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Remnants in Memoriam

<i>photo by Ron Sitton</i>

photo by Ron Sitton

Perpetual Notions
by Ronald Sitton

NORTH LITTLE ROCK (May 24) — This weekend we pause … to remember those who provided the legacy we inherit when becoming Americans, either through birth or adoption.

Many died for the freedoms we often take for granted. Some fought on our soil to revolt against a monarchy overseas; others fought and preserved a fragile nation not quite a century old. The blood spilled here defines our nation still, as some look back instead of forward.

It didn’t take too long to pin our safety on fighting far away from home. The 20th century featured great wars, wars to keep “the wrong” ideas away from our friends-to-be-enemies and enemies-to-be-friends, wars to help the underdog or our self-interests, wars to show we police the world. And remnants of those wars define our nation still because we welcomed those wanting to get away from war — a melting pot above the fire of the world.

We pause to adorn the graves of our fallen soldiers with wreaths, to scan monuments for lives lost, to observe a flag in awe and wonder as it still waves. We pause to thank God for Forefathers prescient enough to provide freedoms to the individual above the powers of government, including the freedom to die in hopes of preserving the fragments we’ve inherited so far.

Oh, we pause. But then what?

Do we think how freedoms erode when we refuse to keep an eye on government? Do we think how a world relishes our ideals even when detesting our shortcomings, wondering whether to expect the self-sacrificing friend or the pompous bully? Do we ponder how a world can respect us when we seldom respect our brethren citizen, humans just like us regardless of race, creed, religion or sexual preference?

We should pause to reflect.

I’m not trying to bum you out before you go to the pool, before you fire up the grill, before you show your hero’s mementos to the family as you gather for reunions, before you post their photos to MySpace and facebook in your online scrapbook. But considering the magnitude of our responsibility as the leader of the world should we not THINK for a minute about our footprint?

We make and gather so much stuff that we often throw away things others would die to have. We horde items though we know we cannot take them in death. Do we hope someone will want what we’ve got once we’re gone? Only fragments will remain to pass along.

What fragments will those be?

What remnants will remain?

What remnants will remain? photo by Ron Sitton

Posted 24 May 2009 † Sitron45 § Arkansas Traveler § Disturbing ‡ Comments (0) °

Poetry Blues

Just in case you didn’t know it,
April’s for poetry
So kiss a poet.

I tried writing a sonnet, but obsessed with iambic pentameter.
So I present the Professor’s Blues instead:

I see you
Ask what I see
Waves and waves
of potentiality

But you must know it takes persistence too.
Sometimes doin’ what you really don’t wanna do.

You see me
Before your eyes
Honestly
You’d be surprised

Yet I’ve seen the other side
I know you can get there too.

Long nights tryin’ to get your work done
when all your friends are out havin’ fun
But you know when graduation comes
You’ll have your day standing out in the sun

So don’t quit
Buck up instead
Even though it
sometimes hurts your head

They say rest is for the dead

And the semester’s nearly done
Yes semester’s nearly done
The semester is really done

Then it’s time for some fun.

Posted 19 April 2009 † Sitron45 § Arkansas Traveler § Disturbing § Education § Humor § Music ‡ Comments (0) °

Eureka Springs’ Blues Festival Gives Back

Breathing good, I’m in the yard workin’ but I saw this and though I should pass it on; yes, folks, the following is a press release but ya know …
-rws

*******


Buy tickets now for the 2009 Eureka Springs Blues Weekend at www.EurekaSpringsBlues.org! This year’s Blues Weekend will be on May 28, 29, 30 & 31, and features a lineup that Blues Festival Guide describes as “a who’s who of the blues”.

Presented by the 1905 Basin Park Hotel, the 2009 Eureka Springs Blues Weekend will feature Guitar Shorty, Hubert Sumlin & the Buddy Flett Band and Joe Louis Walker headlining evening shows in The Auditorium May 28, 29 & 30 respectively. For acoustic guitar lovers, we have Delta Blues legend David “Honeyboy” Edwards headlining a special “Acoustic Afternoon at The Auditorium” with EG Kight and Mary Flower on Saturday, May 30th. Shows will also be held throughout the weekend in the 1905 Basin Park Hotel’s Barefoot Ballroom and Ozark Room, Basin Spring Park and at various venues around Eureka Springs.

This year’s Blues Weekend will be a fund-raiser for The Blues Foundation’s Handy Artist Relief Trust and Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The HART Fund provides assistance to musicians in need, including acute, chronic & preventive medical & dental care, as well as funeral expenses. For more information, please visit www.Blues.org.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is located seven miles south of Eureka Springs on Highway 23. It provides lifetime refuge to abandoned, abused, and neglected “Big Cats”, with emphasis on tigers, lions, leopards, and cougars. Natural habitats have been built over the past decade to allow the “Lions, Tigers & Bears” to live in more natural surroundings. For more information, please visit www.TurpentineCreek.org.

During last year’s Eureka Springs Blues Weekend, a pair of cubs were born at Turpentine Creek, one of which, “BB King,” is sponsored by long time supporters of the refuge and producers of Blues Weekend, Lori and Charles “Rags” Ragsdell. Also, Candye Kane could not perform during last year’s Blues Weekend due to illness, and The HART Fund helped pay her medical bills. These two events helped “seal the deal”, and Blues Weekend became one of the few blues festivals in America that dedicates 100 percent of all profits to charity.

Other headliners appearing in The Auditorium and the 1905 Basin Park Hotel Barefoot Ballroom and Ozark Room include EG Kight, Moreland & Arbuckle, Candye Kane, Mary Flower, RJ Mischo, Lee McBee & the Confessors, Deanna Bogart and John Nemeth. Also, one-man band King Clarentz, International Blues Challenge winner JP Soars & the Red Hots and Ozarks Blues Society Blues Challenge winners Oreo Blue and Kory Montgomery & Isayah Warford will be opening acts.

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Posted 11 April 2009 † Sitron45 § Southern Scene ‡ Comments (0) °

Good Times with Assault Weapons

Perpetual Notions
by Ronald Sitton

Sharpshooters set up targets at 200 yards at Camp Robinson's shooting range.

Sharpshooters set up targets at 200 yards at Camp Robinson

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (April 4) — During Spring Break, I took the pleasure of spending an afternoon shooting assault weapons with old friends. Seeing how I seldom do this anymore, it made an impression on me.

I called Micah, hoping to figure out something to do since I was stuck in procrastination nation doing little but updating Web pages and loading old photos onto “crack-book.” Hall told me he wanted to shoot his M-4 variant, which he recently built with Poguey’s assistance. I haven’t been target shooting in nearly 15 years, but Hall said he could get us on Camp Robinson to shoot.

It’s been over a decade since I have driven around on the base that sits behind Burns Park. Since then, they’ve restricted access to the base, especially since 9-11. I thought it’d be interesting to see it at least, plus I know there’s no better way to catch up with my brothers-by-other-mothers than to engage in one of their favorite hobbies.

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Posted 04 April 2009 † Sitron45 § Arkansas Traveler § Second Amendment ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,

Why Not Here?

Perpetual Notions
By Ronald Sitton

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (March 23) — So you’ve seen the pictures of Tata’s “Nano” and you’ve heard the unheard of pricing of $2,000 per car in India for an automobile without air conditioning, a radio or a passenger-side mirror. You may even be aware of the 50 mpg capabilities and the steering wheel on the right side of the car.

But would you buy it?

Perhaps it’s the boxy nature of this lil’ chunk of love. It somewhat reminds me of a cross between a ‘74 Honda Civic and a ‘76 Toyota Corolla, two examples of minimalist features but quality craftsmanship. Let’s say with shipping and handling, it ended up more around $3,000 a car. Would that much of an increase keep you from picking one up?

If it’s only money we’re talking about, I’d say those with some chump change and few long-trip necessities should consider it. But before writing that check, I think we should consider something else, i.e. if some folks in India are making a $2,000 car that’s supposed to revolutionize the market (and put more than a million folks behind fume-burners with the accompanying unintentional environmental consequences), why can’t it be done here?

Arkansas used to make cars at Climber Motor Corporation, only two of which are still in existence at Petit Jean’s Museum of Automobiles. I figured an Internet search would not uncover any independent motor corporations in the South — i.e. Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — but I was pleasantly surprised … OK, not astonished, but pleasantly surprised that I found an independent automobile manufacturer making an American car that gave me the shivers.

How appropriate can it be that Austin, Texas-based Ronn Motor Company is offering a green sports car, The Scorpion? It’s based on a system that adds hydrogen to fuel while driving, and from the clips linked on the site, it’s blowing people away. Granted, you only need $150,000 to get it.

I’ve found directions to build a hybrid 75-mpg car through Mother Earth News, but the article looks like it’s from July/August 1979. It would have only cost $1,500 to build back then. Anybody tried this?

Somebody’s got a lot of money to make somewhere.

Posted 23 March 2009 † Sitron45 § Arkansas Traveler § Technology ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

State of the Union: Democracy and the Web Press

gwcubamug.jpgConnecting the Dots
by Glynn Wilson

I almost lost my breakfast in my plate as I watched CNN’s John King interview Dick Cheney on his “State of the Union” show this Sunday. It made me want to get rid of my television set, reinforcing an idea that seems to be growing among the American population.

As newspaper circulation continues in free fall and as we begin to acknowledge that broadcast news let us down as well as newspaper reporting over the past eight years, more and more I’m hearing people say they would rather have a high speed Internet connection than a cable TV package or a newspaper subscription any day.

I mean who gives a damn what Cheney has to say at this point? Is he the only guest King could get to assess the state of the nation? What a joke.

More and more young people are getting their view of the world from shows such as the Daily Show on Comedy Central, where this week Jon Daily took on Jim Cramer of CNBC for his failed coverage of the economic meltdown. This is a video series worth watching in case you missed it.

Jim Cramer in Daily Show Showdown

It’s no wonder newspapers are dying. As their circulations fall and they lay off more news workers, they become even less interesting.

To read the full column, visit our sister site, The Locust Fork News-Journal.

Posted 16 March 2009 † Glynn Wilson § Connecting The Dots ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,