A Speech Pathologist's View of the Inauguration and Baseball

With all of the impressive things about the inauguration, I was, not surprisingly, attuned to President Biden's presentation. Everyone knows that as a child he was a severe stutterer and was bullied because of his speech.  In the most important speech of his life before the nation and the world he was completely fluent.  I know he is an inspiration to every stutterer who listened.

Amanda Gorman, the lovely poet who read her poem "The Hill We Climb" also overcame a speech disorder.  She mispronounced the /r/ sound, but there's not a trace of that now.  She, too, is an inspiration.

And by the way, our resident stutterer, George Springer, has left the Astros for Toronto.  Here's hoping he continues to inspire kids who stutter.  He will be missed.

Today's Guest Blogger: Cassie Zirkelbach

Since 2021 has started out as chaotic as 2020, my pet human asked me to post for her as a distraction from these weird times.  

I'm a 4 1/2 year old tuxedo cat with an Iq high enough to qualify me for Cat Mensa, not I'm bragging. I have trained my pet to understand cat language.  After all her years as a speech pathologist, she is attuned to language and quickly learned to follow my commands.  For example, if I block her way out of the bathroom, then lie down and roll over, she will give me a treat.  I like Feline Greenies so she buys a nice supply from Amazon. Realizing how important treats are, she has maintained her Prime membership.

I have also taught her some tricks. For example, I have taught her to say, "Nosey," if she wants to rub my nose--I love that.  I have taught her to ask, "Want me to rub your tummy?" Then I roll on my back and let her feel how soft my belly is when she rubs it and when the rub is over, she says, "High five," and I touch her hand with my paw.  She's really good at that trick.  For a human, she's pretty smart.

She has also learned what I don't like, especially visitors and the vacuum.  I let her share the blanket on our bed and I often invite her to watch TV with me in the living room.

One year when her grandhuman was a freshman in college and could not take her cat to live in the dorm, she invited that annoying feline to board with us for a year.  It was the worst year of my life, but thank God, it ended.  Although that cat was also a tuxedo, she was not half as attractive as me.

By the way, my human was too lazy to take my picture for this column so that is a generic tuxedo cat which lacks some of my distinctive markings, but you get the idea.

Here are some interesting books you might enjoy:  Poetry for Cats,  Fur and Purr, Jobs for your Cat.  

Best wishes for a purrfect 2021, 

Cassie

quotes of the week: democracy

 In view of the events of the past week, I think quotes about democracy are what we need.

Books of December

 We Were the Lucky Ones.  The story of a Polish Jewish family who survived the Holocaust despite being separated during World War II.

The Convert.  In the eleventh century a Norman girl falls in love with a Jewish boy and converts.  Lovely descriptions of the surroudings but a strange juxtaposition of the author's research into this story and the story itself.  It read like a research paper rather than a novel.

Looking Back; Looking forward

I have lived through World War II, the Cold War, Watergate, 9/11 and more, but 2020 has been a year like no other--stressful, terrifying, outrageous, chaotic--There aren't enough words to describe it. Thank goodness it's nearly gone and we can hope for better in 2021.

Favorite books:  Where the Crawdads Sing, Hidden Valley Road, Fur and Purr, Nearing Ninety and Other Comedies of Late Life.

Favorite movie:  It's been so long since I've been to a movie theater that I can hardly remember what it's like.  Movies and series this year on Amazon Prime:  Movie--Just Mercy.  Series--The Americans, Hunters.

Favorite TV show:  Love it or List it on HGTV

Best thing that happened this year:  Discovering Zoom--where would we be without it?

Sports:  Bad news for every professional sports team in Houston--the Astros' scandal, the Texans' awful start and the trading of D'Andre Hopkins, unrest among the Rockets.  Only sports story I enjoyed was Naomi Osaka winning the US. Open Tennis Tournament.

Best present:  My son and daughter-in-law gave me a subscription to Netflix.  Now I can watch The Crown.

To everyone--hope for a better year ahead!

        

,

Surviving the Dark

Tomorrow, December21, is the winter solstice, the shortest, darkest day of the year.  In ancient times, people built fires to drive away the darkness.  Religious holidays, with Christmas tree lights and candles on Chanukah menorahs, bring us light in these dark days.  We remember the Star of Bethlehem that shone in the night sky.

2020 has been the darkest year most of  have lived through--fears of the pandemic, a chaotic election, protests on the streets, lost jobs, food insecurity (which seems to be the current euphemism for hunger), curtailed or canceled visits with family and friends.  In an article posted on CNN poet Jay Parini speaks of all these events and quotes from "Snowbound: A Winter Idyll" by John Greenleaf Whittier:

         The snow that brief December day

      Rose cheerless over hills of gray 

        And, darkly circled, gave at noon,   

     A sadder light than waning moon.

        Slow tracing down the thickening sky

In mute and ominous prophecy.

   A portent seeming less than threat,

It sank from sight before it set.

But the snowbound family spent the dark day gathered together.

Shut in from all the world without

We sat the clean-winged hearth about.

They passed the time in sharing memories and telling stories.  Parini points out that today Zoom and Facetime are our hearths.  He notes that we, too, can trade stories, relive memories and even share our fantasies about what we're going to do when the pandemic is over.

And he adds a closing note of hope:  Vaccines are coming.  Eventually life will return to normal.  Or a new normal.   Even on the darkest day we can look forward to light .He quotes poet Theodor Roethke who wrote,"In a dark time, the eye begins to see."

 Another article I read quotes lines from the carol "Oh, Holy Night:"

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder wakes a new and glorious morn.

Even in this "winter of our discontent" we can glimpse light ahead.  We just have to wait.

 

    

The Sweetest Holiday Story

A guy names Bob May, depressed and broken-hearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilly December night. His four year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap, quietly sobbing.  Bob's wife Evelyn was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could not come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes were wet with tears. Her question brought waves of grief but also of anger.

It was the story of Bob's life. Life had always been different for Bob. Being small when he was little, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was called names he'd rather not remember.

From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college and married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter for Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But his happiness was short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of their savings and now Bob and his daughter went to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just before Christmas in 1938.

Bob strugged to give hope to his child for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make her one--a storybook.

Bob had created animal characters in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope.  Again and again, Bob told the story, embellishing it with each telling.  Who was the character?  What was the story about?

The story Bob created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was an outcast like he was. The name of the character?  A little reindeer named Rudolph with a red nose.

Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day.

But the story doesn't end there. The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little book and offered Bob May a nominal fee to print the book and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The same year a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all the rights to Bob.

The book became a best seller.  Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created for his daughter.

But the story doesn't end there. Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation of Rudolph.  Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by Gene Autrey. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1948 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas." The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad.  In fact, being different can be a blessing.