Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The End of the Road (or at least this mile marker)
The Stadium Theater in our small town has closed. This fills me with a sense of loss that is not only connected to the building itself, but to what it represents. For 62 years families in our area were able to go there for entertainment the old fashioned way. Popcorn, candy.....and more movies than anyone probably could name. Occasional remodeling here and there kept things from falling apart, but much remains the same. For instance there are lights covered by painted glass on the side walls that would come on when the main lights went down that I always found fascinating (the antique lover in me wonders what will happen to them). The theater is small enough and the screen was big enough that when the movie started playing no matter where you sat you could lose yourself in the story and make it feel like you were within the movie rather than just watching it. When my husband and I were young and very hard-pressed to scrape together money for dinner out, the $1.25 ticket price was just affordable enough that if we split a soda and popcorn we could have a date without breaking our meager budget. We would be sitting in our choice seat (on the right hand side closer to the front) just waiting for the movie to start, munching a little popcorn and invariably he would speak to 3/4 of the people walking up to find their seats. "You know you live in a small town when" comes to mind- when you know most of the people sitting down to watch a movie with you. There is a certain feeling of home that abounds in this little place. I have been to larger venues that have the fancy reclining seats, six or more movies to choose from and all the other bells and whistles. None of them feel the same. I doubt I will go to the movies very often from now on. Having grown up going to the Stadium and watching movies there, the sense of familiarity and comfort just isn't there in the larger places - and they charge 15.9 patrillion more dollars to watch a movie anyway. Movie night at the Stadium felt like going to grandpa and grandma's house and the loss of it to our community will mean more than just the loss of a place to watch movies. It is also the loss of a way of life. One of the last of the "downtown" places. Driving down main street in small town America, seeing the shuttered stores and theaters is an example of all that is being lost in our country. The clothing stores, shoe stores, dime stores (do you all remember Graham's Dime Store?) theaters and diners that used to draw families to town for "Saturday" shopping and entertainment. They have been replaced by cold and ugly box stores, malls and monstrosities of buildings selling things we really don't need. I guess that is the thing that bothers me the most. These places and the closeness and familiarity are being lost to us and our lives are becoming less and less connected. When you frequent small businesses in a small town on a steady basis, you see people you know and you remain connected, even if in a brief moment. With the loss of our "downtown" in small town America, we are also losing our base. Our roots. What feeling of connection do you have in a mall? In a Sam's Club? Nothing. Rudolph's. Remember Rudolph's? Miss Jean watched my husband's brothers and sisters grow up. We would go in there to buy his jeans after we got married and she walked right to the stack of the kind he liked and pulled out his size. We have a couple of stores left downtown. Linn's Shoe Store. Bray's Drug Store. Norton's Hardware. Not much else is hanging on. How sad. My kids will never walk into Graham's Dime Store and be bewildered by all the little nooks and crannies chock full of wonders. Instead they know things about malls full of over-priced nonsense like Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, Buckle and the like. One of my best friends is in the 70-80 age range. She can tell you anything you want to know about Jerseyville during her life-time. She can describe the layout of Don's Department store when you first walked in. What they sold. The names of most of the workers. Kirby's Drug Store. What her favorite things to purchase there were. She is a fountain of information about the way things used to be. One wonders if perhaps maybe they shouldn't STILL be. Life is all about change. Change must be embraced. Medical advancements, technology that allows endless access to knowledge, all these other things we know have made improvements - this is true. In retrospect, however, history tells us that some change was not for the better. One wonders if perhaps there should be a headstone at each end of main street. "SMALL TOWN LIES HERE 1800-2000 MISSED ETERNALLY".
Monday, November 28, 2011
Time flying by..
Wow..... I had forgotten about this blog I had started until a friend of mine posted a link to hers tonight. How extremely odd to go back at the blink of an eye (obviously my passwords are not that good if I can remember it from this long ago!) and see exactly where I was at that time!
Tonight I am sitting in my warm and toasty home in my warm and comfortable flannel wrapped up in a warm and thick afghan thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts about me and mine. Feeling so incredibly blessed.
Regardless as to what the future holds, in this moment I have a piece of heaven. So much of my life has been just that. Little pieces of heaven.
It is my belief that happiness is a fleeting emotion. Much lauded - but the anticipation is greater than the reality. More to be desired is contentment and peace. They are not fleeting emotions, but states of being. I have found at this stage in my life that if I focus on all that is right, those things that are wrong have less sting. Less bite. Less drama.
I do not know what the future holds, but I know that nothing good comes easy. It takes courage and hard fighting to hold on to that which is worth while. I am standing as I always have. Steadfast against the world that seeks to distract and disarm. My life is boring compared to some, but I have fought hard to have the family and life that I have and I am content. I am at peace.
It is good.
Tonight I am sitting in my warm and toasty home in my warm and comfortable flannel wrapped up in a warm and thick afghan thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts about me and mine. Feeling so incredibly blessed.
Regardless as to what the future holds, in this moment I have a piece of heaven. So much of my life has been just that. Little pieces of heaven.
It is my belief that happiness is a fleeting emotion. Much lauded - but the anticipation is greater than the reality. More to be desired is contentment and peace. They are not fleeting emotions, but states of being. I have found at this stage in my life that if I focus on all that is right, those things that are wrong have less sting. Less bite. Less drama.
I do not know what the future holds, but I know that nothing good comes easy. It takes courage and hard fighting to hold on to that which is worth while. I am standing as I always have. Steadfast against the world that seeks to distract and disarm. My life is boring compared to some, but I have fought hard to have the family and life that I have and I am content. I am at peace.
It is good.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Pieces of my mind - - (tidbits from a forum)
Althea1, conversing in such a manner as this forum is frought with potential misunderstandings because you can't see expressions, hear tone of voice or the cadence of speech. Bearing that in mind, allow me to clarify my point.
1) While I respected President Bush as a man, I too, disagreed with some of his actions. I cannot, however, say the same for the current Administrator. I have NO respect for him. When the heat came on him, he abandoned the church he had gone to for 20 years because it was not politically expedient for him to associate with them any longer. That, in a nutshell, shows the lack of courage and the strength to stand for his own beliefs. Either that, or he was wishy-washy and without a foundational set of beliefs in the first place. That is only the beginning of the examples I could name. That has NOTHING to do with PARTY. That has to do with personal character.
2) You use the word "evolve". The definition of which is "to develop gradually; to develop via evolutionary change". ---- To say what is happening now is the evolution of our country is to say that a peach was once an apple.
3) Static -- I realize that things aren't static. Without change, it would be like a stagnant pool of water. Change is good provided it is for the good of EVERYONE - not just on the backs of some.
4) Health insurance? My mother has none. Went for years without it. Suffered physically because of the lack of it. Blamed nobody for the lack of it - just simply couldn't afford it. It is not an unalienable right of being an American. It is a privilege to be able to afford medical care. Is that good? No. Is it a fact? Yes.
5) DEMOCRACY? I must tread dangerous waters here. The southern states were built upon the backs of the African slaves. Some of these slaves were stolen by slavemasters and transported here against their will. Some were sold by their own countrymen for profit and were brought here against their will... fast forward 125 years....now, the current Administrator says that for a democracy, for FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY, so that EVERYONE has the same financial standing and equal financial opportunities --- now I and people like me must work twice as hard just to provide for our own families - - because the majority of what we make is going to go into GOVERNMENT COFFERS to pay for the never-ending entitlement programs that will make everyone happy and equal? Did we learn nothing from the first actions of slavery? NOW WE ARE GOING TO ENSLAVE ANOTHER GROUP TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WHO SIT AND DRINK MINT JULIPS WHILE THE WORKERS ARE IN THE FIELDS? It is the same thing. The only difference is we have traded a cotton field for corporate America and the people sitting on the porch are not just white - they are WHITE, MEXICAN, AFRICAN AMERICAN, EVERY COLOR - with the one identifying trait being that they are LAZY AND ARE WAITING ON SOMEONE ELSE TO HAND THEM THE GOODS. That is not my definition of a DEMOCRACTIC SOCIETY.
6) You said that I'm "just on the other side of the divide now". That is where I again must part ways with you. I was trying to explain that NEVER before now have I FELT THAT THERE WAS A DIVIDE. I always respected people of all kinds - rich, poor, purple polka-dotted. Didn't matter. I know that there are people on both sides of the racial and financial lines who are very disdainful of the other side. Those kind of people will always CREATE a divide if they can't find one. What people who are of your belief don't understand is that the DIVIDE that is being felt right now has NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTY OR CLASS. Most of us don't give one tiny little iota about Democrat vs Republican. I can honestly say that I have NO VALUES in common with either and NONE of them speak for me. The divide comes because I see my country walking down a path towards the Government having control over every facet of my life. These things will come if we can't find the guts to stop them - - - forced volunteerism for kids, government control over my own home (under the guise of being "green"), control over the food I eat (under the guise of safe food), whether or not I have the right to protect my property and life (not even bothering to hide the coming gun control), worship as I choose (to be Christian these days makes you very non-progressive).
These changes are being forced upon me because someone feels like doing all these things will bring needed "change and improvement". How does taking from the calloused hand of work and giving to the soft hand of lazy improve anything???? I don't care what color you are or what kind of house you live in. Get off your glutteous maxi and work for your food and shelter just like I have!
Sadly, these are the very reasons that the Pilgrims left their country 300 years ago. Persecution in their daily lives.
Then there is the subject of war/peace. The battle rages on. He (the current Administrator) is going to be sending more boots to Afghanistan. Why are you and yours not crying foul about that?
4/7/2009 4:07:27 PM
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Althea1, I honestly mean you no disrespect but one thing I will never understand is why do people who hold your beliefs and our current President's philosophy even live here?
I am not asking this out of sarcasm or disrespect. I seriously just don't know why people would choose to live in a country where they obviously do not feel at home, where everything you see and hear is a problem and you want to change everything literally from the ground up. Why live here? Why not study the cultures of other societies and pick up and move?
Life is so short. I would REFUSE to live in a country where I believe that everyone is mistreated. Everything that our current President says and stands for indicates that he does not believe that there is much at all RIGHT with our country. Likewise, if you listen closely to the tone and cadence of many of his followers a spirit of anger and hostility is readily apparent. Anger and hostility at what? If it is that bad here why do you all stay? Feel free to go somewhere that you don't have such anger and bitterness simmering in your soul. It can't possibly be good for your health.
That being said, beware. When you approach people with the complete lack of disrespect and reverse discrimination (NOT just skin color, but financial discrimination as well) that is such an open policy as it is in this Administration as well as its followers from Hollywood on down to the streets, you are stirring a pot filled with ingredients that you can't even imagine.
I have NEVER been a person that tolerated discrimination whether it be against skin color or monetary worth. I have lived a life where I deliberately cultivated friends and business associates from across the spectrum. What the current Administration and its followers don't realize is that by constantly crying- foul! discrimination! make up for sins of the past! righteous anger! evil America! - is that you are taking away the compassion that many people felt for the downtrodden and/or people who have been discriminated against.
I will help ANYBODY that wants assistance. I will help ANYBODY that I see trying to help themselves. I WILL HELP NOBODY WHO STANDS IN MY FACE AND SAYS THAT I OWE IT TO THEM FOR REASONS PAST OR PRESENT.
The attitude and demeanor of the current Administration is serving NOTHING except to deepen the divide that fractured our country and to CREATE A DIVIDE WHERE THERE WAS NONE BEFORE.
Debate goes on and on about Iraq and how we should or shouldn't be there. If we pull out of Iraq, then the same people who are whining about being there will then start whining because we AREN'T somewhere else - like Africa and Afghanistan, or the next New Orleans. Our soldiers cannot win with people like that. The complainers and whiners don't want them to do their jobs to protect our country, but should tragedy befall on our own back doorstep, then they are the first ones whining and crying like banshees because they want the military there to rescue them. What happened to the brave spirit that founded our country? Strike out on your own and rescue yourself! Our ancestors went into uncharted territories with their families at their sides and literally carved out an existance from the wilderness. They sit on a log and wait for somone to bring them a loaf of bread. They grew the corn to make the flour to make the bread! Now I am being told by the current Administration and its followers that I have to go to work to provide my own family's bread, BUT TEN OF MY POOR UNFORTUNATE NEIGHBORS WHO ARE SITTING ON THEIR PORCHES WAITING FOR BREAD!!!!?????? I think not.
Catch a plane. Ride a boat. Go somewhere and start a new country if you don't like this one.
I must apologize for my anger, but I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AMERICAN.
I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MISTAKES OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE. NEITHER CAN I TAKE CREDIT FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE COUNTRY THAT WAS FORGED BY THOSE VERY PEOPLE. I CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST. I WILL, HOWEVER, DO WHAT I CAN TO PROTECT THE FUTURE OF MY FAMILY AND MY COUNTRY!!!
4/7/2009 2:40:31 PM
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boggiestu - - thanks for making me laugh through my sobs.
Watching the changes in our country is like watching a loved one die of cancer. Eaten alive. Walking dead.
Americans in mourning.
4/7/2009 10:22:46 AM
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He is right. He is NOT at war with ISLAM. He is at war with your average, everyday American citizen. If you are an average, everyday American citizen and you just happen to be a Christian as well, then enjoy your freedom now because it is slipping away. He has NO love for this country. He and his wife have NO respect for our country. It becomes ever more apparent every day.
Four years. He has four years. Four years to annihilate what has taken over 200 years to build. He is rushing, sprinting - moving forward as quickly as he can in minute and hidden ways via new laws and in obvious ways because he really doesn't give a rat's hind-end what America thinks. He is going to take his four years and run towards the vision of America that he has where everyone is entitled to wealth whether they work for it or not, and nobody has to worry about anything because the government (he and his pals) are in charge.
At least if (when) our country goes belly-up his plans will be forced to derail because he won't be able to fund his Utopia. That is the one consolation I have while my dreams and my freedom are being destroyed.
I hope all of you sheep who believed his pretty (empty) words are happy. Sheep being led right over the edge of the cliff.
4/7/2009 8:52:06 AM
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1) While I respected President Bush as a man, I too, disagreed with some of his actions. I cannot, however, say the same for the current Administrator. I have NO respect for him. When the heat came on him, he abandoned the church he had gone to for 20 years because it was not politically expedient for him to associate with them any longer. That, in a nutshell, shows the lack of courage and the strength to stand for his own beliefs. Either that, or he was wishy-washy and without a foundational set of beliefs in the first place. That is only the beginning of the examples I could name. That has NOTHING to do with PARTY. That has to do with personal character.
2) You use the word "evolve". The definition of which is "to develop gradually; to develop via evolutionary change". ---- To say what is happening now is the evolution of our country is to say that a peach was once an apple.
3) Static -- I realize that things aren't static. Without change, it would be like a stagnant pool of water. Change is good provided it is for the good of EVERYONE - not just on the backs of some.
4) Health insurance? My mother has none. Went for years without it. Suffered physically because of the lack of it. Blamed nobody for the lack of it - just simply couldn't afford it. It is not an unalienable right of being an American. It is a privilege to be able to afford medical care. Is that good? No. Is it a fact? Yes.
5) DEMOCRACY? I must tread dangerous waters here. The southern states were built upon the backs of the African slaves. Some of these slaves were stolen by slavemasters and transported here against their will. Some were sold by their own countrymen for profit and were brought here against their will... fast forward 125 years....now, the current Administrator says that for a democracy, for FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY, so that EVERYONE has the same financial standing and equal financial opportunities --- now I and people like me must work twice as hard just to provide for our own families - - because the majority of what we make is going to go into GOVERNMENT COFFERS to pay for the never-ending entitlement programs that will make everyone happy and equal? Did we learn nothing from the first actions of slavery? NOW WE ARE GOING TO ENSLAVE ANOTHER GROUP TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WHO SIT AND DRINK MINT JULIPS WHILE THE WORKERS ARE IN THE FIELDS? It is the same thing. The only difference is we have traded a cotton field for corporate America and the people sitting on the porch are not just white - they are WHITE, MEXICAN, AFRICAN AMERICAN, EVERY COLOR - with the one identifying trait being that they are LAZY AND ARE WAITING ON SOMEONE ELSE TO HAND THEM THE GOODS. That is not my definition of a DEMOCRACTIC SOCIETY.
6) You said that I'm "just on the other side of the divide now". That is where I again must part ways with you. I was trying to explain that NEVER before now have I FELT THAT THERE WAS A DIVIDE. I always respected people of all kinds - rich, poor, purple polka-dotted. Didn't matter. I know that there are people on both sides of the racial and financial lines who are very disdainful of the other side. Those kind of people will always CREATE a divide if they can't find one. What people who are of your belief don't understand is that the DIVIDE that is being felt right now has NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTY OR CLASS. Most of us don't give one tiny little iota about Democrat vs Republican. I can honestly say that I have NO VALUES in common with either and NONE of them speak for me. The divide comes because I see my country walking down a path towards the Government having control over every facet of my life. These things will come if we can't find the guts to stop them - - - forced volunteerism for kids, government control over my own home (under the guise of being "green"), control over the food I eat (under the guise of safe food), whether or not I have the right to protect my property and life (not even bothering to hide the coming gun control), worship as I choose (to be Christian these days makes you very non-progressive).
These changes are being forced upon me because someone feels like doing all these things will bring needed "change and improvement". How does taking from the calloused hand of work and giving to the soft hand of lazy improve anything???? I don't care what color you are or what kind of house you live in. Get off your glutteous maxi and work for your food and shelter just like I have!
Sadly, these are the very reasons that the Pilgrims left their country 300 years ago. Persecution in their daily lives.
Then there is the subject of war/peace. The battle rages on. He (the current Administrator) is going to be sending more boots to Afghanistan. Why are you and yours not crying foul about that?
4/7/2009 4:07:27 PM
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Althea1, I honestly mean you no disrespect but one thing I will never understand is why do people who hold your beliefs and our current President's philosophy even live here?
I am not asking this out of sarcasm or disrespect. I seriously just don't know why people would choose to live in a country where they obviously do not feel at home, where everything you see and hear is a problem and you want to change everything literally from the ground up. Why live here? Why not study the cultures of other societies and pick up and move?
Life is so short. I would REFUSE to live in a country where I believe that everyone is mistreated. Everything that our current President says and stands for indicates that he does not believe that there is much at all RIGHT with our country. Likewise, if you listen closely to the tone and cadence of many of his followers a spirit of anger and hostility is readily apparent. Anger and hostility at what? If it is that bad here why do you all stay? Feel free to go somewhere that you don't have such anger and bitterness simmering in your soul. It can't possibly be good for your health.
That being said, beware. When you approach people with the complete lack of disrespect and reverse discrimination (NOT just skin color, but financial discrimination as well) that is such an open policy as it is in this Administration as well as its followers from Hollywood on down to the streets, you are stirring a pot filled with ingredients that you can't even imagine.
I have NEVER been a person that tolerated discrimination whether it be against skin color or monetary worth. I have lived a life where I deliberately cultivated friends and business associates from across the spectrum. What the current Administration and its followers don't realize is that by constantly crying- foul! discrimination! make up for sins of the past! righteous anger! evil America! - is that you are taking away the compassion that many people felt for the downtrodden and/or people who have been discriminated against.
I will help ANYBODY that wants assistance. I will help ANYBODY that I see trying to help themselves. I WILL HELP NOBODY WHO STANDS IN MY FACE AND SAYS THAT I OWE IT TO THEM FOR REASONS PAST OR PRESENT.
The attitude and demeanor of the current Administration is serving NOTHING except to deepen the divide that fractured our country and to CREATE A DIVIDE WHERE THERE WAS NONE BEFORE.
Debate goes on and on about Iraq and how we should or shouldn't be there. If we pull out of Iraq, then the same people who are whining about being there will then start whining because we AREN'T somewhere else - like Africa and Afghanistan, or the next New Orleans. Our soldiers cannot win with people like that. The complainers and whiners don't want them to do their jobs to protect our country, but should tragedy befall on our own back doorstep, then they are the first ones whining and crying like banshees because they want the military there to rescue them. What happened to the brave spirit that founded our country? Strike out on your own and rescue yourself! Our ancestors went into uncharted territories with their families at their sides and literally carved out an existance from the wilderness. They sit on a log and wait for somone to bring them a loaf of bread. They grew the corn to make the flour to make the bread! Now I am being told by the current Administration and its followers that I have to go to work to provide my own family's bread, BUT TEN OF MY POOR UNFORTUNATE NEIGHBORS WHO ARE SITTING ON THEIR PORCHES WAITING FOR BREAD!!!!?????? I think not.
Catch a plane. Ride a boat. Go somewhere and start a new country if you don't like this one.
I must apologize for my anger, but I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AMERICAN.
I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MISTAKES OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE. NEITHER CAN I TAKE CREDIT FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE COUNTRY THAT WAS FORGED BY THOSE VERY PEOPLE. I CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST. I WILL, HOWEVER, DO WHAT I CAN TO PROTECT THE FUTURE OF MY FAMILY AND MY COUNTRY!!!
4/7/2009 2:40:31 PM
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boggiestu - - thanks for making me laugh through my sobs.
Watching the changes in our country is like watching a loved one die of cancer. Eaten alive. Walking dead.
Americans in mourning.
4/7/2009 10:22:46 AM
Recommended (3
He is right. He is NOT at war with ISLAM. He is at war with your average, everyday American citizen. If you are an average, everyday American citizen and you just happen to be a Christian as well, then enjoy your freedom now because it is slipping away. He has NO love for this country. He and his wife have NO respect for our country. It becomes ever more apparent every day.
Four years. He has four years. Four years to annihilate what has taken over 200 years to build. He is rushing, sprinting - moving forward as quickly as he can in minute and hidden ways via new laws and in obvious ways because he really doesn't give a rat's hind-end what America thinks. He is going to take his four years and run towards the vision of America that he has where everyone is entitled to wealth whether they work for it or not, and nobody has to worry about anything because the government (he and his pals) are in charge.
At least if (when) our country goes belly-up his plans will be forced to derail because he won't be able to fund his Utopia. That is the one consolation I have while my dreams and my freedom are being destroyed.
I hope all of you sheep who believed his pretty (empty) words are happy. Sheep being led right over the edge of the cliff.
4/7/2009 8:52:06 AM
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