The SoapBoxers

There is a lot of news from the Middle East about people overthrowing dictatorships to have personal freedom. I applaud this effort and support them at least in emotion and praise. I have heard complaints from commentators that President Obama is not doing more to support these efforts. I disagree with that criticism. We (Americans) had to fight for and earn our freedoms. If the French had come in with superior weapons and force and beat up the British, we would have had a lot of problems. First, we would have had an obligation to support everything French for eternity. Secondly, we would have had a fifth column within the country ready to overthrow our government as a puppet of the French. Third, there would have been a certain segment of our society that would have hated everything French just because they interfered with our sovereignty.

The President should always support, verbally and emotionally, any efforts to advance freedom around the world. That is what this country stands for. Our willingness to help, including the sacrifice of our own blood and treasure, without hope of territorial gain, is what truly sets us apart from the rest of the governments that have ever existed in the world. But getting actively involved is another question. We have tried and failed several times to create new nations in our image. Iraq and Afghanistan are the two most recent examples. Both will eventually emerge as some sort of hybrid of what we think is a free and democratic nation and what the Afghans and Iraqis choose to implement.

Should we be bombing Colonel Gadaffi and his forces? Sure he is a bad man, but who will step in if we knock him down? The people toppling him will be better off without us so that they can choose their own leadership. We may not like what they come up with, but that is part of what freedom is all about, the freedom to make mistakes.

No I am not equating Iraq and Afghanistan to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Iran, Syria, and Morocco. In the current round of uprisings, it is the people fighting their tyrannical governments. When the people of Iraq and Afghanistan rose up in the 1980’s we did not interfere directly. When Iraq invaded two neighbors, we responded. When they broke every condition of the cease fire, we conquered them and attempted to establish a new, democratic government. When Afghanistan harbored a group that had publicly claimed responsibility for a deadly attack against us, we conquered them and attempted the same nation building.

In the cases of what is going on now, it is internal to each country and should be handled by each country without some bully forcing what decisions are made. Just as I supported President Bush in his decisions with regard to Iraq and Afghanistan, I support President Obama in his current actions with regard to the freedom uprisings. I find the verbal cannonade by professional talkers obscene. One group claims that these uprisings are a direct response to a speech President Obama gave in Egypt last year. The other group claims the credit should go to President Bush for establishing democracies in the region. Both accretions are ridiculous. The uprisings are the result a people fed up with governments that have failed the people they are responsible for. They have risen up against the bullies. There was a fabulous headline in the papers this weekend that I feel captures the whole story, “The Walls of Fear have Fallen.”

I did not have an article last week. Instead I was at a funeral. Such an event tends to make you look at life and try to evaluate what is actually important. Does it mater that the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl? Does it matter that the U.S. congress still hasn’t passed a budget for this year? All in all, probably not.

This funeral was for a friend’s (my best friend’s) mother. I drove from Iowa to Texas on Friday, attended the funeral on Saturday and drove back to Iowa on Sunday. The funeral itself was actually nice, capturing her personality and life. The drive allowed me many hours with my wife, talking about our own parents, our children, our lives. We spent most of our time in Texas with my friend who happens to be married to my wife’s friend. That chance to re-connect, share grief and remember our youth.

I realize that I have possibly a disproportionate amount of good in my life. Good family, good job, good friends, and a chance to express myself in writing. I try to appreciate all of these gifts. I have never complained about my compensation at work, mostly because it would make no difference, but also because my various bosses have treated me (on balance) fairly. I try to praise and correct my children in proper order. I make every effort to let my wife know how much I appreciate her. I try to respect my parent’s decisions and support them in any way that I can. I try to be dependable to my friends and all of my obligations. I am also indebted to all of you who actually read my articles and hopefully will read my books once I make them available.

Am I successful with all of this? Well certainly not every day and not in every circumstance. The important thing is to try, and actually think about it. It is a shame that it takes a funeral to reinforce the need to appreciate what we all have. A life perspective is something we should have every day.

This article is not about the Super Bowl, well at least not about the game.  As a Steelers fan it is just too painful to comment on the game right now.  I want to talk about the things that make the Super Bowl not a game, but an event.  Let’s start with the 24 hours of pre-game.  I know that Fox did not have 24 hours of pre-game by themselves, there was a hand off/overlap with ESPN.  We got to learn about every previous Super Bowl, all of the players, some of their wives.  There was the exceptional tribute to Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, even though they were not in the Super Bowl (I wonder how the other host teams feel about that).  We were pummeled with how great Pittsburgh and Green Bay have been in the past; lots of black and white film for Green Bay, not so much for Pittsburgh as they were rather atrocious before 1969.  All of these segments were separated by musical entertainment, primarily from Keith Urban.

The real pre-game was actually very nice.  There were tributes to our armed forces, including a reading of the Declaration of Independence featuring players, service men and women, retired general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Commissioner of Football.  Then came the singing of God Bless America and the National Anthem.  I feel Sorry for Christina Aguilera.  She missed one line of the Anthem and the morning media have been all over her about that.  Her apology seems sincere and she seems embarrassed about it.  All in all, I think the pregame was classy.

Fast forward to the half time entertainment.  A lot of people think that the half time entertainment is important.  I guess if you spent $4500 you would want a first class ride for the entire 4 hours.  Ever since the Janet Jackson event, I have spent half time cleaning up the food and hunkering down for the second half.  I caught some of the act.  The special effects and music were what you would expect from the Black Eyed Peas.  If you like them, you like the show.  If not, well I am glad I was not with my father for this half time.  I do not think I could have explained it to him.

So what else is there to talk about other than the game?  The commercials, of course.  My personal favorite was the kid dressed as Darth Vader starting the car with the Jedi Powers of the Force.  Although watching Roseanne Barr get wacked with a log was pretty good, too.  There were other interesting ads, and I believe there will be a special on TV to go through them all, or you can look at them on-line at www.superbowl-commercials.org. I enjoyed the entire experience, especially since it was over by 9:45.  I hope the NFL continues to have the early start to the Super Bowl for those of us who have to work on Monday.

This is a list of the things I like and do not like about the NFL Pro-Bowl.

I do not like that it is the week before the Super Bowl. We already have reduced participation due to some of the higher paid players concern about injury, now we have the Super Bowl participants opting out.

I like that the game is in Hawaii again. I thought that it was actually rather cruel last year when the players went to the Super Bowl City. The celebration of their skills that earned them spots on the Pro-Bowl roster was overwhelmed by Super Bowl questions, including “how do you feel about not being in the Super Bowl?” This is supposed to be a reward for being the best players in the league. Having the game in Hawaii lets these players celebrate with their families and friends.

I do not like that the only impact of the game is deciding which team is the “home” team in the Super Bowl next year. I would like it to determine where the Super Bowl is played. Rather than “awarding” the Super Bowl to a city, almost always in a warm climate or dome, let the Pro-Bowl determine what stadium the Super Bowl is played in. The conference champion of the winning side of the Pro-Bowl should host the Super Bowl. Then we could have some real games, maybe in Chicago or New England. Yeah I have heard all the arguments against cold weather venues, are we playing football here or tennis?

I do like that the coaches actually get almost every player some face time and the announcers have all the statistical sheets to brag about these guys. Some of them come from pretty bad teams and do not get the recognition that they should.

I do not like that the players don’t even try on some plays. I know that this is an exhibition game and no one wants to get hurt, so yes hold up on some of the hits once you have someone stopped. The thing I object to is that for field goals and extra points, everyone just stands up and waits for the kicker to kick the ball.

I do like the kick off plays. These are the only plays that everyone seems to be having fun. No one is hitting too hard and everyone is running around showing how much fun they are having.

My preference, if the commissioner reads this post, is to return to the old format. Play the game in Hawaii the week after the Super Bowl. The only thing I would suggest as an adder would be to have the all star cheer leaders there as well. And for Fox Sports, more focus on the beautiful people in the stands.

Sometimes you get the opportunity to help a young writer.  If you have a child, those opportunities can arise just because of curiosity, other times to respond to class assignments.  The most tempting error that you can commit is “giving” the young writer the story.  You have to restrain yourself to just suggestions.  I have an example that actually occurred this weekend.

My son is a freshman in high school.  His assignment is a short story that includes a protagonist, antagonist, conflict, climax and message.  The first step was to establish an environment.  Since we were driving around in the mid-west, with single digit temperatures and snow, I suggested a cold location, possibly a creek bed frozen over.  My son changed that to the main character’s back yard playing foot ball with his buddies.

Next came the conflict.  We talked about finding a puppy in distress.  The hero should obviously show compassion and try to help the puppy, but his parent have a strict no pets policy (similar to our family policy).  This established several conflicts that he will follow, doing the right thing while defying his parents, leading to a climax of direct conflict with his mother.  Then my son added his own twist, the friend will encourage him to continue hiding the dog.

With just a few ideas back and forth, he had the basic story in place.  He already had several stories that he had worked on in the past, but he chose to create something completely new.  His goal was to address all of the elements suggested by his teacher.  The assignment itself provided the stimulus to even start, bouncing ideas with me drove him to more creativity, and I hope a complete story. 

I am excited at my son’s commitment to writing well.  I truly believe that all creativity helps young minds develop and keep poor habits from developing instead.  We have spent many idle hours (driving during vacations, evenings before bedtime when the internet was down) developing ideas.  My son has thought about game themes, stories, even possible movies and actually worked on many of the ideas.  The more he worked, the more he wanted to try and think about.    This is the type of positive feedback that will help him grow into a fine young man.  With that in mind, I encourage every young person to write down their ideas and develop them.  Keep writing!

The conference championship games are now set; the New York Jets will be visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers will be visiting the Chicago Bears. Both are #2-#6 seed match ups. Some of the games this weekend were messy. Each provided the coaches, even the winning coaches, plenty to teach this week.

In the Pittsburgh – Baltimore game, we learned you play to the whistle, as a Baltimore lineman picked up the ball and ran in for a touchdown on a fumble that no one else noticed, they were just standing around with the ball sitting on the ground. In the New England – New York game we learned that when you are going to run a fake punt, pay attention to where the ball is. In the Atlanta – Green Bay game we learned not to hurry at the end of the half with short dangerous passes. And finally, we learned in the Chicago – Seattle game, we learned that you have to run your pattern and actually catch the ball to win games. I am sure that you can see many more teaching opportunities (like do not commit stupid penalties at critical points in the game).

All four of the teams in the champion ship games have been to and won at least one Super Bowl, so no new story line there. None of these teams have matched up against each other in the Super Bowl before, so some interest there. The Steelers already have six Super Bowl Championships, the Jets are undefeated in the Super Bowl (but only have one appearance). Only one #6 seed has ever made it to the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL, which they won. The #2 seed has made it to the Super Bowl 22 times, winning 11 and losing 11. Two #2s have met only once in the Super Bowl. Two of the teams come from large markets, the other two have storied Super Bowl history behind them.

The New York Jets beat Pittsburgh during the regular season in their only meeting. Chicago and Green Bay split their two games. The Jets beat Green Bay but lost to Chicago. Pittsburgh did not play either NFC team this year. I am sure that the pundits will have plenty of stories and angles to comment on.

The good new is that one of the New York teams made it to the Conference Championship. Why is this good news? About 95% of the talking heads predicted a possible NY-NY show down in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV. In week 2 of the season, most of those same experts called the both NY teams’ seasons over, so much for predicting 4 months and 16 games out. I guess that I get some juvenile pleasure out of seeing the experts proven wrong.

I was glad that Seattle won in the first round of the playoffs against the New Orleans Saints. I am not bashing the Saints, but there were so many people on talk shows saying that Seattle should not be in the playoffs because they did not have a winning record. I disagree. The rules as they stand today are that you have to win your division to get to the playoffs. If you don’t do that, there is the gift of 2 wild card spots for teams that played well, just not well enough to win their divisions. It was not that long ago that there were only three divisions and one wild card for each conference, now twelve teams out of the 32 get into the playoffs. My objection is the demand to change the rules in the middle (or near the end) of the season.

I still have a horse in this race, so I am pretty excited. I will be having a Super Bowl party regardless of the participants. The Super Bowl is usually a good game and there are those commercials. My friends and I usually skip the half time show, ever since Janet Jackson was exposed in front of my young children. American style football has produced great entertainment for years, with the Super Bowl being there grand finale each year. I do no expect to be disappointed this year.

After several weeks off for the holidays, I am establishing my goals for the year 2011. These are not resolutions, those are far too easy to break or forget about sometime around the first of May. The goals that I wish to identify involve writing and getting the written word distributed to as many people as possible. I truly believe that our culture is enlivened through writing, bringing the past into focus, exploring the myriad of possibilities and eventually guiding the development of the future. Fiction or not, reality or fantasy, all written works stir imagination and thought.

With that in mind, I am embarking the recording of my first full length novel, now a full year old and no longer being edited. I should have that effort completed by spring. I am going to complete my second novel by the end of summer. I will participate again in the National Novel Writing Month in November. These are three very ambitious goals for one year. I hope that all of the aspiring writers out there establish similar challenging goals.

In addition to my own personal work, I have the opportunity to assist in the distribution of a pair of existing books. The chance to review and offer judgment on another author’s works is both exhilarating and daunting. The books that I am referring to were written by Brett Garrett. They are studies of the Celtic knots carved into crosses and other stone in the British Isles. Both of these books are available for sale as hard copy books at the Hyrax Publications store  under the printed books section (you can always access the store via the tab in the navigation menu).

The first volume, Celtic Knots: Exploring with J Romilly Allen, Method and Matrix, explores the stones and crosses in Wales. Brett systematically models the various knots, to validate and compare them. There are several designs that are repeated across many stones while others are unique. The models expose the fact that the knots are not a single thread, but can be two, three or even more. Additionally, all of the knots can be ‘tied’ using cordage, suggesting that the stone renditions are a more durable representation of knotting practiced on an every day basis.

This volume is beautifully annotated with color graphics and pictures taken by the author. It was originally published in 2007 and has only a limited number of copies available.

The second volume, Celtic Knots with & beyond J Romilly Allen, contains all of the technical information of the first volume expanded to include stone work from Scotland, Ireland and England. The additional works re-emphasize the original premise and provide additional beautiful examples of the art of Celtic knotting.

This volume is printed in a larger format and is in shades of grey (keeping the cost down). More models and more photographs fill the additional space. Both works take the study of these stone artifacts beyond the conclusions of the 1950s. The reality of the stones is explored separate from modern mysticism, allowing the systematic discovery of the purpose and meaning of the knots and possibly bringing us closer to the people who carved them.

Since Knotting is a highly visual art, an audio version of the books does not seem feasible for now, however, Brett will be making her models and various knot work available in electronic format in the near future.

[Kosmo’s note: This is the first time Hyrax Publications will be involved in the sale of printed books, although the store has offered eBooks (fiction and non-fiction) and audio books for quite some time.  At some point in the future, we may work with other authors who are seeking a place to sell their books.  While Brett Garrett’s books can be found other places on the internet, I think you’ll find our prices quite competitive.  A glance at Amazon finds Celtic Knots: Exploring with J Romilly Allen, Method and Matrix priced at $104.44 for a new copy and $49.50 for a used copy this morning … compare that the the $29.98 cost at our store.]

Officially I am on vacation until next year. Reality is that I will be going into my office at least two mornings this week to make sure deliveries are made and plans for next year are complete. With the actual time I will have off before Christmas, I will be attempting to spread Christmas Cheer. The best way that I know to do that is through charity.

Charity comes in many forms. I will be donating to various causes with new clothes and toys and food. I will be donating usable items that my family does not use or need any more to various organizations (Good Will, St. Vincent DePaul, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled Veterans, to name just a few – yes I do have that much stuff to give away as I have two kids in college and one in high school). I will be making monetary donations all around town (Salvation Army is the most visible). I will also be making cookies for my office, the office my wife works at, a couple of schools, my boy scout troop and a couple of churches.

The great thing about charity is that it makes you feel much better than the actual cost of anything you give away and charity can be in the form of volunteering (through your church, synagogue or mosque or through an organization like the United Way) which costs nothing but time.

Now, I give away most of the cookies I make for two reasons, actually. I really enjoy making them, but as many of you have seen from my other articles, I have trouble keeping my weight under control. So in being charitable, I also protect myself from myself.

The great thing about charity is that it makes you feel much better than the actual cost of anything you give away and charity can be in the form of volunteering (through your church, synagogue or mosque or through and organization like the United Way) which costs nothing but time.

To keep myself organized this year, I compiled the recipes of my favorite recipes. Most of these recipes have been modified over time to meet the taste preferences of my family (such as substituting crushed graham crackers for nut coatings since my sister has a nut allergy). I am providing a copy of that compilation (it is only 6 pages and 11 recipes) to Kosmo to distribute to any of our readers who want it. I encourage you to keep writing, be charitable and spread the calories.

Download Martin’s cookie recipes (PDF)

Last week, my column discussed the cold of the Midwest. I waxed poetic about the joys of winter and how much good comes from a cold spell of weather. Tonight, as I see the forecast for overnight and tomorrow, the poet in me is curling up and pretending to go to the tropics. We expect temperatures to drop to negative eleven before dawn with wind chill of negative thirty. I do believe that this is, in fact, cold enough.

The rural schools are already closing for tomorrow. The reasons range from broken water mains, insufficient heating, and wind chill dangers waiting for the bus. I am very supportive of such preemptory actions; safety of the children should be very high in the priorities of any school. I only wish I was still in school. I am fortunate to have a garage (unheated but still enclosed) so my start should not be that bad. I remember the days of living in an apartment and waiting for the car to warm up while scraping frost and ice from the windows. The coldest part of my day will be the walk in from the parking lot and the trip home at night.

I watched several football games in the comfort of my home. The games in New York and Pittsburgh were cold rain expecting snow later. The game in Chicago was all snow expecting the frigid cold that we are expecting to follow tonight.

Now all of this weather will pass. In the next week it should warm up enough to snow. The kids will like that, but driving in the frigid cold is much easier than driving in snow. I do enjoy the changes (here is the poet coming out again). This bitter cold will only make the warm up sweeter. The snow will be nice for Christmas. The best course for all of us in the path of winter storms is to remain safe. Unless you are properly prepared, stay in doors. Bad weather always provides a good opportunity to write, read, watch old movies and develop relationships. Even though it will be very cold, I will still enjoy it, and I hope you do, too.

Garrison Keillor once wrote that in Minnesota, people do not complain about the cold. You see, everyone can feel it, so why complain. I do not quite live in Minnesota, and my wife is a southern girl, so there is plenty of complaining in my house. I personally like the cold, all of the bugs die and you have a reason to stay snug in your house with a fire on the hearth and hot cocoa in your mug.

Today will be cold across most of the nation, with temperatures even tumbling in Texas and Florida. I live about 250 miles straight west of Chicago. We expect morning temperatures to be near single digits, with a wind chill near zero all day (Fahrenheit not Celsius). Although I sometimes walk to work, tomorrow will not be one of those days. I will, however, still brave the cold to go to a gym to work out.

I still have a positive attitude about winter. We have had our first snow fall, it was only about two inches and the streets are already cleared. The sky as been clear, so the sun is bright, making the scenery especially nice. This feeling will change by the time February rolls around. Eighty days of cold with increasing cloudiness makes thing dreary. I do not often suffer from cabin fever, but I know a lot of people who do.

The best solution to cold weather is to actually get out in it. Breathe deeply the clean air. Feel the cold penetrate where you have not covered sufficiently. Move around and, after experiencing nature to its fullest, retreat to the comfort of your home or office. A short experience of the harshness of the season will make the comforts that much more delectable.

A couple of years ago, I drove by a construction site about this time of year. It was cold with sleet coming down. I commented that I was glad not to have that job. My teenage son disagreed. What could be better than getting to work outside? Especially when working on something you could point at to say you had built it? I appreciate his enthusiasm. Those men and women do have something to hold on to. I still have my comfortable office, which I still will not trade. Perhaps that kind of enthusiasm wanes with age (and stiffness).

I know that several negative twenty degree days are ahead. We can only hope that they are not consecutive. The local weather forecaster has asked “Is it cold enough for you?” My answer is yes. I am so glad that I live in an age and country with modern conveniences such as central heating. Keep writing and stay warm.