Autumn beauty

Last week, driving along the highway, I noticed that the trees had turned. The change always seems to happen suddenly. One day they're green, and the next they've become yellow, burgundy, and burnt orange. Very soft colors, not the flamboyant foliages of my northern childhoods. The temperature has been perfect too; cool in the morning, up to 70 at the peak. The moon is full tonight, and was beginning to glow as I drove home at 5 o'clock. There's no school tomorrow because of Veteran's Day. I will spend most of the day grading.

At the school's Veteran's Day assembly this morning, I thought of Dad, of course. While the school band played patriotic songs, and the school color guard performed, I couldn't help but remember the photos of young, handsome Dad smiling in his Army uniform circa 1945. He was a mere boy, younger than my own youngest son, when he was drafted out of college and shipped over to Italy to fight a world war. The very thought of shipping a son off to a major war is heartwrenching, yet millions of mothers across the world and over the centuries have done just that, including my grandmother who sent two sons off to World War II. How she could bear the fear and uncertainty, I have no idea. She was one of the lucky mothers; they both survived. I remember Dad's stories of how the Italian natives---just as effusive and vivacious as Hispanics are, no doubt---would come running out to greet the American soldiers with shouts of joy and flowers. I also remember Dad's stories about patrolling at night. If I remember this right, some unique tribe of Eastern Indians was working with the Allies. They were extremely tall, wore turbans, and were very violent. Each night, the American solders were informed of a secret password they would need to utter if they ever encountered one of these Indians at night, so the latter wouldn't mistake them for the enemy. The password one night was "Gravel Gertie," recalled Dad. He did indeed cross paths with one of those Indians--wish I could remember the specific name of the tribe. I'll have to research that. Now it was time to say the password before the tall guy pulled out his knife and asked questions later. Dad remembered how his teeth and jaw chattered as he spat out "G-g-g-g-g-ravel G-g-g-gertie!"

After the war, after marrying my mother, he went to medical school on the G.I. bill. He apparently had to be affiliated with the Army for awhile even after finishing at McGill. When I was three, we moved to Tacoma, Washington, and lived on what I think was a military base. I remember a photo of the front door, with the sign "First Lt. Agnew" painted on it. I remember other men in Army uniforms. He must have been affiliated in some medical way, or have been receiving medical experience. Photos show my mother and groups of other mothers sitting on the lawns together with all the children nearby. I even remember the inside of that teeny little house, connected to all the other teeny houses in a giant square, with a courtyard of sorts in the back. I remember riding my tricycle on the sidewalk in the back.

Yep, Dad was with me today during that Assembly.

Moving on to other subjects. . . how about Obama's victory? How happy we are that he won! We're overjoyed! This country needs a fresh leader with guts and VISION who is not afraid to throw off the yoke of tired Republican policies of the past eight years and forge ahead with plans for healing. Today I showed the classes a United Streaming film about the Great Depression, which is the setting for To Kill a Mockingbird. It was chilling to be reminded of the similarities between the Great Depression and the current economic crisis: both events were preceded by prosperity, stock market climbs, a strong housing market, widespread over-spending and over-extension, hands-off government approach to regulation, and support for big business, then BOOM! Stock market crash, job loss, foreclosures, and bank failures and the huge ripple effect that destroyed the economy. When the film described Hoover's laissez faire approach to the economic problems and his idea of bringing about recovery by giving money to businesses, not individuals, it reminded me big-time of Bush and the current Congress. (Yes, of course, let's bail out AIG, whose CEO's get bonuses higher than the total income of Georgia. Here's an idea that's been going around the internet: take the bail-out package, divide it up among the population of America, and send each citizen a check. Someone calculated that it would come to $200,000 each. Now there's a stimulus package!) The film described the election of dynamic FDR, who took charge right away and came up with program after program after program to assuage the pain of the Depression. Obama is the new FDR.
While shopping this weekend, we saw his smiling face, along with Michelle's, on just about every magazine cover on the rack. It fills me with joy.