Welcome, Brian and Jeanne (and Lafayette)

As part of preparing my "head" for a dinner with Brian and Jeanne, former students of mine from Lafayette College, I went online yesterday to review some of those people (and times) during the late 80's and early 90's where I toiled under extreme pressure under the auspices of the pseudo-English Department of Laff-a-lot college.  Some of the same Professors are still there -- though now there is an actual theatre AB major -- something that had been suggested long ago -- and the same person who replaced me then is still there now. The program promises high scholarship and professionalizing classes -- saw none of that in the course descriptions. The program itself is at the level of Armstrong Atlantic State University here in Savannah -- with the exception of more money for visiting "big name" guests.

The was always the Lafayette way -- big names in lieu or real innovation, easy solutions in place of doing the work necessary within the profession to succeed. Why is it that most of the success from that programs comes not from this new program-- but from my struggling years there? Why is that -- David Johnson? Why is that June Schluetter, or James (Criminal Minds) Wooley? Scholarship? Hardly. But seemingly scholarly? Always.  

Issues of Life

I worry about: women's rights, fascism among the Republicans, crazy gun owners, violence between rival gangs, crime against the helpless, refugees, immigrants, slavery, human trafficking, corrupt politicians, the continuing rise and control of Capitalism in America, declining hope, declining morality, the death of religion, the false hope of human self-declared Spiritualism, abuse, family dissolution, the arrogance of the knowing, the ignorance of the majority, what entertains me, what is essential to a "good life," what is lacking in a "normal life," sex, sexual abuse, the loss of beauty, the death of happiness, depression, worry, despair, anger, life without meaning, death without life, the end of thinking, the regrets of life!

What do you worry about?

Breakfast All Day

McDonalds is making another paltry change to try and shore up their diminishing business.  Breakfast all day will not save McDonalds -- the corporate changes necessary to change McDonalds have not even been dreamed of yet.

The "taste" of everything they serve needs to be updated --- improved --- reinvented. Everything tastes the same --- the hamburgers taste the same (unchanged regardless of the tweaks they try to introduce), the fries taste the same (too salty and unhealthily greasy), the drinks taste the same (will somebody please clean those spigots, spouts, and lines?) I don't believe Mickey D's will be around 10 years from now -- and the world will be mostly healthier for it.

Yup, Still a Bit Wet Out

The rain keeps drizzling down -- and we will probably have had 3-5 inches of rain over the past several days while some spots in South Carolina will exceed 30 inches during the same time span.  That's why they are calling this a "1000 Year Flood." No joke; it truly is!

Charleston was flooded badly -- schools were closed and streets were impassable. The seawall was breached and salt water flooded the "downtown" (battery, I think they call it) at high tides and then it stayed flooded because there was no place for the floodwaters to go.  It will take some strong drying winds moving from the land to the ocean to clear the coastal towns of South Carolina.

In the meantime at least one major damn was overtopped upriver in Columbia, South Carolina -- which will insure increased flooding on river plains in South Carolina for at least the next 5-7 days. The last time "that" happened the many commercial pig farms in South Carolina were flooded putting millions of gallons of "pig wastes" out into the general countryside via the flooding rivers. They are trying to avert that very disaster as I write this. Good luck to them!

This weather has been a nightmare for those who have lost homes, businesses, and even loved ones to the floods. Lots of "flood repair" will be going on for some time -- and "disaster areas" have been declared throughout South Carolina and parts of Georgia. Considering this "storm" affected a very large area it was probably worse than any hurricane could have been.

Raining Still

Forty days and forty nights of rain? Maybe. Lots of people are losing cars, homes, and time in South Carolina right now.  Their rain totals have to be inconceivable. Ours in Savannah were just "high normal."

We are due to clear up by Wednesday -- I hope it happens. We need some decent weather.

Student "Alumni" Coming in October

Brian Carr and Jeanne Naughton Carr are coming into Savannah, hopefully on the 8th of October.
There is or will be a hurricane between Tarrytown, NY and Savannah, GA where they live so lets
just "pray" it goes by us all before then.

Brian and Jeanne are one of the few couples I sort of keep in touch with from the Lafayette years -- except of course for Dick and Polly Kendrick. So, it would be good to "catch up" with all things Lafayette alumni. It is their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

Weather Turning Crazy...Again

The new hurricane Joaquin is now a level 3 --- perhaps soon to be a 4.  It may hit NYC or it may drift out to sea and become a "fish storm." No matter what it's going to bring 12-18 MORE inches of rain to the greater Charleston, SC area -- not a good thing for beach erosion, downed trees, loss of power, etc.

And the "hits" just keep on coming!  It is raining here in Savannah, GA as the edge of the Gulf rains track through our area -- this is the system that is keeping Joaquin "away" from Savannah, but at the same time is saturating our grounds too. This system will be punch l of a 2-punch set of circumstances that will hit areas from the Chesapeake North, and may once again inundate NYC and points North of that.

Not so good for all my friends in NYC! And even my "former friends" in Washington, D.C.!