Tom Glenn's Blog, page 39

Conservative: Meaning

“Conservative,” according to Oxford Languages, is defined as averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values. To me, a conservative is a person who wants to preserve the past. Put differently, he or she wants ideas, concepts, and ways of living from bygone times to thrive in the present and the future. The implication is that the conservative is opposed to neoteric or “newfangled” ways of thinking and wants to reinforce what some would consider outmoded models of procedure.

But political conservatives active these days, especially those who support Trump, look to me like those who want to preserve the benefits of the well-to-do and the power, especially political power, of the wealthy. That means that they are actively working to making it more difficult for the rank-and-file to vote. According to Aljazeera, “This year, at least 27 states have introduced or enacted 250 pieces of legislation designed to restrict voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. This comes after a record year in which 19 US states enacted 34 restrictive voting laws in 2021.”

These efforts are driven by the Republicans. They know they are outnumbered by Democrats and can’t win elections by the free vote count, so they seek to suppress Democratic votes. Whether we like to admit it or not, that is a direct attack on American democracy.

So the meaning of “conservative” has changed. One result to make me more progressive than ever.

Beethoven and Me: Deaf (2)

My deafness has become more pronounced as I grow older. More than half of my adult life, I’ve worn hearing aids. Every year or so, the aids have to be adjusted to make up for further failings in my ability to hear. My guess is that if I live long enough, I’ll go completely deaf.

So my days as a musician are numbered. I listen to music and play the piano as often as I can, but these days writing takes up more and more of my time. I suspect that eventually my hearing will fail to the point that I can no longer listen to music. Then I’ll find out the degree to which I can depend on my inner ear (my mind) to play music that only I can hear. Will I be able to read a score and hear a piece internally?

My guess is that the answer’s yes. If Beethoven could go on composing after he lost his hearing, then, if I go completely deaf, I should be able to listen internally.

I hope I don’t find that answer to that question soon.

Beethoven and Me: Deaf

A while back, I blogged here about my irritation with Beethoven for his emotionalism and his egotism in expecting listeners to sit through needless variations and repeats in his later works such as his ninth symphony. I compared him unfavorably with my two favorite composers, Bach and Mozart, both highly rational and concise.

As noted here in earlier blogs, I knew when I was six years old that I was born to write, but I tried to escape my fate. My most serious effort was my devotion to music. As a child, I taught myself to read music and to play the piano and devoted much of my leisure time to listening to classical music and, eventually, trying my hand at composing. I went on to take a BA in music at the University of California, Berkeley.

Over time, I came to understand that there was no escape: my purpose as a human being was to write. But with an education in music and so much experience in the art, music has remained a key element in my life.

So my feelings about Beethoven are firmly grounded in education and knowledge. But Beethoven and I both suffered from near-fatal failing for a musician: deafness. I don’t know the source of Beethoven’s affliction, but mine is obvious: combat. For much of my career as a spy (music and writing don’t pay well, but spying does, and I had a family to support), I operated on the battlefield, providing signals intelligence support (the intercept and exploitation of the enemy’s radio communications) to U.S. and friendly forces. And I escaped under fire when Saigon fell in April, 1975. That meant that I was repeatedly exposed to gunfire and shelling. My hearing was severely damaged.

More next time.

Vote!

Regular readers of this blog know that I urge all Americans to vote in all elections, local, county, state, and national. We live in the world’s greatest democracy, and unlike the people in much of the rest of the world, we have the right to choose who will govern us. Because of our good fortune, we have a moral duty to vote in every election.

I am more fortunate than most Americans. During my working years, I traveled extensively all around the world. I was able to observe firsthand people who were subjects of autocrats who decided their fate, even whether they were to go on living.

And my readers know that I am sharply critical of the U.S. for what I consider its flaws—the number of gun deaths we suffer, our failure to address global warming, and the number of our citizens who are overweight, for example. But it is also obvious to me that the U.S., for all its faults, is the greatest nation on earth.

It is out duty as citizens to keep it that way. Now more than at any other time in my long life, democracy is at risk in the U.S. because of forces who would turn us into a fascist country. Now, more than ever before, it is our duty to get out and vote.

So be a patriot and a defender of American freedom. Vote!

Abortion

I feel that to be honest with my readers I must explain my position on abortion, an issue that is now in the headlines thanks to a leaked document from the Supreme Court that suggests that the court will rule against legalized abortion.

I must admit that the prospect of abortion chills me. To me, a fetus, no matter how young, is still a human being. I find killing it hard to justify or defend. So I end up with a personal choice to oppose abortion.

But I know that progressive liberals, with whom I agree on every other issue, are all but united in supporting a woman’s choice to end her pregnancy. Nor would I give more weight to my moral stance than I would to that of a woman choosing to end an unwanted gestation.

So I’ll keep my moral choice to myself. I won’t challenge the moral stance of fellow progressives or try to impose my values on women who choose to abort. I have too much respect and appreciation for others to challenge their ethical decisions.

I’ll keep my peace.

Must Be Spring (2)

As of a few days ago, the new ducks on the pond were gone. In their place are the Mallards I’ve seen before. And now the deer are back. Two adults without antlers (presumably both doe rather than bucks) were wandering through the open space to the east of my house. Meanwhile, I’ve spotted a fox and several rabbits.

So I assume that sometime soon I’ll be seeing a great variety of land animals in that open space and around the pond. In previous years, I’ve seen everything from rabbits and deer to possums and foxes, along with some creatures I couldn’t identify.

It must be spring. And I glory once again in the beauty of the place I live.

Who’s Who Recognition

I am humbled and honored to be chosen by Marquis Who’s Who to be added to their list of luminaries. You can read their press release on me at https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release-service/491322

Please let me know what you think.

Must Be Spring

Over the years, I have written several times here about the wild animals I see in the open space to the east of my house and in the pond to the north, both approximately a hundred feet in diameter. But this year is remarkable for the appearance of waterbird families.

A pair of geese showed up something like a month ago. Then, for a week or so, I saw only one goose. Then, all of a sudden, there were two geese and six tiny goslings. When they frolic on land in the open space, the goslings go wherever the parents go, pecking at the ground. But when they are in the water, the goslings line up in a row between the two adults and swim the length of the pond.

In previous years, ducks did not appear in the pond when geese were there. But this year, a family of ducks is here sharing the water. Earlier, ducks showing up on the pond have been Mallards. But this year, it’s a different variety which I was able to tentatively identify only after checking out pictures on the internet. The ducks traversing the pond are either Mandarin or Quora. The female is a quiet color of brown, but the male is a shameless mix of brilliant colors—the only one missing is green. The ducklings are small enough that I can’t tell for sure how many of them there are.

More next time.

Laughter Is Contagious

A friend sent me a video to prove the point. See if you can watch the whole thing without laughing: https://www.youtube.com/embed/1veWbLpGa78 Let me know your reaction.

Hong Kong

For many years while I was working abroad, I made it my business to get to Hong Kong every chance I got. I loved the city. As a British colony in the far east—until it reverted to Chinese control in 1997—it was a beacon of freedom in a world of dictatorship, a shining star of capitalism and commercial success in a sea of poverty. The city was my refuge during my years in Southeast Asia between 1962 and 1975 when I spent more time in Vietnam than I did in the U.S. Many of the objects that now decorate my home came from Hong Kong, including a round dining room table, some five feet in diameter, made of a single piece of white marble resting on a metal pedestal. It’s so heavy that I can’t move it.

Cantonese is the Chinese dialect spoken by most natives of Hong Kong, but the anglicized name, “Hong Kong,” is actually a phonetic rendering of the city’s Cantonese name 香港 (heung gong), which literally means “Fragrant Harbor.” The Mandarin (or 國語—gwo yu, that is “national language”) dialect pronounces it Xiang Gảng, and in Vietnamese it is Hương Cảng.

China, since it took control of Hong Kong from the UK in 1997, has been tightening its control of the population and systematically withdrawing all freedoms from the population until nowadays the citizens of Hong Kong are no freer than the citizens of mainland Communist China. The most recent stroke was the unopposed “election” on May 8, 2022, of John Lee, Beijing’s selection to head the city. Ironically, Lee’s background is neither civil service nor business but police. He has made a career of limiting people’s freedom.

So the Hong Kong I knew is gone. I assume it is also no longer a commercial hub and one of the leading business centers of the world. It is now just one more despotic population center under the iron control of Xi Jinping.

I mourn the loss of a place that brought me happiness but is no more.