Today, David drove the short distance to the GRE testing center. I recalled my two testing adventures: as a high school junior to ACT testing and as college senior to GRE testing. Neither was close by nor an easy drive.
I don't recall my sisters having to take the ACT test to get into college. But as luck would have it by the time I reached upper high school status, I did. Way back then, there weren't encouragements to study for the test or to take it again. It was a one-shot deal. At least, that is how our high school counselor sold it.
So the nearest testing center, in those days of paper tests, was 95 miles away. It didn't occur to me to see if anyone else was taking the test the same day in order to carpool. And in hindsight, my Dad wished he would have drove instead of sending me solo.
95 miles. To put in perspective that's like driving from Chattanooga to Cookeville. In the early morning. Before dawn's early light. And not on a four-lane highway but a roadbed covered with asphalt and no shoulder. Just a sharp dropoff. A Kansas farm to market road.
On this narrow asphalt road with no shoulder, the front tire had a blowout. As if driving early morning at age 17 by yourself rushing to get to a test wasn't stressful enough. So, not having a place to pull over and being on just the downside of a hill just barely out of sight for oncoming drivers, I began changing the tire. Thank goodness no one popped over that hill.
Back on the road, I arrived late to the testing center with dirty hands and wondering if this trip was worth the trouble.
As expected, my test results were not indicative of what I really knew. And a few colleges rejected me based on those scores.
Now to my GRE adventure. Well, first, a lot of blame fell on me. I didn't take advantage of the studying groups before the test. And I didn't get to my room to sleep until about 4 AM. It was a terribly mixed-up emotional night for me. At 6 AM, I was roughly woken up by my friend. I wandered outside and somehow in my mind within the two hours, a terrible ice storm had come up and the roads were frozen solid. But I was told that happened way before in the night.
We had to drive 50 miles in the dead of winter on the frozen Iowa plains, freezing temps, and ice-packed highway to the GRE testing center. I don't remember how bad the roads were. I slept.
I finished my test in 1 hour and 30 minutes. The fastest time ever at that time. Too bad my scores weren't indicative of my true intellectual value. After begging KU to let me into grad school, I was admitted as a probation student solely based on my writing sample, faculty recommendations, and all of the collegiate groups I was active in. But KU found out that I was in reality a really good student and the probation was dropped in mid-fall semester.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
JFK and the American Political Watershed
Well, it has been a while since I posted on here. Four major things going on at once makes my blog, especially this, my hard-edged blog, back burner existence.
Today, everyone knows in the United States by the wealth of media and social media information that today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of a young President. Forever scarred into American memory.
JFK poured so much into the American soul: ask not what your country can do statement; Peace Corps, NASA; nuclear arms control. We still have these today. We as a country have been blessed by their presence.
After making the right decisions over the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK was a certifiable political rock star. His approval ratings in February 1963 was sky high over 70 percent.
But by the summer of 1963, his ratings had plummeted. Unknown to him, as there was no crystal ball, he had no idea that the Republicans in 1964 would nominate someone easily beatable in Goldwater. JFK's sudden drop of approval came in large part in the hands of Democrats in the South. JFK had made a speech equating civil rights as an American moral issue and that black men and women should have those rights. This was said in the midst of the Jim Crow South. De facto American apartheid. JFK backed publicly on TV legislation that would become, after his death, the Civil Rights Act.
The razor-thin victory in 1960 haunted JFK's advisers; losing the Democratic vote in the South was not a strategy for re-election in 1964. Despite the haranguing, JFK's advisers were not supporting any trip to Texas, especially Dallas. Adalai Stevenson was pelted with angry taunts just a few weeks before JFK's fateful Dallas visit. But Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson insisted that JFK had to go to Texas; the vice president's home state. The 1964 primaries would be starting in February, and the state of Texas support had to be shored up was Johnson's line of reasoning. So to Texas, JFK went.
His death was the watershed moment of the body of American politic. Nothing has really been the same ever since. I would even say the decline of America began in November 1963.
The rebellious movement of the Sixties was tantamount to societal disillusionment. Individual greed over societal compassion that started in the Seventies, and still evolving today, grew out of that disillusionment.
My apologies to Don McLean--Bye bye American Pie, Drove my Chevy to levee but the levee was dry on the Day America Died.
Today, everyone knows in the United States by the wealth of media and social media information that today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of a young President. Forever scarred into American memory.
JFK poured so much into the American soul: ask not what your country can do statement; Peace Corps, NASA; nuclear arms control. We still have these today. We as a country have been blessed by their presence.
After making the right decisions over the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK was a certifiable political rock star. His approval ratings in February 1963 was sky high over 70 percent.
But by the summer of 1963, his ratings had plummeted. Unknown to him, as there was no crystal ball, he had no idea that the Republicans in 1964 would nominate someone easily beatable in Goldwater. JFK's sudden drop of approval came in large part in the hands of Democrats in the South. JFK had made a speech equating civil rights as an American moral issue and that black men and women should have those rights. This was said in the midst of the Jim Crow South. De facto American apartheid. JFK backed publicly on TV legislation that would become, after his death, the Civil Rights Act.
The razor-thin victory in 1960 haunted JFK's advisers; losing the Democratic vote in the South was not a strategy for re-election in 1964. Despite the haranguing, JFK's advisers were not supporting any trip to Texas, especially Dallas. Adalai Stevenson was pelted with angry taunts just a few weeks before JFK's fateful Dallas visit. But Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson insisted that JFK had to go to Texas; the vice president's home state. The 1964 primaries would be starting in February, and the state of Texas support had to be shored up was Johnson's line of reasoning. So to Texas, JFK went.
His death was the watershed moment of the body of American politic. Nothing has really been the same ever since. I would even say the decline of America began in November 1963.
The rebellious movement of the Sixties was tantamount to societal disillusionment. Individual greed over societal compassion that started in the Seventies, and still evolving today, grew out of that disillusionment.
My apologies to Don McLean--Bye bye American Pie, Drove my Chevy to levee but the levee was dry on the Day America Died.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Constitution Week 2010 Video Clip from Chatt State Students
I keep re-posting this YouTube playlist on my Constitution Week guide at work. It is such a great collection of quips of what the First Amendment means. There are two, very short video clips in the playlist; here are my favorite quotes:
Clip One:
I think it's awesome. I fought for this country so that we can have that right.
2 minute 17 mark to 2 minute 22 mark
Clip Two:
My right to look at dirty filthy nasty pornography anytime I choose just because I like to.
44 second mark to 50 second mark
I don't give a #@$* if you're a homophobe or not, you need to get over it.
55 second mark to 59 second mark
And now the two video clips. Enjoy! I always do when viewing this playlist!
Clip One:
I think it's awesome. I fought for this country so that we can have that right.
2 minute 17 mark to 2 minute 22 mark
Clip Two:
My right to look at dirty filthy nasty pornography anytime I choose just because I like to.
44 second mark to 50 second mark
I don't give a #@$* if you're a homophobe or not, you need to get over it.
55 second mark to 59 second mark
And now the two video clips. Enjoy! I always do when viewing this playlist!
Monday, September 2, 2013
The Return to School
Everyday -- there is something swirling in my day. Work, PTA Council, and --- graduate school.
School has been the toughest to add in to my daily life. It's been 25 plus years since my last days of graduate school. Trying to understand reading text, taking notes and participation in a distant education environment has not helped any. Assignments are a little different--discussion board, online whiteboard sessions and everything that is handed out are not through folders in different sections.
PTA council is one of those things that I could have done later but not really. I already spent two years as president-elect. I'm obligated now.
I try to keep my head up and don't get distracted or off track. It is a constant juggling.
School has been the toughest to add in to my daily life. It's been 25 plus years since my last days of graduate school. Trying to understand reading text, taking notes and participation in a distant education environment has not helped any. Assignments are a little different--discussion board, online whiteboard sessions and everything that is handed out are not through folders in different sections.
PTA council is one of those things that I could have done later but not really. I already spent two years as president-elect. I'm obligated now.
I try to keep my head up and don't get distracted or off track. It is a constant juggling.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Restaurant in North Charleston and Racism
Racism is still here.
A group of 25 African-Americans were denied service at Wild Wings in North Charleston because a customer(s) felt threatened by their black presence. In an effort to deter the group, the group waited almost two hours before being told service was being denied.
Here is my interest. Who had enough influence, enough pull to say they felt threatened and caused this reaction by the restaurant management?
Yeah, racism is here. How can that be--we have a black president. A lot of people voted for a black president in 2008 to try to be Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of their racism.
We all profile. We see Jeremy Lin play professional basketball but how prevalent are the "slant eye playing round ball" jokes. Profiling.
We see a house with a bunch of cars around it. Hispanic, we think. Profiling.
We see an old mini-van with a bunch of kids rambling around inside. Hispanic, we think. Profiling.
We see a group of 25 African-Americans wanting to be seated in a restaurant and we feel threatened. Profiling.
We are sitting in a car and see a black male with pants hanging low--black gang banger, we think. Are my car doors locked? Profiling.
If you're black and it's past 5:00, don't be caught in town--numerous cities in the North, South, and West. Racism isn't a Southern thing; it's everywhere.
And let's not even discuss our society's thoughts and reactions to interracial dating and marriage. Racism is still here; ignore and deny if you wish.
A group of 25 African-Americans were denied service at Wild Wings in North Charleston because a customer(s) felt threatened by their black presence. In an effort to deter the group, the group waited almost two hours before being told service was being denied.
Here is my interest. Who had enough influence, enough pull to say they felt threatened and caused this reaction by the restaurant management?
Yeah, racism is here. How can that be--we have a black president. A lot of people voted for a black president in 2008 to try to be Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of their racism.
We all profile. We see Jeremy Lin play professional basketball but how prevalent are the "slant eye playing round ball" jokes. Profiling.
We see a house with a bunch of cars around it. Hispanic, we think. Profiling.
We see an old mini-van with a bunch of kids rambling around inside. Hispanic, we think. Profiling.
We see a group of 25 African-Americans wanting to be seated in a restaurant and we feel threatened. Profiling.
We are sitting in a car and see a black male with pants hanging low--black gang banger, we think. Are my car doors locked? Profiling.
If you're black and it's past 5:00, don't be caught in town--numerous cities in the North, South, and West. Racism isn't a Southern thing; it's everywhere.
And let's not even discuss our society's thoughts and reactions to interracial dating and marriage. Racism is still here; ignore and deny if you wish.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Praying Each Month for School Safety
Ok--I read a weird article today about a group of people going into the schools, laying hands on school walls and praying for safety of the school. Each month. Wow--talk about some weird stuff.
Hey I'm as Christian as the next person but this seems really odd. But if a group of people want to go lay hands on school walls each month, let them pray. We all want school safety and our children to be safe.
But I'm not supporting it. It's a real throw into the face for other religious beliefs--you're Jewish? Get out of the way and let us pray. We are all instructed to have prayer in appropriate places, not as a tool to flaunt ourselves as holier than thou. This to me is exactly what this is: flaunting with an extra slap in the face in a government building.
And then the comments on Facebook. Some of these comments are disturbing--there are people like this in Chattanooga? Wiccans are threatening to go into schools and throw salt. Ok--this type of absurdity is why the Bill of Rights freedoms were outlined.
Unlike some clueless Facebook commenters who stated that this country was founded on Christianity--it was really founded on freedom from persecution no matter the religious beliefs!!
The First Amendment protects all religious beliefs from government designation. No Founding Father wanted one religion above another. Freedom FROM not freedom for. Big, huge difference. Hey, you want to be a Druid like many Founding Fathers were, find your tree; no one is going to stop you.
Hey I'm as Christian as the next person but this seems really odd. But if a group of people want to go lay hands on school walls each month, let them pray. We all want school safety and our children to be safe.
But I'm not supporting it. It's a real throw into the face for other religious beliefs--you're Jewish? Get out of the way and let us pray. We are all instructed to have prayer in appropriate places, not as a tool to flaunt ourselves as holier than thou. This to me is exactly what this is: flaunting with an extra slap in the face in a government building.
And then the comments on Facebook. Some of these comments are disturbing--there are people like this in Chattanooga? Wiccans are threatening to go into schools and throw salt. Ok--this type of absurdity is why the Bill of Rights freedoms were outlined.
Unlike some clueless Facebook commenters who stated that this country was founded on Christianity--it was really founded on freedom from persecution no matter the religious beliefs!!
The First Amendment protects all religious beliefs from government designation. No Founding Father wanted one religion above another. Freedom FROM not freedom for. Big, huge difference. Hey, you want to be a Druid like many Founding Fathers were, find your tree; no one is going to stop you.
Monday, August 5, 2013
The Thing I Think is Hypocritical Christian
I think most people know that I lived in a parsonage when in high school. But by then, my theological beliefs were beginning to formulate.
I tweeted a while back that my theology was heavily influenced by Liberation Theology (anybody who is impoverished gets an automatic ticket to heaven) but mixed with a heavy dose of Pentecostalism. And sprinkled on top by Jesus Christ Superstar.
During the 70s, many Methodist churches were experiencing the rockin and rollin feel of Pentecostalism. I was saved in the midst of Pentecostalism and baptism by the Holy Spirit. I can't tell the gifts I received that night; I only share when I feel led.
But the modernistic approach to the Gospel as interpreted by Jesus Christ Superstar and by the ministers I heard expounding on theology of love and that each of us is already saved really laid heavy on my heart.
So you would think that a hip liberal Christian like I am would be ok with pre-marital/living in sin sex. I am not.
It just really bothers me that any Christian would think that having casual sex is acceptable to do repeatedly or living together is acceptable. That to me is just hyper-hypocritical.
Now this is not a knock on homosexuality. To me marriage is marriage whether is straight or it's LGBT. That's not the point I'm making here. But pretending that having sex outside the bounds of marriage is OK as a Christian--that has always bothered me.
I tweeted a while back that my theology was heavily influenced by Liberation Theology (anybody who is impoverished gets an automatic ticket to heaven) but mixed with a heavy dose of Pentecostalism. And sprinkled on top by Jesus Christ Superstar.
During the 70s, many Methodist churches were experiencing the rockin and rollin feel of Pentecostalism. I was saved in the midst of Pentecostalism and baptism by the Holy Spirit. I can't tell the gifts I received that night; I only share when I feel led.
But the modernistic approach to the Gospel as interpreted by Jesus Christ Superstar and by the ministers I heard expounding on theology of love and that each of us is already saved really laid heavy on my heart.
So you would think that a hip liberal Christian like I am would be ok with pre-marital/living in sin sex. I am not.
It just really bothers me that any Christian would think that having casual sex is acceptable to do repeatedly or living together is acceptable. That to me is just hyper-hypocritical.
Now this is not a knock on homosexuality. To me marriage is marriage whether is straight or it's LGBT. That's not the point I'm making here. But pretending that having sex outside the bounds of marriage is OK as a Christian--that has always bothered me.
Monday, July 29, 2013
President Obama is No Democrat
President Barack Obama has been labeled as a far left-wing liberal, a socialist, a man bent on destruction. All so laughable. All so ludicrous. What is Mr. Obama really? Just a Moderate Republican masquerading as a Democrat.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out whose playbook Obama is copying. A Republican president, who was considered in his day a conservative: Richard M. Nixon.
Where does Obamacare and Romneycare come from--Richard Nixon's proposal to Congress for a national health insurance exchange. Wow. Just really original left-handed stuff. Not.
Where does propping up corporations with block federal grants and labor and wage control come from? Straight out of Tricky Dick's political handbook.
How about using the IRS to punish enemies and wiretapping domestic surveillance? Ooh, once again the Nixon's "Plan for America" handbook.
Obama pushing the envelope into far leftist liberalism? How about history repeating itself instead. Even our European political scientists can see there's hardly any difference between Mr. Obama and mainstream Republicans. These guys from Europe practically have Obama and the Republicans living at the same political philosophical address.
The only real liberals Americans ever had a choice of electing as a modern US president were in 1968--Hubert Humphrey; 1972--George McGovern, and 2000--Ralph Nader. Everybody else claiming to be left has been milquetoast at best.
So what am I saying?
Ideas from a 1970 Republican president are being called socialist. Anyone saying that Obama is a socialist is useless to the current political discussion. Obama a far left-wing liberal? Please, no left wing organization claims him.
That is what we have in today's American political discussion--a rabid, lunatic fringe of a right-wing hiding behind an eminence front of talk radio and the Tea Party and lobbing political grenades only because they can without any acknowledgement of the damage being done by their actions.
And, that, my friends, is sickening.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out whose playbook Obama is copying. A Republican president, who was considered in his day a conservative: Richard M. Nixon.
Where does Obamacare and Romneycare come from--Richard Nixon's proposal to Congress for a national health insurance exchange. Wow. Just really original left-handed stuff. Not.
Where does propping up corporations with block federal grants and labor and wage control come from? Straight out of Tricky Dick's political handbook.
How about using the IRS to punish enemies and wiretapping domestic surveillance? Ooh, once again the Nixon's "Plan for America" handbook.
Obama pushing the envelope into far leftist liberalism? How about history repeating itself instead. Even our European political scientists can see there's hardly any difference between Mr. Obama and mainstream Republicans. These guys from Europe practically have Obama and the Republicans living at the same political philosophical address.
The only real liberals Americans ever had a choice of electing as a modern US president were in 1968--Hubert Humphrey; 1972--George McGovern, and 2000--Ralph Nader. Everybody else claiming to be left has been milquetoast at best.
So what am I saying?
Ideas from a 1970 Republican president are being called socialist. Anyone saying that Obama is a socialist is useless to the current political discussion. Obama a far left-wing liberal? Please, no left wing organization claims him.
That is what we have in today's American political discussion--a rabid, lunatic fringe of a right-wing hiding behind an eminence front of talk radio and the Tea Party and lobbing political grenades only because they can without any acknowledgement of the damage being done by their actions.
And, that, my friends, is sickening.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Aspiring Writer Gets Academic Honors
The other day, I was in Clarksville for this:
Because someone was being placed into these honor societies!
So this is one of the certificates received by my freshman:
And she was recently elected to here:
So no more newspaper articles while on the SGA, but here are some article pictures:
Congrats to my college freshman!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Earth Science Department Alumni Award
We celebrated yesterday David's honor of the Earth Science Department Alumni Award! This is awarded to an individual who has a high likelihood of success in the field.
On our way to Cookeville, we descended down into Sequatchie Valley:
And went up Cagle Mountain:
And of course the main pictures to see, David and his award! Congratulations to David-we are so proud of your accomplishments and academic success!
On our way to Cookeville, we descended down into Sequatchie Valley:
And went up Cagle Mountain:
And of course the main pictures to see, David and his award! Congratulations to David-we are so proud of your accomplishments and academic success!
 |
| Earth Science Winners |
 |
| David with Award Certificate |
 |
| 50 students honored from 10 departments of the College of Arts and Sciences |
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Gordonsville Mine Paper
My son David is now an upperclassman in college and a student and a teaching assistant in the Department of Earth Sciences. He recently completed a huge mid-term project for Geology 4200 about the Gordonville's mine complete with several pages of hand-drawn section of cores and cross-sections of mining, and prediction of where to drill cores for future mining. Pretty impressive. And a well-written paper. The entire mid-term project got an A.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Drag Idolatry
So proud of my daughter for tackling the tougher newspaper assignments. Pictured is her article on the campus Drag Idol based something like American Idol. She and the photographer got the entire Features page for this effort!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Gave Me Rhythm, Gave Me Cadence
The farm. Over 100 years in the Hunter family. Probably a transitory home to roaming bison with the occasional arrowhead being found. And back when Kansas was underwater in prehistoric times, definitely home to large fish by the teeth and fossils found.
This Saturday, April 6, marks the end of home.
I have reasoned logically that this was the right thing to do. For my parents especially the right thing to do. I had left the farm as a young boy to become a preacher kid. I left the state of Kansas to go to college. Partially motivated to go somewhere that no one knew me before. I came back to Kansas for two short years at KU. Then I was gone again and never came back as a resident; only a visitor.
But looking at maps, and eventually looking through Google Earth, at the farm location always gave me rhythm, gave me cadence in life.
Sure I can continue to look. Saturday won't change the location nor the landscape. But will looking at it from above on Google Earth still be the same?
Not being there makes it difficult. But I know preparing for Saturday hasn't been easy for my parents and my sisters. Moving, packing, hauling. A lot of work. And a lot of Hunters have passed through this land completing a lot of work. That is not easy to let go.
There are memories. But fading memories in many ways. Memories, though, never drove me home. I went home in my mind because that's where I am. I am from Kansas, in the country, finding my own solutions.
A book closes, a movie ends, but the past remains.
Update 4/12/13: It doesn't feel the same now looking through Google Earth or on the map.
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| Some of the limestone walls from the old house remain in the current house. |
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| The spring: giving forth water. |
Friday, March 1, 2013
Happy Birthday, Westmar 1984 Editorial
I consider the editorial below as one of the best on-side editorials written while I was editor-in-chief of the college student newspaper, The Gleam. Possibly one of the best in The Gleam during my four years at Westmar.
By spring semester 1984, it was obvious that Westmar was struggling financially. I didn't know how much longer it would last as a college [it closed in November 1997]. So the idea came about to write an editorial celebrating Westmar's birthday. We stuck our cynical, tongue-in-cheek attitude in the line "Considering the Darwinist struggle in the field of higher education,..." to address what we saw as the survival of the fittest among higher educational institutions.
This issue of the paper came out Wednesday afternoon. The topic of the message that night during Chapel by the college president: Westmar and more birthdays. I think we struck a nerve, which is what a good editorial does.
Dwight Hunter
EditorialWritten by the Editorial Board [on-side editorial, The Gleam, March 7, 1984, p.2]
Not knowing when it is and afraid of missing it, this is a private celebration to wish Westmar a happy birthday! Considering the Darwinist struggle in the field of higher education, this birthday celebration is significant. Here then is a presentation of our 94 birthday wishes for the coming decade:
By spring semester 1984, it was obvious that Westmar was struggling financially. I didn't know how much longer it would last as a college [it closed in November 1997]. So the idea came about to write an editorial celebrating Westmar's birthday. We stuck our cynical, tongue-in-cheek attitude in the line "Considering the Darwinist struggle in the field of higher education,..." to address what we saw as the survival of the fittest among higher educational institutions.
This issue of the paper came out Wednesday afternoon. The topic of the message that night during Chapel by the college president: Westmar and more birthdays. I think we struck a nerve, which is what a good editorial does.
Dwight Hunter
EditorialWritten by the Editorial Board [on-side editorial, The Gleam, March 7, 1984, p.2]
Happy Birthday, Westmar!
Not knowing when it is and afraid of missing it, this is a private celebration to wish Westmar a happy birthday! Considering the Darwinist struggle in the field of higher education, this birthday celebration is significant. Here then is a presentation of our 94 birthday wishes for the coming decade:
- A renovated Thoren Fine Arts Performing Center.
- Endowed faculty chair.
- A liberal arts college.
- A renovated Thoren Fine Arts Performing Center.
- Generic textbooks.
- Lifesports-Industrial Education Complex.
- A liberal IRV policy.
- A Student Life Committee which studies the spectrum of student life.
- A copy of de Tocqueville's “Democracy in America" for all administrators.
- A consistent college motto.
- Consistent school colors.
- Housing policies with the students in mind.
- A trip to Kansas City in mid-March.
- Fluorescent lights for the Richardson's house.
- Incadescent lights for the dorms and classrooms.
- Wernli Hall.
- Ex-lax for the campus mail system.
- Kaopectate for the steam pipes.
- Taller students.
- Shorter students.
- Students.
- Presidential Winnebago for Art Richardson.
- Richard M. Nixon Division of Justice and Morals.
- Ronald Wilson Reagan Division of Government and Performing Arts.
- An endowment which is more than what the federal government spends on paper clips.
- An endowment.
- Black students.
- Black professors.
- 40% of tuition and fees for instruction and academic expenses.
- Parking.
- A Commons serving more than food on a bun.
- A chicken with lips.
- Good looking men.
- Good looking women.
- Good looking students.
- Students.
- A REAL student newspaper.
- A REAL Board of Trustees.
- A REAL Student Guide.
- ASWC Senate not infested with group think.
- Candidates for student government elections.
- A non-flammable couch for Harnack.
- Double beds in dorms.
- Candy machines that put out.
- The ASWC's Publications Board.
- No 8:00 classes
- No classes on snowy days.
- No classes on warm, sunny days.
- No classes.
- Heat in the winter.
- Heat.
- Air conditioning in the summer.
- Discovery of oil in the Lifesports Center.
- Extermination of bugs.
- Calculators for ASWC budget-planners.
- An ASWC.
- Readers for The Gleam.
- Books for the library.
- Higher salaries for instructors.
- Lower salaries for administrators.
- ASWC Senate meetings that last 5 minutes.
- Faculty Senate meetings that last 2 minutes.
- Teaching requirements for administrators.
- More pigeons than squirrels.
- Meal tickets that can be used in the S.U. at reasonable hours.
- Yearbooks delivered on time.
- A cure for herpes.
- A male birth control pill.
- A Wind Ensemble that does not practice in a banquet room.
- Administrators in one building.
- A Muslim priest.
- Commercials that DO jog your mind.
- Vents over cooking stoves.
- A REAL alcohol policy.
- A REAL commitment to the student developmental vectors.
- Decrease in Briar Cliffs admissions standards.
- A college song.
- Sidewalks that run west to east.
- A college community.
- A college.
- Golf course, of course.
- Charmin in dorm bathroom stalls.
- Unemployment insurance for Westmar employees.
- Unemployment insurance for Westmar graduates.
- Unemployment insurance for Hunter . . . just in case.
- Westmar Master Plan that works.
- Emphasis on academics not brick and mortar.
- The Beatles (with Julian Lennon as Lennon's replacement) for the Spring Formal.
- Anybody but Spyro Gyra for the Spring Formal.
- The Who for the commencement speaker.
- A conscience.
- A justifiable, student-reviewed tuition increase.
- Shredded wheat in every room.
- A little luck and a lot more years . . . Happy Birthday Westmar!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The Overpass Exchange Out in the Middle of Nowhere
Update: May 2017. In the last line of this blog post, I wrote, "Things are not the same as they once were." Isn't that the truth. The overpass exchange I wrote about in February 2013 is no longer. It has been torn down and replaced with an intersection. These pictures are now an archive of what once was an anomaly in the middle of nowhere.
When I was a young lad, I was always in wonderment why the state built an overpass exchange with entrance and exit ramps in the middle of nowhere. Other highway intersections usually rated only a stop sign and maybe a traffic light. But not the highway intersection of U.S. 24 and KS 258.
Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but in the middle of my world at the time, was this intersection for a state highway and a US highway with no town in sight. And KS 258 ended less than 100 feet to the north and ended a few miles to the south after crossing over the earth-filled dam compounding the South Solomon River and creating Webster Lake.
I'm guessing one reason for the overpass was that Highway 258 after crossing over the dam was on a high roadbed while Highway 24 was graded to be as flat as possible. The difference in height was accommodated with the overpass and exchange. But still to the untrained eye, it looks a little out of place.
I loved going across this way as a kid because seeing a large body of water in that part of Kansas is not an everyday sight. Kansas Highway 258, as it crossed over the dam, has no shoulders and is enclosed with guardrails on both sides. The top of the dam is the roadbed.
Webster Lake inundated the town of Webster. The town was relocated to higher land but never survived the move. When I was very young, the town had a small fish and bait store with a few grocery items. But the town soon faded away. Only the lake kept its name alive.
I'm reminiscing a lot. Therapy for the soul. Things are not the same as they once were.
When I was a young lad, I was always in wonderment why the state built an overpass exchange with entrance and exit ramps in the middle of nowhere. Other highway intersections usually rated only a stop sign and maybe a traffic light. But not the highway intersection of U.S. 24 and KS 258.
Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but in the middle of my world at the time, was this intersection for a state highway and a US highway with no town in sight. And KS 258 ended less than 100 feet to the north and ended a few miles to the south after crossing over the earth-filled dam compounding the South Solomon River and creating Webster Lake.
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| State Highway 258 ending to the north |
I'm guessing one reason for the overpass was that Highway 258 after crossing over the dam was on a high roadbed while Highway 24 was graded to be as flat as possible. The difference in height was accommodated with the overpass and exchange. But still to the untrained eye, it looks a little out of place.
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| Looking to the west from KS 258. |
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| Looking to the east from the overpass bridge |
I loved going across this way as a kid because seeing a large body of water in that part of Kansas is not an everyday sight. Kansas Highway 258, as it crossed over the dam, has no shoulders and is enclosed with guardrails on both sides. The top of the dam is the roadbed.
Webster Lake inundated the town of Webster. The town was relocated to higher land but never survived the move. When I was very young, the town had a small fish and bait store with a few grocery items. But the town soon faded away. Only the lake kept its name alive.
I'm reminiscing a lot. Therapy for the soul. Things are not the same as they once were.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Clarkson's No Fear Performance at Inauguration
If this performance of My Country Tis of Thee doesn't tug your patriotic heartstrings, then you and I are on different planets.
Kelly Clarkson--full of nervous energy. Who wouldn't be? Does she lip-sync or go live?
The President just finished his Inaugual Address-who would want to follow that.
Surrounded by dignitaries, television cameras and 800,000 people on the National Mall.
Facing directly into a cold wind.
But she gave a gutsy performance, singing live, no lip-syncing controversy here!
Kelly Clarkson--full of nervous energy. Who wouldn't be? Does she lip-sync or go live?
The President just finished his Inaugual Address-who would want to follow that.
Surrounded by dignitaries, television cameras and 800,000 people on the National Mall.
Facing directly into a cold wind.
But she gave a gutsy performance, singing live, no lip-syncing controversy here!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Kerry Breaks Stain of Presidential Candidate Loser
Before Adlai Stevenson losing to Dwight D. Eisenhower twice (1952 and 1956), losing presidential candidates often stayed politically active, or were consulted publicly as elder statesmen, or were asked to run for president again, a la Stevenson in 1956. Then the culture of America changed about the loser tag, and for the last 55 years, the losing major party candidates were considered toxic.
That is until John Kerry.Before getting to Kerry, let's look at losing candidates from 1976 on, not counting incumbent presidents who lost (Ford, Carter, Bush I) because a losing incumbent still gets a presidential museum. And six years must have passed since the election (so no 2008 or 2012 assessment yet).1984: Losing candidate = Walter MondaleBefore losing, Mondale served in the U.S. Senate from 1964-1976; U.S. Vice President from 1977-1981. Mondale got a plum 3-year job as US Ambassador to Japan but that doesn't count as an elected official nor as a significant poltical appointment.1988: Losing candidate = Michael DukakisBefore losing, Dukakis served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1975-1979 and from 1983-1990. After losing, Dukakis finished his term as governor and hasn't done anything political since.Dukakis did effect one major campaigning change--the two major candidates after convention run a "poltical sprint" to November. Dukakis with a 17-point lead in the polls took time off the campaign trail after convention to be Governor of Masschusetts.2000: Losing Electoral College Candidate = Al Gore(winning popular vote doesn't count)Before losing the Electoral College vote, Gore served in the U.S. House from 1977-1985, the U.S. senate from 1985-1993; and U.S. Vice President from 1993-2001.Gore has accomplished a lot since the 2000 election but nothing in the elected or significant appointee arena.2004: Losing candidate = John KerryBefore losing, Kerry served as Lt. Governor of Masschusetts (with Gov. Michael Dukakis) from 1983-1985; and the U.S. Senate from 1985 to current.After losing in 2004, Kerry not only finished the remainder of his 6-year term in the Senate, he was re-elected to another 6-year term in 2008 and became the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Kerry has wielded great influence on U.S. policy as a U.S. Senator and as a Chairman of an influential Senate committee.Now he has been nominated to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. Secretary of State. His nomination to this high level Cabinet position is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.John Kerry has broken free from the stain as a major party presidential candidate loser and never lost stride influencing U.S. policy, and he continues to be consulted about political strategy.
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