My
student obligation behind me for the moment, I am passing the week as an
instructor. Teaching is harder but more fun and you rarely doze off while
teaching.
##########
“Back
and forth.” Shouldn’t it be “forth and back?” Well perhaps not if it’s a
government program.
##########
While
discussing geopolitics with an old acquaintance of long duration, the
thought occurred that politicians honestly seeking solutions – Reagan and
Clinton come to mind, are positive forces moving the country forward. While the
“in-your-face” crowd usually creates stagnation or worse. I can think of at
least one from both political parties.
##########
There
is a weed (not “the” weed) that grows wild in the West in large bushes that
threaten to obscure sidewalk and trails. Near the Plaza this weekend a local
entrepreneur has uprooted a bush, hung it upside down to dry, and was selling
sprigs for $2 each. I applauded his innovative commerce but couldn’t help
shaking my head at the tourists lined up to purchase.
His
street office sported a hand lettered sign “support indigenous peoples,” I had
to dig out my Funk and Wagnall’s to learn the precise definition, and I don’t
think the Bronx qualifies.
##########
State
employees on travel have two reimbursement choices: a modest per diem and
“actuals.” What this “actually” means is that auditors recalculate allowed tips
to the allowed penny, and woe onto those whose dinner receipt includes an adult
beverage. These restrictions form the very tip of a large iceberg, so per diem
it is for me.
This
decision finds me in a modest but clean hotel in what has been described as a
transition area buffering “affluent” and “never-to-be-seen-again" neighborhoods.
But
yesterday at first light while stretching in preparation for my thrice-weekly
run (euphemistic though that term may be – it was once a run, then a jog, now a
slog) a van labeled “City Coroner” pulled up and entered a room several doors
down. Not a promising sign. I normally do 5-k on the weekdays but voluntarily
extended a bit to avoid whatever exited the room. Mercifully upon my return the
vehicle had departed.
##########
I have noticed hereabouts a touch of
“island syndrome.” Years ago on a family vacation in Hawaii I detected a
disturbing sociological trend first manifested in a rental car office at the
airport. As the family entered there came a chorus of “aloha’s”, and my young
daughter was delighted to receive a lei from
one of the clerks. For a moment it seemed as though the entire staff was
putting on a “welcome to Hawaii” show for us. For a moment.
Reservation, license and insurance card
entered into the computer, the signing ceremony complete, we were directed to
spot A-3, “just outside the door,” by the saccharine sweet staff.
But A-3 housed a rinky-dinky,
teeny-weenie imitation of an automobile, half the size we reserved, and a glance
at the contract revealed that the price charged was that of the much larger
vehicle we ordered.
Back inside it took but nano-seconds for
the smiles to be replaced by a snarled ultimatum that “this is what we have and
if you don’t like it you can stuff it.” Of course starting from scratch after a
long flight with fidgety kids wanting to hit the beach (and their fidgetier
father much in need of an adult beverage), was not a viable option, so we
tucked our tails and crammed bodies and luggage into the clown car.
Driving away we opined that the glorious
welcome was intended to blunt the unpleasant reality, but the scenario played
out again several times as the week wore on, namely that all was sweetness and
light until a concern was raised, one so innocuous as expressing mild surprise
that the hotel restaurant in Kauai was “closed for repairs” and there was no
other within miles.
And there is a twinge of island syndrome
alive in Santa Fe. A hippy-dippy, kumbaya, love your neighbor atmosphere until
the neighbor asks a question not filled with sunshine. But the humidity is very
low!
########
