CROTCHETY, CONTINUED--IRRITATIONS

IRRITATIONS:

People texting other people while talking to me--right in front of me--they don't even try to conceal it.

Also, they must not realize that I can hear them typing away on the computer at home while they are supposed to be talking to me on the telephone.

Addressing me by my first name before I have given permission. My doctor calls me "Ms. Raypole" and I call her "Doctor"; at our first meeting, she actually asked me which I would prefer. I like formality and distance.

Parents allowing their children to run wild in stores. Today, a girl was running and she brushed me and I yelled, "Did you say EXCUSE ME?"

At Aldi's it is clearly marked that "sitting, standing, and walking" is NOT permitted on the counters where groceries are sacked. PARENTS, why are you so peeved when I tell you?

If I hear another person say, "NO PROBLEM" in a situation where there is obviously a problem, I am going to scream. An example: In a restaurant, I had no eating utensils at my place and as the waitress drifted by, I said, "May I have my silverware?" Her answer: "NO PROBLEM." Of course, it should be NO problem as I was supposed to have my damned eating utensils.

AM I THE ONLY ONE?--CROTCHETY CONTINUED

Am I the only one who is irritated by the clerks in stores asking if I want to donate a dollar to the Miracle Kids Network or other such organizations?

It's bad enough that we have to endure panhandlers coming up to our cars at stop lights or those Shriners with their buckets, but now the store clerks are "guilt-tripping" me. Today I was in the Family Dollar Store and the clerk asked if I wanted to donate my "change" to a Kids Reading Program. Although that is a cause which is close to my heart, I resented feeling coerced. I told the Manager at Kroger that I did not appreciate being "guilt-tripped".

Perhaps it's my imagination, but I think they raise their voices so other people in line can hear whether one chooses to donate.

I usually ask, "Would I receive a receipt for that for my taxes?" When they aren't dumfounded they will usually say that it's on the receipt for the groceries. I'll say, "No, I would need a formal receipt."

Once in a drive-through, I had 2 cents change coming. The clerk tossed the two pennies into the "Ronald McDonald House" receptacle right below the window. I said, "I want my change." She looked startled and said, "I put it in there.", pointing downward. I said, "Yes, I saw that, but you didn't ask me; I need the money OR your manager." She got into her pocket and said, "I only have a nickel." I said, "Make change." She then asked, "Do you really mean that?" I said, "Yes, I want my 2 cents."

CROTCHETY

My brother Les says I am getting "crotchety" with my whining and peevishness; thus, CROTCHETY will be the vehicle for my crankiness.

For example, I am querulous when other people are "on top" of me at a checkout. I don't want them to see my entering my PIN , writing a check, or using a credit card. I seldom use an ATM, but when I do, I don't want anyone close to me.

I respect the spaces of other people; why can't they respect mine?

In stores, when I am finished loading my items on the conveyor belt, I deliberately leave the cart behind me instead of pulling it forward. I do leave enough room for people to put some of their groceries on the conveyor, but I don't want them in my space.

It offends me when I see able-bodied people who continue sitting down when elderly or disabled people, or pregnant women, are waiting in line.

Recently we were at an Olive Garden and there was a large number of people waiting to be seated. I was fortunate to have a seat while waiting. A very-pregnant woman came in and her husband went to register and receive one of the pagers. Among the people sitting and waiting were several young people. I said to one young male who was sitting beside me, "Get up and let her sit down." He didn't budge, so I rose and gave her my seat. She said, "No, that's OK, I'm OK." I said, "No, it isn't OK!" I went and stood next to Gerald. An elderly couple came in and the man was using a cane. I stood in front of the same young male I had spoken to earlier, and I asked, in a low voice, "Excuse me, but do you see that man with a cane who is old enough to be your grandfather?" He nodded, and I said, "Younger people such as you and I should offer one's seat to an older or disabled or pregnant person." [I thought that including myself as "younger" was rather amusing, yet effective.] He got up as did the young woman with him. I went to the elderly couple and said, "There's a place for you!"

I realize that the people must have had "no raisins", but what happened to common decency?

IN MEMORY OF ANDY GOODMAN

I publish this every year.  LEST WE FORGET.

"HE TRAVELED A SHORT WHILE TOWARDS THE SUN AND LEFT THE VIVID AIR SIGNED WITH HIS HONOR"--from Andrew Goodman's tombstone (paraphrasing a quote from Stephen Spender's poem, I Think Of Those Who Are Truly Great)

Andrew Goodman (photo above) was born on November 23, 1943, in New York City and was reared on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the second of three sons of Robert and Carolyn Goodman, and brother to David and Jonathan. The Goodmans were an intellectual family committed to progressive activism and social justice. They believed in "doing well by doing good";  Andy was an activist from the age of fifteen; he graduated from the progressive Walden School which was known for its anti-authoritarian approach to learning. While a sophomore at Walden, Goodman traveled to Washington D.C., to participate in the "Youth March For Integrated Schools".  As a senior, he and a friend visited a depressed coal mining region in West Virginia to prepare a report on poverty in the United States. He interviewed Jackie Robinson, one of his heroes.

Goodman attended the Honors Program at University of Wisconsin--Madison, for a semester but withdrew after falling ill with pneumonia. He transferred to Queens College, New York City, partly because of its strong drama department. With his brief experience as an off-Broadway actor, he originally planned to study drama, but switched to anthropology.

In April, 1964, he applied for and was accepted into the Mississippi Summer Project. He volunteered, along with Michael Schwerner, to work as part of "Freedom Summer", a CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality) project to register blacks to vote in Mississippi. Having protested U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's presence at that year's World's Fair, Goodman then left for training at the Western College For Women (now part of Miami University) in Oxford, OH. In June, Schwerner and Goodman were sent to Mississippi to begin registering blacks to vote.

On the night of June 20, 1964, the two reached Meridian, Mississippi, where Schwerner (photo left) was designated to be the head of the field office. There they joined with James Earl Chaney, a black man who was also a civil rights activist. On the morning of June 21, 1964, the three set out for Philadelphia, Mississippi, in Neshoba County, where they were to investigate the recent burning of a local black church, the Mount Zion Methodist Church, which had been designated as a site for the Freedom School for education and voter registration.

The three were initially arrested by Deputy Cecil Price for allegedly driving 35 miles over the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit. The three were taken to the jail in Neshoba County where Chaney (photo left) was booked for speeding, while Goodman and Schwerner were booked "for investigation".


After Chaney was fined $20, the three men were released and told to leave the County. Price followed them on State Route 19 to the county line, then turned around at approximately 10:30 p.m. On their way back to Meridian, they were stopped by two carloads of KKK members on a remote rural road. The men approached their car and then shot and killed Schwerner, followed by Goodman and finally Chaney.

Eventually the Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff and conspirators were convicted by Federal prosecutors of civil rights violations but were never convicted of murder. The case formed the basis of a made-for-television movie Attack On Terror:  The FBI versus The Ku Klux Klan and also the feature film Mississippi Burning.

On September 14, 2004, the Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood announced that he was gathering evidence for a charge of murder and intended to take the case to a Grand Jury. On January 7, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was arrested and later found guilty of three counts of manslaughter--not murder--on June 21, 2005, exactly 41 years to the day after the murders. Killen, then age 80, was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Andy's parents, Robert and Carolyn Goodman, set up the Andrew Goodman Foundation in 1966. The mission of the Foundation is "to recognize, encourage and inspire creative and effective local and individual action in support of civil rights, human dignity and social justice".  Visit www.andrewgoodman.org

Goodman Mountain, a 2,176 foot peak in the Adirondack Mountain town of Tupper Lake, NY, where Andy Goodman and his family spent many of their summers, is named in Andy Goodman's memory.

New York City named "Freedom Place" a four-block stretch in Manhattan's Upper West Side, in honor of Goodman. A plaque on 70th and West End Avenues tells his story.



Queens College has a memorial to honor Andy Goodman. The day of his murder is acknowledged each year on campus and the clock tower of the campus library is dedicated to Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner.


The Walden School, at 88th Street and Central Park West, named its middle and upper school building in honor of Goodman's memory. The Trevor Day School now occupies the building and has maintained their building's name as the Andrew Goodman Building.

An outdoor memorial theater exists at Miami University in Oxford, OH, dedicated to the Freedom Summer alums. Miami University's now defunct Western College for Women also included historical lectures about Freedom Summer.

Those Were On My Mind was written by Pete Seeger to commemorate the three victims.

The Simon & Garfunkel song, He Was My Brother was dedicated to Goodman. Paul Simon had been a classmate of Goodman at Queens College.

Andy lives forever in the hearts of his family and friends.

REDUNDANCY, PLEONASM, AND TAUTOLOGY

I used the phrase "PIN number" but I was immediately  corrected by my brother Les because that usage would be, literally, "PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER number".  I was glad I didn't make the grievous mistake of saying  "ATM machine" as that would be "AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINE machine"!

Les asked, "Have you checked your VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER number?"

There is actually a description for people suffering from RAS SYNDROME (REDUNDANT ACRONYM SYNDROME syndrome) or RAP SYNDROME (REDUNDANT ACRONYM PHRASE SYNDROME syndrome).

Les suggested: PNS SYNDROME for PIN NUMBER SYNDROME syndrome!

Among other pleonastic mistakes are:

HIV virus
SAT test
ACT test
APR rate
UPC code
ABS system
CAD design
AC current
DC current
PC computer
CNN network
ABM missile
DMZ zone
GOP party
LCD display

and my favorite:

AM in the morning!

HAPPY 47TH ANNIVERSARY, SWEETHEART!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SWEETHEART.

In planning our wedding anniversary for today, I said to Gerald, "How about doing what we did 47 years ago after our wedding?"  He looked at me curiously and I said, "Remember, we were so tired that we went back to my apartment and I fixed omelets and I fell asleep on the couch and you fell asleep sitting on the floor with your back up against the couch?"  To this day, I always serve tomatoes and parsley with omelets.