Winter Solstice 2020 - Annus Horribilis

 Solstice Dawn 

(Geez, seems like it shows up in same spot every year!)

Annus Horribilis. (No, it doesn't mean horrible pain in the ass - although this year might qualify.) It means "Horrible year" and that's what Queen Elizabeth thought of her 1992. Kinda makes you wonder what she thinks of this year. Anyway, it's been a stinker alright but hold fast, the greatest day of the year is at hand! 

For the past many years I have done my best with various solstice stories to help my fellow Northern Hemispherians get through this longest of nights. I had hoped that I could retire or at least slack off a bit but no, this horribilis year requires that I man up and see you through this vale of tears once again. This has been a terrible year, no doubt about it, a horrible year and some say the worst ever. But is it? Let's see:

1347AD, Black Death, 200 million dead. 1520, Hernan Cortez invades Mexico, kills of 9 of 10 Aztecs through war and disease. 1943, WWII rages, millions of Jews murdered, millions of soldiers and civilians dead, food/fuel rationing. 1968, height of Viet Nam war, 16,592 GIs killed in single year, thousands of civilians dead, My Lai Massacre, two tragic assassinations. 2001, 2977 civilians killed on 9/11, 20 years of non-stop wars started with thousands more GI's and civilians killed. 2020 sucked but it has a way to go on the all-time hit parade.

Where was I? Oh yeah, on these cold December nights it can be hard to remember that dawn and spring always come. Well, okay, have always come in the past. Right, okay, that doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed but it is really likely. Besides, there’s a lot to be thankful for this year. No, really, there are many positive lessons the pandemic has taught us about ourselves (well, mostly positive.)

First, let’s get the political stuff out of the way. There’s been 59 presidential elections in this country and in only one has the outgoing president tried to throw out the Constitution and overturn the legal outcome so in one sense that's not too bad in 232 years. Also, despite massive fraud - it’s pretty clear that Biden won by a lot more than seven million votes – we will have a new president on Jan. 20^th so our system, while a bit shaky, still seems to work. I think it is important now that we all move on, let our national wounds heal and again become the great nation that we once were. (Remind me, when was that again?)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Oops, Wrong Great America!   

Healthcare Providers   

Our first responders and care givers have been magnificent – but at a high cost. Over 1700 healthcare workers have died of the virus and countless more sickened. (And for about 14 bucks an hour for nursing homes caregivers.) How can we possibly thank them enough?  

                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                        The Greatest Generation 

We learned that, as usual, we could count on our parents’ and grandparents’ generations to make the real sacrifices for us. Sure, we did lose a few grandma’s and grandpa’s but as the Lt. Gov. of Texas said, “There are more important things than living and that’s saving the country.” Gee, thanks Nana and Bumpa. (I can think of someone I'd like to sacrifice for the economy.)

                                                                                                                                  Service Industry Workers   

 While 2020 might not be the worst year ever, it's all in the eye of the beholder. It’s not too bad for all the folks that can work from home – and those in the stock market – but it’s been awful for the millions of service workers who paid for the pandemic with their jobs. Yet many managed to keep things going at grocery stores and food delivery even while about 20% of grocery workers caught the virus and many died. Look up unsung heroes in the dictionary and you should see their pictures should be there.

                            Mr Covid 19

 

We also learned that the rotten little bug doesn’t discriminate by race, gender or religion. You might say that, unlike us, it doesn’t bend a knee for (or on) anyone. (So take the damn vaccine when you can!)

Finally, there’s this. From the mouth of babes come some of the simplest and most honest observations in life. A neighbor, who occasionally (okay, often) forces me to have an adult beverage with him, shared something with me that his young son recently told him. “Dad, I know lots of people are sick and have died and that’s terrible but there’s some good things too. Since you’ve been home, we’ve had so much time together, all of us. You know, walking and biking and watching TV. It’s been great!”

 

If nothing else, hopefully a lot of families have come out of this mess with this same realization.

                                                                                      Parting Solstice Gift?

Just a Coincidence?

Anyway, I come not to curse the darkness but to proclaim the light at the end of the tunnel that is the solstice night. (And, no, it is not the headlight of another expensive, underused light rail train.) It will be the dawn of a new day that will be longer than the last one and shorter than the next. 

But wait, there's more! 

Unless you have retreated to your safe space without any sort of news (probably not a bad idea these days) you know that we are receiving a sort of astronomical bonus this year.  On the solstice the two biggest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, are so close together that it will look like one, huge star in the western sky. As far as we know, the last time it happened around the winter solstice was about 2000 years ago (2000 yrs ago, solstice, big bright thing in the sky, hmmm, sounds familiar.) Everyone knows that the most recent that these two were this close together was in March 1226AD but did you know that King Louis VIII of France died later that same year? No? Well, then you probably didn't know that he was married at 12, had 13 kids and was dead at 39 and no wonder, that's a lot of playing catch, kids baths and school conferences! Oh yeah, and his wife outlived him by 26 years (Reports of her later marriage to the harpsicord player were never confirmed.) The point is that, like us, old Louis had a bad year but at least he too enjoyed a special celestial event. (I know, that's just me, Mr. Positive, making lemonade out of lemons.)

Back to OUR planetary bonus. Yup, it's been a grim year but what a way to say good bye to it, huh? Do you think it's a coincidence that after this terrible year we see a a big star-like vision on the solstice? That's got to be a good sign, right? You bet it is! So stay “Negative” my friends and it will be 70 and sunny before you can say “Windchill Alert” - and everything is going to be alright. (Well, until June 20th anyway.)

A little music to help you make it through the long solstice night . . . There's Got to be a Morning After 

You're welcome.

(As an interesting aside, the video clip for the song was actually filmed during an early Pederson family New Years Eve party. Understandably, that was the last one that Liz let me plan.)

Solstice Evening

What is Going on in Our Country?

 

I’m an older guy, a retired military officer and a person who thought he had seen everything in this crazy world. Yet here I am, as bewildered as the next person and wondering what is going on in my country.

                                                                    President-Elect Joe Biden

We just had an election in which the pollsters were apparently wrong again (except in MN, thank God!) Despite projections – and fervent hope by Democrats – the election was very close in a lot of races and went the opposite way in many others. The big surprise, at least to me, is not that Biden won the popular vote by a substantial margin (which sadly doesn’t matter with our goofy electoral system) but that Trump did so well. I am shocked, as are many others, I think, that millions of our fellow countrymen would vote for someone that a huge number (most?) of Americans see as deeply flawed and totally undeserving of re-election. In fact, I'm shocked that anyone is shocked that he lost! Of course, we are all subject to biases and driven by our favorite information sources so that certainly accounts for some of these opinions but holy mackerel, really? 74 million people voted for Trump even after 4 years' experience with this dude!? Plus, now the unprecedented attempts by the president - and by their silence and acquiescence, all Republicans - to essentially overthrow the election? (Sadly, not unexpected from this lot.) So, what’s really going on here? 

First, let me say this, 2020 was the first election since 2004 that I voted for a candidate from either major party (you know, against the previous worst president in history – and I failed.) I am as disillusioned as anyone in our two party system. More importantly, I have some friends – not many but some – who voted for Trump, probably both times. It has been a source of friction but, except for a couple of people, it hasn’t ended our friendship. They are all solid, smart, successful people who normally wouldn’t trust a person like Trump to walk their dog. To their credit, they claim they don’t actually like Trump, his behavior or preposterous nature but, well . . . just had to vote for him. Being generous, maybe they were voting against Biden. A lot of us don’t vote FOR anyone much anymore but AGAINST someone or something. This was really apparent in this election and is a sad comment no doubt. But still, Trump?!

What's going, I think, is fear. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of us are simply afraid. Instead of the optimism that America has been famous for, we, for the past many years, are now mostly driven by fear. Just to name a few, and not counting covid: fear for livelihoods; fear of foreigners; fear for the kids’ future; fear of different lifestyles; fear of not allowed those lifestyles; fear for religion; fear of religion; fear of bigotry; fear of government doing too much - or too little. In the simplest terms, it’s the human fear of change. For many, America is either changing too much or it isn’t changing fast enough. Oversimplified for sure but I think fairly accurate. This goes for people of all persuasions, liberal, conservative or whatever. Trump supporters, however, seem to exist in a separate galaxy of fear. What gives?

"Come on, kids, it's time for Leave it to Beaver!"

Make America Great Again! A brilliant slogan, sounds terrific but is totally meaningless - except as a code embraced by certain folks. Simple, let's just go back in time to someplace in American history when we were great. You know, when mom stayed home, dad went to the office and the kids walked to their beautiful, clean new schools (in my case, with Norwegians, Swedes and Germans.) Of course, people of color, non-Christians or gays were polite enough to stay out of plain sight. America was truly great then.

Unfair? Perhaps, but it does represent a pleasant kind of allegory for a huge cohort of people. Certainly it doesn’t mean that they are all necessarily racist or homophobic but it does have an appealing simplicity that Trump brilliantly tapped into and promised his acolytes, not just Republicans but disaffected Democrats as well. Then consider his rallies.

They had a huge attendance by adoring fans (almost, but not quite, exclusively older and white.) One has to assume that on any other day these are good neighbors and fellow workers; they would seem like normal Americans. How then to explain that these same people cheered even his most misogynistic, racist and/or ignorant rantings? (And who can forget his hilarious mocking of a handicapped reporter and Gold Star parents.) This self-generated cult of the individual would be frightening in Kyrgyzstan let alone in America – all that’s missing is the Kool Aide used at Jonestown. And this is the man that the Republican party has embraced for four years?                                                                              

                                                                   Raucous MAGA Rally!

                                                

                                              Other Raucous Rallies

Ironically, Trump is not now nor ever has been a Republican. Doesn’t matter though, the fact that he gave Republicans their deepest desires - lower taxes for rich people, gutting regulations and placing reactionary judges at all levels - makes him Republican enough. That he is a singly out for himself? Doesn’t matter. His assault on the First Amendment? Doesn’t matter. His authoritarian tendencies? Doesn’t matter. His treasonous actions stirring up the least informed of his followers about the election results? Doesn’t matter, he's delivered the goods.

So here we are. He lost the election as he should have yet he will leave behind anger and frustration and turmoil that will affect us for years.  I hope his promises of returning us to an America that never was or will be were worth it to the Republican party (a sin for which they should be sent to the political wilderness for a generation.)

                                                      Attack on Ft Sumter   Apr 12th 1861

So what is going on in our country? Fear? Madness? I guess I really haven't a clue. Still, it is clear that America is not just split on many issues but that we are nearly at the point that they can’t be resolved politically as implied with this last election. That is a very frightening thought. The last time we got here was in 1861  . . . and we know how that turned out.      

When Two Parties Aren't Enough

 

Like over 75 million other Americans – the greatest winning vote total in history - I am happy with the defeat of Donald Trump, who shockingly had second highest vote total. Yet somehow, I find it hard to be happy about the overall outcome. I’m not talking about politically disappointing, although that is probably true for pretty much everyone on both sides who voted. No, I‘m very dissatisfied with continued gridlock. More accurately, I am unhappy that most of us consider this a good outcome. It strikes me that when the only thing we agree on is that gridlock, for one reason or another, is a natural and positive goal – I won’t get anything but then neither will you! - it speaks to a uniquely American preference for wanting a government that doesn’t work.  

I know, I get it, the Founding Fathers in their wisdom created this interbranch tension to make sure no one branch could overpower the others; they obviously they wanted to limit what the government could do and it worked great in 1788 when there were 13 states and 3,000,000 white people (slaves didn’t count, of course, except for Electoral College.) It’s the 21^st century, we have 50 states and a very diverse population of over 330 million people. Like it or not, the "little government" train left the station a long time ago. So here we go, another four years of ignoring the many huge issues and problems facing our country. Is this the way the supposedly greatest democracy in the world should function? Do you really think that they intended this kind of governmental incompetence? If so, maybe they weren’t as smart as we made them out to be.

Or maybe it’s not that they weren’t wise, maybe it was something they didn’t anticipate. Perhaps it was the rise of dysfunctional political parties. 

You know, there were never supposed to be political parties. In fact, George Washington warned against them when he left office and people listened – for about two minutes. Parties are as inevitable as sunrise and the changing seasons; the system doesn’t work without them. Parties have come and gone – think Federalists, Whigs, Democratic Republicans - while others have changed over time in both name and philosophy yet somehow we still ended up with just two main parties. In this, like so many things, America is different from nearly every other democratic country in the world (most of which use a parliamentary form of government with several parties.) However, for the first couple hundred years the parties more or less agreed to cooperate in governing the country. Maybe not happily but at least relatively effectively. Somehow, somewhere along the way that agreement has disappeared.

Part of the problem is the politicians themselves. For example, we have a 74 yr old soon-to-be ex-president, a 77 yr old president - elect and countless septuagenarian and octogenarian legislators who are in office for 30-40 years and simply refuse to leave and let in new blood and ideas (too good a gig, I guess.) This is ridiculous - no other modern democracy allows itself to be run by the geriatric section of the hospital!

Also, most astute observers can see that neither party really seems to have a clue about what most Americans actually want. Oh, they get what we are fearful of and work hard to exploit it. Yet they only come up with “cures” for those things that the individual party philosophy is capable of identifying which, in the end, are simply the Republicans trying to takes us back to the 50’s and Leave it to Beaver and Democrats want to solve every possible human boo boo with the government. The parties used to somehow reach agreement and at least do something functional. Not anymore, their main accomplishment is to have turned us into a divided country of “blues” and “reds” at each other’s throats with no hope of compromise.

Further, neither party trusts the other even though they are essentially flip sides of the same monolithic – and corrupt – system which can be expressed by one word: money. Both parties take money, lots of money, from exactly the same big moneyed interests. (Is it a coincidence that Wall Street loves gridlock!?) So, no shock, the average person is essentially ignored. Add to this the bizarre nonsense of the Electoral College and it’s actually amazing we’ve made this long.

What to do? If it was easy it would have already been done but a few things to consider. For example, several of these issues could be resolved with a few tweaks of the Constitution: term/age limits, restricting money contributions and/or eliminating PACs e.g. corporations are NOT people! Also, standardize national elections and eliminating the Electoral College (before it literally causes a civil war.)

Alas, we know how the founding fathers felt about making changes to their baby. Add to that American’s odd belief that the Constitution was somehow brought down from Mt. Sinai right after Moses and you can see that this is not going to happen. (Ironically, none other than Thomas Jefferson thought the Constitution should be reviewed every 18 years for changes. What a concept!)

The truth is our two-party system doesn’t work for anyone but insiders. Furthermore, this country is now so large and diverse that there is no way for two calcified parties to meet our needs. That leaves only the great American love of competition to fix this mess. We need strong third, fourth or even fifth parties that can bring forward much more diverse sets of ideas along the lines of Parliamentary systems.   

America has always been a land of opportunity and optimism up until about the last forty years. We now seem to be a land of fear and anger. We all fear for many things: our livelihood, expensive education and healthcare, future for our kids, income inequality, racial inequality – fear that America will never be like the 1950’s again? Essentially, fear of change in a rapidly changing world. Yet what do we get from the parties?  Acrimony and disfunction. 

Sorry, that’s it, that’s all I have. If you have any better ideas now would be the time to share them – before America is not worth gridlocking.

Celebrating Labor in a Time of Pandemic

What could be a better time than this particular Labor Day to contemplate the nature and meaning of labor in modern America – and, of course, offer the workers our thanks.

When I was a kid, a long time ago, I didn’t think about workers or labor very much. My dad was a laborer and I always worked from the time I was in high school on but I just didn’t think much about it. I guess I always had the image of average men and women going off to work every day doing regular jobs at factories and folks like carpenters and plumbers. Working-class people doing things like building the Hoover Dam or the Interstate highway system and, when I was 21, helped put a man - an American man - on the moon. Solid, middle class folks.

Certainly we still have many tradespeople but much of that world is gone now; this is a modern service economy. Today many of us work from home, attending (Zoom) meetings, creating spreadsheets and PowerPoints and doing marketing stuff. To our credit we have also invented such helpful things as Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget that we excel at creating Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and the best weapons in the world too. All (mostly) honest work, no doubt, but not exactly City of Broad Shoulders or Rosie the Riveter. So, while we are indeed working it just doesn't SEEM, you know, like actual labor. 

Now we have the pandemic that has killed our parents and grandparents and devastated the livelihoods of millions of our neighbors. The one thing this economic meltdown has in common with the past is that it has crushed those at the lower end of labor spectrum. The big differences this time, however, are the number of people affected and the huge gap between them and those that are relatively unfazed.

  

Houses are selling like hot cakes and the stock market is soaring - Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Google and Target all have record profits. We are supposedly in the deepest slump since the great depression yet families in the top 20-30 % of incomes might not even know it (recently confirmed in a survey.) For the nearly 30 million receiving unemployment compensation and most everyone else, however, the recession is very real.

Now here’s the irony, many of the same people who are struggling the most are also those who were deemed “essential” and have been getting up and going in to work ever since the pandemic struck. No staying home to do Zoom conferences or creating marketing plans for them! Yup, it’s the clerk at the grocery store ($12/Hr.) The gig workers delivering food and hoping for a tip ($12/hr.) There are also the personal care attendants taking care of grandma and grandpa at the nursing homes that are under siege from the virus ($14/hr) and hopefully the daycare workers will soon be watching our kids (for $12/hr.) And don’t forget the many people - mostly immigrants – working in meat packing plants so we can keep eating our hamburgers and chicken wings ($13/hr.)

Shocked at the pay? You shouldn’t be, in the last ten years 75% of the jobs created pay less than $24/hr. Got that? More accurately, the majority of those jobs have been $15/hr or less. And that’s from the greatest economy in history - Woohoo! One could say there’s not much fruit for many of our fellow Americans’ labors.

It’s not clear to me how we can possibly thank these people enough. Every day, they get up and, like generations of (formerly) middle-class workers, go to work. Among them are all the other service economy workers in nail salons, yoga studios and yard care. There are also the thousands of people driving us around in their cars, renting out bedrooms or selling stuff on eBay. I would gladly acknowledge the millions of bartenders, restaurant servers and travel industry workers too but sadly most of those jobs are gone now and most probably forever. Separately, we certainly can’t forget the thousands of teachers who will be trudging back to classrooms with uncertain covid conditions.

Obviously, there are millions of other workers I haven’t mentioned here that work for less than optimal pay and in some tough work conditions - yet off to work they go. Now here’s the kicker. Most of these folks have no realistic chance of ever achieving what was once considered the American dream: buy a house, help the kid through college, maybe take a nice vacation once in a while and hope to retire before dying in the harness. (Sorry folks, we traded your future for cheaper TVs and a stronger stock market.) Yet they get up and go to work every day anyway. Do they go to work happy? Probably not - would you?

So on that note, I say thank you to all workers who keep the wheels of commerce turning but a special thanks to those of you who have done so much for so little to keep us all going. I hope you have a well-deserved day of rest.

Billy Joel said it best several years ago . . . 

Billy Joel   Allentown

Marc Gilbertson
Aug 30 1949 - Jul 30 2020

I think everyone knows that as you get older, especially as you get really older, you should expect to start losing things: your hair, your memory, your energy . . . your friends. However, I don’t think anyone expects to lose two friends – two good, dear friends - in the span of less than a month. It’s just not right, especially when they had so much life ahead of them. I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s right, nobody said that life is fair.

There is a special place in my heart for Marc and there is an additional sad irony that as with Bob Luttio, who was also a friend of Marc's, I had known him since 1975. They were totally different people yet only in their personalities not in the depth of our friendship. (Keeping a friendship going for 45 years shows what kind of people they both were.)

Marc and friends - brief respite from hardworking AF Trip to Utah

When I joined the unit Marc was this big, handsome dude that was a Flight Engineer for the flying unit. His civilian job was working in Civil Engineering for the base as a grounds guy - you know, mowing, raking, snow removal.  Yes, that job was a total waste of his great skills and he soon got out of the “weeds and seeds” business and ended up as a full time FE (eventually to become the head guy.) Over time we became very good friends – and I was only one of many of his good friends which says a lot about him – and it was my good fortune that we did.

Over the years, besides being a great FE, Marc proved to be a very involved crew member in flights. (Very involved, something I applaud since if the pilots eff up he dies a split second behind them and a spilt second before me, the navigator.) Anyway, some FE’s just kind of did their engineer thing fiddling with the fuel and the engines but not Marc, this guy paid attention to everything! A few quick stories to illustrate.

Okay, Gilbertson, I'll give you a lift but not all the way to Lima!

According to Curtis N. Breeding, pilot extraordinaire, on a particular pilot training mission using a very ineffective (some would say worthless) approach aid to land at Duluth, they were quite a bit off from landing profile when he committed to land. Marcus, correctly so, stated “Go around.” At which time, the landing should be abandoned – but it wasn’t. Curt commented that he could make it. Again, Marc said “Go around” which again Curt, with a pilot’s usual "self confidence," said he could make it – and did. After landing, to both of their credit, there were no fisticuffs. More importantly, Curt apologized to Marc – and appropriately so – for not going around as he should when any crew member says those magic words. As Curt later said, it was a lesson in CRM (Crew Resource Management) from Marc that stuck with him forever.

   

A couple other stories of the many that I could tell. Oddly, they also relate to Marc and landings.

On a final flight for a gentlemen farmer who was also a C-130 pilot, Ray Yokiel, we were busy "training" (buzzing his farm) in southern MN when someone suggested making an approach to his little private strip. Okay, it was me and it seemed like a good idea at the time! Anyway, Marc was the engineer and as we were drifting down to the grass strip, Marc reminded Ray that “it’s a just a low approach, right?” Well, of course, you can guess what happened: big green airplane does touch and go on little grass strip. Marc responded with a very intense and descriptive set of words – and then laughed uproariously as did we all. Effing Yokiel!

Another Hardworking AF Trip – to Hawaii

Thanks, Marc, for helping pull me out of the ground.
(Also note some same cast members keep showing up!) 

This story puts an end cap to the theme of Gilbertson and landings and again has Curt Breeding in the co-starring role (with astute observations by moi.) We were on a very fun and interesting training mission in January in Alaska (fun and interesting, two words seldom used with Alaska and winter.) We were taking a group of Inuit scouts back to their various homes in northern Alaska – pick them and their snowmobiles up from training sites and drop them off at home. Very interesting flying into very challenging stops. One of last ones was to some little shit bird village hundreds of miles from anywhere (Alaska is very big.) I gave up navigating and we just had one of the scouts stand up behind Curt and point. Sure enough, out of the haze pops yet another tiny, icy, snowy landing strip. Could we make it? Should we even try it? Having seen Curt operate before the answer should be obvious; we all just became passengers – except Marc. He was sitting on his feet in his seat (an odd habit he had when flying with Curt) who was less than impressed with Curt's plan. You would think he would have learned his lesson by now with Breeding! I will just say, we made it. Upon landing, however, Marc had an astute question for the good Major, “So what are we going to do now?” Very good question - the old saying that landing is mandatory but takeoff is optional comes to mind - this was a VERY short runway in crummy weather conditions. (On the other hand, none of the crew was up for sleeping in an igloo.) Well, the good news, especially for Curt, is that we did make it out and back to Anchorage where the pilot bought the beers for the crew – and Marc forgave him once again.

The more personal part of these reminisces is that flying was not even the most important aspect of Curt's or my relationship with Marc; the military was just the original cause for meeting not the substance. I can’t even tell you how or why we became very good friends we just did. Such good friends that he became one of the three "charter" members (along with Curtis and me) of an annual event that grew over the years to a large and fairly constant group of buddies that have managed to meet once a year for over 30 years since (with only a few memorable exceptions.) The very first year, 1988, Marc and Curt were kind enough to humor me and go up one weekend to my old hometown of Alexandria, ostensibly to golf and goof around - adult beverages may also have been involved, I think.  In any event, the three of us had a great time – played golf, hooted and snorted and played horseshoes with my mom and dad (who both became great admirers of my two goofy buddies and some others who eventually joined our happy band over the years.) Here is just one example of how special Marc was: if my dad would teach you how to play horseshoes you’re in very elite company!

I think this is Marc’s last golf outing circa 2004 Dacotah Ridge

(He was in such hurry to leave that he left his clubs behind and one of us had to bring 'em back!)

I have been a very lucky man to have so many good friends in my life and none better than Marc. I could only hope that people will think half as much of me as they do of Marc when I am gone.

Rest in peace, my dear friend, no more bad landings for you!

There Will Never Be Anyone Like the Lootz
Nov 23 1948 - Jul 2 2020

Three Amigos in FL Preparing for Senior Tour - Circa 2011

(and Bob with his beloved peeper keepers!)

“So, what are your wrists doing in your backswing, do you pronate or supinate?” Bob once asked me, regarding my crappy golf swing. (My answer is unprintable here.) That, in a capsule, was Bob Luttio, pondering the imponderable in a way that was wholly unique.

Bob was one of the first guys I met when I joined the 96TAS in 1975. He was pretty new to the unit as well so maybe that’s why we gravitated together. It’s either that or he saw a kindred spirit who enjoyed the occasional adult beverage and discussing arcane topics (with one of us not nearly as deep as the other.) It was the beginning of a 45 year friendship that ended far too soon.

To say that the air force was a strong connection would be an understatement that can’t be overstated. We had many friends – and adventures - in common which only made all those adventures that much better and, you might say, it was kind of a Mexican standoff among us regarding those adventures and who did the dumbest things. “Chickens Bones West” comes to mind. (Oh, never mind, forget I mentioned that!) Some, however, were unique to your own one-on-one experience with Bob. I had the pleasure of many trips and experiences with Bob but it took me a while to understand and appreciate his single-mindedness to go his own way - and often at the most unexpected times. You might be in some odd city on an air force trip, having a beer, talking smart then you look around . . . and Bob was gone! Two hours later, walking down a crowded sidewalk . . . and Bob would literally pop up behind you. Where had he been? Looking at some cemetery? Pondering the statues in the square? Who knew?! This happened to me in Key West once; scared the hell out of me but it also conditioned me to Bobtopia which I forever after appreciated.

Two Pilots in AK  Planning for Flight (Or Hunting Trip))

He was just as unique as an airline pilot, a job that gave him license to do this wandering all over the world. He once told me that his favorite job was as a first officer on the DC-10 going back and forth over the Atlantic. That was because there was so much time to think about stuff. Unlike so many airline crews, Bob was unique in wanting to learn more about the cities rather than where the cheap drinks were. Sometimes he would share a tiny part of those secret wanderings with select audiences with the most understated but absolutely hilarious stories that only he could tell. Who can ever forget his telling of being the only one left on a train in Paris as the lights slowly went out and they parked for the night in some dank station. OMG, I have personally heard it at least 10 times and loved the telling each time. Wish I could hear it just once more.

Bob’s love of technology was legend. Kidding! He had an almost masochistic relationship with a lot of modern marvels; he’d rather punish himself by ignoring such devil’s tools as Word or Excel – or making tee times online.  To his credit he finally did get a smart phone and started to text and even send me links to old show tunes. (Don’t ask, I have no idea why.)

Yet no one was more curious - or knowledgeable about – so many things. He was a know-it-all but in the best sense of the word; if you asked and he answered it was because he actually did know. Last year he told me about keeping caterpillars in jars at his house just to learn how they turned into butterflies. We would walk around Lake Harriet – his childhood stomping grounds – and he could tell what every kind of tree was. Who knew they weren’t all oaks?! (And, of course, he would set me straight on the differences between red oaks and white oaks. Sheesh.) He was his own contractor on a major renovation of one his and Bev’s homes. Do you know how much you have to know to do that?! (Of course, some of that might have been due to being parsimonious, of which Bob could occasionally be accused.)

His independence in thought and action was not always understood by those in authority and this was true of the air force too. One of the other characters of the unit - nearly of Bob’s stature in characterhood - was one Jimmy Jet (a guy as unique as Bob but in a different way who I also met soon after joining and flew with a lot as well.) By virtue of seniority (if not leadership skills), Jet later became our squadron commander. Jet and Bob got along fine (birds of a feather?) yet Jet once told me that Bob was one of his “two problem blonds.” (The other blond shall remain unnamed here.)  You know why? Not because of his flying – Bob was an excellent pilot – but because Jet just really didn’t trust "intellectuals" (although he was no dummy himself!) Well, if the shoe fits . . . Anyway, Bob WAS an intellectual square peg in the round hole of the air force world. Who cares?

Bob and I had another unique connection – our kids. His son Nicky was born almost exactly one month after my son Eric. Ironically, both Nicky and Eric ended up being very artistic and very similar in the kind of iconoclastic lives they chose. His daughter Christie was born just a couple years after my daughter Missy and they were both at the University of St Thomas at the same time.  While the kids weren’t really close, we did socialize - and the kids probably talked about what of couple of geeks their old men were.

A Pensive Bob - Is there Any Other Kind?

We have probably been our closest these past few years as we've had lots of time to share the verities of aging - and became more political. Don’t get me wrong, Robert could be difficult sometimes - duh, really? (But not me, of course.) We disagreed on many things in modern American society. He was an avowed Libertarian (which, as I teased him, is like a Unicorn since there’s never actually been one spotted in the real world) while I am basically a limp wristed, political agnostic, pacifist with liberal leanings. I once accused him of being cynical, he said he was just skeptical. Turns out, he was right again – and maybe I was the cynic. Even though we could drive each other crazy, somehow we never really argued. I know that this took great restraint on Bob’s part because he took his positions on everything a lot more personally than I did. (Which is just another aspect of Bob that one had to understand.) On the other hand, perhaps we’d both just settled into such a comfortable place in our friendship that we didn’t need to agree, we just needed to talk. Indeed, I often learned more about my position from Bob than I had developed myself. I guess he was a thinker who cared about what he thought – a dangerous combination for anyone in modern America and hard on him too.

Our last walk was only a couple weeks before his passing. He was about 2/3 of the way through his radiation treatment regimen so we had to stop once to take a break - a rarity - but pretty understandable that he was a little fatigued. Anyway, we talked about books we had read – which were a lot – and as usual he had some recommendations for me. A couple days later he called me and left a message that said, “Hey Peeterson (he’s the only one that ever called me that) I left those books I mentioned out on your driveway. Don’t worry about returning them.”

God damn it, Bobby, I wish I could return them to you in person right now!

RIP my dear friend.

Summer Solstice and Father's Day . . .

 . . . Bad Combo!

Insult to injury for Father's Day?

Father’s Day and the summer solstice, on the same damn day! I wonder if there is a hidden message or meaning to this  . . . "coincidence."

Everyone knows that Father’s Day is the least important of all the made up holidays. Don't believe me? Then how come all the FD greeting cards say, "Dear Dad . . . Who Cares, XoXo?!” Also, you can count on one hand the number of times you see a kid waving and yelling “Hi dad” on tv, it’s always “Hi mom!” And that’s okay, that’s the way it should be, dads are meant to toil in familial obscurity. We can’t compete with a mother’s love so all we can do is try to compete with brute sincerity - and the occasional game of hoops or playing catch. A dad’s love may not make for clever Hallmark cards but that doesn’t make it any less real (just a little less obvious.)

So we get this one day a year to pretend like we are an equal partner in the hearts of our family and what happens? It’s accompanied by the worst day of the year, the summer solstice! Don’t believe me? Think about this:

10:31AM Sun June 20th

Yes, this is just around the corner, pal!

Unlike its winter alter ego which signals the beginning of hope, the summer solstice signals the opposite. Minnesota summer: endless, lazy days with blue skies and puffy, white, fair weather clouds. Days of long, perfect drives down the middle of the fairway and short putts. (Forget that first part. Okay, also the second part.) Of short nights with cool breezes by the lake and the Milky Way shimmering above. Of girls in tank tops and men in speedos. (Now forget that last thing too.) Then, at its peak - and the solstice comes along and robs us of this magic, laughing as it does so and replacing it with the long slide to the depths of winter. Oh, the humanity!

That not bad enough for you? Then think about this: the solstice is always about this same time every year - and has been for, like, a pretty long time - yet someone (Ugly cargo shorts designers or golf club makers?) in the US  invented Father’s Day in 1908 and parked it right next to this lugubrious date. Since nobody cares why not plop it down in August (like Taiwan) or March (like Lichtenstein), or any other months without holidays. Hmmm? 

Exactly - it’s a test! One day a year a dad gains a bit of stature as the other adult in the house – and it’s quickly snuffed out by the gloom that comes with the summer solstice. How will I react to this outrage? Will I snivel and whine about my fate? Will I complain about yet another snub to my male ego? Will I declare the victim-hood I have earned? No, damn it, no! This is where I prove to my family that an American dad can accept the abuse the gods heap on me with the calm and dignity that has made me a legend at every sporting event of my kids; it's evidence that my cluelessness to most domestic dramas is just my way of staying neutral and, finally, proof that offering a clumsy hug is my way of kissing to make it better. It is a test I shall pass with a strong C+!

In any event I wish a Happy Father’s Day to all my fellow dads. We may be overweight and underappreciated but we love and are loved and that will always do. Besides, only six months to the winter solstice!

P.S.

Now that they have added the very joyous Juneteenth celebration to this sad PITTS (Point in Time That Sucks) let us hope that the solstice doesn't screw up that holiday too.)  

On a positive not . . .

My Role Model

                                           

Marvelous Marv, the only guy who could foxtrot to anything.

28 years gone and I still miss you very much, pop - you old smoothie!

All of Me   Willie Nelson

View from My Bubble

The View from My Bubble

It has long occurred to me that we all live in our own little bubbles. My bubble contains friends who generally look like me, think like me, live the same sort of life and, sadly, often act like me. We don’t necessarily agree on everything but generally we experience life in the same way from the same perspective so in our bubble our understanding of “normal” is the same. I suspect most of us are like that. Clearly, however, everyone’s bubble is not the same and the truth of that has recently been brought home to me in a pretty drastic manner.

These are extraordinary times. Because of that, I think everyone knows that our lives are going to change. Still, many of us seem to hope that we all go back to our old ways of life, back to our own “normal” bubbles. I’m here to suggest that is the LAST thing we should do.

There is much to like in the “old normal” – but more so for some than others. Put another way, a growing percentage of our neighbors are not experiencing as much to like in their bubble as I do in mine. Racism, low paying jobs, poor housing, these are just some of the things about the old normal that people are not in a hurry to go back to.

A simple thing like healthcare for example. Most other advanced countries have figured this out but in the US if you need it but don’t have a full-time job with health benefits or one of the federal programs you are out of luck. There’s a reason that 60% of all bankruptcies in US are because of healthcare bills.

Or education. Everyone is encouraged to get some kind of training or college education but the cost is so overwhelming that one must either take out loans that will last decades or simply forgo it. (And don’t think about bankruptcy, thanks to Congress they are non-dischargeable through bankruptcy.)

And affordable housing? Forget it. Median priced home in Twin Cities is about $300,000 so essentially it doesn’t exist for at least 50% of the population and probably much more. Same with renting - average 1BR apartment is about $1500/mo. Affordable? Not for a lot of people. Why? Not enough income.

50% of households in America make $65,000/yr or less. (About $70k in Minnesota - yippee.) The next 25% make $120,000 or less.   If you make 240k or more, congrats, you are in the top 10% of income in the country! (How much to the top 1%? Don’t ask.)

So what happened? The average person has been screwed as money moved from working people to the investor class. In the last ten years - and actually long before that –. 75% of all new jobs pay $50,000/yr or less. Over 40% of all US workers make LESS than $15/hr. You know, like the cashiers and gig workers with no benefits that kept delivering your food?  (Maybe they should go to college, right? See above.) The result is that the top 1% of Americans earn about 20% of ALL income in the US while the ENTIRE bottom 50% get 13 percent. That’ll teach them for not being successful!

Speaking of the stock market, the market (Dow) has rallied back almost to where it was since it bottomed in March which is great, right? Never mind the fact that about 40 million workers have been laid off which is unheard of since the Great Depression and millions of businesses have been crushed. It has been good for the 20% of the population (hint: it ain’t the bottom 20%) that own 80% of all shares. Okay, disclaimer: I own mutual funds so I guess we’re in that lucky 20%.

Fun Fact: Here is a uniquely normal American business reality. About 16% of ALL US businesses are considered “zombie companies.” These are businesses that are so indebted, so poorly run or just plain dumb that they can only stay in business by using continuous, low interest debt (handed out like candy – or drugs – by our peerless leaders and the Federal Reserve.) Many will almost certainly soon be gone taking with them millions more jobs.

A final thought on the old normal in the economy. The pandemic has been terrible for everyone but that doesn’t mean the pain has been spread evenly. Who do you think makes up practically ALL of those laid off? If you said those in the lowest 50% of income you would be correct. Bonus question: which workers were able to work from home and continued to get paid? Yes, mostly the top 25% of income workers.

So maybe you can see why a lot of folks may not want to be back in their old normal bubble.

Minneapolis at Night from My Bubble 

There’s much more of the old normal that we do not want to go back to and this was brought home by the events of recent days related to the death of yet another black man at the hands of the police. The huge issue of underlying racism in America just keeps rearing its ugly head year after year. These things happen, many outcries and then . . . nothing changes.

The same with gun violence. Every year thousands of people are gunned down in America in mass shootings and we always get “thoughts and prayers” from our leaders. And again, sound of crickets chirping.  

  

Why? Because there are big obstacles to real change. It’s impossible to discuss our old normal without pointing out our sad state of affairs politically. For example, in 2016 we had two candidates for president with the lowest approval ratings EVER - pick your poison and boy, did we ever! In 2020 the two main political parties seem to be doubling down. This time they are providing us with two wholly unsatisfactory, septuagenarian candidates. One is being kept from a retirement he so desperately needs while the other has exhibited so many signs of incompetence and psychological disorders that he should have been removed from office long ago. Neither of these people would even be considered as candidates for dog catcher in any other western democracy yet this is the best that America’s political parties can offer us. This sort of dysfunction exists up and down all the levels of government. The old normal looks pretty sad.

Current Normal US Government

Most of the issues we confront are not flukes or accidental outcomes, they were the intended results of policies that our “leaders” undertook. The government, at all levels and including presidents and Congress of both parties, have been complicit (read: in cahoots) for at least the last 40 years. They created policies encouraging the government to be taken over by big banks, big corporations, big tech, big unions, big healthcare, big education, big political parties, big military - or just big money. You name it and they had a hand in creating policies intended to drive high profits and low taxes for the wealthiest of us while resulting in millions of low paying service jobs and a gutted middle class. (We did get low, low prices at Walmart so there is that.) Besides horrific income inequality these polices also caused the explosion in health care, education and housing costs. In many ways, we’re not much better than a cold Guatemala (I’ve been there and this may be an insult to Guatemala.)

And don't expect any help from America's massive media empire, they too are complicit. They all appear to have decided that facts and truth are directly related to political affiliation and exist to promote ideology instead of seeking truth. Apparently there really are "alternative facts." 

So, our “normal” is a country where 50% (and probably more than that) of the people struggle to save for a vacation let alone deciding between a decent retirement or their kid’s education. Meanwhile, the wonderful story of "upward mobility" in America has been changed from a great book to a short brochure handed out mostly to the top 10% - today how high you start is, sadly for most, an excellent predictor of where you're going. Or not going. Perhaps that's why most of us try to live a life that used to be known as middle class, just hoping like hell we don’t move down the food chain. My life is positively idyllic in comparison but even I can see why some may not want to go back to the old normal.

Minneapolis from Another Bubble

Is there any wonder that there is a powerful sense of anger and frustration among so many of our fellow Americans? Our social issues combined with the sense that our entire economic system is rigged against the average person creates a tragic and powerful coda to our need for change. 

My generation and I have been perhaps the luckiest people in the history of the world. Yet seemingly we have spent the last few decades helping to pull up the ladder behind us creating the old normal. Maybe we didn’t do it intentionally but like the politicians we are complicit. We live in our nice bubble but as with certain politicians and other "special people," sometimes I think that we babyboomers were all born on third base and thought we hit a triple. It's time for us to try to give our children and grandchildren the same shot at the golden ring as we had. The famous saying, "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste" comes to mind. We must take advantage of the changes these terrible events are forcing on us - difficult changes, painful changes but necessary changes. 

Start by paying attention to the lives of those outside our own little bubbles. Then, don’t just sit there, do something - and for God's sake vote!

*One of the groups I volunteer with has a great saying about getting involved: "It’s never convenient." 

Ain’t it the truth.

*Hat tip to the Bird Dogs!

       The Author