A Different President

Today, February 12, would have been celebrated in my youth as the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  We now have a combined holiday (more on that next week) but I am reminded of a post from 2012 about a different President.

Back then, I blogged about the Amazing Secret of Sherwood Forest.  So let us consider, for a few minutes, another president of the 19th century, John Tyler.

No, the amazing secret of Sherwood Forest doesn't have anything to do with Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Although it would have been interesting to watch them fight in the Civil War, dressed in their bright green clothes and using their longbows and clubs to fight....well, I don't know if they would have sided with the Union or the Confederates.  But Friar Tuck would have been quite the sight.

No, I am talking about Sherwood Forest Plantation, in Virginia, which became a bit of an Internet sensation in 2012 because of a man who lived there. His name is Harrison Tyler, and he happens to be the grandson of President John Tyler, a U.S. President who served from 1841 to 1845.

John Tyler was born in 1790.  In other words, a man born in 1790 has two living grandsons.

(And yes, in 2019, they are both still alive and in their 90's, from what I can find. Call it more Living History or Human Wormholes).

So, putting Harrison Tyler aside, what is so fascinating about President John Tyler?

Although John Tyler's administration is interesting from an aspect of studying pre-Civil War history, his actions after states started to secede is what holds fascination for me.

A Peace Conference was held in February 1861 to reach a compromise and enable the Union to continue.  It was hoped a settlement could be reached before Lincoln took office in March of 1861. (unlike today, Presidents in that era took office on March 4 and not January 20).  John Tyler came from his home at Sherwood Forest Plantation to attend.

John Tyler, sent by his native Virginia, was the head of this conference.  It did not succeed, although a Constitutional amendment was proposed. 

After the failure of the Peace Conference, Tyler sided with the Confederacy, and was a delegate from Virginia to the  Provisional Confederate Congress.  When elections to the First Confederate Congress were held in 1861, Tyler was elected to their Congress but died before he took office.

Tyler is buried in Richmond, VA near the grave of President James Monroe.  As he was in rebellion his death was not officially mourned by the Union.  On the other hand, the Confederacy declared him a hero.  A grand funeral was held in his honor.  I've visited the James Monroe grave, but somehow missed Tyler.  Perhaps, if I am in Richmond again, I'll remember.

One more thing: if not for a twist of fate, we may have better known Tyler as a musician.


Which may lead me to an interesting Music Moves Me one Monday.

Just Another Word?

I come from a generation where uttering a certain four letter word beginning with "f" and ending with "k" would earn you instant punishment from your parents, if you were a youngster.

This scene from one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story, had a lot of truth in it.

If you were older, you knew better than to say that word in front of your parents, although you might use it a lot among your friends.

Now, it's everywhere  Is it just me, or do you feel sad to see the word formerly known as the "F" word demoted to just ordinary usage?

Recently, I was in a gift shop, and saw a display of socks.  I like unusual socks, but these were too unusual for me.  Each had a quote using the "F" word. 

Not only that, but that word is the newest word in the cookbook vocabulary.

Take, for example, the best seller "Thug Kitchen".  "Eat like you give a "f----!" the cover boasts.

Or, better yet, "What the F---Should I Make for Dinner?"  (I kid you not).

We need words for occasions like that, I believe - forbidden words that help us deal with pain or frustration.

It makes me wonder what word future generations will use when they hit their finger with a hammer.  Or get a flat tire (see video above)?  The "F" word is less and less taboo each day.  One day, it will totally lose its power.

Perhaps, as part of a sustainable lifestyle, we should be thinking more about gratitude, especially on a day like today.  Protests are occuring all over the country, and our minds turn to the future.

So maybe we need a light topic on today, which is turning out for many to be anything but light.

Any idea what word will take the place of the "F" word on the day it becomes just another word?

Ah, Those Good Old Internet Days

A Stephen Colbert skit a couple of nights ago reminded me about a special anniversary today.

Fourteen years ago today (1996) I treated myself to a special present:  my first computer.  A smart phone today is probably more powerful.  This beauty, a black Toshiba desktop, set me back (with service contract) nearly $2,000.  Its Pentium I 133Mhz processor, 1.6 GB hard drive and 16 MB of Ram were state of the art.  It ran Windows 95.

My son still owns it. It's part of his unofficial electronics museum.


Approximately one month later, I went online for the first time, using CompuServe.  The browser was Mosaic. It used a 14,400 bps modem to access the Internet.  In those days, Internet service was dialup, and not only that, providers charged by the hour.

This is what the Yahoo site looked like in January of 1997.  This is the Weather Channel site in April of 1997.

This was the home page for eBay later that year.

It is hard to remember the Internet of early 1997.  Many sites were basically text oriented.  It took time for those pages to load.  I wasn't exactly an online pioneer, but it sure seems like it now.

I even still have my very first email stored.  It was request for information to find out how to build a potato "battery".  That's what happens when you have a science oriented son.

I was the last generation who knew more about computers than their young son.

Hearing the sound of a modem in that Colbert skit really brought back old memories.

I'm Swimming in Lake OldSchool

I have never blogged about my job before.  I'm not going to (specifically) but I had such a frustrating day today that I want to talk about workplace tensions (and differences in expectation) between babyboomers and people in their 20's and early 30's. 

Someone I know, when that person talks to friends about this difference in outlook and attitude says we babyboomers are "swimming in Lake OldSchool".

On one level I realize people in their 20's and early 30's grew up in a totally different world than people in their 50's and early 60's.  I have more in common with Greatest Generation people 15 years older than me than people even 15 years younger than me.

I grew up in a world where there was no internet, where employer and employee both expected loyalty (that one is totally gone) toward each other, where people were expected to take transfers without complaint, where women stayed home to raise their children (is this beginning to sound like Mad Men?), where a person was expected to take pride in their job.

Younger employees march to a beat of a totally different drummer.  They walk in the door and wonder why they aren't CEO in three months.  They seem so needy....needy for constant praise and reinforcement.  They want a prize for every tiny accomplishment.  There's no respect for authority. (I know, there is some type of cosmic justice about that, considering that we baby boomers were "questioning authority" in the 1960's and telling each other not to "trust anyone over 30".)  I see the young people take to office technology like ducks to water, but then stare blankly when you expect them to understand concepts that aren't technology related.  They want to be challenged, but can't seem to understand that everything can't be fun, that what they are doing is called "Work" for a reason.

Because my college major was anthropology, this normally would be fascinating to me.  However, I am trying not to drown in Lake OldSchool.  I know that my generation will be gone from the workplace in a few years (or maybe not, if Social Security disappears), and these employees are going to take over.  Yes, I know it, because at work the people of my generation are constantly reminded that we are obsolete.

It's not just me.  I did a very short websearch and found entire books have been written on this workplace tension, including tomes devoted to managers who have to work with this generation gap.  However, the prevailing attitude of these books towards baby boomers seems to be "you're on your way out, so suck it up". 

So that means that the values of baby boomers are not worthwhile?  That values of wanting to give good value to an employer willing to pay for a day's work are obsolete?  That we should not point out to young ones that they are expected to work rather than surf the net and text each other?  Since when were young people granted a right to verbally abuse older coworkers because they are young and will own the workplace one day?

I don't think this is the "generation gap" of Socrates.

I don't think it is immaturity.

It is something else, a physical change in the brain.   Think that is far fetched?

When I was young, I was a big fan of science fiction. There is a 1943 science fiction story called "Mimsy Were the Borogoves."  I think about that story a lot lately, although I havn't read it in many years.
If you are interested in tension between our two generations, you may want to hunt down this story and read it.

That is what we are facing, and it isn't going to get better for people my age.

So what do we do about it, without losing our sanity?