St. Augustine

A quick break to the sunny south -- and it was indeed sunny. Glorious weather, amazing beaches (especially for January), and finally an understanding of why people like Florida. It's not just a swamp.

We stayed in Atlantic Beach, near Jacksonville, at a funky little hotel, the Palms Retro. Each room has a theme, with murals, music and books that match. We stayed in the Beach room, with a mural of a Woody beach wagon -- ever wonder why old timers call station wagons beach wagons? That's why. Accommodating managers who stayed up late to let us check in past the usual 7 PM checkin deadline. However, the nicest part was the lovely courtyard, with fountain, tables and umbrellas and hibiscus in bloom. Take that, Minnesota!

Off the next day to St. Augustine, which touts itself as the oldest city in America -- that is, if you leave out the southwest Pueblos and other city-building Indians. Anyway, St. Augustine was an interesting place, trying hard to market its historical significance. Lots of schlock -- Gator Bob's, people dressed up as Spaniards, and too many venues with "olde" in the title. However, the story of St. Augustine should not be dismissed. Burned to the ground by the Brits in the 1790s, the city has little left of its Spanish origins except a remarkable fort and a few houses.

Equally interesting is the role of Henry Flagler, the Standard Oil magnate, who built several St. Augustine hotels in the late 19th century so that his friends could join him for the winter season. The hotels have been converted to other uses; one has a new life as a dormitory at Flagler College. These are not your usual student lodgings.

Cedar Street, a block from the college, is home to several bed and breakfast establishments that were all lit up through January and that looked very festive. We stayed at Journey's End, a B & B run by Tim and John, with devoted assistance from Raleigh, their dog. They are friendly and helpful hosts, providing not only excellent served breakfasts but snacks, drinks and useful recommendations for restaurants and sightseeing.

And the beaches around St. Augustine are pretty special.

Thanksgiving 2011

Kind of a somber Turkey Day in some ways, but nice meal with boys and a couple of friends here in the city of lakes. But there are so many people suffering, and the yahoos get all the press and attention in their efforts to promote the "I got mine, you get yours" motif. Makes it hard to gloat over abundance.

And the narrative never changes -- a 19th century painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (1863-1930) shows the begging Indians taking bounty from the well-dressed colonists, when, in reality, it was quite the other way around.

Who Knew? Ramsey County Courthouse

Sometimes the most mundane transactions have a wonderful, and unanticipated, benefit. For example, yesterday afternoon, in an effort to avoid a $200 fine for failing to show proof of insurance, OLGS and I drove to the Ramsey County court building in downtown St. Paul. Everything augered in my favor: there was on street parking right across from the entrance; the security guard didn't yell at me when I forgot to remove my cell phone from my purse; and there was no line in the traffic violations bureau.

All good. But the most amazing benefit was the building itself. This Art Deco treasure was built in 1932, during the depths of the great depression. It is full of marble, granite, onyx, dozens of different types of wood and stone, bronze, parquet and gold leaf. Although the exterior is not as jazzy, it contains several reliefs depicting workers going about their business -- police officers, mail men, and a newspaper boy, among others. This focus on labor would never fly in the Minnesota of 2011. But then, we would never build a civic monument so exuberant, either.

What a wonderful discovery. And I got out of the fine, too.

Hacked!

Here at Domestic Tranquility we're feeling a bit out of things. My email was hacked, releasing a flood of Viagra-related messages on unwitting friends, relations and strangers whose presence in my contacts list was long forgotten.

I am trying to regard this as a blessing in disguise. I will tighten up security, get a new email account, change all the services linked to the old email, etc., etc. I'm trying to avoid telling myself that I should have done this years ago. Beating yourself up does no good in this heat.

Touring Vicksburg National Military Park

The Wisconsin teachers group had a full day at the Vicksburg National Military Park: the orientation video at 8:00 a.m.; demonstration of musketry and artillery fire (black powder but no live fire); tour of the Union and Confederate defenses, and many photo opportunities at the various Wisconsin regimental monuments. In some ways, the highlight of the day was an evening stroll through the park where a small group of teachers met some Vicksburgers on their walk. The dialogue went something like this:

V-burgers: "Good evening."
W-teachers: "Good evening."
V-burgers: "You're not from around here. Where are you from?"
W-teachers: "Wisconsin."
V-burgers: "Why did you come to Vicksburg."
W-teachers: "We're teachers, learning Civil War & Reconstruction history."
V-burgers: "Teachers? Wisconsin? Were you involved in that collective bargaining thing?"
W-teachers: "Yes."
V-burgers: "We're on your side. We're praying for you."
W-teachers: "Thank you."

Arrival in Vicksburg

Partly Cloudy

97°/74°

The Wisconsin teachers group arrived in Memphis on time, indeed, ahead of time, ate breakfast at the "Arcade Restaurant" across from the Amtrak station, got our bus for Mississippi, and after a stop at the Smith-Robertson Museum of African-American history & culture in Jackson, we motored onto Vicksburg. The *Vicksburg Daily News* says the temperature is 97 degrees F, which I do believe. Time for a quick dip in the motel pool, and then off to a catfish & hush-puppies dinner catered by "Rowdy's Family Restaurant" and an evening lecture at the Vicksburg National Military Park by one of the National Park Service historians. Stay cool and stay hydrated !

--OLGS, guest blogger

Peter Lorre, Hungarian Actor

Want a somewhat obscure movie that is actually pretty good? Try Rope of Sand, made in 1949, starring Burt Lancaster, Paul Henried, Claude Rains and Peter Lorre. Lorre, born Laszlo Lowenstein in a part of Slovakia that was in Hungary when he was born, specialized in playing sleazy or villianous characters whose moral weaknesses usually put a spanner in the works for the hero. However in Rope of Sand, his role is more that of a narrator or chorus, but still with his trademark Hungarian-German accent.

Guest Blogging a trip to the "Gibraltar of the West"

Hello, readers of Domestic Tranquility. With the permission of DomTran herself, I am guest-blogging this week as I accompany a group of elementary, middle, and high school teachers from Wisconsin to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I'm writing this afternoon from Union Station, Chicago, where the group and I await the departure of Amtrak's overnight "City of New Orleans." Our plan is to arrive in Memphis tomorrow morning, find our chartered motor coach and head for Jackson, then Vicksburg. During the Civil War, the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg denied control of the Mississippi to the US. It was nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the West" in 1862-63, in part reflecting its strategic importance and in part reflecting its forbidding heights. The accompanying photo (taken in 1905) is of a place in the Vicksburg defenses called "Stockade Redan" where on May 22, 1863, the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was ordered to charge and take the Confederate strongpoint. Too bad for the Union that it couldn't be taken. General Sherman's army corps, of which the 8th Wisconsin was a part, suffered 3,200 killed and wounded trying to take Stockade Redan. After the failure of the final charge of the 8th and its brother regiments, Sherman called a halt to further attacks, saying that trying to take the position was "murder." Instead, his superior, General Grant, settled in for a siege of the Confederate army and the city it guarded. In his disappointment and rage, Sherman called for the US Navy gunboats to "rain down shells by the thousand on the city." Twenty-two thousand shells later, on July 4th, the Confederates surrendered. And tomorrow, the teachers of Wisconsin visit the site.
--OLGS, guest blogger

Attack on Labor in Wisconsin

Here at Domestic Tranquility we are depressed. We live in a bubble, where everyone more or less agrees with us. However, there are clearly lots of folks who are eaten up with envy and hate and use that to hurt those who are not like them. They even live in Wisconsin, home of Progressivism and LaFollette. They see teachers, nurses, state bureaucrats and others as unfairly profiting from the largesse of the taxpayers, when the benefits that state workers receive should be the benefits everyone receives. And despite the propaganda that would have you believe that state workers are paid more than employees in the private sector, public employees overall make less than those who work for corporations.

So the labor-haters side with the fat cats who just got a big tax cut in return for supporting Governor Walker, even though this is not in their best interests.

The Republicans are masterful at framing issues so that ordinary working people side with the rich and powerful. Why can't the Dems do this?

And, of course, when they are laid off because of the trickle-down effect of the massive budget cutting that is occurring everywhere, they may have a different tune. But then it will be too late.

On Wisconsin

OLGS has gone back to Madison to be part of the state employees protest. The whole thing is so sad and bitter, especially for him. He was -- I can't say that he is now -- so proud to be part of the University of Wisconsin system. Just a few tidbits:

1. His family is tied very tightly to the university. His father, sister, aunt, uncle, brothers-in-law, countless cousins and asssorted in-laws are all graduates of the UW. Some have been major supporters and boosters over the years.

2. He was named Teacher of the Year for the entire university system, an honor that goes to only one faculty member each year, becuase of his devotion to students and his creativity in teaching them.

3. He is (or was) a firm believer in what was known as the Wisconsin Idea -- the notion that the university served the state, and vice versa. He even had his students do projects of specific use to various state departments and had them make presentations in the Capitol about their work.

4. He is perfectly willing (I do not agree with him -- truth in advertising) to sacrifice his pay and benefits in the service of the greater good during a temporary crisis. I disagree because I feel that Gov. Walker has manufactured the crisis to get his way and that having faculty members pay more for health care and pension is simply a drop in the bucket, and a ploy by the gov. to mask his real intention -- gutting the public employee unions.

What OLGS is not willing to do is give up his collective bargaining rights -- rights that were hard won and late in coming but that are a staple of the Wisconsin tradition. But the gov. and his henchpersons wouldn't understand that.

What is gratifying to OLGS and many thousands of his fellow Wisconsin employees is the support they have received. Messages of solidarity have come from other states and countries as well as from students, police officers, neighbors and even Republicans. What touched OLGS the most was a sign held by a student at UW-Eau Claire: We Love Our Professors. In nearly 30 years of teaching, OLGS had never heard this.

Beat the yahoos. Show your support. Go to Madison.

Attack on Domestic Tranquility

The peace at our little household, sliding downhill to a genteel retirement surrounded by aging cats, rambunctious flower beds and traffic noise from I-94, has been shattered. The governor of the state of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has declared war on state employees (of whom OLGS is one among more than 45,000). Not only is he going to require state employees to pay the full amount allowed (but up to now, not required) by law for pension and health care, but he is banging the drum for privatizing their pensions. And he is railroading this through next week, giving those affected little time to respond and the majority Republicans in the state assembly little time to think (if they do, which I doubt).

In addition to affecting professors and public defenders, who seldom vote Republican, the new approach will also affect folks like prison guards, of whom Wisconsin has many and who do vote Republican. It also severely affects part-time employees who are on limited contracts; their access to health care will be eliminated as of March 1. The LTE in OLGS's department makes $13 per hour, has four children and an unemployed spouse. What will happen to them? Where are the governor's anticipated savings if this family goes on welfare and uses Medicaid?

This is grandstanding of the worst type. I secretly expect that the gov simply wants to make a name for himself, a la Sarah and Michelle. Even if he's not successful -- and he probably will be -- he will have marked out his territory as the driver of a tank rolling to crush the greedy state employees and their unions. George Bush was also very good at this, drawing a line in the sand to make his point and then moving on to something else.

This travesty even made the New York Times, which is ever alert to possible train wrecks. And you gotta love the gov's assertion that he is prepared to call in the National Guard to fill in for state workers who decide to rally in Madison or go fishing. Think about your basic 19-year old Guardsman teaching OLGS's class on the prelude to the Civil War or a class on Romantic poetry. Of course, the gov would say that we shouldn't be providing such classes as state expense. He has an answer for everything.

That Hamilton Woman

Vivien Leigh, playing the same role she played in Gone with the Wind and many other films -- bad girl with a cute smile and knowing eyes. Fiddle-dee-dee. Anyway, the movie, released in 1941, sets Scarlet -- sorry, Lady Hamilton -- against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Really, however, it's about resistence to dictators, wherever they are, and the need to fight on, despite all odds. Unsurprisingly, this was one of Churchill's favorite movies.

The real Lady Hamilton, painted by George Romney

Vivien and real life husband Laurence Olivier smoke up the screen in retelling the adulterous affair between Lady Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson, the admiral who finally beat Napoleon's navy at Trafalgar. This film followed Korda's Thief of Bagdhad and was filmed on a limited budget. It did not, however, prevent Vivien from wearing amazing dresses.

Vivien Leigh as Lady Hamilton

OLGS returns

OLGS has returned from two weeks in Hungary and Romania. He thinks this is the last subsidized trip, given that the governor of Wisconsin is now on the warpath against state employees, who will be giving up somehwere between 5-10% of their pay -- permanently. For that reason, OLGS is a Pittsburgh fan.

If the bleak beauty of a real Transylvanian village attracts you, be warned: they have no snowplows.

Is it business or is it class? You decide.

Another trip to central Massachusetts, this time via Air Tran. Very convenient at both airports, with the departing flight leaving MSP from the Humphrey Terminal (I refuse to call it Terminal 2, which is its new official name). Once at Logan, a short walk to the gate at the United terminal, where you can get a surprisingly good slice of pizza. And the stop in Milwaukee is easy off, easy on.

Because I was feeling sorry for myself, I upgraded to business class on the return flight. Don't bother, unless you really want the larger seat. On the Boston leg, they handed out free drinks and instead of just peanuts, passengers received a choice of chips, peanuts, or pretzels. On the MIL to MSP leg, there was nothing except the free drinks. I was hoping for at least rubber chicken.

South Pacific

Did you know that the 1958 musical, South Pacific, starred a Hungarian-American? Mitzi Gaynor is allegedly of Hungarian descent, and has referred to herself as a "Hungarian Virgo". Her performance in the film made her an icon, and to this day she appears in events celebrating the film.

There are some great songs in the film. But what is really interesting is the race-relations sermon that is part of the story. Stationed on a South Pacific island as a nurse during WWII, Mitzi falls in love with a French resident of the island. However, Mitzi's Arkansas upbringing makes her reject him when she learns that he was previously married to a Polynesian woman and has two children by her--children that Mitzi cannot accept. And Mitzi's difficulty is not that Frenchy had another woman (who died, of course), but that Mom and the children are "colored". However, as is inevitable in musicals, Mitzi comes to her senses and love triumphs over prejudice.

The filmmakers did not do all their homework, however. The group of Sea Bees who make up the chorus of the musical includes a black sailor. The film was made after Harry Truman integrated the Armed Services in 1948. However, it is supposed to be about WWII, when there were no integrated units. So having a black sailor is incongruous. However, given the theme of the story, it's probably OK -- if integration is good enough for the Navy, it should be good enough for the girl from Arkansas.