Black History Month - Coming and Going

    I tried to dedicate a bit more of my learning to African-American history this month by paying attention to more history, knowledge, stories, and even participate in some African-American things. I then wanted to share and relay these lessons to others. Since the summer of 2020 I have wanted to attend some Black churches, and I thought that I could follow through with it this month. I did pretty well the first few days of the month, but then I lost the verve and missed out on more opportunities.

    As stated in a National Geographic documentary about Black History that I watched some of yesterday, "Black History (in the U.S.) is American history." Right. I have said so and thought so before. We celebrate all of it, and we recognize the bad, too. All of it is us. Our world. Our country. Our heritage. We share it.

    This past year and half, going on two years, I have had good experiences with African-Americans personally. They were not bad before that. But things came into better focus for me in this regard. It is the post George Floyd, Black Lives Matter times. We try to get it.

    What else did I want to convey? This month is good to remember and assess our shared history. Accomplishments, victories, setbacks, disgraces, all the things that have been and made us who we are. 

    Let's do things right and remember.

    Speaking of remembering, there were a couple more things that I had in mind for this post, but I have forgotten them. Perhaps I will recall them soon.

    That is it for now. No, I remembered a couple things.

    Oh yeah. As I was wanting to visit and participate in some African-American based churches in my community, and thinking of time to do so this month, I was spending some of my time helping a brother in my congregation who has been largely down on his luck, who has been scammed for thousands of dollars, who is in debt and his job has been pulling back on his hours, social security is claiming that he was overpaid by them and want thousands of dollars back, which he does not have. He is in debt, can sometimes not pay his rent, or have food for money. We have people (including myself) dealing with Adult Protective Services to help him.

    So this has kept me from spending more time doing some other things. And this gentleman I speak of? He may be Black. Or partially, anyway. But to me, that part is immaterial. He is our brother, no matter his skin nor heritage.

 I want to be a bit more like MLK, in a month we think a lot of him, or since January too. His federal holiday. We celebrate our combined and shared histories, our heritage and futures together.

    We will succeed or fail together. 

    Long live these dreams.

The X Factor for IU Basketball 2023

    Indiana did it; I watched the whole thing. The Hoosiers clad in red beat the hometown Boilermakers on a Saturday night, this the second time we have beaten them this year. But this was in their lair, Mackey Arena.

    Whew! Purdue is really good. I told my wife, or I am telling you: if IU cannot win it all this spring, I would like to see the boys from West Lafayette do it. It can be an Indiana thing. Still. That would be nice. It has been way too long, for either program. Indiana since 1987 and Purdue, like never. They claim some national championships in the earlier 20th century, before the NCAA tourney started in 1939.

    I will discuss some of the history of the March Madness champs in another blog post. Like, who are the one-time winners? How often does that happen? Which schools have multiple championships What are the numbers of each?

    For now, assessment of the Indiana squad. I think that the X factor might be Trey Galloway. Of course, that goes with saying that the senior big man All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and the freshman all-world guard Jalen Hood-Schifino keep doing their masterful magic on the floor. Both of these guys are the horses, the engines, that make this team a better IU unit that they have been in years. As good as 2016, if not better. Possibly as good as in 2013, when they fell apart at the end of the season. But they were a number one seed and predicted by many to win it all. Ten years ago. But their biggest whiff of success came in 2002, another time coming up short.

    Could this be the year? I think that they may have the right pieces to go far and even win it all, but the man who might make the difference is Indiana's own Trey Galloway. When he does his thing, the Hoosiers are hard to beat. Yesterday in West Lafayette he almost dunked it on Zach Edey. 

    Let me repeat that. 6'5" Galloway almost dunked the basketball on 7'4" center All-American Zach Edey. They call him the crazy man. He hustles and scraps, and he attempts to boldly do what is needed to win. He steals the ball, puts pressure on ball handlers, goes aggressively to the hole. The cup. The bucket. He plays off his teammates, he makes the passes to put them in good positions to score. He knocks down long shots and makes athletic lay ups.

    He may be the difference in the next month.

    Race Thompson is a huge part, as a big man starter, and Miller Kopp is crucial, as a man who is counted on from outside. He gets some inside hoops too. The bench is a big part of rest for the starters and added energy, in sometimes sharpshooter Tamar Bates, the uber athletic Jordan Geronimo, and the crafty but foul-prone Malik Reneau. 

    Some would assert the "X" factor is the more than two month injured super speedy 5th year point guard Xavier Johnson. He broke his foot in December and is looking to return pretty soon. There are two more regular season games left, then the Big Ten Tourney, then on to The Tournament.

    Coming up this March of 2023.

    The X factor. Do the Hoosiers have it? 

    I think they do. But hey, I have been wrong about these guys so many times before...

    Go IU! Fight, fight, fight!

 The Promise of Spring - 5783

    Most of the Western world is in 2023 as we measure it, because we acknowledge the birth year of Jesus Christ. Seculars have changed A.D., Anno Domini (the year of the Lord), to the less culturally biased Common Era. This nomenclature has removed some of the reference to the Divine as the Christian world has framed it. Muslims have their calendar, which dates from 622 based on when the Prophet Mohammed first began his legacy. Peace and Blessings be upon him. Sala allah alehee wa salem. In the Jewish history, long, illustrious, and also full of trauma and pain. But this can be said of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, animists, heathens (shout out to Asatru and others), and even the so-called peaceful atheists. 

    Genocides and wars have come in all packages.

    Recently my oldest daughter, close to making her own history by graduating from college, re-read some of her baby book with her grandmother. Relayed to me by my wife, I had written some twenty years ago when our firstborn was in diapers, that I wished to explain some geo-politics to her someday.

    I am grateful to be reminded of this past wish, and perhaps even more so appreciative and even humbled to have survived the last two decades to reflect and still postulate on such things.

    

    The WORLD in 5783

       

     The world as we know it. What is happening? What do we think?

    Where to start? My wife and I watched a show with a British commentator this past week, he bemoaning the state of our planet, as it has about 8 billion inhabitants and still increasing; we are chopping up and burning our natural environments with its autochthonous flora and fauna. Too many "ugly" human mouths are destroying the planet, and millions of us live in poverty, like the water-based slums of Lagos, Nigeria. We have forests of eucalyptus trees bereft of birds and other wildlife where former pristine trees and underbrush reigned. There are mountains and heaps of trash and refuse that pile up across the globe, not to mention the plastic globules and invasive rubbish that infiltrate our seas and oceans. He thinks that us humans are the most ugly species. I get it.

    Global warming is real, and non-sustainable natural habitats are a common thing. Some places on the planet seem to have it right (see Southeast Alaska). There is hope for greener pastures, pun intended. Cobalt in Congo will lead to batteries that will reduce carbon emissions. Less fossil fuels burnt will mean less industrial and environmental contamination and the further poisoning of our earth.

    Environmental issues are dire and foreboding, with some glimmers of hope. On the governmental and political side, things have been messy, perhaps messier than normal.

    Russia is doing terrible, nasty business in Ukraine. A war in Europe that was unthinkable to most of us, just 18 months ago. Now we are a year in. We are at the end of February, Black History Month in the United States, where we both celebrate and mourn for the triumphs and tragedies of the African-Americans of our country's history. In my area of the country and this amazing spinning orb we have strong hints of spring. Warmth, rain, buds of trees, birds. It seems a not too vicious winter is almost over.

    Thousands are dying and suffering in Ukraine for these reasons of war. Not too far to the south in Turkey and Syria, tens of thousands have died due to a vicious earthquake. Some survivors were remarkably saved.

    Another winter leads to another spring. The cycle continues.

    Spring for sports fans brings a lot of hope and wonder. Us basketball fans watch as the players and teams that we may pine for over the cold months are establishing their resumes and chemistries to create magic in March, as March has been the year for college teams to shine for generations hailing back to before World War II. Indiana fans such as myself are particularly hopeful as my Hoosiers beat Purdue again within a month, and are poised to make some noise in the coming weeks. While the BYU Cougars are not as good as hoped, they still have talent and reasons to play for. Who knows? They could win their tournament and dance in the madness of March? Good madness, that is.

    Baseball is resuming, already in full swing (pun intended) for the college ranks. The professionals are warming up and teams like perennial losers San Diego have hope. Maybe even the Mariners? Why not? I want the teams that have never won to end up triumphant this fall. My Nats and White Sox would be fun to watch excel, too.

    

    China is brutish and bellicose. Russia is even worse at present. A North Korea nation is lead by a sycophant. Iran kills a minority woman for not wearing her head scarf properly. Natural disasters wreak havoc on millions. Some nations cannot contain their terrorist or rebellious groups, to include much of Africa, and certain parts of Asia. The Western Hemisphere is more or less peaceful, but we have pockets of problems, obviously Venezuela, or Haiti, with problems of violence rife in Mexico and Central America. Mostly due to illicit drug sales.

    Those illegal drugs cause most of the violence and homicides in the United States, including, in my opinion and practically the estimation of no one else, or a seldom few, THC and marijuana factors that lead to mass shootings. The media and politicians blame the deadly guns (I hear so many pundits lament this constant tragedy!), the mechanisms of random and senseless violence are impugned, but the causes are ignored. And millions celebrate and pass laws to continue to legalize pot.

    Shame on our collective ignorance.

    What else can I share?

    Israel and Palestine go more rounds in awful operations of death and despair.

    But we do have the promise of spring. May more light and peace cover the earth as we lengthen our daylight ours.

    That was rarely the picture in Afghanistan the last two decades. Warmer temperatures meant fighting season.

    The Taliban are in control there now.

    Myanmar is a repressive place. Millions have suffered there. There is good and bad in all societies, but I believe that peace shall come. Better heads will prevail. 

Iceland Poem #2 19FEB22

 Iceland Poem #2 19FEB22 (Written there)

    We the Vikings! The remnants of 

    the former race

    We carried over the tongue 

    of the ancients, the vocabulary

    of the older, seafarers of     

        

    a thousand years since

    a pure way of maintaining

    thoughts and family

    The people of Iceland

    Grafting people in, generation

    After the next

    Those from Chile (2019), Venezuela (2023)

    and Poles and Bulgars

    Arrival on shores and into bars

    Where work is solid

    Society is free - the capital far north

    64 degrees, further than any other

    A large, wide open city

    A people, comfortable in their

    Culture - a land

    A land for the language of Vikinga

 Frederick Smith - A Decent Goy Begat My Dad

    Part of life is figuring out who we are. For those of us who believe in the Bible, we believe that we are chosen of God and are of a royal generation. Who begat you and your line?

    

    Did he go by Fred? I should ask his daughter Barbara, who I did meet in person.

    

    This man was not to marry my grandmother, whom I never met. He was only to impregnate her. 

    Good enough. (A phrase of my father). I never met Frederick, and neither did my dad. Once I thought that my dad told me that he may have briefly met him, possibly as my dad was a teen in his small town. Fred's wife never knew that my dad existed, I guess. They would have three daughters, who never knew of my dad. Until about 60 years later.

    I cannot complain about what happened in Massachusetts in the 1930s while so much worse was going on in Russia back then, come full circle to 2022 and 2023 and those Russkies (Russies) are up to nothing but bad in Ukraine. Times change, and times stay the same.

    So, my dad learned to not get the mother pregnant before marriage, and my sisters came out more legitimate, as it were. And we met three of our four grand-parents, albeit one was really our great-grandma. (See above). Her name was Clinch, not Smith. And that was the name that stuck, to this day and beyond.

    Things went good by and large.

    Much better than Russia.

    And even Germany, of course. Smith was likely descended from the Brits. Which leads me to questions of how to submit and track genealogy. That, for another post.

    I am blessed, Frederick Smith.

    Biological grandpa. I may meet you someday. I did not meet my adopted grandfather either, who died too young. Guy, son of a Harvard trained dentist. He begat another Guy, who passed on some more than ten years ago. I knew this Uncle, who technically was my great uncle. Father of five Clinch boys, who have gone on to have many more. From New England (most recently Maine) to Iowa, that is what I know.

    Oh, yeah. You were not Jewish; you were Christian from a land that had been dominated by stalwart Puritans. You were Protestant of some type, and then your son, my father opted for leaving traditional Christianity and became a Latter-day Saint. Which has become my legacy. And my family is more or less constituted as such.

    Yeah, family. About time. And history. And in the back of it, or front of it, I believe that I am among the Chosen. From inauspicious beginnings and continuous cycles of life come God's faithful.

The name above does not fit my biological grandpa. Our Smith would have been born around 1914-20. I cannot recall his middle name, but he is buried in Wilmington, like the Clinches. Only a few yards apart.

Who are the Chosen of God? That remains to be seen. Jewish, Christians, and Muslims think we are headed there. We are all woven into the fabric of the tapestry of God's children.

Tokk Fyrit (Tok Firit) 19 February 2023

Tok Fyrit (Tok Firit) 19 February 2023

    

    Thank you - Iceland             (THANK YOU ICELAND!)

    A place far off from

    much of the world

    Across dark, lonesome

    Cold, fecund-of-fish seas

    in February                            (CAN YOU FEEL THE COLDNESS?)

    

    They speak the tongues

    and grammars

    of their forefathers from 1,000 years ago

    

    the Great Leifur Erikkson

    -not just Leif, as we read in our childhood

    history books and tomes from 

    the library

    

    Iceland is alive and well

    Tok fyrit, ob se geth, bless bless, and all of it

 Has There Been a Clippers Sighting?

    The West is more open than the East in the NBA, as my friend at work Chris has aptly surmised. This is the state of the best basketball league in the world, 2023. The Denver Nuggets are playing at a better than normal average, but some trades from the east to the west have shaken things up a bit. Kyrie Irving with the Mavs, Kevin Durant with the Suns, the Grizzlies are decent, even Sacramento is balling.

    The Lakers have made some moves to get better, but they have been on life support, even with an amazing ageless Lebron King James. Although he has missed games with sore ankles...

    

    I am excited for the woebegone Clippers of LA, because they have always been behind the eight ball, and now they have my Hoosier boy Eric Gordon back, back where he started from!

    With Zubac as a decent center, George and Leonard dong their things with some Terrence Mann a few other supporting cast members, like Morris and Batum, perhaps these guys might go far.

    Here's hoping!

Go Clips. Make L.A. a winner again, only different.