Class Story 104 Where I am From

I am from the golf course at Lochmoor where the sweaty green grass smells of fetid mosquito water and the men swish golf balls in a machine that reeks.

As with all things pre-Californian, I have no complete memories of events, just snippets of imagery and with the Lochmoor Golf & Country Club, a smell associated with it.  This is probably not uncommon; in my case, it is that standing water smell.  That heavy sweet smell of rotting lawn clippings from the golf course, dumped in the little streamlets along most fairways.  In the summer, there is not enough water to keep a flow going, but the daily watering of the lush grass delivers its waters down to the edges and into these marshy areas.  Mosquitoes abound.  It's worst on the back nine because it's a straight run along 11, 12, and 13, all slightly down hill and so the runoff accumulates and feeds little pools along the way

I was only eight and nine years old, too young to be carrying a golf bag around the course.  I guess my dad figured it was good exercise just to walk four or five miles and he also had me go fetch him the proper club for his next shot.  I learned terms like, "approach shot,"  "the lie of the green."  I also learned words like "shit!" and "fuck!" because he always was playing in a foursome with three customers.  I learned that customers were evil men who gambled, swore, drank too much, and cheated on their wives.  But I also understood that customers were our bread and butter and we had to be nice to them at all times, let them win at cards and golf, provide them with liquor and, at times women.  When I was around golf people, I had to keep quiet, unlike being with the bowling people. 

Playing a round of 18 holes with customers took about four hours for the golf and another two at the 19^th hole.  There was liquor available along the course as well.  There was a little shack at the 6^th and the 11^th tees where a black man would sell you beer or soft drinks.  I always ordered a Vernor's ginger ale at the 11^th.  Californians think of Pebble Beach when the subject of golf is raised.  It has those panoramic vistas.  Lochmoor was a more classic wooded, hilly course with long fairways.  Teeing off at number one, you were enveloped into a forest.

We don't have mosquitoes in California, but every now and then I get a whiff of fetid air from some standing pool and I am reminded of those days walking the hills of Lochmoor.  I'm sure my mother was happy to get me out of the house and doing something healthy.  I was a classic nerd, thinking about math and science most of the time.  My Dad's friend Rod Mindling posed a classic question to me then at age eight.  "Is it better, to get $100 every day for a month or one cent the first day, then two cents the second, four cents the third, doubling each day for thirty days?"  When I went to bed at night, I would try to compute this number in my head.  After a week, I got it

I got headaches and nightmares from this sort of cerebral nighttime activity, "How many miles could light travel in one year?"  186,000 X 365 X 24 X 60 X 60.  My parents were worried about the nightmares and I started in on wearing glasses at age five; they started out as coke bottles.  But I think they were proud that I was a budding little genius.  This showed up in troublesome ways in Detroit.  I have always been, even at that young age, a ringleader, the guy who devised plots that would lead to fun and fireworks.  I was sent home on a three-day suspension in the third grade for organizing a group of boys to attack, at recess, a group of girls and pull their pants down in the snowy depths of a Michigan winter.  I organized a doctor's office in the basement of our house, where the neighbor girls would have to report for examination.

Just before we left Detroit in the spring of 1948, my sister and I were taken to the Lochmoor Easter Egg Hunt, an annual event for member’s kids.  I was nine at the time and my sister seven.  It was a formal event with elaborate baskets provided and wonderful chocolates scattered all around the clubhouse grounds.  It was a clear blue-sky day.

I am from the land of snow a foot taller than I, where we sled all day and build forts for snowball wars all afternoon.  This is a time when I am so bundled up I can only waddle.

To be truthful, it was rare that the winters brought snowdrifts that were over my head.  But I do remember one school day when someone had plowed the sidewalks so the kids could go to school.  I had my sister in tow, must have been ’47 or ’48 and it was certainly over her head.  It was up to my eye level.  One of the places I remember sledding was a new construction zone.  There was a lot of building after the War and several streets had been created but there were no houses on them yet.  There was a slope, which I remember as 30° downhill for two blocks.  My father was with my sister and I and we all three went down the hill at first, and then I did it once on my own.  I think that time with my father was with a borrowed toboggan, but we had a sled as well.  My sister was scared of doing the run on the sled and actually so was I, machismo made me do it solo.

The snowball wars were something I could really get into, sort of a precursor to playing football where “feel no pain” is the watchword.  My sister couldn’t throw, so I had her hide below and have her make snowballs for me to throw.  The forts became elaborate even though they were very transitory.

How we stood the severe cold, I don’t know.  Kids just generate their own heat.

Class Story 164 Dancing

(xv) Class Story 164 Dancing in the Tub 2005

 

Dancing with my killer.  That’s the only nice way to think of what we are doing.  We are merely souls, waiting for our reincarnations.  Is there any reason an unusual housefly can’t be a Buddhist?  I’ve always thought it was better to be familiar with the world of your next existence rather than dream about some fantasy place you hope to live in.

 
Round and round and round we dance, circling each other at a distance.
 
I was once a mighty dinosaur, but that’s another story.  That spider sucked me dry and left me desiccated, only to watch him die of starvation.  We are being eaten now, the both of us, by a large, wet sea creature.  He’s spinning us in his mouth.
 
Round and round and round we spin, touching each other as we circle closer.
 
Sometimes the spider breaks free, well almost free.  It’s like being in the gravitational pull of a black hole.  But if you don’t believe in reincarnation, then you won’t remember that experience.
 
Round and round and round we struggle, but snap back like on a rubber-band.
 
We hug each other tightly, as much as our rotting flesh will allow.  There’s a great deal of flotsam and jetsam caught in the mouth of this vortex.  If Spiro and I were still in the struggle for life, we could feast for a week on what’s passing us by, while we, so light, float on the top of this sea.
 
Round and round and round we dance, mutely gurgling down the drain.
 

The Power of “Carry-Forwards”

Many Civil Grand Juries, around this time of year, select a team of often four capable and willing panel members to “seed” the next Jury’s leaders and officers.  Their primary role is leadership in setting and achieving goals; secondary is institutional experience on how things really work.  This is CGJA canon.

Reunion party GJs 2014-18

A focus on collegiality can instill a long-term bonding with the rest of the Jury, and possibly the prior and future juries.  Such was the case within Sonoma County as evidenced by a Feb 2018 reunion party, drawing over thirty jurors (four from the local chapter), spanning four Jury terms.  The Forepersons and ProTems from 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 all attended our recent reunion, as well as other carry-forwards and many jurors from those years, 2014-18. 

Beverly Kelvie 2015-16
FP 2025-16 Charlotte Addington
PT 2015-16 David Mulford

 

Our Grand Jury nexus hit a sweet spot in Sonoma County.  2014-15 dealt with flammable policing issues, and focused on picking strong characters in Charlotte Addington and David Mulford for 2015-16. 

They focused on financial issues, and in turn, honed and picked for strength and leadership, Matt Stone and Peter Andrews for 2016-17. 

2016-17 was a year looking to the future: aquifers, schools, human services.  They doubled down on Gina Nellor and Joan Picard for 2017-18.

PT 2017-18 Joan Picard
Liz Larson 2016-17
JimFahy 2016-18

2017-18 have had to deal with schools, Human and Health Services, and, most importantly, “The Fires”.
 

CGJA is well familiar with the truth, that social events are the biggest draw for CGJA and/or chapter membership.  "He that shall live to next year and see old age will on the vigil, feast his fellow jurors.  Old men forget but he’ll remember, with advantages, what feats he did in those days".
The point is that while this passing of the torch can be thoughtful, as well as physical, there can also sometimes be the instillation of a Grand Jury ethos, which carries on through jurors.  This has been Sonoma County’s good fortune, resulting in a focused faculty of valuable community leaders.

There were at least 60 people involved over the four years, and counting the departures and alternates closer to 100.  Most from the earliest jury 2014-15 didn’t attend the party (only the three carry-forwards).  Also only three carry-forwards from the current jury attended this shindig.  That leaves amazingly high attendance from the middle two terms, 2015-17.  Many expressed a desire to meet again, some regularly.

FP 2016-17 Matt Stone
FP 2017-18 Gina Nellor

After this party success, Matt Stone has started up an un-hosted monthly koffee klatch, at a Sonoma County public venue.  The first one, early March, drew nine ex-jury members (three from the local chapter).

Article submitted by the Sonoma County Chapter of the CGJA.  Photographs and comments provided by Peter Andrews, Pro-Tem 2016-17 and current President of the Sonoma County local CGJA chapter.  TuesdayPeter@SBCglobal.net

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This locale choice, plus a plot line of flowers and greenery gives this book a guaranteed recommendation from the likes of us.  However, in a broader marketplace, will this book entertain a nationwide audience?

 

 

Besides an education in plant and flower meanings, this book also delves into the experiences surrounding birthing and early post-natal care.  Is there a connection with all the magnificence of Mother Nature?  Is this theology as well as philosophy?  Is it the nurturing theology of Gaia, Mother Earth?A book with something for everyone: even some gourmet cooking.

 

RR Senior Center

Monthly Book Club

3rd  Tuesdays @ 1:30

•    Jan 16     The Language of Flowers

                                by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

•    Feb 20    A Wild Sheep Chase

                                by Haruki Murakami

•    Mar 20    Mrs. Dalloway

                                by Virginia Woolf

•    Apr 17     The Haunting of Hill House

                                by Shirley Jackson

•    May 15   Detroit is our Beat

                                by Loren D. Estleman

•    Jun 19     Rain Dogs

                                by Adrian McKinty

•    Jul 17       Out of Africa

                                by Isak Dinesen

•    Aug 21    Being Mortal

                                by Atul Gawande

•    Sep 18    The Dharma Bums

                                by Jack Kerouac

•    Oct 16     Crossing to Safety

                                by Wallace Earle Stegner

•    Nov 20   The Remains of the Day

                                by Kazuo Ishiguro

•    Dec 18    The Lathe of Heaven

by Ursula K. Le Guin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff

 

BIG QUESTIONS

·      Is the Wolff guy a hack?

I don’t think so.  I’ve read more than a thousand books in the past decade, and I’d put him in the middle of the lot.

The bar is pretty low for DC tell-alls.  No one takes 2-5 years to “polish” his or her book.

It’s what he says it is: a chaotic story, written mid-chaos, which he’s tried to make cohesive and flowing in narrative form.

·      Is there anything To Learn here?

It depends on how deeply you’ve followed the White House this past year.   I haven’t followed at all – 30 minutes a day on the five o’clock news.

For Me, this book filled in the details that I’ve only read in headlines. I learned about the back-room machinations and “rationales” for what was happening.  I now understand the personalities better.

·      How partisan is it?  Should it only be read by Dems?

It’s a tell-all: -Wolff gossips about everyone.  Currently in the White House are Republicans, so that’s mainly who he gossips about.  There’s some good gossip, but most gossip is bad gossip. 

Read it if you want to know what goes on in Washington D.C.  It’s not that much different than, “The West Wing”, I enjoyed the read, but it does bog down at times, mainly because life in DC is insanely boring.

·      Peter’s politics

A Barry Goldwater guy (early ‘60’s); then worked for Morris Udall’s campaign (techie-a decade later).  Ross Perot (interviewed-80’s, voted ‘92); then Gore 2000.  Obama 2008 -- Kamala Harris 2020.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

I write this, 300 pages into a 400-page novel.  That’s deeply enough to proclaim the author’s stunning writing ability to turn a phrase: metaphors, descriptive words, uncommon thoughts.  The author is unusually inventive: in scenes, conversations, and plotline.  Likewise, with 100 pages to go, I won’t be writing any spoilers.

With, I’m sure, hundreds of books coming off the presses with a 2018 publishing date, how did I select this one?  Ahh, the power of a good author to influence their readers.  Louise Penny, a favorite of mine, wrote a recommendation that sold me.  That’s not to say I didn’t also order [Jan 1^st] and am reading: “The Nothing” by Hanif Kureishi [an NPR recommendation], and Wolff’s, “Fire and Fury” [a Donald Trump anti-recommendation].

Finn’s book is particularly relevant for our Guerneville book groups and book program on local KGGV FM-radio.  That’s because these groups are loaded with psychologists and … ..

the protagonist of this book is a child psychologist, and the plotlines revolve around the families with children living around her, as well as her own, and she is deeply struggling with agoraphobia, and … ..

she is self-medicating with prodigious quantities or powerful drugs (medications), and washing them down with bottles of wine.

Nonetheless, the reader sympathizes with her: “she needs the meds”, “she can handle the wine”.  She’s in control: wins at chess and runs an online mental health chat line.

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Not all novels we read are required to “Suspend Disbelief” to be successful.

Maybe it’s not so much the belief that is important, but rather that disbelief has a broad range including talking animals (kid’s books) and alien beings (SciFi).

At least, in our case with “Nutshell”, the protagonist baby is Homo sapiens, in the truest sense, since he is wise. 

We learn, from this very communicative prenatal being that he is a bon vivant extraordinaire with a strong influence from southern France (he enjoys a Meursault rather than Champagne).  His knowledge of literature and the arts is due to listening to podcasts.  This is also how he has developed reasonable psychological and analytical skills, allowing our inside (double entendre [pardon]) observation of an A-to-Z homicide: plan, execution, and wrap-up.

There are probably crimes committed somewhere on this Earth every minute.  The motives behind the plan are fully transparent: greed and lust.  Our author does not attempt to imitate either A.C. Doyle or A. Christie with execution details of the crime.

The delicious joy of the read lies in the unfolding of the story, comically, step-by-step through the detective work of our raconteur narrator.

è     Not advisable if pregnant.