Vernon Windsor's Blog

Blue and white

I stepped out of the building and took about 13 steps. Something stopped me and told me to look up. Through the humid air, I looked toward a patch of blue sky. It

was splattered with the white wings of birds. They were flying high,

although the variation in size told me they were at different heights. I

first took in the sight of pristine white gliding over a field of blue,

the beauty of the two colors multiplying the effect of…

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Added by Vernon Windsor on August 19, 2010 at 3:09pm — 1 Comment

Everyone is a critic.

Lots and lots of back seat drivers are popping up these day. It's understandable really, but true to form it usually doesn't help and it's so annoying. When it is your loved one that needs medical assistance, the ambulance carrying the paramedics can't get there fast enough. When it is your friend who has fallen 60 feet off a ledge in the mountains, the rescue personnel appear to be moving in slow motion. Everything takes too long. When it's your coastline that is facing an ever encroaching oil… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on June 8, 2010 at 2:10pm — 7 Comments

A hard lesson.

I lost a sister yesterday. While driving a familiar, but infrequent road, I saw a painted turtle in the roadway sunning himself on the roadbed. She was much too close to traffic and I was preparing to stop the car and carry her across the road, when I glanced in my rearview mirror. There were six cars and a truck behind me. Stopping on the one lane road would have required my blocking the road and inconveniencing everyone following me. I chose to keep driving and trust turtle wisdom and human… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on June 2, 2010 at 2:33pm — 4 Comments

Stupidity, addiction and the polluted nest

I've been avoiding the gulf oil spill. This is no easy task.

Coverage is everywhere and growing more shrill and panicked by the day. Ed Shultz is shouting at the top of his lungs, Tamron Hall is running her coffee fueled mouth at 1500 words a minute, and poor little Bobby Jindal is talking with increased frustration about the lack of Coast Guard and federal response, looking like he might burst into tears at any moment. I feel his pain.

CNN, C-span, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News,… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on May 25, 2010 at 2:52pm — 6 Comments

We are far better than this,

Have you ever wondered why many conservatives and Republicans are quick to label others "anti-American," "socialist," "communist," or "racist?"

Have you ever asked yourself why they wrap themselves in the flag and proclaim themselves to be "patriots," as if the rest of us don't qualify?

Have you thought it curious that while they are pounding their chests about how the United States is the greatest country in the world with the best system of government on the planet, they… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on May 25, 2010 at 12:51pm — 7 Comments

Scared stiff or just reactionary?

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.": Douglas Adams, author of "A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy."

When George W. Bush was running for his second term, I put an advertisement in a local paper seeking a Republican to have a conversation with about the election, the country and the political climate. I found a man a few… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on March 16, 2010 at 2:08pm — 13 Comments

A morning, a memory, and a maven

From the window of my car, I watched the cloud cover dissipate throughout the night. The dusting of snow on the hood was all that had materialized from a promised one to three inches. My body temperature had finally equalized in a fashion from the surrounding air, and I had slept for a couple of hours. Dawn was breaking. I would not sleep again.

I suddenly needed to see the foothills. I struck out on highway 36, thinking I would go to Lyons and return. I'd spent enough time here being… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on March 11, 2010 at 2:37pm — 3 Comments

The Instructions

Even before the huge Haitian earthquake, I was sadly surprised to discover just how reluctant some people are to show any amount of compassion to anyone outside their own family. It is as though they are in a life or death struggle in a time and area of scarcity. Most are not. This phenomenon is compounded by the level of mistrust people feel and subsequent failure for these people to find common ground and work toward common goals. For the… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on March 3, 2010 at 1:30pm — 5 Comments

New epidemic—Failure to grow up

Bullies, vipers, haters, tattlers, whiners, passive-aggressives, and many more. Why is it that some adults find it close to impossible to grow up? Now I'm all about maintaining your inner child, holding on to your sense of wonder, and retaining (and enhancing) your ability to play. That's not what I'm referring to here.

I'm talking about people calling each other names because they are online and no one can reach over and give them a good dope slap. I'm talking about people who, faced… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on February 22, 2010 at 12:45pm — 13 Comments

A response to “Michelle’s 46th Birthday Organic Lamb and Lobster Bash.”

On January 18 of this year, my friend OCNaturalDoc posted a blog entitled “Michelle’s 46th Birthday Organic Lamb and Lobster Bash.” In it she says, “…something isn't right when someone who promised so much to so many, and has since spent so much on himself and his family, and is preparing to sell so many of us down the river with socialized health care and the extinction of caring for our country's aging population.” She also reports that “The president rented a private room (of… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on January 27, 2010 at 1:00pm — 8 Comments

December 31, 2009

A few intrepid seagulls are rowing against the wind momentarily before turning back to take advantage of its velocity that keeps the open waters of the Mississippi River channel in constant motion. One of the constant metal snakes has slowly wound its way around me at least 270 degrees and disappeared beyond my line of sight. Snow still blankets the ground, although the sun is shining in a mostly clear sky and in doing so, highlights the branches of four stoic sycamore trees standing watch over… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on January 5, 2010 at 12:01pm — 3 Comments

Survival skills and common sense

I have always loved animals, even when I was afraid to get close to some of them. I read everything I could as a child about how animals live their lives and their behavior. It came as no surprise to me that most animals would prefer to avoid serious physical conflict. To do this they communicate with each other in a variety of ways. I admire people that understand that communication. Wild animals often give us a number of chances before they escalate into behavior that could injure us. The… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on December 12, 2009 at 12:30am — 2 Comments

Adios, Native Americans?!?

I can't shake the feeling that our community has lost both a valuable resource and a place of safe harbor—a place of recognition, with the disappearance of the Native American group. The community feels somehow less diverse. That's a shame. Although I didn't subscribe to every comment or post I read there, I did feel grateful to have such a place to connect with others of Native heritage and those non-Natives who were interested in the cultures of First Nations people.

I have never… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on November 18, 2009 at 7:30am — 1 Comment

Evidence of things not seen.

Bob sat in the living room staring at the television. He and his wife had set the table, brought out the good china and were waiting for their guests to arrive. Their daughter, son-in-law, and their three kids were coming to spend the weekend. His wife kept glancing out the window looking for the blue Lexus SUV to pull in the driveway.

Bob flipped through the channels, stopping at the sight of a big rig flipped over on its side beside the highway bathed in the lights from emergency… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on November 3, 2009 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments

Of Bulls and Ballet.

When I was a young man and excitement was clamoring on my back, whispering in my ear that no ill fortune would befall me and death was clearly something that happened, but to other, less fortunate people, there were no mountains to climb in my home town. There were rock faces, although few and far between, and while people did sometimes climb them, they did so only to save themselves from death or being mauled by a bear, not for recreation. Drag and motorcycle races required a substantial… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on October 19, 2009 at 2:30pm — 5 Comments

Ignorance or Stupidity?

I find myself meditating upon ignorance and stupidity. I guess because we're in America you should probably throw arrogance in there too. To attempt a conversation where people are not threatened, scared or offended unnecessarily, requires one (me, anyway) to be constantly pulling one's punches, so to speak. The goal is "to speak so people will hear what you are saying, rather than how you say it." It is, for the plain spoken among us, exhausting. Most of the time it is worth it, but there are… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on September 23, 2009 at 1:48pm — 8 Comments

On Burying Friends and Ideals

I am out of tears. I spent Saturday, like much of the rest of the nation, attending as best I could, senator Edward Kennedy's funeral service. It was a beautiful and moving service, and though I thought I'd watch for while and then go do other things, I spent the entire day saying goodbye to the senator and musing on his life and the direction the country has taken over the years.

We knew this death was coming, but yet I found it was amazingly instructive in so many ways. The number… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on August 31, 2009 at 11:30am — 3 Comments

The Lion and the Princess

I learned this morning of the death of Ted Kennedy. He was 77 years old. That’s not very old from my perspective, but we don’t ever know how much time we‘ll have here. As long as I can remember, Kennedy was a senator. One tied to a storied Irish Catholic family in the Northeast. One whose name kept appearing and reappearing on legislation that urged America to live up to its promise.

There is much that will be made in the coming days of his legislative contributions, his family, his… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on August 26, 2009 at 1:06pm — 8 Comments

The End of White Guilt — A Response

On July 28 of this year, Nancy Morgan, a new friend on TBD, posted a blog entry entitled, “The End Of White Guilt”. I read it with interest, and re-read it with still more interest, and promptly asked Nancy to join my group “Race in America.” I was hoping to have a discussion about some of the issues she raised in her post. So far, Ms. Morgan has declined to join us. I do think that her post is illustrative of the… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on August 24, 2009 at 2:30pm — 7 Comments

A death in the family

It is always interesting to me at what events in my life and in the world I shed tears. A friend once told me you can’t help how you feel. Tonight, I learned of the death of Walter Cronkite. As I saw his face on the television and heard the sound of his voice once again, the tears started to come. I found this odd, at least at first.

Growing up black in America was not as hard on me as it was on my parents, grandparents, or even my older sister, but it was no walk in the park either.… Continue

Added by Vernon Windsor on July 18, 2009 at 1:29pm — 11 Comments

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