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.