Fringeville #217: Civil Disobedience Begins Behind the Wheel

Guardian of the Bologna

Americans are, on whole, a law-abiding people. We are also capable of remarkable patience. Right now, millions of us have been laid off or have had our incomes hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. We are facing shortages and restrictions on food, paper and cleaning products. We are being restricted to our homes. Our country is largely shut down. And we’re being pretty damned calm about it. We understand (or at least most of us do) how important it is to break the grip this virus has on our nation.

That all being said, Americans do not have limitless patience. I think we've got about 6-8 more weeks until we start to exhibit some civil disobedience. Where will it start? How will the rebellion begin?

One way to assure mass civil disobedience is to tell folks they can't take a drive. Just a drive. Alone or with their fellow family confinees. An hour or so out of the damned house for something other than being herded in small groups into a supermarket, pharmacy, doctor’s office or Wallyworld.

Here in Pennsylvania, the state police have made it clear that you won’t be pulled over simply for being out on the road. Instead, you’ll be pulled over for some type of moving violation. In the course of interrogation over that bad taillight, you will be asked why you are out and about. If you tell them you’re taking a nice little drive, you’ll get warned or fined as a secondary offense. It’s already happened, and it sounds like the state police might be ramping that up.

This is going to result in deliberate civil disobedience.

When people are pulled over while out on a Sunday drive, they will lie to the police, and they will do so deliberately.

“License and registration, ma’am.”

“Here you go, officer!”

“You’ve got a busted taillight, ma’am.”

“Oh! Thank you, I didn’t know.”

“Are you aware of the Governor’s stay-at-home order, ma’am?”

“Oh yes, of course!”

“Why are you out today?”

“I’m going shopping.”

“You live in Plains. You’re in White Haven.”

“Yes, officer. My friend told me on Facebook that they have toilet paper in a store up here.”

“What store?”

“She didn’t know. She said White Haven. Or Blakeslee. Possibly Mount Pocono.”

“Are you sure you’re not just out for a drive?”

“Heavens, officer! That would be illegal. I’m just tired of using newspaper and leaves to wipe my backside.”

The rebellion will begin slowly at first, but gradually people will just begin to ignore restrictions on their mobility. They will continue to practice social distancing even as they fruitlessly look for hand sanitizer, paper products or face masks (because there are none to be found).

But they will, by increasing numbers, leave their homes to take a drive.

Why?

Because for Americans, our vehicles are an extension of ourselves. They are a sign of our freedom and of belonging to a free society. People who wouldn't think of violating social distancing guidelines will see a massive disconnect between policing that and policing the privacy and freedom offered by our vehicles.

They will realize that there is a small but tangible risk of getting exposure to a virus at a drive-thru fast food window (allowed) and no risk at all to driving a country road to enjoy nature's splendor (verboten).

And so they will rebel. 

Quietly. Politely. And in increasing numbers the longer they are confined. It's human nature. It is especially the nature of Americans, who have a wee bit of history chafing against infringements (real or perceived) on their personal liberty.

Am I advocating lawbreaking?

Absolutely not. Lawbreaking would be ...umm ...illegal.

But you just might see me heading to a grocery store, officer, on other side of the valley. Or over that mountain. Or just past that lake up near Thornhurst, the one with the ducks swimming lazily over the reflection of the budding trees. I’m just out looking for bologna, toilet paper and antacid. I’ll just die without them. My dog, officer?

He’s just here to guard the bologna.

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Be good to each other…

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Fringeville #216: The Greatest Generation Loses Another: Rosalind P. Walter

Rosalind P Walter (Rosie) (Photo from CNN)

Perhaps you don’t recognize her name, but chances are you’ve heard of “Rosie the Riveter.”

She and countless other women in America were an enormous asset to the American war effort. They kept our factories humming, producing the armaments that protected Fortress America and assured victory over her foes.

Rosalind Walter passed away on Wednesday, March 4 2020. She was 95. Her obituary is at the end of this post. (Photos that follow are from Wikipedia. The video is from YouTube).

 

WALTER-- Rosalind P. She was known to millions of Americans as a name on a caption. The name was Rosalind P. Walter and the caption appeared on public television with astonishing regularity for more than 40 years, acknowledging her generous funding of all sorts of programs, but mostly in the arts and public affairs.

"It always seemed to me", she wrote, "that America could only be a truly democratic nation if it was based on what I would call a democracy of ideas and information. I wanted all Americans, whether they were rich or poor, well educated or not so well educated, to have equal access to news and knowledge and the arts. It seemed to me that television had the greatest potential to be the instrument and enabler of this vision. Most of all, I thought that public television, when it emerged in the mid-1960s, was ideally suited to the role. I have never deviated from that opinion, and it is why I have been a supporter of PBS - and more particularly, of WNET Channel 13 - since the mid- 1970s".

Beginning with the importation of a BBC series, Royal Heritage, she quickly focused on home-grown American programming that included many of PBS's 'greatest hits' - from the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour to American Masters, from Charlie Rose to the dance programs of Annabelle, from landmark series by Ken and Ric Burns to local programs that never got shown in prime time, like Richard Heffner's The Open Mind, which she valued just as highly. "My purpose has always been to fund production and programming, not overheads or administration", she said. Public television was her principal passion, but it was by no means the only one. Just as she proudly sat on the Board of WNET Channel 13 for more than four decades, so she supported a number of other institutions that were important to her. Long Island University (LIU) was one of them: there she followed in her mother's footsteps as a trustee. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) was another. Having herself been an active player well into middle age, she used her membership of the USTA Board to do all in her power to promote diversity and youth within the game. Scholarship programs are named in her honor at both LIU and the USTA - for students (as the USTA Serves program states) "who share Walter's belief in always putting forth one's best effort and giving back to one's community to make it a better place".

The American Museum of Natural History, the Pierpont Morgan Library and the Paley Center for Media were three of the other institutions she served for many years. So were the Grenville Baker Boys & Girls Club on Long Island and the National Committee for Inner City Drug Prevention. Roz (as she was always known) had an innate gift for friendship. In later years, she preferred to entertain at the River Club, and there her table featured an extraordinary range of friends, old and new, often including leading personalities from the television world - Bill Moyers, Neal Shapiro, the Burns brothers, Paula Kerger, Bill Baker, Susan Lacy, Charlie Rose and Jac Venza, to name just a few.

Born on Midsummer's Day in 1924, Rosalind Palmer Walter had a privileged, but not always easy, childhood in Locust Valley on Long Island. Her mother, Winthrop Bushnell Palmer, was a well-known educator, poet and writer; her father, Carleton Palmer, was president and chairman of the pharmaceutical company E.R. Squibb & Sons. Roz was educated at The Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, and it was there that her education ended - her parents simply refused to let her go to college. Instead, as a teenager in the early days of World War II, she went to work as a riveter on the night shift of the Vought Aircraft Company, building the F4U marine fighter plane, known as the Corsair. Within a few months, she broke all the records for riveting - for men as well as for women - and she was immortalized as "Rosie the Riveter" in the 1942 song written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb - "she's making history, working for victory".

She was twice married - first to Henry S. Thompson, by whom she had a son, Henry, who survives her. Her second husband, Henry G. Walter, Jr., was a lawyer whose clients included the Duke of Windsor and who, for more than 20 years, was Chairman of International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). Throughout their 44-year marriage, they were actively involved in philanthropy, sometimes individually, sometimes together. In 1951, Mrs. Walter established the Walter Foundation, which has been her vehicle for philanthropy ever since. It is now known as the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation. In addition to her son, Mrs. Walter is survived by two grandchildren, four stepgrandchildren and several step great-grandchildren. At her request, no memorial service will be held. Family and friends are invited to make donations in her memory to WNET - Channel 13.

Published in The New York Times on Mar. 6, 2020

 

 

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 ...Be good to each other

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Fringeville #215: ** BREAKING NEWS ** Wingnut James O'Meara Suspends Presidential Campaign

Plains, Pennsylvania UPI-Oh-Ki-Yay

“It is with profound sadness that I announce today that I am suspending my Presidential campaign. Despite the efforts of my dedicated campaign staff …and, hey, thanks to both of you …we just couldn’t get traction.

“I tried to show America that a moderate candidate can win again. I am neither a left nor right wingnut. I eat'em all. And I tell the truth: wing bites are glorified chicken nuggets.

“Our campaign events have been sparsely attended. Counting the wait staff at the Chicken Coop, our last campaign event attendance was three, barely half of Joe Biden’s recent event at a day spa in New Hampshire where his leg hairs were being colored and curled.

“This may be the end of the campaign, it’s too soon to be sure. But for now it is suspended until further notice.

"Are there any questions? Yes, you in the back of the line, you have a question?”

“Yeah, are  you gonna shut the #@$^ up and order your takeout wings. You’re holding up the #!$%^ line!!”

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Be good to each other. ...and pass the Cajun Bleu sauce…

 

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Fringeville #214: Avoiding Blimpification

...Um...I'm never going to look like this, keto or no keto...

...a very good friend of mine asked me a while back what "keto" is after I posted on my weight loss.

First, I am not on a strict keto diet. It's because at my age I know my own mind. At some point, I rebel against everything. If I put my diet in a confining box, I will resent the walls. I will rebel. I will grow a butt with its own zip code.

I follow a keto-influenced diet. University of Michigan dietician Kevin Joy wrote an article last year on keto, pointing out its strengths and potential drawbacks. One of the concerns was yo-yo dieting (...yeah, I know I was a yo-yo before I ever started a diet but read on...) which is what often happens when one comes of a diet and slips back to the old bad habits. (In other words, blimp city.)

In my case, that is what happens when I rebel. I get a little skinny. Rebellion comes. I blimpify.

Instead of too tightly constraining myself, I've adopted keto as a guiding lifestyle. I feed my dark side the occasional treat from the old days, but my primary diet is (as pointed out in the U of M article) "...a low-carb, high-fat diet rich in meats, eggs, nuts and dairy." I strictly limit "fruits, root vegetables, grain products and legumes" but I don't follow a strict ban.

With one exception: I don't use sugar.

It's impossible to avoid completely because it is in so many, many things but I haven't added sugar to a damned thing since being told I was pre-diabetic. My white bread consumption is also down at least 90%. It would be 100% but ...and here comes that word again ...I would eventually rebel against a total hoagie ban.

I know people who do very well on a stricter flavor of keto, and I am certainly not knocking them. But, again, I know my own mind. I'm a frigging rebel at heart. If I don't occasionally feed the beast, it will feast on me.

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 ...be good to each other. (Is that a hoagie over there??)

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