Welcome

This blog is this baby boomer’s view of America; its culture, politics, society, as an American Dream, as a concept and an ideal. It is life in America; the lives of others and of course, my own experience during my nearly six decades and the myriad changes I’ve witnessed and been a part of.  It is news, commentary, interviews, a lot of vignettes, my own personal discoveries and changes and well, whatever else I might come up with.

This has been my land for going on 58 years. At some point, probably around the 10^th year I cajoled my parents into buying a Time-Life History of the United States. I don’t think that I actually read more than 50 pages in all of those volumes but I was captivated by the pictures, drawings, political cartoons, maps and photographs chronicling our history. Those books, unread, stimulated a fascination with American History and lead to many books read and finally a degree in History from Santa Clara University.

                The goal at the time was to teach history but shortly after graduating I got myself sidetracked. Thirty seven years later I’m a purchasing agent. Get a history degree, be a purchasing agent; the logical career path, right? My interest in history never waned and so I’ve continued to read, study on my own and take the occasional college course with the notion of getting a masters.

                Some years back I took a short plunge into living history, joined the National Civil War Association and became a Civil War reenactor; Company A, 2^nd Massachusetts Cavalry, also known as the California 100. During my “service” with the cavalry I never once got on a horse. While I think they’re beautiful animals I’m deathly afraid of them after having, years before, taken a fall at the end of an uncontrolled gallop. I joined the cavalry because I thought the uniforms looked cool and that alone is probably the most realistic aspect of my living history stint. How many young men in the vast histories of every nation, tribe or group joined some form of the military because the uniforms looked cool? During that period I was actually able to try my hand at teaching history both in the field, to visitors at the reenactments and in schools where I went in full gear to give talks about the Civil War. It was a time in which I immersed myself in the Civil War, some of it often splashing on my family who after a very short time got sick and tired of it all. After a few years I “retired” from the cavalry but like many old “soldiers” I still have my uniform which I occasionally trot out to regale (bore) some unfortunate visitor.

                Upon my return to civilian life my interest turned to other aspects of America (I mean how many books can you actually read about Pickett’s Charge before you’ve exhausted all the possibilities).  And so in the last few years I’ve taken on religion in America, politics, some economics (although I’m flummoxed by it), culture, society and the mystique called the American Dream.

                I continue to be engaged by the story of America, its history, people, culture, society, as a concept, and as a place that people yearn to immigrate to as my mother did when she was an Italian war bride and my wife and her family who came from the Philippines.  But make no mistake, this boomer’s view is not a jingoist view.  I don’t subscribe to “my country right or wrong” because while my country has often been right, it’s also too often been wrong.

                So I guess the next logical step is a blog. It’s been in the works for over a year now, has gone through various versions in my head and in the computer, been stalled and put on the back burner. Maybe fate intervened when I broke my leg and grounded me with a choice of writing or watching endless hours of cooking shows on television. Since I can only stomach about 5 minutes of Guy Fieri here I sit at the computer.

                I was raised in San Mateo, California, just south of San Francisco and have lived all my life in the Bay Area. I live with my wife of thirty years in the East Bay. We raised a son and daughter; got them through college and now they have families of their own. My son a marketing analyst and his wife a nurse live with their daughter in the shadow of my and my son’s alma mater. My daughter, married to a fire fighter lives a short 15 minutes away and takes care of her two babies while preparing to be a teacher.

                This post serves merely as an introduction to me and to this project.  I invite comments, the stories of others and discussion.  America is, in theory at least, the land of free speech. To that end I invite opposing points of view. I do ask that those with opposing views keep them clean and polite. As the gate keeper, so to speak, I do reserve the right to delete any posts or comments that are objectionable or simply hate filled bile. I hope all readers will enjoy.

   And by the way, I still have that set of Time-Life books. Maybe it will inspire my grandchildren.