24 Days Until Daddy

Another fun day for Jen and Abby! We did our "school time" at the Tempe Library today and so we did lots of puzzles, read books, and played with other kids. Her puzzle skills are improving greatly!

Here Abby said she was making me lunch in the kitchen at the library!
Matt always says Abby looks so pretty when she sleeps, so I had to include a picture of her today during her nap.
Tonight we ventured over to our friends Chris and Elise. Abby loves them and especially loves to play with their dog, Marcus. Here is a picture of them and a video of Abby playing with Marcus.
Good luck at your first day of meetings in Bakersfield Daddy!

25 Days Until Daddy

Happy Sunday! We love Sunday's because we get to go to Church and learn about Jesus and see all of our friends. Since Matt is gone Abby needed to come to choir with me and a really sweet girl volunteered to watch her. I could tell that Abby realizes that things aren't normal--such as Matt being gone by the way she reacted. She cried and cried and she is always so good with anyone that wants to play with her. I also think she was tired and so she fell asleep for a little while in her arms. I think next week she is going to play with another couple and they will bring her to Church. That will make her very happy--especially because she can play with their dog Marcus! Here is a picture of our Tempe Ward Building with our friends Carric and Jenny in front.
I had the opportunity today to play a duet with my friend Carly Aylworth. She played "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" on the oboe and I played the piano. How blessed I am to make music with Carly! I also was asked to play the part of Mary Magdalene in Primary. I pretended to be her and told the kids about my experience seeing Jesus at the garden tomb. It actually ended up being a really moving experience as I contemplated just what she saw and what a miracle it was. One little girl just sat there starring at me with her mouth open. I love kids!

My friend Natalie sewed me a beautiful circle skirt and gave me a shirt to go with it. Everyone at Church absolutely loved it and I received many compliments. The picture doesn't really show it since I had to set the timer and take the picture. But you get the idea!
Our friends have been so amazing and supportive. Tonight we went to our friends Ben, Stacy, Lucy and Alice for dinner and fun. Abby loves to run and play and their house is the perfect place to do that. We really enjoyed our time with them.

Beck on President Coolidge

So I was invited to watch the Glenn Beck show today. It was the episode on Coolidge that I already mentioned, but now I have a much more complete picture of the episode. Its primary function was to argue that Coolidge was a godsend and solved the terrible situation that Wilson created. He did so by using conservative policies of lowering taxes for the wealthy and minimizing government. Beck says that during Coolidge's administration there were three times as many cars in the USA and per capital wealth increased. “People made more money” and “real income went up.” There was little inflation and “it was a golden time.” Electricity lit up homes and appliances came into the home. Beck said this led to “euphoria” and leisure time. To help make this argument Beck brought in two “historians”: Amity Shlaes and David Pietrusza.

Where do I begin? First, let me say that some of this is correct. I admit it. Good work. Coolidge’s minimalist government program did increase production and growing supply lowered prices of goods so that for the first time in US history the middling classes could afford to buy all sorts of “stuff.”

However, Beck and his two buddies who are parading as historians conveniently overlook the advances during Wilson’s administration and thrust all positive economic gains onto Coolidge. They seem to forget that the unionization that occurred under Wilson’s administration created, for the first time, a working class that was finally paid enough to buy “stuff,” and this new consumerism is what drove the economic boom of the 1920s. During Wilson’s administration the government closely managed production and streamlined production to mobilize the economy for World War I. Wilson established unprecedented partnerships between the government, private industry, and labor groups to maximize communication and production. He suspended anti-trust lawsuits and minimized labor protests. He guaranteed profits to businesses but also base wages to workers. This sort of management really focused all the energies of the American economy for the war. After the war all bets were off, wages dropped, prices rose, and conflict between labor and business resumed. This all occurred at the close of Wilson’s presidency, at which point he was incapacitated by a stroke and unable to respond. It is hard to blame him for the economic recession that ensued, given his incapacitated status. We can never know what would have happened if he had his facilities, but what we do know is his efforts during the war created unprecedented economic stability and social equality.

So the economic boom of the 1920s can be traced to the growth of a consumer class (thank you Wilson) and the consequent growth of production (thank you Wilson and Coolidge). Of course, the expansion of credit during those years also led a major problem—the Great Depression (you can blame Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover). Certainly we should not overlook Coolidge, but let’s not go crediting him with all the good Wilson did or omit the economic instability that his policies set in motion. This is yet another example of why you should not get your history lessons from political talk shows, and definitely not from Glenn Beck.

On a related note, I take offense at the title of “historian” that Beck gave to his two guests. Amity Shlaes is a journalist. She only has a bachelor’s degree and I believe it is in English. It is possible that she has never taken a history class beyond the required survey class as a freshman in college. She is not a historian. David Pietrusza has both a BA and a masters degree in history, which makes him qualified to teach high school but still not a historian. Both have published several books but none by a scholarly press (a common standard of quality among true historians). Instead, they are published privately or perhaps by conservative think tanks who are more interested in advocating a political message be thrust on the past than a genuine study of the past. These two are not historians!

Misrepresenting the Facts, Again.

So I mentioned in a previous post that I am briefly staying with my parents and that while I appreciate the room the bombardment of Fox News’ revisionist history is torture. Let me first state that I’m not a Democrat or Republican; I’m an independent and I vote for both sides depending on the issue. Nevertheless, the utterly false refashioning of history by conservatives drives me crazy, not because of my political affiliation, but because of my profession (recalling I am a history professor). Let me share the latest example.

This morning I was subjected to a conveniently incomplete paraphrasing of a quote from Senator Harry Reid (Democrat). The paraphrase stated that Reid said that Republicans were on the wrong side of the health care bill, just like they were on the issue of slavery. Then the conservative issuing the paraphrase went on to say that Reid is an idiot because he does not seem to know that Republicans fought slavery and Democrats supported it.

Let’s look at the actual quote to see if the paraphrasing accurately reflects Reid’s comments:

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this slow down, stop everything, let's start over. You think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, slow down, it's too early. Let's wait. Things aren't bad enough. When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted slow down, there will be a better day to do that. The day isn't quite right. When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today. . . . History is repeating itself before our eyes. There are now those who don't think it is the right time to reform health care. If not now, when, madam president? But the reality for many that feel that way, it will never, never be a good time to reform health care."

In the actual quote Reid says that Republicans want to slow down change, and then he goes into the history lesson, stating that historically people have resisted change on issues like slavery and women’s suffrage. In the history lesson he refers to people who “dug in their heels and said , slow down, its too early.” He does not identify them as Republicans. Then he goes back to the modern day for analysis when he states, “History is repeating itself” because once again senators are resorting to filibuster threats and other means to slow down change, specifically the health care bill.

So what do we learn? Well, the conservative who issued the paraphrasing took some liberties in order to create a straw man he could knock down. Reid never said Republicans opposed all those things, just that there has always been people who opposed change, and he is right. And though Reid did not say they were Republicans, he would have been partially right to do so because those conservative elements resisting change have flip-flopped between parties depending on which would support their policy of resisting change. Who are these people that have been resisting change since the early nineteenth century? Southerners. They once called themselves Democrats (1820s-1940s), then Republicans (1950s-1960s) , then began switching back and forth depending on which party appealed to their attitude of resisting change (largely voted Democrat in the 1970s, Republican in the 1980s, Democrat in the 1990s, and Republican since 2000). Regardless of party affiliation, it is Southerners who have historically resisted change. That is okay—it is an acceptable and reasonable position—but let’s be sure we know who we are talking about. Not Republicans, not Democrats—just Southerners. They have historically resisted change, and are doing so again as members of the Republican party today.

So was Reid correct? Yes, there is a group who historically resist change and they are now resisting change as members of the Republican party. What did conservative media do with his comments? They misrepresented the quote and then challenged the historical accuracy and Reid’s credibility. The funny thing is that in their efforts to challenge his understanding of history they revealed that they do not actually understand history. So what is the moral of the story? Don’t get your history lessons from Political “news” talk shows and web sites. They don’t know history, but are happy to re-write it to defame their opposition and support their own political ideas.

On a side note, less you think I’m really a liberal because I continue to reveal the blunderings of Fox News and conservative media, let me simply explain that I am not subjected to liberal media like MSNBC so I cannot speak to their false assumptions. I am, however, forced to listen to conservative mistakes all day long.

The Never Ending Story

Last week my mother reminded me about a movie I loved when I was a child. Last night, while digging through my parents' old VHS tapes, my sister and I found a bootleg copy of the movie. We could not resist and spent the next two hours reliving an aspect of our youth as we watched the Never Ending Story.
Even thought this film was produced in 1984 it really was ahead of its time in many ways and I think it is particularly appropriate in the recent context of fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. The Never Ending Story tells of a fantasy land Named Fantasia. You may think that name sounds familiar. Remember the American Idol turned R&B pop star named Fantasia? Want to guess when she was born? No need to look, I already did: 1984 (just after the German release but weeks before the American release of this flick).

In the movie the mystical land of Fantasia is disappearing in parallel to the decline of imagination in the real world. A boy reads a book aptly titled The Never Ending Story which chronicles the happenings in Fantasia. The boy gradually learns that his own imagination and participation is necessary to save Fantasia. It is a cute story with a flying luck dragon (see image above), a giant rockbiter, a childlike empress, a warrior hero named Atreyu, and more. Have I sparked your interest? Well here is the 1984 trailer for the film:

Plus, the movie theme song is awesome. Just watch the associated music video released by the artist named Limahl (I'm guessing he is German). Youtube disabled the embed option so you have to click on the link if you want to see it. Try to keep the laughter to a minimum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MccmHwA-c4U

The best part is that you too can own this movie for less than $10. Isn't the internet wonderful?

26 Days Until Daddy

This morning found us at one of Abby's favorite places--the Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. Natalie came along with Abby and I and we had so much fun. We began our morning on the train--Abby's favorite. She was obviously very excited to see the train!

While we were on the train we realized we all had the same shoes on so we took a picture.
We were also teaching Abby how to pose!
Mommy and Abby on the train.
Since Abby was misbehaving she spent a little time in the jail at the park (just kidding)!
We also had a picnic where we could sit and watch the train, and then we played on the toys. Abby is so strong!
When we arrived home from the park my computer had some major issues and I want to thank Matt for his patience on the phone as we tried to figure
things out. After quite a few hours of frustration
my computer seems back to normal.

This evening I turned on the TV for a moment while Abby got dressed from her bath and we saw the national championship women's gymnastics competition. Anyone that knows Abby is aware of her inability to hold still very long. When she saw the gymnastics she just sat spellbound on my lap. I've been looking for a place where Abby could take gymnastics when we get to Bakersfield--now I really want to. I asked her, "Do you want to do gymnastics" and she said very enthusiastically, "Yes!"
I would love to watch her do gymnastics!

Landscape Plan

I did the walk through on the new house the other day. There were not too many surprises, but one caught me off guard. Apparently, the Home Owners Association has a policy that requires owners landscape thier backyard within 180 days (six months) of buying the home. So it looks like my Christmas break from teaching will be busy. Additionally, I am required to present a plan to the HOA for any changes I intend to make. So, below is my drawing of what I hope to do (Jen has not yet seen and approved). Keep in mind my picture is upside down, so North is at the bottom and South at the top, East on the left and West on the right (for those like my granny who need to know where the sun will be at all times). Click on the image to enlarge it.

On the right I think we should pour cement to make a good utility entrance from the gate to the backyard. We can then store trash cans there or whatever. Entering the yard from the sliding glass door between the kitchen and family room you step out onto a cobble stone patio that follows most of the perimeter of the home. Directly ahead there is grass, lined by crushed rock so as to make mowing the lawn easier and to bring the whole yard together since the pond is also encircled by crushed rock that should be fine enough to walk on. There is mulch and shrubs between the crushed rock and grass, and on the other side of the crushed rock there is the pond complete with a waterfall that conceals a shed for outdoor toys or whatever else. The bridge and small gazebo adds a little more class to the pond, and on the other side of the pond would be a play area with little rubber pellets or something that is durable to play and fall on. We'll put in some prefabricated play set there. If you are sitting in the family room or working in the kitchen your line of view through the sliding glass door and windows goes directly to the gazebo, pond, and waterfall. On the other side of the yard we'll put in a raised garden, about three feet high to make it easier to maintain. It will be simple and small but nice to have. Below that there is a chunk of land I'm not too sure about. The AC sits there and right now I'm thinking we'll just hide lawn equipment back there underneath a low hanging extending awning to cast some shade/protection for the equipment. I'm not totally sold on that yet and don't know exactly what to do with that part of the yard. I'm soliciting suggestions here (add a comment below).

Matt's 16th B-Day Party

As you may recall, not too long ago I posted two video clips from Jen's high school years. In the spirit of equality I told Jen that I would digitize and post a clip from the only video that exists of me during my high school years. Below is a three minute clip from a surprise party for my 16th birthday (1994). I'm the lanky tall kid with really ugly glasses and poofy hair. In my defense, I should point out, I'm also the guy with lots of girls hanging around (and the video reminds me of the weird girl who would not leave me alone the whole night--you will see).

Note: When I converted this down to a size that youtube would accept the video and audio got off a little. Fear not, my original is correct.



For anyone twisted enough to want to watch the full ten minutes (perhaps an old high school friend looking for your ten seconds of fame) you can watch the full video on youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dTftvpCy5w

27 Days Until Daddy

Another great day for Abby and Mommy! Abby and I enjoy doing what we call "school time" each morning where we learn shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and sing primary songs (we ALWAYS have to sing the "Grandpa" song--it is her very favorite). Today we worked on shapes, a few colors, sang and did a Mickey puzzle--she gets better at it every time.
After learning time we went to a potluck luncheon at the Church and had good food and fun. I was able to practice with my good friend Carly since we are doing an oboe/piano duet on Sunday. I absolutely love to play with Carly. Abby ran and ran with her friends. This evening we enjoyed time with our good friends Carric and Jenny. They invited us over for dinner and we had so much fun. Here is Abby with Carric and Jenny.

Abby loves to wash dishes and so she washed their dishes
before we even had dinner!

This shows Abby eating dinner which was very yummy.

Abby helped wash dishes after dinner and ended up convincing Carric to wash her hair in the sink. What a funny girl!
Then Carric braided her hair!
We really appreciate our friends and how much they love Abby. Thanks Carric and Jenny for a wonderful evening!
We hope you had a great day Daddy!

Fox News Captivity

So for the next couple days I am staying with my parents, who have graciously opened their home to me. I appreciate it. However, there is one thing about staying back home with the parents that is difficult for me. Every day the television is set to Fox News for hours and hours. It is difficult to listen to any single network for hours on end, day after day, but the fact that it is a network that so utterly misrepresents facts to push an ideological slant on to everything they broadcast makes it even more troubling. It pains me to listen to the falsification of facts for the purposes of pushing an agenda. It breaks my heart to think that thousands of Americans think they are getting accurate information there.

Today I listened to fifteen minutes of a discussion that offers a great example. I think one voice was Glenn Beck, but I was not watching so I don’t know for sure. Each of the “news” pundits explained that less government creates a better America and used several examples, but primarily the 1920s, to prove their argument. They stated that Presidents Harding and Coolidge oversaw a prosperous and quite era by limiting the federal government; conversely, eras dominated by liberal presidents like FDR, LBJ and Obama are characterized by economic instability, social disorder (riots, strikes, terrorism, etc.), and war. They asked, “how can Americans not see this obvious trend?”

Well, Fox “news” pundits, let me answer the question. That pattern exists only in your erroneous revisionist history. Let me explain.

The peace and prosperity brought about in eras of conservative presidents generally led to economic crisis and social upheaval, at which point Americans elected a liberal president to fix it. It is not fair to charge FDR, LBJ, and Obama with the economic crisis or social tensions created under the previous presidents. The hands-off government approach is what led to the Great Depression (remember it began under Republican Pres. Hoover), created strikes, and caused Americans to elect FDR. You cannot blame him for the crisis created by the preceding Republican rule. As per war, well, it is not FDR’s fault that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Likewise, you cannot accuse Obama of creating an economic mess that predates his presidency. Likewise, you cannot blame Obama for starting the war when in fact it was the preceding Republican president (Bush) who sent the troops into Iraq and Afghanistan. As per the LBJ example, well, economics were pretty good before he was elected and the nation at peace. Still, it was the Cold War, caused by both liberal and conservative predecessors, that created points of conflict, one leading to the Vietnam War. And the Vietnam War is really what broke the bank and caused economic problems. In my opinion, his programs and federal regulation would have been affordable if we were not caught in war at the same time.

So, in the example of the three periods the “news” pundits selected, two of the three trouble-making liberal presidents (FDR & Obama) were elected to solve the problems actually created under the presidency of the preceding Republican president. If there is a pattern to be seen, it is that Republican presidents create under-managed economic growth that generally ends in terrible economic crisis (a natural consequence of deregulating and minimizing government). In response, Americans swing the other way to elect a liberal pro-government president to fix the problems created (or perceived to be created) by the conservative anti-government president.

The load of lies perpetuated by Fox News is not even revisionist history--it is outright deception. These Fox News shows completely fabricate the past to fit their political ideology. Please, don’t get your history lessons from Fox News.

28 Days Until Daddy

Wow I am tired! Natalie and I just finished the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance" and it's late. Both of my favorites were the top 2, so I did not care who won! But I said I'd post everyday while Matt was gone, so here we go!

Abby and I had a great day. We had playgroup at the Tempe Splash Park and she had more fun than ever before! Abby met a boy named Aiden and they had so much fun throwing a ball and following each other around.

She also played ring around the rosies with Alice and Lucy.
There was a big green fire hydrant looking thing and I caught her trying to drink out of it! She also enjoyed letting the water fall down her back!
Abby and I also went to rehearsal of the choir I directed for the last two years, the Arizona Deseret Choir. I wanted to explain to them about Matt's new job in Bakersfield and make sure they knew just how much I loved them and wish that I could stay and conduct them.
This is a picture of where we rehearsed--a dome ceiling--not your typical LDS building!
My good friend and fellow musician, Carric is taking over the group and so I know they will be wonderful. Below Carric was entertaining Abby before rehearsal.
After I said a few words to the group when rehearsal began, Carric had the choir sing a hymn to me, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." I was doing fine until then and then it hit me that I would not see some of these amazing people again.
Fortunately Abby made me laugh when she walked over to a music stand, picked up a hymn book, opened it, put it on the stand, and began to conduct. That's my girl!
I will really miss this choir. They have been a major support to me and we've made unforgettable music. Tonight made me even more sure I want to start my own choir in Bakersfield. Anyone interested? Before we left rehearsal Abby gave me a big hug and we took a picture.
Your girls love you Daddy!