20170114 (roof)

Take a few trees for a roof, but after that, how many?

Unspoiled wilderness? Not for long.

My guess is that once you get

Accustomed to the splendor,

Baser considerations enter

The equation. Leave the trees

Up around the edge and

Flatten the rectangle. Straight

Streets and avenues allow for

Tighter placement of the units.

Just don’t let the windows 

Look in from one place to 

The next. Backyards all the 

Same like the fronts with

A narrow gap between the 

Walk and the porch. Double

Garages should fence off the

Backs. Do what you can with

Paints, doors, gates. We can

Always number them if we 

Must. Buyers need a tree in

Front? They’ll have to buy

That themselves—cost way

Too much to reforest the

Place. It’s dollars per square

Foot, guys. Don’t let anybody

Tell you different. Low two

Hundreds at least for these.

Moving down the ever so 

Straight thoroughfare north 

From the shopping plazas

At the highway is another

Development with a similar

Formula. But here streets curve

Slightly, bigger houses, varied 

Fronts, larger yards, on a treeless

Plain, some undulation modifies

The surface, a three-tree deep wall

Of tall pines survives on the

Perimeter of Hoity Toity Gates—

From three twenty-five if you 

Have to ask. Further along 

Before the farms, deeper 

In the trees, customizable abodes

On curving streets with outsize

Boulders to define the plats, 

Capacious grounds where some 

Lucky few favored brats will

Play tennis next to a pool

Possibly, garages sedately

Hidden at the rear not to be

Known from the street, rooms

Above, and curtained windows

Like they’re bedrooms for 

Lexi and SUVs. Beginning 

Four-fifty. Five, if you want 

Sod and sculpted gardens. 

Why the extra e’s on Luxe 

Pointe are worth twenty-five

Alone. Discriminating, if you’ve

Got the funds. I hail from Hough,

Polska, Little Italy, and Shaker

Heights, and shouldn't be shocked. 

Builders did the same out

East long ago. Stratified us

By wages and salaries. Fenced

Us in ethnic enclaves. Here

Seems more diverse or I

Haven’t learned enough to

Spot the boundaries. My heart

Sinks though when I seee

Forests cut down. Can’t farm

Between the trunks. Can’t

Have lumber without chopping

A tree or two. When I pass an

Older farm estate where

Blanketed horses graze alone

In the mist on a large field I

Wonder if they know what

The waxing growl of motors, 

Once too distant to hear, means.

c. J.S.Manista, 2017

20170112 (shouting as leadership)

CNN's Washington bureau chief tries to ask a question of the P-elect
at his semi-annual news conference Wednesday only to be told,  "No
soup for you!"

I’m committed to objective truth

As an axiom of my worldview. 

But it’s getting hard in these

Days of fake news to support

The notion that in our seeing

We see the same things even

With the proviso that we may

Not see things the same. When

Meryl Streep last Sunday

Remarked she saw a man who

Was running for president

Openly mock a disabled reporter

No one raised an objection, 

"No, he wasn’t doing that."

Nor have any of his loyal 

Crew, not even his Wizard 

Of Spin, KellyAnn Conway, 

Come forward offering any

Reasonable alternative. Only

The offender proposed some 

Cockamamie defense about

The victim being flummoxed

By his query to excuse why 

His hands moved oddly about—

Conveying more the reporter’s

Discombobulation, not his 

Disability. “I would never do 

That,” he went on, reinforcing

How in the psychology of lying,

The liar's tell is protracting

Their lie— protesting too much.

That example falls on the plus

Side for objectivity in perception.

Then what do we make of his

Very public meltdown while

Handling an inquiry from CNN’s

Jim Acosta? In the famous words

Of the perspicacious Bart Simpson,

Did he have a cow? Right in front

Of America? We’ve certainly been

Spoiled by the superlative cool of

Obama before the media. Or is this

The kind of thing we should laugh

Off? Ravings of a maniac? Was an 

Adult at the podium? What new

Epoxy holds his last few hairs in

Place while he rants? Did you all

See that? Obviously not the offender

Nor the Newt Gingrich who said

"The reporter . . is . . . an idiot,”

Who should be suspended by 

CNN for sixty days.” Hannity 

Thought the POTUS-E did a 

Commendable job and the Newt

Countered people who behave

Badly [ask impertinent questions]

Must not be allowed in. Have they

Read the first amendment lately?

If anybody in the room should be 

Suspended for sixty days, I’d

Suggest the Ninny-in-Chief who

Cannot maintain his composure

Under stress as the first. I

Thought we saw the same things?

c. J.S.Manista, 2017

20170104 (who knew?)

John Carroll, first American Archbishop: slaveowner

John Carroll had a slave.

So now to raise diversity stats

My Alma Mater (Almus Pater?)

Is thinking of changing its

Name. I happened on this fact

Because I have yet to remove

cle.com from my bookmarks.

Honestly I was looking only 

For the weather back home

When I came upon the story.

Tim Gill, the author, a 2007

Graduate of JCU, is a post-

Doctoral fellow at Tulane’s 

Center for Inter-American 

Studies. Discovery of the

Slave-owning prelate resulted

From research into how many

American schools profited

From the slave industry in 

The earliest centuries of their 

Existence, notably like 

Georgetown, a leading Jesuit

School. Princeton and Yale 

Were the first to come to light.

Eventually Catholics would

Be scrutinized and rightly so.

Two things about the story

Caught my attention. First,

Why weren’t we as students

Informed of this fact about 

Our supposedly benevolent 

Namesake? And second,

Why was our school lagging

In diversity in the first place

Considering its leadership by

Socially sensitive religious 

Throughout the civil rights 

Years into the “post-racial”

Obama presidency? But wait,

There’s more to the story.

After reading the article I 

Perused the comments, many

Of which claimed to be from

Carroll alums. Now we also 

Know trolls are paid to enter

Comments for any range of

Political topics and Carroll’s

Poor showing on diversity fit

Somebody’s agenda. I read

I guess a hundred comments 

And found not a one favoring

The name change or recognizing

Carroll’s student body tint

Needed some bronzing. Virtually

All were so scurrilous and

Vicious it was impossible these

Were submitted by well-educated 

Christian gentlemen. Such is the

Flaw with anonymous commentary.

Could be trolls. Could be real

Convictions of that part of the 

American electorate who didn’t

See what was so wrong about 

Electing a racist as president.

The good Jesuits should have 

Noticed. If they did, they weren’t

Saying anything about it. 

You know, like about 

The slave-owning bishop.

c. J.S.Manista, 2017