JIM'S JOTTINGS: August 25, 2017

Summer is on the wane and those of us who teach are likely ready for a break. OLLI’s continuing interest groups will carry-on, the sun will keep doing its job and the temperatures will gradually begin to dip and ready us for my favorite season—autumn. The 83% eclipse we saw here is now gone and we’ll have to wait 7 years for the next one. Bonnie and I were in Washington state in 1979 and must have seen the total eclipse that February, but I don’t remember it (!) so I am kind of wondering if it was so cloudy that we just missed it. We used to chuckle when we’d hear the local weather reports on TV or radio: “30% chance of sun-breaks today!” was rather common. It did rain nearly daily from November 1 through April, so…you get the idea.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Speaking Truth to Power:  Bonnie and I finally got to see Al Gore’s new film at the Lowe’s Waterfront in Pittsburgh. Very impressive, but perhaps not quite the impact of the first one. We did feel this one gave more hope that, in spite of politics, terrific progress is being made in solar and wind energy—truly awesome, and it is making a difference. But we also learned that Miami Beach is the most endangered city in America when the sea level rises several feet.  The pictures of melting Greenland were frightful! If it ever plays here, I would certainly urge everyone to see it. And…checking with our two cinemas, it is still not on next week’s schedule. Stay tuned…

Politics & Religion: Yeah, these two topics are “he that must not be named,” to quote Harry Potter’s villain. Anyone that knows me for 5 minutes figures out that I am an unapologetic lefty and for us lefties, this last election was a kind of nightmare from which we still hope to awaken. That said, I have no intention here of being political, except to say that I recently really appreciated some sage on Charlie Rose—perhaps it was David McCullough—suggest that the republic has survived worse things than the Donald…case in point, the Civil War! That got my attention. If one reads enough history, it’s quite easy to learn that there have been many moments in our history when politicians were literally at one another’s throats on the floor of congress, and we survived that. Watching that brilliant film, “Lincoln,” gave us a taste of that behavior. So, my advice to myself and to you is to try to keep a balanced view and know that “truth, justice, and the American way” will prevail, and in the process, we may all grow wiser. Religion? Not going to go there…

Just Jim