During the first two weeks of December there may be a glitch in communications between my readers and me. I will be moving to experience another way of living here in St. Louis.
I have lived in my present apartment for almost six years opposite the majestic Cathedral of St. Louis. The location has provided me with a Parisian sometimes Roman view of the City. It also has provided me with a 15-floor, constantly moving panorama of life's sad and joyful moments.
I watched the elaborate installation ceremony for the new Arch Bishop as well as the quiet,dignified candle light demonstration by nuns and lay people opposed to Rome's edicts for nuns. I became a real fashion maven on the latest bridal wear as brides and their courts paraded below my windows on Saturday mornings. On solemn occasions, I heard the bag pipes and mighty Church bells tolling at funerals.
My fellow renters include a wonderful assortment of children, families, university students and dogs, many of them were known to me. Others were only fellow elevator travelers whose greetings were brief.
The neighborhood was close by the Park and invigorating to walk through. I was able to recognize and greet home owners and small business people. I usually wound up at a favorite coffee house where the regulars became like family. To me the area represented the multifaceted joys and problems of urban living.
The new apartment I move to is once again a studio on the 6th floor where I will enjoy a cityscape of lights, highways and, on a cloudless night a sky filled with stars.
The ages of other residents at my new address could probably be best described as in the new old, old and older age groups. Truth be told I am not sure what those terms mean. I suspect the terminology describes the clinical needs of people but tells us little about who they are. I hope to find out.
Because the City itself is so important to me, I expect to still discover many places not yet visited and continue visiting my favorite haunts. So, I ask for your patience and continued readership as Beverly's Notebook blog gets hooked into a new Internet system.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Oxford's Word of the Year
Oxford Dictionary selected "omnishambles" as the word for the year. According to the publisher, omnishambles is defined as a "situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations." It may be descriptive of the era in which we live, but I wonder. Whatever happened to "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"
Saturday, November 17, 2012
THE MILITARY AND ME
In the early 60s, I found myself headed toward Fort Stewart Georgia. I had married a Major in the United States Army. Fort Stewart was described to me as being a small base located outside the "sleepy" town of Hinesville, Georgia.
Little did I realize that I had been placed smack dab in the middle of the Cuban/Russian missile crisis. I found myself on the military base which would become the one where thousands of men, women and equipment would go to war if Russia would not back off. I met people of all ages and experience from across the country and formed a number of friendships across the ranks.
I learned much about military life at Fort Stewart. Some of what I learned was in sharp contrast to the information provided to the public by the Army: discrimination, alcoholism, abuse of women and children, and an attitude held by many that the military were the only true patriots; justice was administered by officers who, along with a training manual, the military felt were competent enough to defend men and women in civilian courts.
Since that time, I have been reassured that much has changed for the better in the military. But with the recent revelation about the elite web of inappropriate Internet messaging by our military I wonder just how much has changed.
Any one of us can be intoxicated by superficial words and actions or dress. The military holds no exemption to this, if anything is more susceptible to encouraging an attitude of elitism and privilege.
As an example, whenever I entered or left the base, I was in a car with the Major's insignia on it.
Each time I came or went, the guard at the gate came to attention, clicked his heels and gave me a snappy salute. Man, did I feel important and privileged!.
Little did I realize that I had been placed smack dab in the middle of the Cuban/Russian missile crisis. I found myself on the military base which would become the one where thousands of men, women and equipment would go to war if Russia would not back off. I met people of all ages and experience from across the country and formed a number of friendships across the ranks.
I learned much about military life at Fort Stewart. Some of what I learned was in sharp contrast to the information provided to the public by the Army: discrimination, alcoholism, abuse of women and children, and an attitude held by many that the military were the only true patriots; justice was administered by officers who, along with a training manual, the military felt were competent enough to defend men and women in civilian courts.
Since that time, I have been reassured that much has changed for the better in the military. But with the recent revelation about the elite web of inappropriate Internet messaging by our military I wonder just how much has changed.
Any one of us can be intoxicated by superficial words and actions or dress. The military holds no exemption to this, if anything is more susceptible to encouraging an attitude of elitism and privilege.
As an example, whenever I entered or left the base, I was in a car with the Major's insignia on it.
Each time I came or went, the guard at the gate came to attention, clicked his heels and gave me a snappy salute. Man, did I feel important and privileged!.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
