Share Your World 12-14-2020
I know it’s December because there is heavy snow in the forecast. December is the most active month for blizzards along with February. In a bad year, any day from late fall to nearly summer are potential snow days. I hope this isn’t a bad year but we’ve potentially got a foot or more of snow this week. I want them to be wrong.
What news event do you vividly remember hearing about as a child, and where were you?
I remember hearing (on the radio) that we were losing the war in Korea. I remember listening to the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. I remember when the Dodgers won the World Series in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. I remember John F. Kennedy’s election. I was 13. I watched the debates and the election. It was the first time we had a televised election. It was a squeaker and took until the following morning to know that John Kennedy had just barely won. Yet he became incredibly popular once he was IN office.
I remember his assassination. I remember being in a daze. I was 16, in my Freshman year at college. It was unreal.
Then I remember having a baby, Jeffrey’s heart attack, getting on the plane with Owen to go to Israel. The ride in the taxi to Jerusalem from the airport. I remember being there when they signed the King David Treaty and that Saddam died just a couple of weeks later (assassination) followed 10-days later by Dayan’s death.
I remember 9/11.
And I will never forget these past four year and this pandemic.
What is a Christmas song that makes you cringe?
I can’t think of any. I just don’t like badly performed music of any kind. You get a lot of “modern updates” to classic tunes. It makes my ears hurt. At least play the originals.
What is one place you shop(ped prior to COVID) that might have surprised people?
I didn’t shop except for the half price sales at Kohl’s. I hit the online market very early.
What is your least favorite holiday side dish?
Turnips. Tasteless and a weird texture. No matter what you do to them, they never taste good.
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Categories: #Photography, Q & A, questions
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Garry…..awesome post. It was great taking a stroll back in time with your memories of those significant events, that for better or worse, are an integral part of the nation’s history.
Indians fan here (though the name will be changing…mixed emotions there) but as I am sure you know, Larry Doby was JR’s equivalent in the AL roughly 3 months later and has remained a beloved figure in the history of the franchise….with a statue prominently displayed outside of Progressive Field.
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“News”: Kennedy. I could actually feel the shock in the World consciousness. It was devastating.
“Christmas cringe”: Any song by Maria Carey
“Shop”?: Can’t say?
“Least favorite holiday side dish”? Fruit cake? LoL!
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It was such a strange day. We all wandered around the campus. Not a lot of talking. We were young and we had really LIKED Kennedy. He seems far more tuned in to our generation…and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the same way about national politics.
Garry and Owen both love fruitcake. So do I. But baking it seems to ALWAYS involve booze, so I’m trying to hunt down a booze-free fruit cake. I think I found one in a very old cookbook (circa 1899) that darkens the cake with brown sugar and treacle. No alcohol. Especially not a couple of cups of dark Jamaican rum which most of them call for and some also want another cup of brandy or cognac. I don’t drink either and honestly, it’s not my favorite cake flavor either. I love the fruit and the crunchiness of the cake, though.
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We had a lot of traditional English fare as my Mother was English – from Guildford, Surrey. Yorkshire Pudding, Plum Pudding, a glass of Sherry or Port etc. BUT I never liked fruitcake. I’ll tell ya something though, Mum’s turkey stuffing was ‘to die for’. I could have eaten that alone and thrown the turkey away.
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I usually feel that way about turkey. The best part of it is the stuffing, the skin, and maybe a sandwich the next day.
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Thanks Marilyn for Sharing Your World! There have been so many awful events in these past decades, one could probably list something for every year if one wanted to! You’ve seen your fair share and more obviously! I’ve never been offered turnips and I don’t think I’ve missed a darn thing either. Ugh. I agree with you about the classics in Christmas music. Another point about those is keep the proper tempo PLEASE. I’ve heard several versions of classics (Let it Snow, Frosty the Snowman, Up on the Rooftop) which all have fast paced tempos, sung in a very slow one instead. Yuck. I dislike that effect almost as much as I dislike “My Favorite Things”. Have a pleasant and warm week, and pet Duke for me.
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I went for the “big” ones that in some way changed my world — and a lot of other people’s worlds. These past four years and especially THIS year have turned everyone’s life upside down. And it wasn’t an event. I think we can hand it to 2020 as the most disruptive and freaky year in our lifetime.
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I most certainly underline your feelings on ‘changed’ and/or badly presented Christmas carols…
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Choirs or individuals who can’t carry a tune or where the music has been jazzed up to sound vaguely rock-and-roll-ish. Hate it!
Carols that are all about gifts and have nothing else to offer — unless they are intentionally comedic. Otherwise, give me a great choir and classics and I’m happy.
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News:
WW2 — I vaguely, very vaguely remember VE and VJ days. Lots of family excitement, radio blaring, newspapers with big headlines scattered on the floors, people outside cheering with lots of car horns blasting and my Mom telling me, “Your Daddy will be coming home soon” with tears in eyes and a big smile lighting her face.
I clearly recall one moment – there was brief silence as everyone in the house stood to salute the big picture of FDR that occupied a prominent place on our living room wall. We, I think, were living in a Bronx tenement at the time.
#42 INTEGRATES MLB — I was just beginning my life long affair with baseball, beginning with the Brooklyn Dodgers. 1947 and lots of talk about a young Negro player, Jackie Robinson joining the Dodgers and ‘changing the game forever’. I remember lots of animated conversation among family members — the men. Cigar and cigarette smoke filled the air as they shouted things – happy, excited and a little nervous, I thought just beginning to understand what was happening. We had just moved to Jamaica Queens and our first HOUSE. The Robinson story would dominate headlines, news and sports and I followed it closely. For me, it was riveting stuff as my five year old brain tried to absorb it all.
TRUMAN-DEWEY – I recall lots of arguments among family about Truman versus Dewey. Dewey was a familiar figure in the papers because of local (New York) political and crime stories that emblazoned out “bibles” The N.Y. Daily News, The N.Y. Daily Mirror, The Herald Trib and — sometimes — The NY Times which I was told was for rich, white people. Truman was kind of like a folksy uncle in newsreels and on the radio. He and his daughter used to play the piano, “The Missouri Waltz” was their crowd pleaser. “He’s no FDR” – was something I heard a lot. When I went to bed, it appeared Tom Dewey (with that villainous mustache) was our new President. The next day, SURPRISE! At school, there was a lot of name calling with kids who had worn “Dewey” buttons getting razzed a lot.
KOREA: Details played out on the radio like they would a couple of decades later with Vietnam and television. But we were still cocooned in our innocence of heavily censored news reports. Radio reigned and TV was a colt just trying to stand on its legs. We just had radio and it was fine. As a youngster, my imagination was filled with the images I received from the reports on the CBS Radio World News Roundup — Daily – Morning, evening and late night — before being herded to bed. There also was Edward R. Murrow, Lowell Thomas, Edward P. Morgan and other voices I would come to revere. They shared their thoughts AFTER reporting the news. I recall the radio crackling with correspondent reports from Seoul, Bonn, Moscow, London and other far flung locales that one day would be in my work day. No one ever called it a war on radio which always puzzled me.
IKE/NIXON – I always liked Ike because he looked like my maternal Gramps minus the Caribbean skin color and accent. Gramps always chuckled when I mentioned this to him. I remember seeing the early TV news clips of Ike playing golf. He played golf a lot and always seemed pleasant with reporters. Vice President Nixon, on the other hand, didn’t seem to a pleasant man on the TV. He seemed to force his smiles and reminded me of kids who didn’t make friends easily. Nixon regularly wiped sweat from his brow. Ike looked like Nixon’s benevolent father when they shared the political stage. One year — ‘late 55 — VP Nixon was on a campaign tour that took him through NYC, including a brief stop in Jamaica. I remember seeing him (good spot in the crowd) up on the podium. He looked nervous and was tapping his toes (Nervous habit I’d see and sometimes use later in life) before he began speaking. Decades later, I would meet Richard Nixon, in the twilight of his career and life. I recalled for him that Jamaica ’55 day. He smiled broadly. A warm, honest smile.
CHRISTMAS — So many wonderful memories from childhood days of innocence. Yes, I believed in Santa Claus. I never connected the bevy of goodies under our wonderful smelling Christmas Trees with Mom and Dad’s magnificent efforts to keep the magic of Santa and Christmas alive to me and my two younger brothers.
It was Christmas — and a wonderful time for a kid with no worries except to clean up all the wrapping paper from the gifts. I think I pouted a little about that job. Not for long. Christmas Dinner smells were always coming from the kitchen.
CRINGY CHRISTMAS SONGS: Can’t think of any. But I am NOT thrilled with modern hop/rap versions of “The Christmas Song”. I think Mel Torme and Nat Cole would agree.
LEAST FAV CHRISTMAS SIDE DISH: Lima Beans. Hate ’em – anytime of year.
CHRISTMAS MOVIES: “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Story”, “Meet Me In St. Louis” (Just to hear Judy sing “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”), “Remember The Night”, and so many, many more. No remakes here, please., unless it’s something from the Zucker Brothers or Mel Brooks. Can you imagine Mel’s take on “The Greatest Story Ever Told”?
“Joey, have you ever rode in a sleigh, nestled up close to Santa Claus”?
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such telling memories, Garry! We literally have NO IDEA – first of all in my case having grown up in a totally ‘neutral’ country, with laws and rules being valid for everybody, Christmas being a family feast with few and cheap presents but a lot of singing and blowing our recorders together, our ‘special’ meal mostly consisted of a piece of bacon my father received in lieu of a Christmas bonus, some meat was the currency of money at that time. We were poor but nobody around us was rich, so it didn’t bother us… Thanks for sharing!
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