What Would Jimmy Do?

Today is Columbus Day — a U.S. holiday that has always been, to some extent, and even more so, today — a kind of controversial holiday. The day commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century, but didn’t become a federal holiday until 1937.
Many people today think of the holiday as a way of honoring Columbus’ achievements and celebrating Italian-American Heritage. 

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who with backing from the Spanish monarchs Kind Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia aboard the ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He intended to chart a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, became the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.

Later that October, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China. In December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan and established Spain’s first colony in the Americas with 39 of his men.
In March, 1493, Columbus returned to Spain in triumph bearing gold, spices and “Indian” captives. He crossed the Atlantic several more times before his death in 1506.

The first Columbus Day celebration in the United States took place in 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order, better known as Tammany Hall, held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary.
In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage with patriotic festivities.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely as a result of intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus.

Columbus Day was originally observed every October 12, but was changed to the second Monday in October beginning in 1971.
Several U.S. cities and states have replaced Columbus Day with alternative days of remembrance. In some parts of the United States, Columbus Day has evolved into a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Local groups host parades and street fairs featuring colorful costumes, music and Italian food. In places that use the day to honor indigenous peoples, activities include pow-wows, traditional dance events and lessons about Native American culture.

So today is a federal holiday — whether you celebrate Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, or something else, it’s nice you have the freedom to make that choice…..
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Today, October 8, is an important day — the Department of Homeland Security was established (by President George W. Bush) and Don Larson (Yankees) pitched the only perfect game in the history of the baseball World Series on the 8th day of October. But what really makes this day special is, it’s National Pierogi Day.

Before I married Claire, I had never heard of a Pierogi, but I found out that it had a very special place in her life, growing up. I’m not sure it still happens, but every year after Thanksgiving, Claire’s entire (big) family got together and made hundreds of pierogis for the family’s Christmas Eve dinner. 

Considered to be one of Poland’s national dishes, pierogis are first boiled and then served several at a time with melted butter. In Eastern Europe, most countries have their own version of the dumpling. 

In the United States, pierogis are a popular dish in Polish communities and many events are held in honor of the periogi. In Whiting, Indiana, a pierogi fest is held for 3 days in July, and in Pittsburgh every Pittsburg Pirates baseball home game features a pierogi race, where runners in pierogi costumes compete in a race. And people in the village of Glendon in Alberta, Canada love pierogis so much that in 1993 they constructed a 25 foot tall fiberglass pierogi, with a fork through it. 

Researchers haven’t found a real history behind National Pierogi Day…. in fact, they haven’t even been able to determine the exact year of beginning for the day. But if someone thinks today is National Pierogi Day, that’s good enough for me. Seems like a better reason that some to celebrate.
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Back in my working for a living days, one summer I spent a few weeks at a facility that our company owned in the country — in fact it was sometimes referred to as the “farm.” It once was owned by someone that was obviously wealthy — it was a very large piece of property and one of the buildings was a Manor House, a beautiful old house that looked like it belonged in the Old South on a plantation. Anyhow, there were a number of functions performed at the “farm.”

One of the buildings contained a “lab” that designed, and built things that most people would say were impossible, or belonged in some science fiction movie — to say that the things they turned out were technologically advanced would be a major understatement.

Our company had a contract with Georgia Tech to employ some of their best engineering students during the summer as co-ops. The students would work in the co-op program during the summers and sometimes between semesters. You may have guessed, they worked in the “lab.” The “farm” was large enough that they had a few dorms so the students lived on-site. And there was a very nice dining hall that served terrific food. Since most of the students didn’t have cars, they could pretty much exist right “on-campus” during their stay. 

During my stay there, I got to be pretty good friends with the students — I was a lot younger at the time and I don’t think they considered me to be an “old man” yet. 

There was a guy that worked in the lab for many years, and to be honest he was one of the smartest people I have ever known. Early in his life, he was involved in some sort of an accident — I don’t know any of the particulars, and on top of that he had one eye that just floated around and in various directions that couldn’t be controlled — the eye problem supposedly occurred at birth. But add the strange eye to the fact that he walked funny because of the accident and he was just about the ultimate introvert and rarely talked to anyone….. to me his actions seemed robotic. 

Well, one afternoon after work I was sitting with a few of the co-ops on the veranda of the Manor House, and this guy walked by. One of the Georgia Tech students made a comment about him being weird. I told them that they shouldn’t be critical and that they had built this guy in the lab. A couple of them stared at me but didn’t say much of anything.

But — it turns out that they believed me. They told the rest of the Georgia Tech crew and word quickly spread among the Co-ops that this guy had been made in the lab. A couple of the students got called in the director of the facility’s office and were asked where they got such an idea. They told him that I told them! Yep, You’re right… my presence was requested in the Director’s office. I was asked if I was the one that started this shameful rumor. Since my job required me to take numerous polygraphs over the years, I readily admitted it. Of course I was asked why I’d make up such a story — my response of “I thought it was funny” didn’t fly and I had to set all the co-ops straight. 

I guess the lesson here is that with age comes wisdom — I’d never do anything like that today….. well, actually….. I might.
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Happy October — continuing my recent custom of writing about each upcoming month, today’s topic will be….October. 

This is the month when I guess we should get into the fall mood. Besides Halloween, there’s a lot of interesting days coming up this month — Leif Ericsson Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, Ten-Ten Day, United Nations Day and Frankenstein Friday, just to name a few.

The full Moon in October is known as the Hunter’s Moon and arrives on October 9. Hopefully, the leaves will be more colorful this year than they have been the past few years. The main reason for the color change in the leaves isn’t autumn’s chilly weather, but the lack of light. The green color of leaves disappears when photosynthesis (from sunlight) slows down and the chlorophyll breaks down. Trees with a lot of sunlight usually produce red leaves, while other trees may turn yellow, orange or brown.

Today, October 1, has been a pretty noteworthy day in history….
On October 1, 1888 the first-ever National Geographic magazine was published.
On October 1, 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T car — it cost $825.
On October 1, 1971 Walt Disney World Resort opened in Orlando Florida.
And — since 1991, the International Day of Older Persons is observed on October 1. 

A recent study in Italy reported that October is the best month for conceiving a boy and for some reason the month of October is not mentioned in any of Shakespeare’s plays.

Folklore says that when deer are in a gray coat in October, expect a hard winter…. but it also says that a warm October means a cold February.
So looks like we’ve got a full month ahead of us — we best get started.
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Michaelmas is an ancient Celtic “Quarter Day” which marked the end of the harvesting season and is steeped in folklore. There are four English “Quarter Days” — days that fall around the Equinoxes or Solstices and mark the beginning of new natural seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall.) These days were used in medieval times to mark “quarters” for legal purposes, such as settling debts. Other Quarter Days are: Lady Day (the Feast of the Annunciation) on March 25, the Feast of St. John on June 24, and Christmas on December 25.

Michaelmas Day is the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, celebrated on 29 September. St. Michael is the patron saint of the sea and maritime lands, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. He was the Angel who hurled Lucifer (the devil) down from Heaven for his treachery. Michaelmas Day is traditionally the last day of the harvest season.
The harvest season used to begin on August 1st and was called Lammas, meaning “loaf Mass.” Farmers made loaves of bread from the new wheat crop and gave them to their local church. The custom ended when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church, and today we have harvest festivals at the end of the season near Michaelmas Day.

Michaelmas Day is sometimes called Goose Day. Goose Fairs are still held in some towns in England, but geese are no longer sold. A famous Michaelmas fair is the Nottingham Goose Fair, held every year on or around October 3rd. 

A popular custom in England was to dine on goose on Michaelmas. One reason for this was that Queen Elizabeth I was eating goose when news of the defeat of the Armada was brought to her. In celebration, she said that henceforth she would always eat goose on Michaelmas Day. 

Another possible reason why goose are eaten, is that since Michaelmas was a Quarter Day, rents were due and bills had to be paid. Tenants seeking a delay of payment traditionally brought a goose as a present to their landlord to help seek his indulgence. 

Folklore in England holds that the devil stamps on bramble bushes. Therefore one must not pick blackberries after Michaelmas. The reason for this belief has ancient origins…. it was said that the devil was kicked out of heaven on St. Michael’s Feast Day, but as he fell from the skies, he landed in a bramble bush. He cursed the fruit of that prickly plant, scorching them with his fiery breath, stomping on them, spitting on them and generally making them unsuitable for human consumption. Legend suggests he renews his curse annually on Michaelmas Day and therefore it is very unlucky to gather blackberries after this date.
Some groups in the United States, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch, have kept Michaelmas traditions alive.
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I was born in 1938 and I grew up in Maysville, Oklahoma. Ever since I was a kid old enough to remember, my uncle talked about wanting to buy a 1931 Ford Model A. Here’s the story about that memory….

Around 1931, there was a doctor that lived in Maysville — Dr. Taylor. Apparently sometime during the year of 1931, Dr. Taylor died — only a few months after he had purchased a brand new Ford Model A Roadster — complete with a rumble seat.
Doctor Taylor’s wife never learned to drive, and the car remained parked in their garage after the doctor died. Mrs Taylor continued to live in Maysville for many years (I’m not sure if she died there.)

Anyhow, my uncle was the butcher in my dad’s store and Mrs. Taylor came in at least every week to shop. Several times every year — for almost 30 years — my uncle asked Mrs. Taylor if she’d like to sell Dr. Taylor’s car. Her answer was always no, not yet. 
Finally, sometime around 1960 (I’m not sure of the year) my uncle said, “well, Mrs. Taylor, are you ready to sell that car yet?” And Mrs. Taylor said, ”yea, I think it’s time.”

When my uncle asked about the price, she asked if the amount the car cost in 1931 would be too much. My uncle explained the he was willing to pay much more than the car cost in 1931. But Mrs. Taylor said that no, she thought the original price of the car would be fair — I don’t remember for sure, but I think that was about $1,200. 

So around 1960 my uncle became the owner of a (almost) new 1931 Ford Model A Roadster. The car had less than 1,000 miles on it. Of course, sitting in a garage for 30 years or so, it needed new tires, battery, fan belts, etc. — but it still looked brand new, the upholstery was dusty, but not worn at all and it had the original owners’ manual in the glove compartment. 
Needless to say, my uncle was thrilled — after he put new tires, battery, etc. on the car, he was the “talk of the town” tooling around in his spiffy new car. 

The purchase took place after I had left Maysville, but when I went back to visit, I usually got to drive Uncle Ralph’s 1931 Model A — complete with rumble seat. 
I don’t know what happened to that car — I asked a number of times, but never got a satisfactory answer.
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Rosh Hashanah began at sunset yesterday, Sunday, September 25, 2022 (to nightfall of Tuesday, September 27.) 2022 is Hebrew Year 5783.

Rosh Hashanah, literally “Head of the Year” in Hebrew, is the beginning of the Jewish new year. It is the first of the High Holidays or “Days of Awe,” ending 10 days later with Yom Kippur. The two day festival marks the anniversary of human’s creation — and the special relationship between humans and God, the creator. 

Rosh Hashanah begins with the sounding of the shofar, an instrument made of a ram’s horn, proclaiming God as King of Universe. Rosh Hashanah is described in the Torah as Yom Teru’ah, a day of sounding (the Shofar.) The sound of the shofar is also a call to repentance — to wake up and re-examine our commitment to God and to correct our ways. Thus begins the “Ten Days of Repentance” which ends with Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement.”

The Jewish calendar is different than the Gregorian calendar. It is a “Luni-Solar” calendar, established by the cycles of the Moon and the Sun, so the lengths of days vary by season, controlled by the times of sunset, nightfall, dawn, and sunrise. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. All Jewish holidays begin at sunset.

Some of the traditions associated with Rosh Hashanah include:
Attending synagogue and spending time with family and friends.
Reflecting on the year before and repenting for any wrongdoings and then reflecting on the year ahead to start afresh.
Wearing white and new clothes, symbolizing purity.
Every evening, candles are lit. Candles are often a symbol of remembrance.
On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Tashlich ceremony is performed. This involves visiting a body of fresh water to symbolically cast past sins away.
Spicy, sharp, or sour foods are avoided in favor of sweet delicacies, representing wishes for a sweet and pleasant year — not a bitter year. 

The traditional way to wish someone a Happy New Year in Hebrew is to say “Shana Tova.” In Hebrew this means “A good Year.”
So to my Jewish friends — and everyone else — Shana Tova.
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I used an expression the other day while waiting in traffic behind a particularly annoying driver — the expression was “for crying out loud.” I use that expression on occasion and I’ve heard other people use it, so what the heck does it mean, and where did it come from? Some expressions make more sense to me than others and I can even imagine where they probably came from or how they originated. 

I remember using “for crying out loud” fairly often when out kids were growing up — I’d often use it when they did things like draw on the wall with crayons or something like that.

But I got to thinking about that for crying out loud expression today and decided it made absolutely no sense to me. So I decided that today was as good a day as any to get to the bottom of this foolish expression. 
So thanks to my extensive research skills, I have solved the mystery — well, kinda, anyway. It seems that the expression is one of a long list of sayings that originated in Christian culture — called “minced oaths.” These saying allow you to express your frustration without saying something sinful. So a minced oath is an oath in which the profane or offensive word is replaced with a euphemism in order to make the term suitable for all audiences. The inappropriate oath replaced by “crying out loud” is “for Christ’s sake.” How you get from from “Christ’s sake” to “for crying out loud,” I can’t figure out — but I’d guess it has something to do with a father upset with the endless crying of his baby. 

Looking through a list of minced oaths was interesting and it was easy to get off track from my original task — for example, if you were a peasant back in the dark ages and someone stole your sandals, instead of yelling something like, “When I find you, I’m gonna stick those sandals up your…!” you’d say something like, “for Pete’s sake!” which shifts the attention to one of Jesus’ right hand men, St. Peter. You’d still be able to express your anger, but most people wouldn’t take offense. Even expressions like “Gee” are Christian based. The “G” sound represents the “G” sound in Jesus Christ…. 

For sake of completeness, I should mention that my extensive research uncovered another theory about the origin….. that the phrase for crying out loud originated in the United States in the 1920s, and the cartoonist Thomas Aloysius Dorian is credited with popularizing the idiom.
No matter the origin, for crying out loud is an expression of frustration, impatience, or exasperation.
So apparently it’s an acceptable phrase to use in our society.
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Yesterday was our friend Anne’s birthday and I mentioned that she was born in Germany in the same year Hitler came to power.
Anne has mentioned on several occasions the similarity of Germany in her youth to the United States the past few years. I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look at Germany beginning back in 1933…..

Germany became a republic in 1919. After losing the First World War, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. Many Germans were dissatisfied with the new situation and longed for a return to the Empire. A lot of people also believed that the ruling social democrats were to blame for losing the war. In 1930, the global economic crisis hit. Germany could no longer pay its war debts stipulated in the Versailles Peace Treaty. Millions of Germans lost their jobs and the country was in a political crisis —it seemed impossible to form a majority government.
That situation led to the rise of the German National Socialist Workers’ Party (NSDAP.) It was founded in 1920, but was a very small party. But Hitler used his oratory talent to attract more and more members. The party was characterized by extreme nationalism and antisemitism. Hitler led a coup attempt in 1923, but it was a complete failure. He was jailed and the courts banned the NSDAP. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, setting out his plans for Germany. After he was released, the Nazis stuck to the law and tried to gain power by means of elections. They benefited from the economic crisis and the the Nazis used the crisis to condemn the government and the Versailles Peace Treaty. Their strategy worked and in the 1928 elections, the NSDAP gained 800.0000 votes and in 1930 the number had increased to 6.4 million. 

The Nazi leaders were young, not like the greying politicians of the established parties and Hitler’s image as a strong leader appealed to people as he promised to put an end to political discord. The Nazis focused on voters from all walks of life — not just one or two groups, like workers or Catholics. But in the 1932 elections, the NSDAP didn’t receive enough votes to come into power. However, in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg gave in to pressure from (mostly) the NSDAP and appointed Hitler chancellor. So although Hitler was not elected by the German people, he still came to power legally.

The National Socialists celebrated their victory, but Hitler was still far from being all-powerful at that time. The new government’s cabinet only had two NSDAP members, but Hitler succeeded in getting them appointed to important positions. Many, if not most, Germans were indifferent to the events. They had seen many governments come and go and didn’t expect the new government to last long.
It wasn’t long before Hitler claimed more power. A fire in the Reichstag, the parliament building, played a key role. The fire, on February 27, 1933, had flames shooting through the roof. The German guards overpowered the suspected arsonist, a Dutch communist. (He was executed after a show trial in 1934 — no evidence of any accomplices were ever found.)
The Nazi leadership was quick to take advantage of the fire, proclaiming, “This is the beginning of the Communist revolt, they will start their attack now! Not a moment must be lost.” Hitler shouted, “There will be no mercy now. Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down.”

The next morning, President Von Hindenburg promulgated the Reichstag Fire Decree. It formed the basis for a dictatorship. Freedom of expression was no longer a matter of course and the police could arbitrarily search houses and arrest people. The political opponents of the Nazis were essentially outlawed. 
New elections were held in March of 1933 in the newly created atmosphere of intimidation. The streets were full of Nazi posters and flags, but even so, the NSDAP only received 43.9% of the votes. However, arrests and intimidation were increasing and the government banned the Communist Party and started arresting communists. In order to house all the political prisoners, the first concentration camps were opened. People in the camps were badly treated, tortured, and sometimes killed.

Shortly after the March election (in 1933) the Reichstag met in Berlin. The main item on the agenda was a new law, the “Enabling Act.” It allowed Hitler to enact new laws without interference from the president or Reichstag for a period of four years. The building where the meeting took place was surrounded by members of the SA and the SS, paramilitary organizations of the NSDAP, that had by this time been promoted to auxiliary police forces. Hitler gave a speech in which he gave those present the choice between “war and peace.” It was a veiled threat to intimidate any dissenters — the process by no means was democratic. With 444 votes in favor and 94 against, the Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act that formed the basis of the Nazi dictatorship until 1945.

With Hitler becoming so powerful, it was time for the Nazis to bring society in line with the Nazi ideal. The process was known as Gleichshaltung. Many politically-suspect and Jewish civil servants were dismissed, trade unions were forcibly replaced by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront — allowing the Nazis to prevent workers from organizing any opposition. All political parties were banned —Germany became a singe-party state. Cultural and scientific “cleansings” were carried out and everything “un-German” had to disappear, with all books written by Jewish, left-wing, or pacifist writers being burned.
As the Nazis took over, their destructive energy was mainly directed against their political opponents — with the exception of German Jews. As a group, the Jews did not oppose the ambitions of the Nazis, but they were the constant victims of violence, harassment, and oppression. 

After taking power, Hitler and the Nazis turned Germany into a dictatorship. Step by step, Hitler managed to erode democracy until it was just a hollow facade. And Hitler continued to strengthen his hold on Germany for the twelve years that the Third Reich existed…..

This is a depressing story and it seems that the world would have learned something from it — but look around and see what you think. This blog entry could possibly soon be  written in the present tense by merely changing some names and locations — a frightening thought. It seems like we just can’t learn from our mistakes.
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In case you’re not into Roman numerals, Today’s blog title is a date — 9-21-1933. That’s the date our friend Anne was born. That makes her 89 years old today.
Anne was born in 1933 in Germany — the same year Hitler came to power and turned Germany into a dictatorship.
She survived the war and made it to the United States… worked as a maid, made a lot of German (and American) friends and met and married Winfried. 

She’s had a fascinating life and has been one of our best friends since we moved to Shepherdstown. For many years, we’ve always celebrated her birthday with her — usually along with some of her many friends — and the tradition continues….
This is the last year she’ll be able to tell her friends she’s still in her eighties. So Happy Birthday to Anne — I proclaim this official Rusty Nail Day in her honor. 
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