Category Archives: US vs UK

US vs UK: New Hampshire, Live Free or Die. . . .

06 Sunday Apr 2014

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire

Whenever I travel, even just one state away to New Hampshire as I did yesterday, I always see something that makes me think. Sometimes, my thought is, Why aren’t WE doing things this way?  And other times, it’s, Why ON EARTH are they doing THAT???

New Hampshire got its name from emigrants from Hampshire, England, who settled here in the early 1600s.  It has the White Mountain chain running through it, many conifers, and eighteen miles of coast.  It is known as the “Live Free or Die” state.

 

NH-Seal-LFoD

The phrase “Live Free or Die” was said by General John Stark, the state’s most distinguished hero of the Revolutionary War, and you might think that he said this to the British during the American Revolution of 1775-1783.  Not so.

According to the official site of the state of New Hampshire, “the motto was part of a volunteer toast which General Stark sent to his wartime comrades, in which he declined an invitation to head up a 32nd anniversary reunion of the 1777 Battle of Bennington in Vermont, because of poor health. The toast said in full: ‘Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst of Evils.’

The following year, a similar invitation (also declined) said: ‘The toast, sir, which you sent us in 1809 will continue to vibrate with unceasing pleasure in our ears, ‘Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst Of Evils.'” So in creating the immortal phrase, “Live Free or Die,” he was proposing an anniversary toast in absentia, not eviscerating the Redcoats in the heat of battle.  Still, a soaring state motto was born.

In New Hampshire, there is no state sales tax or personal state income tax.  Consequently, quite a lot of people live in New Hampshire and commute to Massachusetts for work. This has helped give those of us in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts–who pay sales tax, personal income tax, as well as all the other taxes:  property tax, federal tax, etc.–the nickname of “Taxachusetts.”

This great variation in tax-paying, among other things, from one US state to the next, will come as a huge surprise to many people who are not American and who are used to one central government.

In America, there is the federal government in Washington, D.C., as well as 52 mini-governments, comprising the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, which can pretty much go their own way and do what they want on most matters unless reined in by the federal government. Hence, micro-politics on a town-by-town and state-by-state basis.

New Hampshire has a not insignificant number of people who are Libertarians.

The logo for the Libertarian Party

The logo for the Libertarian Party.  Prickly, anyone?

These are people who want “government off their back,” don’t want to have to pay any taxes, and believe that the only role of government is to “help individuals defend themselves from force or fraud.”  They don’t like the “nanny state,” by which they mean the UK and Europe, which they see as controlling peoples’ lives.

 

220px-Moose_crossing_a_road-1

Like Libertarians, Moose (meece?) are big in New Hampshire.  By big I mean populous, or relatively so, and you often see signs saying, “Moose crossing.” 

800px-Alces_alces_Cape_Breton_Highlands_National_Park

I love moose.  I would love to see one on this trip, but haven’t, for decades, though my son who goes to school in NH says he knows people who have seen moose on his campus.

On the trip to NH yesterday, I saw a car with a license plate saying 1 MOOSE.  I guess the guy likes moose, too, and is willing to pay extra for a plate saying so, unless he was referring to the fact that he once drove into or shot 1 moose and wanted to commemorate it.  Hard to tell.  More about moose at the end of this post.

Little cottages for elves

Little cottages for elves

 

In the White Mountains, I saw the sweetest little settlement of cabins that appeared to be for elves.  Take a look at the two chairs in front and imagine how many people you could fit in the house–several children, or an adult at a half-crouch?

 

 

 

 

 

And how about this sign on the Visitor Center?  Visitor Centers offer information to tourists on the area’s history, hotels, restaurants, etc., and they always have restrooms available. However, this visitor center on Route 93 isn’t sure which should take top billing–the visitor center or the restrooms.  Clearly, the restrooms won.

Which is most important, the restrooms or the visitors' center.

Which is most important, the restrooms or the visitors center?

In the category of What Were They Thinking?, it’s nice to see storefronts in rural areas in New Hampshire offering physical therapy, but you have to wonder about this one, called “Inertia.”  You have to hope that it’s not the PTs (physical therapists) who are being “inert”!  And, the little graphic of the figure in action looks the opposite of Inertia.  Maybe someone has the tiniest problem with knowing what “inertia” means?

Inertia!

Inertia!

On Route 93, every 20 miles or so there are these signs on the highway:

Road sign in New Hampshire

Road sign in New Hampshire.  You’re just going to have to trust me that this one says “Hands on wheel.”

The neon message flashes two commands:

MIND ON ROAD

    HANDS ON WHEEL

It’s kind of weird that a state has to tell you to keep your hands on the wheel when you’re driving.  It makes you wonder if a lot of New Hampshirites drive with their hands NOT on the wheel?  And what do the Libertarians think about being told to do so?  Too much of a “nanny state”?

Once you get to Massachusetts, the signs say something along the lines of No Texting and Let the Sober One Drive and Don’t Get Caught with an OUI–much more threatening and menacing, nowhere near as uplifting as being reminded to keep your hands on the wheel.

New Hampshire has the 3rd fewest fatalities per 100 million miles driven which I find surprising because although Bostonians are, in my opinion–and don’t get me started–some of the worst drivers in the US, the cars you see with New Hampshire license plates being driven in Boston put Bostonians to shame in the bad driver sweepstakes.  Maybe, after all, it IS necessary to say to New Hampshire drivers, Mind on road, hands on wheel?

Courtesy, Shuttershock.

Courtesy, Shuttershock.

Of course, I had to take one hand off the wheel to take a photo of “HANDS ON WHEEL,” but please know that I quickly put it right back.

But, after several days of thinking about New Hampshire’s highway slogans, I have come to the conclusion that they are brilliant.

Because with your hands–BOTH hands–on the wheel, you’re not punching in cellphone numbers, talking on a handheld phone, or texting.  And with your mind on the road, you’re not jabbering on the phone, mentally drifting away or, God forbid, falling asleep. It’s a very positive way of keeping you from doing something dangerous.

Now I think that all states should adopt New Hampshire’s method of trying to make driving safer.

The best part of the trip was watching my 17-year-old son playing lacrosse.  Lacrosse is a truly original American game (the Brits and the Yanks have argued over who can claim baseball as their own since, well, the start of rounders/baseball, but no one besides the Americans can claim lacrosse).  Lacrosse was invented by Native Americans and is a very fast, slashy-type of game which is a lot of fun to watch. Yesterday, despite it being April, there were still piles of snow around the lacrosse field: The lacrosse field IMG_5833 But a good time was had by all, and it was lovely watching my son’s team win their first game of the season over a much bigger school. And that’s a quick, and quirky, look at New Hampshire!

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MORE ABOUT MOOSE:

Moose_animal_pair_bull_and_cow_moose

There are some interesting aspects to Moose.  As the National Geographic website says, “Moose have long faces and muzzles that dangle over their chins. A flap of skin known as a bell sways beneath each moose’s throat. . . . They are so tall that they prefer to browse higher grasses and shrubs because lowering their heads to ground level can be difficult. . . . their hooves act as snowshoes to support the heavy animals in soft snow and in muddy or marshy ground.”  Despite their ungainly appearance, they can run up to 35 miles an hour over short distances, and trot steadily at 20 miles an hour.

images-1

One of the most famous American moose, after Bullwinkle, is Dr Seuss’s Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.  If you haven’t read this book yourself, or read it to your children, you should (all the Dr Seuss books are, without exception, wonderful).

Thidwick, being a big-hearted moose, allows a bug to take up residence in his antlers.  The bug invites a spider, the spider invites a–well, you get the idea.

fj;flaskf

Before Thidwick knows what’s happening, there’s a big party going on between his antlers.

images-1Pretty soon, poor old Thidwick is burdened by an entire menagerie of guests, all taking advantage of his big-heartedness.

Poor Thidwick

“Poor Thidwick sank down, with a groan, to his knees.  And then, THEN came something that made his heart freeze.”

You will have to read the book to see how Thidwick resolves this problem, but as a hint, I will tell you that everything turns out OK because of something that happens every fall:

IMGP6836 And here’s a fitting end to Thidwick’s unwanted guests:

140px-Moose6

(They and the tossed-off antlers are now above the fireplace in the home of a hunter.)

Pete Seeger, proud American, rest in peace

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Back in Boston, US vs UK

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Courtesy Reuters, Jason Reed

One of the most iconic, brave, and influential Americans died on Monday, January 27th, 2014, at the age of 94.

Pete Seeger was the voice of the Viet Nam war protests, the unions, the disenfranchised, the poor.  His songs, “We Will Overcome,”  “If I Had a Hammer,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” are the American soundtrack of most of the last century.

As The Nation said about him:

“Seeger was a much-acclaimed and innovative guitarist and banjoist, a globe-trotting song collector, and the author of many songbooks and musical how-to manuals. In addition to being a World War II veteran, he was on the front lines of every key progressive crusade during his lifetime—labor unions and migrant workers in the 1930s and 1940s, the banning of nuclear weapons and opposition to the Cold War in the 1950s, civil rights and the anti–Vietnam War movement in the 1960s, environmental responsibility and opposition to South African apartheid in the 1970s, and, always, human rights throughout the world.”

As Pete Seeger himself said at the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee of the early 1950s, when the lives of so many talented artists, writers, directors, actors, politicians, and gay people were ruined by the Communist red-baiting of Senator Joe McCarthy:

Mr. SEEGER: “I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.”

With thanks to Diana Spiegel, Town Meeting Member of Brookline, Massachusetts, who brought these links to my attention, here is more information on Pete Seeger:

The Nation magazine: “Pete Seeger brought the world together”

http://www.thenation.com/article/178123/pete-seeger-brought-world-together

8 songs to remember Pete by

Now on PBS: “Pete Seeger, The Power of Song”

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/pete-seeger/full-film-pete-seeger-the-power-of-song/2864/

Pete Seeger’s testimony before HUAC at the hearings held by Senator Joe McCarthy (known as “The McCarthy Hearings”)
Nov 14, 2013: The last show of his life, a benefit for WBAI NYC
The Colbert Report, August 6, 2012
youngPete
Pete, thanks for the 94 years of songs and political action that you gave us.  America is a much better, kinder, and more compassionate country because of you.

To frappe or not to frappe: What’s your (American) dialect?

29 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in Back in Boston, US vs UK

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My results from the dialect map

My results from the dialect map

When I moved from Manhattan to Boston, I no longer took my clothes to the dry cleaners.  In Boston, they were “cleansers.”  I couldn’t order a milk shake;  they were “frappes,” (and way too watery).  And when it came to using the word “very,” fuhgeddaboudit! Here in Boston, it’s “wicked,” as in “wicked good” or “wicked pissa.”

To people overseas, America might at times seem like one big, homogeneous country with one culture, language, and dialect (or maybe two languages, English and Spanish, or the combination, Spanglish), but that’s far from true.

People around the US all eat take-out sandwiches, but depending on where they live, they order subs, grinders, hoagies, heroes, po’ boys, bombers, Italian sandwiches, baguettes, or sarneys.

When Americans drive around traffic islands, they call them variously roundabouts, rotaries, circles, traffic circles, or traffic circuses.

And, although I knew about “package stores” where you can get cheap, untaxed booze, I’d never heard of drive-through liquor stores, called “brew thrus,” “party barns,” “bootleggers,” “beer barns,” or “beverage barns.”

There’s a really cool test constructed by the Harvard Dialect Survey, a linguistics project begun in 2002 by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder, to help “place” you within the US, based on the words you use and the way in which you pronounce them.  I’ve tested it on myself, and on several friends, and it was remarkably accurate.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=1&

And, if you want to see where in the world people with your last name live, go check out this post.

The publication of A Pennine Childhood by Brenda Wallis Smith!

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in US vs UK

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A Pennine Childhood cover

Dear Readers of The Year of Living Englishly,

I am absolutely delighted to announce the publication of the memoir and e-book, A Pennine Childhood, written by my mother, Brenda Wallis Smith!

In this captivating, beautifully written memoir of a childhood spent in Derbyshire’s Peak District, my mother provides a fascinating account of her childhood in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when local farmers ploughed with horses, miners walked home in the evenings with faces blackened with coal dust and, during the war, fields and haystacks were strafed by the Luftwaffe on their way home to Germany and the village postman took to announcing, ‘’E’s cummin’ ’ome, me darlin’, ’e’s cummin’ ’ome!’

My mother draws a vivid picture of the Derbyshire countryside and the Derwent Valley, with its rich history that included Sir Richard Arkwright, Florence Nightingale, and Alison Uttley. It is here that her maternal grandfather and uncles worked in Matlock’s spas, on farms, and in local quarries, and her grandmother worked scrubbing the floors of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Matlock. Her paternal grandfather, John Bent Wallis, the son of a gardener, became, against all odds, an accomplished painter and the daily nature columnist for the Sheffield Telegraph. In A Pennine Childhood, the English countryside and its people come vividly to life.

You may notice that the cover of the book is the painting done by my great-grandfather, her grandfather, John Bent Wallis, of the Derwent Valley about which I have written in this blog. (The little figure of a young child is my mother’s father). And, as you will see, she is a far better writer than I, and a wonderful observer of daily life.

As they say in Derbyshire, I’m dead chuffed (really, really proud)!  I hope you will read the book, or listen to the e-book!

To order the book in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Wallis-Smith/dp/1484195671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386440623&sr=8-1&keywords=a+pennine+childhood

To order the e-book in the US:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H52GD9I

To order the book in the UK:

If you’re in Derbyshire, go to: Scarthin’s in Cromford, The Loaf Cafe in Crich, Bridge Gifts in Matlock (right by Crown Square and the bridge over the Derwent), Worth Books in Belper (top of King’s Parade), and Cromford Mills Gifts and Bookshop at Cromford Mills, Cromford.

Otherwise in the UK, you can order the book through Amazon UK:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Wallis-Smith/dp/1484195671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386443723&sr=8-1&keywords=a+pennine+childhood

To order the e-book in the UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Smith-ebook/dp/B00H52GD9I/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1386443723&sr=8-1

In memory of President John F. Kennedy, 50 years later

22 Friday Nov 2013

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"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on"--John F. Kennedy

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on”–John F. Kennedy

All along Harvard Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, the home of President John F. Kennedy, there are banners proclaiming some of his thought-provoking words.

"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind"--John F. Kennedy

“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind”–John F. Kennedy

It is the 50th anniversary of his assassination, one of those moments of the last century, along with Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941;  the assassinations of Dr Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968 and Bobby Kennedy on June 6, 1968;  the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986;  and in this century the bombings of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the plane crash in a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, that will, for Americans, “live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said about Pearl Harbor.

All countries have these dates:  for the UK in the last century they include the horrific battles of World Wars I and II;  the death of King George VI in 1952;  the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park IRA bombings on July 20, 1982: and in this century, the bombing of the three London tube trains and a double-decker bus by terrorists on 7/7/2005.

There are times when the fabric of a nation is torn, and can never be mended;  when there is a distinct “before” and “after,” after which things are never the same.

The murder of JFK was one of these life-changing events.

I was a young child when JFK was president, and I still remember very clearly how bright life seemed when he was alive, and how desperately terrible life became after he was assassinated.

And now it’s the 50th anniversary.

The Boston Globe did a wonderful piece today on the lasting effects of November 22, 1963 including this photograph of people gathering at President Kennedy’s birthplace on Beal Street, Brookline, Mass.

Brookline's Beal Street, courtesy Boston Globe

Brookline’s Beal Street after JFK’s assassination, courtesy Boston Globe

This is what Beal Street looks like today;  only I and a couple other people were out photographing, but reminders of that day were everywhere–in newspapers, on TV, and on social media.

Beal Street where JFK was born

Beal Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, November 22, 2013

Pictured below is the house where JFK was born and lived as a young boy.  According to the Boston Globe, JFK and some of his siblings were born on a twin bed near the window in a room on the second floor, so the doctor could benefit from the light.

JFK's boyhood home on Beal Street

JFK’s boyhood home on Beal Street

The house is now owned by the National Park Service.  JFK’s mother, the formidable Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, has decorated it as it was when her children were young.  Her recorded voice provides commentary as you go from room to room and marvel at how they fit so many people into that house. Today the American flag is at half-mast and there are flowers on the memorial to JFK.

Memorial to JFK at his boyhood home on Beal Street

Memorial to JFK at his boyhood home on Beal Street

JFK and his family used to worship at St Aidan’s Church, about six blocks away. It has now been turned into condos, but still, the exterior remains, as do the magnificent beech trees (not pictured, but to the right of the church) that were there when JFK was a boy.

St Aidan's Church where JFK worshipped as a boy.

St Aidan’s Church where JFK worshipped as a boy.

This day, 50 years ago, is one that those days that Americans who lived through it will never forget, and that shaped an entire generation. Here are some of the most memorable images from that time:

Walter Cronkite of CBS News announcing the death of President Kennedy.

President Kennedy’s funeral narrated by Walter Cronkite.

President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your country can do for you;  ask what you can do for your country.”

President Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr Martin Luther King were shining examples of the very best of America, and it is this we should remember, rather than the fact that they were taken from us far too soon. America has changed a lot in the past 50 years, for both good and bad, but some of the good is due to the work of these three men who tried to create a better, more equal, and compassionate country.

What for you were the national events that made you feel that things would never again be the same?

In for a penny, in for a pound: the proverbs we live by

10 Sunday Nov 2013

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In for a penny, in for a pound

Justin, the father of Julia, my 10-year-old daughter’s best friend, has just called, looking for his daughter.

Julia and my daughter Meg have just spent the night with Mame-Diarra, the other friend in the triad that was formed in kindergarten, and now all three are at my house.

Justin asked me when I wanted him to pick up Julia, and I told him that Mame-Diarra was staying until 6 p.m. the next day, so it was “in for a penny, in for a pound.”

Meaning that as long as Meg had one friend here, she might as well have two, and so Julia was welcome to stay with us until 6 tomorrow night, 26 hours from now.

He said he’d be by shortly to pick her up, at which point I realized that he hadn’t the slightest idea what I meant in using this oh-so-very-English proverb of “in for a penny, in for a pound.”

Which got me to thinking about English proverbs.

I clicked on a link to English proverbs and read through them, making a list of the ones I’d heard most frequently in my family, most often from my mother and my two grandmothers:

A watched pot never boils (probably said often in a nation of tea-drinkers)

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

Cold hands, warm heart

Curiosity killed the cat

Discretion is the better part of valour

Don’t cry over spilt milk

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouthgift-horse

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs

Good things come to those who wait

Great minds think alike

It takes all sorts

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

Laughter is the best medicine

Make hay while the sun shines

Many hands make light work

Money doesn’t grow on trees

No rest for the weary

My mother’s favorite, which isn’t on this list, is:  “All things must pass,” and my dad’s favorites are, “Where there’s muck there’s money” (he was a farmer’s boy) and, “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken.”

Another proverb (or perhaps “saying” might be a better word for it) said often in families like mine from the north of England is, “There’s now’t so queer as folk,” meaning, there’s nothing so strange as people.

The only possible response to this statement is, “Except more folk.”

Clearly, “It takes all sorts!”

***

Benjamin Franklin was probably the most productive collector and producer of proverbs in the United States, ranging from “He that lives upon hope will die fasting” to “You can bear your own faults and why not a fault in your wife?”  Take a look at all the wisdom in Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Do you and/or your family have any favorite proverbs?

Here are some proverbs from around the world: the American South, Italy, Africa, France, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, China, and Russia.

Where are you from?

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Crich and the farms, Family history, US vs UK

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Surname (world) Smith

I have just come across a really cool website that I want to tell you about.

It’s called “World Family Names,” at http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org and it shows the frequency of surnames in 26 countries around the world in relation to the overall population.

The countries are:  US, UK, Canada, Japan, India, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The maps use data for approximately 300 million people in 26 countries of the world, representing a total population of 1 billion people in those countries.  There are 8 million unique surnames in this database.

Plug in your own surname, or surnames of family members and/or friends, and you will see where people with this surname live around the world, in greater or lesser numbers. (I tried first with names of friends, including Ngom (a Senegalese name), Kaplansky, Lofstrom, Quint, Kovacs, and Zimman, and got interesting results).

I also tried my last name, Smith, one of the commonest last names in the English-speaking world.

Not surprisingly, the bluest of the blue areas shows that there are many “Smith”s as a percentage of the overall population in the UK and also in Australia, where many people of British ancestry–including members of my own family–live.  The US and Canada weighs in after that, not surprising when you figure that both these countries were originally colonized by the British (along with, of course, the Native Americans, who were there first, and the Spaniards and the French.)

Then I checked to see where in the UK the greatest concentration of Smiths are:

Surname (UK) Smith

Gratifyingly, the greatest number of “Smith”s are right where I’d expect them to be, in the Midlands, which encompasses Derbyshire, my parents’ home county, and which would include members of my immediate family, a number who are farmers and so are not at all mobile and at least two generations ago tended to have very large families to help with all the work on the farm.

But now take a look at my mother’s family, surname Wallis:

Surname (world) Wallis

I know that there are relatively few Wallises in the world, save for a long-ago Wallis who was a famous mathematician, another who circumnavigated the globe, and one American charismatic Christian called Jim all of whom, as far as I know, are no relation to us.

I wanted to see where the Wallises lived in the UK, and if there was a clumping in Derbyshire, where my mother was born, but I found that there are relatively few Wallises in Derbyshire;  most of them are grouped on the east and south coasts of England.

Surname (UK) Wallis

The fact that there’s a clumping in the south and east of England makes sense, if you know that those Wallises (those who were not originally “Wallace”s which is a completely different name) are most likely to have been French people of the name “De Walys” who came over to England in the Norman Conquest in 1066, and who probably remained in the part of England closest to France.

Now, plug in your family surname(s), and see where it takes you!

The Boston (Marathon) Massacre: Why would anyone do this?

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Back in Boston, How we're coming along, US vs UK

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Some of the over 27,000 runners.

Some of the over 27,000 runners.

I was out for 3 hours today on Beacon Street, watching the Boston Marathon which passes 1/2 mile from my house.

We stood on the street  24 miles into the race, 2 miles from the finish line, as  people from all around the world ran the oldest marathon in America.  This took place in Boston, one of the US’s most historic and safest cities.  It was Patriot’s Day, cherished by people from Massachusetts which celebrates the colonials first taking on the Redcoats on April 19, 1775 and which signalled the start of the American Revolution.

The weather was perfect–in the 50s, not too hot for the runners, and sunny.  The mood of the crowd was upbeat as we cheered on people from Kenya, Ethiopia, the UK, Nebraska, Japan and probably every state in the Union and country in the world;  runners on foot and in wheelchairs,  and members of the armed forces in camouflage carrying 100-lb packs.

Many of the people running in the Marathon were raising money for a charity–a children’s hospital, a cancer center–and there was no political agenda to anything today.  There was only the joy of putting one foot in front of another and doing the best that you could in order to say that you ran and finished the Boston Marathon and perhaps raised money for a good cause.

My daughter Meg in red, and her friends Mame-Diarra whose parents are from Montana and Senegal, and Julia, parents from Boston and New Jersey.

My daughter Meg in red, and her friends Mame-Diarra and Julia.

The first women runners at mile 24.

The first women runners at mile 24.

The first men runners at mile 24.

The first men runners at mile 24.

IMG_0984

More of the Marathon runners.

And then, at 2:50 p.m. two explosions at the Finish Line.

And all I could think of was the other innocent victims of violence, in London during the IRA bombings and the terrorist attack on 7/7/2005, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Syria, India, Indonesia, Somalia, and too many places around the world.  And in the US, the Omaha City bombing on 4/19/1995;  the World Trade Center attack in New York City on 9/11/2001; and the slaughter of children in Newtown, Connecticut, on 12/14/2012.  All massacres of innocents.

The things she lost: sign of the times

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Parenting, US vs UK

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My 18-year-old daughter Katie has lost the following things:

our house keys                            too many times to count

her Uggs                                        stolen at a track meet, Boston, USA

non-internet cell phone #1        left on a table in school cafeteria; stolen

non-internet cell phone #2       “uh, somewhere”

non-internet cell phone #3        dropped in toilet

$200 North Face jacket               lost on the first day she wore it, Cambridge, UK

my Raleigh bike                           left unlocked in a Cambridge bike rack;  stolen

various t-shirts                           “swapped” with friends;  never returned

Converse  sneakers                    left at a friend’s house, never found

all of her school papers             left in the women’s bathroom at high school

my socks                                       lost one of each pair

my ear buds (borrowed)           “how would I know where they are?”

my necklace  (ditto)                   “not me”

my connector cables (ditto)      “somewhere”

my Obama t-shirt (ditto)           “what???”

my slippers (ditto)                     “really, Mom, really?”

her iPhone 5                            Never ever lost even for a second*

*because how could she function without it?

US presidential election: Best Cartoons and Comments

09 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Humor/humour, US vs UK

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This US presidential election has inspired some of the best political cartoons and comments I’ve ever seen.  Before all of this fades into memory, here’s a sample:

George W. Bush was probably the most useless president in US history, with the start of two foreign wars, the inability to capture or kill bin Laden, a tax cut that gave the top 1% millions of dollars at the expense of the middle and lower classes, and the squandering of the surplus left by President Clinton part of which was used to give tax breaks to millionaires.

Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000, but George Bush, with the “assistance” of the Supreme Court that voted 5 to 4 to stop the counting of ballots in Florida, “won” the election and brought the US eight disastrous years.

Bill Maher, truth teller.

A Republican congressman said that when a woman is raped she will not become pregnant because “the female body has ways to shut that thing down.”  Tell that to the women who became pregnant after being raped.

–Mitt Romney on the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Donald Trump, failed billionaire, has said over and over that Obama cannot legally be president because he wasn’t born in the US.  Obama was born in Hawaii, USA, as his birth certificate clearly states.

Big Bird says no to Mitt Romney after Romney said he will cut all funds to PBS, (government-funded like the BBC), which has done more than anyone or anything to teach the children of America the alphabet, numbers, and the importance of being nice to each other.

Mitt Romney was taped in a private meeting with wealthy Republicans saying that he doesn’t care about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay income tax.  This includes senior citizens on Social Security, much of the working and middle classes, and people in the military whose lives are in constant danger.

Amen!

And she shall rise again!       Courtesy Timeline photos