A Father's Birthday

Below is a photo of my dad at seventeen. He was a high school honor graduate and holder of class medals in English and debate. The year was 1925. He was a mill town boy with high ambitions beyond the mountains of western Maryland but he had the security of a well-paying full-time job waiting for him after graduation in the midst of the Roaring Twenties. That job won out and he never pursued the college degree he wanted. Nevertheless he was successful, building on his strong Christian faith, steady employment, solid marriage, and remarkable work ethic.

When I look at this picture I am reminded that he only had four "good" years before the Great Depression and World War II brought him and the country he loved into sixteen years of hard times. What I don't see are his weakened legs and slight limp caused by polio when he was a young boy. Through it all he survived as a member of the "Greatest Generation" and saw his nation prosper.

One hundred and fifteen years have passed since the birth of my father on this day in 1907. That's a long time and one indication of why my value programming is different from that of most people my age. In short, I was raised by parents from the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age while the majority of my classmates, friends, and many colleagues had parents come of age in the 1930's and early '40's. The often vast difference in attitudes, opinions and beliefs borne out of such a circumstance brings both opportunity and challenge in the real world for those born somewhat "out of synch" with their peers.

My children never knew my dad - he's been gone for over forty years - but I think they know him well. I've done my best to teach them who he was and honor him by carrying on his many traditions. How fortunate I was to have him as a beacon in my life. He was a great and careful teacher and, though we had our differences, a constant and trusted friend. Most of all he was my loving dad. I thank him every day and will love him forever.

J. William's Birthday

This is my dad at seventeen. He was a high school honor graduate and holder of class medals in English and debate. The year was 1925. He was a mill town boy with high ambitions beyond the mountains of western Maryland but he had the security of a good-paying full-time job waiting for him after graduation in the midst of the Roaring Twenties. That job won out and he never pursued the college degree he wanted. Nevertheless he was successful, building on his steady employment, strong faith, a solid marriage, and a remarkable work ethic.

When I look at this picture I am reminded that he only had four "good" years before the Great Depression and World War II brought him and the country he loved into sixteen years of hard times. What I don't see are his weakened legs and slight limp caused by polio when he was a young boy. Through it all he survived as a member of the "Greatest Generation" and saw his nation prosper.

One hundred and thirteen years have passed since the birth of my father on this day in 1907. That's a long time and one indication of why my value programming is different from that of most people my age. In short, I was raised by parents from the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age while the majority of my classmates, friends, and colleagues had parents come of age in the 1930's and early '40's. The often vast difference in attitudes, opinions and beliefs borne out of such a circumstance bring both opportunity and challenge in the real world for those born somewhat "out of synch" with their peers.

My children never knew my dad - he's been gone almost forty years - but I think they know him well. I've done my best to teach them who he was and honor him by carrying on his many traditions. How fortunate I was to have him as a beacon in my life. He was a great and careful teacher and, though we had our differences, a constant and trusted friend. Most of all he was my loving dad. I thank him every day and will love him forever.

My Father's Birthday

It has been 111 years since the birth of my father on this day in 1907. That's a long time and one indication of why my value programming is different from that of most of my peers. In short, I was raised by parents from the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age while my classmates, friends, and colleagues had parents come of age during the Great Depression. Attitudes, opinions and beliefs borne out of such a circumstance bring both opportunity and challenge in the real world for those born somewhat "out of synch."

This is my dad at seventeen, a high school honor graduate and holder of his class medals in English and debate. The year was 1925. He was a mill town boy with high ambitions tempered by the security of a good-paying full-time job straight out of high school and into the midst of the Roaring Twenties. He never got the college degree he wanted but he was successful, building on his strong faith, a solid marriage, and a remarkable work ethic.

When I look at this picture I am reminded that he only had four "good" years before the Great Depression and World War II brought him and the country he loved into sixteen years of hard times. Through it all he survived as a member of the "Greatest Generation" and saw his nation prosper.

My children never knew him - he's been gone for over 35 years - but I think they know him well. I've done my best to teach them who he was and honor him by carrying on his many traditions. How fortunate I was to have him as a beacon in my life. He was a great and careful teacher and, though we had our differences, a constant and trusted friend. Most of all he was my loving dad. I thank him every day and will love him forever.


Happy birthday, Dad!

Obamanomics, Ein Volk And The Twilight Of Mass Affluence

OTR has never been one to specialize, not since he realized he didn't want to spend the rest of his life researching 18th century frontier settlement in the Great Valley of Anywhere. Instead, he devoted his career to making broad linkages in time and space across a wonder-filled organism he called the American Experience. Of course there was theme and focus in his work, but there was also plenty of opportunity to examine the "big pictures" that make our national experiment so interesting.

Every once in a while, the Internet makes for some fascinating linkages that grab OTR's attention. The prelude to today's discovery occurred yesterday while reading Andrew Klavan's Diarist column-unfortunately not available online as a freebie- in the latest issue of City Journal. His article describes the sudden realization that the study of popular or mass culture can be a very defensible discipline for explaining who we were, are, and may become as Americans.

Forward to today and a blog post by Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds and you have all the ingredients for building an exciting information web out of Barack Obama, Madison Avenue ad execs, Depression "porn," sheet metal and leather "Aviation Collection" furniture, James Lileks's "Retromatical Diversions," Fritz Lang (Metropolis, 1927), and Dr. Joseph Goebbels, that most effective Minister of Propaganda for the short-lived Nazi Empire.

Here is your link to the Reynolds blog. OTR's only instruction is to take your time, visit all the links and browse the comments. Readers will find some very perceptive-verging on prescient- archives, a catalog one could browse for hours, some of the best humor on the Internet, and several reasons why OTR never wrote a dissertation on frontier land speculation in 1790.

Footnote: When you are a culture lumper as opposed to a splitter, it pays to have plenty of time for diversions like the one I recommend above. It is like exploring new cave passages, returning to the surface and describing your discoveries only to be asked how much of the cave is unexplored. Nothing is ever as simple as it looks. I hope you enjoy the journey.

That Old 1930s Feeling

OTR has referenced what he calls the "Weimar Effect" and the 1930s in several posts. Again, those themes appear in two thought provoking posts, The Forgotten Rachels, at Powerline, and It's the Thirties all over again - time to blame the Jews, a Pajamas Media post linked by Instapundit.

The rise and celebration of extremism, weak leadership in the face of ominous threats, world-wide economic malaise, emotion outweighing reason, broad interpretation of law and constitutional authority, and anti-Semitism. All of these elements were present in the 1930s and they are with us today. The coincidence bears watching.