The great twentieth century poet W.H. Auden wrote a poem called "Sext" in the 1950's which captures the idea of dedication and being lost in the moment of what you are doing. In athletics it's called "being in the zone" or being "hot" or "on a roll." Whatever you call it, this poem captures what happens when someone is doing what they love to do and are doing it with utter concentration. it's when we think about what we are doing…
This Sunday’s New York Times had an article about the death of Greg Goossen, a baseball player I confess I had not heard of before. What caught my attention was that he was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers for a six figure bonus, was then sent to the Mets for $8,000 and then acquired by the Seattle Pilots. He lasted one season and was dealt to Milwaukee. The Pilots no longer exist but Goossen led the team in…
My maternal grandfather Peter (Petar) Babarovich was born April 12, 1861 in the village of Splitska on the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea. He died in Anacortes, Washington March 5, 1935. Peter was the second child Ernest Babarovich and his wife Louise Setelich. The family exported wine and olive oil which they grew in their vineyards and olive orchards. He married Marija Mattia Vulic) in 1888, who was also born in Splitska. Peter's wife, my grandmother, was born September…
I’ve been reading Flyboys: a True Story of Courage by James Bradley about the pilots of World War II and the war in the Pacific. Bradley previously wrote Flags of Our Fathers about the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima. He starts out with the history of Japan. He notes that for two hundred years Japan was a closed book to the rest of the world by national law. A Japanese could not leave Japan and no outsider…
Today February 27, 2011 is the 30th year Lita Theresa Barnett and I have been married. The truth is that it should be considered 60 years since we are both attorneys who have worked together in the same office for more then thirty years. It's been a 24 hour a day relationship that has survived and improved over all these years. I would not have had it any other way. There are many quotes, song lyrics and poems I might…
"Shoot Pirates on Sight"? That was the title of an article by Amital Etzioni for CNN about the most recent Samali pirates shooting of the hostages. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/26/etzioni.stop.piracy/index.html Certainly, pirates were considered "enemies of mankind" in ancient times because they posed a threat to maritime safety. Therefore, anyone could punish captured pirates and they were ordinarily excuted on the spot. The usual method was hanging them from the yardarm. In 1790 the First American Congress passed a law allowing federal authorities…
I saw a short video clip of the Inuit people of Arctic Canada gathering mussels in the Winter under the frozen sea ice. It was really an incredible thing to watch. After digging a tunnel down to the beach below the ice, they hurried along looking for mussels to take home and eat. This was done at low tide when the ice was resting on the beach, but leaving caves and tunnels through the ice. See the excellent photo taken by Patrice Halley….
On Monday, February 21, 2011, President’s Day, I had my seventy sixth birthday. I have always disliked birthdays, especially those with a zero, and even though there was no zero with this birthday, I still disliked it as much as the previous ones. All it did was remind me I was one year older then the year previous. But, I don’t need birthday’s to remind me of that fact. Instead, I have two total knee replacements plus a hip replacement which make me…
A short article in the March Phoenix Magazine prompts this report. It featured a picture of Arizona cowboys, in 1913, moving a large number of ostriches from one location to another. It pointed out the importance of ostrich farming in the 1900's due to the demand for the plumes used in women’s hats. The article went on to say that as the cowboys and the ostriches moved down the road, a husband and wife in their surrey were approaching in…
The February 4th issue of the National Catholic Reporter http://ncronline.org/ reveals that in a recently released correspondence, sent in 1984, the Vatican told the then Bishop of Tucson, Arizona that "under no conditions" are the personnel files of a priest accused of misconduct to be turned over to civil attorneys. The missive from the Vatican is being cited as further evidence of a Vatican policy against cooperation with police or prosecutors. This is in addition to the disclosure of a…
