An "Anthropologist on Mars" Views Super Tuesday's Returns

                                                                   

The Scream by Edvard Munch. Yes, I feel like screaming too. Yikes!

As you all know, Temple Grandin, who is autistic, is the famous animal husbandry expert. She has not only innovated many changes in her field, but has also been a spokesperson for autism. She’s written several books about autism that translate the autistic experience to those of us who aren’t autistic.

Temple Grandin has likened her experience of the world of emotion and human relationships to feeling like an “Anthropologist on Mars.” I have to empathize with Ms. Grandin because sometimes I feel like an “Anthropologist on Mars” myself. Yesterday watching the Super Tuesday primary election returns coming in was a great example.

I often say that I’m technologically challenged. I don’t have a Smart Phone and don’t know how to text. As a matter of fact, I had to enlist the assistance of a computer savvy friend to start this blog. At this point, Temple Grandin is probably better equipped than I am to understand current communication methods and probably understands current campaign styles better than I do.

Candidates have twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and give us their views in 140 characters. People watch for gotcha moments on television and a lot of people have been deciding how to vote on that basis.

I watched the Republican debates aghast to see the candidates explaining their positions on complicated issues in the minute or two they each had allotted to them. In subsequent debates, this descended into mutual name-calling. It seems that Americans are picking their candidate the way they pick American Idol or a Survivor winner. It’s no wonder Donald Trump is shaping up as the front runner. He is very adept at tapping into voters’ anger in two-minute sound bites. I wonder how Pres. Lincoln would have done in this format. After all, he was a Republican, too.

Pretty soon I have to vote in the Illinois Democratic Primary. Will it be Hillary or will I feel the Bern? Do Bernie Sanders’ supporters like him because he reminds them of their grandfathers and makes them feel cared for or have they suddenly developed class-consciousness and become Socialists? Will enough Americans be able to get past their customary revulsion to the word Socialist to vote for a Socialist Jew from New York for him to win the election? Or will Hillary be able to adapt to the world of sound bites and social media in time to be a strong candidate? Or are enough Americans going to be so horrified by Trump’s bullying Nazi tactics to vote for anyone opposing him? Will my vote matter? I don’t know, but I’m joining Temple Grandin as an Anthropologist on Mars. Who knows? Maybe I’ll move there if Donald Trump becomes President.

If anyone has any insight to the current American mood, please clue me in. I’m looking forward to hearing your opinion. You don’t have to limit yourself to 140 characters either.   

Visiting the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian

I wanted to take my granddaughters to the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, but they seemed disinterested. “They’re having a fashion show of Indian clothes,” I told them.

This got their attention and they were ready to leave within minutes. I was simply following an old social work adage to meet people where they’re at. Right now, alas, that is where they are.

The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian www.mitchellmuseum.org is located at 3001 Central Avenue in Evanston, Illinois. This small museum has many native artifacts and artwork. Although the building is small, there is usually something new to see there because they change their exhibits often. There are also usually some exhibits that invite interaction making it a good place to take children. If you check their website, you can see their schedule of interactive art projects. The exhibit on Indian fashion opened in January and will be there through May.

We enjoyed popping in and out of the tepee that is there permanently. I have to say that it’s much easier for a five year old or seven year old to do that than it was for me.

The exhibits of outfits, beadwork, and other jewelry were impressive and we enjoyed looking at them as well. 

At the end of the exhibit, there is a place for would-be fashion designers to fashion their own designs and display them. Near that is a sign discussing assimilation and separation as it applies to fashion. 

It would have been interesting to discuss that with my three granddaughters who dress in Orthodox Jewish fashion. I’d love an opportunity to arrange a meeting of Native Americans and Orthodox Jews to discuss the issue. Maybe someday we’ll get that opportunity. In the meantime, I’m glad that I had a chance to see the exhibit with my granddaughters. If you have an hour, I suggest that you visit there, too.

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My Mother's Journey

Last week we made an expected trip to Florida for my mother June Rosenberg’s funeral. Although it was expected because she was 94 years old and had an incurable heart condition, whenever you receive The Call, it’s always a shock.

My mother was born in Brooklyn, New York and was a talented artist. She attended Washington Irving High School when it was the art high school in those days before The High School of Music and Art was opened. After that, she finished a program at the Parsons School of Design and then attended classes at the Art Students League both in Manhattan. Her walls were full of her paintings and she worried what would become of them when she passed away as if they were her children. In a way, I guess they were. We'd try to calm her while inwardly I'd be struggling to imagine where I'd put all of them. "There'll be a place for all of them," I'd tell her.

I could talk about all the loving things that most parents do. My mother did them for sure. What made my childhood somewhat distinctive, however, was my parents’ political activism. To this day, it is the lodestar that shapes my life and dictates what I do and how I live.

My parents June and Jack Rosenberg got married right after World War II on September 22, 1946 and always had a wonderful relationship. We moved to Long Island in 1951 and they were active there in the Comm. for a Sane Nuclear Policy, the Civil Rights movement, and several other social-economic justice causes. During the era of crouching under school desks during air-raid drills, I was happy to tell my friends that my parents were in Sane.

One thing I am most proud of my parents for is founding a Fair Housing Committee with a few other couples in our Long Island suburb to promote it becoming racially integrated. This was not a popular idea at the time -far from it, but they knew it was the right thing to do. As a teenager, I went with them to many civil rights rallies and marches. One of my friends at the time would say that when I became a parent, I would have to give my children something I never had - something to rebel against. I remember my mother laughing at that.

My parents moved to Florida to retire and my mother loved being there. She moved to Brookline, Massachusetts in 2009 to be near my sister albeit reluctant to leave the Florida sunshine and quickly embraced her new community. We knew she was accepting the move when she wrote up petitions and got them signed for the Affordable Care Act.

At the end of her life, when my mother had mobility problems, her activism was confined to writing letters to The Boston Globe most of which got published. I’d have people take pictures of me whenever I attended any anti-war or social justice event and then I’d send the pictures to her. She’d always say, “It makes me feel good. You were there for both of us.”

June Rosenberg was interested in the world throughout her life. My parents didn’t have money to pass down to me, but I inherited my mother’s AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) pen. I’ll think about her every time I use it. I’ll have to keep doing it for both of us.

To see my mother’s recipes, visit my blog Recipes for a Better World http://www.recipesforabetterworld.blogspot.com. Or better yet, read my book Breaking the Fall available on Amazon as a Kindle or paperback. You’ll find her between the lines.   

Behind the Veil Is A Human Being

My daughter, three granddaughters, and I were getting ready to leave the walking track at Weber Park when she walked past. Because she was covered completely from head to toe and wore a black veil covering everything except her eyes, my granddaughters stared at her curiously. Living in an observant Jewish neighborhood, they had never seen anyone dressed that way. Observing their stares, the woman turned around and removed her veil. Behind it was a beautiful young woman. Smiling, she said to my granddaughters, “I wear this because it is part of my religion not to show my face to men.”

“Your face is very pretty,” said my youngest granddaughter.

She went on to explain that she could show her face to her husband, father, brothers, sons, and her grandfathers. Otherwise, her face must be covered in the presence of men as protection for her.

My daughter explained that Orthodox Jews have the same rules and concepts although their rules only apply to hair not to the face.

“It’s interesting how people can come from different places and end up at the same idea,” I said.

While I don’t subscribe to any religious beliefs that lead to women being restricted, her removing her veil and letting us see her face made her particular beliefs much less threatening. Indeed, the moment when she removed her veil for us was a special one for all of us; and thus, one veil at a time, some animosity was stripped away. 

"A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand."

These immortal words of President Lincoln are still true today in our polarized environment. Ever since the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum www.lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com opened in 2004, we had been talking about taking a trip to Springfield, Illinois to visit it.

When we received an offer from Travel Zoo (www.travelzoo.com), it seemed like the right time to make the trip. Travel Zoo offered a package for $89 that included a room in the Statehouse Inn Hotel, admission for two to the museum, breakfast, a $10 off voucher for dinner at Arlington’s, a restaurant a three minute walk away, and complementary drinks at the bar in the hotel.

Travel Zoo’s deal was definitely a good one. Even without it, however, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library is worth a trip especially if you live in the Chicago area. From the north side of Chicago, it’s a three and a half hour car trip. Also, Amtrak goes to Springfield from Union Station in Chicago. The station in Springfield is a short walk from the Statehouse Inn.

For those who have never been to Springfield there are several interesting historic sites to see there including Lincoln’s home and historic area, his old law offices, the old Capitol Building, and the original train depot. In addition, the State of Illinois Museum is worth seeing.

           

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum contains some wonderfully interactive exhibits as well as exhibits illustrating many periods of Lincoln’s life. The Museum and Library also houses many original document and artifacts. 

replica of Lincoln family in the lobby of the museum

                                       

As we came in, we were directed to a short film “The Ghost in the White House” that explained on a very accessible level how historians combed through documents and various artifacts to get a better idea of historical events. The use of holograms and some theatrics made this topic come alive. Other exhibits traced the progression of slavery as an issue and Lincoln’s own evolution throughout his career and during the Civil War leading to his issuing The Emancipation Proclamation.
                                             

            Another exhibit done by the journalist Tom Russert “The Campaign of 1860” juxtaposes modern 21^st century campaign techniques on the Presidential campaign of 1860. This exhibit gives us all a lot to think about. If Lincoln ran for President in 2016, would he stand any chance of winning? The Republican Party probably wouldn’t consider him Conservative enough. TV and other media might not consider him attractive and telegenic enough to be worth getting much coverage. As a poor boy who was largely self-educated, he would have lacked the elite alumni connections one obtains from attending a prestigious university. He wouldn’t have had enough of his own money to finance a campaign and may have been too humble to raise huge donations. Fortunately, the United States of America and the world are blessed that Lincoln was President during the 1860’s. I hate to think how history would have unfolded without him in the White House during that pivotal time in our history. 

How Pres. Obama's State of the Union Address Sends Me Time Traveling

The State of Our Union is polarized. Are we at the breaking point? Have we become ungovernable? In President Obama’s eighth and, unfortunately last, State of the Union Address, he expressed this as his largest regret as president. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” he said.

President Obama went on to suggest several ways that the electoral process needed to be changed to ensure that our current state of polarity be reigned in. I can think of several other steps that need to be taken that he didn’t discuss especially abolishing the Electoral College but that could be the subject of a whole posting of its own. In the meantime, polarized we are. In his parting State of the Union address, President Obama looking to the future, warned us of the consequences of all our animosities to one another. He counseled us to have rational debates, to listen to each other without vehemence, and to make sure that every citizen has the opportunity to have a voice in our political process imploring us all to participate as citizens. We would all do well to heed his words as we go forward.

Pres. Obama’s message was exquisitely stated and brought me back to an earlier time when things in America were simpler and people got along with each other with more civility. Although that is how that time period is perceived in America’s collective consciousness, the 1950’s and 1960’s were not really that peaceful an era. In fact, it was the height of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the House Un-American Activities Committee.

I wish that I could forget the air-raid drills we had periodically in my elementary school and high school.  I wish that I could forget crouching under my desk in my classroom with my hands behind my head as if this would save me and my classmates in the event of a thermonuclear attack. Most of all, I wish that I could forget the nightmares that I had about surviving one of them. When I’d wake my parents after one of my nightmares, they’d tell me it wouldn’t happen. I’d ask them if that was the case why they had to demonstrate and attend meetings of Sane (the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy). I still remember their campaign buttons. “There’s still time, Brother.” In high school, I enjoyed telling friends that my parents were in Sane, but I was still having the nightmares.

In a moment of national unity, President Eisenhower addressed the American public farewell on January 17, 1961. Although I was only 13 years old, I remember watching Pres. Eisenhower deliver that speech. “Beware of the military-industrial complex.” As a military man, he was especially versed in what the military was and leaving office, he had that advice to Americans looking toward the future. If only we’d heeded his advice, we’d be in better shape today. I hope that there’s still time, Brother, to listen to him now.

Viewing Racism At the Art Institute

Untitled by Robert Gober

Untitled by Robert Gober   a closeup                        

The good news is that Chicago is no longer the most segregated large city in America. According to the January 4th Chicago Tribune, it is now only the 3rd most segregated large city -behind Milwaukee and New York.

Progress is being made here albeit at a snail's pace.

Since the Art Institute in Chicago was expanded, they've had room for even more works of art and so the collection shown is even more impressive than it was. It's worth a visit even more than before. While their Impressionist collection is outstanding, sometimes it's good to branch out and see something else.

We saw the above painting which is located in the contemporary wing of the museum and is called "Untitled." It was painted by Robert Gober born in 1954. He says that "...the painful imagery was meant as a reminder of fact - the ugly and unforgettable reality of United States history." It's a new concept - racism and lynchings as wallpaper as white America sleeps comfortably for the most part ignoring it. His painting is saying that racism in America is like wallpaper- ubiquitous and therefore, something we are numb to and tend to ignore.

The year 2015 was a ghastly one for police over-reaction against African-Americans. This was true not only in Chicago, but also in many other American cities. Since the police are part of American society, we have probably all been guilty of the same types of over-reactions. Unfortunately, the police have guns and the opportunity for their over-reactions to be deadly. While the police especially need to be trained to be aware of their racist feelings so that they can know how to stop acting on those feelings in the line of duty, most of white America would do well to have that training. We have to stop over-reacting. I hope that 2016 is a year in which we begin to address the racism that is embedded in our society as we take an honest look at our own reactions.

A good place to start is at the Art Institute. Go to the contemporary wing to see "Untitled" by Robert Gober. A picture is worth a thousand words and a good place to start this journey.