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Showing posts from January, 2010

POTUS and my dad

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There are so many things about my dad that come to mind in relation to Barack Obama . I am constantly struck by the similarity of body movement. Every time I see the President walk I am reminded of my dad, every time I see the President sit or speak I am reminded of my dad. The photo here is from the White House flickr page. I think it is a wonderful photo but looking at the man in the photo I think of my dad. In life and lifestyle Papa and POTUS are very dissimilar but they carry themselves in a suprisingly similar way.We know about Barack Obama's life so I won't repeat it here but I will tell more about my dad. He was born in rural Middle Tennessee , oldest of two boys, his mom was a domestic and his dad a carpenter. If I understand correctly, some of his great grandparents were slaves (I think one of his grandmothers was a Cherokee and one of his grandfathers was a white man). My dad completed high school ( Pearl High School , class of 1936) and at most, a year of col

2010...the year of PBS?

I've loved PBS as long as I can remember, going back to ZOOM , Sesame Street , etc. I can always find shows on PBS I love. Austin City Limits helped me keep sanity through the 90s. I haven't paid a bunch of attention to what was on other than Tavis Smiley and Volunteer Gardener but in this first week of 2010 I have seen two of the most enjoyable and interesting documentaries I have seen in a very long time. First was " The Human Spark ", Alan Alda hosts this three part show on what makes humans human, not Neanderthal or chimp or whatever. The first episode was great. He went to archeological sites and discussed what made us, homo sapien sapiens , different from Neanderthal. Why did they die out and we are still here? Really cool stuff. Now I am watching " This Emotional Life " which explores how and why we feel what we feel. Using case studies and interviews, including interviews with lots of entertainment folks. Its narrated by Daniel Gilbert , the g