no matter how thick or how thin you slice it, it is still baloney
On August 23, 1936, a book review in the New York Times was headlined, “Carl Sandburg Writes in the True Accent of the People; His New Poem Displays and Develops the Popular Sayings That Americans Live By THE PEOPLE, YES.”
According to Wikipedia, The People, Yes is a book-length poem written by Carl Sandburg and published in 1936. The 300 page work is thoroughly interspersed with references to American culture, phrases, and stories (such as the legend of Paul Bunyan). Published at the height of the Great Depression, the work lauds the perseverance of the American people in notably plain-spoken language. It was written over an eight-year period. It is Sandburg’s last major book of poetry.
Written in 1936.
Containing the sayings that Americans live by.
One of those lines is “No matter how thick or how thin you slice it, it’s still baloney.”
Published almost 100 years ago.
In the words of that old Virginia Slims cigarette commercial, “We’ve come a long way, baby!”
I watch the news.
I read the papers.
I look at the magazines.
All I can think is, No matter how thick or how thin you slice it, it’s still baloney.
Who knew you could say such a fine line of words and be quoting Carl Sandburg.
I can go down to the beach and stand with my feet in the Atlantic Ocean waves and face Algeria across the water.
Looking out, the entire country is behind me.
Turning around and I face the entire country all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
I want scream, “WAKE UP CANTCHA!!! GEE WHIZ”
The next line in the poem is, “I would if I could and I could if I would but if I couldn’t how could I, could you?”
I guess I will just turn away and look out.
At least I can see the sun rise.
If I said the poem, The People, Yes, was a bit nonsensical, it would only serve to make it more fit for reading today.
1st one thousand wins hail to victors valiant those stay, champions
I first wrote this haiku in 2019.
Just a few weeks ago I updated this post.
Then Michigan went off and went undefeated and is now 11 wins away!
Back in September, 2020, I wrote:
At that time, Michigan had 953 ALL TIME NCAA College Football Wins
With 47 more wins, barring any sports tragedies (as opposed to those real life tragedies), Michigan will be the first team to record 1,000 college football Wins.
Then COVID hit and backed up things as Michigan had but 2 wins in 2020.
often imitated, never duplicated
When will this game happen and who will it be against?
Sorry to say that the BIG TEN has messed this all up by expanding and there are only 3 announced games for 2023 and nothing as yet for 2024.
But we can still speculate.
PIE IN THE SKY, Michigan wins their next 19 games, that would mean they win the National Championship this year for a total of 10 wins which means, again this is winning ALL THEIR games, Michigan’s 1000th victory would be in Game 9 of 2023.
I think that maybe 7 more wins this year (Including a BIG TEN Championship and beating Darth Vador Earl Bruce’s team) and another 10 wins next year means that the 1000th win would come early in 2024.
Oddly enough, looking a the math, with 981 wins since 1896, that is an average of only 7 wins a season.
Of course it must be pointed out that for 40 years the norm was a 9 game season.
ANYWAY, hang on to your maize-and-blue fedora’s as this is gonna be interesting …
Back in 2019 I wrote this:
If Michigan went the next 47-0, they would win 3 Big Ten Titles, 6 College Playoff Games and 3 National Championships and on Sept 3, 2022, a victory over UCLA would be win 1,000.
We know that won’t happen.
A possible 47-9 over the next 56 games put Michigan in position to win their 1,000th game on Sept 30, 2023 at home against MSU.
Not only a Michigan Great but our neighbor for years in Grand Rapids
I went through a 47-9 record and picked the games but its pure speculation.
In compiling this record, over 4 years, I have Michigan going 2-1 in the Big Ten Title Game but 0-2 in the College Playoffs.
Tommy Harmon!!
All speculation but I predict the 1,000th win will come in the 2023 season.
Should be a big party but planning on this will be like planning on winning the Stanley Cup at home in Game 6 … how do you plan for a win?
I also attached the above info a spread sheet so you can make you own predictions …
but the truth that nobody knows does nothing to settle debate
In an article about the US and World economy, Mr. Paul Krugman used some very interesting words when discussing the ecomony.
Mr. Krugman, according to his short bio, joined The New York Times in 2000 as an Op-Ed columnist. He is distinguished professor in the Graduate Center Economics Ph.D. program and distinguished scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study Center at the City University of New York. In addition, he is professor emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
He is, all at the same time, a distinguished professor and a distinguished scholar as well as a professor emeritus which should be good enough for anyone.
Like any good opinion piece on economics, Mr. Krugman uses all the standard terms like inflation expectations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices, alternative formulation, immaculate disinflation, significant cooling off, job vacancies, higher unemployment and the ever popular, temporary phenomenon.
Entirely appropriate and expected use of language.
But unexpectedly Mr. Krugman also uses the terms If you still believed, I guess and But the truth is.
If you still believed.
I guess
But the truth is.
NOW that is a gutty enconomist.
Mr. Krugman wraps up his piece with this paragraph:
But the truth is that nobody knows for sure, and the fact that a hot economy is still producing heated inflation does nothing to settle the debate.
Mr. Krugman wraps up his piece with these paragraphs:
The good news, sort of, is that the Fed seems to know what it doesn’t know. It’s talking tough on inflation, as it must to retain credibility, but it’s also talking about looking at the “totality of the incoming data,” which means that it’s prepared to ease off if and when inflation is clearly coming down.
My guess is that this moment will come sooner than many think. But we’ll just have to wait and see.
But we’ll just have to wait and see.
But we’ll just have to wait and see?
I would like to refer Mr. Krugman to Chance the Gardener in the old movie, Being There.
Mr. Gardener said: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.”
In the movie, the President listens to this and says, “I admire your good, solid sense. That’s precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill.”
suppose there always gonna be April 7 it just hid there like
In the 1991 book, Rivethead : tales from the assembly line, by Ben Hamper, (New York, NY : Warner Books 1991), a book about life and work an the GM assembly line Flint, Michigan, the author tells the story of the day he suffered a mental and physical breakdown on the job.
Mr. Hamper wrote: “I suppose there was always gonna be an April 7, 1988. It just hid there like a heartless sniper behind the diesel haze and the minute hand. It knew my name. It knew my brain. It could smell fear a mile away. Its aim was true.”
Crossing the Rubican.
At the crossroads.
Day of Decision.
Days that stand out.
April 7 was that day for Mr. Hamper much like September 11 is that day for this country and maybe, much of the world.
Not much of a stretch to write, I suppose there was always gonna be an September 11, 2001.
It just hid there like a heartless sniper behind the diesel haze and the minute hand.
It knew our name.
It knew our brain.
It could smell fear a mile away.
Its aim was true.
Waiting now for life to return to normal after covid but it is hard to return to normal when normal isn’t there anymore.
Oh, believe it or not, it is still a bit odd for me to stand in this historic space, see this big, beautiful painting staring back at me. Growing up on Euclid Avenue, Mommy, I never could have imagined that any of this would be part of my story.
But even if it’s all still a bit awkward for me, I do recognize why moments like these are important, why all of this is absolutely necessary. Traditions like this matter not just for those of us who hold these positions, but for everyone participating in and watching our democracy.
You see, the people — they make their voices heard with their vote. We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Those of us lucky enough to serve work, as Barack said, as hard as we can for as long as we can, as long as the people choose to keep us here. And once our time is up, we move on.
And all that remains in this hallowed place are our good efforts and these portraits — portraits that connect our history to the present day, portraits that hang here as history continues to be made.
So, for me, this day is not just about what has happened. It’s also about what could happen.
Because a girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kenne- — Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She was never supposed to live in this house, and she definitely wasn’t supposed to serve as First Lady.
But I’ve always wondered: Where does that “supposed to” come from? Who determines it?
And too often in this country, people feel like they have to look a certain way or act a certain way to fit in, that they have to make a lot of money or come from a certain group or class or faith in order to matter.
But what we’re looking at today — a portrait of a biracial kid with an unusual name and the daughter of a water pump operator and a stay-at-home mom — what we are seeing is a reminder that there’s a place for everyone in this country.
Because as Barack said, if the two of us can end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, then, again, it is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can, too.
That is what this country is about. It’s not about blood or pedigree or wealth. It’s a place where everyone should have a fair shot, whether you’re a kid taking two buses and a train just to get to school; or a single mother who is working two jobs to put some food on the table; or an immigrant just arriving, getting your first apartment, forging a future for yourself in a place you dreamed of.
That’s why, for me, this day isn’t about me or Barack. It’s not even about these beautiful paintings. It’s about telling that fuller story — a story that includes every single American in every single corner of this country so that our kids and grandkids can see something more for themselves.
And as much as some folks might want us to believe that that story has lost some of its shine, that division and discrimination and everything else might have dimmed its light, I still know deep in my heart that what we share — as my husband continues to say — is so much bigger than what we don’t. Our democracy is so much stronger than our differences.
And this little girl from the South Side is blessed beyond measure to have felt the truth of that fuller story throughout her entire life, never more so than today.
So, thank you to President Biden, to Sharon, and to all of you today for playing a part in this day and all the days that led to it.
She was never supposed to live in this house, and she definitely wasn’t supposed to serve as First Lady.
But I have also always wondered: Where does that “supposed to” come from?
Who determines it?
It is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can do anything.
That is what made America great.
This is what makes America great.
No shouting.
No bluster.
No threats.
A quiet voice.
A quiet voice that says, That is what this country is about. It’s not about blood or pedigree or wealth. It’s a place where everyone should have a fair shot, whether you’re a kid taking two buses and a train just to get to school; or a single mother who is working two jobs to put some food on the table; or an immigrant just arriving, getting your first apartment, forging a future for yourself in a place you dreamed of.
We talk a lot about what the ‘Founding Fathers’ meant when they set up this Country.
What they meant with words like ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
What they meant with words like ‘We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union.’
I want to say that if those guys, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin et al, were in the room and they listened to Michelle Obama, they would have looked at each and nodded and said, THAT’S IT!
No Haiku For You 