mermaidcamp
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Politics vs Reality
March 20, 2016
— 2 Comments
Palm, symbol of victory
I think most people vote based on the state of their own economic situation. If they are feeling confident about their prospects and security they tend to choose the party that is in power at the moment. When insecurity and unhappy circumstances arise political elections become a way to express unease. This election year is full of wild rhetoric and many dramatic moments. Citizens are freaking out in all directions. The focus on our elected officials and policies of the government is never so intense as it is during the presidential season. Tension builds and money is spent like water on all sides. Anger, suspicion, and all the worst in our society, rears its’ ugly head to predict the future. We all think we know how the future will be if we elect one candidate or another.
We do not know what will happen after any election, and this time we seem to know less than ever. Many of the public institutions that have crumbled and decayed will need a total reform or rehab in order to once again serve the public. Politicians tend to protect and defend status quo, just because they exist within it, and that is the easy way to go. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. The GOP is finding it difficult to stay at rest, being challenged from within and by the candidacy of Donald Trump. In this era we do not remember any politics this rowdy or malicious. It is impossible to predict the outcome.
The reality is that after the election we will all go about our business without the suspense or the drama of politics in our faces. The only real change is managed on a personal local level with constant and uninterrupted effort. Figure heads and governing bodies have only so much power to implement or enforce laws and systems. The grass-roots, named for the front yard, is where either weeds or lush green comfort is cultivated. It is a mistake to put so much emphasis on elections while we turn away from our own neighbors and local issues. Like Smokey says, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.” I believe this philosophy applies to reality and politics just as well. Only YOU can prevent the dismemberment of society, gentle reader. Think small, local, and real. Don’t let these political loonies stress your mind. Act like you want others to act, do unto others what you want done to you.
yellow rose, symbol of joy
James Oscar Byrne and the Luck of the Irish
March 17, 2016
— 1 Comment
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- James Oscar Byrne
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- James Oscar Byrne
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- James Oscar Byrne
James Oscar Byrne (1840 – 1879)
2nd great-grandfather
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of James Oscar Byrne
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
My second great-grandfather was born in County Meathe, Ireland and immigrated to the United States during the potato famine with his family. He arrived in New York at the age of 7 in 1848. His family took up residence in Wilna, Jefferson County, in upstate New York. I know from notes left to me by his daughter, my great-grandmother, that he and his brother Luke operated a saw mill in Michigan before they moved to Kansas. She wrote that they sent all the wood to build homes in Kansas from that mill. On the Kansas census of 1875 he says he moved to Kansas from Wyoming, which was pretty wild at the time. He was married to Hattie Peterson, age 19, and her parents lived next door to them in that census. James owned a large piece of property, much larger than Hattie’s family, and his profession was listed as farmer.
James and Hattie had 2 daughters born in Ladore, Kansas, where James is buried. After all the adventures he endured crossing the ocean (a voyage during which two of his siblings died), lumber speculating in Michigan, making it to Wyoming, and settling on the frontier in Kansas he died in 1879 at the age of 38, when my great-grandmother Sarah Helena was less than a year old. I don’t know the cause of death. He was probably the only Catholic in his wife’s family, and maybe the only Catholic in my entire ancestry. I was Catholic for a year when I went to boarding school because I didn’t like to go to long Moravian church services and being Catholic was the only way to get out of it. My parents did not object. I wonder if that was some kind of calling from clan O’Byrne that lead me to do that. I will never know but on St. Patrick’s Day I feel proud of James Oscar and his adventurous spirit.
Irish Love
Authority, Use and Abuse
March 3, 2016
— 2 Comments
When we were in grade school it was obvious that we had little control over our circumstances. This is appropriate for children leaning to be part of a larger society. Still some of us questioned the system wondering where the teachers/parents/school officials got off being so threatening about some rules and regulations. Some of us used our own immature logic to question authority. Some of us even spoke up about what we considered to be abuse of our rights. Others quickly conformed to fit in and get the brownie points for behaving the way we had been instructed to behave. I was naturally part of the first group, those of us who felt oppressed unnecessarily by silly rules.
My nature was never very compliant without seeing the purpose of the rules. One such rule was my mother’s idea of fashion for little girls. I fought tooth and nail over cutting my bangs, putting permanent waves in my otherwise fabulous hair, and, most of all, the wearing of white ankle socks. The whole look was atrocious, but I was physically too small to fight off the stinky hair solutions or the bangs scissors. All I could do was take of the hideous white ankle socks once I had left home for school. It was my only available form of resisting authority that I saw as fascism. My parents were very strict, believed in beating children to a pulp with a belt, and fought back hard. I saw this was obvious sign of weakness, the need to physically bully a child into wearing white socks. If they had thought about what they were doing they might have made more reasonable rules and fought more reasonable battles, but they were out of their minds with power. They belonged to the Republican Party.
They voted for Barry Goldwater for president and loved war and police brutality. They were animated fans of the Viet Nam war, which was truly the last straw. They saw America as entitled bully, and I saw them as entitled bullies. Our political paths would never cross once I was old enough to vote. There was no discussion because my dad would blow his top so wildly that it was out of the question to question his opinions. I just wore a patch on the back of my jeans that said “War is not healthy for children and other living things” and they voted a straight Republican ticket. I have a letter my mother wrote to my father when Kennedy was elected bemoaning the fate of the world. They were truly nuts.
I now thank them for the training I had early in life to see that some authorities use power for evil (I still think permanents are evil and probably cause brian cancer). Some authorities are just ignorant, and must be opposed in order to save the world from fascism. The political scene we face today is clearly one of treacherous consequences. I thought most of the violent crazy people were already dead, but I was completely off course. This sentiment is alive and sick. It has never been more important to vote and become aware of the rights we still have in this country to shape our future. Please inform your self, gentle reader. Consider the possibilities very carefully, and then VOTE!!!
Elizabeth Cocke, 6th Great-grandmother
February 21, 2016
— 17 Comments
Malvern Hill
My 6th great-grandmother was born in Virginia in 1720 in the home where her father had been born. The Cocke family came to Virginia in the 1600’s and played a significant part in the colony’s affairs. She married into the Holt family, another prominent family in Williamsburg. When I was a child my parents took me several times to vacation in Williamsburg. I always looked forward to being there to be immersed in the history of the place. We stayed at the Inn and walked around town to see the blacksmith, the candlestick maker, and many historical reenactments. I have vivid memories of buying sealing wax, which I used on all my correspondence until I was about 18. I had a real thing for fancy stationery and sealing wax that began when I saw it in use at Williamsburg. Now that I know my ancestors lived there I am even more thrilled that my parents (who had no idea about the ancestry connection) gave me the gift of an early interest in history.
Elizabeth Cocke, probably b. 1720’s; m. Dibdale or Dibdall HOLT, son of David HOLT & Margaret DIBDALL of New Kent, Hanover, and Williamsburg, VA (b. 1720’s; d. aft. 1792). Dibdall probably met Brazure COCKE’s family in Williamsburg where the HOLTS were a prominent family. Dibdall’s brother John HOLT served as mayor of Williamsburg and later published newspapers in New York City and Norfolk VA. Dibdall is named in John HOLT’s will, dated Oct. 1, 1749, proved Oct. 30, 1784, in New York. Dibdall’s sister Jane HOLT was married to a famous Presbyterian minister, Rev. Samuel DAVIES (1724-1761), of Hanover Co., VA. Dibdall probably married Elizabeth COCKE roughly 1745 and moved to Amelia Co., VA, soon thereafter. He can be found in Amelia Co. as early as 1748 when he witnessed the will of William STONE (Amelia WB 1, p.55) and was still there in 1762 when he appeared on a tax list. He lived in Nottoway Parish, which later become Nottoway County. A deed dated Dec. 14, 1751, from Phillip STONE of Johnston Co., VA, to Charles CONNALLY & Robert TAYLOR of Nottoway Parish, describes 100 acres in Nottoway Parish adj. where Dibdall HOLT now lives, Charles CONNALLY, Joseph HARPER, Robert TAYLOR’s line by the county line, and William STONE’s line now Dibdall HOLT’s. (Amelia Co., VA, DB 4, p.338.) Robert CHEEK worked as Dibdall Holt’s overseer and lived with him in 1754 and 1755, according to the Amelia Co. tax lists & court records. Dibdall’s daughter may be the Elizabeth HOLT who m. Samuel BIRCH (or BURCH) on May 1, 1764, in Granville Co., NC, with Robert CHEEK as bondsman. Dibdall moved to the Natchez District of the Louisiana territory sometime in the 1770’s & settled in an area that later became Jefferson Co., MS. Dibdall’s name appears on a petition dated Oct. 4, 1779, “from the citizens of Natchez to Lieut. Col. Dickson, 16th Reg. commanding his Britannick Majesty’s Forces in the River Mississippi. . . .” He is also mentioned in his sister Sarah TRULY’s will dated Mar. 15, 1792 (Natchez Dist.) and in other Natchez records. Children may have included David HOLT (m. Rebecca BELK), John HOLT, and William HOLT (d. 1836 in Hinds Co., MS).
Elizabeth Cocke (1720 – 1773)
6th great-grandmother
Elizabeth Holt (1747 – 1811)
daughter of Elizabeth Cocke
Elizabeth Betsy Truly (1782 – 1851)
daughter of Elizabeth Holt
Minerva Truly Darden (1806 – 1837)
daughter of Elizabeth Betsy Truly
Sarah E Hughes (1829 – 1911)
daughter of Minerva Truly Darden
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Sarah E Hughes
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
ruins of Malvern Hill House
What Law and Order? #BlackPanthersPBS
February 17, 2016
— 4 Comments
I am a revolutionary. I am in flashback mode during this political season. When I watched the PBS documentary about the Black Panther Party my mind was blown thinking about the similar tactics employed by our government today. Police are still outside the law, are still involved in brutality rather than community protection. In my neighborhood the police force protects criminals and refuses to respond to those who want to stop crime. I think it is scary that abuse of power continues to be our greatest obstacle to peace and prosperity. In 1968 J Edgar Hoover had absolute power to invade privacy and snuff Americans at will. Today the FBI is asking Apple to give them a back door to everyone’s iPhones. Today we have drones out killing people for our “freedom and democracy”. Have we ever had freedom and democracy for all our citizens? I think not.
I was involved, but not old enough to vote, in the 1968 election that sent Tricky Dick Nixon to the White House. I was in the audience at the University of Texas at Austin to listen to Eugene McCarthy, and later to Hubert Humphrey, during my freshman year on campus. I decided to register to vote as a Libertarian as soon as I was 21. The Democrats were more to my liking but both parties struck me as corrupt anachronisms dedicated to keeping war and prejudice alive around the globe. I was not alone in this belief. I am still not the only person who sees our system as dangerously off course.
We all feel that things have gotten out of hand, and we all want a better future for our country. I know that is true, even though the campaign rhetoric has become vile and toxic. With the new twist of a Supreme nomination stakes are high and emotions are higher. If we the people allow super pacs and nasty grudges to continue to drive our political outcomes we will all continue to feel let down by our government. This election, very much like the election of 1968, will have profound consequences on our image around the world as well as our own economy. No matter how you feel (Bern or no Bern) it is time to register to vote and exercise your right to elect officials you trust. History is being made very rapidly. Get out the vote, gentle readers. Do it now before all the hippies drop dead from exhaustion.
Jonathan Aaron Taylor, 3rd Great-Grandfather
February 11, 2016
— 1 Comment
revolutionary pension
My third great-grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. On his pension his rank is listed as Dragoon, which is a name for cavalry soldier. After the war all of the cavalry units were disbanded. His wife Joanna received $50 twice a year from 1836-1850 to compensate for his service. He married at the age of 26 and died in South Carolina at the age of 60.
Jonathan Aaron Taylor (1760 – 1820)
3rd great-grandfather
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of Jonathan Aaron Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
Jonathan Taylor enlisted in service in Cumberland County, Virginia. He was discharged at Cambridge in South Carolina on June 9, 1781. He was wounded at the Battle of Herrington, N. J., and also was in the Battles of Brandywine and Monmouth in New Jersey. He served under Col. Bailee and Col. William Washington.
revolutionary pension
Rhetoric in the Political Jungle
January 29, 2016
— 1 Comment
rhetorical triangle
The role of rhetoric in politics is to convince voters to take action. Politicians make speeches and conduct public meetings in order to share their views and opinions for the voters’ consideration. There is a difference between absolute empirical truth and rhetorical “truth”. Words meant to sway opinions are crafted carefully to leave impressions on the reader or listener. Theory rather than fact is the realm of rhetoric. Theoretic situations and projections onto the future can not be measured. They are emotional and unpredictable in their very nature. When a candidate tells us what will be happening when he becomes president he is using rhetoric to stimulate our imagination.
Cultural beliefs can’t be proven, but are held by a group to be factual. Prejudice is one of the many forms of cultural belief. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are another kind of cultural belief. Now in American politics there are at least two camps with firm and opposing views about the Constitution. When a lawyer goes to court his arguments are built on rhetorical truths, but his emotional appeal to a judge or jury is often aimed at changing cultural beliefs. Tribal or group dynamics are hard to predict. Our two party system is going through a test in this election cycle. I wonder which way the cookie will crumble in November. I urge the gentle readers to vote and consider carefully all the facts while making a decision. This election is already a game changer. Your vote matters more than it did in the past. Please register to vote, and show up to make your voice heard.
Banking on Bernie
January 23, 2016
— 1 Comment
This election of 2016 gives us an unprecidented opportunity to change our federal government for the better. The American people have been through the economic ringer while banks “recovered” nicely with taxpayer assistance. The real estate market where I live is still on a very slow track to recovery, and the stock market is tanking right now over the price of oil. Ordinary tax payers have felt powerless and probably resentful to see the way our government conducts itself and spends our treasury’s money. Various movements from #OccupyWallStreet to #BlackLivesMatter have coalesced to express rage against the system. As these feelings and political movements grow the ability to share our thoughts has expanded exponentially.
This election may be televised, but the instant power of twitter has changed the way the candidates compete. The playing field is more open to view than the games in the past that decided our national political future. Anyone with a twitter account is free to comment, disclose, and persuade. It reminds me of the University of Texas tower (site of the very first famous mass shooting by a veteran at a school), which says “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32) Truth and freedom have been generally under siege from all corners. Each of us has personal truth and freedom, but it gets very gnarly trying to decode the nation’s truth and freedom. These words evoke talk of war and the military, always used to protect our national freedom. The irony now that the veterans of our freedom wars are in bad shape and need care and attention sends a signal that all is not well. All is not revealed. Truth about what happens to our troops, and in our wars has been buried under a giant pile of PTSD. The brave men and women of our armed forces have taken the biggest hit to their freedom and security. Someone has lied to us about the entire nature of this war business.
The economy may or may not be in peril for banks and the super wealthy Americans. The economic outlook for the middle class looks gloomy to me at the moment. Poverty is spreading among the senior population and children. Homelessness and addiction is common for the hero veterans we sent to fight for our “freedom”. These truths should motivate the voters of this nation to look for a better solution. I endorse Bernie Sanders for president because #WeAreBernie. I believe the truth will set us free from unreasonable government, but we need to face the truth together to make this happen. How do you feel, gentle reader? Do you think we can come clean and make the government work for the people? No matter what you think I hope you will vote and make your voice heard.
UT tower
Engineer Father, Archetypal Errors
January 21, 2016
— 4 Comments
Dick fishing with his dad, aunt and uncle
My father was a petroleum engineer by profession. He had a PHD in industrial engineering (computers) from Texas A&M, and taught in the petroleum department of that university until his retirement at an advanced age. He started his life with a schoolteacher mother and a father who drilled oil wells before the invention of the rotary bit. He was born in Independence, Kansas, in the Cherokee Strip, in 1920. The affluence the oil boom provided to the area was unprecedented anywhere in the world at the time. His undergraduate degree from Oklahoma University in the 1940’s was earned with a slide rule, his PHD in the 1960’s was figured on a main frame computer that filled a large building on campus, but had only a little bit more power than that slide rule. Only a true engineer could love computers at that time, and my father was completely smitten. He used to rave about the amazing power of data processing at the dinner table when I was in high school. I thought he was just nuts.
The engineer archetype was the dominant feature in my dad’s personality. He was mathematical to a fault because he always tried to prove his own assumptions with his “research”. He had no mechanical ability, no tools, and no inclination to fix things around the house. He was master of the lawnmower and the Hasty Bake smoker, but my mother was in charge of repairs and maintenance of every kind. I think my dad had a hammer and a screwdriver, but the garage shelves were filled with chemicals, crude oil in jars, and fishing gear. Tools were not featured at all. He was famous in the field of petroleum engineering, but to those who knew him best, his family, he was absent minded and out of touch with reality. When both of my parents became hot air balloon pilots in their 60’s it was my mother who repaired the balloon and drove the chase car. My dad took unreasonable risks flying balloons, and made some very hard landings as a result. He injured himself in one of those hard landings to the point that he gave up commercial flights. His positive ability of the engineer to design innovative solutions for problems seemed to by limited to oil fields, but not apply to real life. He was connected to the mechanical, but not the emotional reality of all things. This took him to some dark places with serious consequences for both him and our family.
The father archetype, when true to its higher purpose, is a caring, protective, guiding force to his family and tribe. Abusive reliance on dictatorial attitudes characterize the shadow aspect of the father. Although my dad was playful, loving, and fun, his fathering was of the controlling authoritarian variety. He was not concerned as much with support and guidance as he was with appearances. His father, my grandfather, was the man I looked to for protection and wisdom. After my grandpa passed away there was only a kind of space cadette petroleum engineer to fill his shoes. Intellectualism does not a father make.
I am not saying he failed completely as a dad. He read Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and other books to me aloud. He did lots of excellent chemistry experiments with me and brought me chemicals and dry ice from his lab. As a fellow alchemist I thought he was the bomb (he taught me to make them). He also took great pains to teach me how to fish. I did like fishing very much when I was a child. Do you have an archetypal father, gentle reader? Positive or negative? Most are a mixture of both.
Digesting the Past
January 20, 2016
— 2 Comments
fermenting beverages
Our bodies alert us to imbalance and disease long before a diagnosis can be made. I have always had excellent digestion, but a couple of years ago I had to make some dietary changes to stem some new symptoms I had acquired in my digestive tract. My thermogram showed inflammation all along the digestive system, but the real issue was that I felt bad. I had become a burping bubbling mess. I eliminated wine and beer, which made a huge difference in the problem. I also decreased, but did not totally stop, my consumption of bread. These changes, together with some attention to adding the foods that heal the spleen, helped me conquer my indigestion.
During the time I was studying my spiritual path as it coincided with all this unexpected indigestion in my body. I believe there is always some soul element of every physical manifestation. Indeed, I had unresolved, undigested issues about my home and environment that had serious consequences. Stress from trying unsuccessfully to put a stop to crime in our neighborhood had become a permanent drag. I was really sick and tired of reporting crime with no response and no effort made by authorities to stop it. The culture of willful blindness had won the day, and no progress was possible. Now there is a breakthrough!!!
This week our new police chief, Chris Magnus, starts his job running the Tucson Police Department. I have very high hopes that his new energy will uplift the community and bring people together to improve conditions in our Tucson neighborhoods. His reputation for community policing and success in reducing violence precedes him. We need to improve the working relationship between the cops and the citizens here. His experience should prove very valuable to improve the culture of TPD.
My new hobby is fermenting raw foods. I have tried concocting several beverages that are super simple to make and taste great. They have the added benefit of probiotic culture which boosts immunity and assists digestion. Over time the healthy bacteria growing in my beautiful beverages will improve my health, but for now I just love the flavors. At the moment I am fermenting some red cabbage kraut juice, a batch of swizzle, and a batch of ginger beer. When the ginger beer is ready I want to try a second fermentation to add more fizz. The possibilities of delicious new ways to digest the past are endless. Here are directions for you if you want to try making your own switchel, packed with electrolytes from the apple cider vinegar. To your health, gentle reader!!!
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