Yet Another Hungarian Actor Makes it Big

Did you know this?  I sure didn't, but the great English actor Leslie Howard -- the dreamy Ashley Wilkes from Gone With the Wind -- had a Hungarian father.  OLGS thought that ol' Leslie was a Hungarian immigrant, and could not believe that the quintessential gent could have mastered the King's English so beautifully.  However, Leslie was born in England with the last name of Stainer (changed from Steiner so it wouldn't sound so German during WWI).

Innocents abroad, or Joe's visit to Colombia

Joe College Grad is off again -- this time to Colombia.  He's moving fast, and has made it to St. Gil, a colonial city that looks quite lovely.  Ah, to be young and healthy.

Eastern Europe

We've been back from our trip to Vienna, Budapest and Romania for almost two months, but the glow lingers. Vienna, where OLGS was working with Austrian colleagues, is rich, accessible, clean and very western. Budapest is more gritty, with many remnants of Soviet-style architecture, a significant police presence, and fewer English speakers. But that's OK, 'cause OLGS speaks Hungarian. And there are the broad boulevards, the elaborate fin de siecle apartment buildings, the cute trams, and an atmosphere that conveys, "Yes, we were once grand and could be again. Just give us time." But Romania?

In some ways it's a throwback. Donkey carts, lumbering, exhaust-spewing trucks, and many, many Roma people who are universally despised by the Romanians. It's what I imagine Alabama to have been in the 1920's. And the reminders of the Ceaușescu regime -- huge dams and factories, extreme poverty, suspicion and fear -- linger still. But the Hungarian-speaking village where we stayed in Transylvania is both very poor and very rich -- self sufficient in so many ways, dedicated to the children's education and improvement, and living out their heritage every day.

Will we return?  You betcha.

Leaving Flyover Land -- Temporarily

OLGS and Domtran are off on another adventure, this time to eastern Europe, with a stop in central Massachusetts. While we are absent from the land of 10,000 swamps, some of the Joes will be living chez nous, supervising Mitzi the cat, the carpenters who are working on the house, and making sure that the snow, if any in this winter of global warming, is removed from the walkways.

And it will be good to both leave town and come back -- maybe to spring?

Global Warming in Minnesota

OK, global warming foes. We're not just making it up. By this time, early February in the Land of Lakes, we have usually had dozens -- at least two -- of days where the thermometer went below zero. That's what we're known for -- the coldest major population center with ridiculous winter temps. We take pride in it.

There have been only a couple of below zero days so far this winter. And those were at night. None of that stuff where the afternoon temp never went into positive territory. Moreover, we've had no snow. The total is around six inches since November in the Twin Cities. What's up with this?

And they just released the revised gardening zones. We are definitely not anywhere near zone 3 anymore. In fact, in some places in MN, we're barely in zone 4. And because there's no snow cover, on those few occasions when the temp has dipped into the teens or single digits, I worry about freezing. Snow is a wonderful insulator for plants, even those supposed to be hardy in zone 3. We might as well be living in Iowa.

Obviously the global warming naysayers have not been here recently. Probably never been here, in fact.

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.