student leaders they elect each spring.
Students say the university has recently made moves to take over their control of the union, starting with the “mysterious” disappearance of the union’s director in January and ending with a job posting for a new executive director of student activities who would provide leadership for the union and answer to the administration.” from Times Union.”
The Board of Directors will meet with the student leaders to decide on the amount of autonomy the students will have in the running of the Student Union.
Students do have much more power than they realize. Yesterday, they turned not only the flag but the campus upside down. They could be taking the school slogan to heart!
Everyone is talking about President Barack Obama‘s recent trip to Cuba, which involved joint pressers with Raul Castro, baseball games, and the usual partisan drama. Now that Obama is officially out of Cuba, Fidel Castro has poked his nose out and deemed it safe to release a 1500-word op-ed blasting the president for coming and meeting with his brother.
Because Google Translate only gives so much nuance and understanding, here is how Fox News covered the op-ed:
But in his column, titled “My Brother Obama,” the older Castro all but mocks the U.S. president’s efforts. He goes over crucial sections of Obama’s speech line by line, engaging in an ex-post-facto dialogue with the American president with pointed critiques of perceived slights and insults, including Obama’s failure to give credit to indigenous Cubans and Castro’s prohibition of racial segregation after coming to power in 1959.
If you can read Spanish or stomach the touchy, disjointed word soup of Google Translate, the original article is here. Although it can be hard to parse at times, the entire letter makes sense on the whole. Castro dedicated his writing in the official Communist newspaper of Cuba’s government to reminding Obama and the American people that there has been too much animosity and violence in the past to just become pals now. This passage stands out as understandable and evocative:
In 1961, just two years and three months after the triumph of the Revolution, a mercenary force with cannons and armored infantry, equipped with aircraft, was trained and accompanied by warships and aircraft carriers in the US, raiding our country. Nothing can justify this premeditated attack that cost our country hundreds of killed and wounded. Pro-Yankee Brigade assault, nowhere has there could have evacuated a single mercenary. Yanks warplanes were presented to the United Nations as rebels Cuban teams.
The hand of friendship Obama tried to extend just got slapped away by an 89-year-0ld man who said, simply, “We don’t need the empire to give us any presents.”
This is the icing on the cake after all the negative press President Obama got here at home. During the terrorist attacks in Belgium, he spent 51 seconds on the tragedy, then went to a baseball game with Raul Castro where he laughed, waved, and did the wave in great delight. Later, he stood before a wall mural of Che Guevara for a memorable photo op.
Next, he was off to Argentina where the photo op was dancing the tango. He is reported to have said, “She insisted!” What are the Secret Service for, Mr. President?”
For my dear friend, Paul MacDonald on this Good Friday. These words were predicted by the prophet Isaiah about Christ 800 years before His death for us all which is remembered today !
Isaiah 53:3-6 King James Version (KJV)
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
12:46 AM ESTMAR 24, 2016 Wall Street Journal Staff
India celebrates Holi, the all-colorful Hindu festival on Thursday.
Here’s what you need to know about the festival which has people across the world digging their hands deep into heaps of colored powder, smearing friends, family and strangers with it, and even consuming cannabis-infused treats.
What does the festival celebrate?
The Hindu festival of colors marks the advent of spring. Festivities commence a day earlier, with many burning a symbolic funeral pyre marking the death of Holika, a demon princess who unsuccessfully attempted to lead Prahlad, a Hindu devotee, to his death. The ritual symbolizes the victory of good over evil.
Celebrations, mostly concentrated across northern and central India, include people smearing gulaal, or colored powder, on each other at home or on the streets.
This was such a fun day last year as it was in 2013. This along with the kite flying so clearly exemplifies the simple pleasures that India take and the joy these things bring to them. Our dear Salim took us to meet these other American students and we all played throwing Holi colors. Remember our visit to Mohammed’s birthday near the beginning of our trip in 2015? Salim our dear friend took as to both. This is India in all is glory. . . . .blending of cultures, faith systems and colors! Enjoy the pictures!
Salim is peeking in at us. Though this was not his celebration, he gladly entered in the fun !
This is from our first Holi in 2013. . . different group of students, different site, at CEPT, but still the same crazy fun !
On the night of November 28, 2008, Mumbai known as the “City of Dreams” became the city of nightmares. Ten men in inflatable speedboats came ashore, with silent and deadly plans. Some local fishermen asked them what they were doing with the answer of “Never mind, it is not your business!” When the fishermen told the police they were ignored.
This lead to 12 coordinated shootings at 2 hotels, including the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel which was held for 3 days, Jewish Community Center, a cafe, cinema, train station and hospital. There were 166 deaths including 9 of the attackers and 600 +injuries.
India has never been the same again.
One complaint I heard yesterday from a woman from Brussels, was that security would be very tight for a day, and then go back to the levels before. Not so in India. Seven years after their 9/11, we experienced security in airports like none we had seen before. This machine or something similar was just inside the door on arrival. It is a screening for checked baggage and all airports where we flew in India had them. At the Lemon Tree where we stayed near the Delhi airport, there was a checked baggage machine just inside the door of this *** hotel! We never saw that again.
Let me tell you about security in the Delhi airport, the capital city in India. It was the most strict we saw anywhere.
*As we approached the drop off area in the hotel bus, each vehicle was checked underneath for metal.
Each person leaving the vehicle had to show his/her passport. All this was done quickly to get the vehicles back on the road.
As we entered the door only feet away from the drop-off, we had to show our passport again.
We put our checked baggage in the machine above or a variation of it. We collected our checked baggage on the other side.
Next, it was off to the check-in where we showed our passport again, our ticket, and checked baggage.
Next was the personal security and carry-on with passport and ticket. Below shows the woman’s security. Men and women have separate security lines and modesty is very important.
For those successfully passing through here, the passenger receives a tag that is stamped with strings to fasten to all carry-ons, purses , laptops, carry-on bags.
The final and 5th time the passengers show their passports is as you enter the plane. The attendant looks for that tag with the official stamped tag that indicates the bags have been checked. One student had the tag in his hand. He was pulled aside , his bag rechecked, tag tied safely on his bag before entering the plane. If you have lost your tag, you must go back and be screened again!
All this security takes a long time and you must arrive several hours in advance.
Oddly enough, passengers don’t have to remove their shoes . That is only in the US.
Here is an image of a personal item check for Indigo Air.
Indian airports are busy, crowded, and chaotic. Whole families come to say goodbye or pick-up visitors. As much as we didn’t like or even understand all this process, we were grateful to be safe!
This may become the model of security in an airport near you!
The complete film is on You.tube. It is in Hindi but the story is easily followed. Sadly the world has seen these attacks too often. India will never forget!
TalesAlongTheWay 