Yet still more catching up on the last few months… I’ve done a good number of articles for my wife’s magazines over the winter. For instance, I just interviewed a woman who volunteers at a Youth For Christ outreach to youth in a hardscrabble area of Lima, Ohio. She helps in the After-School Tutoring Program. What’s more, one of her daughters and a son-in-law have just returned from Liberia where they were exhaustively working to place orphaned children in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis… I also interviewed a man in Lima who had found himself at the epicenter of the now famous “Cuban Missile Crisis.” For two weeks in October of 1962, a high stakes geopolitical chess match played out between the U.S. and the Soviet Union — over nuclear missiles being secretly placed in Cuba. The man I interviewed was in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and his division was standing by at the time to be sent in on the front line, if President Kennedy ordered an attack… I have also been attending a Tuesday morning (6:30 a.m.) Bible Study at Arby’s Restaurant. In recent weeks we’ve talked a lot about how our society is devolving spiritually. The conversation has revolved around, say, media addiction — and what that media is predominately relaying (massive amounts of sexual imagery, violent imagery, rampant materialism…) these days. What’s more, we’re allowing children at younger and younger ages to view all this, too… And on a lighter note, I’ve been playing a lot of Thursday morning (6 a.m.) basketball with the local guys at Bluffton University’s gym this winter. I’ve made some shots, missed some shots… and go by the philosophy: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
B-ball reporting and “average Joe” stumping
Still catching up on the last couple months… I write columns for our local newspaper, The Bluffton News. However in recent months, I’ve turned my attention to sports. I’ve been asked to write the boys varsity basketball stories, not because I’m a Sports Illustrated quality sports reporter — but rather because our son Joseph plays on the team and the editor knew I’d be going to most of the away games. This has turned out to be kind of like: Dave Berry writes small town sports. Exhibit A from the lead of a recent article: The boys basketball team from Wapakoneta [“One giant slam dunk for mankind”], Ohio, landed on “Planet Bluffton” Friday, only to fine a band of hostile aliens (read: hostile pirates). And what ensued made the new Star Wars movie battles seem, well, tame. When the “planet dust” had settled, Bluffton came out on top: 65 to 55. Note: Wapakoneta is the hometown of famous astronaut Neil Armstrong. Note 2: The other thing that’s been good about covering the basketball team is it’s proving helpful to the campaign as well. No, the Bluffton Pirates haven’t officially endorsed the campaign. But rather, while traveling to the away games, I often do some “average Joe” campaign stumping in small towns along the way. That’s right, while Trump is jetting about in his 737 wide body plane, I’m in a decidedly less-wide, 1998 Villager mini-van stopping in Beaverdam, Cairo… on the way to the Delphos-Jefferson game. Which, by the way, Bluffton won — if you didn’t see it on ESPN. Note 3: For more on the campaign’s Ohio Strategy…
outreach to the homeless; Catholic Workers; Little Libraries…
More catching up on the past two months… I volunteered at an outreach to the homeless in Cleveland on Christmas night, during a trip back to the city to see relatives. This is run out of St. Malachi’s Church on W. 25th St. and provides food, clothes and a medical clinic. During a talk with the director, I learned he is lobbying for clusters of “small houses” for the homeless in the Cleveland area — as is being done in other parts of the country. Excellent idea… While in Cleveland, we also spent Christmas Eve with a group of Catholic Workers who take homeless people in, have a “Storefront” to feed those on the street, have set up an “urban farm” and volunteer for various neighborhood projects in a quite hardscrabble area of the city. For five years, our family intentionally moved to this area in order to work in solidarity with this group. We can’t leave people in these places abandoned. We just can’t… Note: And speaking of community building: Just prior to going back to Cleveland, I interviewed a woman in Findlay, Ohio, who had a “Little Library” installed in her front yard right on the sidewalk. About the size of, say, a pretty big bird feeder, there are two shelves for books. The concept is for neighborhood people to “…take a book, give a book.” And as people in the neighborhood start to read the same books, it helps lubricate conversation drawing people closer together in community — in part, like it was in the old days. There is a “Little Library” website that indicates some 30,000 of these have been put up around America in the past five years since the initiative started.
…from the ladder; a “wind campus”; Mom & Pop shops; “Press & Prose”
Catching up on the last couple months… It’s been a whirlwind of stuff in between house painting, parenting, writing, working on the campaign… We, for instance, have done a number of Facebook “…from the ladder” segments about such topics as immigration, space travel, abortion, global warming… I note that with the mounting super-charged storms, climate refugees, increasing drought (all from climate change), we in the U.S. could well be viewed as: “climate terrorists.” During this period — appropriate enough — I also interviewed the CEO of “Energy One” in Findlay, Ohio, for a magazine article. The company is building three large wind turbines clustered together in Findlay that will be tied to a “Wind Campus” of businesses. Energy One also envisions school field trips out to the site so students can learn about the dynamics of wind energy “up close,” so to speak… During this time, I also interviewed two small, second-generation business owners (at a local glass company and a local optician). Both businesses were passed on by parents and the optician noted that her customers actually span three family generations. She said this kind of business family lineage has diminished in spades in this country — “…and that’s been sad.” Our position paper on the economy calls for a resurgence of small Mom & Pop stores throughout the country. These small stores, and small family farms, were once the backbone of this country. And they should be again. Note: During this time, I talked with a professor at Bluffton University who said her journalism class has a few students who are majoring in creative writing. The professor half smiled and said that she was forever saying “…it doesn’t matter how the air smelled at the time of the event, Mary!” As coincidence would have it, I had majored in journalism in college, and minored in creative writing. This got me to thinking. What about a new newspaper genre? “Press & Prose.” And you could call one of the newspapers: The Creative Chronicle “…Press & Prose for the People.”
green lawns, Syrian refugees, broccoli
I’ve gone to a series of Bible Studies at the local Lutheran Church the past month. The pastor, in referring to how crazy our spending in America has become, noted we spend $40 billion a year on lawn care — as an example. (This is more than the Gross Domestic Product of the country of Vietnam!) While we’re in the pursuit of that “perfect green lawn” — people are, say, starving to death in the Third World… ISIS attacked Paris this week, and now the U.S. House of Representatives, for instance, is voting to keep Syrian refugees out for the time being. These desperate people, including a lot of kids, are fleeing constant terror in their country. And we’re going to turn our back on them? Yeah I’m sure that’s how Jesus would respond, huh… And speaking of “terror,” we kill more than 4,000 babies every day in their mothers’ wombs. I once told the Range News in Wilcox, Arizona, that we have “become our own worst terrorists”… Note: With the turmoil in Iraq, and then subsequently Syria, a vacuum was created for the rise of ISIS. I was just reading part of a book that correlated modern day America to the Biblical town of Nineveh. That is we are growing more and more gluttonous, as an example (about everything). The author said that if Iraq’s main export had been broccoli (instead of oil), he doubted we’d have staged a preemptive strike in that country.
Russian and Chinese dissidents
I attended a talk at Bluffton University today that was, in part, about Russian dissidents. BU History Professor Perry Bush noted that scores of Soviet Union “dissidents” (artists, writers, teachers, Christians…) were killed under Stalin — or sent to “labor camps.” The same thing is happening in China today. Yet we continue to offer that country, for instance, “favored nation trading status.” We are, in effect, financially inter-dependent with China — and as a result it’s dwarfed our voice on human rights in that country. It’s a bad “trade” off.
El Nino shift; home church; reverse “white flight”; average Joe ‘low-tech’ wonk
With a shift in the El Nino pattern, things will be about 15 degrees warmer than normal in Ohio this next two weeks — which will afford me the opportunity to finish an outside painting job before winter sets in. That’s right. While the other candidates are jetting about the country, I’m trying to squeeze this last house in. And such is the populist lot of “…average Joe the painter.” And in between house painting this last week… I co-facilitated a junior high Religious Education class at our church Sunday. Part of it was on: “creating church in one’s home.” Phenomenally, only two kids (out of 15) said they did any kind of joint family prayer at home. A tremendous bellwether, it would seem, for the ongoing march of secular humanism in our society… On Wednesday night I went with a group from Ebenezer Mennonite Church to help serve a meal to youth at Rally Point, in a hardscrabble area of Lima, Ohio. Rally Point is an outreach of Youth for Christ. The director, Jared Diller, moved his family into this area several years ago to be “part of the solution.” Our platform calls for inspiring some in suburban and small town America to move back into our decaying cities to reverse “white flight” and help with real systemic, lasting change. [We moved our family into a hardscrabble area of Cleveland a number of years ago to do the same.] In addition, our platform calls for a “Marshall Plan” to rebuild and revitalize these areas… I also spent part of the week putting some finishing touches on our website. While other candidates have have Silicon Valley high-tech wonks to do the layout, photos, graphics, and such; well, it’s me and our part-time campaign staffer Elizabeth doing the whole thing. [I write the copy myself as well.] And thus is the lot of a populist “average Joe” presidential candidate…
Browns burgers; promise ya anything; marijuana; cheap motel…
Did some more traveling on Ohio’s back roads last weekend… In Lisbon, Ohio, I stumped at the Steel Car Trolley Diner. I also noticed the menu featured a Cleveland Browns Burger, as it featured a Ben Rothils’burger’ (Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback). Lisbon is about halfway between the Browns Stadium and Pittsburgh’s Stadium. So the restaurant proprietor seemed to be playing it both ways. Not unlike, well, many politicians. And speaking of politicians, the priest at St. George Church in Lisbon said during a Sunday homily that the predominant feature of modern politicians is to promise they’ll do something(s) for the voters. When, instead, he said sound spiritual principle is that the politicians should be exhorting the people to do something(s) for their country. I mean that seems the Gospel message, doesn’t it? After Mass, I told the priest our platform does just what he (and John Kennedy) was talking about… I also stopped at the McDonald’s in Upper Sandusky early Saturday morning. I approached what looked like the “brain trust” table (you know the one) and passed out some campaign cards. I also asked for particular concerns. One farmer said he was concerned about the vote this November to make Ohio the fifth state in the country to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational purposes. I said me too. Do we, for instance, want more impaired drivers, more impaired parents, more impaired people in general…? What’s more, the demand for drugs on this side of the fence drives a good deal of the cartel violence on the other side of the fence. So if we ramp up even more demand, there will probably be more violence. Also, people smoke to get “high.” There are few “social smokers,” if you will. Note: While in Lisbon, I stayed at the Travelers Motel on Old Rte. 30. It was 50 bucks a night. And as president, I’d stay at the Travelers Motel on Old Rte. 30 — and take the savings to spend down the national debt!
America ‘gasses’ the world…
On Tuesday, I attended a forum on “Climate Change” at nearby Bluffton University. [Having a small liberal arts college in our backyard has provided an absolute wealth of research information.] Toledo University Environmental Science Professor Andrew Jorgensen travels the country with a warning. The cliff note is that global warming is, indeed, real and that we’re approaching a dangerous stage. Perhaps his most eye-opening statistic was that three “countries” in the world (U.S., China and the EU) are responsible for half the carbon dioxide emissions. And per capita, Americans by far, generate the most. [In effect our lifestyles majorly responsible for: “gassing” the world — triggering drought, famine, rising sea levels, super-charged hurricanes…] Professor Jorgensen said Europe is proactively becoming greener, and we need to follow suit. He mentioned driving less, car pooling, bicycling, taking public transportation. He suggested insulating houses way better, and dialing back the heat and air conditioning. He suggested moving to way more LED lighting.
bicycling, national debt, prayer, square dancing (Not!)…
Traveled some on the back roads of Ohio this last week… I stopped at the National American Bicycle Museum in New Bremen, Ohio. [Our platform calls for a shift to much more bicycling and walking in America.] While stumping in Minster, Ohio, I passed on a campaign card to Luke Williamson. He just graduated from high school and was concerned about inheriting an astronomical national debt. [Our platform calls for someone in D.C.: WITH A CALCULATOR THAT WORKS!] In Osgood, Ohio (pop. 302) I tacked a campaign card to the bulletin board at the town post office. [I only used one tack — it continues to be a low budget campaign.] On Saturday evening, I joined with about 75 people in saying a “Patriotic Rosary” on a farm in Yorkshire, Ohio, at dusk. There are 50 states. There are 50 “Hail Mary” rosary beads. A prayer is offered for each state. Afterward I went to a barn square dance with the ‘Almost First Lady.’ Given how I square dance, there won’t be any of that at the Inaugural Balls! Note: Besides the back road stumping this last week, I painted part of a house, did some stuff for my wife’s magazines, worked on revamping the campaign website, cut the grass, trimmed the hedges… An “average Joe’s” lot.