I Will Not Support A Scouting America That Bows to Tyranny

Today I had to let my Scouting friends and our local Council that I will not be registering this year. This is the message I sent them:

It is with profound and deep sadness that I must say that I can no longer support an organization that would allow an authoritarian regime to dictate its policies. In light of the arrangement that Scouting America has entered with the Department of Defense I will not be renewing my registration with the organization. Although the compromises may be seen as slight and the rewards great (I applaud the support of youth on military bases), the fact that an organization primarily dedicated to teach and guide youth to be good citizens and support the democratic process would in any way support an administration that is actively working to attack members of our society for who they are, and to erode the democratic process by attempts to limit and control voting. I greatly fear that this agreement is only a beginning and I am going to have to show my disagreement by withdrawing my support. I sincerely hope and expect that Scouting America will return to the support of all people and helping to expand and strengthen democracy, and when that time comes I will gladly, gleefully and with a full heart fully support the organization that is historically and potentially the best leadership and citizenship training organization in the world.

Happy Holidays!

I know this has been argued ad nauseam, but for some reason there are things that must be said and said and said again.

NO ONE IS FORBIDDING THE WISHING OF A MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS IS NOT DIMINISHED BY WISHING SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW HAPPY HOLIDAYS

CHRISTMAS IS INCLUDED IN THE HOLIDAY PART OF HAPPY HOLIDAYS

If you are a fundamentalist you should know that Jesus was most likely NOT born on 25 December, but when the shepherds were guarding their sheep most likely during lambing in the Spring. Christmas on 25 December is just the day early Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

I LIKE Happy Holidays. It includes people who celebrate different holidays and it includes New Years. I don't mind saying Merry Christmas to those I know celebrate Christmas, but if I don't know someone I will wish them Happy Holidays.

If you insist on wishing people Merry Christmas, and only Merry Christmas without acknowledging other people may be celebrating for an entirely different and valid reason; if you don't recognize Happy Holidays as a perfectly acceptable greeting; and if you get angry when people suggest to other people to use Happy Holidays as a more inclusive way to spread cheer and warmth to their fellow human beings; then you are frankly being Un-Christian.

I wish joy, happiness and good hope to you, your family, all you know, and all you love a Happy Bodhi Day, Happy Kathika Deepam, Happy Pancha Ganapati, Happy Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Happy HumanLight, Happy Salgirah Khushiali, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Happy Koliada, Happy Wassailing, Happy Yalda, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ōmisoka, Happy Hogmanay, Chalica, and a very Happy New Year!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

The Best (or Worst) Laid Plans...

Well, as Jack Benny used to say. We got thrown for a loop last week in my family. My Mom fell and broke her hip. She had it replaced and is in rehab currently. My brothers, nieces, nephews (too bad English doesn't have a collective gender neutral for that level of family), uncle, and dear family friend are taking turns visiting and helping her. 

This is partially why I did not post in this blog yesterday (though I've established and intend to continue a weekly post on Wednesday). I don't think anyone is subscribed, and I'd be surprised if anyone has even noticed the pattern, but it is not a good thing to do in the beginning of what I intend and hope is a long and fruitful tradition, and it was a goal of mine in November to write daily and I missed a day this week.

If I had planned better I would have had a post "in the can" and been prepared for not being able to write on Wednesday.

Something else that happened due to my own poor planning was that I forgot to mention that I participated in Movember again this year in November. That is, I grew a mustache (or let my mustache grow) in November to raise awareness of Men's Health Issues, specifically prostate cancer and dementia.

My Father died of pancreatic cancer, but before that, he had prostate cancer (for which he was successfully treated). My Father-In-Law had dementia and broke HIS hip, which ultimately impacted his departure from our company. I find it interesting that the identical purple ribbon is used for both of these conditions.

My Mom also has dementia, so this story turns round and round.

I planned to raise awareness of men's health issues and failed to use the platform already at my disposal in this blog. 

No plan survives first contact with the enemy even if that enemy is your own poor planning. I'm going to have to up my game.

What are your plans for the rest of the year? How are you going to adjust them once they are put into action?

December Goals and November Review

Goal, er, well a Try

I'm going to first go over the final review of my November goals.

1. Produce more than consume
1. Make 12 attempts to get a short story (there are several possible) and/or “Tabernacle” published by the end of the month
2. Write or Edit every day (defined as Writing = at least 1 word, Editing = at least 1 correction)
3. Make creating apps outweigh consumption apps on my phone (more time)
4. NO YouTube while working
2. Focus on Health
1. Exercise daily (defined as anything >10 pushups)
2. Yoga daily
3. Get to 1 pullup

1. Production Results
1. D- I didn't make any publishing attempts except this blog
2. A I did that 28/30 days
3. B With the limits I made I'll give myself a B for the reduction
4. A maybe about 90-95%
2. Health
1. A about 90-95%
2. B I didn't do as much yoga, but I did start physical training for my shoulder and that was a lot of stretching so I counted that
3. F I didn't really even work on this

For December I want to build on what I have already, but not reinforce failure. Additionally, a lot of these are habit builders. If I have successfully built a habit I don't need to use is as a goal for future months.

December Goals (in priority order):

1. Health
1. Physical Therapy daily (stretch goal: do it twice) 
2. Set up garage exercise stuff (punching bag, drag tires, bag toss, tires for using sledgehammer on)
2. Volunteer
1. Support Scouting America
1. Attend the Northeast Illinois Council (NEIC) Training committee meeting and volunteer for something
2. Attend the Aptakisic District Committee meeting and volunteer for something
3. Contact NEIC Council Ops Officer to see what help they need
2. Attend the Wauconda CERT meeting and volunteer for an event
3. Switch to Spanish from Dutch on Duolingo and get 15 hours (30 min a day for 30 days)
3. Produce - Make one publishing submission

Now that I've made them public you will have to hold me to them. I can't use the endorphins of posting them to make me feel like I've already accomplished something.

If there is something you would like to see me do more of, please let me know.

 

Escape

First I want to say that I learned (or maybe re-learned) a lesson last week. I pre-wrote my blog post on a Google Doc and tried to copy-paste into Blogger. Silly me, I thought since they are both Google properties it would be smooth. It was not. It was mostly because I had bullets and levels of bullets and colors. I think when I write in just text it will be much better.

I have been reading and writing several things this month. I'll start with what and how I'm reading.

For the most part I try to read things I can get from the local library (system). I don't often buy books. I get them by putting them on hold to get the physical books, and I borrow them through two library apps. Through our local library I can borrow things from Libby and Hoopla.

I'm currently listening to Grave Peril, a Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher on Libby; The Two Towers, a Lord of the Rings book by J.R.R. Tolkien, on Hoopla. I'm also reading Casino Royale, a James Bond by Ian Flemming on Hoopla.

I borrowed several of the Discworld audiobooks from the library, and I'm just about finished with Feet of Clay by Sir Terry Pratchett.

I'm trying to read the physical book of Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice by Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn. I say, trying because it is a textbook and not exactly riveting and light reading.

I am actively working on writing the first draft of two stories. The first has the working title of The Invisible Guild. It's an urban fantasy that is slightly comical and mostly adventurous (along the lines of Dresden Files and The Watch books within the Discworld). The other one is a Science Fiction time travel story tentatively called Joy Righd and GAIL the Time Machine.

You might have noticed that my reading helps fuel my imagination for my writing. Only Archaeology is a non-fiction book and I'm reading that for two reasons mainly: to prepare for the graduate school I'm hoping and planning to attend when I retire, and probably more importantly to convince myself Archaeology and pursuing a PhD in Archaeology are really what I want to do in retirement. This is long-range planning and based on a fierce belief that the world will be in a state that will allow me that path as an option.

How can I be listening/reading so many things at once (for those of you who are asking and not saying, pfft that's not a lot of things at once)? I am consuming them at different times, different ways and different places.

Pratchett is on CD audiobooks and I listen in the only place I still have a CD player, while driving. Tolkien is on Hoopla and because I've read those books before I can listen to them in the background at work or while walking the dog. Butcher is on Libby so I can listen on my phone also while I'm walking the dog or working around the house, but I haven't read that book before so I have to pay attention. Flemming is on my phone or Kindle, but I read that when sitting in the family room in the evenings. I split my time then with Archaeology.

Why am I reading all these things? To fuel my imagination as I said earlier, but there is something more. There is something about reading and writing these types of things: escape.

I'm also listening to J.R.R. Tolkien's essay, On Fairy Stories. That's on YouTube. I'm trying to figure out how to get a print/electronic copy so I can highlight and take notes on it. In this essay he says that we must not confuse escapism as running away. We must think of it as freeing ourselves like a war prisoner or political prisoner frees themselves.

This kind of escapism allows us to recharge ourselves, to be refreshed for future struggles. It also allows us a safe place, like when you are in school, to train and experiment with ideas, methods, policies and beliefs we can use when we return to the real world.

A long time ago I realized Jurassic Park did a lot more to teach Paleontology than almost anything else and JFK changed the national zeitgeist (if only a little). I realized that the common language offered by fiction can become so ingrained in our minds that it becomes indistinguishable from facts. We all know dinosaurs are warm blooded like birds and JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, but he was a patsy. How do we know those things? Because that's what we always thought or knew.

That's powerful stuff. I really do think I can tap into that, I can use it to push our default ideas a little bit in the direction of democracy, humanism, ecological responsibility and that higher technology can help for a start. I'm not going to pretend that my fiction is real (like people eating pets), but just putting it out there in the universe I hope people will start to take for granted these things are good and they are the things we want to try and espouse and/or do.

I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear. The thing I want to leave you with today is something from that book. You have to decide what person you want to be (determine your identity) and prove it to yourself by doing the things that that person does. 

For example, if I decide I'm a healthy person, healthy people go to the gym to exercise so they can be fit and capable outside the gym.

I think that is also true of society. If we decide we are a humanist democracy that respects nature we have to, everyday do the things humanist democracies do. 

Our escapist literature can be our gym to learn how and practice democratic things so when we get out in the real world we can put those ideas into practice. 

In my writing I want to build that gym/sandbox/escapist world for us all to train our brains and hearts in.

GOALS!

Apparently, the work I've set out to volunteer for is difficult to get started. I've spoken with as many people as I can to get my volunteering moving, and…

I have nothing yet to report.

SO…

I'm going to share my goals for November. A bit late, you're thinking. Maybe it is, but:

1. I'm in the last ten days and I may, just might be able to reach them if I really try and posting about them sort of puts me on the hot seat, AND

2. I made them just before November and my birthday sort of put things on their ear if you catch my meaning. I was spun around and dizzy, but I've finally got myself in the right direction.

I feel like my volunteering is important, but these goals, though not necessarily in that exact direction nor are exact fuel to get me going in that direction, are good for the same reason my volunteering is important and I will explain after I share them.

1. Produce more than consume

1. Make 12 attempts to get a short story (there are several possible) and/or “Tabernacle” published by the end of the month

2. Write or Edit every day (defined as Writing = at least 1 word, Editing = at least 1 correction)

3. Make creating apps outweigh consumption apps on my phone (more time)

4. NO YouTube while working

2. Focus on Health

1. Exercise daily (defined as anything >10 pushups)

2. Yoga daily

3. Get to 1 pullup

PRODUCING

I figure producing more than consuming is important to the support of democracy because 

1. I don't want to be a mindless consumer, doom-scroller, a side-line-attendee
2. I want to produce the kinds of things that 
1. Make people think and think good things about democracy
2. Make people feel good
3. I want to see and read
4. Make me feel empowered in the right direction.

BTW - It's green because green things grow  

HEALTH

I figure focusing on my health will

1. Keep me healthy for the fight
2. Keep my healthy longer for my children and grandchildren
3. Make my mind stronger, healthy body, healthy mind/brain for the fight for democracy
4. Help me feel powerful and empowered

BTW - It's pink for "In the pink of health"

My progress so far:

1. Produce more than consume
1. No attempts at publishing yet, but I have been doing this, and publishing my blog, and there is still time
2. I have been writing every day
3. I don't know if my creating apps outweigh my consumption apps, but I have downloaded Screen Zen for my phone and Untrap for Youtube. Both help me limit YouTube and a few other apps on my phone
4. I've been pretty successful with not listening to YouTube while working now that I've installed Untrap for Youtube.
2. Focus on Health
1. I am very close to having exercised every day at least more than 10 pushups
2. Very close to Yoga daily, or a similar activity
3. Get to 1 pullup - I'm in physical therapy for my shoulder to help me get to this

So you see it is do-able. I could use encouragement because 1.1 is a doozy yet and I could use all the kind words and suggestions I can get.

Thanks all!

Get To Work

Last week's post was, "Wake Up" so naturally this week is about getting to work. If I want us to live in a democracy I need to get to work. 

I don't feel like I'm particularly trained or skilled in any particular area, so I have to volunteer to my strengths and inclinations, to my, let's call them enthusiasms.

As much as taking a baseball bat to my frustrations sounds cathartic, it is really not the way.

So what are my enthusiasms, what draws my admiration, what gives me joy? 

Scouting

Camping, ceremony, preparedness, ecology, democracy the live long day, Baden Powell, James West, William D. Boyce, and so forth.

One of the first things Hitler did when he came to power was outlaw the Scouts of Germany. Several of the members of the White Rose belonged to underground, illegal Scout troops. There were underground, illegal Scout organizations behind the Iron Curtain in Poland. I firmly believe if ANY of the boys on the island had been scouts the Lord of the Flies would never have happened.

I had become slightly disillusioned with the Boy Scouts of America (soon to be renamed Scouting America) because of the way the organization had gone about making changes. I don't necessarily disagree with the changes, more the way they were handled.

Fundamentally, though, scouting is still the same. You can't go wrong with the Scout Law.

A scout is:

Trustworthy

Loyal

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind 

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean and 

Reverant

So I re-volunteered with my local Scouting America council (Northeast Illinois Council).

I've also been very interested, fascinated, and concerned about the indigenous people of the Americas. I have a BA in Anthropology because I wanted to be as educated about these people as I could be. I feel very embarrassed to find out only recently how many Native Americans live in and around Chicago and how many organizations they have in the area.

On top of that, November is National Native American Heritage Month.

I also volunteered with the American Indian Center of Chicago.

I hope they can find some way for me to be able to help them.

I think the first way is to try to help get the word out about the Native American organizations in our area. If anyone reads this that didn't know anything about these then I hope that I helped even a tiny bit. I'll post some links below.

I do love writing fiction, but I don't have the skills at this point to write things like Animal Farm, or 1984, or Fahrenheit 451. Maybe someday, and when I can I will do that also.

Here are some links to Native organizations in the Chicago area:

The D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at The Newberry Library

American Indian Center of Chicago

The Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian

Chicago Title VI American Indian Education Program

American Indian Association of Illinois