Bumper Stickers Continued

DUKES FANS:       

"This car climbed Mt. Airy” ;Bumper sticker seen on many cars in Mt Airy.   

More on Bumper Stickers: 

My last newsletter looked at several bumper stickers that have caught my eye over the years. Mt. Airy is a great place to live if you like reading stickers because it is full of politically involved people of different ages and musicians, artists, and thinkers who have always been known to speak and show their minds and/or their humor. I quoted from some of them and asked you to send me your favorite stickers that you have seen or used over the years. A number of you did just that, and I thank you. 

 Some of the ones sent in came from males who remembered their younger days as drivers. One of the respondents talked about their first car-an old Rambler (remember them?) It was somewhat multi-colored and had a stick shift. And it bore a sticker which read; “Don’t laugh-your daughter could be in this car.” In a similar vein, another male sent in a sticker he had used in his 20’s that said, “This is the car I use until I know if I like my date enough to use my good car.”  

There were also items sent in that contained some philosophical thoughts. “Love is the hardest lesson, is a quote attributed to William Penn, I find that to be a true statement in my own life; I have to regularly re-learn that lesson. Another one reads, “Our duty and job is to act as if we believe that what we do can radically change the world.” That resonates with me as well. A friend, who is both a chaplain and a student of Jewish tradition, relates that she heard that bumper stickers with opposing ideas were like a Talmudic discussion in which rabbis compared and debated different interpretations of scripture and ideals." Both sides,” she said, "need to be heard and seen.” 

Of course, there were also humorous ones: “I have nothing worth saying on this sticker.” And,“Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again?” Also," My thoughts are far too important to be reduced to some silly bumper sticker.” Great thoughts, indeed.  

Thanks to all of you who sent things in. If you want to follow this from last week’s newsletter, you can find the start of this discussion in the “John's Blog” tab on the Dukes’ website. Know that I am still looking at bumper stickers, and I will let you know of any interesting ones I continue to come across. 

DUKES GIGS: www.dukesofdestiny.com    

Saturday November 18; John’s 73rd B’day at The Mermaid Inn; everyone gets a slice of Night Kitchen cake; Germantown Ave and Mermaid Ln; 8-11PM $20 www.themermaidinn.net     

This has been a tradition for several decades now; John celebrates the week of his birthday with a Saturday gig at The Maid. This is our home away from home; great vibes, dancing folks, good brews, and fun, fun, fun. Covid vaccination is strongly suggested but not mandated If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, by all means do. Come on out and wish the old man a Happy Birthday, enjoy great cake, and dance the night away.  (It would be super-great if we could get a couple of people to help slice the cakes and give them out. If you are interested, please get back to me) 

 

Johnny Never-John Colgan-Davis: acoustic blues duo: Winners of the IBC Central DE Competition: https://johnnynever.com/schedule       

Friday, November 17; Spirits 1675 Distillery:2685 Bristol Pike, Eddington, PA:6-9PM  (215) 645-1445           

We are back at 1675 for another night of great blues in a friendly spot with oak barrels for some tables and a great variety of whiskey, wine and ales, Food trucks regularly appear providing some delicious fare.    
  

The Sunday Blues Jam; Jamey’s House of Music;  32 S. Lansdowne Ave; Lansdowne, PA:215-477-9895; House band from 12-1PM-open jam from 1-3:00 pm. No cover-$5 minimum food and/or drink    

  Blues lovers and players have made Jamey's Sunday Blues Jam the place for great blues jamming, really good and inexpensive eats, ales on tap, fresh ground coffee and espresso, and friendly people who love the blues.  Each Sunday features an hour long set by a house band, and then an open jam until 3PM. Most Sundays the Philly Blues Kings, featuring guitar and keyboard ace Dave Reiter, do the 1-hour set, followed by a 2 hour jam. Once a month The Roger Girke-John Colgan-Davis does the house band set.  Got an instrument? Sing? Just want to listen to some exciting blues while enjoying some good food and good brews? Come on out and experience this great blues jam with Asian-inspired food and wonderful brews.

 

Bumper Sticker WIsdom

 

"I hate cars with a lot of bumper stickers”      Bumper sticker seen in West Mt Airy.  

I have always loved bumper stickers. I have seen a lot of clever ones, a lot of silly ones, a lot of ones that have me shaking my head, and some that have me pausing to think about the message. But I rarely can go by one without looking at it. There are a number that are humorous: “My other car is a Rolls Royce.” “I love my Granddogs” “Why are you wasting your time reading this?” Some are just advertising, of course, but some of them can go beyond that. There is a one on a car belonging to someone who works at WXPN that simply says, "Music Helps.” I can think of no truer statement.  

   There are others in my neighborhood that express social political feelings that I truly believe in. My favorite one simply says, “Humankind. Be Both.” That is one of my constant goals in my daily life, and sometimes, when I am upset or angry, seeing that sticker can remind me of that. Another of my favorites says, “Love thy neighbor. Even if they don’t vote, think, or love like you.” Another one that appeals to both John the politico and John the history teacher says, “If you didn’t vote, then don’t complain.” I concur heartily.  

   People who know me know that I am a Quaker and that I tend to differ from the mainstream in a lot of ways. In my high school days in the 1960’s, a lot of us wore pins and buttons that proclaimed our belief in equality, our opposition to the Vietnam war, and our love of particular philosophers, political figures and ideas. At one point our school tried to ban the wearing of pins, but students kept wearing them. So the school gave up. This was a time when what you wore said a lot about what you believed and thought, and a lot of us obviously wanted to challenge the norms. This is not quite as widespread now as it was then, but denim, long hair, dungaree jackets, Afros and long hair went a long way to proclaiming yourself aligned with the radical and/or hippie lifestyle. It marked a dramatic change in US values, and it has had lasting effects on the culture.  

   Buttons, pins and bumper stickers are still ways we can proclaim what we believe in, and I am glad that folks are still doing that. There are other folks who disagree with much of what I believe in, of course, and they have their stickers also. A peaceful war of stickers is, to me, much better than the too-often violent disagreements that can break out at marches and protests or simply driving down the street. Someone reading or being read rather than engaged in a shouting match may have a better chance of getting through.   

   I would be interested in knowing what bumper stickers you see that appeal to your interests and/or beliefs. If you would, please send some of them to me. I am curious to see what strikes your eyes, and if I get a bunch, I will re-print them in a future newsletter. Looking forward to it. Thanks! 

Spring Forward; Fall Back

DUKES FANS:    

“Spring forward: Fall back” ( Mnemonic device for remembering setting your clocks for Daylight Saving Time) 

This Sunday, November 5, is the official end of Daylight Saving Time. This is a controversial and long-lasting practice in the United States; it has been around for all of my nearly three-quarters-of-a-century on the planet. In grade school we memorized the saying that opens this newsletter to make sure we knew what to do so we wouldn’t be caught short. I remember making fun of and laughing at people who forgot to change their clocks. They either arrived early at church in the fall or late in the spring. Now, of course, we do not have to worry about that: most watches, computers, and digital clocks Daylight Savings Time built in, and it happens automatically. That brings up the question, of course, of why does Daylight Saving Time exist anyway? Where did it come from?

  The history of Daylight-Saving TIme (DST) is complicated story, and I will only hit some of the highlights here. (Wikipedia has a good and more thorough summary should you want more detail.)  Ben Franklin wrote a (probable) satirical letter to a paper in France in 1784 suggesting adding an hour forward in the summer to save money on candles; they would be used less and would last longer. While that idea did not catch on, New Zealand etymologist George Hudson proposed some form of DST in the 1890’s, wanting an extra hour of daylight to collect and study insects. Englishman William Willet proposed it in 1907 as he saw many Londoners sleeping longer hours during the summer months. He thought DST would fit the pattern of how people were actually living and would make the workday more efficient. Parliament considered but rejected it. But DST really took off during World War I (1914-1918). Germany and Austria-Hungary adopted it as a way of using less coal and saving money for the war effort. Most of Europe followed suit, and it seemed to work. Most of them dropped DST after the war ended. Feeling no need for it. But certain places did adopt it. The US had started tinkering with the idea when the Interstate Commerce Commission-the agency in charge of regulating trade policy for the US–decided that there needed to be standardization of time across the country to make train travel and shipment of goods easier. To that end, they standardized time zones across the country in 1883.  So when WW I happened, the US also went to a national DST in order save coal and other resources. It was abandoned soon after that war, but it was reintroduced in WW II (1944-1945 for the US). After that war, different states either employed it or didn’t. There was a Uniform Time Act in 1966 which standardized DST nationwide. That act was amended and changed several times, though. The oil embargo of the 1970’s re-standardized it for a while. Again, the rationale was to save energy, resources, and money. And it is pretty much standardized now throughout the country. Arizona is the only state in the mainland US that does not recognize DST, Hawaii and several US territories also do not recognize it. Everyplace else in the US does. 

DST is quite controversial. There have been several 

 movements to have it dropped. I, like many people, was raised to think that DST was instituted because it benefited farmers, but it turns out they generally do not like it. Their workdays depend upon what the sun 

 and nature do, not on clocks and hours. We were told that it helped during the oil embargo, but there are some contradictory findings on how much energy and money was actually saved. And some research

suggests that DST is unhealthy for many people- interrupting sleep cycles and affecting digestion and heart health. But it is here for now, and it may be for awhile. Maybe it will still be here when I finally leave the planet. 

   So turn those clocks back on Saturday night 

 before you go to sleep and/or let your digital 

devices do it. Happy November and Happy

 DST.  And ejoy that added hour of sleep. (Daylight saving time in the United States - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States)

 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game....

DUKES FANS:    

“Take me out to the ball game...”  

Jack Norworth  

    I have written about a lot of things in these newsletters over the years. I have talked about biridng, the weather, the moon, and the seasons. I’ve discussed going camping, taking trips to different museums, and wonderful visits to several different cities. I have written a number of pieces about teaching and retiring from teaching. I have discussed and paid tribute to books and poems, holiday origins and word origins, and many other things. One of the things I have rarely written about, however, is sports, and particularly, my ongoing love affair with The Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.f Looking back on it, it is odd that I have not written much about that because it has been an important part of my entire life. So I need to give it some attention now.  

I grew up in Philadelphia during the 1950’s, and like many boys of that time, I both played and loved sports. Growing up we listened to games on the radio and occasionally watched them on TV. On our own we played running bases, half ball, and eventually graduated into a neighborhood baseball league composed of different Philly neighborhoods from around the city. I tried out for both baseball and football in junior high and high school, but that was going from being a mid-sized fish in a small pond to being a tiny fish in a gigantic lake. There were way too many boys who were much more skilled than I was.  So that ended my playing career. But I continued to be and am still a big fan.  

  Many of my years as a Philadelphia sports fan were mired in great sadness and epic disappointment. The Phillies particular brought years of sadness. They were perennially in last or near last place from 1952 well into the mid-1970’s. In fact, when they had a great chance to win the National League championship in 1964, they experienced one of the most epic collapses in sports history.  They held a 6 1/2 lead with only 12 games remaining in the regular season. They then proceeded to lose 10 games in a row, had to go into a playoff against the Cardinals, and ended up not winning the championship. Whew! That was an exceptional occurrence, and it hurt a great deal. Looking back though, it maybe should not have been so surprising. The Phillies have lost more games than any other sports franchise in world history. Being a Phillies fan meant long dry spells.  

Things starting turning around in the late 1970’s, however. The Phillies have been near the top of the league most seasons since then. They have won 8 National League championships, been to the World Series 6 times since 1980, including last year, and have won The World Series in 1980 and 2008. For a lifelong fan who went through all of the years of disappointment and shame, the recent history of the team has been good to witness and to cheer.  

I am writing this because over the weekend the Phillies made it to the first round of the 2023 playoff series to decide who goes to the World Series again this year. They went to the World Series last year but lost to Houston, and I have hopes that they can make into the Series yet again. It has been fun following them these last few years, and I am excited. I still Listen to most games on the radio, by the way. The TV advertising blitz and split screens of modern TV sports broadcasting are driving this old man crazy. But I still enjoy rooting for the home team, come what may. Call me crazy, but I love being a Phillies fan. Go Phils!!

 

Philly Weather This Week

 

DUKES FANS:   

I have really enjoyed the weather in Philadelphia over the last several days. It has been fall-like in the best sense of the word. The rain when it was there was just rain, not a thunderstorm. The wind was breezy, not knock-you-off-your feet or blow-your-hat-off-your head breezy. And the sun, the sky and the clouds have just been spectacular-dramatic, bright clear, and beautiful. We have had several of those days that make me think of Mr. Rogers’ “Beautiful day in the neighborhood” and have me realize that I would have to work real hard to be in a bad mood on these types of days. I will just enjoy today-no “profound thoughts’ or “big realizations,” except to say that in a world with regularly occurring natural disasters, I am grateful to have the day that I have today.  

(to help people facing natural disasters please consider donating to one of the organizations listed here: www.globalcorps.com/jobs/ngolist.pdf ) 

A reminder about Jamey’s House of Music:   

There is a Go Fund Me set up to help raise the more than $25,000 needed to pay for repairs to the ceiling and floor in the club that were damaged by Jamey’s upstairs tenants. Please give what you can; you know how valuable this place is with its incredible roster of blues jazz, and folk concerts, its Sunday jams, and its great food. Please help out:   

https://www.gofundme.com/f/emergency-repairs-for-jameys-house-of-music?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet   

"Up In The Morning and Off to School"

 

DUKES FANS: 

“Up in the morning and off to school...”   

                                                        Chuck Berry 

This week saw the return of folks to school-public, private, charter and more. For the past two weeks I have seen and heard kids and parents flooding Staples stores trying to decide just what binders, folders, backpacks would work best. In department stores I have witnessed the inevitable battles over what is and/or is not appropriate to wear this year. I live three blocks from a wonderful public elementary school, and many of my neighbors stood outside the school yesterday morning cheering the kids and teachers as they arrived for Day 1. I took the train home from Center City around 3:15 yesterday, and there were kids from Masterman, Friends Select, and other Center City schools filling the seats and talking excitedly about the first day back. It is the start of the school year, and that is a special time. 

 I retired from teaching way back in 2015, but I still love witnessing all of these scenes. Beneath the craziness and politicalization of education in recent months, these regular rituals surrounding the return of the school year remind me that education should be about kids and teachers trying to learn to communicate with each other, trying to help each other be excited about learning and working together, trying to ignite imagination, and trying hard to build supportive and nurturing communities. So much of our culture these days seems to have forgotten that or is willingly ignoring that. As someone who had wonderful public school experiences and taught and loved teaching for some 40 years, that saddens me...  

A reminder about Jamey’s House of Music: 

Upstairs tenants at Jamey’s flooded the bathroom leading to a collapsed ceiling in the club itself. There is a Go Fund Me set up to help raise the estimated $16,000 needed to pay for repairs. Please give what you can; you know how valuable this place is with its incredible roster of blues jazz, and folk concerts, its Sunday jams, and its great food. Please help out: 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/emergency-repairs-for-jameys-house-of-music?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet