20160716 (overdue)

Going Green full-scale may require the government to stop producing cars in favor of producing solar panels, as we did in WWII. Is the destruction of life from global warming less serious than the threat of Nazi domination? Climate change may be slow (?) but it's certain.

Between “Do as I say, not as I do,”

And, “You can’t just talk the talk.

You’ve got to walk the walk,” is 

A challenge by which we must 

Measure the authenticity of

Environmental advocates. Are 

We individually or as a group

Actually reducing our energy

Consumption? It’s always upset

Me that I’ll rail against fracking

But readily heat my house and 

Water with gas—especially

Now that fracking has made gas

Plentiful and cheap. I can justify 

It as practical hypocrisy--no 

Other sources are available, just

As I drive my gasoline fueled car--

No electric in my price range. I

Do other things: keep my house

At 62˚F in the winter; replaced

My Focus with a higher mpg Scion.

I don’t have whole house air--I

Have a window unit for summer.

I know this listing of virtuous

Behavior is making me sound 

Like a precious good-two-shoes

Even though through enumerating

Instances helps us find where we 

Are on the consumption scale.

Despite how much we conserve

Individually, our efforts won’t

Turn the earth around much if

Population grows exponentially.

Among those where it is growing

Fastest are nations just now beginning

Middle class consumption. Who 

Are we to insist they cut back

While we consume the lion's

Share as we have for centuries?

The developed nations should 

Be exemplars for wise use of

Energy, developers of effective

Conservation, and masters 

At producing clean power. 

We are barely begun. We 

Could reduce need for air

Conditioning by making all

New roofs white, converting

Older buildings to that standard.

We could require photovoltaic

Panels on every roof and build

Farms of them through every

Desert. Who’s going to pay

For my daydreaming? We

Could tax the greatest, most

Profitable companies--the 

Fossil fuel industry--to pay to 

Undo the damage they’ve caused 

And continue to do. We cannot 

Allow corporations to operate

Any way they alone see fit.

Corporations exist for purposes

Congruent with the will of the

People. Once they have crossed

The line from benefitting to

Endangering the people, it’s

Past time to pull their plug.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016

20160715 (panic)

How is this woman threatening these armed men?

Lotsa fear goin’ round. Lotsa

Fright goin’ down. Might be a bad

Moon arising. Long time friend

Observed Humvees moving in 

Replete with a truckload of

Camo-draped infantry. Nervous.

Posted pic on Facebook and asked,

“This is America?” Why, yes,

Darling," yes, this is America.

At least the America of the 

Republicans in Cleveland this

Week. The delegates have until

Monday to get in their seats, but

The forces flowing in are the

Army and numerous police 

From nearby suburbs. One lady

Posted in response that she was

Clearly alarmed by the threats

Of armed New Black Panthers

Carrying downtown at the same

Time as skinheads carrying guns.

It's an emergency waiting

To happen. One could compare

These to the armies of France 

And Germany in August,1914, 

Massing along borders when 

Mobilization itself was 

Considered an act of war. The

Cleveland Police will be unable 

To control these mobs. Thank

God, our soldiers will put their

Lives on the line for our safety.

Cut back on the caffeine, Madam.

I can’t say whether the fear arises

From “men openly carrying arms”

Or from “black men openly 

Carrying arms.” I suspect the 

Usual source. Tell me, after this

Week, black people have nothing 

To fear from police with guns. 

Did Donald Trump speak before

The NAACP and assure them he

Was on their side in their concerns

On police overreach? No, he passed

Up that opportunity—customarily 

Afforded each presidential candidate—

Which should have been on his 

Schedule. Well, he is running a

Lean campaign. Maybe his cellphone

Doesn’t have a scheduling app.

Polls are already telling the Repubs

No black votes will go to Trump.

Has he anything to woo even one

Black voter? Promise of loans to

Help George Jefferson with that

Dry cleaning dream of his? A

Cabinet post like Green Jill is

Offering Edward Snowden once

She pardons him? Or will he 

Surprise everyone by committing

To help all communities, like 

Cleveland, find an answer to

Ever-present drive-by slaughter? 

A recent example went down in 

My old neighborhood on East 146, 

Where a two-year old girl was

Struck by bullets through her leg

And head. What about a program

Offering hope to young men 

And women in gangs and those

In prison? What about a plan

To weed out dangerous cops?

Or to retrain all existing officers

So people needn't fear them?

All of this, with the money to

Make it happen, to make 

America great. He could.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016

20160714 (fail)

Perhaps the biggest drug dealers are Frito-Lay, et alii.

When I subbed briefly (five years)

In the Cleveland Municipal School

District as it was then know, not 

Metropolitan as it would be upgraded,

I tried to engage the middle-scholars

In discussions about two things very

Much currently in the news in 2001

Before the events of September 11:

Findings of rampant childhood 

Obesity and horrendous waste

Of food in almost every aspect of

Our society. The problems could 

Be studied very easily within 

Their school itself. I tried to get 

Them to think of indices—gym

And cafeteria observations. That

I was an unskilled child leader

Became painfully obvious. I got

Nowhere. Science for them was

Rockets and computers, not pads

Of paper and pencils, chemical

Transformations not tedious and

Rigorous observations. Way too 

Much work on the front end; way

Too little payoff on the other. It

Confirmed the didactic truism one

Must begin with where they are

Not where you want them to be.

Perhaps there were other factors:

Nobody wanted to be identified 

Among their friends as “this or that

Degree of  overweight,” nor were

They willing to give up part of 

Their lunch period to record 

What kinds and how much food

Was scraped off trays or dumped

Into the waste cans by whom 

(if it appeared there were regular

"Wasters.” “It's too dumb,” they 

Agreed to a child, “just really

Dumb, Mr. M.” Despite my name

Being relatively simple, they refused

To pronounce it. Now, years later 

Those same topics are still very 

Much with us. My own circumstance

Of admitting that my inner child

Weighs something close to sixty-

Five pounds also bears out how

Knowing about a problem is not

Coincident with doing anything

About it. I am to this day at least

As bad as my students were then.

Just as I am about to purchase

Pseudo=food to assuage my need

For sweet or savory my glance

Will fall on someone morbidly

Obese (I should talk, I am damn 

Close to the limit)—cellulite

Thighs, broad beams, gut 

Ponderously hanging over 

A belt, those jiggling bowls

Of extra flesh that dangle on

The underside of biceps, triple

Chins, whatever violates the 

Dream image of Americans--

Thin but robust, muscular but

Not dense, and I hesitate, maybe

Even stop in my steps toward 

The snack aisle. Occasionally I

Don’t sin against my diet now

That at least three physicians

Are tracking it. The failure though

Is so regular I don’t even look

Around anymore to see if any 

Of my former students are 

Watching.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016