Sunday, March 13, 2016

Just like 1968

FROG HOSPITAL -- March 13, 2016 -- unsubscribe anytime
By Fred Owens
It was just like 1968, Trump people clashing with cops and demonstrators in Chicago. I was there in 1968. It was intense, violent and chaotic, but we got through it and we are still here. This thing right now with Trump -- we can survive it as well.
I have read many explanations of why Trump is so popular. None of these explanations make any sense. So I can save you some trouble here at Frog Hospital and say, honestly, that I Don't Know.
I Don't Know. It would be refreshing to hear our leadership say I Don't Know.  Imagine Bernie or Hillary saying that. Or saying, "I have to admit I'm stumped."  A leader with that much honesty would inspire me.  Does every problem have a solution? Does every question have an answer? Does every disease have a cure? We can be confident about the future without trying to be 100% certified and certain.

City of Jasmine.  I hired a Los Angeles artist to give me a custom paint job on my black 2004 Nissan Sentra. With some hours of brushwork she made it bold and powerful. So now I'm driving down the freeway and I get more respect. This is California and your car is who you are, and now I get that respect.
The artist lives just to the east side of downtown. This is not East LA, which is major Chicano country and I never go there, but this is the East Side, and if you think neighborhoods don't have identities in LA you are wrong. The artist lives in the Highland Park neighborhood on the East Side and if she is not careful she will get rent-blasted and gentrified right over to Boyle's Landing down by Long Beach.
I made up that last part, about Boyle's Landing, there is no such a place. Lately I am having trouble keeping my imagination in check.
But I do not make up the custom paint job. The artist, a woman of burgeoning renown, painted her own car with portraits of her students. It is a compelling gallery of eager young faces, done in black and white on the side and roof and hood of her Volvo.
I decided I wanted that for my car, not the portraits of course, but flowers. I've been involved in flowers for my working life -- flower farms and rose gardens, commercial and residential. It's hard work, but it's rewarding. I wanted people to know who I am. And in California you do that with your car.
Now my car has flowers all over it -- the blue and red of the passion flower says I am passionate. I am.

The sweet scent of the the jasmine says I am from Damascus in a past life. Damascus -- you should know this, but since you don't, I will tell you -- Damascus is pronounced Dimashk in Arabic and has the nickname of Medina Al-Yasmeen, which means City of Jasmine.
Imagine that -- this war-torn ancient city was once overflowing with flowers and gardens. Someday, when the war is over, I will go for a visit. In the meantime, the jasmine vine and flowers are painted on the hood of my car, because that is who I am.
The artist made it beautiful, and I will share her contact information if you request it.




Cosmo is Dying. I was in Los Angeles for two days. I spent some of that time at Abbot's Habit coffee shop in Venice Beach. This where the old men gather, since before the hipsters and the fashionistas took over on Abbot Kinney Boulevard. You should see them -- the young men wearing sneakers that cost $500, the young women impossibly tall and beautiful... and Google millionaires in hoodies and ragged jeans trying to look like everybody else... and homeless people trying to look like Google millionaires.
But we were there first, us old guys, so we get enough respect. I sat with Eric  and Big Mike, both originally from the Bronx, out here since the fifties. I call Eric the Godfather because he has been here the longest. He's older than the Pope, made a fortune in real estate, wears a $2 hat. Young people come and sit with him for a moment or two, he says a few words and then they leave.
Big Mike lives on the others side of Lincoln where the streets are wider and the lots are bigger. Big Mike has a substantial garden and several abundant peach trees. He brags about it, but it's true -- he gets a lot of fruit.
Evan comes in late every day, from work. He has a remodeling business. He gets his coffee and says hello, then he takes a seat outside.

Cosmo never sits with us. Nobody likes him. I don't like him, and not Eric, and not Big Mike. Evan might put in a good word for Cosmo, but nobody else likes him. 
Cosmo is short and stout and bald. He talks all the time. He blames everybody for everything. People have screwed him over. He got a raw deal. Woman dump on him. He sees life is not pretty.
Then he got pancreatic cancer and you didn't see him at the cafe every day. He was gone. The thing is that he was always at the cafe. We didn't like him, but we were awful used to him being there. So we kind of liked him as long as he didn't try to sit with us. You know what I'm saying.
So Cosmo doesn't come to the cafe now and with the pancreatic cancer he won't last long. That was his life. He was really just as good as the rest of us.

Subscriptions. Subscriptions to Frog Hospital cost $25. You can go to the the Frog Hospital blog and hit the PayPal button.
Or you can send a check for $25 to
Fred Owens
1105 Veronica Springs RD
Santa Barbara CA 93105




--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
My writing blog is Frog Hospital



Friday, March 04, 2016

"Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?"

 
"Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?" Joseph Welch challenged Senator McCarthy with this damning accusation in 1954. The episode marked the beginning of the end of McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunt.
Many people today hope for a new accusation against Donald Trump -- hoping to shame him......
In 1954 there was a sense of decency, meaning a widespread consensus on what was courteous and ethical behavior.......and that sense of decency is what finally brought McCarthy to heal.
Today, in 2016 there is no sense of decency, in the sense of a widespread agreement. There is only your opinion, but there is no objective reality, no ethical judgment and certainly no eternal truth. That would be judgmental. And you heard what Pope Francis said, "Who am I to judge?"
When Trump heard that he got the green light. In my opinion Donald Trump is a jackass, offensive to my standards of good taste and good judgment, but all I have is my own opinion. I mean that I would not do what Trump does or say what Trump says, but who am I to judge?
By what standard or authority might I accuse him?

Is it better in Santa Barbara?
Yes, it is better in Santa Barbara and here is the secret -- good weather and lots of money.
Thousands of people visit Santa Barbara every year and they love it -- because coming here makes them feel good. That is almost guaranteed. People come here and they start smiling and they start relaxing. Now it ain't cheap, the hotels and all, but it's worth it.
I am living here almost five years now. I like living next to all these rich people because they have good taste and they don't offend me.
Believe me, I am a very touchy old grouch and a garish display of wealth is disgusting to me  -- but they don't do that in Santa Barbara. I drive around town and everywhere it's beautiful, the houses, and walkways, the trees and the gardens -- all in proper proportions  -- soothing my highly critical psyche.

Hollywood. I love Hollywood, but the movies are about make believe, and we get easily confused because Hollywood people are acting, even when they are not acting. .. The diversity problem is such a piece of fakery. There is no problem. Anybody can make a movie. Who's stopping you? I go to see the movies I like, not the movies I'm supposed to like.... the market for movies is global and rapidly expanding. The technology for making good film is dramatically cheaper. So go forth, act, and shoot! If it's any good, people will come to see it. There is no barrier, no obstacle to this creative expression. Telenovelas in Mexico are getting better all the time. An incredible volume of good and bad movies are coming out of Mumbai..... A revolutionary new cinematic scene emerges in Nigeria.... and more.

Toastmasters.
I have been in Toastmasters for one year, in an attempt to get over my fear of public speaking.....After much effort I can report a ten percent improvement....But I still get palpitations and shaky knees standing up in front of 15 people and actually talking....I would rather go to the dentist.

Life in Prison. I've been writing to my friend who is spending the rest of his life in prison -- which is pretty much where he deserves to be -- but he's still my friend. He's 51 and I've known him since he was 9 years old. Saw him grow up. Tried to be a good influence. Didn't think he had it in him -- that crime. But we don't talk about that -- he's serving his sentence and that's all there is to it.
His mother visits him every week. She is really glad that I have written to him. She said, "I would give up my whole life if I could get him out of prison, but that will not ever happen."
I started to think -- how do you write to someone you haven't seen in fifteen years -- since he got sent away. What do you talk about?

Subscriptions. Subscriptions to Frog Hospital cost $25. You can go to the the Frog Hospital blog and hit the PayPal button.
Or you can send a check for $25 to
Fred Owens
1105 Veronica Springs RD
Santa Barbara CA 93105

Thank you



--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
My writing blog is Frog Hospital