Just Plain Bill

Movies as a Release

Are you a movie buff? I most definitely am. I enjoy the creativity, the living stories, and, I must admit, the release from reality. I imagine that this reaction is what the moviemakers intend… at least I hope that’s what they intend. I’d rather not imagine they focus on shock and awe, with the intent to create a gross reaction. Those can create an almost cult-like following.

Is that what a therapist would describe as a problem? Searching for an escape from reality? I must admit that might be the case... in my case.

I recently saw a great movie starring the fabulous actor Tom Hanks. After it was over, my wife and I chatted about what each of us experienced.

I continue to appreciate and treasure that in our relationship.

A future blog will include a rundown of movies from my past, most recent back to my first recollections after seeing Disney’s Fantasia when I was about four years old. The colors and images remain with me through the passing of many years, and the memorable soundtrack fostered my love of classical music.

It should be fun! What are some of your favorites?  

Just Plain Bill

Question: Unfair Advantage?

As mentioned in previous blogs, I am truly a sports Nut, with a capital “N”! Ever since I can remember, I’ve been intrigued by competition of most sorts, attracted by the written and unwritten codes of fairness followed by the majority of teams and individual competitors.

Also mentioned in previous blogs, my small stature and less-than-coordinated nature kept me from being a serious competitor, except for tumbling as a recreational pursuit, before finally becoming a competitive college wrestler. In addition, I’ve coached various sports, enjoying that aspect of competition. In none of those personal experiences did I feel my competitors had an unfair advantage due to the benefit of drawing from a select pool of athletes.

But enough about me, and more about the subject of this blog: the relative fairness or unfairness of a particular team competing against other teams considered less “fortunate”.

I happen to live in the area of one of the nation’s most successful prep football programs, De La Salle High School, in Concord, CA. Their football team set a national high school record of 151 consecutive wins, running from 1992 through 2003. It’s an incredible accomplishment, and they continue to win the majority of games they play as well, as the mythical state champions.

Each year, De La Salle competes mostly against public schools; schools that are limited to playing students from their restricted attendance area, as well as being limited to the equipment and facilities provided by the local school boards, taxpayers, and athletic booster organizations. And for me, that’s the rub.

Many non-public schools are able to accept students from other than dedicated and restricted attendance areas, putting them at an advantage. High school athletes at De La Salle and other non-public schools can come from any place in the country. Their families often have the ability to live and work anywhere. I’m not implying that any “recruiting” takes place, but it stands to reason that if I have a son who is talented, and interested in gaining maximum exposure that could lead to a major college opportunity – and if I had the wherewithal and flexibility to live and work wherever I desire – I would likely consider an athletic powerhouse school, one where I feel my son would thrive.

So what’s a solution to something I feel is not “fair”?  The most obvious one to me is to have these non-public schools play only against each other. Is there a reason that this might not work?

Suggestions welcomed!

Just Plain Bill

 My Experience with President Reagan

Former President Ronald Reagan’s name has increasingly come up as Republican candidates in the 2016 election strive to associate their platform with that of the former president. Also, the recent passing of President Reagan’s wife, Nancy, has contributed to remembrances of the “good old days” in the 1980s, and earlier.

Regardless of my particular political leanings, especially as they relate to what Governor Reagan did to our state, I have my own personal, very special remembrance of him. He served as a judge of my school’s Great Snail Race in 1974, when he was governor of California. My 3^rd grade class in Concord was sponsoring its snail race for the 4^th year, an event designed to add a little excitement for our science unit on mollusks. (The movie, The Great Race, came out about 10 years earlier, so we borrowed “The Great Snail Race” moniker as a marketing move to add a little pizazz to our event.)

One important aspect of our snail race unit was letter writing to politicians, high profile members of the media, and sports personalities, asking them to come judge our race … a race that was usually over in less than 2 minutes. The local mayor judged the first year, our local assemblyman came the next, but in the 4^th year, upon reading the letter from my student Jenna Holt, someone on Governor Reagan’s staff thought this would be a good PR event, as the Governor was starting his run for the Republican presidential nomination of 1976.

Interesting side note: The political climate of the time was not quite as volatile as today, but it was close. It was during the time the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) had kidnapped and brain washed Patty Hearst, daughter of news titan Randolph Hearst. And, the SLA had a warehouse less than six miles from our school! (The Governor’s secret service staff completed background checks on all of us at the school.)

Our student body president, Todd Lichti, greeted the Governor. Jenna, “Miss Snail” for 1974, took the Governor by the hand and escorted him to the playground, where the twelve qualifying snails and their coaches were waiting, along with over 600 people who wanted to see the Governor. (Once word spread the Governor would be attending, it was quite interesting to see so many politicians, who had originally declined my students’ invitations, show their true colors by contacting us to see if they could still come… and be seen by the five television networks and at least a dozen news outlets that were covering our “great” event.)

Our Great Snail Race chairman, Matt, informed the governor of his duties: to say “go” - the signal for the contestants to place their snails in the center of their circular race “track”, and to raise his flag (we’d made for each judge) when he saw the first snail crawl off their track. (We had learned that snails could be both boy and girl, which is why I used the word “their”).

The winner was Speedy, streaking off his track in a time of one minute, 47 seconds, coached by a first grader named Thomas, who’d just enrolled in our school a week before. Thomas was all smiles, posing for pictures with his snail and the Governor. Governor Reagan presented the school a jar full of his favorites – Jelly Belly jellybeans – complete with the state seal on the apothecary jar!

So for one shining hour, Governor Reagan was like the Pied Piper, greeting all the students and visiting all the classrooms. He was a very welcomed visiting dignitary to my suburban school.

Just Plain Bill

Analog in a Digital World

As our technological world speeds into new frontiers, with more innovative and incredible possibilities on a daily basis, do you ever feel like you’re an analog person in a digital world?

That question came to mind just last evening as I was working through a new application, thrilled by a work challenge involving some new software.

I am basically a self-taught computer user, starting with learning to use a keypunch machine creating programs with 80-column cards in graduate school, to not having formal instructions or support from Apple when I bought its IIE. I’ve used a dial-up Epson, TRS 80, the DOS PC system, found my way through all the MS Office iterations, and on and on to the present.

So, what does that feel like? I wonder if the difference between digital and analog on the perceptional continuum is similar to the difference in brain dominance: left brain, influenced by the random, romantic… and right brain, focused on the concrete, sequential. (Kind of hard to get my brain around things that are not seen in pictures and relationships!)

I know there are no absolutes in considering ways we view and process the world, but I hope there will come a time when we’re all more sensitive to the infinite ways we learn, and especially a time when we’re able to break the lock-step industrial age education system. I’m reminded of a book I read while preparing to be a teacher back in the ‘60s, Summerhill, by Alexander Sutherland Neill, who believed that “school should be made to fit the child.”

Meanwhile, I’m slow to learn in a society that was not grounded by inkwells, chalk boards, sitting in the corner for talking, and desks bolted to the floor – which is probably why I’m forever experiencing my second, third… childhood, and loving it!

Just Plain Bill

Would you like fewer TV commercials?

I can remember the time when there was a limit on the number of commercials allowed on a TV show. Oh, those were the days.

It’s come to the point where the Sunday news shows have commercials announcing coming commercials, asking us to stay tuned. For what? More commercials! Where would we be without our remote control – our precious “clicker” – that at least allows us to mute the commercials?

What is the history of advertising time limits on TV? According to Wikipedia, there are general rules published by the industry’s “code of practice”, but those rules seem to appear without any mention of consequences for exceeding these limits. (One question, from many I have, is whether or not the announcements about upcoming segments count as a commercial time limit.)

Of course things were different in the early years of commercial TV, with only three channels, rabbit ears or rooftop antennas, and no clickers, cable, satellite dishes, or wireless streaming. Even then, politicians railed about excessive “regulations”, and we have all experienced a gradual lessening of consumer protections.

There are those who feel we should let the marketplace regulate itself.  Unfortunately, history has shown that the opposite has been the case. Commercial and political interests are committed to gain any competitive edge possible, from the products and services we purchase, to the ideas we are encouraged to consider – or even accept. (One can just taste this resistance to regulations in the Flint, Michigan disaster, where this resistance to federal control seems to be a big part of that tragic error that has poisoned thousands of innocent children.)

The exponential growth of alternative delivery of content, free from commercial interruption, has its origins in the payment of service fees. But that is changing too. For example, even though an annual fee has been paid, wireless streaming subscriptions to MLB now come complete with annoying, repetitious video ads, depending on the device being used. Sure, we get to “Skip this ad in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds”, but only after being forced to catch a less-than-subliminal glimpse of a brand name or message early in the ad.

Although many people, including me, claim that advertisements have no effect on the choices and purchases made - I’m probably just as likely as others to be influenced in more ways than I imagine. Regardless of that admission, I’d prefer to make my own selections concerning how I spend my money or my political capital.

Am I delusional?