Christmas letter 2008

The year is turning and each goes by faster than the last. That's the benefit and the hazard of growing older -- you don't get bored, but you can feel time slipping away. Joe High School is applying to college -- it seems like only yesterday he was in his stroller, shaking his rattle at candidate Bill Clinton's wife Hillary.

As for the other Joes, Joe College is plugging away at the University of Minnesota and living at home. He has taken up home brewing, and our basement is now Newcastle West. Joe College Grad is still living in LA, working in business and figuring out what comes next.

Like so many Americans, I have once again changed jobs. In July I abandoned the lawyers for a similar web writing position at a private career college. Who knew that such places existed? It's been an eye-opener, and a rather uplifting one.

OLGS continues to teach, commute to Wisconsin and get in some European travel. This past summer he went to eastern Europe and along the way took a crash course in Hungarian, an ancestral language. He's going back this summer.

My parents are elderly, but still living independently and fighting the good fight. My dad now has not only seen the Red Sox win the World Series in his lifetime, but also had the profound pleasure of voting out the Current Occupant. It was an amazing election, one that gave me hope for us as a country. Of course, it was also a testament to the power of money in US politics. One can't have everything....

Christmas letters should be short and sweet, so domtran wishes you a 2009 filled with challenging experiences, interesting people and good books.

Snow again

Here we go again -- just when you think global warming has eliminated Minnesota winters, the snow and sub zero cold arrives (not always together). And any thoughts about staying here after we retire evaporate.

But it is a great conversation starter -- almost as good as former Gov. Jesse Ventura, or the current senatorial recount or our 6th Dictrict congresswoman, Michele Bachmann.

Pilgrims vs Puritans

Okay, you turkey addicts. The big American face stuffing event is over. Now it's time to learn something, to wit:

There was a difference between the Puritans and the Pilgrims. Here are just a few examples:

Puritans (as we know them today) had nothing to do with the original Thanksgiving. They weren't even here yet...

Pilgrims and Puritans are not interchangeable...

Pilgrims were more egalitarian in belief and organization...

Puritans were Anglicans who wanted to change the established church. There were lots of them in England, including Oliver Cromwell, who overthrew a king and established his own Commonwealth that lasted for 20 years and whose enduring legacy was the trashing of statuary in English churches...

Pilgrims were not going to wait for the English church to reform itself to their way of thinking. Their adventure to North America was a permanent enterprise based on the belief that the English church was beyond redemption...

Pilgrims established Plymouth colony...

Puritans established the much larger Massachusetts Bay colony...

The two colonies did not merge until the 1680s, sixty years after the Pilgrims arrived and forty years after the Great Migration, when the greatest influx of Puritans into New England occured...

Puritans were more likely to be among the propertied or mercantile class in England, although there are numerous exceptions to this...

And here's the rub--both groups were Puritans, radical Protestants who believed the English church to be corrupt and its message in need of serious reform. The two groups disagreed about how to achieve their vision of a Godly commonwealth...

Does any of this matter today? That's for another post. Suffice it to say that eventually the Puritans became Separatists, and later, Congregationalists. So even though the initial band of Pilgrims was much smaller, their influence over time was much greater. And this is just what the Puritan leader, John Winthrop, feared. A very forward thinking man...

But back in the day, at the time of the first turkey feast, the two groups were very different, and one of them had not yet made the perilous journey to North America.

Nuff said.

PS--Yours truly is descended from both groups. So they did mix...

Hillary story, part deux

A quick trip to Washington to attend the confirmation hearing of the sister of OLGS to be an appellate judge in the District of Columbia. Because Congress oversees the district, judicial appointments are made through the same nomination/confirmation process that applies to federal judicial appointments.

It was a remarkable event in many ways. However, there was unusual rock star quality because of the presence of Senator Hillary Clinton, who introduced sis to the committee (a sub-committee of the Homeland Security Committee--still in the hands of Sen. Lieberman, who was not present). Senator Clinton, who may be our next Secretary of State, demonstrated why she almost became president. Even for something as ordinary and probably routine as introducing a friend to her Senate colleagues, Senator Clinton was prepared, charming and articulate. Barak would be well-advised to make use of the talents of this remarkable woman as he tries to do something about our national mess.

And, despite the efforts of a Republican senator who initially objected to sis as too partisan (read too Democratic, even though she was nominated by Current Occupant), it looks like she will be confirmed. More later.

And the other thing about the trip? I discovered the joys of Midwest Express and their leg room and chocolate chip cookies. Now that NWA is no longer a hometown airline, I'm switching. They fly everywhere I want to go.

Yes we can, yes we did

It seems so churlish to even mention the disapointments in yesterday's election. But when we have come so far it's hard to accept that we still must keep walking.

Here's the thing: in the true blue state of Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann won convincingly, despite amazing gaffes and big dollars pumped into her opponent's campaign. There is something in the water in the MN 6th congressional district. This is the woman who suggested that we need to investigate members of Congress to make sure they don't hold anti-American views. Although Joe McCarthy is six feet under, he has a worthy heir in Michelle.

Here's the second thing: Senator Slimy (aka Norm Coleman) has a lead over Democratic rival Al Franken of less than 500 votes. An automatic recount will take place. But Norm, ever the guy with an eye for the main chance, proclaimed himself the victor this morning and suggested that Mr. Franken was being unhelpful by not declining the recount (it's automatic unless the underdog declines). Norm's vote totals got smaller and smaller during the day, making his proclamation rather hollow and suggesting the very real possibility that Al Franken was indeed the winner.

But these things pale against the memory of Jesse Jackson weeping in Grant Park. The sight of the old civil rights fighter wiping away tears should remind us that the victory of Barak Obama was not only the election of a president who may put us on the right track again. It is a symbol of so much more.

Hold your breath

A long dry spell for domestic tranquility. But it's about to come to an end. Baring a disaster which will make most of our alleged problems incredibly small, Barak Obama will become president. Or rather, he will be elected president. There's still a lot that could happen, and we have a history of taking matters into our own hands with catastrophic results. But let's not think about that now. As Scarlet O'Hara said, I'll think about that tomorrow. Tonight, I'm going to enjoy.

It's like 1972, but better. And for those of you who don't remember, that's the year that George McGovern lost mightily to Richard Nixon, who then resigned some months later rather than face certain impeachment. I had the great privilege of casting my vote for McGovern in Massachusetts, which was the only state to actually go for him. Hence the motto:

Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts.

Sarah Palin's Accent

Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live

In case you haven't noticed, the GOP Vice-presidential candidate sounds as if she stepped right off the screen, or at least one particular movie screen. Anyone else notice that she sounds like a character in the movie Fargo? I couldn't understand it. She's not from around here, thank God, so why does she sounds like she's from Wilmar or Moorhead or Sauk Center?

There has been lots of speculation about why she sounds the way she does. It's been called an Idaho accent, an Alaska accent, an eastern accent (wow) and almost everything else. And linguists and folks specializing in American dialects weighed in on the topic. But the most sensible explanation appeared in the Star Tribune a few days ago.

Here's what appeared in the Strib (apparently borrowed from Slate magazine), front page but below the fold: a number of Minnesotans were relocated to Sarah's neck of the woods during the depression. The governor-to-be grew up amidst the children and grandchildren of these displaced Minnesotans, who were sent to Alaska because they were used to harsh climates. Apparently in the isolation of their new home, they clung to the long o, the strong s and the tendency to say things that are easily parodied by the likes of Tina Fey, such as ''you betcha" and "ya know" and "darn right".

Sarah now has a much-needed excuse for her uber-folksiness. She can't help herself. But at this point I suspect that Tina Fey would be just as good a vice-president, at least based on her mastery of this distinctive accent.

Presidential debates: history doesn't always matter

CBS News Photo

We are a modern family. OLGS and I have offices across the hall from each other. Today, we each sit at our PCs, reading the polls, the post-mortem debate analysis and scanning the election district maps for any additional signs of solidification. We call out comments to each other. The conventional wisdom apears to be that Barack won simply by not losing, going up against a congressional veteran successfully. I agree--and given the setup, that's about as good as he could expect.

Clearly, he was much more relaxed than McCain, for all the Arizona senator's vaunted experience. He could pronounce difficult names of leaders in far-off countries. He was very good at framing the economy as a national security issue--McCain finds it difficult to resist the temptation to frame national security as an ideological matter, rather than a practical one with real consequences for real people. And then there's the Eisenhower reference. Poor ol' John made this lovely speech about Eisenhower, a president I barely remember, and I was actually alive. And to make matters worse, the speech was not in reference to the general's years in the White House, but to his leadership in WWII--and the number of people who remember the famous invasion is dwindling very rapidly. The people who resonate to that reference are probably already supporting Senator McCain. And those--the vast majority--who didn't, are just going to see Mac as old, out of touch and someone who, as BO says, just doesn't get it.

And then, he referenced Henry Kissinger and Ronald Reagan--I'm not going to do the stats, but I suspect that there is a significant number of voters who weren't alive during the Reagan years, and if they were not going to vote for BO before, they might now, feeling the need to throw their lot in with someone who has a similar frame of reference. I feel sorry for John. He's trying, but I think his time has passed. As a historian, I'm quite comfortable in saying that historical references are useful only in certain times and places. Last night was not one of those. And OLGS, based on his grunts and cackles from across the hall, agrees with me.

Economic depression, 21st century style

My resolution--not to get down in the mud with the Republicans--has gone south, so to speak. McCain and the Bushies have used the probably manufactured financial crisis to sandbag the Democrats. This may be a tad conspiratorial, but boy, did these guys get religion fast. Quicker than you can say "I believe", the guys who brought you unfettered capitalism for the last eight years have had an epiphany--the times cry out for government intervention, according to the president and his minions.

This is pretty remarkable. First of all, the notion that there will be absolutely no mortages or car loans--the stick used by the president this evening--is absurd. There will be fewer car loans and mortgages, because people will be hurting and folks who can't pay their mortgages anyway probably won't be borrowing more . However, banks do need to make money, and the way they make money is by lending it--in times like these to folks and businesses with gold-plated credit ratings. And the people with the impossible mortgages won't be doing their part to keep this consumer-based economy afloat.

What is interesting is that the sense of the country seems to be--so what? We probably wouldn't have gotten a loan anyway. So while the Dems may have been thown a curve, the notion that we are giving Bush and his friends a blank check doesn't seem to sit well with even the so-called conservative base.

And here's the delicious thing: I heard Newt Gingrich on the radio the other day. He was saying, "Wait a minute" in that professorial way of his. And, he made sense. I never thought I'd see that day. And the other cheery thing--we haven't heard from the Gov. of Alaska for a few hours. Every cloud does have a silver lining.

Joe College and the SAT

Can't keep my own resolutions to talk exclusively about Sarah Palin, but there's nothing much to say. And pollsters agree with me--the bounce that Mac received by selecting her as the Veep candidate seems to have evaporated. So let's talk about college admissions instead.

Joe High School figured out that his GPA matters. Surprise, surprise. He also acknowledged that even though he is smart, there might be kids out there just as smart and that taking a look at the SAT prep book could help. So MIT and Cal Tech are probably out of reach for him, but I don't think he's terribly disappointed. What does seem improbable and kind of discouraging is that all the lesser (slightly) schools report that 95% of their students are in the top 5% of their classes and have combined SATs of over 2200. That's scary, and, I trust, not true. Otherwise, they would have no students. We'll see.

Lies by Sarah Palin

Domestic Tranquility is going to stop talking about young adult men and middle age. By comparison to the threat we face, these are piddling concerns. And I love my boys, and I embrace middle age. So, folks, let's instead talk about Sarah Palin.

We're not going to analyze why Mac picked her for the Veep position. We're not going to hash over why he passed over numerous other Republican women who would not shame us or him. Instead, we're going to focus on the facts as I see 'em:

-Fact: Gov. Palin is a woman.
That does not mean that fans of Hilary Clinton should vote for McCain because of Palin's presence on the GOP ticket as the VP candidate. Their shared chromosomes are the only similarity.

-Fact: Gov. Palin has been nominated for vice president.
People should not vote for McCain just because of Sarah Palin. Her chances of becomming president, despite Mac's age and health, are pretty slim. McCain is running for and wants to be president. Sarah Palin is a cute sleight of hand trick to distract you from McCain's failings as a candidate.

-Fact: Gov. Palin says she opposes earmark spending and during her acceptance speech proclaimed that she was an advocate of ending abuses of earmarks.
People who hope to end earmark spending should not vote for McCain because of Gov. Palin's assertions--as late as this year she requested $197 in earmarks from the earmark king, Alaska GOP Sen. Ted Stevens.

-Fact: Gov. Palin says that Barack Obama never authored a major piece of legislation. "Not even in the state senate" quoth the gov.
Don't vote for McCain just because the governor says that the Democrat has not authored any legislation. She's asking us to ignore the Lugar-Obama bill on non-proliferation, or the ethics reform package or the Illinois campaign finance bill, lobbying reform bill and federal campaign finance reform bills.

Although it's tempting to make fun of the governor of Alaska, this is serious stuff. The GOP is trying out their version of the big lie. We know that it works (remember Germany during the 1930s). Don't be fooled into believing something just because it's repeated early and often.

St. Paul--more of the same at the RNC

The Huffington Post has a piece on third world police tactics in St. Paul--busting down doors, arresting people for no reason and generally violating constitutional protections that the Bushies follow only when politically expedient. Here's the thing: why should we be surprised?

These guys have been violating the law and the Constitution since the 2000 election. They have established all types of illegal procedures that are supposed to keep America safe, and then whipped up our fears to make us look away from their illegalities. They manufacture the crisis, create fear, and then propose the illegal solution that we don't scrutinize too much because we are scared. And those few who do are labeled as unpatriotic and worse.

We've been here before. Anyone heard of Joe McCarthy, the senator from Wisconsin? Old Joe was very successful at creating a crisis--Commies under the bed--and then coming up with a solution--put 'em away using manufactured evidence and secret tribunals. Although folks were getting tired of him, as they are of Bush, Cheney and the gang, it took a government lawyer, Joe Welch, to put an end to his tactics and restore sanity, however briefly.

When will someone ask, as Welch did, "Have you no decency...?" And even if someone did ask, would we listen? Let's see if the Dems can make us pay attention and put aside our fear.

Good luck, St. Paul

Update on Goose Poop--RNC, Listen Up!

Received a comment on this August 8 post with hints on deterring geese. Apparently someone else read these suggestions, as the geese disappeared within days. Now if we could only try the same techniques on the RNC...

Police state in Minnesota

RNC is coming to town. Even if I didn't listen to the radio, read the paper or surf the web, I would know that something's up. Last evening while we were trying to enjoy our patio, the flowers and the waning summer, there were dozens of helicopters overhead, scoping out downtown St. Paul and all roads leading to it. There probably weren't dozens, but plenty. And some were black.

Apparently, the St. Paul PD has really cleaned up. The RNC has given them $50 million to buy new equipment, gas masks, bomb-sniffing dogs, and storm trooper boots. Probably a couple of helicopters, too, which it can use later on to track down those who dare litter the spiffed-up streets of St. Paul. Wouldn't it be nice if we could devote just a fraction of this time, effort and money to solving homelessness or improving the rapidly fading St. Paul public schools? Think what $50 million could do in either case.

There are protests scheduled, and OLGS and Joe College plan to attend, although Joe C. insists he will stay on the periphery, as he has an aversion to tear gas. I'm sure the SPPD is using their $50 million to refresh their cannisters.

Goose poop

Across the road from my place of employment is a field with a small pond. About four weeks ago, I noticed a small gaggle of geese--six adults and four extremly cute little goslings. This has morphed into a flock of 50 adults. The babies have either grown up or gone to greener pastures or larger bodies of water. The geese strut in the road, cruise the parking lot, and leave goose manure everywhere. They were cute; now they're a nuisance, although watching 20 or so honking avians coming in for a landing in the tiny pond is amazing. They circle lower and lower, finally gliding in at water level.

Watch where you step.

Open Windows in the Twin Cities

Empire Builder at rest at the St. Paul Amtrak Station

I live in a urban pocket, where you can smell the paper mill, Summit Brewery and the french fry factory when the wind is right. This is a reminder of the reality of modern living: food, drink and toilet paper do not just magically appear on your grocer's shelves. They are manufactured somewhere, and for some of these commodities, that somewhere is St. Paul, MN. It's a smelly reminder of the great 19th century city we once were.

I technically live in Minneapolis, but on the far eastern edge. This morning, in the sticky cool of summer, in addition to smelling the odors of commerce, I heard the Empire Builder pull in, on time for once, bearing its cargo of passengers and mail from Seattle. It's a long train, and it honks and rings and toots as it pulls in, seemingly for about two miles. It gives those of us who live within hearing distance another opportunity for nostalgia.

Why can't I believe?

The price of high test gas to fill up our fancy German car has declined to 3.89 a gallon. I should be thrilled, and grateful to George and Co. for his tenacity in driving down oil prices. I'm being silly, but don't you think that come October, the party of God will be taking credit for this, should it last?

And, to be even more cynical, don't you think it's possible that this whole thing has been manipulated and that in October gas prices will be even lower so that we will have exactly the response I just described? Because we have such a short collective memory, we won't remember why they were so high in the first place and will make poor ol' John McCain a winner on the strength of it.

Nah, you think. That couldn't happen. But wait, cast your mind back eight years to get a whiff of the amazing ability of the Bushies and their kind to manipulate not just an election, but the zeitgeist.

Final Exam

by OLGS, guest blogger—

I completed my two weeks of Magyarul language camp and the Summer Program invited me to take the final exam for the intensive course. The test was a mixture of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short essays. I used the full two hours allotted, even as my younger classmates decamped after half an hour or forty-five minutes. Maybe it was easy for them, but not for me. The main thing in Hungarian is to make sure verb, noun, adjective, and adverbs have the correct matching suffixes. That means every word in a sentence has to be checked against every other word for harmony.


The results are now posted: I scored a 76 out of 100 possible points. At the Yale of President Bush’s day, that would have been a “Gentleman’s ‘C’,” but here at the U of Debrecen, the grading curve is such that I earned ‘“honours” for my exam, as you can see on my “Tanúsítávany” above.

New exhibit at the Debrecen “Modém”

by OLGS, guest blogger--

I visited Debrecen’s Museum of Modern Art ( A Modém) to see an exhibit titled “SzocReal,” or Socialist Realism art in Hungary from 1949 through 1956. There were a lot of paintings showing toiling peasants and workers, but always with a smile on their faces as their toil was contributing to the new Hungary. Even the ticket-checker on the tram was smiling and the passengers smiled back.

The crowning achievement of the exhibit was the reconstruction of the Budapest Stalin statue (see above). Originally unveiled in 1950 in central Budapest (see below), the statue was pulled down in October 1956 and the head of the dead dictator served as a support for a traffic sign (see below). Red Army forces collected the broken pieces and in some obscure warehouse the pieces have rusted for the past fifty-two years. Incredibly, the curators of the Modém collected the scattered pieces, welded the ten-meter-high monster back together, polished it to a deep bronze, and now it smiles over the exhibit-goers inside the courtyard of the Modém.

Kossuth Lajos and Debrecen

by OLGS, guest blogger--

Even bigger than the statues of Protestant cattle-herders and theologians is the giant statue in honor of Louis Kossuth (Kossuth Lajos, as the Magyars say it). He helped lead the 1848 “Springtime of Peoples” in Europe against the absolute rule of the Hapsburg Dynasty. For a while, he and his fellow revolutionaries succeeded. At first, they sought Hungarian autonomy within the Hapsburg Empire, but when that was not forthcoming, Kossuth proclaimed Hungary independent of Austria in Debrecen's second St. Andrew’s Church (the first one burned in 1803). The new Hungary claimed its sovereignty extended to the full borders of the historic kingdom of Hungary, that is to say, more than half of the Hapsburg lands.

In response, the Hapsburgs called for help from the Romanovs and soon enough, 350,000 Russian soldiers invaded Magyarorszag and chased Kossuth all the way from Debrecen to New York. Nonetheless, the Hungarians still revere him as a champion of their nation. The picture at the top was taken a few days ago; the one at the bottom with the flag draped over the base of the statute was taken today.

Debrecen’s defiant Protestant past

By OLGS, guest blogger--

I went on a Sunday walk with some other Magyar language students. The town is filled with monuments to Calvinist theologians, and I think the ones not famous enough to merit an eponymouos tram stop still get a marker. Some are statues, some are plaques. Nearly all have a braided and beribboned Hungarian tri-color wreath laying in honor at the base. The statue of Istvan Bocksai (above) commemorates a great Protestant cowboy-rancher-warrior-noble. He and other Debrecen landholders had grown wealthy in supplying livestock to the armies of the Hapsburgs, and if I read this correctly, to the Ottoman Turks. The Hapsburgs did not like this and attempted to put him and his church, St. Andrews, out of business. Bocksai led a raid in 1604 all the way to Vienna and forced the Hapsburgs to recognize his rule in Debrecen and the place of the Calvinist church.

Another statue nearby Bocksai's commemorates some clergy and lay people from St. Andrews who were arrested during the Catholic Reformation that followed the expulsion of the Turks from Hungary later in the 17th century. The Hapsburg rulers seized some Debrecen Calvinists, dragged them to nearby Eperjes(*), and broke them on the wheel as an object lesson to other Protestants. Ouch!

The final memorial I saw was the most interesting, the so-called Calvinist shrub. Also during the Catholic Reformation in Hungary, the Protestants planted a small shrub near St. Andrews. The Catholics mocked this plant and said it would soon die, as would worship at St. Andrews. The Protestants answered that so long as the shrub lived, so would Calvinism. You can see for yourself the results below.

(*) Note: Eperjes, today known as Presov in nearby Slovakia, is the home of the three Joes' paternal great-great-grandmother. She had nothing to do with the Reformation or Counter-Reformation.

Washington County, Maine

Before OLGS took off for Hungary and the fleshpots of the spa life, we went down east with my parents. Much revisiting the past--trips to graveyards, a few childhood friends (my parents', not mine), and a few relatives. Washington County is still dirt poor. Still bleak. Still unpopulated. Still beautiful.

We had quite a bit of fog, which was not the case last summer. Our real estate lady informed us that fog is very common in July. As long as you're not driving in the dark on an unfamiliar road, it's quite lovely, keeping everything silent.

We rented a house in Roque Bluffs, which has undergone quite a bit of development, at least for this part of the world. It was perched on a cliff, so there were no beachcombing trips. However, we were close to Roque Bluffs State Park, which has a lovely beach (see above), with hardly anyone on it. At the back of the beach is a big hedge of rugosa roses. The smell is intoxicating.

OLGS spends a day “taking the waters…”

by OLGS, guest blogger--

Today, Saturday the 26th, the Summer School at Debrecen offered campers a choice: visit a national park and see “wild nature” or go to a spa and “take the waters.” I chose the latter. Here is what the advertisement, translated into English, for the Hajdúszoboszló Spa promised prospective visitors:

“The excellent medicinal effect of the thermal water is due to its components (ionide, bromide, common salt, hydrogen-carbonate, bitumen and the adhering oestrogen, trace elements present in form of titanium, copper, zinc, silver, barium, vanadium and lead, etc.). When used with proper expertise, this ‘medicine chest’ of nature, can be a remedy for numerous illnesses, or can ease suffering and ailments. The pools filled with water of various temperatures, combined with balneotherapy and physiotherapy, can heal partially or completely the following diseases: disorders of surgical, neurological, internal and dermal origin, and further, locomotor dieseases, parpoplexy and conditions after orthopedic operations, paralysis, chronic neurotic pains, leg ulcers, gynaecological inflammations, infertility, prostrate gland problems, eczema, psoriasis, scoliosis, various sclerosis problems, etc. ... etc.”

Hmmm…”medicine chest of nature”? Remedy for “prostate gland problems” and “chronic neurotic pains”? Why not try a good dose of barium and vanadium and lead, I thought. So along with about twenty other Debrecen campers, 10,000 or so Hungarians, and a lot of Slovaks and Poles in the baths, I spent a full day (8-4:30) at the spa. I did all thirteen baths, drank the water, did the sauna and the cold-water plunge, and if I had thought to bring 6,000 forints with me (about $45) I could have received the “proper expertise” of a Hungarian masseuse. Did it work? I don’t know, but I do know after spending eight or so hours in the water, I have never had such soft (and wrinkled) feet and fingers in my life. If you get the chance, my advice is do “take the waters.”

"Ab saggittae ungarorum, libera nos Domine"-

OLGS guest posting from Debrecen Summer Institute, continued

I’m in the middle of Day Three of Magyarul (Hungarian) language studies at the Nyari Egyetem http://www.nyariegyetem.hu/ based at the University of Debrecen. I have three ninety-minute classes per day with homework and vocabulary study interspersed. Our instructor, Dr. Meszaros Csaba, is very patient, but he does push us along to master conjugations and sentence formation. He is teaching us the playful side of Magyarul with the different ways we can put together a sentence. His admonition is always “legy ovatos” or be careful with word order so that you convey the meaning you want with the words you choose.

Between the two morning classes and the late afternoon class, there is an optional series of history lectures. I attended the first one yesterday on the history of the Magyar nomads arriving in the Carpathian Basin (see imagined 19th century versionn of this event) and their subsequent conversion to Christianity. We even learned a phrase in Latin and then received the English translation at yesterday’s lecture:

Latin: "Ab saggittae ungarorum, libera nos Domine"-

English: “God save us from the Hungarian arrows!”

This was the cry of the Germanic tribes every time the Magyars came raiding, burning, and plundering. It is now said in jest, I think, if I understood the lecturer correctly…

first day of classes at Hungarian Language Camp

Guest post by OLGS

I found my placement at Hungarian language camp: “Advanced Beginner.” Yes, there is something lacking in that translation, but it made sense when I met my teacher, Csabor, and my talented classmates. We all had some familiarity with the language and Csabor started us off by skipping the first three chapters of the textbook and commencing with Chapter Four. There are six of us in the Advanced Beginner class: three Americans, including myself, one Croatian, one Italian, and one Russian. Five of the students are twenty-somethings, I’m the old man. English is the language we are permitted to use only when we first admit our befuddlement in Hungarian.

At mid-day, we had a welcoming ceremony from the rector of the University, the vice-president, the dean of arts and sciences, and the mayor of Debrecen. All welcomed us in Hungarian with a little English aside. We also heard a brass quintet play several numbers. Afterward, we got a tour of the old main building of the University of Debrecen, which has been a “Reformed” (Calvinist) stronghold since the 1540s. As shown above in the photo, there are numerous plaques around the main courtyard-lobby with the names of Calvinist theologian-professors from the 17th through the 20th centuries. I studied those names and had an ah-ha moment: I knew some of those names from the rides up and down the tramline. Ah-ha. Wezpremy Utca (Street) is named for Dr. Professor Wezprenyi (d. 1784); Medgyessi Setany (Esplanade) is named for Dr. Professor Medgyessi (d. 1888). That also helps make sense of the tram stop further down the line: Kalvin Ter (Square), presumably in honor of John Calvin (d. 1564). Wow, that’s a devoted city to name its public places and tram stops after theologians.

Hungarian adventure for OLGS

Guest post by OLGS--

Hello from Debrecen, Hungary, where I am taking a two-week course in Hungarian language and culture. I arrived yesterday after a lengthy flight and railroad passage. The University of Debrecen has been offering summer school in the language since 1927 and when Joe College-on-Leave and I visited the Hungarian-speaking part of Romania in 2005, our hosts urged me to work on learning the language by attending a course at Debrecen. So here I am.

Today I took my placement test and did ok. I find out my placement tomorrow morning, as do the other 200 or so summer campers here. Then it is off to language class from nine to noon, history lessons in the afternoon, language lab before dinner, folk-singing after dinner, and finally, Beer-Twenty at 20:00.

I am staying in one of the college dorms. I am glad I asked for a single room because, although very comfortable, it would be cramped with one or two more roommates. My room has a bathroom with shower & toilet and even cable TV. All the channels from Europe and the US are dubbed in Hungarian, at least as far as I could tell on one spin around the dial. Like most college dorms, this one is not air-conditioned, so this afternoon, I went on a shopping trip to the Hungarian version of BestBuy to find a fan. “MediaMarkt” is the store and I got a German make called “Das HausMeister 8400.” It required some assembly, as did the one I bought at Target last week for our home in Minneapolis. Alas, I don’t have Joe High School to do the assembly, but I managed to fumble through the Euro instructions (thank God for old French lessons) and got the thing put together and working. My room is much more comfortable now.

I have met some nice people already from Canada, Denmark, Germany, and France. There are quite a few Americans here, too. I’ll post some stories about my classmates as I proceed through the class. I explored quite a bit of the city of Debrecen today by tram and on foot. The tram is very dependable and runs every four minutes from the railway station to the University. The generic photo above shows you a tram stop scene in town.

That’s all for today. I’ll try to keep up a regular travel posting as a guest on Domestic Tranquility, the International Edition.

In the twinkling of an eye

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July 17th update...see below at end of post
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Something terrible has happened. A good friend of Joe-College-on-Leave (Joe COL), Joseph Sodd III, was murdered last week while riding his moped home late at night. Joe was a high-school classmate of my Joe for three years, leaving South High in his fourth to follow his dream of becoming a dancer. He went to the Perpitch School for the Arts here and went on to dance school in Seattle. He was home for summer vacation.

I can't imagine what his family has experienced. What I did see is the amazing network of college juniors who descended on Minneapolis after Joe died. From all over the country they returned to the city to mourn and celebrate. By the time Joe's death was reported in the Star-Tribune, my Joe already knew about it at the meditation center north of Chicago where he was helping in the kitchen. These young people are connected to each other in remarkable ways, in part because of cell phones but also because they seem to understand the importance of being together, especially in terrible times.
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July 17 update, by OLGS. Louise and I were away for a bit. Minneapolis Police have not made an arrest in the case. The Police are still seeking information about the murder. The phone number is 612-692-TIPS (8477)
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Pizza Dude (aka Joe H.S.) Delivers !

by OLGS, guest blogger

A very nice Father's Day in Minneapolis. Louise and I did some yard work and other outdoor chores on a cool, but sunny day. Joe College Graduate and Joe College on Leave called in to talk. Last night was Game Five of the NBA Finals. The three Joes and I spent many years watching the great Kevin Garnett play for the Timberwolves in Minneapolis, shown above in a file photo. Finally, he's getting a chance for an NBA title with Boston, but alas, it did not happen last night. Pizza Dude Joe High School did make up for the disappointment by bringing home a large "Veggie Delight" in time for the 4th quarter. What a taste treat--Thanks, Joe! Kevin and the Celtics get another chance at closing out the Lakers in Game Six on Tuesday night.

School lunch

Got a notice the other day that Joe High School's lunch account will expire. Given that I'm a gal of a certain age, the notion of an online lunch account, where no sordid money ever changes hands, is quite wonderful. The lunch account manager just sends you an email when there is no more money in the account, you transfer money from your checking account, and bing, it's done. Ain't modern technology grand?

All very interesting. What's even more amazing is that Joe High School now actually eats lunch (or did until Tuesday, the last day of school in the benighted Midwest). When I made lunch for him or he made his own lunch, it was seldom eaten and the dead PB & J sandwiches turned up in his backpack months later with interesting turquoise blue mold on them. When I gave him cash to buy lunch, it was usually spent on candy or potato chips because, he said, school lunch was incredibly bad. Now he eats lunch. I can tell because there's a report that one can access online. Because of the beef tacos consumed (he's a vegetarian) I suspect that he's also feeding a dozen or so close personal friends from his lunch account. Whatever.

Senator Obama yesterday at “The Place where the Pike are Caught”

By OLGS, guest blogger

The presumed Democratic nominee for president keeps showing up at places of interest to me—last week at the “X” in St. Paul, yesterday in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I heard his speech on C-SPAN radio as I happened to be driving to the Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation in Shawano County, not that far from Kaukauna.

The senator gave a speech on his plan for a middle class tax cut. As I understood him, he planned to propose a $500 tax credit for wage-earners in a household who are not dependents. Let’s see…Joe College Graduate, working in Los Angeles would get $500. Louise and I would get a combined $1,000. Not bad. Joe College-on-leave and Joe High School (aka "Pizza Dude") both earn wages, but we still claim them as dependents. The people in Kaukauna seemed to like the plan, as measured by the audible applause.

Whoever introduced Sen. Obama did not tell him or the audience about the history of Kaukauna. The French were the first to write of it in the *Jesuit Relations* in the 17th century as the place on the Fox River where the Sauk Indians, the Outagamie (“Fox”) Indians, and the Menominee Indians went to catch sturgeon and also pike, hence the name in Menominee: okakaning meaning "the place where the pike are caught." Father Claude Allouez reported in 1670 that:

we passed the portage called by the natives Kekalin, our sailors dragging the canoe among rapids; while I walked on the River-bank, where I found apple-trees and vine-stocks in great numbers.

Kaukauna is the fall-line on the Fox River below Green Bay and above Lake Winnebago. The Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown Indians moved there from New York State after 1822 and set up their first village in Wisconsin, with the permission of the Menominees. In 1831, the Menominees formally ceded Kaukauna to the United States in a treaty. In a separate treaty, the Stockbridges and Munsees ceded their claim to Kaukauna to the U.S. and took reserved lands about 40 miles away on the east side of Lake Winnebago. Thus, Senator Obama was speaking yesterday in lands once in possession of the Menominee Indians, and for about a decade, in joint possession of the Menominees and the Stockbridges and Munsees.

I like to think that Sen. Obama might have been interested to learn some of this history. The Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertown tribes were all composed of mixed Indian-European-African people. Had Senator Obama’s ancestors from Europe visited, or his ancestors from Africa visited, they might have found Kaukauna in the 1820s one of the few places in Wisconsin, or for that matter, the U.S., to welcome a European and a free African at the same time.

Rain in June, Minnesota-style

Historically, June is the rainiest month in Minnesota. And this year is no exception. It's been raining, off and on, for at least a week. Why do brides in the state with more than 10,000 lakes risk ruining their big day with even more water?

I remember six years ago, when Joe College Grad was supposed to graduate from Minneapolis South High. He wasn't even at the ceremony, because he was off at a debate tournament. It rained and rained. In those days, the ceremony was held in the grubby football field outside the school -- the backup plan was the near-by YWCA basketball arena. There were no seats in the arena, except for the grads. Pretty terrible, so I'm glad he wasn't present.

By the time Joe-College-on-Leave graduated, the ceremony had been moved permanently to the Augsburg College fieldhouse. Much better, although there is something to be said for the great outdoors. But not in June.

''Sometimes,'' he said, ''I feel like I'd like to wring somebody's neck.''

by OLGS, guest blogger

''Sometimes,'' he said, ''I feel like I'd like to wring somebody's neck.''

--Former Secretary of State George P. Schultz, testifying before the Joint House-Senate Iran-Contra Committee, July 25, 1987

Twenty-one years ago, I remember staying at home during the summer taking care of then pre-schooler Joe College Graduate, and the still-in-diapers Joe College. In between feedings, walks with the stroller, and diaper-changes, I spent my days watching the Congress hold hearings to investigate the secret White House- led covert operations in Iran, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. Perhaps the only witness appearing under oath who emerged with any of his or her reputation undamaged was Secretary of State George Schultz, shown above on the Stanford campus. The secretary testified that the White House and the National Security Council had kept secret from him and his State Department the sale of weapons to Iran and the transfer of funds and weapons to the Contras in Nicaragua, both actions in violation of U.S. law. Schultz’s feeling that he wanted to “wring somebody’s neck” was directed mainly at the President’s staff, who served their president badly, he testified.

It's summer again, and today's headlines reminded me of the summer of 1987 and Iran-Contra. Yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee issued two reports. The first one, known as Report “Phase IIa,” recounted what had long been reported in the press: from August 2002 through February 2003, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Powell made statements about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction based on shaded, exaggerated, or sometimes on no intelligence at all. Here’s the link to the summary of the Phase IIa report:

http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298775

The full report is also available from the Committee as a pdf file and is well-worth reading.

Almost overlooked was the second report, which brought Schultz’s 1987 comment about the White House and National Security Council to mind. The “Phase IIb” report made public that starting in 2001 and continuing through 2003, the National Security Council’s deputy director (Stephen Hadley) and the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Paul Wolfowitz), and the Office of the Vice President (Dick Cheney) approved a covert operation meant to lead to “regime change” in Iran. Who was the essential middleman to put the U.S. in touch with so-called “Iranian moderates”? None other than one of the arms dealers in the Iran-Contra affair, Manucher Ghobanifar, shown here in1987.

Just as Robert “Bud” McFarlane, Admiral John Poindexter, and Colonel Oliver “Ollie” North, kept the State Department in the dark about their dealings in Iran and Nicaragua, so, too, did the Bush Administration’s wannabe-spooks led by Hadley, Wolfowitz, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and also Elliot Abrams (another Iran-Contra figure) keep Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet uninformed about the 2001-2003 Ghobanifar-inspired attempt at regime change in Iran. As much as $25 million dollars was funneled through Ghobanifar between 2001 and 2003 to promote “regime change” in Iran. The Phase IIb report also suggests that the Ghobanifar initiative was manipulated by Iranian intelligence to send false information directly to the White House. This reads like a reprise of the Iran-Contra affair.

One of the regrettable outcomes of the Iran-Contra investigations is how few Reagan Administration people were indicted and sent to jail. One of the regrettable results of that failure is how many have surfaced with responsible jobs in the Bush 43 Administration. Is it too much to ask the Senate Intelligence Committee to refer to the Justice Department for prosecution everyone involved with this second Iran-Contra scandal? Is it too much to ask to send Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Hadley, Elliot Abrams and others to jail before they can start work on a third covert operation to effect “regime change” in Iran through Ghobanifar’s “Iranian moderates”?

The Twin Cities last night: Joe High School at the "U", Sen. Obama at the "X"

by OLGS, guest blogger

Last night, Joe High School and I went to an orientation session at the University of Minnesota (the "U") for metro area students admitted into the PSEO program. PSEO stands for Post-Secondary Education Options. The Minnesota state legislature provides funds for hundreds of high school seniors to take college-level classes on college campuses. Joe applied and got admitted for next year and last night showed up for orientation.

The "U" staff tried hard to keep the attention of the 400 or so students and family members in attendance. The staff provided handouts, pocket planners, a PowerPoint show, cookies & lemonade, but still, no high school kid wants to sit still through a two-hour orientation session. Even I got a little bored with trying to follow the specifics of how to read the online class schedule and how to pick a Chemistry lecture and lab section. Mercifully, the PSEO orientation session ended a little after 8:00 p.m.

When Joe and I got to the car, we turned on the radio to listen to coverage of Senator Clinton's expected end-of-campaign speech from New York, and Senator Obama's expected victory speech from the Excel Energy Center (the "X") in St. Paul. The radio reporter live on the scene at the "X" said that the senator was in the building and that only about one-half the seats were filled. I asked Joe: "Should we drive over to the X and see the next president for ourselves?" Joe answered: "Let's go home and ask Mom if she wants to go." Mom--Louise--had baked a rhubarb cake. Joe dived into the cake and forgot the next president getting ready to speak in an arena with apparently plenty of empty seats and only about a ten-minute drive from our house. Under questioning from Louise, Joe admitted that he had homework that he had not completed. Therefore, Joe, Louise, and I passed on the chance to go see Sen. Obama deliver what some commentators said was the first of two nomination acceptance speeched (the other one to come in Denver in August).

Meanwhile, at the X, about 40,000 people had lined up for the 18,000 seats inside. The reason the arena was only half-full when the radio reporter gave his account was that so many people were still outside waiting to pass through security and the metal detectors. By 9:00 p.m., the place was packed and 20,000 people outside followed along on outdoor giant screens.

Louise and I listened at home on the radio. The senator mentioned four places in American history where Americans made their own history: Philadelphia in 1787, Antietam and Gettysburg in the Civil War, Omaha Beach in 1944, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965. The people in the X last night certainly felt that they were making history watching their candidate accept his party's nomination.

Farewell to the lawyers

My job with the lawyer marketing guys in Eagan is over. Now I'm off to write web content for a career college web site. This has been heady week, full of tributes to my skills (all of which can be had for the price of a liberal education)and hugs and best wishes. These are remarkable people, and even those that I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time with are very interesting and talented. In this day and age, that's a pretty good gig.

Joe High School's new job....

by OLGS, guest blogger

Joe High School started a new job this month at a local independent (non-chain) pizza parlor in South Minneapolis. One of his friends told him that the pizza place was hiring and Joe applied and got hired. His entry into the pizza business brings back memories to me, OLGS, because my first paying job at age 16 was also in a pizza place in suburban Chicago.

Joe started his first night as the "dough-roller," that is, the person who takes dough out of a trough and sends it through a rolling machine twice to get the crust to the right thickness. By his second shift, Joe had advanced to "Sauce Dude," the person who drops a ladleful of sauce on the rolled-out pizza dough and smooshes it around to the edges. Bright lad that he is, he also mastered pepperoni-placement and cheese distribution. By the time of his third shift, Joe even used the '97 Subaru to make a delivery to a residence and got to "keep the change" from a twenty on the bill.
Good work, Joe. We're proud of you.

Our first $60 fill-up

by OLGS, guest blogger

Well, that didn't take long. Last week, I blogged about paying $51 for a tank of gas in Minneapolis. This weekend, Louise, Joe High School, and I motored to Belgium, Wisconsin for a wedding. In case you are wondering, Belgium is south of Denmark, also south of Holland, south of Luxemburg, and while I'm dropping place-names, south of Oostburg. Joe High School did most of the driving and was very steady on the highways.

The wedding was delightful on the shores of Lake Michigan. The bride was lovely and Joe's second cousin, the groom, was very handsome. Louise and I enjoyed seeing a lot of relatives, including Joe's aunt & uncle. We learned one Wisconsin wedding custom: at the sit-down dinner, many of the guests repeatedly banged their forks on their water glasses. Louise, Joe, and I looked around for someone to make an announcement, a toast perhaps, but no, the noise was a prompt for the bride and groom to smooch for the crowd.

This morning, we set off for the long drive back to Minneapolis. The gas gauge was on empty so we pulled into the BP/Amoco in downtown Belgium. Sixty dollars later, at $4.11/gallon, we left Belgium.

While we were at the wedding, President Bush struck out in asking the Saudis to pump more oil. Meanwhile, in that other Belgium, the price of gas is $5.91/gallon, and the Danes are paying $5.93 per gallon. At this rate, gas will be cheaper by Labor Day in Oostburg, Netherlands than it will be in Oostburg, Wisconsin.

Sping flowers in Minnesota

A lovely spring day in flyover land. Tulips are up, as are many weeds. I feared that the daffodils were not coming, but they are reluctantly peeking up and, for a few, out. I must have planted them too deep.

As a tribute to the weeds, OLGS and I were out in the gardens this morning. Mitzi the cat was frolicking about, chasing blowing leaves and generally making a fool of herself. The neighbor cat, her spittin' image, was also out, trying to throw his weight around by playing alpha male. The problem: she is twice his size. You go girl!

Daffodil Society of MN

My first $50 fill-up: ”Who could have expected such a thing…”

By OLGS, guest blogger

Well, it finally happened. It cost $51 to fill up the car. It’s the first time I had to pay fifty dollars for a fill-up. Sure, I’ve seen other motorists spend that much and more to fill up their SUVs and their pick-up trucks, but not for a car. Gas in Minneapolis is in the $3.65/gallon range. Joe College-on-leave tells me it is at $4/gallon in Southern California. I suppose we will see that $4 price-tag in Minnesota by Memorial Day, if not sooner.

Today’s crude oil futures are selling at $125/barrel and are also likely to go up. Secretary of State Rice’s standard answer to difficult questions “Who could have expected such a thing” is literally true in this case, but also misleading.

In my spare time, I’ve been reading some of the unclassified and now published documents of the Bush Administration in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Last fall, the Senate Intelligence Committee published two documents written in January 2003 for the Administration, one on the likely effects of invasion on Iraqi society (short summary: unwelcoming to U.S. occupiers for a year or so, but they’ll get over it), and the second on the likely effects of invasion on other Middle East countries. One item particularly caught my eye—crude oil prices might skyrocket from $15/barrel to as high as $40/barrel, but that after a period of uncertainty, the prices would decline because western oil companies would come in to modernize the Iraqi oilfield production and increase output from Saddam’s 3 million barrels/day to perhaps twice that figure. So the Administration, and in particular, Dr. Rice's staff, was warned that it might have a difficult first year of occupying Iraq with corresponding higher oil prices, but that by 2005, the promised liberation would start to reward the invaders. Here we are in 2008 with $4/gal gas and $125/bb oil….Who could have expected such a thing….

Urban turkey...

by guest blogger OLGS

Quite a spring in Minneapolis. Louise and Joe H.S. saw two wild turkeys last week in the front yard, but did not get a snapshot. Yesterday, Joe College-on-leave was home, and he and I had this downstairs-upstairs exchange:

Joe: Dad, there's a turkey outside.

OLGS (with snark): Tell Gov. Pawlenty we already paid our Minnesota State Income Tax

Joe: No, there really is a turkey in the yard.

OLGS (grabbing camera): This I gotta see...

Note: the first snapshot is of Mitzi (below) running back inside from the wild gobbler. The second, shown above, is of the turkey next store on our neighbor's walkway, right by the "Minnesota" paving stone.

Candidates in Selma

I was browsing Louise’s January 20^th post about the family trip to Selma, Alabama. She mentioned that Selma in 2008 is filled with churches, both established and storefront. When the family visited there just after the New Year, the presidential selection process had passed through Iowa and New Hampshire and on the Democratic side, the race was down to the big two, Senators Obama and Clinton. Both senators had visited Selma the previous March to honor the 1965 voting rights campaign that was centered on Dallas County, Alabama. Senator Obama spoke at the Brown AME Church, just down the street from the pecan wholesaler. Senator Clinton spoke at First Baptist Church. Last week, Senator McCain made a visit to Selma and spoke outside the St. James Hotel (also just down the street from the pecan wholesaler), where our family stayed in January.

Look at the photos of the three candidates speaking in Selma. Notice anything unusual? Readers of Domestic Tranquility are invited to post their answers in the comments section.

--OLGS

National History Day--Minnesota Edition

*contributed by OLGS, guest blogger *

The household members all went their own ways today. Joe College-on-leave is working on his marionette for next weekend’s May Day celebration, courtesy of the “Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater.” A crowd of up to 50,000 watches the parade of hundreds of puppets, floats, and other celebrants from East Lake Street in Minneapolis to Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis. Pictured above is last year's two-story "Tree of Life" puppet. Joe is not quite finished with his creation and Domestic Tranquility promises a photo of his creation after May Day.

Joe High School stayed home and made dinner for us—vegeterian lasagna, very good. Louise worked at the church library at Unity Church, and your guest blogger, OLGS, volunteered as a judge at the Minnesota state competition for National History Day. NHD began in Cleveland in 1974 and has expanded in size and scope to involve middle school and high school students in primary source research projects in history. Categories include posters, research papers, video documentaries, and performances. OLGS was assigned to examine and rate poster projects created by groups of middle school students from around the state.

Several of the middle school boys seem enamored of the movie
“The 300” and produced posters about the Battle of Thermopylae. One group, not entirely certain of its facts, reported that Herodatus was a “historical consultant” to the film-makers. Ah, may the works of OLGS and his friends be consulted by film-makers 2,500 years from now!

Some of the girls did group poster projects on a woman named Sister Kenny, who in the 1940s created an alternative therapy regimen for polio patients. Instead of requiring patients to wear braces and casts, Sister Kenny (shown at right) offered baths and massage to help ease the pain of polio suffering. The “sister” in her title was a reference to her training as a nurse in Australia, not her membership in a religious order. The girls were inspired by her compassion and also her feminism in standing up to the male-dominated medical establishment that branded her treatment as quackery. At a time before the Salk vaccine, her human touch was probably as much as the practice of medicine could offer.

Across Minnesota, 30,000 middle school and high school students started in National History Day last fall. Twelve hundred were nominated at regional competitions to come to the state meet today, and after we got done judging, about fifty go on to the national meet in College Park, Maryland in June. Go Minnesota History Day.

What do Louise and OLGS (and Mitzi) do on a Saturday night?

There are no Joes around tonight. Louise and I (OLGS) combine the best of 1961 and 2008 technology for a night at our make-shift home theater. The 1961 element is a huge eight feet-by-eight feet movie screen that drops from the ceiling. The owner of the house in 1961 must have installed it for showing slides of vacations or maybe Super8 home movies. Whatever. We use it for watching movies, too, but not Super8s. We use a digital projector to display DVDs on the big screen. Combined with a bunch of speakers that Joe College set up for us, we have our own home theater. Oh, and there is another 1961-era element to the home theater: a “LazyBoy” recliner that Joe College picked up out of some Minneapolis alley. It’s surprisingly comfy and Louise stretches out with her feet up, while Mitzi sits in Louise's lap and purrs.

Tonight, we are finishing up Season Two of “The Wire.” It looks like "Stringer" Bell is trying to supercede Avon Barksdale while the latter is behind bars. Back to the LazyBoy!