Sunday Morning Coming Down

Some things need to reinvent themselves.  Most things evolve and most of the time evolution is a positive thing.   I'm not sure what the Florida Governor is trying to accomplish academically by removing the college president at New College and packing the board of trustees and replacing the college president with a close ally and a salary increase that is way out of line with a current enrollment of about 700 students. It is hard to understand the threat of a rigorous program of independent study given the success that many New College students have achieved.  The New College Website highlights:   Students’ progress should be based on demonstrated competence and real mastery rather than on the accumulation of credits and grades. New College also values having a diverse, equitable, and inclusive academic community. The alumni understand this as trying to fix something that isn't broken and a baldly political attempt to politicize a nationally known honors pr...

 There are limits to what minority rule can accomplish.  Eventually even non elected despots and long reining queens get replaced.  After the death of Queen Elizabeth II who was by all accounts popular, the succession of her son Charles is still a work in progress. The resignation of Boris Johnson and his replacement by Liss Truss shows that even those in power are subject to policy and personnel missteps that require changes if they are to move forward. The successions in the United States with periodic elections for Presidents, Governors, the House of Representatives, some Senators and elections for various offices in the fifty states all at the same time make voting an important part of our election cycle whether or not the election of a president is on the ballot. This year's election is important for the near future and as most commentators speak to on the future of democracy or the acceptance of something very much less than democracy as it has been practiced in the...

Hurricane Andrew is in my rearview mirror, but I remember businesses closing for good in the South Dade Area and large areas where people once lived having many destroyed homes and few residents. I also remember tent cities that lasted for months. I remember FEMA cars, blue roofs, MREs. Traffic signals were down, and I remember vividly trying to direct traffic on US1 and Red Road. It was both an epic failure and a major life lesson.  I was woefully unprepared and undertrained and was thrilled when the Florida Highway Patrol relieved me and said they would need two experienced traffic officers to direct traffic.  I wasn't even given a whistle or any indication I might be held responsible if there were to be a crash at the intersection. (I'm relieved no one ran me over). I retreated to my apartment which was really warm. The cooler still had ice and a couple of silver bullets left from a sweaty night.  Having replaced some fluids, I called the traffic and transportation fol...

  I was asked to wait after I had my latest set of flu shots. I made an appointment and was seen in a timely manner and then it went downhill.  A guy who I recognized came in from begging on the corner of 80th and US 1. He proceeded to make a cell phone call to complain about not being able to buy ice or water with some benefit from a Medicare Advantage Program.  The poor recipient of his complaint had the company blamed and then she was blamed for being from the Philippines and unable to approve his purchase and the guy got louder. I wanted to yank his phone from him and tell her the ice was necessary to keep his insulin cold and that he at times bought water because he was homeless and lived out of his car.  My time out to make sure there were no side effect from the shot was almost over and I left without intervening.  I'm not sure if any intervention might have worked, short of buying him ice but that is for another day.  10/12/2022, saw ...

 Last Sunday I went to Publix across the street from the University of Miami and there was a younger looking fellow that was playing sort of classical music at the entrance to the parking lot. Along with the boom box amp, there was a request for donations. As a long time Miami resident, panhandling kind of goes with the territory.  Usually, it's just a request for any level of support greatly appreciated.  And then there's the exceptional panhandlers who sell fruits and vegetables, cold water, chewing gum, putting lessons?, and in this case electronic violin selections. Just about every intersection has these folks dodging traffic while trying to supplement their income. I do my best to ignore these folks that just have the cardboard signs. I've bought chicle, water, and limes, and if I still played golf I might have asked the guy in the golf shirt for a tip. The guy with the violin got called out Next Door like he was some kind of a fraud.  Something just didn't see...

The storm that became Hurricane Andrew formed in the Atlantic Ocean on August 16, 1992. If you lived in Miami back then you probably still have vivid memories of the hurricane and the aftermath that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Today was sort of a hurricane season rehearsal.  I had bought a charger than can do more than charge your phone, like add air to tires, jump start your, a light that you can read by and two USB ports.  The instructions say it should be used monthly and recharged and recharged monthly. While on the phone I was cutoff and thought it was my cable company, a few minutes later I opened the fridge and realized the power was down. My cell phone was recharging on the new charger.  I was able to get information from FPL, that help was on the way and would be restored at 4:15pm.  FPL missed the mark by a little over an hour, but my cell phone got a full charge pretty quickly.  After a light lunch at American Legion Post 31, I ...

Superman on TV was always fighting for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way".  Yes, Superman is aspirational and a comic book creation.  To most watchers these days it seems almost corny to look up into the sky and for people to see Superman disguised as Clark Kent flying off to help friends, catch bad guys, do the right thing while fighting off really bad guys who would sap his powers with Kryptonite. This morning I came across a series of tweets by Jennifer Mercieca describing what real leaders of a democracy would be saying about the shortcomings of the previous administration as revealed in the past ten days or so. A serious statesman would comment about how important national security is, admitted mistakes were made in the proper retention of documents related to national security and promised actions to correct previous mistakes and thank agencies and the good people responsible for maintaining our security in the FBI and Department of Justice for all their efforts. In...