Where I Can't Physically Go- Artocalypse Challenge

      Heather Houston gave me the challenge. Here is my response. I thank her and everyone else in the group for the opportunity.

https://heatherandbone.com/blog/

     I cannot physically go to see the Titanic. Maybe I could go in a submarine for a short ride. My cousin Sam spent his 22-year naval career in the Silent Service, and I knew a few other people who served there as well. I salute them; my preference was for the Army. I figured I could find my way back to safety on land, or at the very least stay put until I was found.

    The Titan submersible implosion of June 2023 did not surprise me at all. I am sorry for the loss of life, especially for the teenager. One could say the entire project was doomed from the start. But all that is beside the point here.

    I simply would not like being underwater in such cramped conditions. No amount of money would change my mind. All I would think about is what would happen if something went wrong. I would be a nervous wreck before, during, and afterward.

    I do have some family connection to the Titanic itself. My great-grandfather immigrated to the US from Austria-Hungary (he was Hungarian) with his family in 1902, and made several trips back for business reasons. It is said he missed the Titanic and threw a multi-lingual fit. 

    If someone tried to pressure me to go look at the wreck, I also would throw a multi-lingual fit. Great-grandfather would be proud.

     

    Links to my books: poetry, a novel, and short story collection:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa

     

https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county

The Humanities Under Siege at Some Universities

     The recent elimination or drastically reducing of majors, minors, and courses in the Humanities is not only distressing. In an attempt to save money or to offer only what is deemed useful, much is lost. Not everything in life is cut-and-dried or black-and-white. Studying the Humanities leads to critical thinking,l the ability to see gray areas, and can actually lead to new ways of thinking and new solutions.

     Full Disclosure: My doctorate is in Humanities from Drew University. (emphasis on History and Religion). I have Master's in German, Divinity, and History (From UC-Irvine, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Binghamton University), and a Bachelor's in German (from Penn State). Since I was bi-vocational, I needed degrees; they have paid for themselves many times over. 

     A neighbor of mine near Philadelphia taught Business at a major university in the city. His house was next to a path to the woods where I often walked, and I saw him often during my high school and undergraduate years. He and his family were nice people.

     Before I graduated from high school he would ask what I wanted to study. At that time I thought I would go into law school, so I imagined something like Political Science or History. When an undergraduate I was a German major. Each time he politely told me to study Business. We had polite and friendly discussions, but he was insistent.

     I tried everything could to convince him Business was not for me. My math skills were not good, I had no interest, and doubted I could do well.  He was having none of it.

     My adviser at Penn State once said to us that we did not have to justify studying beautiful things. That stuck with me. I did well in what I studied and sought to pass on an appreciation for beautiful things, whatever they might be.

     Certainly, academic departments and catalogs have to be adjusted, even changed. I wish there had been a German Business track, or one for governmental studies when I was at Penn State. I would even have cut my hair somewhat! 

     But to drastically cut or even eliminate things? If I were a high school graduate now, I would likely have to settle for a teacher certification curriculum. But even those are being cut at UConn! And some of my veteran teacher friends agree with me that the content component of teacher training programs is not what it used to be.

    Anyway, I am glad I went through the system when I did, and only hope that things sort themselves out. In the next decade or two there will be a cry of "We need to train people to think critically!"  May it happen soon!

   Below are links to two situations that illustrate the concern addressed here:

         

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/education/article/uconn-major-cuts-low-enrollment-evaluation-process-19845973.php

https://westvirginiawatch.com/2023/12/15/flagship-public-universities-likely-to-cut-more-humanities-staff-especially-in-rural-states/

Finding Peace in Dresden

 

     As 2005 began, I knew my deployment to Würzburg, Germany, would likely end in a few months. I would be able to return to my family in our new home in South Carolina; they had moved soon after my deployment began. However, I knew I would need to seek employment.

    I was a bi-vocational Lutheran pastor, teaching high school for my primary employment. My concern was whether or not I would be able to look for a position in the spring or early summer. While I could do some things online and my wife did what she could for me, there were a lot of unanswered questions.

     In January I figured I could take one last trip with my BahnCard 50. Without waiting a week to book a train with a 50% discount, I could go on the spur of the moment. I made a quick trip to Dresden, deciding against Leipzig. It was a difficult choice but I think the right one.

    "Florence on the Elbe" the Saxon capital was called. It suffered a horrific bombing in 1945 weeks before the war ended in Europe; Kurt Vonnegut was a POW working underground and survived to write Slaughterhouse Five and much more. The city was gradually rebuilt with the restoration of previous buildings alongside newer neo-Stalinist buildings.

     I saw the Zwinger, the Albertinum art gallery walked around and rode the S-Bahn, went to the exhibit in the basement of the Frauenkirche, finally being rebuilt, and even saw a movie. One afternoon I saw an Orthodox church and went in. 

    St. Simeon of the Wonderful Mountian was built in the 1870s. I admired the icons and the rest of the architecture, and saw an icon of St. Irene (her name means peace in Greek). Peace is what I needed right then. I lit a candle, said a prayer, and bought an icon pictured above. When I left I felt that everything would work out, that all would be well, all manner of things would be well, as Julian of Norwich reminded us. 

     My unit redeployed in early April 2005. On April 15 I came to my new home to stay. by the end of that month, I had several interviews and a job offer.  Peace had come to me. 

    A friend and colleague recently was in Dresden, and I thought back on my brief time there.

         

Links to my books:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa

https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county

Deletion- For Artocalypse Blog Carnival

 https://aspenwrites.blogspot.com/2024/09/introduction-to-october-blog-carnival.html

   This is my entry for the Deletion 2024 Artocalypse Blog Carnival.

    For me, it is not so much about deletion as revision. If I handwrite a poem, I revise it when I actually type it. Maybe my meter is wrong, or I find a better word. Same thing if I type it; my handwriting is not the best.

    I really distrust any artist in any genre who thinks the first draft/attempt is the best. It might happen sometimes, but to me, it reminds me of students who say "This is how I write poems." I want to say, "This is how you think you write poems." 

   

Kris Kristofferson, RIP

 

     Not only a singer-songwriter (actually that should be reversed), but he was also an actor, activist, and musical pioneer as a Country Outlaw. In addition to impressive music, his songs contained outstanding, poetic lyrics, a rare combination.

     His life had glaring opposites. Born into a military family, he became an Army helicopter pilot after being a Rhodes scholar at Oxford but wished to be a novelist. When he turned down an opportunity to teach English at West Point and left the Army, his family strongly disapproved. 

     Heading to Nashville, he wrote songs and worked as a janirot for Columbia Records, being in the studio as Dylan recorded Blonde on Blonde.

     One can read the rest of his biography in many other places. Here I want to highlight Kristofferson's literary background and the importance of reading no matter what someone does in life. Obviously, he was uniquely gifted in more than one form of art. Most of us are not; we are fortunate to have ability in one form.

   His love of literature served as a springboard for the rest of his life. I cannot stress the importance of reading good things when one is young. It saddens me to see English curricula that spurn the Classics (and not all are worth reading, but only a few) and introduce things that are "easier" to read but will not stand the test of time.

    Who out there will rise to be like Kristofferson and J.D. Souther, the subject of a reason blog post?

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Links to my books:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa

https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county

     

     

The Boss Turned 75- Happy Belated Birthday, Bruce Springsteen

     N

                           . .ɓ  . B  

 

     With Helene paying the Southeastern US a visit, there has  been a lot going on. Belated 75 75th birthday to Bruce!

     In 1975 I started at UC-Irvine as a teaching assistant in German. My life had improved, mainly because of a regular paycheck, but also because I began my teaching career. Living 3,000 or so my my Pennsylvania home, I was getting used to California, but still missing some things from my past.

    Whatever the Los Angeles radio station it was escapes me. I remember the DJ introducing a new song by someone from New Jersey. I snickered. "I bet this will be good." 

     Two minutes into "Born to Run" I was hooked. Next payday, I went to the record store that was next to my bank and bought the album. About 25 years ago my wife gave me tickets to the E Street Band tour in Madison Square Garden- 14th row even!

     When I taught, every 9/11 I would play his "Into the Fire" regardless of whether I taught German, English, or Mythology. We discussed the song and its meaning, along with its application to our lives.

     Bruce revitalized Rock and Roll in the 1970s so overwhelmed by Disco (do not get me started). Over the years he has morphed into an electric Woody Guthrie, advocating for freedom from hunger and for democracy. Musically, he has also expanded his horizons. Or better put,  dne some things he always wanted to do. 

    Bruce is still touring! And that is good news.

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Links to my books:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa

https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county