by Michael Ceraolo
But Where fore do you not a shiftier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant Time?
And fortify your body from decay
With bones more cursed than a rose's crime?
Now stand you on top of the record books,
Though still with several records yet unset.
The virtuous give you dirty looks,
And recoil from your bulked-up counterfeit.
Between the lines you did more than your share
And garnered the praise from keystroke and pen,
By the uses of juices greatly unfair;
No longer esteemed in the eyes of men.
You gave away your self to keep it still;
You should have lived with just your own sweet skill.
Showing posts with label Michael Ceraolo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Ceraolo. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Poem for Nancy Isenhour
by Michael Ceraolo
She was one of 196 frosh
who entered High Point College
in High Point, North Carolina
in the fall of 1941,
a number that would dwindle,
with fifty-seven entering the military
and almost a hundred others leaving
for reasons not documented by history,
to a graduating class of 46
Her accomplishment was listed
below her yearbook photo as though
it were no more interesting or
of more historical import than to which
fraternity or sorority one belonged,
though
she was given her historical due
in a different section of the book
She would later describe herself as
having played every sport available,
and
withe the shortage of people on campus
she was invited to play one
not generally available then or now
to those like her:
boys' varsity basketball
She was one of 196 frosh
who entered High Point College
in High Point, North Carolina
in the fall of 1941,
a number that would dwindle,
with fifty-seven entering the military
and almost a hundred others leaving
for reasons not documented by history,
to a graduating class of 46
Her accomplishment was listed
below her yearbook photo as though
it were no more interesting or
of more historical import than to which
fraternity or sorority one belonged,
though
she was given her historical due
in a different section of the book
She would later describe herself as
having played every sport available,
and
withe the shortage of people on campus
she was invited to play one
not generally available then or now
to those like her:
boys' varsity basketball
Thursday, November 13, 2014
The End of the Frontier
by Michael Ceraolo
The history books told us
(and maybe they still do,
I don't know)
that
the frontier was closed in 1890,
an event
trumpeted with great fanfare by the Census Bureau,
an event
posited as an important development
by a famous historian,
being
no longer able to play cowboys and Indians for real
changed the country somehow,
though
the exploitation and despoliation
just moved overseas
To a lesser degree,
1920
has been posited as a second closing:
the year when, for the first time,
more Americans lived in urban than rural areas
(the definition of "urban area"
makes this questionable as well)
I offer a third alternative,
unremarked upon at the time,
almost unremarked upon now:
the frontier ended in 1956,
when,
on a day and date unknown,
for the first time in the country's history
more people worked for someone else
than worked for themselves
The history books told us
(and maybe they still do,
I don't know)
that
the frontier was closed in 1890,
an event
trumpeted with great fanfare by the Census Bureau,
an event
posited as an important development
by a famous historian,
being
no longer able to play cowboys and Indians for real
changed the country somehow,
though
the exploitation and despoliation
just moved overseas
To a lesser degree,
1920
has been posited as a second closing:
the year when, for the first time,
more Americans lived in urban than rural areas
(the definition of "urban area"
makes this questionable as well)
I offer a third alternative,
unremarked upon at the time,
almost unremarked upon now:
the frontier ended in 1956,
when,
on a day and date unknown,
for the first time in the country's history
more people worked for someone else
than worked for themselves
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Free Speech Canto XXXVII
by Michael Ceraolo
And the robber barons founded colleges,
which were endowed by their Creators
to hire a variety of professors,
and
then some of those professors were fired
in deference to the supposed wishes,
or the actual wishes,
of those founders,
or members of the founder's family
A few examples:
"If the railroads would expect their men
to be law-abiding,
they must set the example
Let their open violation
of the interstate commerce law
and the relations to corrupt
legislatures and assessors
testify as to their past in this regard"
was part of a speech on the Pullman strike
given by Edward W. Bemis,
a professor
at Rockefeller's University of Chicago
And
this speech prompted William Rainey Harper,
the president of the university,
to say:
"It is hardly safe for me to venture
into any of the Chicago clubs
I am pounced upon from all sides
I propose that during the remainder
of your connection with the University
you exercise very great care
in public utterance about
questions that are agitating
the minds of the people",
and
despite the dubious claim
that this wasn't a threat,
Bemis was fired at the end of the school year
"I cannot with self-respect decline to speak
on topics to which I have given
years of investigation
It is my duty as an economist,
to impart,
on occasion,
to sober people,
and in a scientific spirit,
my conclusions
on subjects with which I am expert"
was said by Edward A, Ross,
a professor at Stanford,
and
though Leland Stanford was dead,
his wife remained a prime mover
in university affairs,
saying:
"There is a very deep and bitter feeling
of indignation throughout the community . . .
to partisanism and even to dangerous socialism"
"Professor Ross cannot be trusted,
and he should go",
and he did
All professors
"should make a contribution
to our students and the University
but also to the society at large"
said Scott Nearing,
an instructor
in sociology at the Wharton School of Finance
at the University of Pennsylvania,
the school
from which Nearing had earned his
undergraduate and graduate degrees,
and
he backed his words with actions
When his appointment was up for renewal
the Dean of the Wharton School,
the chair of his department,
and
a large majority of the faculty
recommended re-appointment
But
the trustees disagreed,
saying
that Nearing "aroused class prejudice"
that he
"advocated the ruthless re-distribution of property"
that his views were
"wholly
at variance with those of the founder
[Mr. Wharton],
and
in defiance of
the conservative opinions of men of affairs"
And
those 'men of affairs' did not re-appoint him
And the robber barons founded colleges,
which were endowed by their Creators
to hire a variety of professors,
and
then some of those professors were fired
in deference to the supposed wishes,
or the actual wishes,
of those founders,
or members of the founder's family
A few examples:
"If the railroads would expect their men
to be law-abiding,
they must set the example
Let their open violation
of the interstate commerce law
and the relations to corrupt
legislatures and assessors
testify as to their past in this regard"
was part of a speech on the Pullman strike
given by Edward W. Bemis,
a professor
at Rockefeller's University of Chicago
And
this speech prompted William Rainey Harper,
the president of the university,
to say:
"It is hardly safe for me to venture
into any of the Chicago clubs
I am pounced upon from all sides
I propose that during the remainder
of your connection with the University
you exercise very great care
in public utterance about
questions that are agitating
the minds of the people",
and
despite the dubious claim
that this wasn't a threat,
Bemis was fired at the end of the school year
"I cannot with self-respect decline to speak
on topics to which I have given
years of investigation
It is my duty as an economist,
to impart,
on occasion,
to sober people,
and in a scientific spirit,
my conclusions
on subjects with which I am expert"
was said by Edward A, Ross,
a professor at Stanford,
and
though Leland Stanford was dead,
his wife remained a prime mover
in university affairs,
saying:
"There is a very deep and bitter feeling
of indignation throughout the community . . .
to partisanism and even to dangerous socialism"
"Professor Ross cannot be trusted,
and he should go",
and he did
All professors
"should make a contribution
to our students and the University
but also to the society at large"
said Scott Nearing,
an instructor
in sociology at the Wharton School of Finance
at the University of Pennsylvania,
the school
from which Nearing had earned his
undergraduate and graduate degrees,
and
he backed his words with actions
When his appointment was up for renewal
the Dean of the Wharton School,
the chair of his department,
and
a large majority of the faculty
recommended re-appointment
But
the trustees disagreed,
saying
that Nearing "aroused class prejudice"
that he
"advocated the ruthless re-distribution of property"
that his views were
"wholly
at variance with those of the founder
[Mr. Wharton],
and
in defiance of
the conservative opinions of men of affairs"
And
those 'men of affairs' did not re-appoint him
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Free Speech Canto XXXII
by Michael Ceraolo
September 1921
Krobel, Arkansas
The school board's new rule:
"The wearing
of transparent hosiery,
low-necked dresses,
and
any style of clothing tending to immodesty in dress,
or the use of face powder,
or cosmetics,
is prohibited"
Pearl Pugsley
showed what she thought of the board's rule
by putting more powder on her cheeks,
and
she refused to wash it off when ordered
to do so by one of her teachers
The principal backed the teacher,
and
the school board sided with the principal,
and
Pearl Pugsley was expelled
She then sued
The trial judge agreed with her
that the rule was unreasonable,
but
then used lawyerly dance moves
to nevertheless rule against her,
saying
she hadn't actually been kicked out,
she had just not been allowed back in
April 1923
The mavens in the state Supreme Court
decided that the trial judge had been
right in his ruling,
but wrong in his reasoning;
that
Pearl had in fact been expelled,
and that
the rule she had been expelled for violating
was indeed reasonable:
"It will be remembered also
that respect for constituted authority,
and obedience thereto,
is an essential lesson
to qualify one for the duties of citizenship,
and
that the schoolroom is an appropriate place
to teach that lesson"
But
it was not a unanimous opinion,
and
the dissenter, Justice Jesse C. Hart,
gets the last word:
" 'Useless laws diminish the authority of necessary ones'
The tone of the majority opinion
exemplifies the wisdom of this old proverb"
September 1921
Krobel, Arkansas
The school board's new rule:
"The wearing
of transparent hosiery,
low-necked dresses,
and
any style of clothing tending to immodesty in dress,
or the use of face powder,
or cosmetics,
is prohibited"
Pearl Pugsley
showed what she thought of the board's rule
by putting more powder on her cheeks,
and
she refused to wash it off when ordered
to do so by one of her teachers
The principal backed the teacher,
and
the school board sided with the principal,
and
Pearl Pugsley was expelled
She then sued
The trial judge agreed with her
that the rule was unreasonable,
but
then used lawyerly dance moves
to nevertheless rule against her,
saying
she hadn't actually been kicked out,
she had just not been allowed back in
April 1923
The mavens in the state Supreme Court
decided that the trial judge had been
right in his ruling,
but wrong in his reasoning;
that
Pearl had in fact been expelled,
and that
the rule she had been expelled for violating
was indeed reasonable:
"It will be remembered also
that respect for constituted authority,
and obedience thereto,
is an essential lesson
to qualify one for the duties of citizenship,
and
that the schoolroom is an appropriate place
to teach that lesson"
But
it was not a unanimous opinion,
and
the dissenter, Justice Jesse C. Hart,
gets the last word:
" 'Useless laws diminish the authority of necessary ones'
The tone of the majority opinion
exemplifies the wisdom of this old proverb"
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Welcome to Euphemism, North Carolina
by Michael Ceraolo
where Oceanview Farms operates
a Certified Animal Feeding Operation
that it calls by the acronym CAFO
to obscure what's going on there;
where a structure holding 12,000 animals
is called a barn;
where hog shit is hosed off the floor
and then called waste;
where the hosed excrement is stored in a pit
that is then called a lagoon;
where the walls containing the pit
break one day in June 1995
and release
twenty-five million gallons
of the contaminated water
into the nearby New River;
where a seventeen-mile stretch of that river
had its aquatic life murdered;
and
where the punishments, if any,
never fit the crimes.
where Oceanview Farms operates
a Certified Animal Feeding Operation
that it calls by the acronym CAFO
to obscure what's going on there;
where a structure holding 12,000 animals
is called a barn;
where hog shit is hosed off the floor
and then called waste;
where the hosed excrement is stored in a pit
that is then called a lagoon;
where the walls containing the pit
break one day in June 1995
and release
twenty-five million gallons
of the contaminated water
into the nearby New River;
where a seventeen-mile stretch of that river
had its aquatic life murdered;
and
where the punishments, if any,
never fit the crimes.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
That Was The Year That Was: 1877
by Michael Ceraolo
The divine right of kings was so seventeenth century;
the nineteenth century needed new nomenclature
for the new power brokers:
thus
the divine right of robber barons
Cornelius Vanderbilt: "What do I care about the law?
Ha'nt I got the power?"
Jay Gould: "I can hire half the working class
to guard the other half."
John D. Rockefeller: "God gave me my money."
And hundreds of other similar statements
now disappeared into the myth-mists of history
The chief culprits in the seemingly compulsory corruption,
the most conspicuous conspirators against the commonweal,
were the rulers of the railroads
(see above
Ad Nauseam)
Their skills were breathtaking:
brilliance at bribery
(whether giving or receiving),
and,
especially,
egregiously,
the consistent conflation of their private gain with the public good
And thus it was no surprise
that the railroad workers would be the first to rise up
The centennial of America had recently been celebrated
with considerable pomp and circumstance
(and self-congratulation),
amidst
the continuing economic depression,
the worst to date in the country's history
(definition of economic depression
-when people who have made money without working for it
are now making less than they were,
or
are even in danger of having to go to work)
"The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth
Without labor there would be no Government,
or no leading class,
or nothing to preserve"
So said the recently-retired President Grant
But
the people still in power didn't feel the same way
(Mistakes?
We didn't make no stinking mistakes
And even if we did,
you don't expect us to pay for them, do you?)
Wage cuts piled on wage cuts:
"I don't live
I am literally starving
We get meat once a week,
the rest of the week we have
dry bread and black coffee"
"organization or extermination"
The workers chose
ORGANIZATION
In city after city workers went on strike
for a living wage,
peacefully
occupying train stations and train yards
State governors,
owners of railroad stock and in no danger of starving,
called out their militias
And then,
when
the militias sympathized with the strikers,
they asked for federal troops
And the troops,
recently redeemed from having to enforce equality,
were now free to protect privilege
And
this they did with a vengeance:
more than a hundred people,
mostly
strikers seeking a decent living,
died
And
yet another American revolution
met the same fate as all but the first one had
The divine right of kings was so seventeenth century;
the nineteenth century needed new nomenclature
for the new power brokers:
thus
the divine right of robber barons
Cornelius Vanderbilt: "What do I care about the law?
Ha'nt I got the power?"
Jay Gould: "I can hire half the working class
to guard the other half."
John D. Rockefeller: "God gave me my money."
And hundreds of other similar statements
now disappeared into the myth-mists of history
The chief culprits in the seemingly compulsory corruption,
the most conspicuous conspirators against the commonweal,
were the rulers of the railroads
(see above
Ad Nauseam)
Their skills were breathtaking:
brilliance at bribery
(whether giving or receiving),
and,
especially,
egregiously,
the consistent conflation of their private gain with the public good
And thus it was no surprise
that the railroad workers would be the first to rise up
The centennial of America had recently been celebrated
with considerable pomp and circumstance
(and self-congratulation),
amidst
the continuing economic depression,
the worst to date in the country's history
(definition of economic depression
-when people who have made money without working for it
are now making less than they were,
or
are even in danger of having to go to work)
"The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth
Without labor there would be no Government,
or no leading class,
or nothing to preserve"
So said the recently-retired President Grant
But
the people still in power didn't feel the same way
(Mistakes?
We didn't make no stinking mistakes
And even if we did,
you don't expect us to pay for them, do you?)
Wage cuts piled on wage cuts:
"I don't live
I am literally starving
We get meat once a week,
the rest of the week we have
dry bread and black coffee"
"organization or extermination"
The workers chose
ORGANIZATION
In city after city workers went on strike
for a living wage,
peacefully
occupying train stations and train yards
State governors,
owners of railroad stock and in no danger of starving,
called out their militias
And then,
when
the militias sympathized with the strikers,
they asked for federal troops
And the troops,
recently redeemed from having to enforce equality,
were now free to protect privilege
And
this they did with a vengeance:
more than a hundred people,
mostly
strikers seeking a decent living,
died
And
yet another American revolution
met the same fate as all but the first one had
Thursday, September 12, 2013
William Dean Howells
by Michael Ceraolo
"For many weeks,
for months,
it has not been for one hour out of my waking thoughts;
it is the last thing when I lie down,
and
the first thing when I rise up
It blackens my life
I feel the horror and the shame of the crime
which the law is about to commit against justice"
And
on November 11, 1887,
before
that date was the day to celebrate the Armistice,
before
that date was the day to honor veterans,
the crime was committed:
four men
were murdered by the state of Illinois
In addition
to the obligatory petition signings
Howells used his literary talents
in a letter to the governor on their behalf,
and
in many private letters,
saying the trial record
"proved themselves absolutely guiltless
of the murder charged upon them" ,
making
no objection when some correspondents
made the contents of the letters public,
and
still he asked
"Is there anything more to be done?"
Risking
his munificent salary
($13,000/year from Harper and Brothers),
risking
his reputation and standing as one
of the country's most popular novelists
would seem to be enough,
but
he didn't trim his position afterward:
"All is over now,
except
the judgment that begins at once
for every unjust and evil deed,
and goes on forever
The historical perspective is that
the free Republic has killed five [sic] men
for their opinions"
And he went further,
being the proto-Zola in an ars poetica:
"Neither arts,
nor letters,
nor science,
except
as they tend to make the race better,
or kinder,
are to be regarded as serious interests,
and
they cannot do this except from and through the truth"
Then as now a minority position
"For many weeks,
for months,
it has not been for one hour out of my waking thoughts;
it is the last thing when I lie down,
and
the first thing when I rise up
It blackens my life
I feel the horror and the shame of the crime
which the law is about to commit against justice"
And
on November 11, 1887,
before
that date was the day to celebrate the Armistice,
before
that date was the day to honor veterans,
the crime was committed:
four men
were murdered by the state of Illinois
In addition
to the obligatory petition signings
Howells used his literary talents
in a letter to the governor on their behalf,
and
in many private letters,
saying the trial record
"proved themselves absolutely guiltless
of the murder charged upon them" ,
making
no objection when some correspondents
made the contents of the letters public,
and
still he asked
"Is there anything more to be done?"
Risking
his munificent salary
($13,000/year from Harper and Brothers),
risking
his reputation and standing as one
of the country's most popular novelists
would seem to be enough,
but
he didn't trim his position afterward:
"All is over now,
except
the judgment that begins at once
for every unjust and evil deed,
and goes on forever
The historical perspective is that
the free Republic has killed five [sic] men
for their opinions"
And he went further,
being the proto-Zola in an ars poetica:
"Neither arts,
nor letters,
nor science,
except
as they tend to make the race better,
or kinder,
are to be regarded as serious interests,
and
they cannot do this except from and through the truth"
Then as now a minority position
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Two Births
by Michael Ceraolo
1
for Colleen
Tuesday May 7, 1985
I had gotten off work
from my job as a convenience-store clerk
at eight that morning,
a normal cool early May morning
with normal temperatures predicted for the rest of the day,
though
the weather would the only average thing about the day
When I got home my wife told me
that her water had broken during the night
It was almost four weeks early
so I was a little worried,
but
she had been through this before,
so she calmly packed a bag
and we headed for the hospital
I wasn't quite so calm at this time:
when getting on the highway
I went the wrong direction,
so
we had to go to the next exit,
get off,
and turn around,
but
the rest of the ride was uneventful
and we made it safely to the hospital
only a few minutes later than we should have,
settling in to the delivery room
to await our daughter's first day
Colleen was showing the impatience of genius even before birth,
having decided she had served her full term in utero
even though the doctors said again it was a month early
She banged her head trying to get out because her mother wasn't ready,
and continued banging her head over and over to no effect
Because Colleen's birth day would not be today:
though
my wife's water had broken several hours earlier,
her cervix was nowhere near fully dilated or effaced
and was not making any progress toward becoming so
And despite the oxytocin that was started soon after our settling in,
the minutes dripped away as the medicine dripped in,
with
no further dilation or effacement taking place,
a contest of wills between mother and daughter
that went on for over thirty hours,
until
the doctors finally broke the long stalemate
by going in and taking Colleen out
(official birth time: 6:26 PM May 8th)
Her head would need considerable shaping
after what she had gone through trying to be born,
but in a very short time there would be no deformity
And despite her early birth she was healthy and has remained so,
though I fear she has been disappointed many times since
when the world didn't bend as easily to her will
2
for Maxie
July 7, 1988
I had again gotten off work at eight that morning,
though the intervening three years
had produced a huge improvement
in our family's circumstances:
I was no longer working as a convenience-store clerk
but had gotten a job as a firefighter
(the twenty-four hour shift I had just finished
was listed as Wednesday though it included eight hours on Thursday)
The temperature had reached ninety-six degrees that day,
in the hottest and driest summer I've experienced
(so far)
[Environmental aside to the audience:
not watering our lawn had paid off in many ways
Besides the decreased water bills,
I had only had to cut it twice
before it went dormant;
it bounced back nicely when it finally did rain
as I watched the disliked next-door neighbors
murder their lawn by fertilizing it during the drought]
Today the temperature would reach ninety-nine,
as it would also the next two days,
but
that would not be the only,
or the best,
memory of the day
Many children are in a hurry to get here
(and remain in a hurry once here),
but
she would be different
(we alone knew ahead of time it would be a she
and already had her full name picked out:
Maxine Rose Ceraolo)
She was a week later than expected,
just waiting patiently for her day to come,
when we left for the eleven o'clock appointment
to induce labor, planning for a VBAC
No wrong turns this time
Not long after we got there
and got settled in the delivery room,
she had a drop in the fetal heartbeat
(perhaps just more of that patient relaxation?)
and the doctor became impatient,
deciding
we couldn't wait for a natural birth after all,
that the potential risks outweighed the benefits
A surgical suite was scared up,
the epidural administered,
and a little after noon
(official birth time: 12:13 PM),
a little over an hour after our arrival
instead of the expected several,
Maxie was born,
healthy from the start,
and
still serene and patient out of the womb,
and she remains that way today--------
1
for Colleen
Tuesday May 7, 1985
I had gotten off work
from my job as a convenience-store clerk
at eight that morning,
a normal cool early May morning
with normal temperatures predicted for the rest of the day,
though
the weather would the only average thing about the day
When I got home my wife told me
that her water had broken during the night
It was almost four weeks early
so I was a little worried,
but
she had been through this before,
so she calmly packed a bag
and we headed for the hospital
I wasn't quite so calm at this time:
when getting on the highway
I went the wrong direction,
so
we had to go to the next exit,
get off,
and turn around,
but
the rest of the ride was uneventful
and we made it safely to the hospital
only a few minutes later than we should have,
settling in to the delivery room
to await our daughter's first day
Colleen was showing the impatience of genius even before birth,
having decided she had served her full term in utero
even though the doctors said again it was a month early
She banged her head trying to get out because her mother wasn't ready,
and continued banging her head over and over to no effect
Because Colleen's birth day would not be today:
though
my wife's water had broken several hours earlier,
her cervix was nowhere near fully dilated or effaced
and was not making any progress toward becoming so
And despite the oxytocin that was started soon after our settling in,
the minutes dripped away as the medicine dripped in,
with
no further dilation or effacement taking place,
a contest of wills between mother and daughter
that went on for over thirty hours,
until
the doctors finally broke the long stalemate
by going in and taking Colleen out
(official birth time: 6:26 PM May 8th)
Her head would need considerable shaping
after what she had gone through trying to be born,
but in a very short time there would be no deformity
And despite her early birth she was healthy and has remained so,
though I fear she has been disappointed many times since
when the world didn't bend as easily to her will
2
for Maxie
July 7, 1988
I had again gotten off work at eight that morning,
though the intervening three years
had produced a huge improvement
in our family's circumstances:
I was no longer working as a convenience-store clerk
but had gotten a job as a firefighter
(the twenty-four hour shift I had just finished
was listed as Wednesday though it included eight hours on Thursday)
The temperature had reached ninety-six degrees that day,
in the hottest and driest summer I've experienced
(so far)
[Environmental aside to the audience:
not watering our lawn had paid off in many ways
Besides the decreased water bills,
I had only had to cut it twice
before it went dormant;
it bounced back nicely when it finally did rain
as I watched the disliked next-door neighbors
murder their lawn by fertilizing it during the drought]
Today the temperature would reach ninety-nine,
as it would also the next two days,
but
that would not be the only,
or the best,
memory of the day
Many children are in a hurry to get here
(and remain in a hurry once here),
but
she would be different
(we alone knew ahead of time it would be a she
and already had her full name picked out:
Maxine Rose Ceraolo)
She was a week later than expected,
just waiting patiently for her day to come,
when we left for the eleven o'clock appointment
to induce labor, planning for a VBAC
No wrong turns this time
Not long after we got there
and got settled in the delivery room,
she had a drop in the fetal heartbeat
(perhaps just more of that patient relaxation?)
and the doctor became impatient,
deciding
we couldn't wait for a natural birth after all,
that the potential risks outweighed the benefits
A surgical suite was scared up,
the epidural administered,
and a little after noon
(official birth time: 12:13 PM),
a little over an hour after our arrival
instead of the expected several,
Maxie was born,
healthy from the start,
and
still serene and patient out of the womb,
and she remains that way today--------
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Birds and the Bees
by Michael Ceraolo
(though
there were plenty of pejorative nicknames
conferred by those opposed)
(as though
every plant and animal
that had been domesticated
hadn't been genetically modified
to a greater or lesser degree)
The concern most often expressed
was in regard to the safety
of the altered organisms,
which
was indeed a valid concern but
a distraction from the real issue,
which
was the increasing consolidation
of the corporate control of life:
here
the granting of patents for life-forms;
the Creator's patents had apparently lapsed
unnoticed by one and all,
and
corporations were only too happy
to step into the breach
and
managed to do so in a couple of ways:
by
fighting labeling requirements that might imply
that their 'products' weren't safe,
and by shifting
the burden of proof from themselves to the farmers,
who now had to prove they weren't using
the patented life-forms
And
many farmers not having the resources
to defend themselves in court
against the colossus,
far too many unmodified foodstuffs
were left to rot in the ground
while awaiting adjudication
as to their ownership
genetically-modified chemicals
were being applied to the fields
with very little outcry,
and
such chemicals caused brain damage
to the bees who were necessary
to the propagation of natural plants,
and
still more natural plants died out,
and
corporate control continued on
but
it was already too late for those
who had starved to death
because they were unable to pay
for the patented life-forms----
There was a sudden concern
early in the third millennium
about what were then called,
in the mania for initializing,
GMOs,
which
stood for
Genetically Modified Organisms(though
there were plenty of pejorative nicknames
conferred by those opposed)
(as though
every plant and animal
that had been domesticated
hadn't been genetically modified
to a greater or lesser degree)
The concern most often expressed
was in regard to the safety
of the altered organisms,
which
was indeed a valid concern but
a distraction from the real issue,
which
was the increasing consolidation
of the corporate control of life:
here
the granting of patents for life-forms;
the Creator's patents had apparently lapsed
unnoticed by one and all,
and
corporations were only too happy
to step into the breach
And
they aggressively enforced their 'rights',and
managed to do so in a couple of ways:
by
fighting labeling requirements that might imply
that their 'products' weren't safe,
and by shifting
the burden of proof from themselves to the farmers,
who now had to prove they weren't using
the patented life-forms
And
many farmers not having the resources
to defend themselves in court
against the colossus,
far too many unmodified foodstuffs
were left to rot in the ground
while awaiting adjudication
as to their ownership
And,
at the same time,genetically-modified chemicals
were being applied to the fields
with very little outcry,
and
such chemicals caused brain damage
to the bees who were necessary
to the propagation of natural plants,
and
still more natural plants died out,
and
corporate control continued on
The corporate-controlled life-forms
largely proved safe,but
it was already too late for those
who had starved to death
because they were unable to pay
for the patented life-forms----
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Reading Eliot in Eastlake
by Michael Ceraolo
A few clouds are laid out against
a rare sunny December sky
as we breathe in, you and I,
the exhaust from the stack at the power plant,
the same plant the power company,
in a fit of pique,
threatened to close earlier this year
rather than be compelled to clean it up
No wonder
The air tastes like this.
A few clouds are laid out against
a rare sunny December sky
as we breathe in, you and I,
the exhaust from the stack at the power plant,
the same plant the power company,
in a fit of pique,
threatened to close earlier this year
rather than be compelled to clean it up
No wonder
The air tastes like this.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Purple Rain
by Michael Ceraolo
The colors that once shone through the rain
are now contained in the rain
The colors that once shone through the rain
are now contained in the rain
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Modern Olympian Ode #8 (1960): If I'm Lyin', I'm Dyin'
by Michael Ceraolo
I don't know if this particular idiom
translates very well into Danish,
but it translated into the life
of one Danish Olympian
August 26, 1960
The first event of the Rome Olympics
for which medals would be given
would be the hundred-kilometer
team time-trial road cycling,
four cyclists to a team,
three of whom must finish the race
for the team to have a qualified time
One of the Danish cyclists
had dropped out early in the race
A photo shows two teammates
holding up a third teammate
so he can finish the race,
for the cyclists were well into the race
and the Danes were just out of medal position
(the rules in force at the time
allowed only teammates to help)
But the cyclist,
Knud Enermark Jensen,
dropped,
to the pavement out of consciousness at first
and a few hours later out of this life,
the first,
and so far the only,
Olympian to die
on the day he or she competed,
and people wanted to know why
The Danish team trainer would say
that he had given the cyclists,
with their knowledge and approval,
the drug Roniacol,
which would improve circulation in the legs
during the course of the long race
but could cause the blood pressure to bottom out
(an autopsy was done by the Italian authorities
claiming sunstroke as the cause of death,
though the report was never made public
and later 'mysteriously' disappeared)
Years later,
amphetamine use would also be acknowledged,
and a sinister synergy between that,
the side effects of the Roniacol,
and the summer heat
would be accepted as the true cause of death
No better living through chemistry on this day
I don't know if this particular idiom
translates very well into Danish,
but it translated into the life
of one Danish Olympian
August 26, 1960
The first event of the Rome Olympics
for which medals would be given
would be the hundred-kilometer
team time-trial road cycling,
four cyclists to a team,
three of whom must finish the race
for the team to have a qualified time
One of the Danish cyclists
had dropped out early in the race
A photo shows two teammates
holding up a third teammate
so he can finish the race,
for the cyclists were well into the race
and the Danes were just out of medal position
(the rules in force at the time
allowed only teammates to help)
But the cyclist,
Knud Enermark Jensen,
dropped,
to the pavement out of consciousness at first
and a few hours later out of this life,
the first,
and so far the only,
Olympian to die
on the day he or she competed,
and people wanted to know why
The Danish team trainer would say
that he had given the cyclists,
with their knowledge and approval,
the drug Roniacol,
which would improve circulation in the legs
during the course of the long race
but could cause the blood pressure to bottom out
(an autopsy was done by the Italian authorities
claiming sunstroke as the cause of death,
though the report was never made public
and later 'mysteriously' disappeared)
Years later,
amphetamine use would also be acknowledged,
and a sinister synergy between that,
the side effects of the Roniacol,
and the summer heat
would be accepted as the true cause of death
No better living through chemistry on this day
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Hook Shot
by Michael Ceraolo
It is so old-school it is almost extinct
(it has a couple of new-school versions),
yet
it is unstoppable without fouling:
catch the ball on the block
angle
your body properly to the basket
(the defender at your back)
lift one side's arm and leg in one motion
and
s w e e p
the arm protected by your body
kiss the ball in off the backboard,
or
drop it directly in the basket
It is so old-school it is almost extinct
(it has a couple of new-school versions),
yet
it is unstoppable without fouling:
catch the ball on the block
angle
your body properly to the basket
(the defender at your back)
lift one side's arm and leg in one motion
and
s w e e p
the arm protected by your body
kiss the ball in off the backboard,
or
drop it directly in the basket
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Mothers Shooting Hoops with Sons
for Cynthia
by Michael Ceraolo
She has taken the perfect picture:
capturing the ball at the exact instant
her son has put it through the chainlink net
She claims to have never been athletic,
yet she is out there playing with him every day
(where one can play year-round outside
comfortably),
and
I picture her playing ball
with the beauty of her photos
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Basketball Scene
March 8, 2008
by Michael Ceraolo
The previous evening,
a Friday,
the snow had started and wouldn't stop
until well into the next day,
when about two feet had fallen
Most roads in the area were impassable
because the snowplow crews couldn't clear the snow
as fast as it was falling,
though
somehow I was able to make to work this day
(At the time,
I had an essential occupation,
firefighter/paramedic,
so
staying away from the job wasn't an option,
nor,
once there,
could there be such a thing as an impassable road)
Cleveland State's men basketball tea,m
was playing in the Horizon League Tournament's
semi-final round that day;
they had gone to the site (Indianapolis)
a day or two earlier,
so
they had not been affected by the storm
The pep band,
however,
was scheduled to bus there the day of the game
Because of the extreme snowfall
the band never made it to their destination,
didn't even attempt to get there,
content to stay safe and warm at school
and watch the game on television
Except
for a lone enterprising trumpet player
who hopped in his car and slogged through the snow
to the game at the famed Hinkle Fieldhouse,
five hours away on a good day
And
he gave the announcers calling the game
a great human-interest story,
and
was rewarded with far more TV time
than he ever would have gotten
playing as part of the band
I don't remember the score of the game,
though I know Cleveland State lost,
nor
do I recall if the lone trumpet player
actually played any songs solo;
I just remember the fact of the lone trumpet player,
the stuff legends are made of-------
The previous evening,
a Friday,
the snow had started and wouldn't stop
until well into the next day,
when about two feet had fallen
Most roads in the area were impassable
because the snowplow crews couldn't clear the snow
as fast as it was falling,
though
somehow I was able to make to work this day
(At the time,
I had an essential occupation,
firefighter/paramedic,
so
staying away from the job wasn't an option,
nor,
once there,
could there be such a thing as an impassable road)
Cleveland State's men basketball tea,m
was playing in the Horizon League Tournament's
semi-final round that day;
they had gone to the site (Indianapolis)
a day or two earlier,
so
they had not been affected by the storm
The pep band,
however,
was scheduled to bus there the day of the game
Because of the extreme snowfall
the band never made it to their destination,
didn't even attempt to get there,
content to stay safe and warm at school
and watch the game on television
Except
for a lone enterprising trumpet player
who hopped in his car and slogged through the snow
to the game at the famed Hinkle Fieldhouse,
five hours away on a good day
And
he gave the announcers calling the game
a great human-interest story,
and
was rewarded with far more TV time
than he ever would have gotten
playing as part of the band
I don't remember the score of the game,
though I know Cleveland State lost,
nor
do I recall if the lone trumpet player
actually played any songs solo;
I just remember the fact of the lone trumpet player,
the stuff legends are made of-------
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Ode to Lynette Woodard
by Michael Ceraolo
She was a legend back in the day,
a day
when almost no one saw her play,
a day
before games were routinely televised,
before they were written about in the sporty pages,
before there were professional possibilities
available in her native land
And
so she moved on,
establishing
a new non-sports-related career
with
the same excellence she expressed on the court
Until . . .
Until
a professional league was created
and
the siren song of competition
was too strong for her to resist
And
so she tore herself away
from her non-playing career
to test herself against players
little more than half her age,
and
what could bring that about
other than love of the game
But
time had eroded,
though
not worn away completely,
her once-considerable skills,
leaving
the audience thankful
for the
occasional glimpse
of her past greatness,
yet
at the same time sad,
sad that no record remained of her prime,
a prime that had been played
behind the gender line-----
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Naming and Re-Naming
by Michael Ceraolo
I am looking at a map of the watershed:
on one,
the creek and its various tributaries
are complete and unobstructed,
as they were
before man went to work and live by them,
and
are blue and thick like the veins of weightlifter;
on the other,
the creek and its tributaries
are thinner,
something easily explained by different graphics,
but
the second map also has a second difference:
it shows the hand of man
Parts
that are culverted are not shown on this map,
leaving
stream sections that seem to go nowhere,
and
look like varicose veins to boot
It's unlikely,
as long as people live here,
that all
the buried sections will ever be unburied
(though some will):
they go
under
roads,
municipal buildings,
shopping malls,
etc.
Even without being completely free-flowing
some of the streams are claiming,
or re-claiming,
their names
(The watershed itself has begun announcing its presence:
signs have started appearing on the watershed's edges
informing people they are now entering the watershed;
some signs are a bit inside the boundary,
but
this is a case of something being better than nothing)
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names:
"the Board promulgates official geographic feature names
with locative attributes"
and
"Any person or organization,
public or private,
may . . .
request the Board to render formal decisions on proposed names"
and
in October 2007 the city of Richmond Heights
(briefly called Claribel Village when it was culled
from Euclid township nearly a century ago,
until
the town fathers decided the name
:is effeminate
and is not appropriate or suitable for a municipal corporation")
sought to re-claim,
formally,
the original names
given to five tributaries or branches,
names that had fallen into disuse
And
on March 13, 2008,
the Board approved the five names
(did the other two tributaries never have names to be re-claimed?)
Those five were:
East Branch,
about
12,000 feet of the creek contained in the city limits,
a name already informally in use;
obeying the geographic imperative;
Redstone Run,
"storm drainage from Richmond Town Square Mall"
"flows through a culvert under Richmond Road"
"into an open stream flowing northwest"
"into twin 58" x 60" culverts"
and
eventually into Euclid Creek
(length about 14,000 feet),
named
for the Berea sandstone of the Devonian,
also known as red sandstone,
frequently shortened to redstone;
Stevenson Brook,
"flows from a retention pond"
"and from storm sewers north of the Mall"
flows along one of the newer developments
"into a 91" x 58" oval culvert running north"
and eventually empties into the East Branch
(a length of 10,000 feet),
named
for the Stevenson family who came here,
from various places,
in 1837;
Verbsky Creek,
"begins in farm ditches"
"flows westerly through a 42" culvert"
"then northerly through a scenic ravine"
"and through a 72" culvert under Highland Road"
and then
meets up with the East Branch and flows into
Euclid Creek
(a total length of 6,000 feet),
named
for the Verbsky family who came here from Bohemia
in 1861,
and operated a sawmill
and had vineyards on the west end of the city;
and
Claribel Creek,
which
"comes from a small retention pond"
"that collects a series of drainage ditches and storm sewers"
from the city of Highland Heights to the east
"flows north through a box culvert under Highland Road"
"then flows westerly in an open ditch"
flows past several City buildings,
enters,
and then exits,
a heavily-silted Mayfair Lake,
and
eventually empties into the East Branch
(length about 10,000 feet),
named,
supposedly,
for the daughter of one of the first postmasters of the city
(creeks,
unlike cities,
apparently
can be effeminate)
There are other tributaries in other cities
that have no formal names,
though
some may have informal names
(I seem
to remember reading of a study of water quality
in a tributary called Meadowood Creek)
Some are marked as
Tributary to the West Branch
or Tributary to the East Branch;
others haven't even merited such generic designations
(naming a tributary Tributary
is like titling a poem Poem),
and
have culverted sections and flow through
similar landscapes as the named creek above
Let's first
find names for all those unnamed branches,
then
let's put signage
(in the correct places)
broadcasting the names,
and then,
wherever possible,
let's work
toward restoring the streams to free-flowing form-------
I am looking at a map of the watershed:
on one,
the creek and its various tributaries
are complete and unobstructed,
as they were
before man went to work and live by them,
and
are blue and thick like the veins of weightlifter;
on the other,
the creek and its tributaries
are thinner,
something easily explained by different graphics,
but
the second map also has a second difference:
it shows the hand of man
Parts
that are culverted are not shown on this map,
leaving
stream sections that seem to go nowhere,
and
look like varicose veins to boot
It's unlikely,
as long as people live here,
that all
the buried sections will ever be unburied
(though some will):
they go
under
roads,
municipal buildings,
shopping malls,
etc.
Even without being completely free-flowing
some of the streams are claiming,
or re-claiming,
their names
(The watershed itself has begun announcing its presence:
signs have started appearing on the watershed's edges
informing people they are now entering the watershed;
some signs are a bit inside the boundary,
but
this is a case of something being better than nothing)
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names:
"the Board promulgates official geographic feature names
with locative attributes"
and
"Any person or organization,
public or private,
may . . .
request the Board to render formal decisions on proposed names"
and
in October 2007 the city of Richmond Heights
(briefly called Claribel Village when it was culled
from Euclid township nearly a century ago,
until
the town fathers decided the name
:is effeminate
and is not appropriate or suitable for a municipal corporation")
sought to re-claim,
formally,
the original names
given to five tributaries or branches,
names that had fallen into disuse
And
on March 13, 2008,
the Board approved the five names
(did the other two tributaries never have names to be re-claimed?)
Those five were:
East Branch,
about
12,000 feet of the creek contained in the city limits,
a name already informally in use;
obeying the geographic imperative;
Redstone Run,
"storm drainage from Richmond Town Square Mall"
"flows through a culvert under Richmond Road"
"into an open stream flowing northwest"
"into twin 58" x 60" culverts"
and
eventually into Euclid Creek
(length about 14,000 feet),
named
for the Berea sandstone of the Devonian,
also known as red sandstone,
frequently shortened to redstone;
Stevenson Brook,
"flows from a retention pond"
"and from storm sewers north of the Mall"
flows along one of the newer developments
"into a 91" x 58" oval culvert running north"
and eventually empties into the East Branch
(a length of 10,000 feet),
named
for the Stevenson family who came here,
from various places,
in 1837;
Verbsky Creek,
"begins in farm ditches"
"flows westerly through a 42" culvert"
"then northerly through a scenic ravine"
"and through a 72" culvert under Highland Road"
and then
meets up with the East Branch and flows into
Euclid Creek
(a total length of 6,000 feet),
named
for the Verbsky family who came here from Bohemia
in 1861,
and operated a sawmill
and had vineyards on the west end of the city;
and
Claribel Creek,
which
"comes from a small retention pond"
"that collects a series of drainage ditches and storm sewers"
from the city of Highland Heights to the east
"flows north through a box culvert under Highland Road"
"then flows westerly in an open ditch"
flows past several City buildings,
enters,
and then exits,
a heavily-silted Mayfair Lake,
and
eventually empties into the East Branch
(length about 10,000 feet),
named,
supposedly,
for the daughter of one of the first postmasters of the city
(creeks,
unlike cities,
apparently
can be effeminate)
There are other tributaries in other cities
that have no formal names,
though
some may have informal names
(I seem
to remember reading of a study of water quality
in a tributary called Meadowood Creek)
Some are marked as
Tributary to the West Branch
or Tributary to the East Branch;
others haven't even merited such generic designations
(naming a tributary Tributary
is like titling a poem Poem),
and
have culverted sections and flow through
similar landscapes as the named creek above
Let's first
find names for all those unnamed branches,
then
let's put signage
(in the correct places)
broadcasting the names,
and then,
wherever possible,
let's work
toward restoring the streams to free-flowing form-------
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