Sep 27, 2017

Palestine on the ground || WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING!







Well Done. 



I am convinced The West does not really understand the Palestinian issue.  On the news it is just portrayed as a war zone.  We went on a tour:  Bike Palestine--the resorts were lovely, the food was delicious and the people were very hospitable.  It was a grand trip for an education, history and politics.  I would recommend it to everyone. 



It would be nice if the whole picture of Palestine could be more acuratly painted in the media.


Does Walking Equal Meditating: "Little Insights" from Art Garfunkel


Art Garfunkel on life's "little insights" and his "intense" relationship with Paul Simon

Art Garfunkel's voice helped shape some of the most famous songs in American music. As half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, his pipes dominated the pop charts with hits like "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Cecilia" and "Homeward Bound" and multiple No. 1 records.
Later he moved onto a successful solo career. The acclaimed singer told "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday that he never planned to write a book, but after years of jotting down insights in a small notebook he keeps tucked in his back pocket, he decided to put together a memoir.
9780385352475-fullsize-cmyk.jpg
"What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man," chronicles his life, career-defining moments and tumultuous relationship with Paul Simon.
"I've walked the United States and I've walked across Europe. As I walk, little insights occur to me, some of them are big and I get a notion of a first line and I go, that line has rhythm and it means something to me. It touches the theme I've thought about all my life," Garfunkel said.  
Garfunkel's voice helped Simon & Garfunkel earn induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Early on, Garfunkel knew he had a gift and often sang at his temple as a young boy – a place that influenced his style.
"It gave me a spirituality connected to singing right from the earliest age. So you share it with others," Garfunkel said. "The temple had a big high ceiling with lovely wood walls so the reverb was wonderful and that became a big thing for me. The echo which puts tails on your notes and extends them, I was entranced with that sound."
After Simon & Garfunkel split in 1970, it was his voice that gave him confidence.
"I didn't know if the world would accept me, but I knew I could sing without Paul," he said.
He described the duo's relationship as "intense" and "like a marriage."
"It has summers and winters. It waxes and wanes, it is best not talked about. You leave it alone. Sometimes you get a call from Paul or I from him, and out of nowhere something funny goes on and you laugh and you go, I miss him, and then you hang out, you have a dinner," Garfunkel said. "It's standard to be asked, 'Do you think you'll work together?' And I've always said, 'Who knows, life is a surprise.' We don't know what comes next. Nowadays, I say, 'No, we won't.'"
Asked what the "luminous" referenced in his memoir's title means, he said, "It's as if you're walking and you are so entranced by the beauty of everything you tear up and in the blurry vision of tearing up, what is it all but luminous? It's a poet's notion."
In the book, a travelogue of sorts, he described the songs that changed his life, including songs from The Beatles and one of his own.
"'Scarborough Fair' felt to me like the best, most flowing, most organic thing we ever recorded." 


copied from cbsnews.com


Walking, Walking Walking........
Every evening, same time, same place, same bushes, same lines in the sidewalk in even 9 patch squares, same pace, same gait, same pauses--yet an amazing epiphany of thoughts.
How can this unsuspecting enlightenment occur while walking the dog.

Does walking equal meditation?

Your thoughts..................


Ronnie and the Age of Enlightenment




Sep 26, 2017

Elusive Butterfly--Chuck Damron: Do you know him?

Looking for this guy for a long time...........



Have you seen him?

Add caption
Charley Damron, Sasebo, Japan--May 1951











Charlie Damron in San Diego, Balboa Park


Chuck Damron in Balboa Park, San Diego








Charles E. Damron, Sasebo, Japan--May 1951
Charlie Damron--US Navy RM 2


In Virginia:



Some have said his family was from Virginia.


Some have said he was involved with Operation Deep Freeze or Little America.


Tags:

Finding Korean War Veterans, Radio Man, Radio Men in the Korean Conflict, Sailors in Sasebo Japan in 1951,

Dr. Felipe Ortego y Gasca: Teaching at 91 and Still Fighting for Equality in Texas Schools featuring texasedequity.blogspot.com on @TheRonnieRe

Monday, September 25, 2017

Chicano Renaissance Leader Turns 90, Continues To Teach, Write



Actually, Dr. Phillip D. Ortego y Gasca is 91 already since I'm a little over a year in posting this.  All of us in Mexican American Studies owe so much to this scholar who is a beloved, national treasure. 

Where would we be without scholars like him that are the reason and continuing inspiration for "The Chicano Renaissance?" To Dr. Ortego's credit, Backgrounds of Mexican American Literature, authored by him in 1971 by the University of New Mexico Press, is foundational for what is known today as "Chicano literary history."

I do publish his writings occasionally on this blog.  The most popular post is this one:
IF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MY FATHER, WHY WASN’T HE CHICANO? by Felipe de Ortego y Gasca

In today's post, he remarks, "with longevity, comes opportunity." And on top of this, is a gracious, beautiful human being that so many of us know and love.  We are not only fortunate, but indebted to pioneers and warriors like him that have fought, and continue to fight, the good fight.

We love you, Felipe!  And a very belated, but nevertheless heartfelt Feliz cumpleaños!

Thank you for being who you are and may God grant you many more years of a life of mind, body, and spirit!

Angela Valenzuela
c/s

Chicano Renaissance Leader Turns 90, Continues To Teach, Write

© Western New Mexico University

Every calendar holiday, Dr. Felipe Ortego y Gasca sends an email to his colleagues at Western New Mexico University. The email is simple and includes an attachment with a short write up. Ortego, a professor of English and the university’s Scholar-in-Residence, is sharing thoughts on history and social issues he feels are important to his readers.
Now he’s turning 90, and he finds himself the same way he has for several years, behind a computer screen and a keyboard, contributing his ideas on current issues important to culture and society.
“Felipe is a rare combination of academic, activist and a person with sustained creativity,” said Dr. Jack Crocker, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at WNMU. “His intellect and experience are an important legacy to our university.”
Considered the principal scholar of the Chicano Renaissance, Ortego is the founder of Chicano literary history having written the first study in the field, Backgrounds of Mexican American Literature, in 1971.
“The piece opened the way for other scholars to consider the scope of Chicano literary history,” said Ortego. “This provided the template for scholars who followed.”
Before turning heads with his alternative perspectives on Chicano literature, Ortego began his colorful life as the child of a field worker in Chicago. He served during World War II as a Marine and his worldview was formed from his travels through Europe. Post-war, Ortego served a ten-year tenure as an Air Force officer during the Korean Conflict and the early Vietnam Era.
He found his passion in the high school classroom, first teaching French, and then finding his identity as a professor of English. Several decades of teaching and serving in administrative academic roles, Ortego continues to influence students, activists and opinion leaders with the written word.
“Writing has been both a creative and therapeutic instrument,” said Ortego. “For me, the writer is always part of the story because we see stories that we tell through our own eyes.”
His latest birthday is only the most recent in a long list of milestones. He has appeared in a major motion picture, written plays and was the fifth Mexican American in the United States to hold a Ph.D. in English. And it has all been sprinkled with controversies along the way.
“My outlook as a professor of English can be characterized as a vision of inclusivity opening the aperture of the English curriculum so that it reflects the mosaic of the American people,” said Ortego. “Not just the privileged texts of British literature.”
Ortego is well known in New Mexico and Texas as an activist, speaking for those he feels are marginalized and championing for Mexican American representation in literature. He organized the Chicano Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1968 at a time when there were very few Chicanos in English.
Ortego turns 90 years old on August 23 and it is appropriate that he has sent out one of his famous emails marking the occasion, this time reminding his colleagues that with longevity, comes opportunity, and Ortego is taking advantage of opportunities he sees on the horizon to continue to write and influence. He’s not done yet. 


copied from:

http://texasedequity.blogspot.com/



Educational Equity, Policy and Politic in Texas


tags:

texasedequity.blogspot.com, Educational Equity Policy and Politics in Texas, Angelea Valenzuela, Abe Villarreal,  Dr. Felipe Ortego y Gasca, 

Sep 24, 2017

Shelly Altman, Roger Waters and the Political Situation in Palestine: Climate Warning at the Greenexpo - The Struggle




Shelly Altman tells us about the hospitality of the Palestinian people and his recent journey with Bike Palestine.

We visited Taybeh Brewery on the trip--Seriously, I have to go there for Oktoberfest--the beer was delicious and the hotel was lovely.

The cusine is a food lovers dream--talking about the best baklava I have ever had in my life.



tags:

Shelly Altman, Roger Waters, The Struggle, Taybeh Brewery, Bike Palestine, Cycling Palestine, JVP, Jewish Voices for Peace,



Sep 21, 2017

Helen Virginia Laidley Arnim: A Texas Celebration--Sept 11 1863









Grandma visited her mother, brother and sister and brother in law on Mother's Day--We really had a good time.



Helen Virginia Laidley Arnim,

Old Towne Orange

Orange Historical Society

Vintage Orange

Orange, Ca

221 So Glassell St Orange Ca


Remembering Helen Virginia Laidley Arnim.

Helen Virginia Laidley

B:11Sep1863 Oakland, Colorado, Texas

D:26Mar1956 Orange, Orange, California, USA


Happy Birthday to my very beautiful Great Grandmother Helen Laidley Arnim.


Celebrating her life.


After her husband passed away she moved out to Orange, California, from Schulenburg, Texas to live near her brother Theodore Ladidley.


She built her new house at 221 South Glassell St. in Orange in 1904.  


It was brillantly refurbished and now it is one of the historic houses of Orange, California.

Helen Virginia Laidley Arnim: Celebrating a Texas Lady

Helen Virginia Laidley Arnim moved to Orange, California with her four children from Schulenberg Texas.

Her husband had just passed away and her youngest child was just a baby.

She moved out to the West Coast on the suggestion of her brother, Theodore Beall Laidley who already lived here.

Grandma always called them Mama and Papa--she loved her mother and father very much and always enjoyed spending time with her mom and sister in Orange.

Often we would take the bus to the depot in San Diego and take the train to Orange, actually we usually went to Tustin where Aunt Zena picked us up in her car and drove us to their home at 221 South Glassell St. in Orange, just off the town square.

Yes, we drove through Orange Groves on the way there.

On Mother's Day we visited Fairhaven Cemetary in Orange.

My Grandmother always likes to visit her mother on her birthday and Mother's Day--they were great friends and just enjoyed being together.




Coco waited in the car for her mother while we took pictures.








After we all spent some quality time together at Fairhaven we drove for about 10 minutes and took some pictures at the house.





This house has been preserved in a grand way--my Grandmother and her Mother, Helen Arnim are really happy about everything.