Gleaning Facebook: Monica's New Website

 From Monica Shepherd

I'm so excited to introduce you to our new website! Major thanks to Lillian Shaw for knocking it out of the park in record timing. You will notice that there is a lovely opportunity to make a donation to the campaign! Every dollar counts as we cover the costs of signs and magnets and filing fees, etc.

I am so humbled by the amazing support we have had so far and I look forward to thanking each and every one of you by doing my very best to serve as your next Rome City Commissioner!

You will also find that my columns that were published in the Rome News Tribune over the last couple of months are now available under the blog tab. I will occasionally add some new pieces to the list as I navigate this election process. Enjoy!

(Monica's campaign website in no longer available)

Gleaning Facebook: Story Night

Don’t miss Story Night @ Schroeder’s

7-9 p.m.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Hear stories from Pepper Ellis-Hagebak of LaGrange as well as Rome’s John Paul Schulz, Gary Greene, Leonard White, and more!

 

Gleaning Facebook: Trump Speaks to the Scouts?!

 From Dan Rather:

Donald Trump's speech last night in front of the Boy Scouts of America was not only highly inappropriate. It was disgusting.

I would like to hope it is a nadir in our country's political discourse, but it seems like the slide downward only accelerates. So it stands as a sad encapsulation of our current age.

No doubt many in the crowd were riled up by Mr. Trump's stale rhetoric of "fake news" and lies about his "massive" electoral victory. But the Boy Scouts is a diverse organization with chapters in every corner of this nation. And today, many are no doubt wondering whether they belong in a group that is supposed to be built on community and service. Many of these boys may be wondering more broadly whether they belong in a country led by a man like this.

Scouts learn the importance of being “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” How few of those adjectives apply to our current Commander in Chief. A man who can't control himself to act in a manner befitting the setting, is a man without the steadiness of character to run a nation. A grown man who is so insecure as to seek affirmation in a group of teenagers is not a man with the maturity to lead a nation. A man who is so self-absorbed as to make every utterance about himself and his needs is not a man with the vision to elevate a nation.

Part of being president is to be the leader of the entire country. And every president I can remember (and that's a lot of them) revelled in moments when they had a venue to shake off the partisanship of Washington and speak in exalted tones to the people. But whether it's dedicating an aircraft carrier or talking to Boy Scouts, Mr. Trump so far has seemed incapable of performing that simple task.

Bluntly put - and there is no joy in having to say this – he is tearing apart the norms of our nation. So it is incumbent on those who recognize the damage being done to stitch back the bonds that unite us and work hard to muffle the echoes of his divisiveness.

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"The President's speech at the Boy Scouts Rally yesterday was beyond disgraceful, distasteful, and unconscionable. Regardless of one's political leaning, our nation's young people should never be subjected to such rhetoric. This was an opportunity to inspire and uplift, but our petty President failed miserably."

-- from a friend who does not allow sharing from his Facebook page.

He's exactly correct. We must get rid (legally, constitutionally) of this stain on the presidency. I dread a Pence presidency, in some ways even more than the Great Liar's presidency when it comes to policy, but we must get this evil out of George Washington's seat. 

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If one can observe the effluence of Donald John Trump's mouth as he spoke to thousands of underage boys and not recognize evil, one needs to examine his own heart.

This is just another day of chaos and outrageousness in the Trump era, any one of which would have been in the first paragraph of the bio of any other president.

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Where's the Momentum merit badge? Comments Marion Dobbs Oh, there should be several more - golfing, groping, covfefe.
Laurie Craw I'm glad our son wasn't still active in scouting when this happened. What an insult to all Scouts and their local troop leaders who put so much of their time, energy and money into teaching boys to be men of good character.

Gleaning Facebook: Mother's Haircut

My (great) great niece Brianne Davis took this great photo of my Mother today.

Comments

Beth Allman Jones
Great pic!

Ruth Baird Shaw
BTW...Joan drove me to get a" bone scan" at Harbin Clinic "imaging center" today...twice today. (Early morn and then about noon) Afterwards... to get my hair cut. (not before i needed it) Then we decided to drive out to see Lyn and Ricky and family....Joan asked Brianne to make a picture of me with my new haircut, Brianne Davis is a talented camera lady!

Frank Norris
It IS a great photo of her!

Elise Brackman
Wonderful and sweet lady.

Cynthia Latimer
Love the new "do"! Looks years younger!!

Evelyn Nichols
Ruth, a great picture and I will always our days at Trinity Methodist church

Susi Coghill
Good morning to you, Evelyn. Susi here.

Ruth Baird Shaw
Evelyn Nichols....Much love and prayers....you are still sadly missed in Rome and at Trinity!

Bitsy Burton
Mrs. Shaw, love your new do and you!

Elsa Jensen Davis
Beautiful lady

Julie Hatfield Burton
Beautiful as always!!

Jeneve Hutcherson Brooks
You're my heroine! Lovely!

Judy Bridges Henderson
Ruth, you are truly an amazing, dear lady!!

Elaine Snow
Beautiful lady 

Pat Looper
Great haircut. Blessings to you, Ruth.

 

Among American Presidents There Are the First 44 and Then There's Trump

Washington at Valley Forge

George Washington, as much as we all admire him, was far from perfect. He made major blunders as a general. At Valley Forge he stayed mighty comfortable while his men were suffering. Lordy, the man kept many of his fellow human beings in bondage. And among his successors there are 43 other flawed men counting flawed Cleveland twice. 
Jackson was downright homicidal. 

Jackson betrayed the Cherokee, defied the Supreme Court, and caused the infamous Trail of Tears.

Several were horribly unfaithful to their wives. 

FDR & Lucy Mercer

Andrew Johnson drank too much and was sometimes less than stable. 

I believe both Nixon and Reagan rationalized near, if not outright, treason. 

Nixon asked his aides to "monkey wrench" the peace talks just before the election in 1968.

But I trust presidents 1 through 44 each and every one loved his country and wanted what was best for it. 
I have no such trust in #45.

The Washington Post is reporting tonight that #45 has his legal team investigating whether he can pardon himself, his family, and staff members. According to the Supreme Court (Burdick vs. US, 1915) “a pardon, to be effective, must be accepted [because it] carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.”

Donald Trump's psychological disabilities put him in a class that is not reasonably comparable, in my settled opinion, with Nixon in Watergate, Reagan in Iran-Contra, or Clinton's or JFK's or Ike's or FDR's or Harding's marital infidelity, etc.

Donald John Trump is sick and dangerous. That is fact and I have no need to reargue the obvious.

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Many experts use the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, to diagnose mental conditions. This manual is also used by insurance companies to reimburse for treatment.

DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:

• Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
• Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
• Exaggerating your achievements and talents
• Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
• Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
• Requiring constant admiration
• Having a sense of entitlement
• Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
• Taking advantage of others to get what you want
• Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
• Being envious of others and believing others envy you
• Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner

Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it's not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.

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Disagree? 
That's your right and that's fine. Write about it elsewhere. 
I love my friends and family who disagree, and admire each in many ways, but at seventy I just do not care to countenance in this speace equating the evil of Donald John Trump with the run-of-the-mill human frailties of previous presidents. That argument is over on this wall and has been for two years (or maybe thirty).
I am not interested in relitigating the clear fact that #45 is mentally, morally, ethically, psychologically, in a whole 'nother universe from numbers 1-44. Here and on my Facebook page I will continue to remind folks of Trump's evil. And I will work in every moral and ethical and legal way I can come up with to stymie, impeach, and/or convict him till I die or Trump is out of the office he is currently profaning. As of January 20, 2017 evil is occupying our unitary executive. 
Patriots must resist.

And to boot...

For the moment...
...forget his history of fraud,
...let slide the abysmal ignorance
...overlook his spying on naked girls,
...never mind his sexual predation,
...dismiss his debts and bankruptcies,
...forgive his unending lies,
...excuse the broken promises,
...think no more of the birther business,
...condone his bromance with the Murderer of Moscow,
...ignore Junior's treason and the daughter's business conflicts,
...minimize his small-hands insecurities,
...let pass the petty tweets.

The healthcare fiasco of the last week makes palpable and indisputable what most Americans have known since the early days of the transition: this is easily the least competent president in our nation's history.

Carol Cain is Rosie the Riveter

A highlight of our storytelling week was a trip to Roosevelt's Little White House at Warm Springs. A special treat was getting to see our friend Carol Cain portray "Rosie the Riveter". Carol has been bringing "Rosie" to life at Warm Springs every year for nearly a quarter of a century.

The national Rosie the Riveter organization has been formed. Carol is a "Rosebud" in that group because her mother was a "Rosie". I am eligible to join as a "Rivet" because I am a guy whose mother worked in the war effort during the Second World War. My mother, a young mother of two girls at the time, was recruited by Calloway Mills to run a nursery for female workers at their plant in Milstead GA.

 

Carol created a series of a half-dozen or so "Rosies" modeled on real wartime workers that she has met or read about. Each has a different background and job, but each is doing her part to keep America's war effort going at home.

Carol also displayed a part of her large collection of Rosie paraphernalia.

Carol's show deserved a better photographer, or at least a better camera. I hope my iPhone snapshots give an idea of her outstanding performance. If you get a chance to see the full 45 minute show, you'll be glad you did.

We need to find a way to bring Carol back to Rome specifically to do this show.

Sheila and I had seen Carol's abbreviated Rosie performance at the Azalea Storytelling Festival in LaGrange several years ago. We didn't realize that what we saw then was only a small part of the whole.

The famous poster by Howard Miller was created for Westinghouse as a morale booster and was not called Rosie. It really didn't become famous till the 80s.
Here's what Wikipedia says:
In 1942, Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller was hired by the Westinghouse Company's War Production Coordinating Committee to create a series of posters for the war effort. One of these posters became the famous "We Can Do It!" image—an image that in later years would also be called "Rosie the Riveter", though it was never given this title during the war. Miller is thought to have based his "We Can Do It!" poster on a United Press International wire service photograph taken of a young female war worker, widely but erroneously reported as being a photo of Michigan war worker Geraldine Hoff (later Doyle.)[42] More recent evidence indicates that the formerly mis-identified photo is actually of war worker Naomi Parker (later Fraley) taken at Alameda Naval Air Station in California.[43][44][45] The "We Can Do It!" poster was displayed only to Westinghouse employees in the Midwest during a two-week period in February 1943, then it disappeared for nearly four decades. During the war, the name "Rosie" was not associated with the image, and the purpose of the poster was not to recruit women workers but rather as motivational propaganda aimed at workers of both sexes already employed at Westinghouse. It was only later, in the early 1980s, that the Miller poster was rediscovered and became famous, associated with feminism, and often mistakenly called "Rosie the Riveter"

Here she strikes the famous pose, as she did with great flair several times.

Carol demonstrated a very strong singing voice by opening her Rosie depiction with song, showing off her "guns" on the closing phrase of the famous "Rosie the Riveter" song. Here's a YouTube video backed by the 1942 song.

youtu.be/55NCElsbjeQ

Gleaning Facebook: Storytelling at Bellevue

What a wonderful week of discovering stories. Tonight, as we all said our goodbyes, photographer Whit Perry presented me with this montage from my Thursday storytelling at Bellevue. He labeled it: Terrell Shaw, Raccoonteur.

Sheila's Birthday 2017

I am busy with MY 2017 birthday present -- a one-week Donald Davis storytelling workshop  in LagRange, Georgia. BUT it is Sheila's birthday. Here is our picture a day later...

Gleaning Facebook: Monica and Grandma Ruth

From Deborah Shaw Lewis's Facebook...

There is so much joy and love in this picture that I can hardly stand it.

Angie Shaw Bryant
That is precious!

Shari Mayhew
Amazing picture!

Susan Barnes Babb
Pure joy!

Sheila M. Jones
I love it!!!

Dale Pickett
Hi Ms Ruth sending love and hugs. GOD Bless.

Pamela Held Ergle
Wonderful!

Joan Shaw Turrentine
Proud Grandma Debi is beaming in the background! Three of my all-time favorite females in this pic!

Bill Barker
Hey Ruth

Ruth Baird Shaw
Hi Bill Barker! How in the world are you doing these days? You can see in the picture above , I am looking every day of my 94 years.

Fay Lewis
Totally frame worthy!

Jane Baird Lathem
Great picture!!

Carol Payne
Happiness.

Diane Loyd Gage
Precious picture!

Wendy Williams
Too stinkin' cute!!

Linda Mackey Moore
Love you! Ruth Baird Shaw! Miss you!!

Lisette Lewis
I plan to frame this one!

Susan S. Carter
Precious!

Ruth Baird Shaw
Great picture of Monica and Debi!

Ruth Baird Shaw
Little Miss Monica Rose Lewis, knows she is the star in this picture!

Anita Stewart
Sweet photo....one for great memories.