danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

With less than a week to go before his tenure as president concludes, George W. Bush is busy giving interviews.  These naturally involve questions about his administration’s actions and policies.  The answers he is giving to these questions–questions often pertaining to mistakes made during his presidency–are  frustrating to hear.  He claimed in a press conference that he doesn’t believe that America’s image abroad has been damaged by his policies.  Really!?  I guess I can understand that attitude if I consider how carefully he’s been insulated from protest.  It isn’t like people angry with his administration are given opportunities to introduce themselves to him and complain in person.  He’s probably seen many middle fingers raised in his direction while passing by spectators in a limousine, and had a shoe hurled his way now and then.  But he is kidding himself if he thinks America is as respected abroad as it was before he chose to invade Iraq, and authorize torture of human beings and hold them without due process.  His insistence that his administration “doesn’t torture” is now known to be a lie.

I guess it doesn’t matter any more what President Bush thinks or does.  Since the beginning of 2008 it seems that the public has written him off, and has been eagerly awaiting the day when he leaves the White House and our lives.  The next president will have a lot of work to do, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense, I suppose, to exert a great deal of energy holding the bad actors of the Bush Administration accountable.  How criminal Bush has been himself is unclear.  Contrary to his frequent pronouncements that his “job is to protect the American people”, the president swears an oath only to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.  In that light, many of Bush’s activities can be seen to be a violation of that oath.  It would feel good to see John Yoo, David Addington, Paul Wolfowitz and others in prison, but the damage is already done.

It’s one thing to make poor decisions or promote flawed policies.  Imagine, for example, that Bush had had his way in 2005, and his Social Security privatization program had been authorized.  Millions of Americans would be worse off today.  That would have been bad policy, but at least it would have gone through the proper channels and had a fair hearing.  It is another thing entirely, in my opinion, to have behind-the-scenes  wheeling and dealing with mid-level Justice Department lawyers to authorize warrant-less wiretapping, or instruct the CIA to kidnap civilians off the streets and fly them blindfolded to secret prisons in foreign countries to be tortured.  That all once seemed very John Clancy, but we now know it to have happened while Bush was president.  His shoulder-shrugging notwithstanding, a lot of people have been harmed by his policies.  With less than a week to go, it all just seems so sad.

Filed under: Politics, Rantings on January 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

Some years back I wrote a letter to McDonald’s corporate office, applauding their Dollar Menu, and suggesting they might rename it to reflect its appeal during what then seemed like an “economic disaster”, but now seems quaint compared to what we’re experiencing today.  They returned my letter with a note explaining that it is their policy not to read or adopt unsolicited advice.  That gave me a chuckle.

As the price of everything has increased at a shocking rate since then, I have been amazed that McDonald’s has been able to maintain the Dollar Menu, and today they even have a Dollar Menu-based “value meal”, which includes a sandwich, french fries and a soda for less than $3.00.  I don’t know how they can afford to sell for that price, but I read this evening that it is working for them.  Profits are up.

This just goes to show that people will save money where they can, and it’s hard to pass up a $1.00 double cheeseburger.

Filed under: Cost of Living, Food on January 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

I will likely never be a rich man.  But if I were to have sufficient means, I would do this:

Find the world’s experts in every field pertaining to the humanities, from history to art to religion and so on.  I would seek those whose expertise was married to a powerful communicative skill, who could really convey their knowledge in a way that a layman like me could understand.  These would naturally be educated people in considerable demand at institutions of learning, and/or authors of books, without much free time.  So, I would need ample resources to hire them to be my tutors on a series of worldwide learning expeditions.  For instance, I would hire a geologist, a botanist and a zoologist to take me on a tour of the great national parks of the world.  I’d hire some professor from Oxford or Cambridge to take me on a tour of every historically significant place in England.  I’d go to China with a team of experts who could teach me about the people, the places and the heritage of that country.  And so on.  I’d have places I’d want to go, of course, but I’d rely on these experts to tell me the things I ought to see, because–and this is true of all of us–I don’t know what I don’t know.

I thought of this just a few minutes ago as I was watching a new PBS series called The Story of India, hosted by Michael Wood, whom I remember from another excellent series, In Search of Shakespeare.  He doesn’t present himself as an expert.  Rather, he’s merely an intellectually curious man who gathers information about the world around him, and regurgitates it in a way that lazy slobs like me can understand.  In The Story of India he travels the country, focusing on some important topic (Buddhism in the episode I just saw), and visits sites important to the subject, talks to people who know about it (the Dalai Lama, for instance!) and relays this learning to us in a way that makes sense and is entertaining.  It’s edutainment.

So, wouldn’t you love to tour Luxor or Giza with an Egyptologist?  Or walk the halls of the great art museums with an art historian and a curator.  Music is my forte (rim shot), but I’d still find it immensely rewarding to attend an orchestra season in New York with a musicologist from Julliard.

There’s a lot a man can learn from books.  But staring agog at the Colosseum with a guide book in your hand cannot compare to having an archaeologist, an architect and an historian take you on a little walk.

That’s what I’d do with my money.  That and a solid gold house.

Filed under: Musings, Television, Travel on January 6th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

You know that dream where you find yourself sitting naked in class?  Or where you arrive at class and discover that there is a major exam you didn’t know about, and everyone is prepared but you?  What about the one where you arrive for class and find the room completely empty?  Well, that happened to me for real today.

I set my alarm to wake up at 8:30 this morning, but since I’d had a two week break from school it was tough to get out of bed, even at that time.  But I did, and gathered my things and rode my bike to campus, arriving at precisely 9:35.  I thought it was odd that I didn’t see hundreds of other students wandering around, entering or exiting buildings and talking on their phones.  But I thought perhaps I was simply late, and everyone else had already found where they needed to be.  But when I entered Carlton Auditorium I found it deserted.  I took out my computer and checked the University’s online calendar, and, sure enough, classes begin Tuesday.

Filed under: School on January 5th, 2009 | No Comments »

I recognize that 2008 was, for many, a bad year.  The worst economy in generations, rising unemployment, and record prices for almost everthing stemming from gasoline that topped $4.00 a gallon made life difficult for a lot of people.  In spite of all this, 2008 was good to me.  Some highlights:

• I began classes at the University of Florida.  This is remarkable, because had I waited any longer the window would have closed on me, probably forever.  The University announced this year that they were changing their admissions policy for transfer students.  Unlike other universities in Florida, UF doesn’t have to admit students with transfer degrees from community colleges.  They can pick and choose.  And when the average GPA for entering freshmen at UF is over 4.0, there is little incentive for them to take people like me.  I got in just under the wire.  School is challenging, but rewarding.  I feel very grateful to be where I am.
• This year I became active in a roller debry league.  I am not a skater, of course, but I spent a lot of time with the girls who are skaters, and contributed to the league in my own small way.
• I did lots of traveling in 2008.  In January I spent a weekend in Daytona Beach at the wedding of my closest friends; in June I spent almost a week in Chicago, which is surely one of the world’s great cities; in early August I spent several days in Hilton Head, South Carolina, which I didn’t care much for as a place, but can now say I’ve seen; went to Savannah twice; had a great weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which is a delightful little town; had an incredibly memorable week in Washington, DC, where I saw a million amazing things.
• I made lots of new friends, and reconnected with many old friends on Facebook.  I saw Burt twice.
• I got myself an amazing Fender Telecaster, which is ideal in nearly every way.
• I continued my incredible no-vomiting streak.
• I paid off all of my credit card debt.
• I watched lots of Olympics on TV.
• I became the last person I know to buy a laptop computer, and it’s changed my life.
• I discovered Samuel Johnson, which also changed my life.
• I had several photographs published in books, magazines, and even the website of the Wall Street Journal.
• I ate an astonishing amount of Hungry Howie’s pizza.
• I perfected the grilled cheese sandwich (the secret ingredient is salt).
• I read: Emma; Persuasion; Oroonoko; Wuthering Heights; Lady Audley’s Secret; Evelina; Robinson Crusoe; Roxana; Oliver Twist; The Monk; Clarissa; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and tons of poetry.
• I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert; they played “Jungleland”.

So long, 2008.  You were good to me.  As I do every year, I close with the Stephen Foster sentiment that has become my credo: Hard Times Come Again No More.

Filed under: Cost of Living, Dana Heritage Project, Food, Friends, General, Literature and Books, Photography, Popular Music, School, Sports, Technology, Television, Travel on January 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »