tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43166776190128588022024-03-13T13:33:53.277-04:00Goodfellows52Check out this family's adventures in Maine and enjoy some political humor in a world a that needs a good laugh.goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.comBlogger394125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-22268347993988970022020-07-05T12:29:00.001-04:002020-07-05T12:29:29.977-04:00Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2020/07/demonstrate-your-patriotism-and-wear.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask</a>: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greate...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-31820309264634333052020-07-05T12:27:00.001-04:002020-07-05T12:27:00.774-04:00Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2020/07/demonstrate-your-patriotism-and-wear.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask</a>: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greate...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-35821068809816729422020-07-05T12:25:00.002-04:002020-07-05T12:25:47.139-04:00Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="font-size: 26.7px;">“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”</i></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/mark-twain-quotes"><b>Mark Twain</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greater good — and to satisfy a fantasy of robbing a train with two of my favorite outlaws — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Every time, I wear my designer cloth mask, it makes me feel empowered and positive knowing that I am a putting a dent in the spread of COVID-19.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Butch’s Wild Bunch gang never complained about donning a mask, especially when they were intimidating railroad engineers with six-shooters. Butch and Sundance understood that masks were tools of the trade to knocking over the 5 p.m. Evening Express and absconding with payroll money. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It was part of their job description and it explains why they thrived as outlaws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But here in America, some citizens foolishly believe it his or her constitutional right to refuse to wear face coverings. You want to demonstrate your patriotism: Wear a mask.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In the Pine Tree State, no mask means no shopping or being served at a restaurant. Businesses are just following the governor’s guidelines. The other day I nearly stiffed armed another shopper who ignored the six-foot, distance marker and tried to stand right next to me as I paid for my items.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I am not a germaphobe, but I don’t want to visit an ER, so backoff while I am in line. Let’s say you survive a serious bout of the coronavirus, but then there are the after-effects of the pathogen like lung transplants, losing a leg or taking months just to get back to normal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All it took was a bit a research on the internet to prove that we should all wear the DAMN mask without bitching about our constitutional rights — because those rights don’t exist. It is a worldwide outbreak and it continues to kill. The federal government has done a poor job protecting its citizens. Science has the final say in this matter and we should all be listening to the sage advice of Dr. Fauci and the CDC.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">According to the American Constitution Society, and I am quoting its Web site:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“In the face of that devastating pandemic, the judicial branch seemed to adopt a non-justiciable, political question-type approach to local health measures in an emergency. Typical is the </i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=jYALAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=Globe+School+Dist.+No.+1+of+Globe,+Gila+County+v.+Board+of...,+20+Ariz.+208+(1919)&source=bl&ots=RaOPUqXFe2&sig=ACfU3U1akpwobRTVNfJDXKuGAqXDYrzqZg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_6_KCzJ3oAhWic98KHS2iBX0Q6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Globe%20School%20Dist.%20No.%201%20of%20Globe%2C%20Gila%20County%20v.%20Board%20of...%2C%2020%20Ariz.%20208%20(1919)&f=false"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Supreme Court of Arizona’s</i></span></a><i> pronouncement, “Necessity is the law of time and place, and the emergency calls into life the necessity … to exercise the power to protect the public health.” In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court had called for just such deference in </i><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/197/11"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Jacobson v. Massachusetts</i></span></a><i>. In the midst of a small-pox outbreak, local authorities could mandate vaccination on penalty of a fine for refusal: “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“But In </i><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19a1044_pok0.pdf"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #000076; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom</i></b></span></a><b><i>,</i></b><i> the Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed the central position of Jacobson v. Massachusetts:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“Our Constitution principally entrusts “[t]he safety and the health of the people” to the politically accountable officials of the States “to guard and protect.” Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11, 38 (1905). When those officials “undertake to act in areas fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties,” their latitude “must be especially broad.” Marshall v. United States, 414 U. S. 417, 427 (1974). Where those broad limits are not exceeded, they should not be subject to second-guessing by an “unelected federal judiciary,” which lacks the background, competence, and expertise to assess public health and is not accountable to the people.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The judges are pretty smart guys who know it would be foolish to pass themselves off as experts in epidemiology — although that hasn’t stopped many of our leaders in D.C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So when someone makes this claim, I cringe knowing you really don’t have al legal leg to stand on when you try to make this futile case.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We are still riding the first wave of a deadly pandemic because leaders at the federal level dangerously dismissed the coronavirus like the common cold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The mask interrupts the spread of COVID-19 and we all should be wearing it for the other guy, who should be wearing it for you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So please wear the mask or we will continue to pay the consequences in this life-and-death struggle with a pathogen that doesn’t give a damn about your politics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Think of yourself as the Lone Ranger. People will shout in the grocery store, ”Who was that masked man?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It was you doing the right thing for all of mankind.</span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-18815639682343778722020-04-02T17:00:00.002-04:002020-04-02T17:00:45.507-04:00Goodfellows52: Taking cover from a deadly pathogen<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2020/04/taking-cover-from-deadly-pathogen.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Taking cover from a deadly pathogen</a>: My wife and I walk down the church isle in Westbrook, Maine 30 years ago. AUBURN, Maine — A deadly pathogen known as Covid-19 is kno...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-34357477955684263272020-04-02T17:00:00.000-04:002020-04-02T19:31:24.594-04:00Taking cover from a deadly pathogen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6QNgZGqspJ8/XoZROa2IWBI/AAAAAAAADaE/VrkzNx1m5pcuH26qwBSnkqC95Jzz7uIxACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/16078CEB-1C70-49DB-A5F0-AC43AD248E04_1_201_a.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1303" data-original-width="1156" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6QNgZGqspJ8/XoZROa2IWBI/AAAAAAAADaE/VrkzNx1m5pcuH26qwBSnkqC95Jzz7uIxACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/16078CEB-1C70-49DB-A5F0-AC43AD248E04_1_201_a.jpeg" width="564" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — A deadly pathogen known as Covid-19 is knocking the hell out of humanity — and no nation is immune to this unrelenting scourge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The United States, like many nations, is in the midst of a health crisis, which is an understatement. Yeah, this is the big one and this worldwide pandemic has been in the making for 100 years, and now it has come to a theater near you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Blasi family has been hunkering down at home, where we now both work. My wife is a teacher and I am sports journalist for several publications. It is has been a dark, cold spring, but it is difficult to look forward to the summer when people of all ages are dying around the planet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are lucky and safe — for the moment — and I don’t take that for granted.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are 376 cases of Covid-19 in Maine and a handful of Pine Tree State residents have died. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The sports world no longer exists and most of my stories have become Coronavirus-related. Read the column I wrote l about a sportswriter who longs to be back on the road covering high-school baseball, lacrosse and track. But my world has disappeared for a moment as fans across the planet mourn the loss of pro sports.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is the link: <a href="https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/04/01/timeout-missing-that-human-touch/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b>https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/04/01/timeout-missing-that-human-touch/</b></span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">People in the U.S. are dying at an alarming rate, first responders are crying for relief and supplies, and millions of Americans are out of work as the world’s economy takes a nosedive into oblivion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is plenty of blame to go around after the U.S. appeared to ignore the warning sighs and got behind the eight ball. The people in charge should have understood the horrifying implications of what was transpiring in Wuhan, China. Other nations should have also mobilized instead of brushing off this deadly, infectious germ as a fluke. Back here, some leaders have called it hoax and have refused to order shelter in place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Turn on the news in America and and your eyes will well up as nurses and doctors, who are also being infected, plead for masks and respirators as the body count continues to soar.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Everybody should understand to keep their distance and remain at home to stop this pathogen’s from jumping from host to host. This isn’t the common cold and the life you save may be your own — if you remain at home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The three of us are going stir crazy and a trip to the gas station or grocery store is like a mini vacation. My heart goes out to all human beings around the globe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Five days ago, Terri and I celebrated 30 years of a good, strong and health marriage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am still looking forward to another 30 years with my wife and son. So do the right thing and remain at home for the sake of all of humanity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">American writer and humorist Mark Twain had it right when he said: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is OK to smile after reading Twain’s sage advice.</span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-44190552968546978252019-12-06T17:04:00.001-05:002019-12-06T17:04:30.821-05:00Goodfellows52: Holidays are a mixed picture<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2019/12/holidays-are-mixed-picture.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Holidays are a mixed picture</a>: Albert John Blasi lifts his daughter Babs and me a long time ago. “What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-50655068645289612922019-12-06T17:02:00.002-05:002019-12-06T17:02:44.061-05:00Holidays are a mixed picture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Albert John Blasi lifts his daughter Babs and me a long time ago.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> – Karl Lagerfeld</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.”</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> – Joan Miro</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — I took a sentimental and pictorial journey through the past 30 years of my life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The pilgrimage began after I started poring over worn-out photo albums over the past five months. I viewed hundreds of vintage pictures during an odyssey filled with tears, laughter and revelations of an era where over a dozen Italian relatives lived on one block.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This Italian enclave endured for decades before families starting spreading out across the nation. I miss the food, home-made wine and the company of my relatives, who made each Christmas Eve a night to remember in Revere, Mass.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was no Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter, which I now look upon as a blessing since I discovered life was pretty damn good without social media. I can't shake those wonderful moments, but memories also trigger a daily dose of longing — especially during the holidays. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Closure is nonsense for those of us with common sense.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Way back when</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was hand-to-hand combat when discussing politics in the backyard of my grandfather’s home, which was right next door to our house. Gatherings were huge, the booze sometimes ran like water, and voices grew louder as grown-ups sparred with each other over sports, weather and politics on hot summer evenings. My favorite argument occurred one evening when my dad admonished adults that the Beatles were partially responsible eroding society in America. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My father was young and already set in his ways, but I thought the four mop-tops — Paul, Ringo, George and John —were a smash and could do no wrong in the world of Rock and Roll. The British Invasion was a hit as bands like The Who and Rolling Stones took Americans out for a walk with their innovative sounds.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">An obsession begins</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For five years, over a half dozen of my mom’s photo albums sat buried under stuff in a packed closet. I sifted through plastic bags filled with old pictures and then inserted them into new albums.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I neglected the photos after my father passed away, and the four of us had the unenviable, melancholic task of cleaning out our parents’ home, which, sadly, was sold in 2015.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Being a witness to Alzheimer’s diabolical and unrelenting progression knocked the life out my soul. Perusing through those old photo albums became unbearable for me after we buried four immediate family members in four years. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the passing of time and a year’s worth of grief counseling gave me the courage to extricate those boxes filled with my past and examine over 500 photos, including some that were nearly 70 years old —without slipping into a mind-numbing depression.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Those pictures are slowly fading away just like aunts and uncles who are no longer with us. I knew these photos needed rescuing and tender, loving care.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A notion is born</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before I sifted through this jumble of photographs, I decided to give my three sisters hundreds of never-seen-before pictures of their children that we had taken for over the past two decades. I estimate that I have 3,000 pictures locked up in 70 albums that are stored upright on large, home-made Spruce book shelves. I needed to make room for more recent photos, and I eventually tossed out 500 after they were deemed as poor quality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I carefully dug through each book and extracted pictures of my sisters’ children.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I finished the project in two months, but I was on a tear and I set my sights on those priceless, abandoned photos in the back of the closet, knowing time is now at a premium in our lives. Each grizzled photo album featured pictures of my grandparents at a backyard barbecue, trips to Pennsylvania, Niagara Falls, Washington D.C. and visits to New England cemeteries to find lost relatives on my mother’s side of the family.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before I began, I needed to delicately remove each photo from the wax paper that held them there for over four decades. Peeling away each photo was an arduous task, but I discovered a method to speed up the process on the Internet. Heating an iron-made spatula with a blow dryer allows the spatula to cut through the wax without damaging the photo.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are 513 photos that needed to be scanned and developed so someday they will take the place of the originals. Let’s hope they come out OK after some serious enhancing on my computer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I needed to complete this project, which became an unusual obsession for me, and now this endeavor has taken me to the holidays.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">After all, T’s the season to speak of loved ones in the past tense as we all fend off those winter blues in New England.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Darkness comes quick in the hinterlands, and with the early winter twilight, depression is at its mightiest as it makes the rounds, jabbing away at your fragile soul like a feisty pugilist looking for an opportunity to land a devastating right hook.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanksgiving and Christmas double team and overwhelm us with the past. The Ghost of Christmas Past slips back into our deepest recesses, resurrecting fond memories.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So it is easy to lament the passing of time in the cold dark of winter and wishing you could have one more conversation with your parents. But you realize that people drift away like the melting spring snow and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Picture this</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do a majority of my work as a sportswriter and photographer at home. One of my three bedrooms serves as an office and a pictorial history of my family fills the walls. There are at least 50 photographs of lives well lived that stare back at me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This cavalcade of enlarged photographs is like taking H.G. Wells’ time machine out for a spin every day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I look at them when I pause to come up with another original sentence or touch up an action shot. Sometimes, I wander off in the past for a few minutes before I return to the blank page.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a privilege to know where I come from, but there are people who have never been surrounded by loving and kind relatives and friends like I have. Few have lived in a neighborhood with relatives occupying one street.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">That is why these old, knocked-around photos are important to all our children and the generations to come in our family tree.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The passing of time has a way of sorting out priorities in life — and it explains why those endearing photographs deserved my attention and soothed my longing for those I loved and lost over the decades.</span></span><br />
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0Revere, MA, USA42.4084302 -71.01199480000002542.314653199999995 -71.173356300000023 42.5022072 -70.850633300000027tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-32537314017748668702019-07-20T11:47:00.001-04:002019-07-20T11:47:41.398-04:00Goodfellows52: Three astronauts who united the world 50 years ago...<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2019/07/three-astronauts-who-united-world-50.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Three astronauts who united the world 50 years ago...</a>: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." — Neil Arm...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-42523832412949800042019-07-20T11:46:00.002-04:002019-08-05T15:10:33.164-04:00Three astronauts who united the world 50 years ago<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-size: 17px;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> — Neil Armstrong, astronaut and to walk on the moon</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — This date, July 20, 1969, was the day the world’s denizens looked up instead of down on each other.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Three dedicated and gutsy astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, road a Saturn V rocket all the way to another celestial body — the moon — over a period of eight days.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a watershed moment for humanity, where many of us remember where we were when Apollo 11 raced through space at 24,791mph. This daring endeavor kept us staring at that hunk of glowing rock in the sky 50 years ago until all three astronauts safely splashed down on July 24.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back in Revere, Mass., four sleepy children threw blankets and pillows on the parlor floor at 17 McClure Street and waited impatiently for the brave Armstrong to emerge from the lunar module Eagle, while Collins hovered above the moon in the command module Columbia.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My father, Al Blasi with his wife, Louise, took their usual positions on the couch as four tired children struggled to keep their eyes open in a dark parlor with only a black-and-white TV glowing like a beacon on that historic evening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Waiting for Armstrong to put his feet on the powdery surface of the moon was agonizing for this drowsy nine-year-old. Every now and then, my father went around the room and nudged us awake, but the sandman cast his sleepy spell on us as we fought a losing battle with him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When Amstrong stepped out and eventually put his footprints on the moon, my father shook us awake. I just stared at the screen as Amstrong cautious stepped down the ladder and made the world proud. My father understood what was happening 238,900 miles away from Earth, and he made sure his children also understood this was a moment to be witnessed by all humanity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, the Vietnam war raged, racism had come to a head and three leaders – President Kennedy, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated in a decade where civil unrest was rife and its violence spreading to the streets of America.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">America was in need of an event that would bring us together — at least for a few moments. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Despite tumultuous events transpiring across the nation, NASA went ahead with the program that would thrust three human beings across the dark void of space.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fast forward to now and the country remains widely divided thanks to its own pathetic leaders, whose vitriol has revived racism and all the hate that accompanies this malevolent affliction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are at another crossroads and the world seems to be spinning off its access fueled by needless hostility toward one another, and yet, new discoveries are being made despite the stupidity that surrounds us all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am sitting here listening to Sinatra’s smooth voice and wondering if another life-changing event is on the horizon to stop the madness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For naysayers who believe space exploration is a waste of time, I would tell them that it is as necessary as the discovery of fire and the wheel. It is worth the price to see what is out there and serves as a reminder that we are just another small rock in a expanding universe that doesn’t give a damn about us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So take a moment to look up at the moon to honor three men who put their lives on the line for exploration and discovery, as well as unite earth’s troubled denizens, who are in dire need of coming together again for the sake of humanity.</span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-78467961403309705602019-06-28T21:50:00.000-04:002019-06-28T21:50:01.265-04:00Goodfellows52: For this fortunate son, the stories of my father c...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2019/06/for-this-fortunate-son-stories-of-my.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: For this fortunate son, the stories of my father c...</a>: The caption reads: “Umpire Mike Caira listens politely as Revere coach Al Blasi dramatizes his clam that Arlington’s Ron Valeri was out ...</div>
goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-13000959745040472412019-06-27T23:55:00.001-04:002019-08-01T20:02:56.826-04:00For this fortunate son, the stories of my father continue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKNuW9GnWZM/XRWOz17prSI/AAAAAAAADWE/xImsZBkrI88CD0eDWsb95flKj89y5zZvgCLcBGAs/s1600/Scan%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="792" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKNuW9GnWZM/XRWOz17prSI/AAAAAAAADWE/xImsZBkrI88CD0eDWsb95flKj89y5zZvgCLcBGAs/s640/Scan%2B2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The caption reads: “Umpire Mike Caira listens politely as Revere coach Al Blasi dramatizes his clam that Arlington’s Ron</span><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Valeri was out trying to steal third base during yesterday’s game. Blasi lost the argument and Revere lost the game,2-1. </span></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Editor’s note:<i> </i></b><i>This is a poem by Diana Der-Hovanessian called “Shifting Son.” It is a poem that has never left me and now has more meaning since my father’s death.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">SHIFTING THE SUN</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Irish</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">you lose your umbrella against bad weather.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May his sun be your light, say the Armenians.</span></span></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Welsh</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">you sink a foot deeper into the earth.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May you inherit his light, say the Armenians</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Canadians</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">you run out of excuses.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Indians</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">he comes back as the thunder.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Russians,</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">he takes your childhood with him.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May you inherit his light say the Armenians.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the British,</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">you join his club you vowed you wouldn’t.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When your father dies, say the Armenians,</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">your sun shifts forever</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 0, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #660033; font-family: Verdana; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">and you walk in his light.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">LEWISTON, Maine — It appears the positive impact of my father’s legacy as a great baseball coach and an adept teacher will follow me like my shadow for the rest of my life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">His dedication to teaching and his community was what made him an icon in Revere, Mass. — and the endless stories about the big man with a deep voice and reassuring smile are still bandied about well beyond the borders of Massachusetts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have always been proud my father’s solid reputation and integrity because I loved the guy. He played baseball and other sports in the U.S. Army during the occupation of Germany in the mid 1950s. He missed the Korean war by a year, but instead of lugging around the M1 Garand rifle, he carried a bat and glove during his two years in the service.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He passed nearly five years ago and his absence still hurts like the nagging pain of a human joint ravaged by arthritis. Alzheimer’s was merciless when it claimed him, and anybody who is forced to endure “The Long Goodbye,” well, my heart goes out to you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When you care about someone that much, there is no letting go.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The other night, I was assigned to cover a mixed martial arts event at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Fighters come here to mix it up — and these free-for-all battles are not for the faint of heart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was introduced to a man by the name of Nick Disalvo, who is a co-promoter, lawyer and a 1995 graduate of Revere High School in the Bay State</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was stunned when I learned he was one my father’s students and a player for the RHS baseball team. I shook Disalvo’s hand.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I loved your father and respected him,” Disalvo told me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Yeah, I still miss him. The emptiness never leaves,” I said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We spoke in a darkened Colisee as workers rushed to get the ring ready for the amateur fighters. We shared memories of my father for 30 minutes. Mr. Disalvo went on and on about my dad and how he taught Disalvo the game. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whoever thought I would be discussing my late father with one of his dedicated ballplayers in the middle of Lewiston, Maine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t want him to stop talking about my dad. Every story Disalvo shared about my dad brought him back to life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Disalvo’s kind words about Albert John Blasi quelled my fading grief and eased my pain. I was grateful to Disalvo for his reverence for my dad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Everybody who played for Big Al always has a story to tell — and hearing their appreciation for my father never gets old.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He has been dead for nearly five years, and yet his influence on his students and players continues to this day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I once read that you are never really dead until the last person who knew you dies and your influence on the living stops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know I have not heard the last from his players or students because Albert John Blasi, a big man with a kind heart, coached the RHS baseball team for 43 years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And they still talk about him to this day, which makes me a fortunate son who was raised by a father who loved his family, school and community.</span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-64922859669083201422019-04-15T10:02:00.001-04:002019-04-15T10:02:00.248-04:00Goodfellows52: A warm evening springs into action with Philharmon...<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-warm-evening-springs-into-action-with.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: A warm evening springs into action with Philharmon...</a>: "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety ...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-53790208366061304942019-04-15T10:00:00.000-04:002019-04-15T23:40:09.751-04:00A warm evening springs into action with Philharmonia Boston Orchestra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." </i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> — Plato</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FARMINGTON, Maine — I blame the Philharmonia Boston Orchestra for knocking Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 from the top of my list after listening to a group of gifted musicians turn in an eye-opening, awe-inspiring performance of the German composer’s Symphony No. 6 — the “Pastoral.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">His ninth symphony, particularly the fourth movement, “Ode to Joy,” was always No. 1 with me when it came to Beethoven’s numerous works.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But alas, the “Pastoral” now tops ’em all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maestro Jinwook Park and his merry band of talented musicians were in Farmington on a warm and perfect Saturday evening to conduct the “Pastoral” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which left a grateful crowd cheering for more at the University of Maine at Farmington’s Nordica Auditorium at Merrill Hall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">After the first movement of the Pastoral, I was sold that Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 will relegate the ninth symphony to second place even though “Ode to Joy” will always have a place in my heart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Park’s aerobic style of conducting motivated his musicians and roused appreciative patrons, but his infinite energy also wore me out and made me want to take a nap. His enthusiasm was contagious as the uplifting music swept over all of us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Watching these accomplished artists perform with the precision of a surgeon’s gifted hands, while a stunning sunset was clearly visible from Merrill Hall’s large windows, made a warm spring Saturday night entrancing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">UMF professor of music Steven Pain delivered an enlightening introduction about Beethoven’s fifth and sixth symphonies and gave the crowd a new take on these unique and treasured pieces. Pain explained why German conductor composed the Symphony No. 6. The composition is about Beethoven’s encounter with nature, and he translated his observations into a powerful four-movement wonder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My mind began to wander and I found myself thinking of my garden or hiking in the Maine woods half way through the “Pastoral.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">By the final movement, my blood pressure had dropped and my optimism grew as the orchestra raced through the fifth movement. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">After intermission, Philharmonia played the Symphony No. 5, beginning with the first movement that is all too familiar to most classical music lovers. I enjoy the final movement, which is a stirring finale to a great composition.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son, Anthony, who will be graduating next month from UMF, told me about the concert. My wife, Terri, and I took the 45-mile trip up Route 4 to listen to adept musicians from the Greater Boston area perform.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">According to the university, “The New Commons is a public humanities initiative of the University of Maine at Farmington, Maine’s public liberal arts college, in partnership with the Maine Humanities Council.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Our goal is to build a cultural commons for our community at UMF and for the state of Maine: a collection of 24 cultural works proposed by students, faculty, and members of the community, and selected on the basis of their potential value to the community.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My goal was to enjoy an evening with my wife and son and the Philharmonia Boston Orchestra made that happen on a perfect evening topped off by timeless music.</span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-2050125186337369112019-03-16T10:17:00.001-04:002019-03-16T10:17:54.185-04:00Goodfellows52: Cat-TV teases Cindy-Lou<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2019/03/cat-tv-teases-cindy-lou.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Cat-TV teases Cindy-Lou</a>: "Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it." — Rod McKuen AUBURN...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-42689385595332877712019-03-16T10:16:00.001-04:002019-03-17T17:19:48.539-04:00Cat-TV teases Cindy-Lou<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw9ZY_CR6Qlt7I2EPYSBiMqEcXmVq-E85rmflRqtxUTK18FlYI-Rurl3JRLez0jAQ19UIxsi3EP60ffHx3Q8A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it." </span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>AUBURN, Maine — If you don’t acknowledge our cat in the morning, you do so at your own peril.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cindy-Lou is our wake-up call and there is no snooze button to silence our noisy tenant when our girl is up and about raising hell.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>She runs around, meowing: “Get your sorry asses out of bed.” She needs to be stroked and hugged because this fur ball won’t take no for an answer from a pair of bleary-eyed adults.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>You will never make it to the coffee pot because Cindy Lou will stand between you and your first cup of Joe. Feeding her first is the only priority or you will be tripping over this rambunctious beast before brewing that magic, dark stuff that gives us all a lift each morning.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>You see, Cindy-Lou has a lot to say for a cat that was adopted from an animal shelter. She has been with us for a year, and six weeks of that was spent wooing and cajoling the frightened cat to leave the basement for the comforts of a warm couch. Then we spent another week re-enacting the movie, “The King and I,” while humming along to one of the featured tunes: “Getting to know you.” </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>This is by far the most vocal feline we have ever taken under our wing. She screams for attention and her ear-piercing rants will bend your ear. She’s like a rooster that cackles at first light.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>We lost our beloved Tabby, who I categorize as a stealthy feline, last March. Tabby didn’t say much, and when humans tried to talk to it, Tabby gave you that Robert De Niro look in the movie “Taxi Driver: “Are you talking to me! Stop talking to me!”</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cindy, though, is one demanding cat that refuses to be ignored, but I have grown used to her endearing snarls and occasional swipes from her sharp claws.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>She fearlessly stands her ground except when I pull out the vacuum to clean the house. Her eyes widen with fear and she bolts downstairs and into the deepest recesses of our damp basement, waiting for me to put that god damn machine away.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Her reaction to the vacuum puts a wide grin on my face, and that smile also appears when we pelt the picture window with snowballs. Cindy-Lou leaps from the recliner and heads for cover, screaming: “Incoming!”</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>But I found another way to occupy an indoor cat with a lot of time on its paws.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I call it Cat-TV, which is live, daily programming from our front yard. We have two bird feeders for seed and one for suet. The feeders sway in front of the picture window, tantalizing Cindy-Lou, who spends hours sitting in a recliner next to the window and daydreaming of the day when she dispatches one of our feathered friends.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>After serving Cindy-Lou her meal, I draw the shades and watch the cat seat itself just in time to gawk at a handful of birds dining in the morning sun.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cindy will do this for a couple of hours, allowing me to enjoy my coffee in peace before I begin punching out a story for the Lewiston Sun Journal sports section.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Did you know that cats chatter with delight when their prey is just within paw’s reach? The chatter becomes louder as a variety of birds gorge on my feeders.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cindy crouches in the recliner to keep a low profile to watch blue jays, woodpeckers and chickadees pick at the Blasi’s home-cooking. Large cardinals really draw Cindy’s attention.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Her eyes never leave the window as sparrows belly up to the window feeder. The birds are now within striking distance of Cindy-Lou, which is ready to pounce. She leaps from the chair, but the window acts as a barrier, and she bumps her head off the glass as a sparrow flies away to the protection of hedges surrounding the front lawn.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The chickadees are the most audacious birds that have learned to ignore the cat during a lunch break.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>So I continue to invest in bird food for a cat that is just waiting for the moment to bag a robin or woodpecker.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>But she stands a better chance of knocking off a hapless mouse that made the fatal mistake of wondering into our home.</b></span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-54656793866850996642018-12-16T19:33:00.002-05:002018-12-17T16:39:50.270-05:00A cat by any other name; Oh deer me; We (Scrooge and I) come a wassailing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — This holiday season the Blasi family made a momentous decision to change the cat’s name — or at least use several other aliases.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The resolution will affect the household for the coming year. We debated and debated — for five agonizing minutes — at the kitchen table over a bowl of hot punch. After all the haggling, we agreed to a new name for a cat that never ever stops talking.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We will be in court on Monday to make it official after we file papers with several lawyers. The cat will also be summoned by several aliases depending our our moods and how much this hairball bothers me when I am filing a damn story at the kitchen table.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">My wonderful, beautiful wife named the cat “Cindy Lou Who,” the sweet kid from Whoville in “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” Every time I hear Grinch, I think of a nonsense-filled Washington, D.C. occupied by Li'l </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(106, 106, 106); color: #6a6a6a;"><b>Abner and his hillbilly friends.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Terri has also called the Cat — Diva — which has several definitions, including “a self-important person who is temperamental and difficult to please.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In this case, it is a cat and it owns our hearts — and she knows it. It screeches when it demands to be fed and wanders the house, bellowing “Hello.” It really does sound like that.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The cat, which we bought from an animal shelter the past March, is a drama queen — and we are convinced “Diva” is appropriate. She wakes us out of a sound sleep in the dead of night with her ear-piercing, unbearable screech. She is miserable until she has her morning, stinky food, much like I feel when I suck down my first of </span>cup of coffee.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Diva never stops talking and screeching — and it can be intolerable until you give in and crack open another can of smelly cat food. This is a cat with a hair-trigger temper that will take a swipe at you when she’s having a moment— and there are many.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She’ll steel your chair because Diva is a rascal and an assassin, who knocked off several mice and screamed at the top of her lungs after she committed the bloody deeds.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And so Diva will be the cat’s name — along with several aliases.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">To be honest, I don’t think the cat gives a damn so long as it eats — just like a Scrooge acquaintance — who wouldn’t attend “The Old Screw’s” funeral unless he was also fed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Oh deer me!</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was hustling back from a University of Maine at Farmington men’s basketball game that I covered a couple of Friday’s ago in Farmington.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a dark and cold night, my friends. Everybody was at home enjoying their wood stoves while I kept my eyes on a lonely stretch of road in search of danger.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had to file a story, because that’s what reporters do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I raced around a hair-pin turn on a hill at about 50 mph on dangerous Route 4 in Livermore when a giant buck leaped in front of my Rondo Kia. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had a three-second window to decide if I wanted to live or die on a dimly-lit country road on a freezing Friday night.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I skidded, veered a bit to the right, hit the gas pedal and slammed in the deer’s ass. I hit it hard and it limped off into the woods. I drove off to call it in. I accelerated to lift the hood to prevent the deer from crashing through the window.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I heard the glass cover on the left-front headlight shatter after the impact, which could be heard for miles. I limped home with one headlight and a fear that there were other deer lurking on the side of road ready to pounce on other unsuspecting drivers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I needed to file my story because that’s what reporters do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also needed a stiff drink because that’s what this reporter required after dodging the Grim Reaper.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Old Screw warmed my heart</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have read just about everything that Charles Dickens published over his lifetime, but I never sat down with “A Christmas Carol.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve watched several movies called a “Christmas Carol” or “Scrooge.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I promised myself that I would read the Dickens’ story about angry old man — like Henry F. Potter — who despises the world and tries to make Bedford Falls a hellhole for young George Bailey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s a real-life versions of Scrooge or Potter in our nation’s capital.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was enthralled as Dickens took us through Ebenezer’s tumultuous life — with three diligent spirits who slapped around the miser along the way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He certainly had it coming to him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The short story is spectacular, especially the way Dickens reveals his characters through sharp dialogue. The book has certainly withstood the test of time, just like Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story, “The Greatest Gift,” which we all know as “It’s a Wonderful Life.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dickens and Van Doren Stern had it right when they penned two ageless stories about miserly, selfish old men whose only concern is themselves and the bottom line.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sound familiar?</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But “The Old Screw” figured it out in the end when he said: “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I leave you with Scrooge’s epiphany and bid you all a happy holiday.</b></span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-36524025102275137022018-11-21T23:06:00.003-05:002018-11-21T23:06:50.829-05:00Goodfellows52: Giving thanks for some wonderful memories<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2018/11/giving-thanks-for-some-wonderful.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Giving thanks for some wonderful memories</a>: “Traditions are our roots and a profile of who we are as individuals and who we are as a family. They are our roots, which give u...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-38486191190021283852018-11-21T23:06:00.001-05:002018-11-21T23:06:30.239-05:00Goodfellows52: Goodfellows52: Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou<a href="https://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2018/08/goodfellows52-cat-and-mouse-with-cindy.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Goodfellows52: Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou</a>: Goodfellows52: Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou : "Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function." — G...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-19717983970133762622018-11-21T23:04:00.001-05:002018-11-21T23:04:33.355-05:00Giving thanks for some wonderful memories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Traditions are our roots and a profile of who we are as individuals and who we are as a family. They are our roots, which give us stability and a sense of belonging - they ground us.” </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b> — Lidia Bastianich</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — A holiday tradition vanished with the death of my father.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">But when you are the survivor, you long for the custom that brought you closer together with a parent.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I was fortunate to be raised in Italian neighborhood with nearly a dozen relatives on one street. Thanksgiving meant a stream of cousins and uncles, a smorgasbord of home-made food and booze — particularly fine wine.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">There were traditions within traditions and one was rooting for your high school during Turkey Day football games across the state of Massachusetts. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">For nearly 50 years, you would find my father and me at a wind-blown, frozen football field watching Revere High School confront the Winthrop Vikings on a brisk Thanksgiving morning.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Spending a cold morning at Harry Della Russo Stadium or Winthrop’s ocean-side field was the prelude to a dinner for 20 relatives all vying for sumptuous meals and share a shot of Anisette to take the chill out of those football fans returning from the game.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">During the games, we lamented about the cold and spent a couple of bucks on hot chocolate. There were adults who were seen reaching inside their jackets for their flasks filled with rye or brandy.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I envied them. I found hot chocolate didn’t stop the shivers triggered by the biting cold. But a belt of brandy might be just what the doctor ordered in sub-zero temperatures.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Back in the day, the Div. I teams from the Greater Boston Area drew big crowds. The game gave former RHS football players like me a chance to catch up with former classmates as well as hang around my father — Albert John Blasi.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Big Al coached the Revere Patriots baseball team. He believed in supporting the football team and the game gave him the perfect excuse stay out of my mother’s way in the kitchen. My father did not find slaving over a hot oven a palatable way to spend the morning. Making soup or salad was the extent of his culinary skills.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Those talks in the car before we got to the field were precious to me. I watched my dad flip around the AM dial looking for other high school football scores as we raced home for a round of pasta, fish and Turkey.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thanksgiving Day mornings watching high school football came to a slow stop when age caught up with my dad and the death of his close friend, Robert Marra. My father and Mr. Marra were fixtures in the stands. Both are no longer with us and a tradition disappeared with them.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The memories are sometimes painful, but I know I was lucky to have those significant moments with a father who loved his family and community. Going to a high school game would not be the same without my dad.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thanksgiving traditions sometimes fade away with time, but those memories of my father standing in the cold watching a game come alive every holiday.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">For that, I am thankful.</span></b></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-65771204051144188622018-08-10T11:03:00.001-04:002018-08-10T11:03:49.263-04:00Goodfellows52: Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou<a href="http://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2018/08/cat-and-mouse-with-cindy-lou.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou</a>: "Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function." — Garrison Keillor AUBURN, Maine ...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-8571086857216670672018-08-10T11:02:00.000-04:002018-11-26T23:06:16.098-05:00Cat and mouse with Cindy-Lou<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function." </i></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">— Garrison Keillor</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — It has been nearly five months since Cindy-Lou left “The Upside Down” world — our dark, damp cellar — to hang out with the three of us and enjoy the creature comforts of the rest of our home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For a while there, we thought Cindy would elude us for all eternity by hiding in every orifice in our three-bedroom home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were sightings and brief encounters with her, but for a month or, she preferred the “The Upside Down.” During her stay in the cellar, she chalked up three confirmed kills, ripping up three mice and ending our pest problem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She was moonlighting as a deadly assassin and I applauded her precision in ridding our home of those vile, disgusting rodents. She was like Max von Sydow — who played an unfeeling G. Jourbert — an assassin for the CIA in “Three Days of the Condor.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nature gave her killer instincts and we needed to protect our home. She also kills and eats ants and flies when they covertly slip into our home. The insects are like snacks for the cantankerous Cindy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We were in despair that we might only catch glimpses of a cat, which ate her meals while we slept, but suddenly Cindy came out — just like Boo Radley did in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She, and only she, decided that we were worth her time and love.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She is a fussy dame for a five-year-old cat, but we have learned to live with her endless demands. When she screeches for a treat, her bellowing won’t stop until she is fed. We almost always give into her demands for peace of mind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cindy likes to swipe at all of us and I never pet her when she is the floor. She will bait you with those big eyes and then strike with her sharp claws. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But she is always on the prowl for bugs and mice. The premises are safe under the watchful eyes of Cindy-Lou.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She never stops talking and it is funny when she lets out one of those “HELLO” calls in the hallway. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We will keep her around because she is good company and we enjoy our fireside chats with a cat that just can’t keep quiet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">That’s because cats always have the final say and owners, deep down, know this autonomous animal calls the shots and has no sense of diplomacy.</span></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-79107732562668709422018-07-31T08:45:00.001-04:002018-07-31T08:45:51.429-04:00Goodfellows52: Goodfellows52: A word to the wise from 2 poets and...<a href="http://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2018/06/goodfellows52-word-to-wise-from-2-poets.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: Goodfellows52: A word to the wise from 2 poets and...</a>: Goodfellows52: A word to the wise from 2 poets and an educator : AUBURN, Maine — I lost two of my favorite New England poets and a brilliant...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-55952679515279210172018-07-30T22:44:00.003-04:002018-07-30T22:44:33.704-04:00Climate change is just warming up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(84, 84, 84); color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."</span></b></i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span></span></div>
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(84, 84, 84); color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> — Rachel Carson</i></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">AUBURN, Maine — The searing, summer heat and intolerable humidity that you’ve been experiencing in the Pine Tree State is a frightening preview of global warming.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Nature sent us another movie trailer featuring the cataclysmic repercussions of climate change. From California to the Mid West and as far as Maine and Quebec, the high temperatures are killing some of us.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">You won’t have to wait for the movie when it premieres. It will be an Oscar winner, but we won’t be around to enjoy this horror film with a harrowing end for generations to come.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The heat wave claimed the lives of 70 people in Quebec and most of Maine feels like Miami at noon in July. In the coming years, certain areas around the globe will become unlivable and rising oceans will gobble up coastlines around the world. Everett, Mass., will end up becoming the new Revere Beach. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Just ask the good citizens of low-lying south Florida during King Tides. The water gets higher during each event and no pump in the world will keep that part of the state afloat.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The next generation depends on us for their survival! It will be your children who will wake up to a world with no clean water to drink. Food will become scarce because humans have polluted the soil. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A lack of resources means more wars.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">According to a National Public Radio report, the western part of the United States is two degrees hotter and that means the snowpack in the mountains melts quicker leading to longer and more intense fires. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">If you dismiss these dire warnings from Mother Nature, you do so at your own peril. Expect serious consequences from an overpopulated planet that is beginning to look like one giant garbage scow.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The earth is ailing and we are the cancer ravaging our fragile home. We are the most destructive force on the planet and, well, the earth will pay us all back by whittling down the herd through starvation, crop failures, intense heat and polluted air, water and land.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“In nature, nothing exists alone. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring,” said.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Too bad we ignored her when her book was published in 1962. Many tried to silence her even though she was ahead of her time.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">One of the latest headlines is from the Washington Post: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"</i></b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/27/temperatures-near-or-pass-all-time-records-in-europe-as-another-heat-wave-blasts-the-continent/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #333333; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>Temperatures near or pass all-time records in Europe as another heat wave blasts the continent</i></b></span></a><b><i>."</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A really terrifying report came from CNN about a California fire said: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Carr Fire in California is so hot it's creating its own weather system</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Your children will suffer in the coming decades because the naysayers and uninformed leaders in governments across the globe didn’t act to find cleaner fuels and end the polluting of our drinking water and food-providing oceans.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">There is no deity to rescue us from catastrophe or another celestial body that is habitable in the Solar System — unless you have the cash to pay for a space suit, a ticket and a rocket that can ferry you to Mars.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Good luck with that.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Man has yet to step foot on Mars, but if we do, we will probably soil the Red Planet, too. We are indeed a destructive species — and large nations like the United States and China, — two industrial powerhouses — are responsible for most of the pollution.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“There is no Planet B,” French president Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron said several months ago. Our U.S. president just brushed off Macron’s remark, but that’s not surprising from a another careless leader.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">As far back as 2014, the Portland Press Herald reported that climate change was indeed hurting the population and its animal life:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">“The climate has warmed in Maine and Vermont more than in every other state in the past 30 years, a shift that scientists say is evident in the species of birds and fish that are moving into or out of northern New England.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">“The six New England states, along with three of their neighbors in the Northeast, accounted for nine of the 10 states that have had the largest increase in annual average temperature since 1984, according to an Associated Press analysis of temperature records from the federal government’s National Climatic Data Center.”</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I was listening to Maine Public Broadcasting the other day about climate change and how this seemingly endless heat is affecting Mainers. Experts agree that heat waves come and go, but this scorcher has intensified due to global warming.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">One caller said his tomatoes were not turning quickly because of the hot temperatures at night.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">This is true because my tomatoes remain green despite the warm sun. I have been gardening for nearly 20 years and I have noticed that frogs have disappeared and bees are scarce. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Our planet is being stripped of its natural resources by greed, ignorance and neglect.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Think about that every time you refuse to put out a recycle bin or look your child in the eye.</span></b></span></div>
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goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-58194766842801821712018-06-24T22:32:00.001-04:002018-06-24T22:32:24.803-04:00Goodfellows52: A word to the wise from 2 poets and an educator<a href="http://goodfellows52.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-word-to-wise-from-2-poets-and-educator.html?spref=bl">Goodfellows52: A word to the wise from 2 poets and an educator</a>: AUBURN, Maine — I lost two of my favorite New England poets and a brilliant junior high science teacher over the past three months. Al...goodfellows52.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054708792191606918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316677619012858802.post-61731472266086865152018-06-24T22:30:00.003-04:002019-04-13T09:32:53.301-04:00A word to the wise from 2 poets and an educator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">AUBURN, Maine — I lost two of my favorite New England poets and a brilliant junior high science teacher over the past three months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All three contributed to the greater good and gave us insight into life’s travails and achievements in our brief lives. Gifted poets and teachers have the aptitude to get inside our heads with their life-changing works and their flair in a classroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Eileen Merullo, 95, served in the classroom and her country during World War II.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">According to her obituary in the Revere Journal:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“She graduated from Revere High School in 1940 and received her B.S. from Boston University’s Sargent College in 1944. Immediately upon graduation, she enlisted in the United States Army and served as a registered physical therapist in the Army Medical Corps, working with wound- ed soldiers in the Amputation Center at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Always proud of her military service, she was a lifetime member of the Revere chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, and a charter member of Women in Military Service of America, as well as other veterans’ organizations.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Mrs. Merullo inspired her students, sparked my curiosity about the natural world and is the reason why I have never lost interest in science.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I will miss her and the way she handled herself in the classroom. She didn’t take any guff, but her compassion for her students came shining through during each lesson.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Diana Der-Hovanessian, who died in March, wrote a poem entitle “Shifting The Sun.” I read this poem to mourners at St. Anthony’s Church in Revere, Mass., when my father, Albert John Blasi, passed away from Alzheimer's in 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660033; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16px;">SHIFTING THE SUN</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Irish</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>you lose your umbrella against bad weather.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May his sun be your light, say the Armenians.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Welsh</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>you sink a foot deeper into the earth.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May you inherit his light, say the Armenians</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Canadians</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>you run out of excuses.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Indians</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>he comes back as the thunder.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Russians,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>he takes your childhood with him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May you inherit his light say the Armenians.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the British,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>you join his club you vowed you wouldn’t.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>When your father dies, say the Armenians,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>your sun shifts forever</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>and you walk in his light.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Losing any parent is an ordeal and it is easy to get lost in a maze of grief. I am just fortunate I can still walk in his light. Der-Hovenessian’s poem is a powerful look at how people around the globe deal with the death of a patriarch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I heard Donald Hall’s poem “Affirmation” on National Public Radio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Those tender words about aging stuck with me and I began to read other poems by Hall and discovered he was a former Poet Laureate. He passed away at 89, but “Affirmation” has never left me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Affirmation</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>To grow old is to lose everything. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Aging, everybody knows it. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Even when we are young, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>when a grandfather dies.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Then we row for years on the midsummer </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>that began without harm, scatters </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>into debris on the shore, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>and a friend from school drops </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>cold on a rocky strand.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>If a new love carries us </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>past middle age, our wife will die </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>at her strongest and most beautiful. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>New women come and go. All go. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>The pretty lover who announces </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>that she is temporary</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>is temporary. The bold woman,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>middle-aged against our old age,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>sinks under an anxiety she cannot withstand. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Another friend of decades estranges himself </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>in words that pollute thirty years. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Let us stifle under mud at the pond’s edge </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>and affirm that it is fitting</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>and delicious to lose everything.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Affirmation” is blunt and doesn’t shy away from aging as life slowly slips away from all of us. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">But it was privilege to know them through their inspirational poems and in a classroom.</span></div>
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