November 9th, 1989

It had been another day of classes at the Non-commissioned Officer Academy, at Ft Leonard Wood, Missouri. I was there for the Combat Engineer Advanced Non-commissioned Officers Course (ANCOC). Those of us that got a lift in the shuttle van entered the barracks hallway and went to our rooms. We pretty much agreed to meet in the small commons area to head for the dining facility in about five minutes.
Upon entering our rooms, we all pretty much automatically turned on our televisions. They were all tuned to either MTV, the Weather Channel, or a news channel.
Pause.
We were all senior NCOs. All of us had either done one or more tours in Germany or Korea. We all had a pretty good idea of what we could be called upon to do, in the event of a breach of the fences in either place. We jokingly, as had thousands of our predecessors, called ourselves "speed bumps".
We had performed border patrols, practiced our wartime missions (in sector), and generally knew what a terrifing amount of firepower, death, destruction, and pain was awaiting all forces, on both sides of the fences.
But, that was our job, and not a one of us was serving as a draftee. Volunteers all.
End pause.
BANG! CRASH!
Every door on the hallway slammed open.
All of us were standing in our doorways, staring at each other with a Cortezian "...wild surmise."
We moved as a group to the commons and spent the next several hours in front of the big television in that room, watching as The Wall came down. We watched as thousands of Berliners, East and West that morning, but just Berliners now, climbed on, over, and atop that hateful barrier of concrete and wire that snaked like evil thought through the heart of Berlin.
We watched people pick up sledgehammers and chip away at the face of The Wall. We watched whole sections of The Wall pulled thunderously down, to thunderous cheers.
We saw the world turned upside down, the world that we grew up in and served in, flip on its axis and reright itself in a new way.
To this day, I will proudly proclaim that, after forty-plus years of staring at each other, we (the West) outlasted those evil bastards on the other side of the fence.

That is what I remember about November 9th, 1989.

Fictional Friendships

I have been working on the set of "The Wizard of Oz". Like many shows over the past ten years, this one has high points, low points, jerks, sublime moments, in short, all the things that make up live theater.
I have found myself near tears, several times. Never having done any studies of theater, or the interaction of life, history, and scripts, I have to say that this play, and the memory of the movie, strike me at my heart.
The Tin Woodsman is correct, I know I have a heart, because this one is breaking.
I have seen, felt, discovered, and recognize, in every scene, a separate moment of truth. Baum wrote a pretty good book. Then came the movie that most of us recall from years of annual television viewing. Then came the play.
All of them contain moments of humor, terror, pathos, love, and almost every emotion that I can think of.
I am in awe of the powers of suggestion, of imagination, and of recognition.

...and now for the discounts...

HA. I am working in a bookstore. This is the second of my all-time greatest goals in the working world. I've already done number one, working in a brewery.

Hmmm, beer and books.

Long time no write.
I have found that the ease of Facebook rapidly gets in the way of updating the blog. FB also allows me to see the speed and addictiveness of Twitter. Just dash off a line or two and you have the illusion of saying something.

I spent a lot of time on the road the since 19 July. Debi, Sapper, and I went to Enumclaw, WA for the Regional Highland Games, then on to the cabin in Colorado. We spent some great time there, enjoying what, for us, has become a foriegn place.

Debi had to remain in Colorado with her Mom for two weeks. Her Mom fell and ended up fracturing her sternum. Not a pleasent spot for a break for anyone, much less an eighty-four year old gal. Sapper and I made the trip across Colorado/Western Wyoming/Idaho/Oregon/Washington/ferry to Victoria, BC/upisland to Pt Hardy/ferry to Prince Rupert/ferry to KTN. The new trailer did great and is a real treat to set up and use. I did experience a catastrophic trailer tire blow-out in Oregon, but all went well, very little drama.

I'll work up a better write up on the trip later.

Thank You, Mr. Cannon

Whoo yeah!
I have finally found a professed liberal journalist who seems to get it. Politics Daily Senior Correspondent Carl M. Cannon, in an article posted on July 8th, carefully dissects the press coverage of Governor Palin.
Well written. Take the time to read the whole thing.

Manly Men Doing Manly Things

You have got to be fooling! Two heroes from Outside activate their EPIRB, get the State Police, the Air Guard, and every other rescue unit in the area in a lather...because it was too light...and they were sunburned...and...and...well, read for yourself.

Mladen Seculovich, RIP

Karl Malden, one of my favorite actors, died today. He was 97 years old. 97.
He and his wife just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last year.
Another WWII veteran gone. He served as an NCO in the US Army's Eighth Air Force.

So long to the man who gave us Father Barry, Omar Bradley, Mike Stone, and so many other roles.