The following commentaries appear below:
1. Sartorial Rant
2. Etiquette for Dumb Drivers
3. Neat Blue Lettering
4. City of Los Angeles - Made in Mexico
5. Attack Problems Not People
6. In Defense of the Homeless
7. Politically Correct in Napa County
8. Viva la Fiesta de Napa
9. 366 9/11 Heroes
5. Attack Problems Not People
6. In Defense of the Homeless
7. Politically Correct in Napa County
8. Viva la Fiesta de Napa
9. 366 9/11 Heroes
Sartorial Rant
by Skip Keyser
(originally published in The Napa Valley Register, May 23, 2004)
Generalized Iceberg Theorem: Seven-eights of everything
can’t be seen.
My wife and I recently had lunch at a fast food outlet in
the vicinity of one of our high schools.
We frequent this particular franchise from time to time and normally
make it a point to arrive about noon in order to avoid the high-school crowd.
That’s not to say we don’t enjoy young people. We just need to get back to the office
so we can earn a living and pay off the accumulated debt incurred from sending
two children through the UC system.
You aren’t familiar with the UC system? That’s where tenured professors measure their success by how
few classes they teach and the administration spends an inordinate amount of
time telling parents how unreasonable it is to expect their offspring to finish
a four-year college education in four years.
But I digress.
On this particular day we were late arriving for lunch and consequently
were imbedded among a number of high school students waiting in line. They were well-mannered, enthusiastic
young people, individuals of whom any parent could be proud.
But for some reason I got the impression that the young
women must have been particularly impoverished. Perhaps they had older siblings in the UC system or perhaps
one or more of their parents were unemployed. Or maybe global warming had gotten out of hand and they were
the victims of a raging heat wave confined to high-school classrooms. Regardless, these young women appeared
unable to afford – or unwilling to wear - a complete set of clothes.
Let me expand on this.
What we observed was in direct contradiction to the Generalized Iceberg
Theorem quoted above. It wasn’t
that seven-eighths of everything these young women had (anatomically speaking)
couldn’t be seen – it was that what couldn’t be seen wasn’t worth looking
at! Nothing – and I mean nothing –
was left to the imagination.
Now in case you think this is a rant against young people,
let me assure you it isn’t. I
don’t happen to subscribe to the oft-stated bromide that ‘the younger
generation is going to hell in a hand-basket,’ a situation that apparently has
been going on for untold generations.
Why we haven’t arrived there yet can only be attributed to the fact that
each succeeding generation, rather than being hell-bent, appears to be
increasingly capable. And they
have to be, considering the mucked up state of affairs we sometime hand them.
Besides, particularly if you value nurture over nature, any
failings of the younger generation must be laid directly at the doorstep of the
older generation. And that’s what
concerns me about the skimpy clothing worn by these high school women.
Specifically, what kind of message are their parents sending
these young women when they allow them to dress like this? Are fathers encouraging their daughters
to flaunt their bodies because they think that’s the only way these young women
will be found attractive by young men?
And mothers – where is the indoctrination into the sisterhood of women
and the transfer of accumulated wisdom that ought to counteract the increasing
exploitation of women as sex objects?
Now, lest this diatribe be dismissed as the ramblings of an
old codger (I admit to entering my seventh decade), I’m not so old that I can’t
remember the raging hormones of my
youth. Indeed, I’ve always been an
admirer of women and the female form, in all its various sizes and shapes. And I distinctly recall my high school
years, when what I looked forward to was not so much studying ionic or coordinate
covalent bonds, as checking out the petite red head who sat in front of me in
chemistry class (and later became my wife).
And I certainly remember the frustrations of my youth in the
‘50’s and ‘60’s when most of us young men were trying to do to young women what
– to steal a line directly from Woody Allen – President Bush is currently doing
to the American public.
I’m also aware of the changing sartorial (and sexual) mores
through the ages. I am, for
example, reliably informed that in earlier times the mere sight of a women’s
unclothed elbow or ankle was enough to set off frenzied behavior in surrounding
males.
However, the problem in using this as an excuse for the way
some young women dress – that is, in passing it off as an inevitable variation
in dress modes – is that they’re not leaving anything covered. I mean, I’m all in favor of truth in
advertising, but this is ridiculous.
So come on young ladies, give the men a break. Leave something to the
imagination.
Keyser is a Napa businessman who occasionally gets carried
away in print
Etiquette for Dumb Drivers
by Skip Keyser
(originally published in The Napa Valley Register, August 6, 2005)
Our local service club held its midwinter convention in San
Jose. Eight of us attended along
with about 1000 others from California, Nevada and Hawaii, proving that a lot
of people do – in fact - know the way to San Jose.
This convention was on a Saturday and at lunch the keynote
speaker mentioned that children smile about 375 times a day whereas adults only
smile 17 times. I reflected on
this during the rest of the weekend but it wasn’t until Monday, while driving
to work, that the reason for this interesting statistic came to me.
Children don’t have to put up with dumb drivers.
Now I’ve been driving for close to half a century and have
had the opportunity to live in several - and drive in most - of the contiguous
48 states, as well as Hawaii and the Territory of Guam. I’ve also driven in several foreign
countries, among which are Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Lesotho, Japan and
Charleston, South Carolina. I’ve
driven trucks, hauled hard red winter wheat during several harvests in Idaho
and even – for about 17 years – ridden motorcycles. So I consider myself somewhat experienced in the ways of the
road.
But I swear, cell phones and SUVs aside, I continue to be
amazed at some of the dumb – or just plain inconsiderate – things drivers
(including, occasionally, myself) do on the roads around Napa.
Herewith a few observations that one or more drivers per
vehicle might consider:
Turn Signals:
The prevailing philosophy in Napa about the employment of turn signals
when making a left turn seems to be to enter the intersection, come to a full
stop and - only when the left-turn traffic in the other direction pauses to
figure out what the heck you’re going to do - flip on your turn signal. This not only causes consternation for
the aforementioned on-coming traffic, but also for those behind you. This is particularly true if you’re
driving an SUV and those behind you can’t see anything ahead of them except
half an acre of polished sheet metal.
Refusing to use your turn signal also advertises that you’re somewhat of
a duffus. Someone went to a lot of
trouble to develop turn signal mechanisms and I can report with some degree of
confidence that they are both reliable and long-lived. So it’s unlikely that you’ll significantly
reduce the resale value of your SUV if you condescend to use your turn
signals. And you’ll help your
fellow drivers figure out what you’re trying to do in the middle of the
intersection at a full stop during a green light.
Intersections:
While we’re speaking of making left turns, perhaps it might be helpful
to point out that when the traffic light turns green (and after you’ve waited
for the inevitable six additional cars to enter the intersection and run the
red light) you should pull forward into said intersection and be ready to make
your turn when traffic is clear, thereby providing a reasonable opportunity for
more than one vehicle to make a left turn during the signal cycle. This exhibits a much higher regard for
your fellow driver than lurking behind the crosswalk and – once the signal
light turns amber – lurching forward so that only you can make a left turn,
thereby leaving the rest of us fuming and making rude hand gestures signifying
what we consider to be your IQ.
Fast Lane – Slow Lane: I believe the vehicle code
requires that, whenever possible, slower traffic keep to the right. This ought to be religiously observed
on those roads with two lanes in each direction, particularly on major thoroughfares
such as Highway 29. There are several
reasons for this, some of which are legal and some of which are practical. Since it appears that a number of you
are disinclined to observe the former, let me dwell on the benefits of the
latter. They are several. First, traffic flows much smoother and
much more safely. Second, you
visibly demonstrate your superior upbringing and magnanimous regard for your
fellow drivers. And third, it
greatly improves the chances that the idiot riding your rear bumper, once you
pull over to the right-hand lane and allow him (or her) to zip past, will be
the one to snap up the CHP cruiser lurking around the next turn, thereby saving
you the cost and embarrassment of a speeding ticket.
In fact, I would propose a General Rule of Two-Lane
Etiquette as follows: the right hand lane can go as slow as they want and the
left hand lane can go as fast as the local law enforcement agency – by their
monitoring of traffic - allows.
Then we’ll all smile a lot more.
You can run into Keyser in and around Napa
Neat Blue
Lettering
by Skip Keyser
(originally published in The Napa Valley Register, February 11, 2005)
Affixed to the side of Engine 1 from Napa City Fire
Department Station 1, in neat blue lettering, are the names of the 343 New York
City firefighters who lost their lives four years ago on September 11th,
at the World Trade Center.
While a fitting and reserved tribute to those who perished
trying to help others on 9/11, the shear magnitude of the loss of firefighting
personnel at the World Trade Center, even four years removed from the event
(and even in light of recent events in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) is
still stunning.
That is not to say that loss of life isn't a constant
companion for firefighters. It just isn't expected on a given day or on such a
large scale. And one assumes that
such death, if and when it comes, comes with little warning or foreknowledge
and happens quickly.
We now know otherwise.
We know that for 343 firefighters and 23 police, what started out as a
routine emergency response turned terribly tragic.
Equally stunning is the knowledge with which these 366
firefighters and police proceeded to their task. For it appears that many, if not most, knew they would not
survive entry into the World Trade Center buildings.
We now know that many firefighters stopped to give
confession and receive the sacrament of last rites from clergy assembled at the
approaches to the WTC. This is not
an insignificant fact. Even
entering combat, where loss of life is expected, last rites are seldom if ever
administered in advance.
So while others did the sensible thing and tried to escape
the World Trade Center, these 343 firefighters rushed into the WTC buildings.
Their goal, indeed their sworn duty, was to save others. How many they actually saved will never
be known for certain, but it certainly must have been many more than 343.
And the scale of their attempt is unfathomable to those not
involved in such efforts. Choked
by dust, seared by heat and – ultimately – crushed in the inferno of the
collapsing WTC towers, there are reports that firefighters nevertheless gained
the 89th floor of one World Trade Center building.
Taken in the context of climbing stairs on foot, fighting
against the down-rushing crush of escaping people, wearing heavy protective
gear and burdened with fire hoses and other equipment, this means some
firefighters, in a Herculean effort, struggled almost a sixth of a mile
straight upward before they were killed.
And what did they leave behind, these 343 firefighters?
They left behind wives and husbands who will never again
hear their voice or feel their touch.
They left behind daughters who can no longer look forward to
being escorted down the aisle by their fathers.
They left behind parents who forever more will feel the pain
and loss of having survived the death of one of their children.
And it is probably safe to assume some left behind spouses
with whom they had recently argued and had yet to make up. And some may have left for work that
day not having kissed or hugged or even touched, for the last time, those whom
they held so dear.
And some no doubt left behind wives, or daughters, or
daughters-in-law, who have since given birth to sons, daughters or
grandchildren who they will never see or have the opportunity to hold. They will never know the joy of holding
these children when not much larger than both hands held together. They will never know the joy of later
months when these infants first focus and recognize someone and break into a
smile.
All this is forfeit for the 343 firefighters.
Forfeit in a cauldron of heat, smoke and fire brought on by
maniacal acts of extremists, acts that will forever place these extremists
beyond the pale of humanity.
Forfeit by their sense of duty that demanded they place the
safety of others above concern for their own well being.
Forfeit in a headlong rush to try and save others.
Forfeit, these 343 heroes.
Whose names, in neat blue lettering, adorn the side of
Engine 1.
Keyser writes from Napa.
“City of Los Angeles - Made in Mexico”
by Skip Keyser
(originally published in The Napa Valley Register, October 21, 2006)
My
wife and I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and recently returned for a short
stay. The occasion was the wedding
of our niece, one of three Korean girls adopted by my sister.
My
other sister, who is going on her 27th year teaching math at the
same valley high school, has as her significant other for about the same length
of time, a Chinese man.
And
my grandson, having just turned four, has a name that epitomizes the
multicultural nature of California: Reilly (a name of no particular ethnic
derivation that I can discern) Lannin (my mother’s Irish-Scott maiden name)
Ramirez. He is, to parse his
heritage as closely as I can determine, a Latino some three generations removed
from Michoacan, Mexico with Lithuanian-Serbian (his maternal grandmother)
Italian-Dutch-Irish-Scottish (his maternal grandfather) blood. He is, in short, the face of
California, and - in more ways than one – the face of the future.
I
was reflecting on this during a walk my wife and I took one morning during our
stay in the Porter Ranch section of Northridge. I had just read a short review of “Orange County
Housecleaners” (Franck Cancian, University of New Mexico Press) in the Book Review
of that Sunday’s Los Angeles Times when my wife and I decided to take advantage
of the cool overcast morning and get what – at our age – passes for a workout.
As
we walked along admiring the manicured lawns and common-area landscaping (this
was – of course – a gated community, that bane of modern life in metropolitan
California, neatly segregating “them” from “us,” whomever them and us are) when
I noticed a series of manhole covers punctuating the sidewalk. Each manhole cover had “City of Los
Angeles – Made in Mexico” cast unto its upper surface.
Now
this might have been an aberration, perhaps some small contract for such items
let to a Maquiladora firm operating along the U.S.-Mexico border. I did not, given our schedule, have
either the opportunity or - to be honest – the inclination to do a
manhole-cover-point-of-origination survey for greater metropolitan Los
Angeles. And I suspect, given the
vagaries of the Pacific Rim economy, there are other isolated patches of “City
of Los Angeles – Made in Taiwan” or “Made in China” or “Made in Indonesia.” But the extant manhole covers sufficed
as both an idiom and a mirror of California – “Made in Mexico.”
Now
I do not, by this statement, intend to demean or minimize the impact of
Russian, New England, Southern, Midwestern, dust bowl, Texan (sacre bleu!),
Asian or other non-Mexican influences on the development of the world’s
fifth-largest economy and the state that is currently home to 1 of every 7
residents in the United States.
But the fact is, the predominant cultural, economic and social influence
in this state is arguably Mexican.
To believe otherwise, it seems to me, is to ignore reality.
Which
brings us to the next significant cultural, economic and political issue facing
this state in particular and the nation as a whole: The continued and
significant migration of Hispanic people from Mexico and Central and South
America.
And
the current myopic, knee-jerk, counter productive response to a seminal event
that has been ongoing for several decades, if not a century or more.
In
this regard I refer to the “just build a wall, we’ll stop them at the border,”
gun–nut-infiltrated vigilante groups (not to be confused with both houses of
Congress) who seem to believe that the “solution” to this issue is one of
traffic control and not economic development.
And
while it galls me to say this, I believe President Bush, with his insistence on
a guest worker program, has the more logical and workable, not to mention
humanistic and moral, approach than do the various
we’ll-just-seal-up-the-border-and-throw-them-in-jail proposals now percolating
and fermenting in the halls of Congress.
Not
to mention pragmatic. For as long
as Mexico’s caste system (it’s hard to characterize it as anything else given
the social, economic, educational and political disparity between those
principally of European ancestry and those of indigenous extraction) continues
to stifle economic development and agrarian and land reform in Mexico, and so
long as similar issues - exacerbated by political unrest - exist in Central and
South America, those with ambition and frustrated economic future in their
native land will continue to flow north.
And
no fence, vigilante posse or Border patrol – with or without National Guard or
- (heaven help us) – so-called Minuteman Project augmentation, will stop them,
so long as there is a reasonable opportunity for employment north of the Rio
Grande and particularly so long as their labor is needed in California and the
Nation.
Ergo
“City of Los Angeles – Made in Mexico.”
More than just a manhole cover.
Keyser
writes from Napa
Attack Problems, Not People
by Skip Keyser
(Originally published in The Napa Valley Register, March 4, 2004)
The
corollary to the title of this commentary is that occasionally people are the
problem and deserve a swift kick up the backside. Such is the case with the controversy surrounding same sex
marriages. Or, for that matter,
the issue of gays and lesbians in our society in general.
I
don’t know how to break the news to you, but homosexuality is here to stay, and
no legislation, public outcry, beating of breasts, renting of clothes or other
manifestation of outrage or frustration is going to change that simple fact.
So
deal with it. Get a grip. And – if you want a problem to work on
– tackle some of the family-related social problems less sexy and more
difficult to solve.
Heterosexual
relationships, particularly those sanctified by marriage, are great, but it
isn’t as if heterosexual couples – or heterosexual society in general – have
set the benchmark for compassionate, caring and responsible behavior.
Consider
for example:
- The number of
children born out of wedlock.
- The divorce rate and
the number of single-parent families.
- The number of parents
failing to provide child-support for their offspring.
- The degree of spousal
abuse, physical, mental and financial.
- The rampant sexual
abuse and exploitation of children.
- The rampant sexual
exploitation of women.
- The failure to
provide adequately for the educational needs of our youth.
- The failure to
provide adequately for the health care needs of our youth.
These
are social issues that are far more threatening to the continued well being and
success of our society – and far more threatening to the institution of the
conventional family unit – than are same sex marriages.
So
if you feel threatened by the thought of same sex couples codifying their
relationship through civil union, don’t attack the gay and lesbian couples
getting married. Attack one of the
problems listed above.
The
institutions of marriage and family, and society in general (gay and straight)
will be stronger for it.
Keyser
is a local businessman
In Defense of the Homeless
by Skip Keyser
(Originally published in The Napa Valley Register, December 29, 2000)
It is ironic in this season of
caring that on two consecutive days last week, the Napa Valley Register carried
front-page articles on the homeless situation in Napa. The first article dealt with the
decision of Napa Valley Exposition’s board of directors, at the behest of
parents and staff of Napa Valley Charter School, to deny use of publicly owned
facilities to house the homeless this winter. The second article dealt with an exhortation by the school’s
principal for the rest of us to find a solution to the problem of homeless in
Napa, the very problem exacerbated by Napa Valley Charter School’s objections.
The juxtaposition of these two viewpoints, namely
that the parents of the charter school students fear that their children might
have to use the same restrooms as the homeless or would somehow have their
safety threatened by the presence of the homeless, and the public challenge to
the rest of those of us who live and work in Napa to do something about the homeless
situation, smacks of elitism, xenophobia and hypocrisy so strong that it is
almost palatable.
It also neatly encapsulates the
common misconception of who the homeless are. The mind set that the homeless are substance-abusing,
physically unclean pedophiles, so succinctly highlighted by the concern that
the students and homeless would be in proximity to each other or would (at
different times) use the same restroom facilities, is belied by the more
accurate picture of the homeless painted by Napa County Health and Human
Services and the Napa County Council on Economic Opportunity. Increasingly, the homeless in Napa are
working single-parent families and marginally or under-employed individuals
employed in many of the service and agricultural sector jobs critical to the
Napa Valley tourist and winery industries. In fact, I suspect the evidence would show that most (if not
all) child molestation is perpetrated not by the homeless but by otherwise
ordinary residents living in the community. Today, the reality of the homeless situation is, to
paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, that the homeless are just like you and me,
only they have fewer places to live.
But there is another issue here
that is of greater concern; namely the increasingly divisive issue of “them
versus us” that separates Napans and exacerbates situations as diverse as the
gang problem and emergency winter shelter for the homeless. In short, the irrational concern of the
parents of 107 students who use public property for their school facilities
that their children might have to share these facilities with less fortunate
individuals, and the characterization of these individuals by some members of
the exposition board as undesirables or child molesters, points to an elitist
classism as rampant and detestable as racism. This is not the deep South of earlier years; this is not
Zimbabwe; and it certainly isn’t the South Africa of the 1980’s. For those who might have missed it, the
1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education reversed the earlier
Plessy v Ferguson decision; separate is no longer equal in the United States of
America. We no longer have two
sets of restrooms, two sets of water fountains, or two sets of standards.
This growing, pervasive attitude of
“not in my back yard” (or in this case, “not in my child’s restroom”) has got
to stop, especially when it denies public facilities for emergency use to a
disadvantaged minority. This
irrational and paranoid fear of the homeless (or, I suspect, of anyone not like
themselves) seems to be a salient part of the comment by one member of the
exposition board that “If something ever happened to one of those children,
we’d never hear the end of it.”
I submit that the board hasn’t heard the end of the plight of the
homeless in Napa either.
Like many decisions made out of
ignorance, irrational fear and in deference to a well-heeled vocal minority,
the exposition board’s decision and the charter schools exhortations don’t
stand the sniff test. Something
smells in Napa, and it isn’t the homeless.
(Keyser is a local
businessman)
Politically Correct in Napa County
by Skip Keyser
(Originally published in The Napa Valley Register, July 19, 2004)
No good deed goes unpunished. Clare Boothe Luce
I
had the opportunity a few days ago to engage in a heated discussion with some
fellow Realtors® concerning housing and land development issues in the unincorporated
areas of Napa County. Things were
going pretty well until someone used the F-word. After that, things went downhill rapidly.
Now
by the F-word, I don’t mean the epithet used by our esteemed Vice President in
his invitation to Senator Lehey to attempt an unnatural (and, one suspects,
impossible) act upon himself.
And
while the VP set new records for witty verbal retorts (ranking somewhere up
there with “Oh yeah?” and “So’s your mother!”), one would like to think
Realtors® are above such inanities.
No,
the F-word I refer to is “firemen” - as in 231 of them, and the land use
subject was – surprise, surprise – Napa County’s decision to identify parcels
near the haunts of the rich and famous for affordable housing.
Judging
by the reports in the local press and comments directed at various county
officials during and following recent public workshops, the county’s actions
herald nothing less than the end of Western Civilization as we know it.
The
fact that there exists little nexus between the county’s identification of land
for development of affordable housing and the actual construction of such
housing apparently escaped the attention of those vehemently opposed to this
attempt by Napa County to secure a certified Housing Element to the county’s
General Plan.
It
also appears the opponents of the current proposed Napa County Housing Element,
including those advocating succession from ABAG (the Association of Bay Area
Governments), may not fully understand the process. Or perhaps they do understand the process and are reverting
to the disingenuous arguments they bandy about in order to obfuscate the issue
at hand.
That
issue being the increasing inability of families who work in Napa County to
afford housing in Napa County, including above-moderate income families (those
earning up to 120% of the median wage).
For a family of four, 120% of the median income in Napa County is an
annual income of $88,680.
Sound
like a lot of money? In reality,
an above-moderate income family of four can only afford (based on federal and
state guidelines) a home costing $232,750. Easy, right?
Based
on MLS (Multiple Listing Service) sales figures for the period January 1
through June 30, 2004, the average sales price for homes in Napa was:
$399,610
for a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom home (58 reported sales)
$506,250 for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home (122
reported sales).
So,
the above-moderate income family of four earning $88,680/year only needs to
earn an additional $36,240/year to squeeze their family of four into the
average-priced 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom home that recently sold in Napa.
Or,
if they want to splurge and afford the luxury of the average-priced 3-bedroom,
2-bathroom home, they only need to earn an additional $68,840/year. Junior better get a second paper route
and Sis needs to start doing more baby-sitting.
Back
to the opponents of the county’s Housing Element. One hopes their opposition stems from a sincere concern
about infrastructure availability in support of affordable housing development. Or a sincere desire to see adequate
inventories of affordable housing developed in all areas of the county.
One
certainly hopes that such opposition does not stem from some benighted
resistance to having too many of “them other people living near our county
club.”
Because
“them other people” are us, the school teachers, retail clerks, small business
owners, winery workers, Realtors® and , yes, firemen, who – by and large –
actually do the work in Napa County.
And
if such opposition stems from some concern over the ethnic composition of those
who only earn $88,680/year, then we really do have trouble here in River
City. Like it or not, the face of
California is changing, indeed has been changing for several decades. California – and by extension Napa
County – is increasingly a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and
multi-faceted society. And some of
us like it that way.
So
it seems to me there are three viable responses to this fact: embrace our
increasingly multi-ethnic society; withdraw into cloistered, gated communities;
or leave California.
But
one way or the other, housing will need to be found for the 24,000,000 new
residents of California expected to appear in the next 4 decades, boosting our
state’s current population of 35,000,000 to near 59,000,000 by 2040.
And
in this regard, Napa can be part of the solution or part of the problem.
Keyser
is a local Realtor®
Viva la Fiesta de Napa
by Skip Keyser
(Originally Published in The Napa Valley Register)
Every once in a while the tendency is to presume that
xenophobia is a thing of the past, relegated to the history books in the
context of Chinese (or Irish, or Italian, or Slav, or…) immigration to the
United States. Fortunately, just
when complacency has set it, a news item such as the Register’s April 4th
“Standing by the ‘Fiesta’” appears and we are brought back to reality.
It’s good to be brought back to reality, if only to remind
one that small-minded and myopic moral mendacity is alive - if (hopefully) not
particularly well – right here in ‘River City’.
I was first reminded of this some time ago when I attended a
meeting of those who write commentaries in the Register. An elderly individual, in the same
breath that they mentioned their grandchildren, also commented that they were
on their way south, rifle in hand, to help protect the rest of us from what I
can only surmise they considered to be the brown hoard streaming across the
border, which hoard, apparently, was intent on undermining – if not
overthrowing – Western civilization as we know it on the one hand, and “our way
of life” on the other.
I’m not certain exactly what “our” way of life is, the
cultural diversity in the United States being widely touted as the well spring
of our strength. But I’d like to
think that – in the midst of the ongoing debate over immigration reform – the
tarring and feathering of a large segment of our society with such a broad brush
as “kowtowing to Latinos” would be a thing of the past.
If not, then I hope those who take umbrage at the use of
“Fiesta de Napa” for the 2008 Town and Country Fair theme will show the moral
courage to be consistent in their objections. That is:
- I presume they will no longer travel on Highway 101, better known (and marked throughout its route) as El Camino Real.
- Presumably, these self-appointed protectors of the American way will also stay home on Cinco de Mayo, avoiding any commemoration of the victory of General Seguin’s Mexican forces over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
- And, should they visit Los Angeles, (or San Diego, or Camarillo, or…) they will avoid such popular venues as Alvarado Street (in Los Angeles) or Old Town (in San Diego) or any of the other locales that celebrate what one fair-board member rightly characterized as California’s rich Hispanic history and substantial Latino population.
One other aspect of this “controversy” (which is probably
giving more credit than is due to what actually appears to be a group of narrow-minded
bigots talking to themselves) is the blogosphere setting for most – if not all
– of the objections.
Much has been made of blogging, and it may well be that this
venue eventually turns out to be a viable forum for public debate. But – the Register’s blog controls
notwithstanding – it appears that blogs currently consist principally of a lot
of ungrammatical belly-aching and mud-slinging by those too inarticulate to
reduce their thoughts to something cogent enough to be printed – and to which they
would have to append their name rather than some pseudonymous “handle” behind
which they can hide.
Or, to put it more pointedly, at this juncture blogs
appearing on the Register’s Web site, while perhaps serving the useful purpose
of siphoning off drivel that might otherwise be printed in their Letters to the
Editor section, currently serve no other function than giving a forum to those
who wish to express their narrow-minded views within an audience of like-minded
individuals. In short, the blogosphere
– any touting of this venue by Register Multimedia Producer Dan Ross
notwithstanding – appears to have little, if any, socially redeeming value.
So hats (or sombreros) off to Joe Anderson and the fair
directors for – in a day and age when rule by committee seems to be nothing
more than a mechanism for pontification, posturing and procrastination, and
ultimately for avoiding having to make a hard decision (the present Congress
being the principal extant example) – sticking by their guns and keeping the
theme for this year’s Town and Country Fair as ”Fiesta de Napa.”
And shame on the Register for using narrow-minded, virtually
“unattributed” comments on its blog Web site as the rationale for blowing this
bigoted back-biting belly-aching by a few malcontents wholly out of proportion.
Viva la Fiesta de Napa.
Press one for a strong, vibrant multi-cultural society.
Keyser writes from Napa
366 9/11 Heroes
by Skip Keyser
(Originally published in The Napa Valley Register, September 11, 2002)
There
remains a point to be made about the 366 individuals who lost their lives
trying to save others - the 343 New York City firefighters and 23 New York City
police lost at the World Trade Center.
In reference to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions who fought at Iwo Jima from 19 February to 16 March 1945, Admiral Nimitz stated that "uncommon valor was a common virtue." The same should be said of the 366.
But in going into combat, there is the expectation that some will die. Youth, inexperience, hope, trust in your immediate comrades, and training and preparation convince you that you will not only survive but also prevail. But in any serious combat, you know many around you will die. Not so the 366.
That is not to say that loss of life isn't a constant companion for firefighters and police. It just isn't expected on a given day or on a large scale. So too with the 366.
We now know otherwise. We know that for 366 firefighters and police, what started out as a routine emergency call turned terribly tragic. While others did the sensible thing and tried to escape the World Trade Center, these 366 rushed into the buildings. Their goal was to save others. How many they actually saved will never be known for certain, but it must have been many more than 366.
The scale of their attempt is unfathomable to those not involved in such efforts. There are recent reports that firefighters gained the 89th floor of one World Trade Center building. Taken in context, realizing that they were climbing up stairs on foot, fighting against the down-rushing crush of escaping people, wearing heavy protective gear and burdened with fire hoses and other equipment, some struggled in a Herculean effort almost a sixth of a mile straight upward before they were killed.
And what did they leave behind, these 366?
They left behind wives and husbands who will never again hear their voice or feel their touch.
They left behind daughters who can no longer look forward to being escorted down the aisle by their fathers.
They left behind parents who forever more will feel the pain and loss of having survived the death of one of their children.
It is probably safe to assume some left behind spouses with whom they had recently argued and had yet to make up. And some may have left for work that day not having kissed or hugged or even touched, for the last time, those whom they held so dear.
And some no doubt left behind wives, or daughters, or daughters-in-law, who have since given birth to sons, daughters or grandchildren who they will never see or have the opportunity to hold. They will never know the joy of holding these children when not much larger than both hands held together. They will never know the joy of later months when these infants first focus and recognize someone and break into a smile. All this is forfeit for the 366.
Forfeit in a cauldron of heat, smoke and fire brought on by maniacal acts of 19 individuals, acts that will forever place them beyond the pale of humanity.
Forfeit by their sense of duty, which demanded they place the safety of others above concern for their own well being.
Forfeit in a headlong rush to try and save others.
Forfeit, these 366.
These 366 heroes.
In reference to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions who fought at Iwo Jima from 19 February to 16 March 1945, Admiral Nimitz stated that "uncommon valor was a common virtue." The same should be said of the 366.
But in going into combat, there is the expectation that some will die. Youth, inexperience, hope, trust in your immediate comrades, and training and preparation convince you that you will not only survive but also prevail. But in any serious combat, you know many around you will die. Not so the 366.
That is not to say that loss of life isn't a constant companion for firefighters and police. It just isn't expected on a given day or on a large scale. So too with the 366.
We now know otherwise. We know that for 366 firefighters and police, what started out as a routine emergency call turned terribly tragic. While others did the sensible thing and tried to escape the World Trade Center, these 366 rushed into the buildings. Their goal was to save others. How many they actually saved will never be known for certain, but it must have been many more than 366.
The scale of their attempt is unfathomable to those not involved in such efforts. There are recent reports that firefighters gained the 89th floor of one World Trade Center building. Taken in context, realizing that they were climbing up stairs on foot, fighting against the down-rushing crush of escaping people, wearing heavy protective gear and burdened with fire hoses and other equipment, some struggled in a Herculean effort almost a sixth of a mile straight upward before they were killed.
And what did they leave behind, these 366?
They left behind wives and husbands who will never again hear their voice or feel their touch.
They left behind daughters who can no longer look forward to being escorted down the aisle by their fathers.
They left behind parents who forever more will feel the pain and loss of having survived the death of one of their children.
It is probably safe to assume some left behind spouses with whom they had recently argued and had yet to make up. And some may have left for work that day not having kissed or hugged or even touched, for the last time, those whom they held so dear.
And some no doubt left behind wives, or daughters, or daughters-in-law, who have since given birth to sons, daughters or grandchildren who they will never see or have the opportunity to hold. They will never know the joy of holding these children when not much larger than both hands held together. They will never know the joy of later months when these infants first focus and recognize someone and break into a smile. All this is forfeit for the 366.
Forfeit in a cauldron of heat, smoke and fire brought on by maniacal acts of 19 individuals, acts that will forever place them beyond the pale of humanity.
Forfeit by their sense of duty, which demanded they place the safety of others above concern for their own well being.
Forfeit in a headlong rush to try and save others.
Forfeit, these 366.
These 366 heroes.
Keyser
lives in Napa
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