In the present or not?

I try to live in the present, seeing everything around me and experiencing the day. I don’t often succeed. Most of the time, we live between our ears and in our conscious mind worrying about so many things. We worry about what might happen and forget that the only place we can be is here, right now. We forget to project our conscious out away from our mind and take in all of the wonders around us. The kinetic sculpture I pass every time I go to class. Yesterday I stopped in front of the sculpture (titled Tai Chi) and was mesmerized as it danced with the wind. Leaves are blowing everywhere. You can see the structure of the trees. If only it were not so cold.

It just popped into my mind!

Do you have thoughts that just show up uninvited? It happens to me all of the time. Yesterday the name of a friend that I had not seen for several years showed up in my conscious mind. I emailed Robert. He is well and finishing his EdD. Then I thought of another friend I had not talked to in several years, probably because I met both at the same time, at my first university job. I asked Robert about her and found out she retired in 2016. I Googled her and found her obituary. She died in 2018. Now I will never see her again, and it makes me sad. We collaborated on several articles and received two best paper awards.

Thanksgiving

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. In the USA there is one day set aside to give thanks. It does not seem enough. I think of my friends and family that are no longer with us, and try to give thanks every day for each day I have. We can only live in the present. We don't know if there is a future or how long we will have to accomplish our dreams. We can only work today.

I am thankful for many things: family, friends, my outstanding students, colleagues at various universities, and living in a country where I can say what I think. I am thankful that so many who have come to this country with a dream of freedom no longer have to live under the threat of deportation. I am thankful that I will not have to listen to the republicans blame the democrats for the dysfunctional congress. I expect congress to continue to be dysfunctional. I am thankful that everyone in this country has access to affordable healthcare. I am thankful for all who served this country and no longer have to go to Iraq and soon will no longer be in Afghanistan. I can only wish that prejudice would someday be eliminated; but after thousands of years of hate, it seems like an impossibility.

Have a happy and thankful Thanksgiving.

The election is over.

I am so happy the election is over. The attack adds are horrible. Why can't political candidates be for something instead of against. The Republicans now hold a majority in both houses of congress. The question is can they get anything done; or will the President set new records for veto legislation?

President Obama's approval rating is low, 41.8%. But the question is why? The stock market has set records. Oil prices are falling. Unemployment is at a 6 year low; 32% lower than when Obama took office. Troops are home from Iraq and Afghanistan where G. W. Bush sent them. We have affordable healthcare; something that most of the EU has had for decades. I believe that history, and not the Republicans, will be look on the Obama presidency as one of the most progressive since FDR's.

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission coupled with many voters being swayed by political advertising has changed the complexion of the government of the USA. I don't believe that history will be as kind to the Roberts court as the Obama administration. It may be time to think about relocating to Belize or Costa Rica.

What is wrong with the senate?

Do you see anything wrong with this? Maybe it could be corrected by combining some of the lesser populated states? North, Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah would make a nicely populated state. Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire would still be a small state. While we are at it, just give Rhode Island as a county to Massachusetts; Delaware and Maryland to Virginia and throw in West Virginia for good measure.

Size rank	State	Population	number of Senators
37	West Virginia	1,852,994	2
38	Nebraska	1,826,341	2
39	Idaho	1,567,582	2
40	Hawaii	1,360,301	2
41	Maine	1,328,361	2
42	New Hampshire	1,316,470	2
43	Rhode Island	1,052,567	2
44	Montana	989,415	2
45	Delaware	897,934	2
46	South Dakota	814,180	2
47	Alaska	710,231	2
48	North Dakota	672,591	2
49	Vermont	625,741	2
50	Wyoming	563,626	2
		15,578,334	28
		Average population/senator	556,369
Size rank	State	Population	number of Senators
1	California	37,253,956	2
2	Texas	25,145,561	2
3	New York	19,378,102	2
4	Florida	18,801,310	2
5	Illinois	12,830,632	2
6	Pennsylvania	12,702,379	2
7	Ohio	11,536,504	2
8	Michigan	9,883,640	2
9	Georgia	9,687,653	2
10	North Carolina	9,535,483	2
11	New Jersey	8,791,894	2
12	Virginia	8,001,024	2
13	Washington	6,724,540	2
14	Massachusetts	6,547,629	2
		196,820,307	28
		Average population/senator	7,029,297

Spring 2014

The spring 2014 semester is almost over. My students are taking their last exam today. Only one project and the final to go. That said they still have 35% of the the total grade yet to come. Some of us have had a rough semester, with surgeries, death of family and friends and auto accidents causing many missed days of class, exams, and projects. Yet this semester, the average grade in my classes is a high "B", well above the university target for my classes. I would like to think that I get the best students and am becoming a better teacher each semester. It will be very interesting to see my class evaluations.

In many ways this has been an especially difficult semester for me with many rejections, several papers, job applicationswith no response, and campus visits with no response. On the upside, my current department chair wants me to return in the fall, and my dental implant and nasal lift went very well. In a month I will be headed back to Texas to spend the summer with my beautiful wife of 44 years. All in all, life is good. It is important to live in the present, we cannot live in the past or in the future. Many people ruin their lives by brooding on past offenses and problems or anticipating what is to come that they have no control over. Peace to all.

Immigration Reform

Evidently not many in Congress have read Emma Lazarus' poem.


“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

There are very few of us in the USA that are not descendants of immigrants. Yet now ,we as a nation, if the majority of the congress really speaks for us, are against sharing the dream of America with the tired, the poor and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.