Journalism, politics, language, life
“He was born to be a soldier,” says Brian Faunce’s mother Judy. He was born in the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, November 11 Veterans’ Day. Brian was the middle child with an older and younger sister. He stood his own if his sisters would gang up on him. When he tried things, he was committed.
It’s been a week since Halloween when everyone is supposed to be a little frightened of ghosts and kids pulling pranks. But this week should scare the hell out of all of us. Let’s see, on Halloween night Trump was hosting a “Gatsby” themed dinner party at Mar-a-Logo while forty-two million Americans were facing losing their SNAP benefits which they rely on to eat. They still aren’t getting them today even after a federal judge told the administration to restore the full benefits in total today. Trump is appealing. Apparently, the hungry can wait. A real “let them eat cake” moment. French history says it was spoken by a great princess when told peasants had no bread. It’s been attributed to Marie Antoinette, but never proven she said it. We know what happened to her.
Kris Stonesifer was a curious and active kid. In our interview on Face Time, his mother Ruth described him as into everything. “From stunt riding bicycles to jujitsu, he was a black belt in karate very early on at the Y. He was an individual kind of sportsman. I always describe him as a vegan philosophy major” who loved the challenge of the outdoors. He went to a program in New Jersey to learn tracking and survival techniques.
Bill Maher was always doing something.
I met Bill’s sister Kelly in a Starbucks. She was anxious to talk about her brother. She described him was adventurous. “He always loved to travel, hike, ski, big time snowboarder, fisherman. He couldn’t sit still my brother.”
After graduating from high school, Bill went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He loved to cook. He worked at several restaurants as an assistant chef. After a few years, Bill wasn’t sure it was for him.
Nate DeTample can be described as small in stature but with a big personality. He was a high school wrestler and an Eagle Scout.
His mother Kim says, “He was a wrestler, and he was dedicated to the wrestling team. He wanted to be a police officer”…like his father. He was a real community related person. So he grew up respecting, you know, he used to always say God bless America. Yeah, he was really patriotic.”
Marine Corporal Eric Fritzinger was a 17 year old high school graduate in 2005 when he told his parents he wanted to enlist in the Marines. He needed their permission because he was under age. First, they said no, but relented when he said he would go in on his own when he was eighteen. A month after graduating he was in Marine boot camp on Parris Island. He was a freshman in high school when 9/11 happened. He was in an assembly about domestic terrorism when the planes hit the World Trade Center.
On a recent vacation my wife and I visited the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague. You are overwhelmed when you enter. Covering the walls and ceiling are the names 77,297 Jews who were among the 80,000 from Prague killed in the Holocaust. Each row is about a quarter inch on the white walls. You can’t stop your eyes from scanning the walls of lost lives. You are then led into a room that will change your understanding of evil, hatred and survival.
I passed the spot many times, and never noticed it. By chance, I looked down one day and there it was. Craved neatly into the cement at curb side was June 6, 1938 with two little feet imprints and the name Dolores McGarvey. After eighty-seven years it was still there undisturbed. I was immediately curious. Who was this woman behind this sidewalk memory? This was on a street in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. A place where families come to vacation during this summer. So the first question was, did she live here year round or just for a week or so during the summer? The search was on.
Golf is usually played with friends. But when no one is available, you can always go as a single. You call for a tee time. They will either fit you in to play by yourself and team you up others to fill out a foursome. When you get teamed with others, there are two concerns. Are they going to be good golfers and make you look foolish? Or they are going to be not so good, and make you feel more confident. Recently, I got teamed up with threesome at a nine hole course. It started strangely.
The new Trump target is Native Americans. Just when we thought it couldn’t get more racist and ridiculous. He’s now after the NFL Washington Commanders and baseball’s Cleveland Guardians. In his twisted sense of history, Trump thinks the name change back to the offensive nicknames the Redskins and Indians the will restore Native Americans’ pride in their hertiage. Both teams and their fans have basically responded with stay out of our business and do your job. Trump’s response has been to threaten to stop a new stadium from being built for the Commanders in Washington DC. We’ve seen these threats before. In these cases, Trump has no standing or right to interfere.
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