(740,1,'2011-01-07 18:00:07','2011-01-08 02:00:07','[caption id=\"attachment_738\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"201\" caption=\"The Blind Side\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-738\" title=\"1 SHEET MASTER_Template\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI used to go to the movies a lot.\n\nDuring my single days, it wasn\'t at all unusual for me to see two or three movies a week, especially at times of year when a lot of good ones were released. I know I saw 50-100 movies almost every year, a number that has been shrinking drastically as I\'ve gotten older.\n\nIn the year just ended, I went to the movies once -- to see \"Secretariat.\"\n\n\"The Blind Side\" was a movie that sort of slipped through the cracks for me. I didn\'t see it in a theater, and I bought the DVD and took it to Texas with me last spring. I never watched it, though. I wound up sending it to my sister Laura as part of a care package to help her recuperate from surgery.\n\nSo I never saw Sandra Bullock\'s Oscar-winning performance it what was described as a pretty good, pretty inspirational football movie.\n\nUntil today, when I was in Walmart and saw a pretty good deal on some DVDs -- a package of two movies for $10. One was \"We Are Marshall,\" which I had already seen, and the other was \"The Blind Side.\"\n\nI decided to give it another chance, and I just finished watching the story of Michael Oher and the Memphis family who adopted him and helped him turn his life around.\n\nBullock was terrific -- extremely deserving of her Oscar -- and the movie was really enjoyable. I\'m not sure why it is, but for some reason lately, I find myself extremely susceptible to the tear-jerking moments in movies. Maybe I\'m just getting old.\n\nBut I still do love the movies.\n\nI\'m pretty sure I always will.','\'Blind Side\' was worth the wait, worth the time','','inherit','open','open','','737-autosave','','','2011-01-07 18:00:07','2011-01-08 02:00:07','',737,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=740',0,'revision','',0),(741,1,'2011-01-09 08:24:56','2011-01-09 16:24:56','','rockefeller_plaza','America\'s true Atlas is the middle class.','inherit','open','open','','rockefeller_plaza','','','2011-01-09 08:24:56','2011-01-09 16:24:56','',735,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(742,1,'2011-01-09 08:49:22','2011-01-09 16:49:22','<em>“A nation’s productive—and moral, and intellectual—top is the middle  class. It is a broad reservoir of energy, it is a country’s motor and  lifeblood, which feeds the rest. The common denominator of its members,  on their various levels of ability, is: independence. The upper classes  are merely a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.”</em>\n<strong>-- AYN RAND, \"The Dead End\"</strong>\n\nIt isn\'t often that I would quote Ayn Rand, the patron saint of the greedhead crowd, about anything. So much of her work is about catering to the producers among us that I\'ve never felt she had any relvance to the common man.\n\nBut this quote, from one of her later, lesser works, seems to show a different sort of thinking.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_741\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"America&#39;s true Atlas is the middle class.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-741\" title=\"rockefeller_plaza\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd as much as anything, it illustrates why our country made it through the Great Depression and doesn\'t seem to be doing as well with the Great Recession.\n\nIn the 1930s, when country after country in Europe was falling to fascist, totalitarian governments, the United States didn\'t. That\'s largely due to the fact that the American working class didn\'t consider itself working class, but middle class instead. Karl Marx wrote of the proletariat, but millions of Americans who fit Marx\'s teaching to a tee actually considered themselves middle class, or bourgeois.\n\nIf you were to ask 100 people of the street where they thought they fit in, 90 of them would say they considered themselves middle class. By contrast, when folks in England were polled on the same question, fully two-thirds said they considered themselves \"working class.\"\n\nSo what is \"middle class?\" The <a title=\"Middle Class\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class\" target=\"_self\">definition</a> seems to have a lot to do with lifestyle, and in this country particularly with home ownership. People who are middle class are those who have more of an emotional investment in their community and more of an interest in that community doing well and prospering.\n\nOne of the biggest problems we seem to be facing these days is that too much wealth has shifted away from the middle class. Since the mid 1970s, middle-class wages have been completely stagnant. Meanwhile, the flattening of income tax rates and other policies designed to favor the rich have resulted in an incredible amount of wealth being shifted to the top.\n\nMaybe every bit as big a problem has been a change in the way people view debt. One thing that used to be widespread was a great pride people could feel in not owing anyone anything. Now we have incredible consumer debt, and it isn\'t just mortgages or car loans. As of March 2010, the total amount of revolving debt in this country (98 percent of which is credit card debt) was $852.6 billion.\n\nIn households that have credit card debt, the average debt is $15,788.\n\nThe middle class is going down for the third time, and when that happens, much of the glue that holds America together will be gone. For all the eagerness to dismiss folks like Saturday\'s Arizona shooter as anomalies, but more and more, we\'re seeing that Henry David Thoreau was right. The mass of men <em>do</em> lead lives of quiet desperation, and when they become desperate enough, they become much less quiet.\n\nIf one thing is true, it\'s that being rich doesn\'t necessarily make you smart, and America\'s rich have always overreached. That\'s why it\'s so ridiculous to see people who have more money than they could spend in 96 lifetimes object to paying a reasonable amount in taxes or paying any estate taxes at all.\n\nThey may not realize it, but they\'re killing the goose.\n\nAnd when it\'s gone, we\'ll feed on each other.','Killing the middle class may destroy America','','inherit','open','open','','735-revision-2','','','2011-01-09 08:49:22','2011-01-09 16:49:22','',735,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=742',0,'revision','',0),(743,1,'2011-01-09 08:49:32','2011-01-09 16:49:32','<em>“A nation’s productive—and moral, and intellectual—top is the middle  class. It is a broad reservoir of energy, it is a country’s motor and  lifeblood, which feeds the rest. The common denominator of its members,  on their various levels of ability, is: independence. The upper classes  are merely a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.”</em>\r\n<strong>-- AYN RAND, \"The Dead End\"</strong>\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t often that I would quote Ayn Rand, the patron saint of the greedhead crowd, about anything. So much of her work is about catering to the producers among us that I\'ve never felt she had any relvance to the common man.\r\n\r\nBut this quote, from one of her later, lesser works, seems to show a different sort of thinking.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_741\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"America&#39;s true Atlas is the middle class.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-741\" title=\"rockefeller_plaza\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd as much as anything, it illustrates why our country made it through the Great Depression and doesn\'t seem to be doing as well with the Great Recession.\r\n\r\nIn the 1930s, when country after country in Europe was falling to fascist, totalitarian governments, the United States didn\'t. That\'s largely due to the fact that the American working class didn\'t consider itself working class, but middle class instead. Karl Marx wrote of the proletariat, but millions of Americans who fit Marx\'s teaching to a tee actually considered themselves middle class, or bourgeois.\r\n\r\nIf you were to ask 100 people of the street where they thought they fit in, 90 of them would say they considered themselves middle class. By contrast, when folks in England were polled on the same question, fully two-thirds said they considered themselves \"working class.\"\r\n\r\nSo what is \"middle class?\" The <a title=\"Middle Class\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class\" target=\"_self\">definition</a> seems to have a lot to do with lifestyle, and in this country particularly with home ownership. People who are middle class are those who have more of an emotional investment in their community and more of an interest in that community doing well and prospering.\r\n\r\nOne of the biggest problems we seem to be facing these days is that too much wealth has shifted away from the middle class. Since the mid 1970s, middle-class wages have been completely stagnant. Meanwhile, the flattening of income tax rates and other policies designed to favor the rich have resulted in an incredible amount of wealth being shifted to the top.\r\n\r\nMaybe every bit as big a problem has been a change in the way people view debt. One thing that used to be widespread was a great pride people could feel in not owing anyone anything. Now we have incredible consumer debt, and it isn\'t just mortgages or car loans. As of March 2010, the total amount of revolving debt in this country (98 percent of which is credit card debt) was $852.6 billion.\r\n\r\nIn households that have credit card debt, the average debt is $15,788.\r\n\r\nThe middle class is going down for the third time, and when that happens, much of the glue that holds America together will be gone. For all the eagerness to dismiss folks like Saturday\'s Arizona shooter as anomalies, but more and more, we\'re seeing that Henry David Thoreau was right. The mass of men <em>do</em> lead lives of quiet desperation, and when they become desperate enough, they become much less quiet.\r\n\r\nIf one thing is true, it\'s that being rich doesn\'t necessarily make you smart, and America\'s rich have always overreached. That\'s why it\'s so ridiculous to see people who have more money than they could spend in 96 lifetimes object to paying a reasonable amount in taxes or paying any estate taxes at all.\r\n\r\nThey may not realize it, but they\'re killing the goose.\r\n\r\nAnd when it\'s gone, we\'ll feed on each other.','Killing the middle class may destroy America','','inherit','open','open','','735-revision-3','','','2011-01-09 08:49:32','2011-01-09 16:49:32','',735,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=743',0,'revision','',0),(745,1,'2011-01-10 16:02:12','2011-01-11 00:02:12','','20110110_14','My little box','inherit','open','open','','20110110_14','','','2011-01-10 16:02:12','2011-01-11 00:02:12','',744,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110110_14.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(746,1,'2011-01-10 16:25:40','2011-01-11 00:25:40','[caption id=\"attachment_745\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"My little box\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110110_14.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-745\" title=\"20110110_14\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110110_14-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a little box, hanging on my wall, with 12 nearly pristine looking baseballs.\n\nThere are 13 signatures on the balls, and 10 of them are in the baseball Hall of Fame. One other one probably will be someday, and the remaining two -- the ones who share a ball -- also shared one of the most important moments in baseball history.\n\nThe three across the top row are the true gems -- Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle.\n\nThe next three aren\'t much lesser lights -- Johnny Bench, Warren Spahn and Duke Snider.\n\nBob Feller, Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson occupy the third row, which is 9-for-9 Hall of Famers.\n\nChipper Jones and Ralph Kiner have the outside spots on the bottom row. Kiner is in the Hall already, and my guess is Chipper will be in about six or seven years.\n\nIt\'s the 12th ball that is the most fascinating to me. It contains the signatures of Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson, the man who threw the pitch and the man who hit it in 1951 for the Shot Heard Round the World. Despite Bill Mazeroski and  Kirk Gibson\'s later efforts, I still think it was the biggest home run in baseball history.\n\nMy interest in memorabilia has come relatively late in life. I never asked for autographs when I was a sportswriter. It would have been unprofessional, and because of that, I missed out on the chance to get signatures from former players I met for one-on-one interviews, among them Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter and Hank Aaron.\n\nI do have one autographed picture on my wall, of my old friend Walter Masterson as the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1948 All-Star Game.\n\nI miss Walter a lot. We were working on a book together, but didn\'t get a chance to finish it before he died in April 2008. The picture is a nice memento.\n\nIt\'s just like on my Facebook page, before they revised the profiles. I used to say that I loved my wife, my children, my granddaughter, my family, my friends ... and baseball.','Balls on the wall a reminder of one of life\'s joys','','inherit','open','open','','744-revision','','','2011-01-10 16:25:40','2011-01-11 00:25:40','',744,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=746',0,'revision','',0),(765,1,'2011-01-19 13:14:55','2011-01-19 21:14:55','If there is one thing that has always fascinated me, it\'s how popular culture used to be an important reflection of how we saw ourselves.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_766\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"A beautiful portrait of home front America.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thehumancomedy1943.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-766\" title=\"thehumancomedy1943\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thehumancomedy1943-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt mattered to us as a people to think well of ourselves, and that was why the culture -- mostly the movies -- almost always appealed to the better angels of our nature. We didn\'t romanticize con men or clever criminals or attractive sociopaths, and we didn\'t glorify cynicism. Imagine a movie made today where everyone in a railroad car on a troop train headed off to war joins in and sings a popular hymn.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if it\'s possible for kids who grew up in our modern, oh-so-cynical world to look at movies like \"The Human Comedy,\" one of those wonderful old MGM efforts during World War II, and understand that people really used to feel this way. Homer McCauley, the hero played by Mickey Rooney, would be in his 80s now. I\'m not sure he would recognize the country he grew up in.\r\n\r\nI wish we still lived in a country where we looked for the good in each other, a country where we still expected people to treat each other honorably. A country where we didn\'t assume that everyone was in it only for their own interest, a country where people weren\'t ashamed to say they were patriotic, or they believed in God, or they loved their neighbors.\r\n\r\nLook at those old movies, the ones made during the war, and you actually see people going to church or praying. You actually see them talking about faith and ideals.\r\n\r\nIs that world gone for good?\r\n\r\nI don\'t think it has to be. I think our world can be whatever we want it to be, and I think the culture will be whatever we demand of it. Maybe the biggest problem is that we just lowered our standards.\r\n\r\nMaybe we can raise them again.','Our culture can be whatever we want it to be','','publish','open','open','','our-culture-can-be-whatever-we-want-it-to-be','','','2011-01-19 13:14:55','2011-01-19 21:14:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=765',0,'post','',2),(748,1,'2011-01-11 19:32:08','2011-01-12 03:32:08','[caption id=\"attachment_749\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"I-285 is just, well, stopped.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-749\" title=\"slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI remember when I lived in Colorado for two winters in the 1980s, I used to be amused by some of the storm reports we would get.\r\n\r\nI lived about an hour north of Denver, and we would hear on the Denver stations that Interstate 70 was closed from \"Gun Club Road to the Kansas border.\" If I remember correctly, that\'s more than 100 miles of interstate highway on relatively flat land that was just, well, closed.\r\n\r\nThat made sense to me, because the amount of snow involved might be 12 inches, 24 inches or even more.\r\n\r\nI saw a little of the same thing when I lived in Reno for two years, especially when it meant climbing into the mountains on I-80 and crossing the Sierra Nevadas at Truckee. The cool thing about Truckee, Calif., was that it was the same general area where the Donner party had been trapped during the winter of 1846-47.\r\n\r\nBut you expect snow to be a factor when you live at altitude, and those four winters for me were spent about 4,500 feet above sea level.\r\n\r\nYou don\'t expect a tiny little snowstorm -- 4-7 inches up in Atlanta and maybe 1-2 inches here in Griffin -- to bring everything to a standstill. Jeez, we haven\'t even had mail delivery the last two days. UPS and Fed Ex aren\'t getting through either.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t so much the snow. It\'s that most of the streets and roads that aren\'t main highways are completely covered with ice. You see, as far south as Georgia, cities and towns don\'t invest all that much money in snow plows. I remember reading online today that the city of Atlanta has eight.\r\n\r\nWith temperatures not expected to get much above freezing until Friday, we could be in for a couple more really slow days.\r\n\r\nI really don\'t mind.\r\n\r\nI\'m just glad this won\'t be happening every winter.','Who would have expected snow days in Georgia?','','publish','open','open','','who-would-have-expected-snow-days-in-georgia','','','2011-01-11 19:32:08','2011-01-12 03:32:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=748',0,'post','',0),(749,1,'2011-01-11 19:20:23','2011-01-12 03:20:23','','slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js','I-285 is just, well, stopped.','inherit','open','open','','slideshow_1002038939_ice-0112-13js','','','2011-01-11 19:20:23','2011-01-12 03:20:23','',748,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(750,1,'2011-01-11 19:32:06','2011-01-12 03:32:06','[caption id=\"attachment_749\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"I-285 is just, well, stopped.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-749\" title=\"slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/slideshow_1002038939_ice.0112-13js-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI remember when I lived in Colorado for two winters in the 1980s, I used to be amused by some of the storm reports we would get.\n\nI lived about an hour north of Denver, and we would hear on the Denver stations that Interstate 70 was closed from \"Gun Club Road to the Kansas border.\" If I remember correctly, that\'s more than 100 miles of interstate highway on relatively flat land that was just, well, closed.\n\nThat made sense to me, because the amount of snow involved might be 12 inches, 24 inches or even more.\n\nI saw a little of the same thing when I lived in Reno for two years, especially when it meant climbing into the mountains on I-80 and crossing the Sierra Nevadas at Truckee. The cool thing about Truckee, Calif., was that it was the same general area where the Donner party had been trapped during the winter of 1846-47.\n\nBut you expect snow to be a factor when you live at altitude, and those four winters for me were spent about 4,500 feet above sea level.\n\nYou don\'t expect a tiny little snowstorm -- 4-7 inches up in Atlanta and maybe 1-2 inches here in Griffin -- to bring everything to a standstill. Jeez, we haven\'t even had mail delivery the last two days. UPS and Fed Ex aren\'t getting through either.\n\nIt isn\'t so much the snow. It\'s that most of the streets and roads that aren\'t main highways are completely covered with ice. You see, as far south as Georgia, cities and towns don\'t invest all that much money in snow plows. I remember reading online today that the city of Atlanta has eight.\n\nWith temperatures not expected to get much above freezing until Friday, we could be in for a couple more really slow days.\n\nI really don\'t mind.\n\nI\'m just glad this won\'t be happening every winter.','Who would have expected snow days in Georgia?','','inherit','open','open','','748-revision','','','2011-01-11 19:32:06','2011-01-12 03:32:06','',748,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=750',0,'revision','',0),(751,1,'2011-01-13 19:39:45','2011-01-14 03:39:45','In Bob Greene\'s book, \"The 50 Year Dash,\" he asked a friend of his if he felt middle-aged now that he was 50.\r\n\r\nHis friend replied that no, he felt like a teenager who had been in a fight.\r\n\r\nI\'m 61, well past 50 and by many standards past middle age. But something happened to me yesterday that left me wondering if I ought to start thinking of myself a little differently.\r\n\r\nI slipped and fell on the concrete walk in front my my house, which was covered with ice. My feet went out from under me, my butt hit the ground and then I fell backward and the back of my head hit the ice -- hard.\r\n\r\nAs it turned out, I was lucky. There was no bump on the back on my head and I don\'t think I had a concussion. But I had been walking on the ice the same way I did when I was 18 ... or 25. I wasn\'t even considering the possibility that my reflexes weren\'t as good, that I might be more susceptible to breaking a bone.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_752\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Growing older but not up\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/posterOlder-but-not-Up-Medium.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-752\" title=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/posterOlder-but-not-Up-Medium-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt reminded me of the Jimmy Buffett song:\r\n\r\n<em>\"I\'m no Pete Rose, I can\'t pretend, my mind is quite flexible but brittle bones won\'t mend.\"</em>\r\n\r\nA lot of us in the baby boom generation have taken great pride in saying that we\'re \"growing older but not up,\" as if losing our youthful spirit and growing into full adult maturity would be some sort of betrayal.\r\n\r\nWhen I was 25, I never would have considered that slipping and falling down might cause any kind of serious injury. Barring some sort of really bad luck, it probably wouldn\'t have. But at 61, bad things can and do happen from simple falls.\r\n\r\nI really don\'t think of myself as <em>old</em> yet. I don\'t know if I\'m going to live to be 70, 80 or 90, or maybe even longer, but I am definitely no longer young and no longer able to write off the potential danger of things like falling on ice and hitting my head.\r\n\r\nJust one more thing to worry about.','Growing older, maybe also growing up','','publish','open','open','','growing-older-maybe-also-growing-up','','','2011-01-13 19:39:45','2011-01-14 03:39:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=751',0,'post','',0),(752,1,'2011-01-13 19:18:35','2011-01-14 03:18:35','','OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA','Growing older but not up','inherit','open','open','','olympus-digital-camera','','','2011-01-13 19:18:35','2011-01-14 03:18:35','',751,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/posterOlder-but-not-Up-Medium.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(753,1,'2011-01-13 19:38:01','2011-01-14 03:38:01','In Bob Greene\'s book, \"The 50 Year Dash,\" he asked a friend of his if he felt middle-aged now that he was 50.\n\nHis friend replied that no, he felt like a teenager who had been in a fight.\n\nI\'m 61, well past 50 and by many standards past middle age. But something happened to me yesterday that left me wondering if I ought to start thinking of myself a little differently.\n\nI slipped and fell on the concrete walk in front my my house, which was covered with ice. My feet went out from under me, my butt hit the ground and then I fell backward and the back of my head hit the ice -- hard.\n\nAs it turned out, I was lucky. There was no bump on the back on my head and I don\'t think I had a concussion. But I had been walking on the ice the same way I did when I was 18 ... or 25. I wasn\'t even considering the possibility that my reflexes weren\'t as good, that I might be more susceptible to breaking a bone.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_752\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Growing older but not up\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/posterOlder-but-not-Up-Medium.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-752\" title=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/posterOlder-but-not-Up-Medium-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt reminded me of the Jimmy Buffett song:\n\n<em>\"I\'m no Pete Rose, I can\'t pretend, my mind is quite flexible but brittle bones won\'t mend.\"</em>\n\nA lot of us in the baby boom generation have taken great pride in saying that we\'re \"growing older but not up,\" as if losing our youthful spirit and growing into full adult maturity would be some sort of betrayal.\n\nWhen I was 25, I never would have considered that slipping and falling down might cause any kind of serious injury. Barring some sort of really bad luck, it probably wouldn\'t have. But at 61, bad things can and do happen from simple falls.\n\nI really don\'t think of myself as <em>old</em> yet. I don\'t know if I\'m going to live to be 70, 80 or 90, or maybe even longer, but I am definitely no longer young and no longer able to write off the potential danger of things like falling on ice and hitting my head.','','','inherit','open','open','','751-revision','','','2011-01-13 19:38:01','2011-01-14 03:38:01','',751,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=753',0,'revision','',0),(754,1,'2011-01-14 19:57:41','2011-01-15 03:57:41','Some years back, I took my wife to see what turned out to be a really fascinating movie.\r\n\r\nIt was a Japanese film, which sort of meant it had to be something special for me to give it a go. I don\'t mind foreign language films, but generally I prefer languages with which I have some familiarity, languages that don\'t sound \"wrong\" to my ear. German, French, Spanish and Italian are fine, because I can recognize words from time to time. There\'s no chance of that happening with Asian languages, but I had heard that \"After Life\" was good and I wanted to see it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_755\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"204\" caption=\"After Life\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-755\" title=\"MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR4,0,214,314_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_-204x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe movie was based on an interesting premise of what heaven is.\r\n\r\nThe idea is that when you die, you go to a way station and speak with a counselor to pick the single best memory of your life. Once you decide, that ends up being the one thing you live over and over again until the end of time.\r\n\r\nI can tell you that it would be a difficult choice, although I can say without hesitation that I would want it to be something that included my wife and my two children. It might be something as simple as Christmas Day 2009, a day that I spent with Nicole, with Pauline and Virgile and with their two spouses and my lovely little granddaughter Maddie.\r\n\r\nIt\'s tough to come up with many days that include all those people. The only other significant one I can remember is Virgile\'s wedding day, which was a lovely day also.\r\n\r\nBut I remember the scene in \"Our Town,\" when Emily -- who has died -- goes back to see one day from her life. She is urged to pick a day that isn\'t particularly special, and she picks a winter morning in high school.\r\n\r\nShe is overwhelmed by it all and asks if any living people actually know how wonderful life is while they\'re living it. The answer comes to her. \"A few of the saints, maybe.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_756\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Virgile and Maddie, Christmas 2009\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-756\" title=\"DSC_0156\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI have had so many wonderful things happen to me in my life, and I know some of them slipped by without my knowing just how special they were.\r\n\r\nBut I do understand, like Emily, that the truly memorable times aren\'t the big events. I\'ve been to the Super Bowl, to the World Series and to two NCAA Final Fours. I\'ve seen the Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash &amp; Young and Bob Dylan in concert, among others.\r\n\r\nI have been blessed with the love of an amazing woman and two incredible children, and it\'s those two children who fill me with more pride than I could ever have imagined feeling.\r\n\r\nI have had wonderful friends, lifelong friends who have been better friends to me than I have been to them.\r\n\r\nI have experienced an abundance of God\'s grace, and if I haven\'t always gotten everything I wanted, I have gotten far more than I deserve.\r\n\r\nLife really is truly wonderful.','Of life\'s best memories, tough to pick just one','','publish','open','open','','of-lifes-best-memories-tough-to-pick-just-one','','','2011-01-14 19:57:41','2011-01-15 03:57:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=754',0,'post','',1),(755,1,'2011-01-14 19:38:07','2011-01-15 03:38:07','','MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR4,0,214,314_','After Life','inherit','open','open','','mv5bmtq4mtg3otiwmf5bml5banbnxkftztcwmjg1mdiymq-_v1-_sy314_cr40214314_','','','2011-01-14 19:38:07','2011-01-15 03:38:07','',754,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(756,1,'2011-01-14 19:51:08','2011-01-15 03:51:08','','DSC_0156','Virgile and Maddie, Christmas 2009','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0156','','','2011-01-14 19:51:08','2011-01-15 03:51:08','',754,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(757,1,'2011-01-14 19:56:49','2011-01-15 03:56:49','Some years back, I took my wife to see what turned out to be a really fascinating movie.\n\nIt was a Japanese film, which sort of meant it had to be something special for me to give it a go. I don\'t mind foreign language films, but generally I prefer languages with which I have some familiarity, languages that don\'t sound \"wrong\" to my ear. German, French, Spanish and Italian are fine, because I can recognize words from time to time. There\'s no chance of that happening with Asian languages, but I had heard that \"After Life\" was good and I wanted to see it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_755\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"204\" caption=\"After Life\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-755\" title=\"MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR4,0,214,314_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_-204x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe movie was based on an interesting premise of what heaven is.\n\nThe idea is that when you die, you go to a way station and speak with a counselor to pick the single best memory of your life. Once you decide, that ends up being the one thing you live over and over again until the end of time.\n\nI can tell you that it would be a difficult choice, although I can say without hesitation that I would want it to be something that included my wife and my two children. It might be something as simple as Christmas Day 2009, a day that I spent with Nicole, with Pauline and Virgile and with their two spouses and my lovely little granddaughter Maddie.\n\nIt\'s tough to come up with many days that include all those people. The only other significant one I can remember is Virgile\'s wedding day, which was a lovely day also.\n\nBut I remember the scene in \"Our Town,\" when Emily -- who has died -- goes back to see one day from her life. She is urged to pick a day that isn\'t particularly special, and she picks a winter morning in high school.\n\nShe is overwhelmed by it all and asks if any living people actually know how wonderful life is while they\'re living it. The answer comes to her. \"A few of the saints, maybe.\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_756\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Virgile and Maddie, Christmas 2009\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-756\" title=\"DSC_0156\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have had so many wonderful things happen to me in my life, and I know some of them slipped by without my knowing just how special they were.\n\nBut I do understand, like Emily, that the truly memorable times aren\'t the big events. I\'ve been to the Super Bowl, to the World Series and to two NCAA Final Fours. I\'ve seen the Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash &amp; Young and Bob Dylan in concert, among others.\n\nI have been blessed with the love of an amazing woman and two incredible children, and it\'s those two children who fill me with more pride than I could ever have imagined feeling.\n\nI have had wonderful friends, lifelong friends who have been better friends to me than I have been to them.\n\nI have experienced an abundance of God\'s grace, and if I haven\'t always gotten everything I wanted, I have gotten far more than I deserve.\n\nLife really is truly wonderful.','','','inherit','open','open','','754-revision','','','2011-01-14 19:56:49','2011-01-15 03:56:49','',754,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=757',0,'revision','',0),(758,1,'2011-01-15 15:26:28','2011-01-15 23:26:28','I downloaded a dozen or so different versions of Terry Cashman\'s \"Talkin\' Baseball\" the other day, and for some reason, the one that seems the most poignant to me is the one he wrote about the Detroit Tigers.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laY2-I9fi8s\r\n\r\nI\'ve never really been a Tiger fan, although I remember sitting on my grandfather\'s porch in the \'60s as he listened to Ernie Harwell broadcast the Tiger games on WJR. My grandfather lived in North Central Ohio, but he had long since grown disgusted with his hometown Cleveland Indians. He took great pride in the fact that Detroit\'s Gates Brown, perhaps baseball\'s premier pinch-hitter at the time, was from the same small town he had grown up in.\r\n\r\nI know he was happy when the Tigers won the World Series in 1968, but it isn\'t just my long-dead grandfather who makes me feel sad about Detriot.\r\n\r\nWhen I was a kid in the \'50s and a teenager in the \'60s, Detroit was as good an example as any city of the American can-do spirit. It was the place where they built the best cars in the world, those big-old wonderful boats that carried the big families of the Baby Boom from place to place. It was also Motown, the place where all that amazing music that raised the consciousness of millions of white kids in the \'60s.\r\n\r\nBut Detroit went into a decline, starting with the riots in 1968 and heading through the gas price shocks of the \'70s. All of a sudden, the big cars we had been driving didn\'t make much sense, and Detroit didn\'t want to make small cars.\r\n\r\nIn 1950, nearly 1.85 million people lived in <a title=\"Detroit\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit\" target=\"_self\">Detroit</a>. As of 2009, the number was less than half that. It\'s as good an example as any of the decline in America\'s old Rust Belt manufacturing cities. So when I hear Terry Cashman singing about \"the Motor City team,\" I find myself sadder for the city that no longer exists than for its old-time teams.','\'Motor City\' is a place that no longer really exists','','publish','open','open','','motor-city-is-a-place-that-no-longer-really-exists','','','2011-01-15 15:26:28','2011-01-15 23:26:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=758',0,'post','',0),(759,1,'2011-01-15 15:25:47','2011-01-15 23:25:47','I downloaded a dozen or so different versions of Terry Cashman\'s \"Talkin\' Baseball\" the other day, and for some reason, the one that seems the most poignant to me is the one he wrote about the Detroit Tigers.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laY2-I9fi8s\n\nI\'ve never really been a Tiger fan, although I remember sitting on my grandfather\'s porch in the \'60s as he listened to Ernie Harwell broadcast the Tiger games on WJR. My grandfather lived in North Central Ohio, but he had long since grown disgusted with his hometown Cleveland Indians. He took great pride in the fact that Detroit\'s Gates Brown, perhaps baseball\'s premier pinch-hitter at the time, was from the same small town he had grown up in.\n\nI know he was happy when the Tigers won the World Series in 1968, but it isn\'t just my long-dead grandfather who makes me feel sad about Detriot.\n\nWhen I was a kid in the \'50s and a teenager in the \'60s, Detroit was as good an example as any city of the American can-do spirit. It was the place where they built the best cars in the world, those big-old wonderful boats that carried the big families of the Baby Boom from place to place. It was also Motown, the place where all that amazing music that raised the consciousness of millions of white kids in the \'60s.\n\nBut Detroit went into a decline, starting with the riots in 1968 and heading through the gas price shocks of the \'70s. All of a sudden, the big cars we had been driving didn\'t make much sense, and Detroit didn\'t want to make small cars.\n\nIn 1950, nearly 1.85 million people lived in <a title=\"Detroit\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit\" target=\"_self\">Detroit</a>. As of 2009, the number was less than half that. It\'s as good an example as any of the decline in America\'s old Rust Belt manufacturing cities. So when I hear Terry Cashman singing about \"the Motor City team,\" I find myself sadder for the city that no longer exists than for its old-time teams.','','','inherit','open','open','','758-revision','','','2011-01-15 15:25:47','2011-01-15 23:25:47','',758,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=759',0,'revision','',0),(760,1,'2011-01-17 19:36:35','2011-01-18 03:36:35','<em>\"... and the lonely voice of youth cries, \'What is truth?\'\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- JOHNNY CASH, 1968</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-761\" title=\"truth-small\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>If there\'s one answer I could give to that question, it would be that truth is something almost everyone thinks they know, but very few of us actually do.\r\n\r\nThere are certainly plenty of folks on both sides of the political divide who will tell you they know the truth and they\'ll be happy to share it with you, but truth through one side or the other of the political spectrum is usually lacking.\r\n\r\nTruth isn\'t really about politics, anyway. Regardless of what folks on the left or the right will tell you, they don\'t have all the answers. That doesn\'t mean they don\'t have any answers, though, and taking a \"plague on both your houses\" approach rarely accomplishes very much.\r\n\r\nTruth?\r\n\r\nI know a few things that might qualify as basic truths, and one of them is that love is at the heart of everything. It\'s why Jesus boiled the 10 commandments of the Old Testament down to what he called the two great commandments -- love God and love your neighbor.\r\n\r\nThat\'s a basic truth. If you love God and love your neighbor, and put those two goals ahead of everything else, you\'ll probably be a fairly happy person.\r\n\r\nIt\'s why if I fall anywhere on the political spectrum, it\'s to the left of center because I believe we have a responsibility to help the less fortunate among us. It\'s why I believe in a progressive income tax, and in an estate tax that limits the vast wealth that can be passed down from parents who earned it to children who didn\'t do anything except belong to the Lucky Sperm Club.\r\n\r\nI\'d rather see a government that represents me helping children from poor families -- it isn\'t their fault their parents are poor -- than giving more and more tax incentives to the wealthy to send jobs overseas. Overly simplistic? Sure, but there are very few of us who don\'t oversimplify things. One of the great heroes of the right wing in the \'80s was Margaret Thatcher, who said that there were really no such things as communities, that there were really only individuals and families.\r\n\r\nThat\'s certainly one way of looking at it. If we assume that everyone will act in their own interest, we are at least able to predict what they will do.\r\n\r\nBut to view the world that way, we have to ignore the possibility that we contain any spark of the divine, any basic goodness. I don\'t know how Thatcher would explain the Gandhis, the Mother Teresas; maybe her theory only covers the world of politics.\r\n\r\nSo what is truth?\r\n\r\nTo me, anyway, the most basic truth there is involves love.\r\n\r\nLove, whether it\'s for God, friends, family or neighbors, ennobles us in a way nothing else can.','If you\'re looking for truth, look to love','','publish','open','open','','if-youre-looking-for-truth-look-to-love','','','2011-01-17 19:36:35','2011-01-18 03:36:35','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=760',0,'post','',0),(761,1,'2011-01-17 07:50:57','2011-01-17 15:50:57','','truth-small','','inherit','open','open','','truth-small','','','2011-01-17 07:50:57','2011-01-17 15:50:57','',760,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(762,1,'2011-01-17 07:55:10','2011-01-17 15:55:10','<em>\"... and the lonely voice of youth cries, \'What is truth?\'\"</em>\n<strong>-- JOHNNY CASH, 1968</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-761\" title=\"truth-small\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>If there\'s one answer I could give to that question, it would be that truth is something almost everyone thinks they know, but very few of us actually do.\n\nConservatives might say that keeping taxes low is good for the economy, that the government does few things as well as the private sector does and that welfare destroys initiative.','','','inherit','open','open','','760-revision','','','2011-01-17 07:55:10','2011-01-17 15:55:10','',760,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=762',0,'revision','',0),(763,1,'2011-01-17 11:42:06','2011-01-17 19:42:06','<em>\"... and the lonely voice of youth cries, \'What is truth?\'\"</em>\n<strong>-- JOHNNY CASH, 1968</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-761\" title=\"truth-small\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>If there\'s one answer I could give to that question, it would be that truth is something almost everyone thinks they know, but very few of us actually do.\n\nThere are certainly plenty of folks on both sides of the political divide who will tell you they know the truth and they\'ll be happy to share it with you, but truth through one side or the other of the political spectrum is usually lacking.\n\nTruth isn\'t really about politics, anyway. Regardless of what folks on the left or the right will tell you, they don\'t have all the answers. That doesn\'t mean they don\'t have any answers, though, and taking a \"plague on both your houses\" approach rarely accomplishes very much.\n\nTruth?\n\nI know a few things that might qualify as basic truths, and one of them is that love is at the heart of everything. It\'s why Jesus boiled the 10 commandments of the Old Testament down to what he called the two great commandments -- love God and love your neighbor.\n\nThat\'s a basic truth. If you love God and love your neighbor, and put those two goals ahead of everything else, you\'ll probably be a fairly happy person.\n\nIt\'s why if I fall anywhere on the political spectrum, it\'s to the left of center because I believe we have a responsibility to help the less fortunate among us. It\'s why I believe in a progressive income tax, and in an estate tax that limits the vast wealth that can be passed down from parents who earned it to children who didn\'t do anything except belong to the Lucky Sperm Club.\n\nI\'d rather see a government that represents me helping children from poor families -- it isn\'t their fault their parents are poor -- than giving more and more teax','','','inherit','open','open','','760-revision-2','','','2011-01-17 11:42:06','2011-01-17 19:42:06','',760,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=763',0,'revision','',0),(764,1,'2011-01-17 19:36:04','2011-01-18 03:36:04','<em>\"... and the lonely voice of youth cries, \'What is truth?\'\"</em>\n<strong>-- JOHNNY CASH, 1968</strong>\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-761\" title=\"truth-small\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/truth-small-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>If there\'s one answer I could give to that question, it would be that truth is something almost everyone thinks they know, but very few of us actually do.\n\nThere are certainly plenty of folks on both sides of the political divide who will tell you they know the truth and they\'ll be happy to share it with you, but truth through one side or the other of the political spectrum is usually lacking.\n\nTruth isn\'t really about politics, anyway. Regardless of what folks on the left or the right will tell you, they don\'t have all the answers. That doesn\'t mean they don\'t have any answers, though, and taking a \"plague on both your houses\" approach rarely accomplishes very much.\n\nTruth?\n\nI know a few things that might qualify as basic truths, and one of them is that love is at the heart of everything. It\'s why Jesus boiled the 10 commandments of the Old Testament down to what he called the two great commandments -- love God and love your neighbor.\n\nThat\'s a basic truth. If you love God and love your neighbor, and put those two goals ahead of everything else, you\'ll probably be a fairly happy person.\n\nIt\'s why if I fall anywhere on the political spectrum, it\'s to the left of center because I believe we have a responsibility to help the less fortunate among us. It\'s why I believe in a progressive income tax, and in an estate tax that limits the vast wealth that can be passed down from parents who earned it to children who didn\'t do anything except belong to the Lucky Sperm Club.\n\nI\'d rather see a government that represents me helping children from poor families -- it isn\'t their fault their parents are poor -- than giving more and more tax incentives to the wealthy to send jobs overseas. Overly simplistic? Sure, but there are very few of us who don\'t oversimplify things. One of the great heroes of the right wing in the \'80s was Margaret Thatcher, who said that there were really no such things as communities, that there were really only individuals and families.\n\nThat\'s certainly one way of looking at it. If we assume that everyone will act in their own interest, we are at least able to predict what they will do.\n\nBut to view the world that way, we have to ignore the possibility that we contain any spark of the divine, any basic goodness. I don\'t know how Thatcher would explain the Gandhis, the Mother Teresas; maybe her theory only covers the world of politics.\n\nSo what is truth?\n\nTo me, anyway, the most basic truth there is involves love.\n\nLove, whether it\'s for God, friends, family or neighbors, ennobles us in a way nothing else can.','','','inherit','open','open','','760-revision-3','','','2011-01-17 19:36:04','2011-01-18 03:36:04','',760,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=764',0,'revision','',0),(766,1,'2011-01-19 12:22:06','2011-01-19 20:22:06','','thehumancomedy1943','A beautiful portrait of home front America.','inherit','open','open','','thehumancomedy1943','','','2011-01-19 12:22:06','2011-01-19 20:22:06','',765,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thehumancomedy1943.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(767,1,'2011-01-19 13:14:02','2011-01-19 21:14:02','If there is one thing that has always fascinated me, it\'s how popular culture used to be an important reflection of how we saw ourselves.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_766\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"A beautiful portrait of home front America.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thehumancomedy1943.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-766\" title=\"thehumancomedy1943\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thehumancomedy1943-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt mattered to us as a people to think well of ourselves, and that was why the culture -- mostly the movies -- almost always appealed to the better angels of our nature. We didn\'t romanticize con men or clever criminals or attractive sociopaths, and we didn\'t glorify cynicism. Imagine a movie made today where everyone in a railroad car on a troop train headed off to war joins in and sings a popular hymn.\n\nI don\'t know if it\'s possible for kids who grew up in our modern, oh-so-cynical world to look at movies like \"The Human Comedy,\" one of those wonderful old MGM efforts during World War II, and understand that people really used to feel this way. Homer McCauley, the hero played by Mickey Rooney, would be in his 80s now. I\'m not sure he would recognize the country he grew up in.\n\nI wish we still lived in a country where we looked for the good in each other, a country where we still expected people to treat each other honorably. A country where we didn\'t assume that everyone was in it only for their own interest, a country where people weren\'t ashamed to say they were patriotic, or they believed in God, or they loved their neighbors.\n\nLook at those old movies, the ones made during the war, and you actually see people going to church or praying. You actually see them talking about faith and ideals.\n\nIs that world gone for good?\n\nI don\'t think it has to be. I think our world can be whatever we want it to be, and I think the culture will be whatever we demand of it. Maybe the biggest problem is that we just lowered our standards','','','inherit','open','open','','765-revision','','','2011-01-19 13:14:02','2011-01-19 21:14:02','',765,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=767',0,'revision','',0),(797,1,'2011-01-27 21:29:16','2011-01-28 05:29:16','Do you have any idea how bizarre it is to remember almost every popular song from the \'60s and \'70s?\r\n\r\nYou think I\'m kidding? I wish I were. I was in the fitness center at our Club Peachtree this afternoon, getting ready to hop on the treadmill for a fast 66 minutes. The sound system in the building, which has XM Radio, was tuned to the \'70s channel.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BlobServer.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-798\" title=\"BlobServer\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BlobServer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"50\" /></a>I don\'t remember what the song was, but it was some fairly obscure hit with a lengthy musical intro before the lyrics started. I knew right away what it was. And except for the disco era -- when I tuned out a lot of what was passing for popular music -- I\'m the same way with almost everything that was much of a hit during my teens and twenties.\r\n\r\nIt appalls me that I can sing along with \"Billy Don\'t Be a Hero\" or \"The Night Chicago Died,\" two truly execrable songs, but I find it almost impossible to learn a foreign language. Maybe it\'s because the hard drive in my memory is full of all this crap that can\'t be deleted.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Here\'s a story, of a lovely lady ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nI didn\'t even <em>watch</em> \"The Brady Bunch\" and I know the lyrics to that song.\r\n\r\nIt could be worse. When I was 22 or 23 and used to go drinking at the old GWU Campus Club with friends, I could not only name the songs and the groups who performed them, if the group was at all significant, I could name all the members and the instruments they played.\r\n\r\nI wasn\'t always so full of useless trivia. Or maybe I was. When I was 14, I remember memorizing the names of every one of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate. I also remember going to the presidential inauguration in 1965 (LBJ) and getting a dozen or two state governors to autograph a copy of that day\'s <em>Washington Post</em>. That newspaper might possibly be buried somewhere in my mother\'s house. I don\'t remember who the governors were, but I know none of them turned out to do much more than be state governors.\r\n\r\nThat\'s not so bad.\r\n\r\nI never turned out to be much more than a weird kid with a wacky memory.','What is it that made my memory so damn weird?','','publish','open','open','','what-is-it-that-made-my-memory-so-damn-weird','','','2011-01-27 21:29:16','2011-01-28 05:29:16','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=797',0,'post','',0),(769,1,'2011-01-20 21:08:39','2011-01-21 05:08:39','I wonder why there is so much less <em>service</em> in the world today.\r\n\r\nThat might sound like a strange question when by some estimates two-thirds of all jobs in our country are \"service\" related, but grilling hamburgers and working a cash register aren\'t what I mean.\r\n\r\nWhen the movie \"Back to the Future\" came out in 1985, one of the biggest laughs for the Reagan-era audience was when Marty McFly found himself in 1955 and watched in awe as four or five guys ran out to start servicing a car that pulled into a gas station.\r\n\r\nCheck your oil? These days you can\'t even get them to pump your gas.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_770\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Service\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bilde.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-770\" title=\"bilde\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bilde.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"201\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI wonder why that is. I wonder why gas stations were able to have guys hanging around to pump gas, clean windshields and check oil and tire pressure at a time when gas was only 25-30 cents a gallon, and they don\'t even have anyone to pump gas that we\'re paying $3 a gallon to get.\r\n\r\nIt\'s the same in department stores. Try and find someone to help you find your size in something, and the odds are pretty good you\'ll have to wait in line while the one salesperson waits on two or three other people first.\r\n\r\nIn a way, I suppose it\'s just another way life has become more impersonal. But I think it\'s also a reason we have such incredibly high unemployment; all sorts of jobs have just vanished, never to return.\r\n\r\nRemember when there used to be ushers in movie theaters?\r\n\r\nThis one probably makes a little more sense. A lot fewer people go to the movies these days than did 60 years ago, and there are far fewer of the old movie \"palaces\" and a lot more theaters where the screens are just glorified big-screen televisions.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_771\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"244\" caption=\"Service\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-771\" title=\"movie_usher\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. When I was younger, I was often annoyed when someone would come up to me in a store and ask if they could help me.\r\n\r\nHeck, it made it a lot tougher to shoplift.\r\n\r\n<em>Just kidding.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Right?</em>\r\n\r\nRight.\r\n\r\nBut when I\'m shopping with my wife, one of the first things she does is look for a salesperson to help her find what she wants. She\'s not just looking for the help; she also wants the opinion of the person on what to buy.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, but people used to have jobs like that for a long time. Some folks made careers out of being a salesperson in men\'s clothing stores, or working in record stores. That was before we bought all our music online, of course.\r\n\r\nEventually, I suppose, we\'ll buy everything online.\r\n\r\nI\'m just waiting to see how they can pump the gas for our cars through the computer.','Whatever happened to the service industry?','','publish','open','open','','whatever-happened-to-the-service-industry','','','2011-01-20 21:08:39','2011-01-21 05:08:39','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=769',0,'post','',0),(770,1,'2011-01-20 20:56:48','2011-01-21 04:56:48','','bilde','Service','inherit','open','open','','bilde','','','2011-01-20 20:56:48','2011-01-21 04:56:48','',769,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bilde.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(771,1,'2011-01-20 21:02:06','2011-01-21 05:02:06','','movie_usher','Service','inherit','open','open','','movie_usher','','','2011-01-20 21:02:06','2011-01-21 05:02:06','',769,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(772,1,'2011-01-20 21:08:22','2011-01-21 05:08:22','I wonder why there is so much less <em>service</em> in the world today.\n\nThat might sound like a strange question when by some estimates two-thirds of all jobs in our country are \"service\" related, but\n\nWhen the movie \"Back to the Future\" came out in 1985, one of the biggest laughs for the Reagan-era audience was when Marty McFly found himself in 1955 and watched in awe as four or five guys ran out to start servicing a car that pulled into a gas station.\n\nCheck your oil? These days you can\'t even get them to pump your gas.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_770\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Service\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bilde.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-770\" title=\"bilde\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bilde.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"201\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI wonder why that is. I wonder why gas stations were able to have guys hanging around to pump gas, clean windshields and check oil and tire pressure at a time when gas was only 25-30 cents a gallon, and they don\'t even have anyone to pump gas that we\'re paying $3 a gallon to get.\n\nIt\'s the same in department stores. Try and find someone to help you find your size in something, and the odds are pretty good you\'ll have to wait in line while the one salesperson waits on two or three other people first.\n\nIn a way, I suppose it\'s just another way life has become more impersonal. But I think it\'s also a reason we have such incredibly high unemployment; all sorts of jobs have just vanished, never to return.\n\nRemember when there used to be ushers in movie theaters?\n\nThis one probably makes a little more sense. A lot fewer people go to the movies these days than did 60 years ago, and there are far fewer of the old movie \"palaces\" and a lot more theaters where the screens are just glorified big-screen televisions.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_771\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"244\" caption=\"Service\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-771\" title=\"movie_usher\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s funny. When I was younger, I was often annoyed when someone would come up to me in a store and ask if they could help me.\n\nHeck, it made it a lot tougher to shoplift.\n\n<em>Just kidding.</em>\n\n<em>Right?</em>\n\nRight.\n\nBut when I\'m shopping with my wife, one of the first things she does is look for a salesperson to help her find what she wants. She\'s not just looking for the help; she also wants the opinion of the person on what to buy.\n\nIt\'s funny, but people used to have jobs like that for a long time. Some folks made careers out of being a salesperson in men\'s clothing stores, or working in record stores. That was before we bought all our music online, of course.\n\nEventually, I suppose, we\'ll buy everything online.\n\nI\'m just waiting to see how they can pump the gas for our cars through the computer.','Whatever happened to the service industry?','','inherit','open','open','','769-revision','','','2011-01-20 21:08:22','2011-01-21 05:08:22','',769,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=772',0,'revision','',0),(773,1,'2011-01-22 20:30:33','2011-01-23 04:30:33','It\'s funny. I can\'t believe how old I felt when I was 38, but I was still so young.\r\n\r\nI was 38 when I left Colorado, which was maybe the place I had enjoyed living the most up to that point in my life. I had been offered a job in Reno at a significant raise in pay, a job offer that came at an extremely difficult point in my life. For the first eight years of my journalism career, I had been working my way west with the goal of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seemed to important to me, even though part of it was because of a promise I had made to someone who wasn\'t even a part of my life anymore.\r\n\r\nI was 38 and single -- actually divorced, but alone all the same. I had made significant progress in my career despite a late start, and I was highly regarded in Colorado journalism circles, both as a sportswriter and as a sports editor. But I wanted a family, and I was closing in on 40. I had nearly gotten married the year before to someone who mattered a lot to me, but it would have meant moving back to Virginia and that was something I really didn\'t feel like I could do.\r\n\r\nColorado was maybe my favorite place I ever had lived, but I don\'t think I had ever given serious consideration to staying there. It was always all about getting to California for me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_776\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Memories of Colorado, No. 7\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_11.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-776\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_11-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOther than maybe St. Louis and all the travel I got to do covering college basketball, I don\'t think I ever enjoyed being a sportswriter more than I did during those two years in Colorado. I\'ll never forget standing on the sidelines at Mile High Stadium in the final two minutes of a Broncos game, looking up at a stadium jammed with 76,000 screaming fans and watching John Elway work his two-minute-drill magic.\r\n\r\nI never lived anyplace with a better climate. Hot and dry in the summer, and cool at night. Plenty of snow in the winter and pleasant springs and autumns.\r\n\r\nBut I wanted to live in California.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. I have compared my friend Mick to Jay Gatsby for years, quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald\'s line that he had paid a very high price for living so long with the same dream. But Mick wasn\'t the only one who paid a price. He wasn\'t the only one who dreamed.\r\n\r\nMy friend who still lives in Colorado, who has lived there her entire life, told me once that she could never leave Colorado.\r\n\r\nShe didn\'t have to say why.\r\n\r\nIn the end, I certainly can\'t regret going to Los Angeles. It\'s where I met my wife Nicole and where I became a dad to two of the most wonderful children in the world, Pauline and Virgile. Life was good in California and I pray that retirement here in Georgia will be as good.\r\n\r\nBut what my friend didn\'t tell me was that when I left Colorado, I would miss it. I\'ve never believed there is only one place I could be happy, except to say that happiness for me is wherever Nicole is. But it\'s funny. I don\'t think a week has gone by in the last 23 years that I haven\'t thought about my two years in Colorado, about how much I enjoyed it, about how beautiful the scenery is.\r\n\r\nIt was a special time, a special place.','Some memories, of some places, are very sweet','','publish','open','open','','some-memories-of-some-places-are-very-sweet','','','2011-01-22 20:30:33','2011-01-23 04:30:33','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=773',0,'post','',0),(774,1,'2011-01-21 23:41:41','2011-01-22 07:41:41','It\'s funny. I can\'t believe how old I felt when I was 38, but I was still so young.\n\nI was 38 when I left Colorado, which was maybe the place I had enjoyed living the most up to that point in my life. I had been offered a job in Reno at a significant raise in pay, a job offer that came at an extremely difficult point in my life. For the first eight years of my journalism career, I had been working my way west with the goal of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seemed to important to me, even though part of it was because of a promise I had made to someone who wasn\'t even a part of my life anymore.\n\nI was 38 and single -- actually divorced, but alone all the same. I had made significant progress in my career despite a late start, and I was highly regarded in Colorado journalism circles, both as a sportswriter and as a sports editor. But I wanted a family, and I was closing in on 40. I had ne','','','inherit','open','open','','773-revision','','','2011-01-21 23:41:41','2011-01-22 07:41:41','',773,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=774',0,'revision','',0),(775,1,'2011-01-22 15:12:10','2011-01-22 23:12:10','It\'s funny. I can\'t believe how old I felt when I was 38, but I was still so young.\n\nI was 38 when I left Colorado, which was maybe the place I had enjoyed living the most up to that point in my life. I had been offered a job in Reno at a significant raise in pay, a job offer that came at an extremely difficult point in my life. For the first eight years of my journalism career, I had been working my way west with the goal of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seemed to important to me, even though part of it was because of a promise I had made to someone who wasn\'t even a part of my life anymore.\n\nI was 38 and single -- actually divorced, but alone all the same. I had made significant progress in my career despite a late start, and I was highly regarded in Colorado journalism circles, both as a sportswriter and as a sports editor. But I wanted a family, and I was closing in on 40. I had nearly gotten married the year before to someone who mattered a lot to me, but it would have meant moving back to Virginia and that was something I really didn\'t feel like I could do.\n\nColorado was maybe my favorite place I ever had lived, but I don\'t think I had ever given serious consideration to staying there.','','','inherit','open','open','','773-revision-2','','','2011-01-22 15:12:10','2011-01-22 23:12:10','',773,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=775',0,'revision','',0),(776,1,'2011-01-22 20:15:34','2011-01-23 04:15:34','','20110105_1','Memories of Colorado, No. 7','inherit','open','open','','20110105_1-2','','','2011-01-22 20:15:34','2011-01-23 04:15:34','',773,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_11.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(777,1,'2011-01-22 20:29:38','2011-01-23 04:29:38','It\'s funny. I can\'t believe how old I felt when I was 38, but I was still so young.\n\nI was 38 when I left Colorado, which was maybe the place I had enjoyed living the most up to that point in my life. I had been offered a job in Reno at a significant raise in pay, a job offer that came at an extremely difficult point in my life. For the first eight years of my journalism career, I had been working my way west with the goal of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seemed to important to me, even though part of it was because of a promise I had made to someone who wasn\'t even a part of my life anymore.\n\nI was 38 and single -- actually divorced, but alone all the same. I had made significant progress in my career despite a late start, and I was highly regarded in Colorado journalism circles, both as a sportswriter and as a sports editor. But I wanted a family, and I was closing in on 40. I had nearly gotten married the year before to someone who mattered a lot to me, but it would have meant moving back to Virginia and that was something I really didn\'t feel like I could do.\n\nColorado was maybe my favorite place I ever had lived, but I don\'t think I had ever given serious consideration to staying there. It was always all about getting to California for me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_776\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Memories of Colorado, No. 7\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_11.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-776\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_11-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOther than maybe St. Louis and all the travel I got to do covering college basketball, I don\'t think I ever enjoyed being a sportswriter more than I did during those two years in Colorado. I\'ll never forget standing on the sidelines at Mile High Stadium in the final two minutes of a Broncos game, looking up at a stadium jammed with 76,000 screaming fans and watching John Elway work his two-minute-drill magic.\n\nI never lived anyplace with a better climate. Hot and dry in the summer, and cool at night. Plenty of snow in the winter and pleasant springs and autumns.\n\nBut I wanted to live in California.\n\nIt\'s funny. I have compared my friend Mick to Jay Gatsby for years, quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald\'s line that he had paid a very high price for living so long with the same dream. But Mick wasn\'t the only one who paid a price. He wasn\'t the only one who dreamed.\n\nMy friend who still lives in Colorado, who has lived there her entire life, told me once that she could never leave Colorado.\n\nShe didn\'t have to say why.\n\nIn the end, I certainly can\'t regret going to Los Angeles. It\'s where I met my wife Nicole and where I became a dad to two of the most wonderful children in the world, Pauline and Virgile. Life was good in California and I pray that retirement here in Georgia will be as good.\n\nBut what my friend didn\'t tell me was that when I left Colorado, I would miss it. I\'ve never believed there is only one place I could be happy, except to say that happiness for me is wherever Nicole is. But it\'s funny. I don\'t think a week has gone by in the last 23 years that I haven\'t thought about my two years in Colorado, about how much I enjoyed it, about how beautiful the scenery is.\n\nIt was a special time, a special place.','','','inherit','open','open','','773-revision-3','','','2011-01-22 20:29:38','2011-01-23 04:29:38','',773,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=777',0,'revision','',0),(778,1,'2011-01-23 20:03:42','2011-01-24 04:03:42','Today was a big day in professional football, with the Steelers and the Packers qualifying for this year\'s version of the Ultimate Game.\r\n\r\nWhenever I think of that, though, I remember the great quote by Dallas running back Duane Thomas: \"If it\'s the ultimate game, then why do they play it every year?\"\r\n\r\nI didn\'t watch a minute of either game. It\'s actually been at least four or five years since I\'ve watched any professional football. Part of it is that the only two teams I really care much about -- Washington and Denver -- are in down cycles and probably will be for the foreseeable future, but another part of it is that I\'ve just become really bored by the NFL.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_779\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"152\" caption=\"in Pasadena in 1993\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/index.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-779\" title=\"index\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/index.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"183\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI actually spent a lot of years covering the league. I covered the Redskins in 1980 and 1981, the Falcons in 1983, the Broncos from 1986-88, the 49ers in 1989 and the Rams and Raiders in the early \'90s.\r\n\r\nI saw some incredible games, most of them at Denver\'s Mile High Stadium, and I did get to cover one Super Bowl -- XXVII in 1993 at the Rose Bowl. It was a typically Godawful Super Bowl game, but there were two memorable moments, one at halftime and one after the game.\r\n\r\nHalftime was probably the biggest concert of any of the 27 Super Bowls up to then, with Michael Jackson the performer. Most of the shows up till then had been marching bands and Up With People. Since then there have been shows by Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the Who, but Jackson was probably the biggest thing in the world in 1993.\r\n\r\nIf he wasn\'t No. 1, Garth Brooks probably was. He sang the National Anthem.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_780\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Gloved One\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-780\" title=\"Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was never a big Michael Jackson fan. I\'d never have bought tickets to see him, but since I was already there and it was free, I enjoyed it.\r\n\r\nNot as much as I did the post-game interviews, though.\r\n\r\nDallas beat Buffalo, 52-17, and one of the players I interviewed after the game was veteran defensive end Jim Jeffcoat, who was nearly at the end of his career. There were three or four of us asking him questions, and one guy asked the inevitable \"How does it feel to win the Super Bowl\" question.\r\n\r\nJeffcoat\'s answer was a classic, although it didn\'t appear in any newspaper or on any broadcast medium.\r\n\r\n<em>\"How does it feel? It feels like (fill in the blank with a verb) a 16-year-old girl.\"</em>\r\n\r\nYeah, it was <em>that</em> verb.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if any of the Steelers or Packers will feel that way when they win the big game in two weeks, and I don\'t know if the Black-Eyed Peas\' halftime show will compare with the Gloved One.\r\n\r\nSome things don\'t bear repeating.','\'Ultimate Game\' really can\'t compare with past','','publish','open','open','','ultimate-game-really-cant-compare-with-past','','','2011-01-23 20:03:42','2011-01-24 04:03:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=778',0,'post','',0),(779,1,'2011-01-23 19:18:38','2011-01-24 03:18:38','','index','in Pasadena in 1993','inherit','open','open','','index','','','2011-01-23 19:18:38','2011-01-24 03:18:38','',778,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/index.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(780,1,'2011-01-23 19:39:51','2011-01-24 03:39:51','','Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784','The Gloved One','inherit','open','open','','super-bowl-xxvii-halftime-show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784','','','2011-01-23 19:39:51','2011-01-24 03:39:51','',778,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(781,1,'2011-01-23 20:03:33','2011-01-24 04:03:33','Today was a big day in professional football, with the Steelers and the Packers qualifying for this year\'s version of the Ultimate Game.\n\nWhenever I think of that, though, I remember the great quote by Dallas running back Duane Thomas: \"If it\'s the ultimate game, then why do they play it every year?\"\n\nI didn\'t watch a minute of either game. It\'s actually been at least four or five years since I\'ve watched any professional football. Part of it is that the only two teams I really care much about -- Washington and Denver -- are in down cycles and probably will be for the foreseeable future, but another part of it is that I\'ve just become really bored by the NFL.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_779\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"152\" caption=\"in Pasadena in 1993\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/index.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-779\" title=\"index\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/index.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"183\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI actually spent a lot of years covering the league. I covered the Redskins in 1980 and 1981, the Falcons in 1983, the Broncos from 1986-88, the 49ers in 1989 and the Rams and Raiders in the early \'90s.\n\nI saw some incredible games, most of them at Denver\'s Mile High Stadium, and I did get to cover one Super Bowl -- XXVII in 1993 at the Rose Bowl. It was a typically Godawful Super Bowl game, but there were two memorable moments, one at halftime and one after the game.\n\nHalftime was probably the biggest concert of any of the 27 Super Bowls up to then, with Michael Jackson the performer. Most of the shows up till then had been marching bands and Up With People. Since then there have been shows by Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the Who, but Jackson was probably the biggest thing in the world in 1993.\n\nIf he wasn\'t No. 1, Garth Brooks probably was. He sang the National Anthem.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_780\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Gloved One\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-780\" title=\"Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Super-Bowl-XXVII-Halftime-Show-michael-jackson-7340171-1200-784-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was never a big Michael Jackson fan. I\'d never have bought tickets to see him, but since I was already there and it was free, I enjoyed it.\n\nNot as much as I did the post-game interviews, though.\n\nDallas beat Buffalo, 52-17, and one of the players I interviewed after the game was veteran defensive end Jim Jeffcoat, who was nearly at the end of his career. There were three or four of us asking him questions, and one guy asked the inevitable \"How does it feel to win the Super Bowl\" question.\n\nJeffcoat\'s answer was a classic, although it didn\'t appear in any newspaper or on any broadcast medium.\n\n<em>\"How does it feel? It feels like (fill in the blank with a verb) a 16-year-old girl.\"</em>\n\nYeah, it was <em>that</em> verb.\n\nI don\'t know if any of the Steelers or Packers will feel that way when they win the big game in two weeks, and I don\'t know if the Black-Eyed Peas\' halftime show will compare with the Gloved One.\n\nSome things don\'t bear repeating.','\'Ultimate Game\' really ','','inherit','open','open','','778-revision','','','2011-01-23 20:03:33','2011-01-24 04:03:33','',778,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=781',0,'revision','',0),(782,1,'2011-01-24 13:49:18','2011-01-24 21:49:18','For about 13 years, I had vanity license plates on my cars.\r\n\r\nPart of it was that I lived in California, where it\'s a local ordinance that everybody has to at least<em> want </em>to be a star, and part of it was just advertising. During the years I was a newspaper columnist, I had license plates on my Toyota Celica that said CLMNST. My friend Mick, who\'s a wonderful man but definitely has a mean streak, asked me why I wanted plates that said \"Clam Nest,\" but I ignored him.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110118_28.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-783\" title=\"20110118_28\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110118_28-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"In California, vanity rules\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>Later, when I was no longer a columnist but had become a certified official Blogger, I asked for plates that said MTYWND, which stood for \"Mighty Wind.\" I had those plates until I took them off the back of my car Friday.\r\n\r\nI took them off because I didn\'t live in California anymore, and when you move to a different state, you have to register your car in that state.\r\n\r\nI replaced them with plates that are very ordinary, the cheapest ones made by convicts within the current jurisdiction -- three letters, four numbers and no pictures on them other than a Georgia peach in the background.\r\n\r\nI did that because I don\'t live in California anymore, although you can see from the second photo that I didn\'t scrape off my HB \"Surf City\" decal.\r\n\r\nI don\'t mind having a reminder of my life on the Left Coast on my car, and I do plan to try surfing again this summer (in the Atlantic Ocean), but I don\'t want folks to get the idea that I\'m trying to bring a piece of California along with me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_784\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"At home in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0038.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-784\" title=\"DSC_0038\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0038-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBesides, I have seen very few vanity license plates during my 2 1/2 months in Georgia, whereas in California, you couldn\'t drive a block without seeing two or three. Whether it was the little pink Miata with the IMGAY plate or the LALAW one in the credits of my favorite \'80s show, they were everywhere.\r\n\r\nMy favorites were always the ones you had to think about a little, and I thought the best one I ever saw was TTTT9RZ. It was back in the heyday of Bill Walsh and Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, back when it seemed like the road to the Super Bowl led through Candlestick Park every year.\r\n\r\nThink about it: TTTT is \"4T,\" and 9RZ completes 4T9RZ, or 49ers.\r\n\r\nSay what you like about California, but folks certainly had good imaginations.','From coast to coast, a change on the back bumper','','publish','open','open','','from-coast-to-coast-a-change-on-the-back-bumper','','','2011-01-24 13:49:18','2011-01-24 21:49:18','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=782',0,'post','',0),(783,1,'2011-01-24 13:30:20','2011-01-24 21:30:20','','20110118_28','','inherit','open','open','','20110118_28','','','2011-01-24 13:30:20','2011-01-24 21:30:20','',782,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110118_28.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(784,1,'2011-01-24 13:43:17','2011-01-24 21:43:17','','DSC_0038','At home in Georgia','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0038','','','2011-01-24 13:43:17','2011-01-24 21:43:17','',782,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0038.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(785,1,'2011-01-24 13:48:28','2011-01-24 21:48:28','For about 13 years, I had vanity license plates on my cars.\n\nPart of it was that I lived in California, where it\'s a local ordinance that everybody has to at least<em> want </em>to be a star, and part of it was just advertising. During the years I was a newspaper columnist, I had license plates on my Toyota Celica that said CLMNST. My friend Mick, who\'s a wonderful man but definitely has a mean streak, asked me why I wanted plates that said \"Clam Nest,\" but I ignored him.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110118_28.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-783\" title=\"20110118_28\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110118_28-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"In California, vanity rules\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>Later, when I was no longer a columnist but had become a certified official Blogger, I asked for plates that said MTYWND, which stood for \"Mighty Wind.\" I had those plates until I took them off the back of my car Friday.\n\nI took them off because I didn\'t live in California anymore, and when you move to a different state, you have to register your car in that state.\n\nI replaced them with plates that are very ordinary, the cheapest ones made by convicts within the current jurisdiction -- three letters, four numbers and no pictures on them other than a Georgia peach in the background.\n\nI did that because I don\'t live in California anymore, although you can see from the second photo that I didn\'t scrape off my HB \"Surf City\" decal.\n\nI don\'t mind having a reminder of my life on the Left Coast on my car, and I do plan to try surfing again this summer (in the Atlantic Ocean), but I don\'t want folks to get the idea that I\'m trying to bring a piece of California along with me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_784\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"At home in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0038.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-784\" title=\"DSC_0038\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0038-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBesides, I have seen very few vanity license plates during my 2 1/2 months in Georgia, whereas in California, you couldn\'t drive a block without seeing two or three. Whether it was the little pink Miata with the IMGAY plate or the LALAW one in the credits of my favorite \'80s show, they were everywhere.\n\nMy favorites were always the ones you had to think about a little, and I thought the best one I ever saw was TTTT9RZ. It was back in the heyday of Bill Walsh and Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, back when it seemed like the road to the Super Bowl led through Candlestick Park every year.\n\nThink about it: TTTT is \"4T,\" and 9RZ completes 4T9RZ, or 49ers.\n\nSay what you like about California','','','inherit','open','open','','782-revision','','','2011-01-24 13:48:28','2011-01-24 21:48:28','',782,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=785',0,'revision','',0),(786,1,'2011-01-25 11:56:05','2011-01-25 19:56:05','There aren\'t many of them, but there are more than a handful of street names that are extremely evocative.\r\n\r\nThere\'s Broadway, of course. There\'s Peachtree Street in Atlanta, and the Strip in Las Vegas (which is actually Las Vegas Blvd., but who\'s counting?). There\'s the Loop in Chicago and then maybe the most evocative name of all.\r\n\r\nSunset Boulevard.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_787\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"in Beverly Hills\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Sunset_Blvd_sign.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-787\" title=\"Sunset_Blvd_sign\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Sunset_Blvd_sign-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEven if it hadn\'t been the name of a 1950 movie starring Gloria Swanson, or a musical starring Glenn Close some 45 years later, Sunset Boulevard just screams Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nActually, L.A. has more than a few names like that. There\'s Hollywood Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, and if you\'re a rabid Johnny Carson fan, there the Slauson cutoff.\r\n\r\nBut Sunset Boulevard is special. You can drive it west through Hollywood and you\'ll reach the Sunset Strip. Head farther west into Beverly Hills and you\'ll see the quintessential California landscape -- palm trees, big houses and luxury cars. Farther west through Bel Air (turn left for UCLA) and then on to Santa Monica and the Pacific Palisades.\r\n\r\nAt the right time of day, you can pull over and see the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a street and a metaphor, all in one. Where do you go  when your career is over? Sunset Boulevard, but only if you made a ton of money.\r\n\r\nSunset Boulevard, where the sun is always setting.','Something special about Sunset Boulevard','','publish','open','open','','something-special-about-sunset-boulevard','','','2011-01-25 11:56:05','2011-01-25 19:56:05','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=786',0,'post','',0),(787,1,'2011-01-25 11:43:07','2011-01-25 19:43:07','','Sunset_Blvd_sign','in Beverly Hills','inherit','open','open','','sunset_blvd_sign','','','2011-01-25 11:43:07','2011-01-25 19:43:07','',786,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Sunset_Blvd_sign.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(788,1,'2011-01-25 11:55:15','2011-01-25 19:55:15','There aren\'t many of them, but there are more than a handful of street names that are extremely evocative.\n\nThere\'s Broadway, of course. There\'s Peachtree Street in Atlanta, and the Strip in Las Vegas (which is actually Las Vegas Blvd., but who\'s counting?). There\'s the Loop in Chicago and then maybe the most evocative name of all.\n\nSunset Boulevard.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_787\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"in Beverly Hills\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Sunset_Blvd_sign.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-787\" title=\"Sunset_Blvd_sign\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Sunset_Blvd_sign-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEven if it hadn\'t been the name of a 1950 movie starring Gloria Swanson, or a musical starring Glenn Close some 45 years later, Sunset Boulevard just screams Los Angeles.\n\nActually, L.A. has more than a few names like that. There\'s Hollywood Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, and if you\'re a rabid Johnny Carson fan, there the Slauson cutoff.\n\nBut Sunset Boulevard is special. You can drive it west through Hollywood and you\'ll reach the Sunset Strip. Head farther west into Beverly Hills and you\'ll see the quintessential California landscape -- palm trees, big houses and luxury cars. Farther west through Bel Air (turn left for UCLA) and then on to Santa Monica and the Pacific Palisades.\n\nAt the right time of day, you can pull over and see the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.\n\nIt\'s a street and a metaphor, all in one. Where do you go  when your career is over? Sunset Boulevard, but only if you made a ton of money.','Something special about Sunset Boulevard','','inherit','open','open','','786-revision','','','2011-01-25 11:55:15','2011-01-25 19:55:15','',786,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=788',0,'revision','',0),(789,1,'2011-01-25 18:03:06','2011-01-26 02:03:06','About 20 years ago, I wrote a novel.\r\n\r\nIt was the story I felt I wanted to tell, a story that explored the idea of honor and its consequences in the form of a coming-of-age story.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_790\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Rob Miller, aka Virgile Borderies\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-790\" title=\"Whiter Shade of Pale\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"A Whiter Shade of Pale\" told the story of Rob Miller, his first year at the University of Virginia in 1967 and his interaction with the university\'s well-known Honor System.\r\n\r\nI finished the book at a time when the publishing business was starting to fall apart, particularly in the area of fiction. I had several agents say it was the kind of novel they could have sold easily a few years before, but one for which there wasn\'t any market anymore.\r\n\r\nA movie company thought enough of it that they worked with it for a year, but in the end it suffered the same fate 90 percent of all Hollywood projects do -- it fell apart.\r\n\r\nI sent it out two or three times and got rejection notices. Then I sort of gave up.\r\n\r\nI worked with it over the years, tightening and revising, updating it to reflect a man looking back 40 years after college instead of 20.\r\n\r\nEveryone who reads it seems to like it, and I had actually been giving some thought to self-publishing it, at least as an electronic book.\r\n\r\nSo I listed it on Amazon<a title=\"A Whiter Shade of Pale\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Whiter-Shade-Pale-ebook/dp/B004K1F938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&amp;s=digital-text&amp;qid=1296004823&amp;sr=1-2\" target=\"_self\"> for sale</a> for Kindle, and I\'m asking friends to read it and post reviews with the idea of maybe getting some interest built up in it.\r\n\r\nWho knows? Maybe something good will happen.','\'A Whiter Shade of Pale\' is now an e-book','','publish','open','open','','a-whiter-shade-of-pale-is-now-an-e-book','','','2011-01-25 18:03:06','2011-01-26 02:03:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=789',0,'post','',0),(790,1,'2011-01-25 17:35:19','2011-01-26 01:35:19','','Whiter Shade of Pale','Rob Miller, aka Virgile Borderies','inherit','open','open','','whiter-shade-of-pale','','','2011-01-25 17:35:19','2011-01-26 01:35:19','',789,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(791,1,'2011-01-25 17:49:40','2011-01-26 01:49:40','About 20 years ago, I wrote a novel.\n\nIt was the story I felt I wanted to tell, a story that explored the idea of honor and its consequences in the form of a coming-of-age story.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_790\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Rob Miller, aka Virgile Borderies\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-790\" title=\"Whiter Shade of Pale\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n\"A Whiter Shade of Pale\" told the story of Rob Miller, his first year at the University of Virginia in 1967 and his interaction with the university\'s well-known Honor System.\n\nI finished the book at a time when the publishing business was starting to fall apart, particularly in the area of fiction. I had several agents say it was the kind of novel they could have sold easily a few years before, but one for which there wasn\'t any market anymore.\n\nA movie company thought enough of it that they worked with it for a year, but in the end it suffered the same fate 90 percent of all Hollywood projects do -- it fell apart.\n\nI sent it out two or three times and got rejection notices. Then I sort of gave up.\n\nI worked with it over the years, tightening and revising, updating it to reflect a man looking back 40 years after college instead of 20.','','','inherit','open','open','','789-revision','','','2011-01-25 17:49:40','2011-01-26 01:49:40','',789,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=791',0,'revision','',0),(792,1,'2011-01-25 18:02:50','2011-01-26 02:02:50','About 20 years ago, I wrote a novel.\n\nIt was the story I felt I wanted to tell, a story that explored the idea of honor and its consequences in the form of a coming-of-age story.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_790\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Rob Miller, aka Virgile Borderies\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-790\" title=\"Whiter Shade of Pale\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Whiter-Shade-of-Pale-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n\"A Whiter Shade of Pale\" told the story of Rob Miller, his first year at the University of Virginia in 1967 and his interaction with the university\'s well-known Honor System.\n\nI finished the book at a time when the publishing business was starting to fall apart, particularly in the area of fiction. I had several agents say it was the kind of novel they could have sold easily a few years before, but one for which there wasn\'t any market anymore.\n\nA movie company thought enough of it that they worked with it for a year, but in the end it suffered the same fate 90 percent of all Hollywood projects do -- it fell apart.\n\nI sent it out two or three times and got rejection notices. Then I sort of gave up.\n\nI worked with it over the years, tightening and revising, updating it to reflect a man looking back 40 years after college instead of 20.\n\nEveryone who reads it seems to like it, and I had actually been giving some thought to self-publishing it, at least as an electronic book.\n\nSo I listed it on Amazon<a title=\"A Whiter Shade of Pale\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Whiter-Shade-Pale-ebook/dp/B004K1F938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&amp;s=digital-text&amp;qid=1296004823&amp;sr=1-2\" target=\"_self\"> for sale</a> for Kindle, and I\'m asking friends to read it and post reviews with the idea of maybe getting some interest built up in it.\n\nWho knows? Maybe something good will happen.','','','inherit','open','open','','789-revision-2','','','2011-01-25 18:02:50','2011-01-26 02:02:50','',789,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=792',0,'revision','',0),(793,1,'2011-01-26 19:06:09','2011-01-27 03:06:09','I was listening to George Strait\'s \"I Can Still Make Cheyenne,\" a song that fills me with sadness, particularly one line.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJFNEVd1ucc\r\n\r\n<em>\"I\'m sorry it\'s come down to this, there\'s so much about you that I\'m gonna miss ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nStrait\'s song is the story of the end of a marriage, of a wife telling her husband not to come home from the road because she has found someone new. But that wasn\'t the way I was thinking about it. I was thinking of my mother, who lost her husband of nearly 52 years when my dad died, and of all the things about him she misses. And I was thinking -- hopefully at least a little prematurely -- of how I would feel if something happened to Nicole.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_795\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The love of my life\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCN0079.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-795\" title=\"DSCN0079\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCN0079-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNicole and I have been together for more than 18 years, and we have had some brutally difficult times, about 80 percent of which I would say are my fault.\r\n\r\n<em>She might say 90. Just kidding.</em>\r\n\r\nProbably the biggest bone of contention is that I seem to need a lot of time to myself. I can sit and listen to music, or watch DVDs, or surf the Internet, for hours by myself and not get bored.\r\n\r\nShe\'s happier when we do a lot of things together.\r\n\r\nBut I\'ve come to a conclusion the last couple of days, with a little bit of help from George Strait. There is going to come a time when one of us will die and the other one will have to go on alone. If I\'m the one who survives, I know I\'m going to feel exactly the way the cowboy in Strait\'s song does.\r\n\r\n<em>\"There\'s so much about you that I\'m going to miss.\"</em>\r\n\r\nOne of the things that makes my wife happiest is when she is in bed, preparing to go to sleep, and I read to her. Sometimes I go along with it cheerfully, but there are times -- maybe I\'m tired or a little irritable -- when I am not as gracious.\r\n\r\nBut when she\'s no longer with me, I know I will regret every one of those times.\r\n\r\nIt\'s like that old saying, that on your deathbed, no one ever regrets not spending more time at the office. They <em>do</em> regret not finding more time for their family.\r\n\r\nI know I love this woman as much as I am capable of loving anyone, and I really want to try and show it more consistently.\r\n\r\nRead more?\r\n\r\nSure, my pleasure.','Best to avoid the regrets you\'ll remember later','','publish','open','open','','best-to-avoid-the-regrets-youll-remember-later','','','2011-01-26 19:06:09','2011-01-27 03:06:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=793',0,'post','',0),(794,1,'2011-01-26 18:12:49','2011-01-27 02:12:49','I was listening to George Strait\'s \"I Can Still Make Cheyenne,\" a song that fills me with sadness, particularly one line.','','','inherit','open','open','','793-revision','','','2011-01-26 18:12:49','2011-01-27 02:12:49','',793,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=794',0,'revision','',0),(795,1,'2011-01-26 18:55:16','2011-01-27 02:55:16','','DSCN0079','The love of my life','inherit','open','open','','dscn0079-2','','','2011-01-26 18:55:16','2011-01-27 02:55:16','',793,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCN0079.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(796,1,'2011-01-26 19:05:12','2011-01-27 03:05:12','I was listening to George Strait\'s \"I Can Still Make Cheyenne,\" a song that fills me with sadness, particularly one line.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJFNEVd1ucc\n\n<em>\"I\'m sorry it\'s come down to this, there\'s so much about you that I\'m gonna miss ...\"</em>\n\nStrait\'s song is the story of the end of a marriage, of a wife telling her husband not to come home from the road because she has found someone new. But that wasn\'t the way I was thinking about it. I was thinking of my mother, who lost her husband of nearly 52 years when my dad died, and of all the things about him she misses. And I was thinking -- hopefully at least a little prematurely -- of how I would feel if something happened to Nicole.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_795\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The love of my life\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCN0079.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-795\" title=\"DSCN0079\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCN0079-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNicole and I have been together for more than 18 years, and we have had some brutally difficult times, about 80 percent of which I would say are my fault.\n\n<em>She might say 90. Just kidding.</em>\n\nProbably the biggest bone of contention is that I seem to need a lot of time to myself. I can sit and listen to music, or watch DVDs, or surf the Internet, for hours by myself and not get bored.\n\nShe\'s happier when we do a lot of things together.\n\nBut I\'ve come to a conclusion the last couple of days, with a little bit of help from George Strait. There is going to come a time when one of us will die and the other one will have to go on alone. If I\'m the one who survives, I know I\'m going to feel exactly the way the cowboy in Strait\'s song does.\n\n<em>\"There\'s so much about you that I\'m going to miss.\"</em>\n\nOne of the things that makes my wife happiest is when she is in bed, preparing to go to sleep, and I read to her. Sometimes I go along with it cheerfully, but there are times -- maybe I\'m tired or a little irritable -- when I am not as gracious.\n\nBut when she\'s no longer with me, I know I will regret every one of those times.\n\nIt\'s like that old saying, that on your deathbed, no one ever regrets not spending more time at the office. They <em>do</em> regret not finding more time for their family.\n\nI know I love this woman as much as I am capable of loving anyone, and I really want to try and show it more consistently.\n\nRead more?','','','inherit','open','open','','793-revision-2','','','2011-01-26 19:05:12','2011-01-27 03:05:12','',793,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=796',0,'revision','',0),(798,1,'2011-01-27 21:18:32','2011-01-28 05:18:32','','BlobServer','','inherit','open','open','','blobserver','','','2011-01-27 21:18:32','2011-01-28 05:18:32','',797,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BlobServer.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(799,1,'2011-01-27 21:28:52','2011-01-28 05:28:52','Do you have any idea how bizarre it is to remember almost every popular song from the \'60s and \'70s?\n\nYou think I\'m kidding? I wish I were. I was in the fitness center at our Club Peachtree this afternoon, getting ready to hop on the treadmill for a fast 66 minutes. The sound system in the building, which has XM Radio, was tuned to the \'70s channel.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BlobServer.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-798\" title=\"BlobServer\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BlobServer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"50\" /></a>I don\'t remember what the song was, but it was some fairly obscure hit with a lengthy musical intro before the lyrics started. I knew right away what it was. And except for the disco era -- when I tuned out a lot of what was passing for popular music -- I\'m the same way with almost everything that was much of a hit during my teens and twenties.\n\nIt appalls me that I can sing along with \"Billy Don\'t Be a Hero\" or \"The Night Chicago Died,\" two truly execrable songs, but I find it almost impossible to learn a foreign language. Maybe it\'s because the hard drive in my memory is full of all this crap that can\'t be deleted.\n\n<em>\"Here\'s a story, of a lovely lady ...\"</em>\n\nI didn\'t even <em>watch</em> \"The Brady Bunch\" and I know the lyrics to that song.\n\nIt could be worse. When I was 22 or 23 and used to go drinking at the old GWU Campus Club with friends, I could not only name the songs and the groups who performed them, if the group was at all significant, I could name all the members and the instruments they played.\n\nI wasn\'t always so full of useless trivia. Or maybe I was. When I was 14, I remember memorizing the names of every one of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate. I also remember going to the presidential inauguration in 1965 (LBJ) and getting a dozen or two state governors to autograph a copy of that day\'s <em>Washington Post</em>. That newspaper might possibly be buried somewhere in my mother\'s house. I don\'t remember who the governors were, but I know none of them turned out to do much more than be state governors.\n\nThat\'s not so bad.\n\nI never turned out to be much more than a weird kid with a wacky memory.','','','inherit','open','open','','797-revision','','','2011-01-27 21:28:52','2011-01-28 05:28:52','',797,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=799',0,'revision','',0),(820,1,'2011-02-04 20:14:30','2011-02-05 04:14:30','I don\'t remember if I used this anecdote before, but I want to make a different point anyway.\r\n\r\nIn Peggy Noonan\'s book \"Patriotic Grace,\" where she pleads for more understanding between the two sides in our American debate, she mentions something she read about something Ted Kennedy said to some family members at a dinner in the last few years of his life.\r\n\r\n\"I\'m glad I\'m not going to be around when you guys are my age,\" he said. \"Because when you guys are my age, the whole thing is going to fall apart.\"\r\n\r\nI find myself thinking the same thing when I think of my own children and my granddaughter. The world Pauline and Virgile will face in 30-35 years and the one Maddie will face 60 years from now will be a very different world from the one I grew up in.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_821\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie and Pauline\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-821\" title=\"Pauline\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI do think my children are well positioned for success. Both of them got good educations and made good reputations for themselves at their schools, and both have careers in the Foreign Service that are not likely to disappear via outsourcing.\r\n\r\nBut I wouldn\'t want to be 30 or 26 right now, and the thought of being 2 and at the beginning of my life in 2011 is all but incomprehensible to me. That said, my children have a much better chance to succeed in this brave new world than I would have, because they are better people than I am.\r\n\r\nThat doesn\'t mean I don\'t worry for them.\r\n\r\nIt does mean I\'m glad neither of them is stationed in Egypt right now.','Looking down the road can be scary at times','','publish','open','open','','looking-down-theroad-can-be-scary-at-times','','','2011-02-04 20:14:39','2011-02-05 04:14:39','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=820',0,'post','',0),(801,1,'2011-01-28 17:56:19','2011-01-29 01:56:19','One thing that has always fascinated me is how our lives can be changed by things completely beyond our control.\r\n\r\nIn the early \'60s, I was in junior high school looking forward to high school -- in Ohio. Ohio was pretty much all I knew I had lived there since I was 3, and we had lived in a suburb north of Dayton since I was 7 and in second grade.\r\n\r\nWhen we moved into Huber Heights in 1957, it was brand new, the second step of evolution in the postwar Levittown-type community development. Charles Huber\'s housing project was billed as the largest community of all-brick homes in the world. I think by the time it was finished in the early \'60s, there were something like 9,000 homes. We lived in a starter home at first, and when our family grew, we moved into a large home in the newest part of the community in 1961.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, especially when you look at what has happened to home prices in a lot of places, but Huber Heights hasn\'t appreciated all that much. I checked Zillow.com, the real estate site, and saw that the 2,000 square foot home -- four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths -- that my parents bought in 1961 for a little more than $18,000 is now valued at only $118,000. That\'s not all that high for a nice suburb.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_802\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Wayne H.S.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-802\" title=\"wayne-hs\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs-300x92.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"92\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBy the end of seventh grade, I was starting to look forward to ninth grade at Wayne High School. It was a nice new school building, but one of the only things I remember about it now is that we had the worst basketball team in the state of Ohio. I think we were 0-19 my seventh-grade year.\r\n\r\nWhy am I thinking about this? Maybe because we wonder a lot about the roads not taken, especially when it wasn\'t our choice to take them or not. Three years ago, at my dad\'s funeral, I was talking to my cousin Marti, who is nine months younger than I am and grew up outside Columbus.\r\n\r\nI asked her a weird question, but it was one of those questions that always has fascinated me. I asked her if her life had turned out differently than she had thought it would when she was growing up. Her response really touched me.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, I never thought when I was growing up that I would ever leave Ohio.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI suppose my life would have been very different if we had stayed in Ohio rather than moving to Virginia, but I can\'t really say in what way. I certainly would have had different friends, and since I can\'t imagine better friends than I have had, I probably would have been worse off there. I would never have met my first wife, which would have saved me that agony.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really not worth analyzing, because there\'s no way of knowing where I would have gone to school ... or college ... or where I would have entered the work world.\r\n\r\nI guess the thing that makes me wonder is just that I didn\'t have anything to say about it.','If they hadn\'t moved, and I hadn\'t moved ...?','','publish','open','open','','if-they-hadnt-moved-and-i-hadnt-moved-who-knows','','','2011-01-28 17:56:54','2011-01-29 01:56:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=801',0,'post','',0),(802,1,'2011-01-28 17:40:12','2011-01-29 01:40:12','','wayne-hs','Wayne H.S.','inherit','open','open','','wayne-hs','','','2011-01-28 17:40:12','2011-01-29 01:40:12','',801,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(803,1,'2011-01-28 17:56:10','2011-01-29 01:56:10','One thing that has always fascinated me is how our lives can be changed by things completely beyond our control.\n\nIn the early \'60s, I was in junior high school looking forward to high school -- in Ohio. Ohio was pretty much all I knew I had lived there since I was 3, and we had lived in a suburb north of Dayton since I was 7 and in second grade.\n\nWhen we moved into Huber Heights in 1957, it was brand new, the second step of evolution in the postwar Levittown-type community development. Charles Huber\'s housing project was billed as the largest community of all-brick homes in the world. I think by the time it was finished in the early \'60s, there were something like 9,000 homes. We lived in a starter home at first, and when our family grew, we moved into a large home in the newest part of the community in 1961.\n\nIt\'s funny, especially when you look at what has happened to home prices in a lot of places, but Huber Heights hasn\'t appreciated all that much. I checked Zillow.com, the real estate site, and saw that the 2,000 square foot home -- four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths -- that my parents bought in 1961 for a little more than $18,000 is now valued at only $118,000. That\'s not all that high for a nice suburb.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_802\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Wayne H.S.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-802\" title=\"wayne-hs\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs-300x92.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"92\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBy the end of seventh grade, I was starting to look forward to ninth grade at Wayne High School. It was a nice new school building, but one of the only things I remember about it now is that we had the worst basketball team in the state of Ohio. I think we were 0-19 my seventh-grade year.\n\nWhy am I thinking about this? Maybe because we wonder a lot about the roads not taken, especially when it wasn\'t our choice to take them or not. Three years ago, at my dad\'s funeral, I was talking to my cousin Marti, who is nine months younger than I am and grew up outside Columbus.\n\nI asked her a weird question, but it was one of those questions that always has fascinated me. I asked her if her life had turned out differently than she had thought it would when she was growing up. Her response really touched me.\n\n<em>\"Well, I never thought when I was growing up that I would ever leave Ohio.\"</em>\n\nI suppose my life would have been very different if we had stayed in Ohio rather than moving to Virginia, but I can\'t really say in what way. I certainly would have had different friends, and since I can\'t imagine better friends than I have had, I probably would have been worse off there. I would never have met my first wife, which would have saved me that agony.\n\nIt\'s really not worth analyzing, because there\'s no way of knowing where I would have gone to school ... or college ... or where I would have entered the work world.\n\nI guess the thing that makes me wonder is just that I didn\'t have anything to say about it.','If they hadn\'t moved, and','','inherit','open','open','','801-revision','','','2011-01-28 17:56:10','2011-01-29 01:56:10','',801,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=803',0,'revision','',0),(804,1,'2011-01-28 17:56:19','2011-01-29 01:56:19','One thing that has always fascinated me is how our lives can be changed by things completely beyond our control.\r\n\r\nIn the early \'60s, I was in junior high school looking forward to high school -- in Ohio. Ohio was pretty much all I knew I had lived there since I was 3, and we had lived in a suburb north of Dayton since I was 7 and in second grade.\r\n\r\nWhen we moved into Huber Heights in 1957, it was brand new, the second step of evolution in the postwar Levittown-type community development. Charles Huber\'s housing project was billed as the largest community of all-brick homes in the world. I think by the time it was finished in the early \'60s, there were something like 9,000 homes. We lived in a starter home at first, and when our family grew, we moved into a large home in the newest part of the community in 1961.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, especially when you look at what has happened to home prices in a lot of places, but Huber Heights hasn\'t appreciated all that much. I checked Zillow.com, the real estate site, and saw that the 2,000 square foot home -- four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths -- that my parents bought in 1961 for a little more than $18,000 is now valued at only $118,000. That\'s not all that high for a nice suburb.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_802\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Wayne H.S.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-802\" title=\"wayne-hs\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wayne-hs-300x92.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"92\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBy the end of seventh grade, I was starting to look forward to ninth grade at Wayne High School. It was a nice new school building, but one of the only things I remember about it now is that we had the worst basketball team in the state of Ohio. I think we were 0-19 my seventh-grade year.\r\n\r\nWhy am I thinking about this? Maybe because we wonder a lot about the roads not taken, especially when it wasn\'t our choice to take them or not. Three years ago, at my dad\'s funeral, I was talking to my cousin Marti, who is nine months younger than I am and grew up outside Columbus.\r\n\r\nI asked her a weird question, but it was one of those questions that always has fascinated me. I asked her if her life had turned out differently than she had thought it would when she was growing up. Her response really touched me.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, I never thought when I was growing up that I would ever leave Ohio.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI suppose my life would have been very different if we had stayed in Ohio rather than moving to Virginia, but I can\'t really say in what way. I certainly would have had different friends, and since I can\'t imagine better friends than I have had, I probably would have been worse off there. I would never have met my first wife, which would have saved me that agony.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really not worth analyzing, because there\'s no way of knowing where I would have gone to school ... or college ... or where I would have entered the work world.\r\n\r\nI guess the thing that makes me wonder is just that I didn\'t have anything to say about it.','If they hadn\'t moved, and I hadn\'t moved, who knows?','','inherit','open','open','','801-revision-2','','','2011-01-28 17:56:19','2011-01-29 01:56:19','',801,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=804',0,'revision','',0),(805,1,'2011-01-29 12:25:51','2011-01-29 20:25:51','I have this great memory from 1974. My girlfriend (who would become my first wife), my great friend Bill and I had gotten tickets to go to the Warner Theater in downtown Washington, D.C., to see Boz Scaggs.\r\n\r\nThere was an opening act that hadn\'t been advertised, and we were told it would be their first appearance ever in the United States. I remember turning to Bill and saying -- I was the eternal optimist in those days -- wouldn\'t it be great if they turned out to be awesome and we saw their first performance ever.\r\n\r\nThey were awful.\r\n\r\nSo awful.\r\n\r\nThey did have one hit record, which has become sort of a cult favorite to some, as witness the 2.5 million views this video received on YouTube:\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeRa3RtBiIU\r\n\r\nBill Madden and I met in an acting class at Northern Virginia Community College in 1973. Both of us were trying rebuild somewhat spotted college careers, and we were actually in a play together that spring.\r\n\r\nWe became great friends, and for years in the \'70s and into the \'80s, Bill was the best friend I had. We wrote songs together, we drank together and we chased women -- mostly in vain -- together. We nearly got an apartment together in 1974 in a very marginal neighborhood; I still don\'t quite remember why that fell through.\r\n\r\nBill had the best natural sense of humor of anyone I\'ve ever known, and since I had a mean streak in those days it helped to be able to laugh at some of the things I said. He was the one who said to me that he could never have a two-guys-and-a-girl threesome because he would be afraid the girl might say, \"I\'m tired now. Why don\'t you two entertain each other for a while.\" He was also the first person I heard use the line, \"I wasn\'t born again. I got it right the first time.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_806\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"299\" caption=\"My friend Bill\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-806\" title=\"14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"244\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBill is a radio guy. He loved being on the radio ever since his early college days at the University of Richmond, and he has been everything from a country disc jockey to a talk radio sidekick during his career. He has worked at stations from Maryland to West Texas, sort of like Harry Chapin\'s \"morning DJ on WOLD.\" He\'s working in North Florida now, and one of the things that has made me the happiest about moving to Georgia is the thought that with Bill just 250 miles or so away, we\'ll be able to see each other from time to time.\r\n\r\nHe looks pretty good. That\'s his Facebook picture, and my friend looks pretty good for someone just three years younger than me.\r\n\r\nWe used to play tennis together, and while neither of us was going to make anyone forget Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe, he was good enough to beat me every time we played.\r\n\r\nWhen both of us were married, there was a short time that we lived only two or three houses apart.\r\n\r\nHe was the one who helped me get through the devastation of my marriage breaking up, and he was the one who drove my car home from a night of serious drinking while I apparently (I have no memory of it) projectile vomited on the ceiling above the passenger seat.\r\n\r\nIt was the only time in my life I ever was blackout drunk. I remember sitting on a curb outside a bar in Georgetown at about 1:30 a.m. while he went to get the car, and the very next thing I remember is waking up in Bill and Susie\'s guest bedroom about 9 hours later.\r\n\r\nSometimes your best friends are the ones who share your worst moments.','Sometimes our friends see us at our very worst','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-our-friends-see-us-at-our-very-worst','','','2011-01-29 12:25:51','2011-01-29 20:25:51','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=805',0,'post','',0),(806,1,'2011-01-29 12:19:15','2011-01-29 20:19:15','','14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n','My friend Bill','inherit','open','open','','14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n','','','2011-01-29 12:19:15','2011-01-29 20:19:15','',805,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(807,1,'2011-01-29 12:25:25','2011-01-29 20:25:25','I have this great memory from 1974. My girlfriend (who would become my first wife), my great friend Bill and I had gotten tickets to go to the Warner Theater in downtown Washington, D.C., to see Boz Scaggs.\n\nThere was an opening act that hadn\'t been advertised, and we were told it would be their first appearance ever in the United States. I remember turning to Bill and saying -- I was the eternal optimist in those days -- wouldn\'t it be great if they turned out to be awesome and we saw their first performance ever.\n\nThey were awful.\n\nSo awful.\n\nThey did have one hit record, which has become sort of a cult favorite to some, as witness the 2.5 million views this video received on YouTube:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeRa3RtBiIU\n\nBill Madden and I met in an acting class at Northern Virginia Community College in 1973. Both of us were trying rebuild somewhat spotted college careers, and we were actually in a play together that spring.\n\nWe became great friends, and for years in the \'70s and into the \'80s, Bill was the best friend I had. We wrote songs together, we drank together and we chased women -- mostly in vain -- together. We nearly got an apartment together in 1974 in a very marginal neighborhood; I still don\'t quite remember why that fell through.\n\nBill had the best natural sense of humor of anyone I\'ve ever known, and since I had a mean streak in those days it helped to be able to laugh at some of the things I said. He was the one who said to me that he could never have a two-guys-and-a-girl threesome because he would be afraid the girl might say, \"I\'m tired now. Why don\'t you two entertain each other for a while.\" He was also the first person I heard use the line, \"I wasn\'t born again. I got it right the first time.\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_806\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"299\" caption=\"My friend Bill\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-806\" title=\"14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/14445_100484833309326_100000434293318_14149_229053_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"244\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBill is a radio guy. He loved being on the radio ever since his early college days at the University of Richmond, and he has been everything from a country disc jockey to a talk radio sidekick during his career. He has worked at stations from Maryland to West Texas, sort of like Harry Chapin\'s \"morning DJ on WOLD.\" He\'s working in North Florida now, and one of the things that has made me the happiest about moving to Georgia is the thought that with Bill just 250 miles or so away, we\'ll be able to see each other from time to time.\n\nHe looks pretty good. That\'s his Facebook picture, and my friend looks pretty good for someone just three years younger than me.\n\nWe used to play tennis together, and while neither of us was going to make anyone forget Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe, he was good enough to beat me every time we played.\n\nWhen both of us were married, there was a short time that we lived only two or three houses apart.\n\nHe was the one who helped me get through the devastation of my marriage breaking up, and he was the one who drove my car home from a night of serious drinking while I apparently (I have no memory of it) projectile vomited on the ceiling above the passenger seat.\n\nIt was the only time in my life I ever was blackout drunk. I remember sitting on a curb outside a bar in Georgetown at about 1:30 a.m. while he went to get the car, and the very next thing I remember is waking up in Bill and Susie\'s guest bedroom about 9 hours later.\n\nSometimes your best friends are the ones who share your worst moments.','','','inherit','open','open','','805-revision','','','2011-01-29 12:25:25','2011-01-29 20:25:25','',805,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=807',0,'revision','',0),(828,1,'2011-02-07 18:58:13','2011-02-08 02:58:13','All right, I\'m rolling again.\r\n\r\nWell, not exactly \"rolling.\" What I mean is that I am starting to get back into my routine of last summer and fall of walking every day. I\'ve been battling bad weather and also my own laziness, but yesterday I went walking with Nicole and we covered 6 1/2 miles. That was good, so today -- with my wife working -- I decided to try and go out by myself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_829\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking down Baptist Camp Road\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Recent-002.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-829\" title=\"Recent 002\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Recent-002-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had a pretty ambitious plan, to head south from Sun City on Jordan Hill Road for a couple of miles, then head west to Old Atlanta Road and north to Baptist Camp to complete the square and head back home. I guessed it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of nine miles, which would be the longest walk I had taken in several months.\r\n\r\nThe walk started well. It wasn\'t all that cold outside and I was listening to Greg Iles\' novel \"Turning Angel\" on my iPod. It was just after 3 p.m. when I started walking, so I was hoping to get home before dark.\r\n\r\nThe only part of the walk -- the not-so-\"square,\" as it was -- that I knew the length of was the final side, which was about 2.1 miles down Baptist Camp Road and another 1.6 from the gate of Sun City Peachtree home.\r\n\r\nThat\'s sort of an interesting walk, past a trailer park that looks pretty poor, a Baptist Camp and a shooting ranch, but today it wound up being a bit of a problem. Just past the trailer park, with a little more than three miles left in my walk, it started raining.\r\n\r\nI could have called home. I had my Blackberry with me, and I could have called Nicole to come and get me. But it wasn\'t raining that hard, so I kept walking. It started raining a little more steadily, but I had my hooded Dodger jacket, which is a little bit rain resistant. Unfortunately, the rain was making it chillier, but I kept slogging away and putting one foot in front of the other until I got home right around 6 p.m.\r\n\r\nSo I was wet, I was cold and my feet were starting to hurt.\r\n\r\nBut I felt righteous -- more than 15 miles in two days.\r\n\r\nI\'m back.','Two days walking and I\'m halfway to Atlanta','','publish','open','open','','two-days-walking-and-im-halfway-to-atlanta','','','2011-02-07 18:58:13','2011-02-08 02:58:13','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=828',0,'post','',1),(809,1,'2011-01-31 18:58:08','2011-02-01 02:58:08','[caption id=\"attachment_810\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"The fabled automatic\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-810\" title=\"h29327npsb2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn Stephen King\'s book \"Hearts in Atlantis,\" he wrote about the feeling baby boomers of a certain age get from listening to music from the \'50s and \'60s. He called it \"the fabled automatic,\" since it never fails to bring back the feelings associated with the time it was first heard.\r\n\r\nDuring the years I spent in high school, from the fall of 1963 to the summer of 1967, I was pretty well obsessed with the music. I remember during my sophomore year, my friend John McIntyre and I made top forty lists every week based on the music we heard at night from far-off WBZ in Boston, WKBW in Buffalo or occasionally -- when the atmospherics were right -- WLS in Chicago.\r\n\r\nOn Tuesday nights we listened to Cousin Brucie\'s countdown on WABC in New York, and I remember picking up WCFL (\"The Voice of Labor\") out of Chicago and CKLW from Windsor, Ontario.\r\n\r\nBy 12th grade I wasn\'t listening quite as much, but for some reason, songs from that year -- 1966-67 -- resonate with me in a really special way.\r\n\r\nThat was the year I was finally 16 -- I had skipped a grade in elementary school -- and I was getting out of the house a little more than in the past. During the winter, I was playing in the band for the Extravaganza and then in the pit band for the senior class play, \"The Unsinkable Molly Brown.\"\r\n\r\nWe would rehearse in the evenings and then some of the time, before heading home, some of us would stop off at Cleve\'s Pizza at Fairfax Circle for pizza or steak sandwiches. The juke box would always be on, and the two songs that seemed to be playing all the time were Tommy James and the Shondells\' \"I Think We\'re Alone Now\" and Arthur Conley\'s \"Sweet Soul Music.\"\r\n\r\nFor some reason, the line we always perked up at was \"Spotlight on James Brown.\"\r\n\r\nIt still makes me smile every time I hear it, and I downloaded it from iTunes tonight to put it on my super-eclectic iPod.\r\n\r\nBut that\'s not the purpose of this post. This post is about the way songs from that year resonate with me, in an almost mystical way. When I hear certain songs from that time, songs like the Happenings\' \"I\'ve Got Rhythm\" or Lou Christie\'s \"Rhapsody in the Rain,\" I swear I can close my eyes and almost believe it is that time and that I\'m 16 or 17 years old again. I almost believe that if I closed my eyes long enough and concentrated hard enough, I could open them and be sitting in my bedroom in Mosby Woods or in a booth at Cleve\'s Pizza waiting for my steak sandwich.\r\n\r\nIt is odd. There\'s no other time that can make me feel this way. I don\'t hear \"My Baby Loves Lovin\'\" and feel I could step into 1970 with Shelley Marcus or hear \"Heartache Tonight\" and feel I could step into the 1980 GMU dance marathon with Lisa McGrady. Those are memories and good ones, but they don\'t have the same, oh, <em>texture</em> as the music of \'66-\'67.\r\n\r\nI\'m getting weird in my old age.','Something very special about \'66-67 music','','publish','open','open','','something-very-special-about-66-67-music','','','2011-01-31 18:58:08','2011-02-01 02:58:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=809',0,'post','',0),(810,1,'2011-01-31 18:25:39','2011-02-01 02:25:39','','h29327npsb2','The fabled automatic','inherit','open','open','','h29327npsb2','','','2011-01-31 18:25:39','2011-02-01 02:25:39','',809,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(811,1,'2011-01-31 18:57:31','2011-02-01 02:57:31','[caption id=\"attachment_810\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"The fabled automatic\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-810\" title=\"h29327npsb2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn Stephen King\'s book \"Hearts in Atlantis,\" he wrote about the feeling baby boomers of a certain age get from listening to music from the \'50s and \'60s. He called it \"the fabled automatic,\" since it never fails to bring back the feelings associated with the time it was first heard.\n\nDuring the years I spent in high school, from the fall of 1963 to the summer of 1967, I was pretty well obsessed with the music. I remember during my sophomore year, my friend John McIntyre and I made top forty lists every week based on the music we heard at night from far-off WBZ in Boston, WKBW in Buffalo or occasionally -- when the atmospherics were right -- WLS in Chicago.\n\nOn Tuesday nights we listened to Cousin Brucie\'s countdown on WABC in New York, and I remember picking up WCFL (\"The Voice of Labor\") out of Chicago and CKLW from Windsor, Ontario.\n\nBy 12th grade I wasn\'t listening quite as much, but for some reason, songs from that year -- 1966-67 -- resonate with me in a really special way.\n\nThat was the year I was finally 16 -- I had skipped a grade in elementary school -- and I was getting out of the house a little more than in the past. During the winter, I was playing in the band for the Extravaganza and then in the pit band for the senior class play, \"The Unsinkable Molly Brown.\"\n\nWe would rehearse in the evenings and then some of the time, before heading home, some of us would stop off at Cleve\'s Pizza at Fairfax Circle for pizza or steak sandwiches. The juke box would always be on, and the two songs that seemed to be playing all the time were Tommy James and the Shondells\' \"I Think We\'re Alone Now\" and Arthur Conley\'s \"Sweet Soul Music.\"\n\nFor some reason, the line we always perked up at was \"Spotlight on James Brown.\"\n\nIt still makes me smile every time I hear it, and I downloaded it from iTunes tonight to put it on my super-eclectic iPod.\n\nBut that\'s not the purpose of this post. This post is about the way songs from that year resonate with me, in an almost mystical way. When I hear certain songs from that time, songs like the Happenings\' \"I\'ve Got Rhythm\" or Lou Christie\'s \"Rhapsody in the Rain,\" I swear I can close my eyes and almost believe it is that time and that I\'m 16 or 17 years old again. I almost believe that if I closed my eyes long enough and concentrated hard enough, I could open them and be sitting in my bedroom in Mosby Woods or in a booth at Cleve\'s Pizza waiting for my steak sandwich.\n\nIt is odd. There\'s no other time that can make me feel this way. I don\'t hear \"My Baby Loves Lovin\'\" and feel I could step into 1970 with Shelley Marcus or hear \"Heartache Tonight\" and feel I could step into the 1980 GMU dance marathon with Lisa McGrady. Those are memories and good ones, but they don\'t have the same, oh, <em>texture</em> as the music of \'66-\'67.\n\nI\'m getting weird in my old age.','','','inherit','open','open','','809-revision','','','2011-01-31 18:57:31','2011-02-01 02:57:31','',809,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=811',0,'revision','',0),(812,1,'2011-01-31 18:58:53','2011-02-01 02:58:53','[caption id=\"attachment_810\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"The fabled automatic\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-810\" title=\"h29327npsb2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/h29327npsb2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn Stephen King\'s book \"Hearts in Atlantis,\" he wrote about the feeling baby boomers of a certain age get from listening to music from the \'50s and \'60s. He called it \"the fabled automatic,\" since it never fails to bring back the feelings associated with the time it was first heard.\n\nDuring the years I spent in high school, from the fall of 1963 to the summer of 1967, I was pretty well obsessed with the music. I remember during my sophomore year, my friend John McIntyre and I made top forty lists every week based on the music we heard at night from far-off WBZ in Boston, WKBW in Buffalo or occasionally -- when the atmospherics were right -- WLS in Chicago.\n\nOn Tuesday nights we listened to Cousin Brucie\'s countdown on WABC in New York, and I remember picking up WCFL (\"The Voice of Labor\") out of Chicago and CKLW from Windsor, Ontario.\n\nBy 12th grade I wasn\'t listening quite as much, but for some reason, songs from that year -- 1966-67 -- resonate with me in a really special way.\n\nThat was the year I was finally 16 -- I had skipped a grade in elementary school -- and I was getting out of the house a little more than in the past. During the winter, I was playing in the band for the Extravaganza and then in the pit band for the senior class play, \"The Unsinkable Molly Brown.\"\n\nWe would rehearse in the evenings and then some of the time, before heading home, some of us would stop off at Cleve\'s Pizza at Fairfax Circle for pizza or steak sandwiches. The juke box would always be on, and the two songs that seemed to be playing all the time were Tommy James and the Shondells\' \"I Think We\'re Alone Now\" and Arthur Conley\'s \"Sweet Soul Music.\"\n\nFor some reason, the line we always perked up at was \"Spotlight on James Brown.\"\n\nIt still makes me smile every time I hear it, and I downloaded it from iTunes tonight to put it on my super-eclectic iPod.\n\nBut that\'s not the purpose of this post. This post is about the way songs from that year resonate with me, in an almost mystical way. When I hear certain songs from that time, songs like the Happenings\' \"I\'ve Got Rhythm\" or Lou Christie\'s \"Rhapsody in the Rain,\" I swear I can close my eyes and almost believe it is that time and that I\'m 16 or 17 years old again. I almost believe that if I closed my eyes long enough and concentrated hard enough, I could open them and be sitting in my bedroom in Mosby Woods or in a booth at Cleve\'s Pizza waiting for my steak sandwich.\n\nIt is odd. There\'s no other time that can make me feel this way. I don\'t hear \"My Baby Loves Lovin\'\" and feel I could step into 1970 with Shelley Marcus or hear \"Heartache Tonight\" and feel I could step into the 1980 GMU dance marathon with Lisa McGrady. Those are memories and good ones, but they don\'t have the same, oh, <em>texture</em> as the music of \'66-\'67.\n\nI\'m getting weird in my old age.','Something very special about \'66-67 music','','inherit','open','open','','809-autosave','','','2011-01-31 18:58:53','2011-02-01 02:58:53','',809,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=812',0,'revision','',0),(813,1,'2011-02-01 20:23:41','2011-02-02 04:23:41','Is there anything in the world that brings more happiness to the heart than the pure joy of a 2-year-old grandchild?\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_814\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie in the water.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-814\" title=\"167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt has been nearly a year since I have seen little Maddie in person, and she is exactly halfway around the world -- 12 time zones away -- from me at present. But I have written before about how Skype and my daughter Pauline\'s wonderful willingness to keep in close touch have made a huge difference in that area.\r\n\r\nIn fact, between Skype and Facebook, we spent three days last weekend keeping up with Maddie\'s toilet training. She\'s not quite 2 1/2 years old yet, but apparently she\'s doing as terrific a job at that as she has at all the other phases of her development.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember my own toilet training, which I assume is good. I have a feeling the only way you would remember something like that is if it had been extremely traumatic. I have at least one friend who is so anal retentive that I think he must have been toilet trained at gunpoint.\r\n\r\nBut back to the point.\r\n\r\nThe thing that\'s so strange for me right now in watching Maddie develop is that she is so bright and eager and so involved in everything, but she\'s still at a stage in her life where she won\'t remember any of it when she is older.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why parents shoot videos, and why grandfathers write about their grandchildren.\r\n\r\nThat and for the sheer joy of it.','More joy, more wonder as Maddie grows','','publish','open','open','','more-joy-more-wonder-as-maddie-grows','','','2011-02-01 20:23:41','2011-02-02 04:23:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=813',0,'post','',0),(814,1,'2011-02-01 20:13:49','2011-02-02 04:13:49','','167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n','Maddie in the water.','inherit','open','open','','167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n','','','2011-02-01 20:13:49','2011-02-02 04:13:49','',813,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(815,1,'2011-02-01 20:23:18','2011-02-02 04:23:18','Is there anything in the world that brings more happiness to the heart than the pure joy of a 2-year-old grandchild?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_814\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie in the water.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-814\" title=\"167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/167588_10150094106442122_838372121_6002222_4826254_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt has been nearly a year since I have seen little Maddie in person, and she is exactly halfway around the world -- 12 time zones away -- from me at present. But I have written before about how Skype and my daughter Pauline\'s wonderful willingness to keep in close touch have made a huge difference in that area.\n\nIn fact, between Skype and Facebook, we spent three days last weekend keeping up with Maddie\'s toilet training. She\'s not quite 2 1/2 years old yet, but apparently she\'s doing as terrific a job at that as she has at all the other phases of her development.\n\nI don\'t remember my own toilet training, which I assume is good. I have a feeling the only way you would remember something like that is if it had been extremely traumatic. I have at least one friend who is so anal retentive that I think he must have been toilet trained at gunpoint.\n\nBut back to the point.\n\nThe thing that\'s so strange for me right now in watching Maddie develop is that she is so bright and eager and so involved in everything, but she\'s still at a stage in her life where she won\'t remember any of it when she is older.\n\nThat\'s why parents shoot videos, and why grandfathers write about their grandchildren.\n\nThat and for the sheer joy of it.','','','inherit','open','open','','813-revision','','','2011-02-01 20:23:18','2011-02-02 04:23:18','',813,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=815',0,'revision','',0),(836,1,'2011-02-09 19:26:08','2011-02-10 03:26:08','Four days down.\r\n\r\nSix point two miles in two hours in 47 degree temperatures today, but it was a little different. I drove to Griffin and parked my car at the north end of downtown. Then I walked south, through downtown, through the beautiful residential area south of it, past a couple of strip malls and out past the south end of town where Hill Street becomes the Zebulon Road.\r\n\r\nI took a lot of pictures that I posted on Facebook, most of them shots of some of these beautiful old-fashioned houses that must have been built in the 1920s or \'30s -- or maybe even earlier. They have these big, beautiful front and side porches like you never see on houses anymore, and they remind me of my grandparents\' house in Ohio.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_837\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"What a great-looking old house.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110209_18.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-837\" title=\"20110209_18\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110209_18-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe one I\'m posting here was one of the bigger ones, and if you look closely, there is even a screened-in upstairs porch. This house is just so <em>Southern</em>.\r\n\r\nTwo chimneys, too.\r\n\r\nOf course, I\'ll bet it costs a bloody fortune to heat in the winter and to cool in the summer.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why as much as I love the look of a house like this, I\'m perfectly happy with our 21st century one-story house with no front porch at all.\r\n\r\nThe other thing you might notice about this picture is that this house has a massive front yard. In fact, the front yard of this house might be bigger than our entire lot, house and yard included.\r\n\r\nIt was a great walk, though, and even though my feet are hurting me right now, I\'m glad to have four consecutive days of exercise in the books for the first time in three months. My weight got fairly close to 200 over the winter -- but didn\'t top it -- and now I\'m starting to lose some weight again.','Walk through Griffin shows off old Southern homes','','publish','open','open','','walk-through-griffin-shows-off-old-southern-homes','','','2011-02-09 19:26:08','2011-02-10 03:26:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=836',0,'post','',0),(817,1,'2011-02-03 14:31:33','2011-02-03 22:31:33','Today would have been my dad\'s 85th birthday.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_818\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My dad and me in 2005\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vacation-2005-008.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-818\" title=\"Vacation 2005 008\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vacation-2005-008-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMost of you who follow my writing knows that my father died three years ago after a lengthy illness, and you also know that I have always had unresolved feelings about my own role as a son.\r\n\r\nA lot of those feelings probably stem simply from the fact that I am a touchy-feely baby boomer, and he was part of the generation that lived through the Great Depression and won the Second World War.\r\n\r\nThat\'s pretty much enough of a rehash.\r\n\r\nWhat I want to do today is celebrate his life, a life lived well enough that his family and his friends -- the people who loved him -- still miss him three years after he left us.\r\n\r\nThe two most amazing things about my dad were his unselfishness and his intellectual curiosity.\r\n\r\nI never knew anyone else who so consistently put the interests of others ahead of his own interests, although I\'m relatively certain he would have said that by doing that, he was acting in his own interest. He never spent money on himself; I\'m pretty sure that the clothes I have in my closet right now cost more than he spent on clothes for himself in his entire life.\r\n\r\nHe didn\'t have friends with whom he went bowling, played golf or sat in bars drinking and complaining. His best friend for more than 50 years was my mother.\r\n\r\nAs for the intellectual curiosity, I can\'t think of anything -- any subject -- that he didn\'t want to know more about. He tried to pass that along to me, and I\'m not sure why it didn\'t take. There are subjects that fascinate me and others in which I have no interest at all.\r\n\r\nHe enjoyed traveling tremendously, and if there was a place in the world he and my mother didn\'t visit, it probably wasn\'t worth visiting. They traveled to every continent except Antarctica, and I know they were hoping someday to get there. I\'m pretty sure that if space tourism at reasonable prices had come along during his lifetime, he would have been up there somewhere.\r\n\r\nI have visited more places than I ever thought I would, especially when I consider that three of my four closest friends have never been outside North America. I\'ve only made it to three continents, though, and my only incursion into the Southern Hemisphere was a week in French Polynesia in 1999. I do expect to visit Indonesia and Greece this year, thanks to my two children being stationed there. I have a feeling Pauline and Virgile will turn me into world travelers.\r\n\r\nAs for my dad, I miss him, but I also know that as long as he remains in the memory of his wife, his sister, his children and grandchildren, he will always be with us.\r\n\r\nAnd when I do strive to learn something knew, or visit someplace I have never been, or simply to be a better man than I am, I am trying to be more like him.','A few thoughts on a memorable birthday','','publish','open','open','','a-few-thoughts-on-a-memorable-birthday','','','2011-02-03 14:31:33','2011-02-03 22:31:33','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=817',0,'post','',2),(818,1,'2011-02-03 11:25:37','2011-02-03 19:25:37','','Vacation 2005 008','My dad and me in 2005','inherit','open','open','','vacation-2005-008','','','2011-02-03 11:25:37','2011-02-03 19:25:37','',817,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vacation-2005-008.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(819,1,'2011-02-03 14:30:47','2011-02-03 22:30:47','Today would have been my dad\'s 85th birthday.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_818\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My dad and me in 2005\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vacation-2005-008.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-818\" title=\"Vacation 2005 008\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vacation-2005-008-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMost of you who follow my writing knows that my father died three years ago after a lengthy illness, and you also know that I have always had unresolved feelings about my own role as a son.\n\nA lot of those feelings probably stem simply from the fact that I am a touchy-feely baby boomer, and he was part of the generation that lived through the Great Depression and won the Second World War.\n\nThat\'s pretty much enough of a rehash.\n\nWhat I want to do today is celebrate his life, a life lived well enough that his family and his friends -- the people who loved him -- still miss him three years after he left us.\n\nThe two most amazing things about my dad were his unselfishness and his intellectual curiosity.\n\nI never knew anyone else who so consistently put the interests of others ahead of his own interests, although I\'m relatively certain he would have said that by doing that, he was acting in his own interest. He never spent money on himself; I\'m pretty sure that the clothes I have in my closet right now cost more than he spent on clothes for himself in his entire life.\n\nHe didn\'t have friends with whom he went bowling, played golf or sat in bars drinking and complaining. His best friend for more than 50 years was my mother.\n\nAs for the intellectual curiosity, I can\'t think of anything -- any subject -- that he didn\'t want to know more about. He tried to pass that along to me, and I\'m not sure why it didn\'t take. There are subjects that fascinate me and others in which I have no interest at all.\n\nHe enjoyed traveling tremendously, and if there was a place in the world he and my mother didn\'t visit, it probably wasn\'t worth visiting. They traveled to every continent except Antarctica, and I know they were hoping someday to get there. I\'m pretty sure that if space tourism at reasonable prices had come along during his lifetime, he would have been up there somewhere.\n\nI have visited more places than I ever thought I would, especially when I consider that three of my four closest friends have never been outside North America. I\'ve only made it to three continents, though, and my only incursion into the Southern Hemisphere was a week in French Polynesia in 1999. I do expect to visit Indonesia and Greece this year, thanks to my two children being stationed there. I have a feeling Pauline and Virgile will turn me into world travelers.\n\nAs for my dad, I miss him, but I also know that as long as he remains in the memory of his wife, his sister, his children and grandchildren, he will always be with us.\n\nAnd when I do strive to learn something knew, or visit someplace I have never been, or simply to be a better man than I am,','','','inherit','open','open','','817-revision','','','2011-02-03 14:30:47','2011-02-03 22:30:47','',817,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=819',0,'revision','',0),(821,1,'2011-02-04 20:06:53','2011-02-05 04:06:53','','Pauline','Maddie and Pauline','inherit','open','open','','pauline-2','','','2011-02-04 20:06:53','2011-02-05 04:06:53','',820,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(822,1,'2011-02-04 20:13:59','2011-02-05 04:13:59','I don\'t remember if I used this anecdote before, but I want to make a different point anyway.\n\nIn Peggy Noonan\'s book \"Patriotic Grace,\" where she pleads for more understanding between the two sides in our American debate, she mentions something she read about something Ted Kennedy said to some family members at a dinner in the last few years of his life.\n\n\"I\'m glad I\'m not going to be around when you guys are my age,\" he said. \"Because when you guys are my age, the whole thing is going to fall apart.\"\n\nI find myself thinking the same thing when I think of my own children and my granddaughter. The world Pauline and Virgile will face in 30-35 years and the one Maddie will face 60 years from now will be a very different world from the one I grew up in.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_821\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie and Pauline\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-821\" title=\"Pauline\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI do think my children are well positioned for success. Both of them got good educations and made good reputations for themselves at their schools, and both have careers in the Foreign Service that are not likely to disappear via outsourcing.\n\nBut I wouldn\'t want to be 30 or 26 right now, and the thought of being 2 and at the beginning of my life in 2011 is all but incomprehensible to me. That said, my children have a much better chance to succeed in this brave new world than I would have, because they are better people than I am.\n\nThat doesn\'t mean I don\'t worry for them.\n\nIt does mean I\'m glad neither of them is stationed in Egypt right now.','','','inherit','open','open','','820-revision','','','2011-02-04 20:13:59','2011-02-05 04:13:59','',820,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=822',0,'revision','',0),(823,1,'2011-02-04 20:14:30','2011-02-05 04:14:30','I don\'t remember if I used this anecdote before, but I want to make a different point anyway.\r\n\r\nIn Peggy Noonan\'s book \"Patriotic Grace,\" where she pleads for more understanding between the two sides in our American debate, she mentions something she read about something Ted Kennedy said to some family members at a dinner in the last few years of his life.\r\n\r\n\"I\'m glad I\'m not going to be around when you guys are my age,\" he said. \"Because when you guys are my age, the whole thing is going to fall apart.\"\r\n\r\nI find myself thinking the same thing when I think of my own children and my granddaughter. The world Pauline and Virgile will face in 30-35 years and the one Maddie will face 60 years from now will be a very different world from the one I grew up in.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_821\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie and Pauline\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-821\" title=\"Pauline\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pauline-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI do think my children are well positioned for success. Both of them got good educations and made good reputations for themselves at their schools, and both have careers in the Foreign Service that are not likely to disappear via outsourcing.\r\n\r\nBut I wouldn\'t want to be 30 or 26 right now, and the thought of being 2 and at the beginning of my life in 2011 is all but incomprehensible to me. That said, my children have a much better chance to succeed in this brave new world than I would have, because they are better people than I am.\r\n\r\nThat doesn\'t mean I don\'t worry for them.\r\n\r\nIt does mean I\'m glad neither of them is stationed in Egypt right now.','Looking down theroad can be scary at times','','inherit','open','open','','820-revision-2','','','2011-02-04 20:14:30','2011-02-05 04:14:30','',820,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=823',0,'revision','',0),(845,1,'2011-02-12 17:38:35','2011-02-13 01:38:35','I need to start this entry by apologizing for the photo you\'re going to see below.\r\n\r\nWhen you\'ve got a digital camera and a computer, you can take a picture of a body part and five minutes later, it\'s out there for the whole world to see.\r\n\r\nI was hoping to walk 8.8 miles today, which would have meant I covered 50 miles in my first seven days back into the walking thing. But I didn\'t walk at all, because I had to decide the old thing about discretion and valor. My big toe -- the one on the right foot -- has been hurting a little more each of the last four or five days, and the blood behind it has been getting darker and darker.\r\n\r\nI have no idea how it happened. I didn\'t stub it or drop anything on it, but it was getting pretty obvious from the color of the toe itself -- redder than usual -- that I probably had some sort of infection. So instead of walking this afternoon, I spent most of the afternoon at the urgent care, getting it looked at.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_846\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Ouch!\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110212_7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-846\" title=\"20110212_7\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110212_7-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAfter the doctor assured me that yes, it was a toe, he told me there was a pretty good chance I would eventually lose the nail. While that certainly won\'t be fun, it will be a step along the road to better foot health.\r\n\r\nThe other steps are going to involve 10 days of Keflex, three times a day, and Epsom Salt baths in hot water, twice a day.\r\n\r\n\"As hot as you can stand it,\" the doctor said.\r\n\r\nFor some reason that reminded me of when I got my first full-time job in journalism, and when I told my new boss my only salary requirement was \"enough to live on,\" he responded with, \"How about almost enough to live on?\"\r\n\r\nI was too stupid to run away then, and my foot hurts too much to run away now.\r\n\r\nActually, the doctor told me it won\'t hurt my recovery any to keep walking. And since Sunday is the beginning of Week Two of the rest of my life, I\'ll get out there and do my best to get that 50 miles in this time.\r\n\r\nAssuming my foot doesn\'t fall off.','This little piggy took a scalding bath in Epsom salts','','publish','open','open','','this-little-piggy-took-a-scalding-bath-in-epsom-salts','','','2011-02-12 17:38:35','2011-02-13 01:38:35','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=845',0,'post','',0),(825,1,'2011-02-05 15:07:44','2011-02-05 23:07:44','Does anyone get older without carrying memories of the past along with them?\r\n\r\nI have reached a point my my life where there are many people I have known that I will never see again, indeed that I never <em>can</em> see again. It reminds me of the old saying that if you live long enough, you will lose everyone you have ever loved. I have written before about the 115-year-old Indiana woman -- at the time the oldest person in the United States -- who died just before Thanksgiving 2008. Her husband had predeceased her by about 70 years, and all her children and grandchildren had died too. The thought of living that long blows me away -- and totally appalls me.\r\n\r\nI do not want to outlive my children. I don\'t even particularly want to outlive my wife, although I certainly recognize that is a possibility, since I am only three months older than she is.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxcLlQEkxxE\r\n\r\nAll six of my grandparents have been dead for at least 20 years. Two of them died before I was born, so I never knew them. I didn\'t know my New York grandparents as well as my Ohio ones, but I miss them all. My mother is the only parent I still have alive, and I do feel fortunate to be in my 60s and still have her around.\r\n\r\nMy brother and my three sisters -- all younger than me -- are still with us, which is another blessing. My closest friends, including ones I rarely see in person, are all still alive, and so are most of the women who have mattered to me at one time or another. Facebook has enabled me to look in on some of their lives, and I hope all of them will live long, happy lives.\r\n\r\nThere have been roads taken and roads not taken in my life. That\'s pretty much true for everyone, but I wonder how many other people have spent as much time through the years wondering what was to be found at the end of those byways.\r\n\r\nA friend from high school just sent me some fascinating materials his older brother had saved from high school. I knew his brother, although not well, and I was saddened to learn that he had died from cancer last year. Just another person I\'ll never see again.\r\n\r\nIt\'s certainly important to live without regrets. There really isn\'t much point wondering what might have been, but I\'m not sure there\'s anything wrong with fondly recalling moments from the past. After all, even if I\'m going to live to be 115, I have more past than I do future.','Lots of reasons to not want to live too long','','publish','open','open','','lots-of-reasons-to-not-want-to-live-too-long','','','2011-02-05 15:07:44','2011-02-05 23:07:44','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=825',0,'post','',0),(826,1,'2011-02-05 15:07:06','2011-02-05 23:07:06','Does anyone get older without carrying memories of the past along with them?\n\nI have reached a point my my life where there are many people I have known that I will never see again, indeed that I never <em>can</em> see again. It reminds me of the old saying that if you live long enough, you will lose everyone you have ever loved. I have written before about the 115-year-old Indiana woman -- at the time the oldest person in the United States -- who died just before Thanksgiving 2008. Her husband had predeceased her by about 70 years, and all her children and grandchildren had died too. The thought of living that long blows me away -- and totally appalls me.\n\nI do not want to outlive my children. I don\'t even particularly want to outlive my wife, although I certainly recognize that is a possibility, since I am only three months older than she is.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxcLlQEkxxE\n\nAll six of my grandparents have been dead for at least 20 years. Two of them died before I was born, so I never knew them. I didn\'t know my New York grandparents as well as my Ohio ones, but I miss them all. My mother is the only parent I still have alive, and I do feel fortunate to be in my 60s and still have her around.\n\nMy brother and my three sisters -- all younger than me -- are still with us, which is another blessing. My closest friends, including ones I rarely see in person, are all still alive, and so are most of the women who have mattered to me at one time or another. Facebook has enabled me to look in on some of their lives, and I hope all of them will live long, happy lives.\n\nThere have been roads taken and roads not taken in my life. That\'s pretty much true for everyone, but I wonder how many other people have spent as much time through the years wondering what was to be found at the end of those byways.\n\nA friend from high school just sent me some fascinating materials his older brother had saved from high school. I knew his brother, although not well, and I was saddened to learn that he had died from cancer last year. Just another person I\'ll never see again.\n\nIt\'s certainly important to live without regrets. There really isn\'t much point wondering what might have been, but I\'m not sure there\'s anything wrong with fondly recalling moments from the past. After all, even if I\'m going to live to be 115, I have more past than I do future.','','','inherit','open','open','','825-revision','','','2011-02-05 15:07:06','2011-02-05 23:07:06','',825,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=826',0,'revision','',0),(853,1,'2011-02-14 18:49:14','2011-02-15 02:49:14','I didn\'t expect the Mickey Mantle biography to bring back such a strong memory of a now-departed friend.\r\n\r\nBut these days, I never know what will spur memories. I was reading Jane Leavy\'s \"The Last Boy\" when I came across an exchange between Mantle and the author in which a fan said that he had been there in 1950 when Wes Ferrell struck Mantle out five times in one game. Mantle didn\'t contradict the fan, but after he left, told Leavy that it hadn\'t been 1950, it was 1951, and it hadn\'t been Ferrell, it had been Walt Masterson.\r\n\r\nHello, old friend.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_854\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Walt Masterson\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MastersonWalt.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-854\" title=\"MastersonWalt\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MastersonWalt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWalt Masterson was one of the most interesting people I ever met. We were collaborating on a book when he died of a stroke three years ago, and unfortunately, it\'s a book I really can\'t finish. He pitched 14 seasons in the American League, mostly for losing teams, and he won 78 games and lost 100. That may not sound all that impressive on the face of it, but he was an American League all-star twice, and in fact was the starting pitcher in the 1948 All-Star Game.\r\n\r\nProbably his most memorable game came in June 1947 in Chicago, when he pitched 16 scoreless innings against the White Sox in a game that wasn\'t decided till the 18th inning.\r\n\r\nLike many men of his era, he lost three seasons to World War II, but when he returned in September 1945, he outdueled Hall of Famer Bob Feller in a 1-0 shutout.\r\n\r\nI met Walt in 1980, when I was editor of the George Mason University student newspaper and he was the school\'s baseball coach. We had some wonderful, long conversations after games that ranged far beyond baseball. In 1983, when I was trying to get a really good job in Oklahoma City, he called the sports editor of the paper for me and gave me a stellar recommendation.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t get the job, but only because there was a hiring freeze. After that Walt and I lost touch with each other for more than 20 years. I\'m not sure what made me think about him, but I was going through a period when I was looking up a lot of old friends through a service we had at work. I found him in North Carolina and I wrote to him. I\'m so glad I did.\r\n\r\nWe re-established contact, and as I said, we actually worked on a book together. I wish I had been better about finishing it more quickly, but I did visit him twice in North Carolina and somewhere I\'ve got a video tape of about an hour\'s worth of conversation we had one one of those visits.\r\n\r\nWhen we met, he was 60 and I was 30.\r\n\r\nWhen we got together again a few years ago, I was nearly 60 myself. He was 87 when he died, and I still miss him. But I\'m glad for the time we spent together near the end of his life.\r\n\r\nHe was a heck of a guy, a really fine man.\r\n\r\nAnd hey, I\'m pretty sure he was the only pitcher ever to strike out Mickey Mantle five times in one game.','Mantle book brings back memories of another friend','','publish','open','open','','mantle-book-brings-back-memories-of-another-friend','','','2011-02-14 18:49:14','2011-02-15 02:49:14','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=853',0,'post','',0),(829,1,'2011-02-07 18:25:36','2011-02-08 02:25:36','','Recent 002','Walking down Baptist Camp Road','inherit','open','open','','recent-002','','','2011-02-07 18:25:36','2011-02-08 02:25:36','',828,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Recent-002.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(830,1,'2011-02-07 18:57:57','2011-02-08 02:57:57','All right, I\'m rolling again.\n\nWell, not exactly \"rolling.\" What I mean is that I am starting to get back into my routine of last summer and fall of walking every day. I\'ve been battling bad weather and also my own laziness, but yesterday I went walking with Nicole and we covered 6 1/2 miles. That was good, so today -- with my wife working -- I decided to try and go out by myself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_829\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking down Baptist Camp Road\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Recent-002.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-829\" title=\"Recent 002\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Recent-002-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI had a pretty ambitious plan, to head south from Sun City on Jordan Hill Road for a couple of miles, then head west to Old Atlanta Road and north to Baptist Camp to complete the square and head back home. I guessed it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of nine miles, which would be the longest walk I had taken in several months.\n\nThe walk started well. It wasn\'t all that cold outside and I was listening to Greg Iles\' novel \"Turning Angel\" on my iPod. It was just after 3 p.m. when I started walking, so I was hoping to get home before dark.\n\nThe only part of the walk -- the not-so-\"square,\" as it was -- that I knew the length of was the final side, which was about 2.1 miles down Baptist Camp Road and another 1.6 from the gate of Sun City Peachtree home.\n\nThat\'s sort of an interesting walk, past a trailer park that looks pretty poor, a Baptist Camp and a shooting ranch, but today it wound up being a bit of a problem. Just past the trailer park, with a little more than three miles left in my walk, it started raining.\n\nI could have called home. I had my Blackberry with me, and I could have called Nicole to come and get me. But it wasn\'t raining that hard, so I kept walking. It started raining a little more steadily, but I had my hooded Dodger jacket, which is a little bit rain resistant. Unfortunately, the rain was making it chillier, but I kept slogging away and putting one foot in front of the other until I got home right around 6 p.m.\n\nSo I was wet, I was cold and my feet were starting to hurt.\n\nBut I felt righteous -- more than 15 miles in two days.\n\nI\'m back.','','','inherit','open','open','','828-revision','','','2011-02-07 18:57:57','2011-02-08 02:57:57','',828,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=830',0,'revision','',0),(831,1,'2011-02-08 17:54:56','2011-02-09 01:54:56','OK, now I\'m starting to make it a habit again.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t exactly hike today, although I\'m sure I walked several miles during the 18 holes of golf I played (carts only on the path).\r\n\r\nThe temperature was in the low 50s this afternoon, which left we right on the edge between being too warm with my jacket on and a little too cold with it off. So for about 15 of the 18 holes, I played in shirtsleeves. That\'s exaggerating a little. I had a long-sleeved T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt, so it wasn\'t as if I were one of the bare-chested Cheeseheads you see at Packer games in sub-zero weather.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_833\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"No. 9, missed the birdie and tapped in for par.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-833\" title=\"20110208_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI played pretty well without all the extra clothes constraining my arms. I actually had a couple of drives of more than 200 yards, which I haven\'t been doing with sweatshirts and jackets on. Mt approach shots were pretty good, although I was using my seven-iron for everything. Oddly enough, I don\'t think I used my pitching wedge once today.\r\n\r\nApproach shots are crucial on this course, because the toughest part of the game here is putting. It seems as if every green on the course is on two or three different levels, and it\'s really difficult to keep long putts close to the flag.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t been thinking too much about my score, mostly because I\'m making very liberal use of what\'s known as \"winter rules.\" When the ball is in mud, I move it. I\'ve allowed myself a couple of extra Mulligans, although I\'m trying to keep the \"gimme\" putts to a minimum.\r\n\r\nBeing generous with myself, I shot an 87 today, which theoretically would be my best round on this course so far. I was pleased that two holes that I hadn\'t done better than double bogeys before today played pretty nicely for me today. I bogeyed the first hole and parred the 10th.\r\n\r\nI only had one double bogey for the entire round.\r\n\r\nI\'d love to have my buddies Mickey and Chuck out here with me, but to be fair, I actually have been enjoying playing alone. I breeze through a round in a little more than two hours, and when I go out under sundown rates, a round only costs me $9 -- with cart.\r\n\r\nMostly, though, it\'s a lot of fun and good exercise.','Not too bad, with the help of winter rules','','publish','open','open','','not-too-bad-with-the-help-of-winter-rules','','','2011-02-08 17:54:56','2011-02-09 01:54:56','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=831',0,'post','',0),(832,1,'2011-02-08 17:23:20','2011-02-09 01:23:20','OK, now I\'m starting to make it a habit again.\n\nI didn\'t exactly hike today, although I\'m sure I walked several miles during the 18 holes of golf I played (carts only on the path).\n\nThe temperature was in the low 50s this afternoon, which left we right on the edge between being too warm with my jacket on and a little too cold with it off. So for about 15 of the 18 holes, I played in shirtsleeves. That\'s exaggerating a little. I had a long-sleeved T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt, so i','','','inherit','open','open','','831-revision','','','2011-02-08 17:23:20','2011-02-09 01:23:20','',831,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=832',0,'revision','',0),(833,1,'2011-02-08 17:45:04','2011-02-09 01:45:04','','20110208_1','No. 9, missed the birdie and tapped in for par.','inherit','open','open','','20110208_1','','','2011-02-08 17:45:04','2011-02-09 01:45:04','',831,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(834,1,'2011-02-08 17:53:56','2011-02-09 01:53:56','OK, now I\'m starting to make it a habit again.\n\nI didn\'t exactly hike today, although I\'m sure I walked several miles during the 18 holes of golf I played (carts only on the path).\n\nThe temperature was in the low 50s this afternoon, which left we right on the edge between being too warm with my jacket on and a little too cold with it off. So for about 15 of the 18 holes, I played in shirtsleeves. That\'s exaggerating a little. I had a long-sleeved T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt, so it wasn\'t as if I were one of the bare-chested Cheeseheads you see at Packer games in sub-zero weather.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_833\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"No. 9, missed the birdie and tapped in for par.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-833\" title=\"20110208_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI played pretty well without all the extra clothes constraining my arms. I actually had a couple of drives of more than 200 yards, which I haven\'t been doing with sweatshirts and jackets on. Mt approach shots were pretty good, although I was using my seven-iron for everything. Oddly enough, I don\'t think I used my pitching wedge once today.\n\nApproach shots are crucial on this course, because the toughest part of the game here is putting. It seems as if every green on the course is on two or three different levels, and it\'s really difficult to keep long putts close to the flag.\n\nI haven\'t been thinking too much about my score, mostly because I\'m making very liberal use of what\'s known as \"winter rules.\" When the ball is in mud, I move it. I\'ve allowed myself a couple of extra Mulligans, although I\'m trying to keep the \"gimme\" putts to a minimum.\n\nBeing generous with myself, I shot an 87 today, which theoretically would be my best round on this course so far. I was pleased that two holes that I hadn\'t done better than double bogeys before today played pretty nicely for me today. I bogeyed the first hole and parred the 10th.\n\nI only had one double bogey for the entire round.\n\nI\'d love to have my buddies Mickey and Chuck out here with me, but to be fair, I actually have been enjoying playing alone. I breeze through a round in a little more than two hours, and when I go out under sundown rates, a round only costs me $9 -- with c','','','inherit','open','open','','831-revision-2','','','2011-02-08 17:53:56','2011-02-09 01:53:56','',831,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=834',0,'revision','',0),(835,1,'2011-02-08 17:54:56','2011-02-09 01:54:56','OK, now I\'m starting to make it a habit again.\n\nI didn\'t exactly hike today, although I\'m sure I walked several miles during the 18 holes of golf I played (carts only on the path).\n\nThe temperature was in the low 50s this afternoon, which left we right on the edge between being too warm with my jacket on and a little too cold with it off. So for about 15 of the 18 holes, I played in shirtsleeves. That\'s exaggerating a little. I had a long-sleeved T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt, so it wasn\'t as if I were one of the bare-chested Cheeseheads you see at Packer games in sub-zero weather.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_833\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"No. 9, missed the birdie and tapped in for par.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-833\" title=\"20110208_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110208_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI played pretty well without all the extra clothes constraining my arms. I actually had a couple of drives of more than 200 yards, which I haven\'t been doing with sweatshirts and jackets on. Mt approach shots were pretty good, although I was using my seven-iron for everything. Oddly enough, I don\'t think I used my pitching wedge once today.\n\nApproach shots are crucial on this course, because the toughest part of the game here is putting. It seems as if every green on the course is on two or three different levels, and it\'s really difficult to keep long putts close to the flag.\n\nI haven\'t been thinking too much about my score, mostly because I\'m making very liberal use of what\'s known as \"winter rules.\" When the ball is in mud, I move it. I\'ve allowed myself a couple of extra Mulligans, although I\'m trying to keep the \"gimme\" putts to a minimum.\n\nBeing generous with myself, I shot an 87 today, which theoretically would be my best round on this course so far. I was pleased that two holes that I hadn\'t done better than double bogeys before today played pretty nicely for me today. I bogeyed the first hole and parred the 10th.\n\nI only had one double bogey for the entire round.\n\nI\'d love to have my buddies Mickey and Chuck out here with me, but to be fair, I actually have been enjoying playing alone. I breeze through a round in a little more than two hours, and when I go out under sundown rates, a round only costs me $9 -- with cart.\n\nMostly, though, it\'s a lot of fun and good exercise.','Not too bad, with the help of winter rules','','inherit','open','open','','831-autosave','','','2011-02-08 17:54:56','2011-02-09 01:54:56','',831,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=835',0,'revision','',0),(837,1,'2011-02-09 19:20:36','2011-02-10 03:20:36','','20110209_18','What a great-looking old house.','inherit','open','open','','20110209_18','','','2011-02-09 19:20:36','2011-02-10 03:20:36','',836,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110209_18.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(838,1,'2011-02-09 19:25:40','2011-02-10 03:25:40','Four days down.\n\nSix point two miles in two hours in 47 degree temperatures today, but it was a little different. I drove to Griffin and parked my car at the north end of downtown. Then I walked south, through downtown, through the beautiful residential area south of it, past a couple of strip malls and out past the south end of town where Hill Street becomes the Zebulon Road.\n\nI took a lot of pictures that I posted on Facebook, most of them shots of some of these beautiful old-fashioned houses that must have been built in the 1920s or \'30s -- or maybe even earlier. They have these big, beautiful front and side porches like you never see on houses anymore, and they remind me of my grandparents\' house in Ohio.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_837\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"What a great-looking old house.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110209_18.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-837\" title=\"20110209_18\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110209_18-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe one I\'m posting here was one of the bigger ones, and if you look closely, there is even a screened-in upstairs porch. This house is just so <em>Southern</em>.\n\nTwo chimneys, too.\n\nOf course, I\'ll bet it costs a bloody fortune to heat in the winter and to cool in the summer.\n\nThat\'s why as much as I love the look of a house like this, I\'m perfectly happy with our 21st century one-story house with no front porch at all.\n\nThe other thing you might notice about this picture is that this house has a massive front yard. In fact, the front yard of this house might be bigger than our entire lot, house and yard included.\n\nIt was a great walk, though, and even though my feet are hurting me right now, I\'m glad to have four consecutive days of exercise in the books for the first time in three months. My weight got fairly close to 200 over the winter -- but didn\'t top it -- and now I\'m starting to lose some weight again.','','','inherit','open','open','','836-revision','','','2011-02-09 19:25:40','2011-02-10 03:25:40','',836,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=838',0,'revision','',0),(839,1,'2011-02-10 18:21:53','2011-02-11 02:21:53','What is reality?\r\n\r\nI think the first time I heard that question was about 40 years ago on a Firesign Theatre album, but I have been dealing with it recently in a book I have been reading to my wife at night. Brian Greene\'s \"The Fabric of the Cosmos\" has old non-scientific me thinking a lot more about science than I have since the last time I took a science class in the spring of 1978. I believe it was Chemistry then, but this is Physics.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_840\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"98\" caption=\"An interesting book\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/51dL2rs24mL._SL160_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-840\" title=\"51dL2rs24mL._SL160_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/51dL2rs24mL._SL160_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"160\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnyway, the part of this book that we\'ve gotten through so far has dealt with space, time and spacetime.\r\n\r\nGreene essentially seems to be saying there\'s really no such thing as the past, and there\'s barely a present since every moment we\'re in the present disappears as soon as the next one comes along. I know I\'m oversimplifying right here -- what else could I do -- but I\'m in way over my head.\r\n\r\nExcept when it comes to the past.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to the past, I\'m a big advocate of Bill Faulkner, who wrote that \"the past isn\'t dead. In fact, it isn\'t even past.\"\r\n\r\nGreene writes that with spacetime being what it is, \"If you were having a great time on New Years Eve 1999, you are still having a great time on New Year\'s Eve 1999.\"\r\n\r\nSo does that mean it\'s still April 1970 and I\'m dating Shelley Marcus and reading the first issue of the<em> National Lampoon</em>?\r\n\r\nHow\'s that for a segue? I just received the DVD-ROM containing every one of the 246 issues of the<em> Lampoon</em>, and I\'ve been wading through the first few issues, laughing at stuff I haven\'t seen in nearly 40 years.\r\n\r\nAin\'t time wacky?\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Just for the record, I walked again today, eight miles through the countryside outside McDonough. It\'s odd because I haven\'t really found a route I want to repeat over and over again, but I have exercised five days in a row now and that\'s worth something.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Or am I still exercising?</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Go away, Brian Greene.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"></p>','So what\'s the deal, is it present or past?','','publish','open','open','','so-whats-the-deal-is-it-present-or-past','','','2011-02-10 18:21:53','2011-02-11 02:21:53','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=839',0,'post','',1),(840,1,'2011-02-10 18:12:23','2011-02-11 02:12:23','','51dL2rs24mL._SL160_','An interesting book','inherit','open','open','','51dl2rs24ml-_sl160_','','','2011-02-10 18:12:23','2011-02-11 02:12:23','',839,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/51dL2rs24mL._SL160_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(841,1,'2011-02-10 18:21:51','2011-02-11 02:21:51','What is reality?\n\nI think the first time I heard that question was about 40 years ago on a Firesign Theatre album, but I have been dealing with it recently in a book I have been reading to my wife at night. Brian Greene\'s \"The Fabric of the Cosmos\" has old non-scientific me thinking a lot more about science than I have since the last time I took a science class in the spring of 1978. I believe it was Chemistry then, but this is Physics.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_840\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"98\" caption=\"An interesting book\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/51dL2rs24mL._SL160_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-840\" title=\"51dL2rs24mL._SL160_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/51dL2rs24mL._SL160_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"160\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnyway, the part of this book that we\'ve gotten through so far has dealt with space, time and spacetime.\n\nGreene essentially seems to be saying there\'s really no such thing as the past, and there\'s barely a present since every moment we\'re in the present disappears as soon as the next one comes along. I know I\'m oversimplifying right here -- what else could I do -- but I\'m in way over my head.\n\nExcept when it comes to the past.\n\nWhen it comes to the past, I\'m a big advocate of Bill Faulkner, who wrote that \"the past isn\'t dead. In fact, it isn\'t even past.\"\n\nGreene writes that with spacetime being what it is, \"If you were having a great time on New Years Eve 1999, you are still having a great time on New Year\'s Eve 1999.\"\n\nSo does that mean it\'s still April 1970 and I\'m dating Shelley Marcus and reading the first issue of the<em> National Lampoon</em>?\n\nHow\'s that for a segue? I just received the DVD-ROM containing every one of the 246 issues of the<em> Lampoon</em>, and I\'ve been wading through the first few issues, laughing at stuff I haven\'t seen in nearly 40 years.\n\nAin\'t time wacky?\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Just for the record, I walked again today, eight miles through the countryside outside McDonough. It\'s odd because I haven\'t really found a route I want to repeat over and over again, but I have exercised five days in a row now and that\'s worth something.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Or am I still exercising?</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Go away, Brian Greene.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"></p>','So what\'s the deal, is it present or past?','','inherit','open','open','','839-revision','','','2011-02-10 18:21:51','2011-02-11 02:21:51','',839,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=841',0,'revision','',0),(842,1,'2011-02-11 20:42:54','2011-02-12 04:42:54','When I was in my twenties, I went to a ton of rock concerts. With the exception of Elvis, the Who and the Beatles, I think I probably saw just about everybody I really wanted to see, some of them twice.\r\n\r\nHeck, I saw Linda Ronstadt three times, Jimmy Buffett twice and the Beach Boys four times, if you count the 2009 L.A. County Fair. For the most part, though, I\'m past my rock concert years. I think I saw more road company performances of Broadway shows in the 1990s than I did concerts.\r\n\r\nBut in 2009, my kids gave me tickets to see comedian Jim Gaffigan, who did a wonderful show at the Grove Theater in Anaheim. For some reason -- and it\'s odd because I love stand-up comedy -- I hadn\'t really been to many shows. Gaffigan is hilarious, but the one comedian I enjoy even more these days is Kathleen Madigan.\r\n\r\nI bought tickets to see her in Anaheim late last summer, but the traffic was horrible and I missed the show.\r\n\r\nBoy, that was annoying.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_843\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Kathleen Madigan\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-843\" title=\"BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut imagine my joy at checking her Website recently and seeing that she was scheduled to perform at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta on Friday night, Feb. 11.\r\n\r\nTickets were available, tickets were purchased.\r\n\r\nIt was a pretty great show, and one of the nice surprises was that even though it\'s part of the same tour  chronicled on her DVD \"Gone Madigan,\" only about 50 percent of the material was stuff I already knew from the DVD. She always seems to have new material, although she certainly has some old favorites -- think Oprah and Larry King -- that are always funny.\r\n\r\nAnyway, it was great. A fun Friday night, and since we don\'t get out all that often, a welcome change.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For those keeping track, another day, another walk -- 8.8 miles in three hours.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Six days on the road ... and I made it home tonight.</p>','What a great Friday night with Kathleen Madigan','','publish','open','open','','what-a-great-friday-night-with-kathleen-madigan','','','2011-02-11 20:42:54','2011-02-12 04:42:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=842',0,'post','',0),(843,1,'2011-02-11 20:36:33','2011-02-12 04:36:33','','BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338','Kathleen Madigan','inherit','open','open','','bddefinitionkathleenmadigan-1-1080-600x338','','','2011-02-11 20:36:33','2011-02-12 04:36:33','',842,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(844,1,'2011-02-11 20:41:57','2011-02-12 04:41:57','When I was in my twenties, I went to a ton of rock concerts. With the exception of Elvis, the Who and the Beatles, I think I probably saw just about everybody I really wanted to see, some of them twice.\n\nHeck, I saw Linda Ronstadt three times, Jimmy Buffett twice and the Beach Boys four times, if you count the 2009 L.A. County Fair. For the most part, though, I\'m past my rock concert years. I think I saw more road company performances of Broadway shows in the 1990s than I did concerts.\n\nBut in 2009, my kids gave me tickets to see comedian Jim Gaffigan, who did a wonderful show at the Grove Theater in Anaheim. For some reason -- and it\'s odd because I love stand-up comedy -- I hadn\'t really been to many shows. Gaffigan is hilarious, but the one comedian I enjoy even more these days is Kathleen Madigan.\n\nI bought tickets to see her in Anaheim late last summer, but the traffic was horrible and I missed the show.\n\nBoy, that was annoying.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_843\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Kathleen Madigan\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-843\" title=\"BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BDDefinitionKathleenMadigan-1-1080-600x338-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut imagine my joy at checking her Website recently and seeing that she was scheduled to perform at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta on Friday night, Feb. 11.\n\nTickets were available, tickets were purchased.\n\nIt was a pretty great show, and one of the nice surprises was that even though it\'s part of the same tour  chronicled on her DVD \"Gone Madigan,\" only about 50 percent of the material was stuff I already knew from the DVD. She always seems to have new material, although she certainly has some old favorites -- think Oprah and Larry King -- that are always funny.\n\nAnyway, it was great. A fun Friday night, and since we don\'t get out all that often, a welcome change.','What a great Friday night with','','inherit','open','open','','842-revision','','','2011-02-11 20:41:57','2011-02-12 04:41:57','',842,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=844',0,'revision','',0),(846,1,'2011-02-12 17:32:11','2011-02-13 01:32:11','','20110212_7','Ouch!','inherit','open','open','','20110212_7','','','2011-02-12 17:32:11','2011-02-13 01:32:11','',845,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110212_7.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(847,1,'2011-02-12 17:30:17','2011-02-13 01:30:17','I need to start this entry by apologizing for the photo you\'re going to see below.\n\nWhen you\'ve got a digital camera and a computer, you can take a picture of a body part and five minutes later, it\'s out there for the whole world to see.\n\nI was hoping to walk 8.8 miles today, which would have meant I covered 50 miles in my first seven days back into the walking thing. But I didn\'t walk at all, because I had to decide the old thing about discretion and valor. My big toe -- the one on the right foot -- has been hurting a little more each of the last four or five days, and the blood behind it has been getting darker and darker.','','','inherit','open','open','','845-revision','','','2011-02-12 17:30:17','2011-02-13 01:30:17','',845,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=847',0,'revision','',0),(869,1,'2011-02-20 15:22:02','2011-02-20 23:22:02','My own personal experience with unions has had very little to do with my belief in the right of working men and women to organize.\r\n\r\nWhen I went to work in St. Louis in 1984, I became a member of the Newspaper Guild. At that point in my career, at that point in the newspaper industry, the idea of working for a union paper with good pay and good benefits was really exciting.\r\n\r\nOf course, I didn\'t realize that the union at the <em>St. Louis Globe-Democrat</em> had rolled over and played dead so that the underfunded owner could keep the paper alive on the critical list. Even though I had four years experience working on daily newspapers, I was entered into the pay scale at the one-year level. Then for 2 1/2 years, I never got a raise and never even advanced to the two-year level.\r\n\r\nThat didn\'t bother me as much as the time someone complained to the union and I was reprimanded for working too hard.\r\n\r\nMy problem didn\'t really have much to do with the concept of unions itself. I just had the misfortune to work for a company so weak that the union couldn\'t exert any of its power without putting the newspaper out of business.\r\n\r\nI had some amazing experiences in those 2 1/2 years, covering two NCAA basketball tournaments all the way from first round to Final Fours, and even though the bankruptcy of the paper in the fall of \'86 meant I lost about seven or eight weeks worth of pay for vacation and comp time, I figured things happen.\r\n\r\nAnd I certainly figured I was better off in that horrible situation as a union member than I would have been as an individual.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_870\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"168\" caption=\"1986 Midwest Regional\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00000004-e1298243339193.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-870\" title=\"00000004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00000004-e1298243339193-168x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"168\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIf that\'s true for one journalist against a nearly bankrupt businessman, it\'s certainly true for working men and woman dealing with multinational corporations or  right-wing state governments. Watching what is happening in Wisconsin, where the newly elected right-wing governor created a fiscal crisis (with tax cuts, of course) to give him a reason to break the public-employees union, is pretty awful.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s even more awful is hearing people blame the unions for the crisis, as if we all ought to just bend over and bow to the people with more wealth and power than we have.\r\n\r\nYes, there is corruption in union leadership sometimes, just as there is corruption in big business and in big government. But the answer isn\'t -- as my brilliant but sometimes flaky friend Mick believes -- to oppose bigness in any of those three things.\r\n\r\nThe fact is, they serve as counterbalances against each other, and unfortunately in our society, big business -- also known as big money -- is the most powerful of those three. The mega-wealthy can spend millions of dollars in campaign contributions to buy politicians to support their point of view, and they can buy influence with Supreme Court justices to get decisions like <em>Citizens United</em> -- maybe the worst court decision since <em>Plessy v. Ferguson</em> in 1895 -- to open up campaigns to even more of their financial influence.\r\n\r\nThe fact is, unions are just about the only counterbalancing force against that money, so when you hear conservatives railing against Big Labor, think of it this way.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Once in a while, the little guys win.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/106432363.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-871\" title=\"106432363\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/106432363-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBig business is like the New York Yankees.\r\n\r\nBig labor is like the San Francisco Giants, who get to win once every half-century or so.\r\n\r\nAnd when the Giants do win, the only folks you ever hear complaining are Yankees fans. You see, when you root for the big guys, you think it\'s your God-given right to win every year.\r\n\r\nCan\'t win \'em all?\r\n\r\nTry telling that to Walmart, or the Koch brothers, or the right-wing governor of Wisconsin.\r\n\r\nThey not only expect to win them all, they do their best to rig the results.','Business is the Yankees, labor is the Giants','','publish','open','open','','business-is-the-yankees-labor-is-the-giants','','','2011-02-20 15:22:02','2011-02-20 23:22:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=869',0,'post','',0),(849,1,'2011-02-13 14:33:06','2011-02-13 22:33:06','It\'s kind of strange to think about it now, but for someone who is viewed as something of a golden boy for a golden age, Mickey Mantle was not universally loved by the children of the baby boom.\r\n\r\nI\'m in the middle of reading Jane Leavy\'s excellent book, \"The Last Boy,\" and I\'m learning more about Mantle than I ever really wanted to know.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_850\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"184\" caption=\"The Last Boy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/81018561.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-850\" title=\"81018561\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/81018561.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"280\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEveryone knew about his amazing talent, and most of us have learned about his country-boy ignorance and his almost casual self-centeredness. Folks who have read much of what has been written about him know of his fatalism, his belief that he wouldn\'t live past 40. I know one of his funnier lines from late in life was when he said if he had known he was going to live this long, he would have taken better care of himself.\r\n\r\nIn many ways, Mickey Mantle <em>was</em> America in the \'50s, even though he probably wasn\'t even the best player in baseball. To give the Mick his due, at his peak he was probably a close second to Willie Mays, but his blond-haired, blue-eyed countenance was probably a lot closer to the way Americans saw  themselves, or at least how they wanted to see themselves.\r\n\r\nMy closest friend adored Mantle, so much so that he gave himself the nickname Mick and put the number \"7\" on gray sweatshirts his mother bought him. Whether it was because the rest of us didn\'t like Mantle or just thought our Mick was putting on airs, we held him down and changed the \"7\" to \"171.\"\r\n\r\nAll that happened more than 40 years ago, and Mantle himself has been dead for more than 15 years. I don\'t have any particular memories of seeing him play, although I\'m pretty sure I attended at least eight or 10 games, in both New York and Washington, in which he played.\r\n\r\nI did attend the July 4th doubleheader at Yankee Stadium in 1961, the year Mantle and Roger Maris both chased Babe Ruth\'s home run record. I seem to recall Maris hit a home run that did.\r\n\r\nMantle didn\'t.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_851\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"1961\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mantle-Maris.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-851\" title=\"Mantle &amp; Maris\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mantle-Maris-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course history tells us that Maris broke the record that year, a record that was broken by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds a few years later.\r\n\r\nI actually met Maris late in the summer of 1982 and sat with him for two hours as we watched his son Kevin play Class A ball. I no longer have the story I wrote, and I was not a very good interviewer that early in my career, but I do remember Maris\' frustration with the way he was treated coming through in a couple of answers.\r\n\r\nI remember him laughing ironically at the first question he heard at Spring Training in 1962.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, Roger, are you going to hit 62 home runs in 1962?\"</em>\r\n\r\nAnd maybe the dumbest question he had been asked.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Roger, would you rather hit .300 or hit 61 homers?\"</em>\r\n\r\nMaris had batted only .269 in 1961, and he took a lot of undeserved criticism for that.\r\n\r\n\"A lot of guys hit .300,\" he told me. \"Not many hit 61 home runs.\"\r\n\r\nMostly what Maris did in 1961 was make New Yorkers finally love Mantle. He had been with the Yankees for 10 years and had played for some of the best teams in baseball history.\r\n\r\nTo listen to Bob Costas or Billy Crystal, you\'d never know that he hadn\'t always been beloved.\r\n\r\nBut there are as many bad Mantle stories as there are good ones. My aunt, who grew up in New York City, actually saw Mantle try to hit on her 13-year-old friend. Then there\'s the one about the mother yelling to Mantle to sign the cast on her son\'s broken leg, and Mantle telling her he\'d sign it when he broke the other one too.\r\n\r\nHey, he was human.\r\n\r\nAnd the more I see of that, the more I find myself liking him.','Mantle was a hero who was all too human','','publish','open','open','','mantle-was-a-hero-who-was-all-too-human','','','2011-02-13 14:33:06','2011-02-13 22:33:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=849',0,'post','',0),(850,1,'2011-02-13 13:52:06','2011-02-13 21:52:06','','81018561','The Last Boy','inherit','open','open','','81018561','','','2011-02-13 13:52:06','2011-02-13 21:52:06','',849,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/81018561.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(851,1,'2011-02-13 14:18:57','2011-02-13 22:18:57','','Mantle & Maris','1961','inherit','open','open','','mantle-maris','','','2011-02-13 14:18:57','2011-02-13 22:18:57','',849,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mantle-Maris.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(852,1,'2011-02-13 14:32:11','2011-02-13 22:32:11','It\'s kind of strange to think about it now, but for someone who is viewed as something of a golden boy for a golden age, Mickey Mantle was not universally loved by the children of the baby boom.\n\nI\'m in the middle of reading Jane Leavy\'s excellent book, \"The Last Boy,\" and I\'m learning more about Mantle than I ever really wanted to know.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_850\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"184\" caption=\"The Last Boy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/81018561.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-850\" title=\"81018561\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/81018561.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"280\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEveryone knew about his amazing talent, and most of us have learned about his country-boy ignorance and his almost casual self-centeredness. Folks who have read much of what has been written about him know of his fatalism, his belief that he wouldn\'t live past 40. I know one of his funnier lines from late in life was when he said if he had known he was going to live this long, he would have taken better care of himself.\n\nIn many ways, Mickey Mantle <em>was</em> America in the \'50s, even though he probably wasn\'t even the best player in baseball. To give the Mick his due, at his peak he was probably a close second to Willie Mays, but his blond-haired, blue-eyed countenance was probably a lot closer to the way Americans saw  themselves, or at least how they wanted to see themselves.\n\nMy closest friend adored Mantle, so much so that he gave himself the nickname Mick and put the number \"7\" on gray sweatshirts his mother bought him. Whether it was because the rest of us didn\'t like Mantle or just thought our Mick was putting on airs, we held him down and changed the \"7\" to \"171.\"\n\nAll that happened more than 40 years ago, and Mantle himself has been dead for more than 15 years. I don\'t have any particular memories of seeing him play, although I\'m pretty sure I attended at least eight or 10 games, in both New York and Washington, in which he played.\n\nI did attend the July 4th doubleheader at Yankee Stadium in 1961, the year Mantle and Roger Maris both chased Babe Ruth\'s home run record. I seem to recall Maris hit a home run that did.\n\nMantle didn\'t.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_851\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"1961\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mantle-Maris.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-851\" title=\"Mantle &amp; Maris\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mantle-Maris-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOf course history tells us that Maris broke the record that year, a record that was broken by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds a few years later.\n\nI actually met Maris late in the summer of 1982 and sat with him for two hours as we watched his son Kevin play Class A ball. I no longer have the story I wrote, and I was not a very good interviewer that early in my career, but I do remember Maris\' frustration with the way he was treated coming through in a couple of answers.\n\nI remember him laughing ironically at the first question he heard at Spring Training in 1962.\n\n<em>\"Well, Roger, are you going to hit 62 home runs in 1962?\"</em>\n\nAnd maybe the dumbest question he had been asked.\n\n<em>\"Roger, would you rather hit .300 or hit 61 homers?\"</em>\n\nMaris had batted only .269 in 1961, and he took a lot of undeserved criticism for that.\n\n\"A lot of guys hit .300,\" he told me. \"Not many hit 61 home runs.\"\n\nMostly what Maris did in 1961 was make New Yorkers finally love Mantle. He had been with the Yankees for 10 years and had played for some of the best teams in baseball history.\n\nTo listen to Bob Costas or Billy Crystal, you\'d never know that he hadn\'t always been beloved.\n\nBut there are as many bad Mantle stories as there are good ones. My aunt, who grew up in New York City, actually saw Mantle try to hit on her 13-year-old friend. Then there\'s the one about the mother yelling to Mantle to sign the cast on her son\'s broken leg, and Mantle telling her he\'d sign it when he broke the other one too.\n\nHey, he was human.\n\nAnd the more I see of that, the more','','','inherit','open','open','','849-revision','','','2011-02-13 14:32:11','2011-02-13 22:32:11','',849,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=852',0,'revision','',0),(854,1,'2011-02-14 18:04:23','2011-02-15 02:04:23','','MastersonWalt','Walt Masterson','inherit','open','open','','mastersonwalt','','','2011-02-14 18:04:23','2011-02-15 02:04:23','',853,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MastersonWalt.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(855,1,'2011-02-14 18:48:22','2011-02-15 02:48:22','I didn\'t expect the Mickey Mantle biography to bring back such a strong memory of a now-departed friend.\n\nBut these days, I never know what will spur memories. I was reading Jane Leavy\'s \"The Last Boy\" when I came across an exchange between Mantle and the author in which a fan said that he had been there in 1950 when Wes Ferrell struck Mantle out five times in one game. Mantle didn\'t contradict the fan, but after he left, told Leavy that it hadn\'t been 1950, it was 1951, and it hadn\'t been Ferrell, it had been Walt Masterson.\n\nHello, old friend.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_854\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Walt Masterson\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MastersonWalt.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-854\" title=\"MastersonWalt\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MastersonWalt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWalt Masterson was one of the most interesting people I ever met. We were collaborating on a book when he died of a stroke three years ago, and unfortunately, it\'s a book I really can\'t finish. He pitched 14 seasons in the American League, mostly for losing teams, and he won 78 games and lost 100. That may not sound all that impressive on the face of it, but he was an American League all-star twice, and in fact was the starting pitcher in the 1948 All-Star Game.\n\nProbably his most memorable game came in June 1947 in Chicago, when he pitched 16 scoreless innings against the White Sox in a game that wasn\'t decided till the 18th inning.\n\nLike many men of his era, he lost three seasons to World War II, but when he returned in September 1945, he outdueled Hall of Famer Bob Feller in a 1-0 shutout.\n\nI met Walt in 1980, when I was editor of the George Mason University student newspaper and he was the school\'s baseball coach. We had some wonderful, long conversations after games that ranged far beyond baseball. In 1983, when I was trying to get a really good job in Oklahoma City, he called the sports editor of the paper for me and gave me a stellar recommendation.\n\nI didn\'t get the job, but only because there was a hiring freeze. After that Walt and I lost touch with each other for more than 20 years. I\'m not sure what made me think about him, but I was going through a period when I was looking up a lot of old friends through a service we had at work. I found him in North Carolina and I wrote to him. I\'m so glad I did.\n\nWe re-established contact, and as I said, we actually worked on a book together. I wish I had been better about finishing it more quickly, but I did visit him twice in North Carolina and somewhere I\'ve got a video tape of about an hour\'s worth of conversation we had one one of those visits.\n\nWhen we met, he was 60 and I was 30.\n\nWhen we got together again a few years ago, I was nearly 60 myself. He was 87 when he died, and I still miss him. But I\'m glad for the time we spent together near the end of his life.\n\nHe was a heck of a guy, a really fine man.\n\nAnd hey, I\'m pretty sure he was the only pitc','','','inherit','open','open','','853-revision','','','2011-02-14 18:48:22','2011-02-15 02:48:22','',853,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=855',0,'revision','',0),(856,1,'2011-02-15 18:42:53','2011-02-16 02:42:53','I keep getting more and more from the Mickey Mantle biography.\r\n\r\nI read that Mantle loved Roy Clark\'s \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" which was a hit record in 1968 as Mantle\'s baseball career was ending. Indeed, he asked Clark if he would sign it at his funeral.\r\n\r\nIt was a lovely song -- popular when I was 18 -- and of course it\'s a song I hear very differently at age 61. I actually just learned today that it wasn\'t Clark\'s song, that there was actually an earlier, lovelier version of it by Charles Aznavour, and even though the great French singer did a version of the song in English, the original version was called \"Hier encore.\"\r\n\r\nI found a pretty version of it on YouTube, from a recent Aznavour album called \"Duos,\" in which he performed the song with Elton John.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HqwPsEhClU&amp;feature=related\r\n\r\nThe two actually did the song in English -- as \"Yesterday When I Was Young\" -- and in French as \"Hier Encore.\" I think the French version is prettier.\r\n\r\nAlso more poignant.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, because when I first heard Clark\'s song as an 18-year-old, on a gut level I never imagined there would ever be a \"yesterday when <em>I</em> was young.\"\r\n\r\nWhen I was 18, only two people who had meant anything to me had died -- a maiden aunt and my great-grandmother. I suppose I knew my grandparents wouldn\'t live forever, but it is truly strange for me to write this and realize that every one of my grandparents has been gone now for more than 20 years.\r\n\r\nI am a lucky man, I know. I still have one parent who is alive; in fact, today is my mother\'s birthday. All of my siblings and nearly all of my first cousins are still alive. All my close friends are still around, and nearly all the women who ever meant anything to me (at least the ones I\'m still aware of) are doing fine.\r\n\r\nBut yesterday, when I was young, there were so many songs still waiting to be sung.','Some songs take on new meaning as years pass','','publish','open','open','','some-songs-take-on-new-meaning-as-years-pass','','','2011-02-15 18:42:53','2011-02-16 02:42:53','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=856',0,'post','',0),(857,1,'2011-02-15 18:42:39','2011-02-16 02:42:39','I keep getting more and more from the Mickey Mantle biography.\n\nI read that Mantle loved Roy Clark\'s \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" which was a hit record in 1968 as Mantle\'s baseball career was ending. Indeed, he asked Clark if he would sign it at his funeral.\n\nIt was a lovely song -- popular when I was 18 -- and of course it\'s a song I hear very differently at age 61. I actually just learned today that it wasn\'t Clark\'s song, that there was actually an earlier, lovelier version of it by Charles Aznavour, and even though the great French singer did a version of the song in English, the original version was called \"Hier encore.\"\n\nI found a pretty version of it on YouTube, from a recent Aznavour album called \"Duos,\" in which he performed the song with Elton John.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HqwPsEhClU&amp;feature=related\n\nThe two actually did the song in English -- as \"Yesterday When I Was Young\" -- and in French as \"Hier Encore.\" I think the French version is prettier.\n\nAlso more poignant.\n\nIt\'s funny, because when I first heard Clark\'s song as an 18-year-old, on a gut level I never imagined there would ever be a \"yesterday when <em>I</em> was young.\"\n\nWhen I was 18, only two people who had meant anything to me had died -- a maiden aunt and my great-grandmother. I suppose I knew my grandparents wouldn\'t live forever, but it is truly strange for me to write this and realize that every one of my grandparents has been gone now for more than 20 years.\n\nI am a lucky man, I know. I still have one parent who is alive; in fact, today is my mother\'s birthday. All of my siblings and nearly all of my first cousins are still alive. All my close friends are still around, and nearly all the women who ever meant anything to me (at least the ones I\'m still aware of) are doing fine.\n\nBut yesterday, when I was young, there were so many songs still waiting to be sung.','Yesterday','','inherit','open','open','','856-revision','','','2011-02-15 18:42:39','2011-02-16 02:42:39','',856,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=857',0,'revision','',0),(858,1,'2011-02-16 20:50:02','2011-02-17 04:50:02','I can\'t think of many things in life that I choose to do that can be as infuriating or as exhilarating as golf.\r\n\r\nWhen I was first playing, I was so bad -- and got so angry at myself -- that I used to break clubs over my knee. I wish I could blame it on immaturity, but I was 45 years old at the time.\r\n\r\nPlaying on full-length courses, I was shooting in the low 130s for 18 holes. My friend Mick was consistently beating me by 30-35 strokes, which isn\'t all that great for the ego.\r\n\r\nI did get better, and my the time I reached 50, I was managing to break a hundred once in a while. I was playing a beautiful Southern California course -- I\'ve written about the gorgeous Empire Lakes course many times -- and about four or five years ago, I finally managed to break 90, with the help of mulligans and winter rules. On my best day ever, I tore up the back nine at Empire, running off five pars and a birdie and shooting 38 for nine holes. My 83 that day is still the best round I\'ve ever shot.\r\n\r\nToday might have been better, but I\'ll never know. I only made it through 15 holes before I had to stop for darkness, but it was a pretty nice day at Sun City Peachtree. It was the first time I was able to play in shorts and shirt sleeves, and although I didn\'t start all that well -- a double bogey and four bogeys -- I started getting it together with a par on the sixth hole.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_859\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The eighth green\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101210_20.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-859\" title=\"20101210_20\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101210_20-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI came back with another par on seven, but it was the par-five eighth hole -- which I usually double bogey -- that was really special. I hit two pretty decent shots and left myself 113 yards from the hole for my third shot. I\'m not a big hitter, so I usually have to overclub. I hit my seven-iron perfectly and left the ball four inches from the cup. I\'ve never had an eagle, let alone a hole-in-one, but I tapped in for birdie and felt wonderful.\r\n\r\nI parred the ninth hole and finished the front nine with a 41.\r\n\r\nThe 10th is a longish par four that I\'ve only parred once, and I had an uphill 28-footer for par today. I didn\'t make it, but I have no idea why. I was right on target with good speed, but it lipped the hole and popped out. I tapped in for bogey.\r\n\r\nMy six holes on the back nine were two pars, three bogeys and a double bogey on a par five, so I had a 71 with three holes remaining -- a par three and two par fours. I would have had to par all three to top my best round, but my previous best round on this course was an 86.\r\n\r\nOh well.\r\n\r\nAs I said, sometimes I walk off the golf course feeling furious.\r\n\r\nToday I felt wonderful.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a crazy life.','Sometimes you lose, but sometimes you win','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-you-lose-but-sometimes-you-win','','','2011-02-16 20:50:02','2011-02-17 04:50:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=858',0,'post','',0),(859,1,'2011-02-16 20:47:34','2011-02-17 04:47:34','','20101210_20','The eighth green','inherit','open','open','','20101210_20','','','2011-02-16 20:47:34','2011-02-17 04:47:34','',858,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101210_20.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(860,1,'2011-02-16 20:49:38','2011-02-17 04:49:38','I can\'t think of many things in life that I choose to do that can be as infuriating or as exhilarating as golf.\n\nWhen I was first playing, I was so bad -- and got so angry at myself -- that I used to break clubs over my knee. I wish I could blame it on immaturity, but I was 45 years old at the time.\n\nPlaying on full-length courses, I was shooting in the low 130s for 18 holes. My friend Mick was consistently beating me by 30-35 strokes, which isn\'t all that great for the ego.\n\nI did get better, and my the time I reached 50, I was managing to break a hundred once in a while. I was playing a beautiful Southern California course -- I\'ve written about the gorgeous Empire Lakes course many times -- and about four or five years ago, I finally managed to break 90, with the help of mulligans and winter rules. On my best day ever, I tore up the back nine at Empire, running off five pars and a birdie and shooting 38 for nine holes. My 83 that day is still the best round I\'ve ever shot.\n\nToday might have been better, but I\'ll never know. I only made it through 15 holes before I had to stop for darkness, but it was a pretty nice day at Sun City Peachtree. It was the first time I was able to play in shorts and shirt sleeves, and although I didn\'t start all that well -- a double bogey and four bogeys -- I started getting it together with a par on the sixth hole.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_859\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The eighth green\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101210_20.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-859\" title=\"20101210_20\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101210_20-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI came back with another par on seven, but it was the par-five eighth hole -- which I usually double bogey -- that was really special. I hit two pretty decent shots and left myself 113 yards from the hole for my third shot. I\'m not a big hitter, so I usually have to overclub. I hit my seven-iron perfectly and left the ball four inches from the cup. I\'ve never had an eagle, let alone a hole-in-one, but I tapped in for birdie and felt wonderful.\n\nI parred the ninth hole and finished the front nine with a 41.\n\nThe 10th is a longish par four that I\'ve only parred once, and I had an uphill 28-footer for par today. I didn\'t make it, but I have no idea why. I was right on target with good speed, but it lipped the hole and popped out. I tapped in for bogey.\n\nMy six holes on the back nine were two pars, three bogeys and a double bogey on a par five, so I had a 71 with three holes remaining -- a par three and two par fours. I would have had to par all three to top my best round, but my previous best round on this course was an 86.\n\nOh well.\n\nAs I said, sometimes I walk off the golf course feeling furious.\n\nToday I felt wonderful.\n\nIt\'s a crazy life.','','','inherit','open','open','','858-revision','','','2011-02-16 20:49:38','2011-02-17 04:49:38','',858,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=860',0,'revision','',0),(861,1,'2011-02-17 19:20:31','2011-02-18 03:20:31','The temperature got into the 70s today, which was a really nice surprise.\r\n\r\nWhen I lived in California for 20 winters, a day like that could happen at any time. But it was the warmest day we had here in about three months, which made for more of a special feeling. It\'s supposed to stay warm through the weekend, but I doubt that winter is finished for good. At least I hope it isn\'t; I\'ve been enjoying my first real winter since 1989-90 in Reno.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Will it snow again this winter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110118_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-862\" title=\"20110118_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110118_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI really have enjoyed the fact that we have actually had snow on the ground twice, although the second time it had melted away by the middle of the day.\r\n\r\nI\'m still having a little bit of trouble getting into a regular routine, and I definitely need to figure out fairly soon what I\'m going to be able to do as far as a garden this year. Between gardening, exercising and getting back to work on my book, I have to find a way to make better use of my time than I\'ve been managing so far.\r\n\r\nMaybe I should just take it one step at a time.\r\n\r\nOne day at a time.\r\n\r\nBuild a routine.','Enjoying a warm day late in the winter','','publish','open','open','','enjoying-a-warm-day-late-in-the-winter','','','2011-02-17 19:20:31','2011-02-18 03:20:31','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=861',0,'post','',1),(862,1,'2011-02-17 19:08:02','2011-02-18 03:08:02','','20110118_3','Will it snow again this winter?','inherit','open','open','','20110118_3','','','2011-02-17 19:08:02','2011-02-18 03:08:02','',861,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110118_3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(863,1,'2011-02-17 19:19:43','2011-02-18 03:19:43','The temperature got into the 70s today, which was a really nice surprise.\n\nWhen I lived in California for 20 winters, a day like that could happen at any time. But it was the warmest day we had here in about three months, which made for more of a special feeling. It\'s supposed to stay warm through the weekend, but I doubt that winter is finished for good. At least I hope it isn\'t; I\'ve been enjoying my first real winter since 1989-90 in Reno.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Will it snow again this winter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110118_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-862\" title=\"20110118_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110118_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI really have enjoyed the fact that we have actually had snow on the ground twice, although the second time it had melted away by the middle of the day.\n\nI\'m still having a little bit of trouble getting into a regular routine, and I definitely need to figure out fairly soon what I\'m going to be able to do as far as a garden this year. Between gardening, exercising and getting back to work on my book, I have to find a way to make better use of my time than I\'ve been managing so far.\n\nMaybe I should just take it one step at a time.\n\nOne day at a time.\n\nBuild a routine.','','','inherit','open','open','','861-revision','','','2011-02-17 19:19:43','2011-02-18 03:19:43','',861,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=863',0,'revision','',0),(864,1,'2011-02-18 18:39:32','2011-02-19 02:39:32','I really might have one of the best, most eclectic iPods in the world now.\r\n\r\nI have more than 6,200 different items in its memory now, from music of all sorts to a dozen or so podcasts to nearly 30 audiobooks to one movie -- \"Talladega Nights\" -- somewhere in there.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_865\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Charles Aznavour\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-865\" title=\"0289624041_s\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s the music that is a lot of fun. In recent months, I have been adding all sorts of artists that strike my fancy. From Dickey Lee and Terry Cashman to Starship and Tim McGraw, from the Andrews Sisters and Helen Reddy to the Association and Charles Aznavour. I\'ve got hundreds of classic music selections and a hundred or so hymns, a ton of country music and seven or eight bluegrass albums with my friend Susan Nikas.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really terrific to load up my iPod and go out for a two- or three-hour walk. With the music on \"shuffle,\" I can go from a \'60s hit to something by Beethoven to some Kathleen Madigan or Jim Gaffigan standup comedy. I actually end up skipping a lot of stuff because it doesn\'t seem right for the moment, but I also occasionally come across stuff that I had forgotten was on there.\r\n\r\nThink about it. With more than 6,000 songs on the iPod, there are probably some that in all the continuous shuffling, I never hear.\r\n\r\nThe only thing that sort of disappoints me is that I\'ve got days worth of \'60s and \'70s music from CDs I used to own that I cannot figure out how to get from my Zune to my iPod. I\'ve also got comedy by guys like Bill Hicks and Mitch Fatel on the Zune, which I have plugged into the home sound system but don\'t carry with me when I walk.\r\n\r\nYeah, I suppose it\'s sort of goofy.\r\n\r\nBut it certainly does make hiking a lot easier, and as my toe continues to heal from its infection, I am certainly hoping to get back into longer walks than I have been doing this week.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_867\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"160\" caption=\"Sue Nikas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-867\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"218\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve been eating too much and my weight is closer to 200 pounds than I care to admit, even to myself. I really need to get back into the good habits I formed last summer and fall in Texas and California.\r\n\r\nOtherwise, eventually I\'ll end up in the same mess I was before I went to Texas.\r\n\r\nThankfully, though, my iPod is ready and waiting when I start hitting the road big-time. The music really does make a big difference.','With the music cranked and ready, time to walk','','publish','open','open','','with-the-music-cranked-and-ready-time-to-walk','','','2011-02-18 18:39:32','2011-02-19 02:39:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=864',0,'post','',0),(865,1,'2011-02-18 17:01:32','2011-02-19 01:01:32','','0289624041_s','Charles Aznavour','inherit','open','open','','0289624041_s','','','2011-02-18 17:01:32','2011-02-19 01:01:32','',864,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(866,1,'2011-02-18 17:03:14','2011-02-19 01:03:14','I really might have one of the best, most eclectic iPods in the world now.\n\nI have more than 6,200 different items in its memory now, from music of all sorts to a dozen or so podcasts to nearly 30 audiobooks to one movie -- \"Talladega Nights\" -- somewhere in there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_865\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Charles Aznavour\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-865\" title=\"0289624041_s\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s the music that is a lot of fun. In recent months, I have been adding all sorts of artists that strike my fancy. From Dickey Lee and Terry Cashman to Starship and Tim McGraw, from the Andrews Sisters and Helen Reddy to the Association and Charles Aznavour. I\'ve got hundreds of classic music selections and a hundred or so hymns, a ton of country music and seven or eight bluegrass albums with my friend Susan Nikas.\n\nIt\'s really terrific to load up my iPod and go out for a two- or three-hour walk. With the music on \"shuffle','','','inherit','open','open','','864-revision','','','2011-02-18 17:03:14','2011-02-19 01:03:14','',864,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=866',0,'revision','',0),(867,1,'2011-02-18 18:36:36','2011-02-19 02:36:36','','images','Sue Nikas','inherit','open','open','','images-4','','','2011-02-18 18:36:36','2011-02-19 02:36:36','',864,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/images.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(868,1,'2011-02-18 18:39:10','2011-02-19 02:39:10','I really might have one of the best, most eclectic iPods in the world now.\n\nI have more than 6,200 different items in its memory now, from music of all sorts to a dozen or so podcasts to nearly 30 audiobooks to one movie -- \"Talladega Nights\" -- somewhere in there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_865\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Charles Aznavour\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-865\" title=\"0289624041_s\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/0289624041_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s the music that is a lot of fun. In recent months, I have been adding all sorts of artists that strike my fancy. From Dickey Lee and Terry Cashman to Starship and Tim McGraw, from the Andrews Sisters and Helen Reddy to the Association and Charles Aznavour. I\'ve got hundreds of classic music selections and a hundred or so hymns, a ton of country music and seven or eight bluegrass albums with my friend Susan Nikas.\n\nIt\'s really terrific to load up my iPod and go out for a two- or three-hour walk. With the music on \"shuffle,\" I can go from a \'60s hit to something by Beethoven to some Kathleen Madigan or Jim Gaffigan standup comedy. I actually end up skipping a lot of stuff because it doesn\'t seem right for the moment, but I also occasionally come across stuff that I had forgotten was on there.\n\nThink about it. With more than 6,000 songs on the iPod, there are probably some that in all the continuous shuffling, I never hear.\n\nThe only thing that sort of disappoints me is that I\'ve got days worth of \'60s and \'70s music from CDs I used to own that I cannot figure out how to get from my Zune to my iPod. I\'ve also got comedy by guys like Bill Hicks and Mitch Fatel on the Zune, which I have plugged into the home sound system but don\'t carry with me when I walk.\n\nYeah, I suppose it\'s sort of goofy.\n\nBut it certainly does make hiking a lot easier, and as my toe continues to heal from its infection, I am certainly hoping to get back into longer walks than I have been doing this week.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_867\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"160\" caption=\"Sue Nikas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-867\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"218\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been eating too much and my weight is closer to 200 pounds than I care to admit, even to myself. I really need to get back into the good habits I formed last summer and fall in Texas and California.\n\nOtherwise, eventually I\'ll end up in the same mess I was before I went to Texas.\n\nThankfully, though, my iPod is ready and waiting when I start hitting the road big-time. The music really does make a big difference.','','','inherit','open','open','','864-revision-2','','','2011-02-18 18:39:10','2011-02-19 02:39:10','',864,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=868',0,'revision','',0),(870,1,'2011-02-20 14:48:53','2011-02-20 22:48:53','','00000004','1986 Midwest Regional','inherit','open','open','','00000004','','','2011-02-20 14:48:53','2011-02-20 22:48:53','',869,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00000004.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(871,1,'2011-02-20 15:17:58','2011-02-20 23:17:58','','106432363','Once in a while, the little guys win.','inherit','open','open','','106432363','','','2011-02-20 15:17:58','2011-02-20 23:17:58','',869,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/106432363.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(872,1,'2011-02-20 15:21:12','2011-02-20 23:21:12','My own personal experience with unions has had very little to do with my belief in the right of working men and women to organize.\n\nWhen I went to work in St. Louis in 1984, I became a member of the Newspaper Guild. At that point in my career, at that point in the newspaper industry, the idea of working for a union paper with good pay and good benefits was really exciting.\n\nOf course, I didn\'t realize that the union at the <em>St. Louis Globe-Democrat</em> had rolled over and played dead so that the underfunded owner could keep the paper alive on the critical list. Even though I had four years experience working on daily newspapers, I was entered into the pay scale at the one-year level. Then for 2 1/2 years, I never got a raise and never even advanced to the two-year level.\n\nThat didn\'t bother me as much as the time someone complained to the union and I was reprimanded for working too hard.\n\nMy problem didn\'t really have much to do with the concept of unions itself. I just had the misfortune to work for a company so weak that the union couldn\'t exert any of its power without putting the newspaper out of business.\n\nI had some amazing experiences in those 2 1/2 years, covering two NCAA basketball tournaments all the way from first round to Final Fours, and even though the bankruptcy of the paper in the fall of \'86 meant I lost about seven or eight weeks worth of pay for vacation and comp time, I figured things happen.\n\nAnd I certainly figured I was better off in that horrible situation as a union member than I would have been as an individual.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_870\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"168\" caption=\"1986 Midwest Regional\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00000004-e1298243339193.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-870\" title=\"00000004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00000004-e1298243339193-168x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"168\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf that\'s true for one journalist against a nearly bankrupt businessman, it\'s certainly true for working men and woman dealing with multinational corporations or  right-wing state governments. Watching what is happening in Wisconsin, where the newly elected right-wing governor created a fiscal crisis (with tax cuts, of course) to give him a reason to break the public-employees union, is pretty awful.\n\nWhat\'s even more awful is hearing people blame the unions for the crisis, as if we all ought to just bend over and bow to the people with more wealth and power than we have.\n\nYes, there is corruption in union leadership sometimes, just as there is corruption in big business and in big government. But the answer isn\'t -- as my brilliant but sometimes flaky friend Mick believes -- to oppose bigness in any of those three things.\n\nThe fact is, they serve as counterbalances against each other, and unfortunately in our society, big business -- also known as big money -- is the most powerful of those three. The mega-wealthy can spend millions of dollars in campaign contributions to buy politicians to support their point of view, and they can buy influence with Supreme Court justices to get decisions like <em>Citizens United</em> -- maybe the worst court decision since <em>Plessy v. Ferguson</em> in 1895 -- to open up campaigns to even more of their financial influence.\n\nThe fact is, unions are just about the only counterbalancing force against that money, so when you hear conservatives railing against Big Labor, think of it this way.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Once in a while, the little guys win.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/106432363.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-871\" title=\"106432363\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/106432363-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBig business is like the New York Yankees.\n\nBig labor is like the San Francisco Giants, who get to win once every half-century or so.\n\nAnd when the Giants do win, the only folks you ever hear complaining are Yankees fans. You see, when you root for the big guys, you think it\'s your God-given right to win every year.\n\nCan\'t win \'em all?\n\nTry telling that to Walmart, or the Koch brothers, or the right-wing governor of Wisconsin.\n\nThey not only expect to win them all, they do their best to rig the results.','','','inherit','open','open','','869-revision','','','2011-02-20 15:21:12','2011-02-20 23:21:12','',869,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=872',0,'revision','',0),(893,1,'2011-03-01 18:31:37','2011-03-02 02:31:37','I\'m not really sure why I watched the Academy Awards the other night. I hadn\'t sat through them for years, and I don\'t think I had seen more than one or two of the movies that were nominated for anything this year. I saw \"Toy Story 3\" in a theater and I watched \"The Social Network\" on DVD. I have the DVD for \"The Kids Are Alright,\" but I haven\'t watched it yet. I saw \"True Grit\" the first time around; just about the only movie I really want to see of this year\'s biggies is \"The King\'s Speech.\"\r\n\r\nStill, I enjoyed the show, which from what I\'ve been reading leaves me in a distinct minority. In fact, for all the attacks on James Franco and Anne Hathaway, you\'d think they had barbecued and eaten Mickey Mouse on stage.\r\n\r\nActually, watching the Oscars gave me a little bit of a homesick feeling for the first time since we left California four months ago.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_894\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Spotless Beverly Hills\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-894\" title=\"3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor some reason, it reminded me of the first time I saw Los Angeles in 1978. My first wife and I had driven down from San Francisco, and I remember that it was somewhere around Santa Barbara where I first started noticing the palm trees.\r\n\r\nOf course I had seen them on television. So many of the shows I had grown up watching in the 1960s were set in Southern California, with its 350 days a year of sunshine. I was like most other American kids of that era, I suppose. We knew our  own hometown and we knew L.A., even though it was one of those exotic dream places that you couldn\'t actually <em>live</em> in.\r\n\r\nThe funny thing I remember from 20 years living there is that Los Angeles was what you wanted to make of it. You could do the whole California thing -- spending time at the beach, shopping in Beverly Hills, eating in fancy retaurants -- or you could pretty much ignore it.\r\n\r\nFor 18 years, I worked 50 miles inland from the ocean, and except for the nice California weather, my office could just as easily have been in Kansas or Kentucky.\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I ever saw a star in a grocery store or restaurant the whole time I lived there, although I did have dinner with Squiggy in the press room at Dodger Stadium and I punked Larry King in the press box there on a different occasion.\r\n\r\nI met a lot of stars while I was doing entertainment stories -- Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Drew Carey, Will Ferrell and the late Peter Ustinov (before he died), to name a few. I even met Eddie Haskell in Beverly Hills, which was sort of a surreal experience.\r\n\r\nI only went to one Lakers game in 20 years, and I sat on press row for that one. Most of my insider stuff came from being a reporter and columnist, although I did manage to have a wonderful thrill -- twice, actually -- when I got front-row seats on the third-base side at Dodger Stadium. I took my son and his friends once and my daughter and her fiance the other time. When you love baseball, and you\'re that close to the field in one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world, that\'s a special moment.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_895\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My last time at Dodger Stadium.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-895\" title=\"Dodger Stadium 005\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI tried to figure it out once, and I think I might have seen something like 200 baseball games at Chavez Ravine. I saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch his no-hitter in 1990, and I saw Atlanta\'s Kent Mercker pitch a no-hitter against the Dodgers a couple of years later.\r\n\r\nOddly, on some rare nights off in 1990 and 1991, I missed Kevin Gross pitching a no-hitter for the Dodgers and -- far worse -- I missed Montreal\'s Dennis Martinez pitching a <em>perfect game</em> against Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nBut I digress.\r\n\r\nIt\'s just that so much of what Los Angeles is to me is wrapped up in Dodger Stadium.\r\n\r\nI definitely miss California, although for the most part I\'m happy with our new home in Georgia. It\'s certainly wonderful to be living in a place where our home is completely paid for, and where our living expenses will be much lower than they would have been on the West Coast.\r\n\r\nBut I do love L.A., the Los Angeles of freeways and beaches, of the Industry -- only rubes call it \"Hollywood\" -- and all the gorgeous landscape.\r\n\r\nOh, and Johnny Carson, too.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfUTE6XvYA&amp;feature=related','Oscar telecast brings back memories of California','','publish','open','open','','oscar-telecast-brings-back-memories-of-california','','','2011-03-01 18:31:37','2011-03-02 02:31:37','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=893',0,'post','',0),(874,1,'2011-02-22 12:42:02','2011-02-22 20:42:02','As a parent, I can tell you with great assurance that there is nothing in the world that frightens me more than the possibility of something terrible happening to my children. That of course goes double for my granddaughter, because anything that happened to her would hurt doubly by also hurting my daughter.\r\n\r\nWe used to treasure our children in this country. We used to understand that they were tender and vulnerable, and we used to do what we could to protect them from the nastiness of the world for as long as we could. Even as a society, we used to understand that just because a child had bad parents, it didn\'t mean they should lose out on whatever chance for a happy life we could give them.\r\n\r\nOf course, times change.\r\n\r\nOur society has become a colder, less generous place for children to grow up in. Some of what we do is out of selfishness or meanness, complaining about high taxes and cutting programs that benefit children, but some of it is out of a misguided sense of what freedom and modernity mean. Believe me, some of the stuff kids are exposed to on television now is stuff adults couldn\'t have seen in movie theaters sixty years ago.\r\n\r\nWe coarsen the culture and we sexualize our children. America was shocked at Christmas 1996 by the murder of 6-year-old Jonbenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, but almost equally shocking to some people were the pictures of this preschooler competing in beauty pageants made up and dressed up to look like a miniature bombshell.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_875\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"241\" caption=\"Six years old.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aaajb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-875\" title=\"aaajb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aaajb-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEvery decision we make comes with a price. Remember Spencer Tracy as the Clarence Darrow character in \"Inherit the Wind:\"\r\n\r\n<em>\"Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. <strong> </strong>Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline.\"</em>\r\n\r\nFolks, you can sexualize your society and enjoy all sorts of freedom, but don\'t be surprised when your children grow up too fast and the coarseness of life sickens you.\r\n\r\nIn that same play, based on the 1924 Scopes Monkey Trial, the H.L. Mencken character is told that you can\'t say \"God\" or \"hell\" on the radio. I\'m pretty sure that ban on \"hell\" and \"damn\" lasted through a good part of my childhood. These days you can say almost anything, especially if you fiddle with it a little. You can call someone an \"a-hole\" or you can say something is an \"effing\" mess without getting into trouble, but everyone knows what you mean and life gets just a little bit more coarse.\r\n\r\nI remember contributing to that coarseness in a small way myself without even meaning to. When I was visiting friends in 1990, I was watching television with their 7-year-old son. I heard a noise, and I asked him, \"Did you fart?\"\r\n\r\nHe denied it, and I told him I had heard him.\r\n\r\n\"Oh,\" he said. \"I passed gas.\"\r\n\r\nI smiled. \"That\'s also known as farting,\" I said, and he stored the knowledge away for future reference.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, his dad accidentally dropped a couple of \"f-bombs\" around my children. We all make mistakes, and in the end, all we can do is love our children and try to keep them innocent for as long as we can.\r\n\r\nWhat brought this on?\r\n\r\nActually, I thought about this because I\'m frightened for a friend of mine. Jeff Malet, a friend and former colleague in California, posted on Facebook that his 15-year-old niece has been missing since Friday. No one know for sure the reason yet, but these days, there are so many things that can happen to a child -- or even a teenager -- away from the protection of friends and family.\r\n\r\nI told Jeff I would pray for his niece, and I will.\r\n\r\nI wish I could do more.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a helpless feeling, because so much of what has gone wrong with our society is so far beyond the ability of any of us to correct.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the most frightening thing of all.','Sometimes all we can do is pray for the children','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-all-we-can-do-is-pray-for-the-children','','','2011-02-22 12:42:02','2011-02-22 20:42:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=874',0,'post','',0),(875,1,'2011-02-22 12:23:46','2011-02-22 20:23:46','','aaajb','Six years old.','inherit','open','open','','aaajb','','','2011-02-22 12:23:46','2011-02-22 20:23:46','',874,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aaajb.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(876,1,'2011-02-22 12:41:59','2011-02-22 20:41:59','As a parent, I can tell you with great assurance that there is nothing in the world that frightens me more than the possibility of something terrible happening to my children. That of course goes double for my granddaughter, because anything that happened to her would hurt doubly by also hurting my daughter.\n\nWe used to treasure our children in this country. We used to understand that they were tender and vulnerable, and we used to do what we could to protect them from the nastiness of the world for as long as we could. Even as a society, we used to understand that just because a child had bad parents, it didn\'t mean they should lose out on whatever chance for a happy life we could give them.\n\nOf course, times change.\n\nOur society has become a colder, less generous place for children to grow up in. Some of what we do is out of selfishness or meanness, complaining about high taxes and cutting programs that benefit children, but some of it is out of a misguided sense of what freedom and modernity mean. Believe me, some of the stuff kids are exposed to on television now is stuff adults couldn\'t have seen in movie theaters sixty years ago.\n\nWe coarsen the culture and we sexualize our children. America was shocked at Christmas 1996 by the murder of 6-year-old Jonbenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, but almost equally shocking to some people were the pictures of this preschooler competing in beauty pageants made up and dressed up to look like a miniature bombshell.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_875\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"241\" caption=\"Six years old.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aaajb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-875\" title=\"aaajb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aaajb-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEvery decision we make comes with a price. Remember Spencer Tracy as the Clarence Darrow character in \"Inherit the Wind:\"\n\n<em>\"Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. <strong> </strong>Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline.\"</em>\n\nFolks, you can sexualize your society and enjoy all sorts of freedom, but don\'t be surprised when your children grow up too fast and the coarseness of life sickens you.\n\nIn that same play, based on the 1924 Scopes Monkey Trial, the H.L. Mencken character is told that you can\'t say \"God\" or \"hell\" on the radio. I\'m pretty sure that ban on \"hell\" and \"damn\" lasted through a good part of my childhood. These days you can say almost anything, especially if you fiddle with it a little. You can call someone an \"a-hole\" or you can say something is an \"effing\" mess without getting into trouble, but everyone knows what you mean and life gets just a little bit more coarse.\n\nI remember contributing to that coarseness in a small way myself without even meaning to. When I was visiting friends in 1990, I was watching television with their 7-year-old son. I heard a noise, and I asked him, \"Did you fart?\"\n\nHe denied it, and I told him I had heard him.\n\n\"Oh,\" he said. \"I passed gas.\"\n\nI smiled. \"That\'s also known as farting,\" I said, and he stored the knowledge away for future reference.\n\nTwo years later, his dad accidentally dropped a couple of \"f-bombs\" around my children. We all make mistakes, and in the end, all we can do is love our children and try to keep them innocent for as long as we can.\n\nWhat brought this on?\n\nActually, I thought about this because I\'m frightened for a friend of mine. Jeff Malet, a friend and former colleague in California, posted on Facebook that his 15-year-old niece has been missing since Friday. No one know for sure the reason yet, but these days, there are so many things that can happen to a child -- or even a teenager -- away from the protection of friends and family.\n\nI told Jeff I would pray for his niece, and I will.\n\nI wish I could do more.\n\nIt\'s a helpless feeling, because so much of what has gone wrong with our society is so far beyond the ability of any of us to correct.\n\nAnd that\'s the most frightening thing of all.','Sometimes all we can do is pray for the children','','inherit','open','open','','874-revision','','','2011-02-22 12:41:59','2011-02-22 20:41:59','',874,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=876',0,'revision','',0),(877,1,'2011-02-23 18:09:08','2011-02-24 02:09:08','Sometimes I can\'t help but get pissed off.\r\n\r\nI have had plenty of times in my life that I have lost out on things because I didn\'t work hard enough, or I had a bad attitude, or I didn\'t take the right approach to something. But there was one time in my life that I was doing something very well -- something I honestly believe I should still be doing -- and I had it taken away from me through the stupidity and short-sightedness of my employer.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_878\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"244\" caption=\"In the beginning -- 1996\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-878\" title=\"20110222_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1-e1298511502809-244x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn 1996, a wonderful editor named Steve Trosley -- one of the best people I worked for in 28 years -- gave me the opportunity to be a three-times-weekly columnist, writing about whatever caught my fancy.\r\n\r\nThis was the first one, and it was an award winner.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>There’s nothing more chilling than a knock on your door in the middle of the night. It’s a hollow sound, something that grabs you way down deep, and when that almost primeval noise awakens you from sleep, when a glance at the bedside clock tells you it’s 3 a.m., you know nothing good is happening.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The only question you ask yourself is how bad it’s going to be, especially if you’re the wife of a police officer and your husband is out on patrol.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>When Nancy Hernandez heard the knock, early in the morning of Nov.  13, 1995, at first she thought she had imagined it.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>“You don’t constantly worry that something’s going to happen,” she said. “But it’s always in the back of your mind that something could happen. So you prepare yourself as much as you can, but as time goes on and things don’t happen, you get more comfortable.”</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Nancy had been married to Ed Hernandez for four years, about the same length of time he had been an officer with the Ontario Police Department, when the knock came.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> “I heard it and I said, ‘Oh, it couldn’t have been,’” she said. “I lay down to go back to sleep and I really didn’t think anything of it. Then I heard it again.”</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Then she knew it was real. She pulled on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen of her Chino Hills home. A quick glance out the window showed her husband’s best friend in the department standing there.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> All of a sudden, every impossible worry, every unreasonable fear was this close to being a reality. “I opened the door and said, ‘Something happened. Didn’t it?’” she said.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Yes, something had happened.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Officer Hernandez had been wounded in a shootout at the Ontario Black Angus. He was alive, but his left tibia had been shattered. The worst had been avoided. Still, when doctors start throwing around words like “shattered” to describe weight-bearing bones in the lower leg, the situation is anything but rosy.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Since that morning nearly six months ago, Ed and Nancy Hernandez have been through a lot, both good and bad. They’ve learned a lot about themselves and about the meaning of heroism.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> This column and the one that will follow on Tuesday are about their heroism and how it exemplifies what people call the California Dream. Someone once said the only difference between the California Dream and the American Dream was 350 cloudless days a year. In these days of gridlock and crime, downsizing and overcrowding, it sounds a lot like an idyllic picture of a time long past.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Remove immigration as a factor and more people move out of California each year than arrive here from other states. With better than one-eighth of the population of the United States living within our borders, we’re no longer the paradise of which the Beach Boys sang in those halcyon days when the surf was always up, our neighborhoods were full of Marcia Bradys and Beaver Cleavers and Ontario was a long, long way from Los Angeles.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Times may change, but people rarely do. Ed and Nancy Hernandez are children of California, he a descendant of the old </em><em><strong>Californios</strong> who settled the state and she a pretty blonde who a generation earlier might have been an inspiration for the song that wished they all could be California girls.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> She always wanted to be a teacher. He grew up wanting to be a cop.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> They dated through high school, and after both completed their degrees at Cal State Fullerton and started their careers, they were married.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Ed became an Ontario police officer, and for his first four years on the force, nothing much happened. One time he found himself looking down the barrel of a loaded shotgun, but nothing much came of it.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Nancy started to relax and sleep better at night, the uneasiness and fear slipping into the back of her mind. They had a baby girl, and their lives were shaping up nicely.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Till Nov. 13, 1995.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> Till the middle of the night and the knock on the door.</em>\r\n\r\n<em> </em><em>***</em>\r\n\r\nI wrote columns for nearly five years. I won awards every year, I had a strong following among our readers and I made it into the 2001 edition of \"Who\'s Who in America.\"\r\n\r\nBut our newspaper was sold to new ownership and we got a new editor who didn\'t like the idea of a column that essentially just told stories about people and their lives. Almost exactly 10 years ago, he decided I wasn\'t going to be writing my column anymore.\r\n\r\nWhen he got complaints from readers, he lied and told them it had been my decision to give up the column, that I had been tired of writing it. I needed to keep my job -- even if it was just a job as a reporter then -- so I couldn\'t fight back with the truth.\r\n\r\nI stayed at the paper nearly seven more years, before I was shown the door by an even more short-sighted boss. But as much as it hurt to lose my job, all it had been since losing the column was a job. I had five years of joy, which is more than most people get, but sometimes it hurts more to lose something wonderful than to never experience it at all.\r\n\r\nThere was one weird sort of irony in it all. While it was a Steve gave me the column in 1996, it was another Steve who took it away in 2001 and still another who fired me in 2008.\r\n\r\nI think it was payback for not being nice to my younger brother Steve when we were both kids.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, though.\r\n\r\nI miss the work. I miss the connections with people, and the opportunity I had to make a difference in their lives. You can\'t really do anything like that when you\'re writing for your own website, and most of the other writing I do is political. I honestly thought the job I had was one I could do into my 70s; I certainly didn\'t think I would have only five years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t really feel sorry for myself.\r\n\r\nMostly, I feel like it was a shame I wound up working for idiots.','Five years of telling stories just wasn\'t enough','','publish','open','open','','five-years-of-telling-stories-just-wasnt-enough','','','2011-02-23 18:09:08','2011-02-24 02:09:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=877',0,'post','',0),(878,1,'2011-02-23 17:22:18','2011-02-24 01:22:18','','20110222_1','In the beginning -- 1996','inherit','open','open','','20110222_1','','','2011-02-23 17:22:18','2011-02-24 01:22:18','',877,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(879,1,'2011-02-23 17:48:35','2011-02-24 01:48:35','Sometimes I can\'t help but get pissed off.\n\nI have had plenty of times in my life that I have lost out on things because I didn\'t work hard enough, or I had a bad attitude, or I didn\'t take the right approach to something. But there was one time in my life that I was doing something very well -- something I honestly believe I should still be doing -- and I had it taken away from me through the stupidity and short-sightedness of my employer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_878\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"244\" caption=\"In the beginning -- 1996\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-878\" title=\"20110222_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1-e1298511502809-244x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn 1996, a wonderful editor named Steve Trosley -- one of the best people I worked for in 28 years -- gave me the opportunity to be a three-times-weekly columnist, writing about whatever caught my fancy.\n\nThis was the first one, and it was an award winner.\n\n***\n\n<em>There’s nothing more chilling than a knock on your door in the middle of the night. It’s a hollow sound, something that grabs you way down deep, and when that almost primeval noise awakens you from sleep, when a glance at the bedside clock tells you it’s 3 a.m., you know nothing good is happening.</em>\n\n<em>The only question you ask yourself is how bad it’s going to be, especially if you’re the wife of a police officer and your husband is out on patrol.</em>\n\n<em>When Nancy Hernandez heard the knock, early in the morning of Nov.  13, 1995, at first she thought she had imagined it.</em>\n\n<em>“You don’t constantly worry that something’s going to happen,” she said. “But it’s always in the back of your mind that something could happen. So you prepare yourself as much as you can, but as time goes on and things don’t happen, you get more comfortable.”</em>\n\n<em>Nancy had been married to Ed Hernandez for four years, about the same length of time he had been an officer with the Ontario Police Department, when the knock came.</em>\n\n<em> “I heard it and I said, ‘Oh, it couldn’t have been,’” she said. “I lay down to go back to sleep and I really didn’t think anything of it. Then I heard it again.”</em>\n\n<em> Then she knew it was real. She pulled on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen of her Chino Hills home. A quick glance out the window showed her husband’s best friend in the department standing there.</em>\n\n<em> All of a sudden, every impossible worry, every unreasonable fear was this close to being a reality. “I opened the door and said, ‘Something happened. Didn’t it?’” she said.</em>\n\n<em> Yes, something had happened.</em>\n\n<em> Officer Hernandez had been wounded in a shootout at the Ontario Black Angus. He was alive, but his left tibia had been shattered. The worst had been avoided. Still, when doctors start throwing around words like “shattered” to describe weight-bearing bones in the lower leg, the situation is anything but rosy.</em>\n\n<em> Since that morning nearly six months ago, Ed and Nancy Hernandez have been through a lot, both good and bad. They’ve learned a lot about themselves and about the meaning of heroism.</em>\n\n<em> This column and the one that will follow on Tuesday are about their heroism and how it exemplifies what people call the California Dream. Someone once said the only difference between the California Dream and the American Dream was 350 cloudless days a year. In these days of gridlock and crime, downsizing and overcrowding, it sounds a lot like an idyllic picture of a time long past.</em>\n\n<em> Remove immigration as a factor and more people move out of California each year than arrive here from other states. With better than one-eighth of the population of the United States living within our borders, we’re no longer the paradise of which the Beach Boys sang in those halcyon days when the surf was always up, our neighborhoods were full of Marcia Bradys and Beaver Cleavers and Ontario was a long, long way from Los Angeles.</em>\n\n<em> Times may change, but people rarely do. Ed and Nancy Hernandez are children of California, he a descendant of the old </em><em><strong>Californios</strong> who settled the state and she a pretty blonde who a generation earlier might have been an inspiration for the song that wished they all could be California girls.</em>\n\n<em> She always wanted to be a teacher. He grew up wanting to be a cop.</em>\n\n<em> They dated through high school, and after both completed their degrees at Cal State Fullerton and started their careers, they were married.</em>\n\n<em> Ed became an Ontario police officer, and for his first four years on the force, nothing much happened. One time he found himself looking down the barrel of a loaded shotgun, but nothing much came of it.</em>\n\n<em> Nancy started to relax and sleep better at night, the uneasiness and fear slipping into the back of her mind. They had a baby girl, and their lives were shaping up nicely.</em>\n\n<em> Till Nov. 13, 1995.</em>\n\n<em> Till the middle of the night and the knock on the door.</em>\n\n<em> </em><em>***</em>\n\nI wrote columns for nearly five years. I won awards every year, I','','','inherit','open','open','','877-revision','','','2011-02-23 17:48:35','2011-02-24 01:48:35','',877,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=879',0,'revision','',0),(880,1,'2011-02-23 18:08:28','2011-02-24 02:08:28','Sometimes I can\'t help but get pissed off.\n\nI have had plenty of times in my life that I have lost out on things because I didn\'t work hard enough, or I had a bad attitude, or I didn\'t take the right approach to something. But there was one time in my life that I was doing something very well -- something I honestly believe I should still be doing -- and I had it taken away from me through the stupidity and short-sightedness of my employer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_878\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"244\" caption=\"In the beginning -- 1996\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-878\" title=\"20110222_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110222_1-e1298511502809-244x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn 1996, a wonderful editor named Steve Trosley -- one of the best people I worked for in 28 years -- gave me the opportunity to be a three-times-weekly columnist, writing about whatever caught my fancy.\n\nThis was the first one, and it was an award winner.\n\n***\n\n<em>There’s nothing more chilling than a knock on your door in the middle of the night. It’s a hollow sound, something that grabs you way down deep, and when that almost primeval noise awakens you from sleep, when a glance at the bedside clock tells you it’s 3 a.m., you know nothing good is happening.</em>\n\n<em>The only question you ask yourself is how bad it’s going to be, especially if you’re the wife of a police officer and your husband is out on patrol.</em>\n\n<em>When Nancy Hernandez heard the knock, early in the morning of Nov.  13, 1995, at first she thought she had imagined it.</em>\n\n<em>“You don’t constantly worry that something’s going to happen,” she said. “But it’s always in the back of your mind that something could happen. So you prepare yourself as much as you can, but as time goes on and things don’t happen, you get more comfortable.”</em>\n\n<em>Nancy had been married to Ed Hernandez for four years, about the same length of time he had been an officer with the Ontario Police Department, when the knock came.</em>\n\n<em> “I heard it and I said, ‘Oh, it couldn’t have been,’” she said. “I lay down to go back to sleep and I really didn’t think anything of it. Then I heard it again.”</em>\n\n<em> Then she knew it was real. She pulled on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen of her Chino Hills home. A quick glance out the window showed her husband’s best friend in the department standing there.</em>\n\n<em> All of a sudden, every impossible worry, every unreasonable fear was this close to being a reality. “I opened the door and said, ‘Something happened. Didn’t it?’” she said.</em>\n\n<em> Yes, something had happened.</em>\n\n<em> Officer Hernandez had been wounded in a shootout at the Ontario Black Angus. He was alive, but his left tibia had been shattered. The worst had been avoided. Still, when doctors start throwing around words like “shattered” to describe weight-bearing bones in the lower leg, the situation is anything but rosy.</em>\n\n<em> Since that morning nearly six months ago, Ed and Nancy Hernandez have been through a lot, both good and bad. They’ve learned a lot about themselves and about the meaning of heroism.</em>\n\n<em> This column and the one that will follow on Tuesday are about their heroism and how it exemplifies what people call the California Dream. Someone once said the only difference between the California Dream and the American Dream was 350 cloudless days a year. In these days of gridlock and crime, downsizing and overcrowding, it sounds a lot like an idyllic picture of a time long past.</em>\n\n<em> Remove immigration as a factor and more people move out of California each year than arrive here from other states. With better than one-eighth of the population of the United States living within our borders, we’re no longer the paradise of which the Beach Boys sang in those halcyon days when the surf was always up, our neighborhoods were full of Marcia Bradys and Beaver Cleavers and Ontario was a long, long way from Los Angeles.</em>\n\n<em> Times may change, but people rarely do. Ed and Nancy Hernandez are children of California, he a descendant of the old </em><em><strong>Californios</strong> who settled the state and she a pretty blonde who a generation earlier might have been an inspiration for the song that wished they all could be California girls.</em>\n\n<em> She always wanted to be a teacher. He grew up wanting to be a cop.</em>\n\n<em> They dated through high school, and after both completed their degrees at Cal State Fullerton and started their careers, they were married.</em>\n\n<em> Ed became an Ontario police officer, and for his first four years on the force, nothing much happened. One time he found himself looking down the barrel of a loaded shotgun, but nothing much came of it.</em>\n\n<em> Nancy started to relax and sleep better at night, the uneasiness and fear slipping into the back of her mind. They had a baby girl, and their lives were shaping up nicely.</em>\n\n<em> Till Nov. 13, 1995.</em>\n\n<em> Till the middle of the night and the knock on the door.</em>\n\n<em> </em><em>***</em>\n\nI wrote columns for nearly five years. I won awards every year, I had a strong following among our readers and I made it into the 2001 edition of \"Who\'s Who in America.\"\n\nBut our newspaper was sold to new ownership and we got a new editor who didn\'t like the idea of a column that essentially just told stories about people and their lives. Almost exactly 10 years ago, he decided I wasn\'t going to be writing my column anymore.\n\nWhen he got complaints from readers, he lied and told them it had been my decision to give up the column, that I had been tired of writing it. I needed to keep my job -- even if it was just a job as a reporter then -- so I couldn\'t fight back with the truth.\n\nI stayed at the paper nearly seven more years, before I was shown the door by an even more short-sighted boss. But as much as it hurt to lose my job, all it had been since losing the column was a job. I had five years of joy, which is more than most people get, but sometimes it hurts more to lose something wonderful than to never experience it at all.\n\nThere was one weird sort of irony in it all. While it was a Steve gave me the column in 1996, it was another Steve who took it away in 2001 and still another who fired me in 2008.\n\nI think it was payback for not being nice to my younger brother Steve when we were both kids.\n\nIt\'s funny, though.\n\nI miss the work. I miss the connections with people, and the opportunity I had to make a difference in their lives. You can\'t really do anything like that when you\'re writing for your own website, and most of the other writing I do is political. I honestly thought the job I had was one I could do into my 70s; I certainly didn\'t think I would have only five years.\n\nI don\'t really feel sorry for myself.\n\nMostly, I feel like it was a shame I wound up working for idiots.','','','inherit','open','open','','877-revision-2','','','2011-02-23 18:08:28','2011-02-24 02:08:28','',877,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=880',0,'revision','',0),(881,1,'2011-02-24 17:07:34','2011-02-25 01:07:34','I think I knew the Piazza San Marco was my favorite place in the entire world before I ever visited it in person.\r\n\r\nIt was 1974, when I saw the wonderful Paul Mazursky movie, \"Blume in Love,\" and first saw the beauty of Venice\'s iconic piazza, and it was three years later when I actually visited it for the first time myself. It was one of those rare places that totally lived up to all the hype, all the anticipation I had for it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Piazza San Marco, Venice\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-882\" title=\"piazza_san_marco\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe piazza is massive, which plays perfectly in the wonderful reunion scene at the end of the movie where George Segal sees his once and future wife, Susan Anspach, walking toward him from the other end of the square. The scene seems to take forever, but somehow it works.\r\n\r\nI have been there twice. It\'s one of the few places -- all in Europe -- that I visited with both of my wives at two very different times in my life. I spent two days there in July 1977 with Leslie, and 10 wonderful days in May 2003 with Nicole.\r\n\r\nI don\'t really remember a whole lot about the first visit, other than the beauty of the city. It was the first stop for us in a 21-day mad dash around Europe with Eurail passes. We spent most of our time in Venice, Rome, Paris and Frankfurt, and except for a week in Paris, I\'m not sure we had the time to do any of the places we visited justice.\r\n\r\nWhen I made it back in 2003 with Nicole, it was actually the third time we had been to Europe together. She had a scientific conference in Venice, so we had plenty of time for sightseeing. I think we saw most of the sights, and we ate at a number of wonderful restaurants. Thanks to a gift from my mother, we even spent an hour in a gondola.\r\n\r\nI was 27 the first time I visited Italy, 53 when I returned.\r\n\r\nWith all the places remaining to see in the world, I honestly don\'t know if I will ever make it back to Venice. We\'re hoping to get to the Netherlands and Greece this summer, and if all goes well, we will visit Pauline and her family in Indonesia later in the year.\r\n\r\nIf I ever get back there, it will probably be as an old man watching young people experiencing Venice for the first time. I\'ll sit in a sidewalk cafe and sip a glass of wine, and I will remember with joy the wonderful times I had there when I was younger.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6pKxXV9Sw&amp;feature=related','Real beauty to be found in memories of Venice','','publish','open','open','','there-is-a-real-beauty-to-be-found-in-memories-of-venice','','','2011-02-24 17:08:25','2011-02-25 01:08:25','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=881',0,'post','',0),(882,1,'2011-02-24 16:52:17','2011-02-25 00:52:17','','piazza_san_marco','Piazza San Marco, Venice','inherit','open','open','','piazza_san_marco','','','2011-02-24 16:52:17','2011-02-25 00:52:17','',881,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(883,1,'2011-02-24 17:06:41','2011-02-25 01:06:41','I think I knew the Piazza San Marco was my favorite place in the entire world before I ever visited it in person.\n\nIt was 1974, when I saw the wonderful Paul Mazursky movie, \"Blume in Love,\" and first saw the beauty of Venice\'s iconic piazza, and it was three years later when I actually visited it for the first time myself. It was one of those rare places that totally lived up to all the hype, all the anticipation I had for it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Piazza San Marco, Venice\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-882\" title=\"piazza_san_marco\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe piazza is massive, which plays perfectly in the wonderful reunion scene at the end of the movie where George Segal sees his once and future wife, Susan Anspach, walking toward him from the other end of the square. The scene seems to take forever, but somehow it works.\n\nI have been there twice. It\'s one of the few places -- all in Europe -- that I visited with both of my wives at two very different times in my life. I spent two days there in July 1977 with Leslie, and 10 wonderful days in May 2003 with Nicole.\n\nI don\'t really remember a whole lot about the first visit, other than the beauty of the city. It was the first stop for us in a 21-day mad dash around Europe with Eurail passes. We spent most of our time in Venice, Rome, Paris and Frankfurt, and except for a week in Paris, I\'m not sure we had the time to do any of the places we visited justice.\n\nWhen I made it back in 2003 with Nicole, it was actually the third time we had been to Europe together. She had a scientific conference in Venice, so we had plenty of time for sightseeing. I think we saw most of the sights, and we ate at a number of wonderful restaurants. Thanks to a gift from my mother, we even spent an hour in a gondola.\n\nI was 27 the first time I visited Italy, 53 when I returned.\n\nWith all the places remaining to see in the world, I honestly don\'t know if I will ever make it back to Venice. We\'re hoping to get to the Netherlands and Greece this summer, and if all goes well, we will visit Pauline and her family in Indonesia later in the year.\n\nIf I ever get back there, it will probably be as an old man watching young people experiencing Venice for the first time. I\'ll sit in a sidewalk cafe and sip a glass of wine, and I will remember with joy the wonderful times I had there when I was younger.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6pKxXV9Sw&amp;feature=related','','','inherit','open','open','','881-revision','','','2011-02-24 17:06:41','2011-02-25 01:06:41','',881,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=883',0,'revision','',0),(884,1,'2011-02-24 17:07:34','2011-02-25 01:07:34','I think I knew the Piazza San Marco was my favorite place in the entire world before I ever visited it in person.\r\n\r\nIt was 1974, when I saw the wonderful Paul Mazursky movie, \"Blume in Love,\" and first saw the beauty of Venice\'s iconic piazza, and it was three years later when I actually visited it for the first time myself. It was one of those rare places that totally lived up to all the hype, all the anticipation I had for it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Piazza San Marco, Venice\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-882\" title=\"piazza_san_marco\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe piazza is massive, which plays perfectly in the wonderful reunion scene at the end of the movie where George Segal sees his once and future wife, Susan Anspach, walking toward him from the other end of the square. The scene seems to take forever, but somehow it works.\r\n\r\nI have been there twice. It\'s one of the few places -- all in Europe -- that I visited with both of my wives at two very different times in my life. I spent two days there in July 1977 with Leslie, and 10 wonderful days in May 2003 with Nicole.\r\n\r\nI don\'t really remember a whole lot about the first visit, other than the beauty of the city. It was the first stop for us in a 21-day mad dash around Europe with Eurail passes. We spent most of our time in Venice, Rome, Paris and Frankfurt, and except for a week in Paris, I\'m not sure we had the time to do any of the places we visited justice.\r\n\r\nWhen I made it back in 2003 with Nicole, it was actually the third time we had been to Europe together. She had a scientific conference in Venice, so we had plenty of time for sightseeing. I think we saw most of the sights, and we ate at a number of wonderful restaurants. Thanks to a gift from my mother, we even spent an hour in a gondola.\r\n\r\nI was 27 the first time I visited Italy, 53 when I returned.\r\n\r\nWith all the places remaining to see in the world, I honestly don\'t know if I will ever make it back to Venice. We\'re hoping to get to the Netherlands and Greece this summer, and if all goes well, we will visit Pauline and her family in Indonesia later in the year.\r\n\r\nIf I ever get back there, it will probably be as an old man watching young people experiencing Venice for the first time. I\'ll sit in a sidewalk cafe and sip a glass of wine, and I will remember with joy the wonderful times I had there when I was younger.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6pKxXV9Sw&amp;feature=related','There is a real beauty to be found in memories of Venice','','inherit','open','open','','881-revision-2','','','2011-02-24 17:07:34','2011-02-25 01:07:34','',881,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=884',0,'revision','',0),(885,1,'2011-02-24 17:08:02','2011-02-25 01:08:02','I think I knew the Piazza San Marco was my favorite place in the entire world before I ever visited it in person.\r\n\r\nIt was 1974, when I saw the wonderful Paul Mazursky movie, \"Blume in Love,\" and first saw the beauty of Venice\'s iconic piazza, and it was three years later when I actually visited it for the first time myself. It was one of those rare places that totally lived up to all the hype, all the anticipation I had for it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Piazza San Marco, Venice\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-882\" title=\"piazza_san_marco\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe piazza is massive, which plays perfectly in the wonderful reunion scene at the end of the movie where George Segal sees his once and future wife, Susan Anspach, walking toward him from the other end of the square. The scene seems to take forever, but somehow it works.\r\n\r\nI have been there twice. It\'s one of the few places -- all in Europe -- that I visited with both of my wives at two very different times in my life. I spent two days there in July 1977 with Leslie, and 10 wonderful days in May 2003 with Nicole.\r\n\r\nI don\'t really remember a whole lot about the first visit, other than the beauty of the city. It was the first stop for us in a 21-day mad dash around Europe with Eurail passes. We spent most of our time in Venice, Rome, Paris and Frankfurt, and except for a week in Paris, I\'m not sure we had the time to do any of the places we visited justice.\r\n\r\nWhen I made it back in 2003 with Nicole, it was actually the third time we had been to Europe together. She had a scientific conference in Venice, so we had plenty of time for sightseeing. I think we saw most of the sights, and we ate at a number of wonderful restaurants. Thanks to a gift from my mother, we even spent an hour in a gondola.\r\n\r\nI was 27 the first time I visited Italy, 53 when I returned.\r\n\r\nWith all the places remaining to see in the world, I honestly don\'t know if I will ever make it back to Venice. We\'re hoping to get to the Netherlands and Greece this summer, and if all goes well, we will visit Pauline and her family in Indonesia later in the year.\r\n\r\nIf I ever get back there, it will probably be as an old man watching young people experiencing Venice for the first time. I\'ll sit in a sidewalk cafe and sip a glass of wine, and I will remember with joy the wonderful times I had there when I was younger.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6pKxXV9Sw&amp;feature=related','There is real beauty to be found in memories of Venice','','inherit','open','open','','881-revision-3','','','2011-02-24 17:08:02','2011-02-25 01:08:02','',881,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=885',0,'revision','',0),(886,1,'2011-02-25 20:30:36','2011-02-26 04:30:36','When you get to be a certain age -- and I\'m not certain exactly what that age is -- you start to have an experience that you didn\'t have when you were younger.\r\n\r\nPeople you know -- or knew -- die.\r\n\r\nI\'m not talking about older people. Unless you\'re really lucky, you don\'t get too far into your life before your grandparents pass away, or older aunts and uncles. And of course there comes a point when you lose one or both of your parents. But as sad as that is, all that is part of the natural order of things.\r\n\r\nNo, what I mean here is that you reach a point where your contemporaries die. Or worst of all, when friends or family members who are significantly younger pass away, either through illness or accident.\r\n\r\nI reached the age of 30 with three of my grandparents still alive, but the very next year, I lost a cousin who was just in his mid teens. My little cousin Stephen had been born with a degenerative illness that made it unlikely he would live past adolescence, so it wasn\'t a complete shock, but I still don\'t think there was anything I ever experienced in my life that felt more <em>wrong</em> than to help bury someone 15 years younger than I was.\r\n\r\nOf course, that was a long time ago, and since then I have seen my remaining grandparents die, and three years ago, my dad passed away. But as much as I miss them, all of them lived at least into their eighties. They had good lives and they are loved and remembered by those who live on.\r\n\r\nAs I have gotten closer to people I went to high school with, I have heard sad stories of people who died before their time. One of the two other classmates I appeared on the television show \"It\'s Academic\" with in 1967 died more than 20 years ago, but I never knew him well.\r\n\r\nJust the other day, though, I heard a name I hadn\'t heard for a lot of years. A girl who had graduated two years behind me had died a month before her 60th birthday. I was told she had died in her sleep, so I assume it had happened after a long illness. The name wouldn\'t have meant much to me, except for one of those little quirks. She was the first girl I had ever gone on a date with.\r\n\r\nI was just shy of my 16th birthday, she was a year younger. We went to a movie, and the name of the movie is lost in the mists of time.\r\n\r\nThe date itself was kind of a disaster. I didn\'t have my license yet, so I needed my father to chauffeur us. I don\'t think she was expecting that.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_887\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Last girl, top right\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Baton-corps.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-887\" title=\"Baton corps\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Baton-corps-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShe was a majorette, and one thing that was true at our school at that time was that the majorettes -- the Baton Corps -- were the real beauties, not the cheerleaders.\r\n\r\nSeriously, I would guess that at least six or seven of the 10 prettiest girls in our senior class were majorettes, and I can tell from a few Facebook pages that some of them have aged very well indeed.\r\n\r\nThe girl I went out with, I don\'t think I had even thought of her more at least 30 years. The first date, such as it was, really isn\'t that much of a milestone. It was more than a year later before I had a date where I actually drove, which was when my fits and starts social life really started.\r\n\r\nAs you might tell from the caption on the photo, I have kind of gone back and forth a little over whether to mention her name at all. But I think it\'s probably the right thing to do.\r\n\r\nSo rest in peace, Diane Bacas Hoffman.\r\n\r\nI hope you had a very happy life, and I\'m sure you had many better dates than our one evening at the movies.','A sad farewell to a memory from the past','','publish','open','open','','a-sad-farewell-to-a-memory-from-the-past','','','2011-02-25 20:30:36','2011-02-26 04:30:36','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=886',0,'post','',2),(887,1,'2011-02-25 20:21:49','2011-02-26 04:21:49','','Baton corps','Last girl, top right','inherit','open','open','','baton-corps','','','2011-02-25 20:21:49','2011-02-26 04:21:49','',886,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Baton-corps.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(888,1,'2011-02-25 20:30:32','2011-02-26 04:30:32','When you get to be a certain age -- and I\'m not certain exactly what that age is -- you start to have an experience that you didn\'t have when you were younger.\n\nPeople you know -- or knew -- die.\n\nI\'m not talking about older people. Unless you\'re really lucky, you don\'t get too far into your life before your grandparents pass away, or older aunts and uncles. And of course there comes a point when you lose one or both of your parents. But as sad as that is, all that is part of the natural order of things.\n\nNo, what I mean here is that you reach a point where your contemporaries die. Or worst of all, when friends or family members who are significantly younger pass away, either through illness or accident.\n\nI reached the age of 30 with three of my grandparents still alive, but the very next year, I lost a cousin who was just in his mid teens. My little cousin Stephen had been born with a degenerative illness that made it unlikely he would live past adolescence, so it wasn\'t a complete shock, but I still don\'t think there was anything I ever experienced in my life that felt more <em>wrong</em> than to help bury someone 15 years younger than I was.\n\nOf course, that was a long time ago, and since then I have seen my remaining grandparents die, and three years ago, my dad passed away. But as much as I miss them, all of them lived at least into their eighties. They had good lives and they are loved and remembered by those who live on.\n\nAs I have gotten closer to people I went to high school with, I have heard sad stories of people who died before their time. One of the two other classmates I appeared on the television show \"It\'s Academic\" with in 1967 died more than 20 years ago, but I never knew him well.\n\nJust the other day, though, I heard a name I hadn\'t heard for a lot of years. A girl who had graduated two years behind me had died a month before her 60th birthday. I was told she had died in her sleep, so I assume it had happened after a long illness. The name wouldn\'t have meant much to me, except for one of those little quirks. She was the first girl I had ever gone on a date with.\n\nI was just shy of my 16th birthday, she was a year younger. We went to a movie, and the name of the movie is lost in the mists of time.\n\nThe date itself was kind of a disaster. I didn\'t have my license yet, so I needed my father to chauffeur us. I don\'t think she was expecting that.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_887\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Last girl, top right\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Baton-corps.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-887\" title=\"Baton corps\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Baton-corps-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nShe was a majorette, and one thing that was true at our school at that time was that the majorettes -- the Baton Corps -- were the real beauties, not the cheerleaders.\n\nSeriously, I would guess that at least six or seven of the 10 prettiest girls in our senior class were majorettes, and I can tell from a few Facebook pages that some of them have aged very well indeed.\n\nThe girl I went out with, I don\'t think I had even thought of her more at least 30 years. The first date, such as it was, really isn\'t that much of a milestone. It was more than a year later before I had a date where I actually drove, which was when my fits and starts social life really started.\n\nAs you might tell from the caption on the photo, I have kind of gone back and forth a little over whether to mention her name at all. But I think it\'s probably the right thing to do.\n\nSo rest in peace, Diane Bacas Hoffman.\n\nI hope you had a very happy life, and I\'m sure you had many better dates than our one evening at the movies.','A sad farewell to a memory fr','','inherit','open','open','','886-revision','','','2011-02-25 20:30:32','2011-02-26 04:30:32','',886,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=888',0,'revision','',0),(889,1,'2011-02-26 15:44:51','2011-02-26 23:44:51','I don\'t know if I could explain to my children what things were like in the days before VCRs, DVD players and the Internet, especially YouTube.\r\n\r\nYou might see something on television that you really enjoyed, and the only way you could remember it was, well, in your memory. You couldn\'t tape it, or burn a disc with it, or save it to your hard drive. In fact, you might never see it again. I remember seeing Sarah Brightman on the Tonight Show in 1991, singing a very cute little song about visiting Beverly Hills, and although I bought numerous albums by her over the years, I never found that song until I looked for it on YouTube two or three years ago.\r\n\r\nJust last night, I was listening to Randy Newman\'s \"I Love L.A.,\" and it brought to mind a parody of the song that was being played on the Denver television stations when I moved there in the fall of 1986. \"I Love Elway\" was a tribute to the Broncos\' great quarterback, and it featured local folks saying, \"We love him,\" including the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado.\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I saw the video more than once or twice, and then it slipped from my mind until yesterday. I checked YouTube, and although the video I found was of really poor quality, it was that great song that I remembered. I know I have said before that John Elway was the best athlete I ever saw in person -- and yes, I saw Michael Jordan several times -- but I don\'t think I\'ve said that I never enjoyed my job as much as I did on those autumn Sundays or Monday nights at Mile High Stadium.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3gl6qf18NQ\r\n\r\nBeing in the middle of 76,000 screaming fans, nearly all of them living and dying with the success or failure of the Broncos, I\'m not sure it was ever any better than that.\r\n\r\nIt has been a long time since I cared about the National Football League, and at least part of that is that the two teams I always cared about -- the Broncos and the Washington Redskins -- haven\'t been good for a long time.\r\n\r\nI stopped covering sports in 1996, and after that I allowed myself to become more of a fan. I never asked for autographs when I was a sportswriter, and there are several great athletes I met that I really wish I had been a little less professional and gotten them to sign for me. As it is, I\'ve got my case of a dozen baseballs, I\'ve got a photograph of Secretariat winning thew 1973 Belmont Stakes signed by jockey Ron Turcotte, and I\'ve got my orange Elway jersey on the wall.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_890\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"&quot;I Love Elway&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-890\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. About five years back, when I was working as a business editor at my last newspaper, I had the chance to meet Elway again at the opening of John Elway Toyota in Ontario, Calif. I didn\'t ask him for an autograph, but I did get the chance to tell him how much I had enjoyed watching him play.\r\n\r\nHe had been retired for some years, and it had been 20 years since I had seen him in Mile High Stadium.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s nice to know that good memories last.\r\n\r\nYes, they last.','YouTube comes through again with another memory','','publish','open','open','','youtube-comes-through-again-with-another-memory','','','2011-02-26 15:45:55','2011-02-26 23:45:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=889',0,'post','',0),(890,1,'2011-02-26 15:40:00','2011-02-26 23:40:00','','20110105_1','\"I Love Elway\"','inherit','open','open','','20110105_1-3','','','2011-02-26 15:40:00','2011-02-26 23:40:00','',889,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(891,1,'2011-02-26 15:44:28','2011-02-26 23:44:28','I don\'t know if I could explain to my children what things were like in the days before VCRs, DVD players and the Internet, especially YouTube.\n\nYou might see something on television that you really enjoyed, and the only way you could remember it was, well, in your memory. You couldn\'t tape it, or burn a disc with it, or save it to your hard drive. In fact, you might never see it again. I remember seeing Sarah Brightman on the Tonight Show in 1991, singing a very cute little song about visiting Beverly Hills, and although I bought numerous albums by her over the years, I never found that song until I looked for it on YouTube two or three years ago.\n\nJust last night, I was listening to Randy Newman\'s \"I Love L.A.,\" and it brought to mind a parody of the song that was being played on the Denver television stations when I moved there in the fall of 1986. \"I Love Elway\" was a tribute to the Broncos\' great quarterback, and it featured local folks saying, \"We love him,\" including the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado.\n\nI don\'t think I saw the video more than once or twice, and then it slipped from my mind until yesterday. I checked YouTube, and although the video I found was of really poor quality, it was that great song that I remembered. I know I have said before that John Elway was the best athlete I ever saw in person -- and yes, I saw Michael Jordan several times -- but I don\'t think I\'ve said that I never enjoyed my job as much as I did on those autumn Sundays or Monday nights at Mile High Stadium.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/user/LaCanadaMike?feature=mhum#p/c/BB801076776DC056/73/S3gl6qf18NQ\n\nBeing in the middle of 76,000 screaming fans, nearly all of them living and dying with the success or failure of the Broncos, I\'m not sure it was ever any better than that.\n\nIt has been a long time since I cared about the National Football League, and at least part of that is that the two teams I always cared about -- the Broncos and the Washington Redskins -- haven\'t been good for a long time.\n\nI stopped covering sports in 1996, and after that I allowed myself to become more of a fan. I never asked for autographs when I was a sportswriter, and there are several great athletes I met that I really wish I had been a little less professional and gotten them to sign for me. As it is, I\'ve got my case of a dozen baseballs, I\'ve got a photograph of Secretariat winning thew 1973 Belmont Stakes signed by jockey Ron Turcotte, and I\'ve got my orange Elway jersey on the wall.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_890\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"&quot;I Love Elway&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-890\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s funny. About five years back, when I was working as a business editor at my last newspaper, I had the chance to meet Elway again at the opening of John Elway Toyota in Ontario, Calif. I didn\'t ask him for an autograph, but I did get the chance to tell him how much I had enjoyed watching him play.\n\nHe had been retired for some years, and it had been 20 years since I had seen him in Mile High Stadium.\n\nBut it\'s nice to know that good memories last.\n\nYes, they last.','','','inherit','open','open','','889-revision','','','2011-02-26 15:44:28','2011-02-26 23:44:28','',889,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=891',0,'revision','',0),(892,1,'2011-02-26 15:44:51','2011-02-26 23:44:51','I don\'t know if I could explain to my children what things were like in the days before VCRs, DVD players and the Internet, especially YouTube.\r\n\r\nYou might see something on television that you really enjoyed, and the only way you could remember it was, well, in your memory. You couldn\'t tape it, or burn a disc with it, or save it to your hard drive. In fact, you might never see it again. I remember seeing Sarah Brightman on the Tonight Show in 1991, singing a very cute little song about visiting Beverly Hills, and although I bought numerous albums by her over the years, I never found that song until I looked for it on YouTube two or three years ago.\r\n\r\nJust last night, I was listening to Randy Newman\'s \"I Love L.A.,\" and it brought to mind a parody of the song that was being played on the Denver television stations when I moved there in the fall of 1986. \"I Love Elway\" was a tribute to the Broncos\' great quarterback, and it featured local folks saying, \"We love him,\" including the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado.\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I saw the video more than once or twice, and then it slipped from my mind until yesterday. I checked YouTube, and although the video I found was of really poor quality, it was that great song that I remembered. I know I have said before that John Elway was the best athlete I ever saw in person -- and yes, I saw Michael Jordan several times -- but I don\'t think I\'ve said that I never enjoyed my job as much as I did on those autumn Sundays or Monday nights at Mile High Stadium.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/user/LaCanadaMike?feature=mhum#p/c/BB801076776DC056/73/S3gl6qf18NQ\r\n\r\nBeing in the middle of 76,000 screaming fans, nearly all of them living and dying with the success or failure of the Broncos, I\'m not sure it was ever any better than that.\r\n\r\nIt has been a long time since I cared about the National Football League, and at least part of that is that the two teams I always cared about -- the Broncos and the Washington Redskins -- haven\'t been good for a long time.\r\n\r\nI stopped covering sports in 1996, and after that I allowed myself to become more of a fan. I never asked for autographs when I was a sportswriter, and there are several great athletes I met that I really wish I had been a little less professional and gotten them to sign for me. As it is, I\'ve got my case of a dozen baseballs, I\'ve got a photograph of Secretariat winning thew 1973 Belmont Stakes signed by jockey Ron Turcotte, and I\'ve got my orange Elway jersey on the wall.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_890\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"&quot;I Love Elway&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-890\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. About five years back, when I was working as a business editor at my last newspaper, I had the chance to meet Elway again at the opening of John Elway Toyota in Ontario, Calif. I didn\'t ask him for an autograph, but I did get the chance to tell him how much I had enjoyed watching him play.\r\n\r\nHe had been retired for some years, and it had been 20 years since I had seen him in Mile High Stadium.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s nice to know that good memories last.\r\n\r\nYes, they last.','YouTube comes through again with another memory','','inherit','open','open','','889-revision-2','','','2011-02-26 15:44:51','2011-02-26 23:44:51','',889,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=892',0,'revision','',0),(894,1,'2011-03-01 16:49:38','2011-03-02 00:49:38','','3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills','Spotless Beverly Hills','inherit','open','open','','3662071-a_typical_bh_street-beverly_hills','','','2011-03-01 16:49:38','2011-03-02 00:49:38','',893,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(895,1,'2011-03-01 18:23:47','2011-03-02 02:23:47','','Dodger Stadium 005','My last time at Dodger Stadium.','inherit','open','open','','dodger-stadium-005','','','2011-03-01 18:23:47','2011-03-02 02:23:47','',893,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(896,1,'2011-03-01 18:30:37','2011-03-02 02:30:37','I\'m not really sure why I watched the Academy Awards the other night. I hadn\'t sat through them for years, and I don\'t think I had seen more than one or two of the movies that were nominated for anything this year. I saw \"Toy Story 3\" in a theater and I watched \"The Social Network\" on DVD. I have the DVD for \"The Kids Are Alright,\" but I haven\'t watched it yet. I saw \"True Grit\" the first time around; just about the only movie I really want to see of this year\'s biggies is \"The King\'s Speech.\"\n\nStill, I enjoyed the show, which from what I\'ve been reading leaves me in a distinct minority. In fact, for all the attacks on James Franco and Anne Hathaway, you\'d think they had barbecued and eaten Mickey Mouse on stage.\n\nActually, watching the Oscars gave me a little bit of a homesick feeling for the first time since we left California four months ago.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_894\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Spotless Beverly Hills\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-894\" title=\"3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor some reason, it reminded me of the first time I saw Los Angeles in 1978. My first wife and I had driven down from San Francisco, and I remember that it was somewhere around Santa Barbara where I first started noticing the palm trees.\n\nOf course I had seen them on television. So many of the shows I had grown up watching in the 1960s were set in Southern California, with its 350 days a year of sunshine. I was like most other American kids of that era, I suppose. We knew our  own hometown and we knew L.A., even though it was one of those exotic dream places that you couldn\'t actually <em>live</em> in.\n\nThe funny thing I remember from 20 years living there is that Los Angeles was what you wanted to make of it. You could do the whole California thing -- spending time at the beach, shopping in Beverly Hills, eating in fancy retaurants -- or you could pretty much ignore it.\n\nFor 18 years, I worked 50 miles inland from the ocean, and except for the nice California weather, my office could just as easily have been in Kansas or Kentucky.\n\nI don\'t think I ever saw a star in a grocery store or restaurant the whole time I lived there, although I did have dinner with Squiggy in the press room at Dodger Stadium and I punked Larry King in the press box there on a different occasion.\n\nI met a lot of stars while I was doing entertainment stories -- Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Drew Carey, Will Ferrell and the late Peter Ustinov (before he died), to name a few. I even met Eddie Haskell in Beverly Hills, which was sort of a surreal experience.\n\nI only went to one Lakers game in 20 years, and I sat on press row for that one. Most of my insider stuff came from being a reporter and columnist, although I did manage to have a wonderful thrill -- twice, actually -- when I got front-row seats on the third-base side at Dodger Stadium. I took my son and his friends once and my daughter and her fiance the other time. When you love baseball, and you\'re that close to the field in one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world, that\'s a special moment.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_895\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My last time at Dodger Stadium.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-895\" title=\"Dodger Stadium 005\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI tried to figure it out once, and I think I might have seen something like 200 baseball games at Chavez Ravine. I saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch his no-hitter in 1990, and I saw Atlanta\'s Kent Mercker pitch a no-hitter against the Dodgers a couple of years later.\n\nOddly, on some rare nights off in 1990 and 1991, I missed Kevin Gross pitching a no-hitter for the Dodgers and -- far worse -- I missed Montreal\'s Dennis Martinez pitching a <em>perfect game</em> against Los Angeles.\n\nBut I digress.\n\nIt\'s just that so much of what Los Angeles is to me is wrapped up in Dodger Stadium.\n\nI definitely miss California, although for the most part I\'m happy with our new home in Georgia. It\'s certainly wonderful to be living in a place where our home is completely paid for, and where our living expenses will be much lower than they would have been on the West Coast.\n\nBut I do love L.A., the Los Angeles of freeways and beaches, of the Industry -- only rubes call it \"Hollywood\" -- and all the gorgeous landscape.','','','inherit','open','open','','893-revision','','','2011-03-01 18:30:37','2011-03-02 02:30:37','',893,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=896',0,'revision','',0),(897,1,'2011-03-01 18:31:37','2011-03-02 02:31:37','I\'m not really sure why I watched the Academy Awards the other night. I hadn\'t sat through them for years, and I don\'t think I had seen more than one or two of the movies that were nominated for anything this year. I saw \"Toy Story 3\" in a theater and I watched \"The Social Network\" on DVD. I have the DVD for \"The Kids Are Alright,\" but I haven\'t watched it yet. I saw \"True Grit\" the first time around; just about the only movie I really want to see of this year\'s biggies is \"The King\'s Speech.\"\n\nStill, I enjoyed the show, which from what I\'ve been reading leaves me in a distinct minority. In fact, for all the attacks on James Franco and Anne Hathaway, you\'d think they had barbecued and eaten Mickey Mouse on stage.\n\nActually, watching the Oscars gave me a little bit of a homesick feeling for the first time since we left California four months ago.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_894\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Spotless Beverly Hills\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-894\" title=\"3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/3662071-a_typical_bh_street-Beverly_Hills-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor some reason, it reminded me of the first time I saw Los Angeles in 1978. My first wife and I had driven down from San Francisco, and I remember that it was somewhere around Santa Barbara where I first started noticing the palm trees.\n\nOf course I had seen them on television. So many of the shows I had grown up watching in the 1960s were set in Southern California, with its 350 days a year of sunshine. I was like most other American kids of that era, I suppose. We knew our  own hometown and we knew L.A., even though it was one of those exotic dream places that you couldn\'t actually <em>live</em> in.\n\nThe funny thing I remember from 20 years living there is that Los Angeles was what you wanted to make of it. You could do the whole California thing -- spending time at the beach, shopping in Beverly Hills, eating in fancy retaurants -- or you could pretty much ignore it.\n\nFor 18 years, I worked 50 miles inland from the ocean, and except for the nice California weather, my office could just as easily have been in Kansas or Kentucky.\n\nI don\'t think I ever saw a star in a grocery store or restaurant the whole time I lived there, although I did have dinner with Squiggy in the press room at Dodger Stadium and I punked Larry King in the press box there on a different occasion.\n\nI met a lot of stars while I was doing entertainment stories -- Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Drew Carey, Will Ferrell and the late Peter Ustinov (before he died), to name a few. I even met Eddie Haskell in Beverly Hills, which was sort of a surreal experience.\n\nI only went to one Lakers game in 20 years, and I sat on press row for that one. Most of my insider stuff came from being a reporter and columnist, although I did manage to have a wonderful thrill -- twice, actually -- when I got front-row seats on the third-base side at Dodger Stadium. I took my son and his friends once and my daughter and her fiance the other time. When you love baseball, and you\'re that close to the field in one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world, that\'s a special moment.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_895\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My last time at Dodger Stadium.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-895\" title=\"Dodger Stadium 005\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dodger-Stadium-005-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI tried to figure it out once, and I think I might have seen something like 200 baseball games at Chavez Ravine. I saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch his no-hitter in 1990, and I saw Atlanta\'s Kent Mercker pitch a no-hitter against the Dodgers a couple of years later.\n\nOddly, on some rare nights off in 1990 and 1991, I missed Kevin Gross pitching a no-hitter for the Dodgers and -- far worse -- I missed Montreal\'s Dennis Martinez pitching a <em>perfect game</em> against Los Angeles.\n\nBut I digress.\n\nIt\'s just that so much of what Los Angeles is to me is wrapped up in Dodger Stadium.\n\nI definitely miss California, although for the most part I\'m happy with our new home in Georgia. It\'s certainly wonderful to be living in a place where our home is completely paid for, and where our living expenses will be much lower than they would have been on the West Coast.\n\nBut I do love L.A., the Los Angeles of freeways and beaches, of the Industry -- only rubes call it \"Hollywood\" -- and all the gorgeous landscape.\n\nOh, and Johnny Carson, too.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfUTE6XvYA&amp;feature=related','Oscar telecast brings back memories of California','','inherit','open','open','','893-autosave','','','2011-03-01 18:31:37','2011-03-02 02:31:37','',893,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=897',0,'revision','',0),(911,1,'2011-03-08 19:43:22','2011-03-09 03:43:22','[caption id=\"attachment_912\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking again\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Recent-030.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-912\" title=\"Recent 030\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Recent-030-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI wish I could explain why it\'s so easy to lose good habits, even when you\'ve been doing them for months and think they have become your lifestyle.\r\n\r\nFor months, I walked every day. I saw it as part of my routine and a day really felt incomplete without it. As a result, I got my weight down lower than it had been in more than 20 years and I felt wonderful.\r\n\r\nI did my best to maintain the routine after moving here to Georgia, but I have not been good about it. I weighed about 182 pounds when I got here in mid November, but now I\'m in the low 200s -- probably about 205 -- and except for a pair of shorts I\'m wearing pretty much every day, my clothes don\'t fit me.\r\n\r\nI wasn\'t going to put that in print. I had vowed never to weigh over 200 pounds again, and it fills me with a sense of shame to have to admit it. But I figure putting it out there for the world to see is the only way I\'m going to be able to force myself to address the problem.\r\n\r\nSo, I walked today.\r\n\r\nNot a great walk. Not the eight or nine miles I was doing before I got the infection in my toe. But I went out and walked for an hour -- three miles on the loop.  It\'s supposed to rain tomorrow, but I\'ll either walk outside or go to the community center and walk on the treadmill. It\'s just a question of continuing to put one foot in front of the other until I get back into the routine I was in last fall in California.\r\n\r\nEat less, exercise more.\r\n\r\nWeigh less, feel better.','Time to get started doing things right again','','publish','open','open','','time-to-get-started-doing-things-right-again','','','2011-03-08 19:43:22','2011-03-09 03:43:22','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=911',0,'post','',2),(899,1,'2011-03-02 17:08:16','2011-03-03 01:08:16','It\'s strange how one thing will lead you to another and you might wind up somewhere completely unrelated, if you only choose to go with it.\r\n\r\nI posted a while back on how I had decided to read Jane Leavy\'s excellent book on Mickey Mantle, \"The Last Boy.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_900\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"254\" caption=\"The beginning of the line.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9780061767685_0_Cover.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-900\" title=\"9780061767685_0_Cover\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9780061767685_0_Cover-254x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI also mentioned how at one point during the book, I came across the fact that Mantle was deeply moved by Roy Clark\'s song, \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" and actually asked Clark if he would sing the song at his funeral.\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t really liked the song that much in 1968 -- the yesterday when I <em>was</em> young -- but I suppose it shouldn\'t come as a surprise to anyone that a song like that might move me more at age 61 than it did at age 18.\r\n\r\nAnyway, when I found \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" I discovered that the original version of it had been a song called \"Hier Encore,\" performed by the legendary Charles Aznavour. And while it\'s a nice song, while listening to an Aznavour album I bought on iTunes, I found at least five or six songs that were more wonderful.\r\n\r\nThat led me to more French songs, including an album called \"100 Classic French Songs,\" which were performed by artists that I mostly didn\'t know. There were a couple of names I did recognize, though. Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier were two of them.\r\n\r\nOddly, I knew Chevalier first from an appearance he made on \"I Love Lucy\" in the \'50s. And of course, from \"Gigi\" later.\r\n\r\nSo now I\'ve got a mix on my iPod of about 300 French songs, and even though I generally only understand about one of every three words, I really enjoy listening to them.\r\n\r\nSo Mickey Mantle led me to Maurice Chevalier.\r\n\r\nAll I had to do was relax and go with it.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed-WJPQJAB0','Who knows where the connections will take you?','','publish','open','open','','who-knows-where-the-connections-will-take-you','','','2011-03-02 17:08:16','2011-03-03 01:08:16','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=899',0,'post','',0),(900,1,'2011-03-02 16:53:50','2011-03-03 00:53:50','','9780061767685_0_Cover','The beginning of the line.','inherit','open','open','','9780061767685_0_cover','','','2011-03-02 16:53:50','2011-03-03 00:53:50','',899,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9780061767685_0_Cover.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(901,1,'2011-03-02 17:07:33','2011-03-03 01:07:33','It\'s strange how one thing will lead you to another and you might wind up somewhere completely unrelated, if you only choose to go with it.\n\nI posted a while back on how I had decided to read Jane Leavy\'s excellent book on Mickey Mantle, \"The Last Boy.\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_900\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"254\" caption=\"The beginning of the line.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9780061767685_0_Cover.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-900\" title=\"9780061767685_0_Cover\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9780061767685_0_Cover-254x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI also mentioned how at one point during the book, I came across the fact that Mantle was deeply moved by Roy Clark\'s song, \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" and actually asked Clark if he would sing the song at his funeral.\n\nI hadn\'t really liked the song that much in 1968 -- the yesterday when I <em>was</em> young -- but I suppose it shouldn\'t come as a surprise to anyone that a song like that might move me more at age 61 than it did at age 18.\n\nAnyway, when I found \"Yesterday When I Was Young,\" I discovered that the original version of it had been a song called \"Hier Encore,\" performed by the legendary Charles Aznavour. And while it\'s a nice song, while listening to an Aznavour album I bought on iTunes, I found at least five or six songs that were more wonderful.\n\nThat led me to more French songs, including an album called \"100 Classic French Songs,\" which were performed by artists that I mostly didn\'t know. There were a couple of names I did recognize, though. Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier were two of them.\n\nOddly, I knew Chevalier first from an appearance he made on \"I Love Lucy\" in the \'50s. And of course, from \"Gigi\" later.\n\nSo now I\'ve got a mix on my iPod of about 300 French songs, and even though I generally only understand about one of every three words, I really enjoy listening to them.\n\nSo Mickey Mantle led me to Maurice Chevalier.\n\nAll I had to do was relax and go with it.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed-WJPQJAB0','','','inherit','open','open','','899-revision','','','2011-03-02 17:07:33','2011-03-03 01:07:33','',899,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=901',0,'revision','',0),(902,1,'2011-03-05 14:48:58','2011-03-05 22:48:58','<em>\"The point is there\'s a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss  between the people who have stuff, and the people who don\'t have shit.  It\'s like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand  Canyon, and what\'s come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage  creates violence, and the violence is real.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- Lawrence Kasdan\'s \"Grand Canyon,\" 1991</strong>\r\n\r\nMost of my conservative friends hate this movie.\r\n\r\nIt probably wasn\'t as good as it could have been -- it\'s a little too heavy-handed in making the point it wants to make -- but it had something important to say about America at the end of 12 years of Reagan and Bush, and the problem it addresses is one that has only gotten worse in the 20 years since it was released.\r\n\r\nI lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.\r\n\r\nIn that respect, we have reached a point where America doesn\'t make sense anymore. It was one thing when there was a small number of people at the top and a larger -- but still comparatively small -- group at the bottom, largely overwhelmed by a large middle class that was living the American Dream.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-903\" title=\"grand_canyon_ver2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2-219x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" /></a>But now the middle class is dying as fewer and fewer good jobs seem to be available every year, and as families sink deeper and deeper into debt trying just to maintain their lifestyle.\r\n\r\nAnd people who don\'t live in places like Los Angeles or New York never really see the lifestyle some of the worst plutocrats live. Heck, it isn\'t just that they can\'t see it. For the most part, they can\'t even comprehend it. If you live in Los Angeles, though, you can pass by a 200-room mansion in Bel Air or Beverly Hills and with 10 minutes see a man holding a sign that says he\'ll work for food at a freeway exit.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-904\" title=\"T505\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>It\'s an ever-widening chasm, and if it isn\'t checked in some way, it\'ll probably be the end of any last remnant of American exceptionalism. If we don\'t have a large, thriving middle class, we\'ll end up being just another Third World oligarchy.\r\n\r\nOne problem we have in this country is there are too many people who have never been anywhere else. They have no idea how people live in other parts of the world, so when they listen to the people telling them how good they have it,  they can\'t tell the truth from the lies. I\'ve actually heard people say -- in trying to downplay the homeless problem -- that homeless people in our country live as well as middle-class folks in Europe.\r\n\r\nThe sad truth is, I\'m not sure middle-class families in this country live as well as middle-class families in Europe.\r\n\r\nMost of those families have 4-5 weeks a year of paid vacation, they have paid health insurance and they\'ve got their retirement reasonably well provided for.\r\n\r\nYes, they drive smaller cars.\r\n\r\nYes, they often live in smaller houses or even apartments.\r\n\r\nBut for all that, no our bigger houses, our larger cars and our massive flat-screen televisions actually make us happier? During World War II, the gap between the wages of the average worker and a CEO in this country was about 14-1. It really was a question of the well-to-do living a better lifestyle, although still an understandable one. The last time I looked, the gap was about 300-1.\r\n\r\nSomebody who makes 300 times as much money as the average worker has no comprehension of how real people live.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the real problem. We\'ve reached a point where the folks at the top and in the middle can\'t understand each other anymore. There is no longer a feeling of us all being in it together.\r\n\r\nThat kind of gap makes the Grand Canyon look small.','Rich and middle class: no mutual understanding','I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.','publish','open','open','','wealthy-and-middle-class-have-no-mutual-understanding','','','2011-03-05 14:49:52','2011-03-05 22:49:52','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=902',0,'post','',0),(903,1,'2011-03-05 11:51:46','2011-03-05 19:51:46','','grand_canyon_ver2','','inherit','open','open','','grand_canyon_ver2','','','2011-03-05 11:51:46','2011-03-05 19:51:46','',902,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(904,1,'2011-03-05 14:21:54','2011-03-05 22:21:54','LOOKING NORTH ACROSS THE CANYON AT THE NORTH RIM, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK.','T505','','inherit','open','open','','t505','','','2011-03-05 14:21:54','2011-03-05 22:21:54','',902,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(905,1,'2011-03-05 14:48:06','2011-03-05 22:48:06','<em>\"The point is there\'s a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss  between the people who have stuff, and the people who don\'t have shit.  It\'s like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand  Canyon, and what\'s come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage  creates violence, and the violence is real.\"</em>\n<strong>-- Lawrence Kasdan\'s \"Grand Canyon,\" 1991</strong>\n\nMost of my conservative friends hate this movie.\n\nIt probably wasn\'t as good as it could have been -- it\'s a little too heavy-handed in making the point it wants to make -- but it had something important to say about America at the end of 12 years of Reagan and Bush, and the problem it addresses is one that has only gotten worse in the 20 years since it was released.\n\nI lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\n\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.\n\nIn that respect, we have reached a point where America doesn\'t make sense anymore. It was one thing when there was a small number of people at the top and a larger -- but still comparatively small -- group at the bottom, largely overwhelmed by a large middle class that was living the American Dream.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-903\" title=\"grand_canyon_ver2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2-219x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" /></a>But now the middle class is dying as fewer and fewer good jobs seem to be available every year, and as families sink deeper and deeper into debt trying just to maintain their lifestyle.\n\nAnd people who don\'t live in places like Los Angeles or New York never really see the lifestyle some of the worst plutocrats live. Heck, it isn\'t just that they can\'t see it. For the most part, they can\'t even comprehend it. If you live in Los Angeles, though, you can pass by a 200-room mansion in Bel Air or Beverly Hills and with 10 minutes see a man holding a sign that says he\'ll work for food at a freeway exit.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-904\" title=\"T505\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>It\'s an ever-widening chasm, and if it isn\'t checked in some way, it\'ll probably be the end of any last remnant of American exceptionalism. If we don\'t have a large, thriving middle class, we\'ll end up being just another Third World oligarchy.\n\nOne problem we have in this country is there are too many people who have never been anywhere else. They have no idea how people live in other parts of the world, so when they listen to the people telling them how good they have it,  they can\'t tell the truth from the lies. I\'ve actually heard people say -- in trying to downplay the homeless problem -- that homeless people in our country live as well as middle-class folks in Europe.\n\nThe sad truth is, I\'m not sure middle-class families in this country live as well as middle-class families in Europe.\n\nMost of those families have 4-5 weeks a year of paid vacation, they have paid health insurance and they\'ve got their retirement reasonably well provided for.\n\nYes, they drive smaller cars.\n\nYes, they often live in smaller houses or even apartments.\n\nBut for all that, no our bigger houses, our larger cars and our massive flat-screen televisions actually make us happier? During World War II, the gap between the wages of the average worker and a CEO in this country was about 14-1. It really was a question of the well-to-do living a better lifestyle, although still an understandable one. The last time I looked, the gap was about 300-1.\n\nSomebody who makes 300 times as much money as the average worker has no comprehension of how real people live.\n\nAnd that\'s the real problem. We\'ve reached a point where the folks at the top and in the middle can\'t understand each other anymore. There is no longer a feeling','','I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\n\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.','inherit','open','open','','902-revision','','','2011-03-05 14:48:06','2011-03-05 22:48:06','',902,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=905',0,'revision','',0),(906,1,'2011-03-05 14:48:58','2011-03-05 22:48:58','<em>\"The point is there\'s a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss  between the people who have stuff, and the people who don\'t have shit.  It\'s like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand  Canyon, and what\'s come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage  creates violence, and the violence is real.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- Lawrence Kasdan\'s \"Grand Canyon,\" 1991</strong>\r\n\r\nMost of my conservative friends hate this movie.\r\n\r\nIt probably wasn\'t as good as it could have been -- it\'s a little too heavy-handed in making the point it wants to make -- but it had something important to say about America at the end of 12 years of Reagan and Bush, and the problem it addresses is one that has only gotten worse in the 20 years since it was released.\r\n\r\nI lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.\r\n\r\nIn that respect, we have reached a point where America doesn\'t make sense anymore. It was one thing when there was a small number of people at the top and a larger -- but still comparatively small -- group at the bottom, largely overwhelmed by a large middle class that was living the American Dream.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-903\" title=\"grand_canyon_ver2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2-219x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" /></a>But now the middle class is dying as fewer and fewer good jobs seem to be available every year, and as families sink deeper and deeper into debt trying just to maintain their lifestyle.\r\n\r\nAnd people who don\'t live in places like Los Angeles or New York never really see the lifestyle some of the worst plutocrats live. Heck, it isn\'t just that they can\'t see it. For the most part, they can\'t even comprehend it. If you live in Los Angeles, though, you can pass by a 200-room mansion in Bel Air or Beverly Hills and with 10 minutes see a man holding a sign that says he\'ll work for food at a freeway exit.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-904\" title=\"T505\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>It\'s an ever-widening chasm, and if it isn\'t checked in some way, it\'ll probably be the end of any last remnant of American exceptionalism. If we don\'t have a large, thriving middle class, we\'ll end up being just another Third World oligarchy.\r\n\r\nOne problem we have in this country is there are too many people who have never been anywhere else. They have no idea how people live in other parts of the world, so when they listen to the people telling them how good they have it,  they can\'t tell the truth from the lies. I\'ve actually heard people say -- in trying to downplay the homeless problem -- that homeless people in our country live as well as middle-class folks in Europe.\r\n\r\nThe sad truth is, I\'m not sure middle-class families in this country live as well as middle-class families in Europe.\r\n\r\nMost of those families have 4-5 weeks a year of paid vacation, they have paid health insurance and they\'ve got their retirement reasonably well provided for.\r\n\r\nYes, they drive smaller cars.\r\n\r\nYes, they often live in smaller houses or even apartments.\r\n\r\nBut for all that, no our bigger houses, our larger cars and our massive flat-screen televisions actually make us happier? During World War II, the gap between the wages of the average worker and a CEO in this country was about 14-1. It really was a question of the well-to-do living a better lifestyle, although still an understandable one. The last time I looked, the gap was about 300-1.\r\n\r\nSomebody who makes 300 times as much money as the average worker has no comprehension of how real people live.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the real problem. We\'ve reached a point where the folks at the top and in the middle can\'t understand each other anymore. There is no longer a feeling of us all being in it together.\r\n\r\nThat kind of gap makes the Grand Canyon look small.','Wealthy and middle class have no mutual understanding','I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.','inherit','open','open','','902-revision-2','','','2011-03-05 14:48:58','2011-03-05 22:48:58','',902,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=906',0,'revision','',0),(907,1,'2011-03-05 14:49:25','2011-03-05 22:49:25','<em>\"The point is there\'s a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss  between the people who have stuff, and the people who don\'t have shit.  It\'s like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand  Canyon, and what\'s come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage  creates violence, and the violence is real.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- Lawrence Kasdan\'s \"Grand Canyon,\" 1991</strong>\r\n\r\nMost of my conservative friends hate this movie.\r\n\r\nIt probably wasn\'t as good as it could have been -- it\'s a little too heavy-handed in making the point it wants to make -- but it had something important to say about America at the end of 12 years of Reagan and Bush, and the problem it addresses is one that has only gotten worse in the 20 years since it was released.\r\n\r\nI lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.\r\n\r\nIn that respect, we have reached a point where America doesn\'t make sense anymore. It was one thing when there was a small number of people at the top and a larger -- but still comparatively small -- group at the bottom, largely overwhelmed by a large middle class that was living the American Dream.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-903\" title=\"grand_canyon_ver2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2-219x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" /></a>But now the middle class is dying as fewer and fewer good jobs seem to be available every year, and as families sink deeper and deeper into debt trying just to maintain their lifestyle.\r\n\r\nAnd people who don\'t live in places like Los Angeles or New York never really see the lifestyle some of the worst plutocrats live. Heck, it isn\'t just that they can\'t see it. For the most part, they can\'t even comprehend it. If you live in Los Angeles, though, you can pass by a 200-room mansion in Bel Air or Beverly Hills and with 10 minutes see a man holding a sign that says he\'ll work for food at a freeway exit.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-904\" title=\"T505\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>It\'s an ever-widening chasm, and if it isn\'t checked in some way, it\'ll probably be the end of any last remnant of American exceptionalism. If we don\'t have a large, thriving middle class, we\'ll end up being just another Third World oligarchy.\r\n\r\nOne problem we have in this country is there are too many people who have never been anywhere else. They have no idea how people live in other parts of the world, so when they listen to the people telling them how good they have it,  they can\'t tell the truth from the lies. I\'ve actually heard people say -- in trying to downplay the homeless problem -- that homeless people in our country live as well as middle-class folks in Europe.\r\n\r\nThe sad truth is, I\'m not sure middle-class families in this country live as well as middle-class families in Europe.\r\n\r\nMost of those families have 4-5 weeks a year of paid vacation, they have paid health insurance and they\'ve got their retirement reasonably well provided for.\r\n\r\nYes, they drive smaller cars.\r\n\r\nYes, they often live in smaller houses or even apartments.\r\n\r\nBut for all that, no our bigger houses, our larger cars and our massive flat-screen televisions actually make us happier? During World War II, the gap between the wages of the average worker and a CEO in this country was about 14-1. It really was a question of the well-to-do living a better lifestyle, although still an understandable one. The last time I looked, the gap was about 300-1.\r\n\r\nSomebody who makes 300 times as much money as the average worker has no comprehension of how real people live.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the real problem. We\'ve reached a point where the folks at the top and in the middle can\'t understand each other anymore. There is no longer a feeling of us all being in it together.\r\n\r\nThat kind of gap makes the Grand Canyon look small.','Rich and middle class have no mutual understanding','I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.\r\n\r\nIn fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we\'re seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren\'t making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.','inherit','open','open','','902-revision-3','','','2011-03-05 14:49:25','2011-03-05 22:49:25','',902,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=907',0,'revision','',0),(908,1,'2011-03-06 20:08:42','2011-03-07 04:08:42','I have wonderful friends, but for someone who puts such a premium on friendship, I\'m not always such a good friend myself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_909\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0137.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-909\" title=\"DSC_0137\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0137-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy friend Mick and I disagree on most things when it comes to politics. Although neither of us is totally consistent, in general I think I could say with a fair degree of accuracy that he\'s a conservative and I\'m a liberal.\r\n\r\nI suppose that maybe our strongest area of disagreement is that I am a firm believer in the right of workers to form unions and to bargain collectively, while Mick probably loathes labor unions as much as he loves the New York Yankees.\r\n\r\nI\'m not much of a Yankee fan myself, but we seem to be OK with that area of disagreement.\r\n\r\nAt any rate, we have come to blows -- figuratively, not literally -- over what I consider a major power grab by the Republican governor of Wisconsin in trying to eliminate collective bargaining by the public employee unions in his state.\r\n\r\nThe thing is, it doesn\'t matter.\r\n\r\nNo matter how often I make witty comments on <em>Huffington Post</em>, no matter how many bon mots I write on Facebook, none of it really has any effect on what is happening in Wisconsin or in the country. I may or may not be an effective enough writer to make a difference, but my outlets certainly don\'t have the reach or the influence to change anything that is happening.\r\n\r\nAll they do is upset my friend, the best friend I have ever had and the best friend I ever will have.\r\n\r\nAnd that sucks.\r\n\r\nI have a poster on my wall that I have had for years, from the movie \"Bang the Drum Slowly.\" The tagline on it, one that has always resonated with me, is \"Nothing is more important than friendship. Not fame. Not money. Not death.\"\r\n\r\nI believe that.\r\n\r\nI\'m sorry, my friend, if I hurt you.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg8SO24gygU','Sometimes we let our friends down','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-we-let-our-friends-down','','','2011-03-06 20:08:42','2011-03-07 04:08:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=908',0,'post','',1),(909,1,'2011-03-06 19:54:36','2011-03-07 03:54:36','','DSC_0137','Mick','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0137-3','','','2011-03-06 19:54:36','2011-03-07 03:54:36','',908,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0137.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(910,1,'2011-03-06 20:08:32','2011-03-07 04:08:32','I have wonderful friends, but for someone who puts such a premium on friendship, I\'m not always such a good friend myself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_909\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0137.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-909\" title=\"DSC_0137\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0137-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy friend Mick and I disagree on most things when it comes to politics. Although neither of us is totally consistent, in general I think I could say with a fair degree of accuracy that he\'s a conservative and I\'m a liberal.\n\nI suppose that maybe our strongest area of disagreement is that I am a firm believer in the right of workers to form unions and to bargain collectively, while Mick probably loathes labor unions as much as he loves the New York Yankees.\n\nI\'m not much of a Yankee fan myself, but we seem to be OK with that area of disagreement.\n\nAt any rate, we have come to blows -- figuratively, not literally -- over what I consider a major power grab by the Republican governor of Wisconsin in trying to eliminate collective bargaining by the public employee unions in his state.\n\nThe thing is, it doesn\'t matter.\n\nNo matter how often I make witty comments on <em>Huffington Post</em>, no matter how many bon mots I write on Facebook, none of it really has any effect on what is happening in Wisconsin or in the country. I may or may not be an effective enough writer to make a difference, but my outlets certainly don\'t have the reach or the influence to change anything that is happening.\n\nAll they do is upset my friend, the best friend I have ever had and the best friend I ever will have.\n\nAnd that sucks.\n\nI have a poster on my wall that I have had for years, from the movie \"Bang the Drum Slowly.\" The tagline on it, one that has always resonated with me, is \"Nothing is more important than friendship. Not fame. Not money. Not death.\"\n\nI believe that.\n\nI\'m sorry, my friend, if I hurt you.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg8SO24gygU','Sometimes ','','inherit','open','open','','908-revision','','','2011-03-06 20:08:32','2011-03-07 04:08:32','',908,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=910',0,'revision','',0),(912,1,'2011-03-08 19:21:49','2011-03-09 03:21:49','','Recent 030','Walking again','inherit','open','open','','recent-030','','','2011-03-08 19:21:49','2011-03-09 03:21:49','',911,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Recent-030.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(913,1,'2011-03-08 19:42:53','2011-03-09 03:42:53','[caption id=\"attachment_912\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking again\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Recent-030.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-912\" title=\"Recent 030\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Recent-030-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI wish I could explain why it\'s so easy to lose good habits, even when you\'ve been doing them for months and think they have become your lifestyle.\n\nFor months, I walked every day. I saw it as part of my routine and a day really felt incomplete without it. As a result, I got my weight down lower than it had been in more than 20 years and I felt wonderful.\n\nI did my best to maintain the routine after moving here to Georgia, but I have not been good about it. I weighed about 182 pounds when I got here in mid November, but now I\'m in the low 200s -- probably about 205 -- and except for a pair of shorts I\'m wearing pretty much every day, my clothes don\'t fit me.\n\nI wasn\'t going to put that in print. I had vowed never to weigh over 200 pounds again, and it fills me with a sense of shame to have to admit it. But I figure putting it out there for the world to see is the only way I\'m going to be able to force myself to address the problem.\n\nSo, I walked today.\n\nNot a great walk. Not the eight or nine miles I was doing before I got the infection in my toe. But I went out and walked for an hour -- three miles on the loop.  It\'s supposed to rain tomorrow, but I\'ll either walk outside or go to the community center and walk on the treadmill. It\'s just a question of continuing to put one foot in front of the other until I get back into the routine I was in last fall in California.\n\nEat less, exercise more.\n\nWeigh less, feel better.','','','inherit','open','open','','911-revision','','','2011-03-08 19:42:53','2011-03-09 03:42:53','',911,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=913',0,'revision','',0),(943,1,'2011-03-25 22:55:30','2011-03-26 05:55:30','Some movies surprise you.\r\n\r\nI\'m not really sure why I decided to pick up the DVD of \"Love and Other Drugs,\" but it was far from being the romantic comedy I had expected. Jake Gyllenhaal is only my second-favorite Gyllenhaal, but I do like Anne Hathaway and feel like she has shown some decent comedy chops at times.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-944\" title=\"love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" /></a>The movie started out funny, as Gyllenhaal\'s character tries to make a success of himself as a rep for a pharmaceutical company.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a fairly sexy movie too, but it takes a serious turn when we realize Hathaway\'s character is suffering from Stage One Parkinson\'s Disease. She pushes potential boyfriends away when there\'s a chance of emotional involvement, possibly because she\'s afraid she will eventually lose them.\r\n\r\nThe story of course becomes much more serious, as what was supposed to be just a casual relationship deepens.\r\n\r\nIt\'s difficult to think of spending your life caring for someone with a chronic, degeneration condition. It is, however, an important part of love. Because real love -- true love, so to speak -- has only a little to do with lust and a lot to do with caring. My mother was my father\'s primary caregiver throughout the last five years or so of his life, and as difficult as it must have been, I have no doubt she would have gladly continued it, or possibly have done even more, if it had meant keeping him alive longer.\r\n\r\nThat\'s because love is about <em>always</em> being there, consistently putting the other person\'s needs ahead of your own. Staying on your feet when your legs are so tired they feel like blocks of wood. Talking with them even though you\'re exhausted and want nothing more than just to sleep,\r\n\r\nAlways.\r\n\r\nIn the present and in the future.\r\n\r\nLove can be a lot of work, but there\'s no work that is more fulfilling.\r\n\r\nLove ennobles us.','\'Love and ...\" raises good questions about love','','publish','open','open','','love-and-raises-good-questions-about-love','','','2011-03-25 22:55:30','2011-03-26 05:55:30','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=943',0,'post','',0),(915,1,'2011-03-09 18:11:23','2011-03-10 02:11:23','If you allow it to, the world will break your heart every single day of your life.\r\n\r\nBut what is even worse is that sometimes, it seems as though the only way to avoid heartbreak is to harden your heart and no matter how terrible the news you hear, just tell yourself that it doesn\'t affect you or your family.\r\n\r\nI grew up hating a major part of my own heritage -- the German part -- because of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. It took me a lot of years, and two years living in Austria in the \'70s, before I was able to see that people aren\'t really that different in different parts of the world. Put them in a position where they\'re afraid and they\'ll react badly.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_916\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Vienna\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-916\" title=\"1970165\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut I don\'t know if there was a day during the time I lived in Vienna that I didn\'t remember that Austria was the country that gave the world Hitler.\r\n\r\nI\'m not Jewish, but I have Jewish relatives on my father\'s side and I have read extensively about the Holocaust. And let\'s be honest. It really wasn\'t possible to grow up during the baby boom years and not be aware of what Hitler did to the six million (and a few million others who weren\'t Jews).\r\n\r\nBut you know what? Growing up on the East Coast in the \'50s and \'60s, I never heard one word about the Armenian genocide, and even though I had heard bits and pieces about it, it has only been recently that I\'ve bothered to find out more. I haven\'t known many Armenian-Americans in my lifetime (although one or two more than I realized at the time), so it just wasn\'t something that was on my radar.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_918\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Armenian genocide memorial\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-918\" title=\"armenia_genocide_memorial\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut just as I started discovering a lot of wonderful music through Charles Aznavour, when I noticed that he was of Armenian descent and had written and performed several songs about what happened from 1915-23, I started looking into it.\r\n\r\nDid you know that Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion (in the fourth century)? And did you know that the genocide was almost certainly about religion, with a Muslim government in the Ottoman Empire deciding to get rid of a Christian minority?\r\n\r\nReading about it has made me ineffably sad.\r\n\r\nBut there are so many horrific stories like that in the world, throughout the centuries. What we did to the American Indians under the name of manifest destiny in the 18th and 19th centuries is horrifying too.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. I remember studying history in school and when we heard the term \"manifest destiny,\" it was said in a very positive way, as if we were doing God\'s work in settling the continent.\r\n\r\nBut let\'s be honest. We weren\'t any worse than the Turks ... or the Germans ... or dozens of other dominant populations who did their best to exterminate subservient ones.\r\n\r\nIt\'s why we\'re told in Psalm 146, \"Put not your trust in princes.\"\r\n\r\nEverybody knows that line, but the ones that follow are important too:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.\"</em>\r\n\r\nPeople will break your heart every time if you let them.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why it\'s important to remember that for every person who has disappointed us, there is probably someone we have disappointed. We can\'t be smug or self-satisfied. We ought to do two things every day of our lives -- stay sensitive enough to be touched by the injustices of the world, but be strong enough to strive to be better than we were the day before.','Be sensitive to the world, but strive to be better','','publish','open','open','','be-sensitive-to-the-world-but-strive-to-be-better','','','2011-03-09 18:12:09','2011-03-10 02:12:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=915',0,'post','',1),(916,1,'2011-03-09 13:36:23','2011-03-09 21:36:23','','1970165','Vienna','inherit','open','open','','1970165','','','2011-03-09 13:36:23','2011-03-09 21:36:23','',915,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(917,1,'2011-03-09 13:45:11','2011-03-09 21:45:11','If you allow it to, the world will break your heart every single day of your life.\n\nBut what is even worse is that sometimes, it seems as though the only way to avoid heartbreak is to harden your heart and no matter how terrible the news you hear, just tell yourself that it doesn\'t affect you or your family.\n\nI grew up hating a major part of my own heritage -- the German part -- because of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. It took me a lot of years, and two years living in Austria in the \'70s, before I was able to see that people aren\'t really that different in different parts of the world. Put them in a position where they\'re afraid and they\'ll react badly.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_916\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Vienna\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-916\" title=\"1970165\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut I don\'t know if there was a day during the time I lived in Vienna that I didn\'t remember that Austria was the country that gave the world Hitler.\n\nI\'m not Jewish, but I have Jewish relatives on my father\'s side and I have read extensively about the H','','','inherit','open','open','','915-revision','','','2011-03-09 13:45:11','2011-03-09 21:45:11','',915,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=917',0,'revision','',0),(918,1,'2011-03-09 17:56:22','2011-03-10 01:56:22','','armenia_genocide_memorial','Armenian genocide memorial','inherit','open','open','','armenia_genocide_memorial','','','2011-03-09 17:56:22','2011-03-10 01:56:22','',915,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(919,1,'2011-03-09 18:10:26','2011-03-10 02:10:26','If you allow it to, the world will break your heart every single day of your life.\n\nBut what is even worse is that sometimes, it seems as though the only way to avoid heartbreak is to harden your heart and no matter how terrible the news you hear, just tell yourself that it doesn\'t affect you or your family.\n\nI grew up hating a major part of my own heritage -- the German part -- because of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. It took me a lot of years, and two years living in Austria in the \'70s, before I was able to see that people aren\'t really that different in different parts of the world. Put them in a position where they\'re afraid and they\'ll react badly.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_916\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Vienna\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-916\" title=\"1970165\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut I don\'t know if there was a day during the time I lived in Vienna that I didn\'t remember that Austria was the country that gave the world Hitler.\n\nI\'m not Jewish, but I have Jewish relatives on my father\'s side and I have read extensively about the Holocaust. And let\'s be honest. It really wasn\'t possible to grow up during the baby boom years and not be aware of what Hitler did to the six million (and a few million others who weren\'t Jews).\n\nBut you know what? Growing up on the East Coast in the \'50s and \'60s, I never heard one word about the Armenian genocide, and even though I had heard bits and pieces about it, it has only been recently that I\'ve bothered to find out more. I haven\'t known many Armenian-Americans in my lifetime (although one or two more than I realized at the time), so it just wasn\'t something that was on my radar.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_918\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Armenian genocide memorial\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-918\" title=\"armenia_genocide_memorial\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut just as I started discovering a lot of wonderful music through Charles Aznavour, when I noticed that he was of Armenian descent and had written and performed several songs about what happened from 1915-23, I started looking into it.\n\nDid you know that Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion (in the fourth century)? And did you know that the genocide was almost certainly about religion, with a Muslim government in the Ottoman Empire deciding to get rid of a Christian minority?\n\nReading about it has made me ineffably sad.\n\nBut there are so many horrific stories like that in the world, throughout the centuries. What we did to the American Indians under the name of manifest destiny in the 18th and 19th centuries is horrifying too.\n\nIt\'s funny. I remember studying history in school and when we heard the term \"manifest destiny,\" it was said in a very positive way, as if we were doing God\'s work in settling the continent.\n\nBut let\'s be honest. We weren\'t any worse than the Turks ... or the Germans ... or dozens of other dominant populations who did their best to exterminate subservient ones.\n\nIt\'s why we\'re told in Psalm 146, \"Put not your trust in princes.\"\n\nEverybody knows that line, but the ones that follow are important too:\n\n<em>\"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.\"</em>\n\nPeople will break your heart every time if you let them.\n\nThat\'s why it\'s important to remember that for every person who has disappointed us, there is probably someone we have disappointed. We can\'t be smug or self-satisfied. We ought to do two things every day of our lives -- stay sensitive enough to be touched by the injustices of the world, but be strong enough to strive to be better than we were the day before.','','','inherit','open','open','','915-revision-2','','','2011-03-09 18:10:26','2011-03-10 02:10:26','',915,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=919',0,'revision','',0),(920,1,'2011-03-09 18:11:23','2011-03-10 02:11:23','If you allow it to, the world will break your heart every single day of your life.\r\n\r\nBut what is even worse is that sometimes, it seems as though the only way to avoid heartbreak is to harden your heart and no matter how terrible the news you hear, just tell yourself that it doesn\'t affect you or your family.\r\n\r\nI grew up hating a major part of my own heritage -- the German part -- because of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. It took me a lot of years, and two years living in Austria in the \'70s, before I was able to see that people aren\'t really that different in different parts of the world. Put them in a position where they\'re afraid and they\'ll react badly.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_916\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Vienna\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-916\" title=\"1970165\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1970165-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut I don\'t know if there was a day during the time I lived in Vienna that I didn\'t remember that Austria was the country that gave the world Hitler.\r\n\r\nI\'m not Jewish, but I have Jewish relatives on my father\'s side and I have read extensively about the Holocaust. And let\'s be honest. It really wasn\'t possible to grow up during the baby boom years and not be aware of what Hitler did to the six million (and a few million others who weren\'t Jews).\r\n\r\nBut you know what? Growing up on the East Coast in the \'50s and \'60s, I never heard one word about the Armenian genocide, and even though I had heard bits and pieces about it, it has only been recently that I\'ve bothered to find out more. I haven\'t known many Armenian-Americans in my lifetime (although one or two more than I realized at the time), so it just wasn\'t something that was on my radar.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_918\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Armenian genocide memorial\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-918\" title=\"armenia_genocide_memorial\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/armenia_genocide_memorial-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut just as I started discovering a lot of wonderful music through Charles Aznavour, when I noticed that he was of Armenian descent and had written and performed several songs about what happened from 1915-23, I started looking into it.\r\n\r\nDid you know that Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion (in the fourth century)? And did you know that the genocide was almost certainly about religion, with a Muslim government in the Ottoman Empire deciding to get rid of a Christian minority?\r\n\r\nReading about it has made me ineffably sad.\r\n\r\nBut there are so many horrific stories like that in the world, throughout the centuries. What we did to the American Indians under the name of manifest destiny in the 18th and 19th centuries is horrifying too.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. I remember studying history in school and when we heard the term \"manifest destiny,\" it was said in a very positive way, as if we were doing God\'s work in settling the continent.\r\n\r\nBut let\'s be honest. We weren\'t any worse than the Turks ... or the Germans ... or dozens of other dominant populations who did their best to exterminate subservient ones.\r\n\r\nIt\'s why we\'re told in Psalm 146, \"Put not your trust in princes.\"\r\n\r\nEverybody knows that line, but the ones that follow are important too:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.\"</em>\r\n\r\nPeople will break your heart every time if you let them.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why it\'s important to remember that for every person who has disappointed us, there is probably someone we have disappointed. We can\'t be smug or self-satisfied. We ought to do two things every day of our lives -- stay sensitive enough to be touched by the injustices of the world, but be strong enough to strive to be better than we were the day before.','Be sensitive to the world, but strive to be better','','inherit','open','open','','915-revision-3','','','2011-03-09 18:11:23','2011-03-10 02:11:23','',915,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=920',0,'revision','',0),(1155,1,'2011-05-23 20:38:47','2011-05-24 03:38:47','','glory','','inherit','open','open','','glory','','','2011-05-23 20:38:47','2011-05-24 03:38:47','',1154,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/glory.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1156,1,'2011-05-23 20:55:35','2011-05-24 03:55:35','','index','War and Remembrance','inherit','open','open','','index-3','','','2011-05-23 20:55:35','2011-05-24 03:55:35','',1154,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/index1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(923,1,'2011-04-13 18:47:42','2011-04-14 01:47:42','<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/800__broadcast_news_blu-ray_9_.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1006\" title=\"800__broadcast_news_blu-ray_9_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/800__broadcast_news_blu-ray_9_-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\"It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you\'re the smartest person in the room.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"No. It\'s awful.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThis exchange from \"Broadcast News\" had two intelligent people either making or hearing a comment in two diametrically opposite ways. Peter Hackes\' television executive is being extremely sarcastic in making the remark to Holly Hunter\'s line producer, while Hunter -- who has pretty much always <em>been</em> the smartest person in whatever room she occupies -- answers with heartfelt sincerity.\r\n\r\nI have been fortunate in my life to know quite a few brilliant people, people who are legitimately the smartest person in most of the rooms they occupy.\r\n\r\nMy wife Nicole is definitely one of them.\r\n\r\nShe has doctorates in two different scientific disciplines, and there are things she knows in her area of specialization that no more than one or two other people in the world understand or even know.\r\n\r\nThe thing that is incredibly impressive about my wife is that while she may be one of the smartest people in the world, she doesn\'t lord it over me.\r\n\r\nMy parents were also brilliant. When my dad was still alive, he was probably the smartest man I had ever know, and my mother (who is still alive) is at worst the second-smartest woman I know. I\'ve got some pretty smart siblings too, but that shouldn\'t come as any surprise. I should also mention my kids. Both of them are way up there.\r\n\r\nI have some intelligent friends too, but most of them suffer from the same syndrome that I do. We\'re not as smart as we think we are. In fact, I could describe one particular friend -- who I won\'t mention by name -- by saying that he\'s probably twice as smart as I think he is and half as smart as he thinks he is. I would have a lot more respect for his intellect if I had ever found one subject about which he admitted he didn\'t know much about it.\r\n\r\nBecause if there\'s one thing I have learned over the years, it\'s that sometimes the three most intelligent words you can say are there:\r\n\r\n<em>\"I don\'t know.\"</em>','Being intelligent isn\'t always knowing the answer','','publish','open','open','','being-intelligent-isnt-always-about-knowing-the-answer','','','2011-04-13 18:49:27','2011-04-14 01:49:27','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=923',0,'post','',0),(924,1,'2011-03-21 19:31:33','2011-03-22 02:31:33','Am I my brother\'s keeper?\r\n\r\nIt\'s an age-old question, quite possibly the first one in recorded history, that Cain asked God when asked what had happened to Abel. And it\'s a question we ought to be asking ourselves in the wake of what has been happening recently in the world, from Wisconsin to Japan and at numerous points in between.\r\n\r\nAre we responsible for those worse off than we are, or should every man (and woman) simply be responsible for taking care of himself (or herself) and the immediate family?\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_962\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"His blood cries out.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/illust09001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-962\" title=\"illust09001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/illust09001-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAt the very least, we need to be better than Cain, who murdered his brother.\r\n\r\nAccording to the Bible, God\'s response to Cain\'s question was that Abel\'s blood was crying out to him from the ground.\r\n\r\nOf course, that isn\'t enough. Move on to the New Testament and Christ tells us that of course we are our brothers\' keepers, that whatever we do to the least among us we are doing to him.\r\n\r\nIt amazes me how cruel and cold our society has become in less than 40 years. As recently as the 1970s, we had a strongly progressive tax system, where those who enjoyed the fruits of our society the most paid additional taxes. It worked out pretty well. In the \'50s, for example, we had a top tax rate of 93 percent. Yet we had the longest sustained period of economic growth we have ever enjoyed.\r\n\r\nWe had programs to help the poor, programs that flourished under both Democrat and Republican presidents, and most of the time, we came pretty close to balancing our national budget and keeping the public debt under control.\r\n\r\nBut starting in the \'80s, with Ronald Reagan\'s massive tax cuts for the rich and his massive defense buildup, the deficit -- and the debt -- got out of control. Ever since then, it has been a fight to the death just to get Republicans to pay taxes.\r\n\r\nThey have been doing everything they can to eliminate social programs, particularly the ones that help the poor. I never understood that. Even if I weren\'t Roman Catholic and didn\'t believe in social justice, I wouldn\'t think it would be a good idea to make things worse for the poor.\r\n\r\nYou see, there are a lot more poor people than there are rich people.\r\n\r\nAnd if they ever find out just how badly rich Republicans have been screwing them over, if they ever come to realize the truth of the situation, Republicans will need to worry about a lot more than just getting voted out of office.\r\n\r\nI\'ve always said that on the most basic level, government\'s job is to prevent the rich from eating the poor -- and vice versa.\r\n\r\nIf that\'s the goal, those rich Republicans are either going to have to loosen up a little ... or build some very high walls around their homes.','Yes, we really do need to be our brothers\' keepers','','publish','open','open','','yes-we-really-do-need-to-be-our-brothers-keepers','','','2011-03-21 19:31:33','2011-03-22 02:31:33','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=924',0,'post','',0),(925,1,'2011-03-12 08:49:57','2011-03-12 16:49:57','Am I my brother\'s keeper?\n\nIt\'s an age-old question, quite possibly the first one in recorded history, that Cain asked God when asked what had happened to Abel. And it\'s a question we ought to be asking ourselves in the wake of what has been happening recently in the world, from Wisconsin to Japan and at numerous points in between.','','','inherit','open','open','','924-revision','','','2011-03-12 08:49:57','2011-03-12 16:49:57','',924,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=925',0,'revision','',0),(926,1,'2011-03-12 19:26:54','2011-03-13 03:26:54','I really love iTunes.\r\n\r\nIt\'s truly amazing how much music you can find there, of how many different types. I\'ve been exploring international music lately, and I\'ve found some songs I hadn\'t heard in more than 50 years.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_927\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Sir Harry Lauder\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/album-199850.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-927\" title=\"album-199850\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/album-199850.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve written about all the amazing French music I have downloaded, and I think I mentioned that the Charles Aznavour album \"Duos\" had helped me discover the wonderful Italian singer Laura Pausini and the German crooner Herbert Groenemeyer.\r\n\r\nBut an album of classic French songs had some songs that sounded like old music hall songs, which got me thinking about English music hall songs and that got me thinking about <a title=\"Sir Harry Lauder\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lauder\" target=\"_self\">Sir Harry Lauder</a>, who died three months after I was born.\r\n\r\nHe was known as the First Knight of the Music Hall, and Winston Churchill called him \"Scotland\'s greatest ever ambassador.\"\r\n\r\nBut for some reason, when I listen to him singing his classic \"Roamin\' in the Gloamin\',\" I find myself thinking again of my dad and another aspect of him that I truly didn\'t appreciate enough as a child.\r\n\r\nHe had perhaps the most eclectic musical tastes of anyone I\'ve ever known, and there are so many artists I enjoy now -- from Lauder to Pete Seeger -- that I first heard through him.\r\n\r\nOne thing interesting about the Lauder album I downloaded from iTunes. It\'s classified as a comedy album.\r\n\r\nIt doesn\'t matter. I think most of the songs on it were recorded 70 or 80 years ago, and they are extremely evocative of an era.\r\n\r\nOf course, to me they evoke my childhood and once again, leave me missing my dad.\r\n\r\nHe really was a pretty amazing guy.','And the hits just keep on coming from iTunes','','publish','open','open','','and-the-hits-just-keep-on-coming-from-itunes','','','2011-03-12 19:26:54','2011-03-13 03:26:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=926',0,'post','',0),(927,1,'2011-03-12 19:15:51','2011-03-13 03:15:51','','album-199850','Sir Harry Lauder','inherit','open','open','','album-199850','','','2011-03-12 19:15:51','2011-03-13 03:15:51','',926,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/album-199850.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(928,1,'2011-03-12 19:26:26','2011-03-13 03:26:26','I really love iTunes.\n\nIt\'s truly amazing how much music you can find there, of how many different types. I\'ve been exploring international music lately, and I\'ve found some songs I hadn\'t heard in more than 50 years.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_927\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Sir Harry Lauder\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/album-199850.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-927\" title=\"album-199850\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/album-199850.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve written about all the amazing French music I have downloaded, and I think I mentioned that the Charles Aznavour album \"Duos\" had helped me discover the wonderful Italian singer Laura Pausini and the German crooner Herbert Groenemeyer.\n\nBut an album of classic French songs had some songs that sounded like old music hall songs, which got me thinking about English music hall songs and that got me thinking about <a title=\"Sir Harry Lauder\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lauder\" target=\"_self\">Sir Harry Lauder</a>, who died three months after I was born.\n\nHe was known as the First Knight of the Music Hall, and Winston Churchill called him \"Scotland\'s greatest ever ambassador.\"\n\nBut for some reason, when I listen to him singing his classic \"Roamin\' in the Gloamin\',\" I find myself thinking again of my dad and another aspect of him that I truly didn\'t appreciate enough as a child.\n\nHe had perhaps the most eclectic musical tastes of anyone I\'ve ever known, and there are so many artists I enjoy now -- from Lauder to Pete Seeger -- that I first heard through him.\n\nOne thing interesting about the Lauder album I downloaded from iTunes. It\'s classified as a comedy album.\n\nIt doesn\'t matter. I think most of the songs on it were recorded 70 or 80 years ago, and they are extremely evocative of an era.\n\nOf course, to me they evoke my childhood and once again, leave me missing my dad.\n\nHe really was a pretty amazing guy.','','','inherit','open','open','','926-revision','','','2011-03-12 19:26:26','2011-03-13 03:26:26','',926,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=928',0,'revision','',0),(929,1,'2011-04-15 21:41:14','2011-04-16 04:41:14','<em>Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.</em>\r\n\r\nThere have been numerous versions of this Yiddish proverb, but this one is my favorite.\r\n\r\n\"Man plans, God laughs.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/heart-breaking.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-930\" title=\"heart-breaking\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/heart-breaking.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"176\" /></a>Any time you work and work to get your life in order, so that there won\'t be any nasty surprises, you can figure something will happen to throw off your well-laid plans.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t as if anything in particular has happened, but for some reason, my 62nd year on this planet has been getting exceedingly weird. I\'m accomplishing very few of the things I really wanted to accomplish this year, and I am making tremendous progress in areas that really don\'t matter very much.\r\n\r\nI have no trouble blogging or writing witty remarks on political sites, but it has been three or four months since I have done any serious writing at all.\r\n\r\nAdd to that the fact that my golf game -- which really doesn\'t matter all that much to me -- has been improving more than I really ever dreamed it would. Every time I play now, I\'m shooting in the low 80s or even better.\r\n\r\nSo what?\r\n\r\nI broke 80 on the golf course, something I figured might take me years, but I have an important book project that is sitting there, two-thirds done, and not progressing at all.\r\n\r\nMy emotions are weirdly close to the surface in a way I don\'t remember them ever being. Almost every sentimental song or emotional moment in a movie brings me almost to tears, which feels very strange.\r\n\r\nMy sleep schedule is way off what I wish it were. Instead of sleeping from about 11 p.m. till 7 a.m. and then getting a good start on the day, I\'m getting to sleep around 2 or 3 a.m. and waking up late in the morning.\r\n\r\nIt can\'t be jet lag.\r\n\r\nI have been in the Eastern Time Zone for nearly six months now.\r\n\r\nI love it here in Georgia, but I find myself getting sad when I realize I can\'t get into my car and drive down to Santa Monica or Huntington Beach. I find myself mourning the fact that I may never see the sun set out over the Pacific Ocean again.\r\n\r\nYeah, I know.\r\n\r\nI wanted to be here. But part of it is that we moved to Georgia so that we could be closer to our children during the time they spend in Washington, D.C., between tours. Well, it will be another year and a couple of months before Pauline\'s tour in Indonesia will be finished and a little longer than that before Virgile is done in Athens.\r\n\r\nActually, I\'m excited that it looks like we\'re going to Europe for three weeks this summer, and two weeks of that time will be spent visiting Virgile and our daughter-in-law Sterling in Greece.\r\n\r\nI do love it here.\r\n\r\nI do love my life.\r\n\r\nI just feel weird.','Things don\'t always happen as we plan them','','publish','open','open','','things-dont-always-happen-as-we-plan-them','','','2011-04-15 21:41:14','2011-04-16 04:41:14','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=929',0,'post','',3),(930,1,'2011-03-13 10:35:34','2011-03-13 17:35:34','','heart-breaking','','inherit','open','open','','heart-breaking','','','2011-03-13 10:35:34','2011-03-13 17:35:34','',929,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/heart-breaking.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(931,1,'2011-03-13 10:37:43','2011-03-13 17:37:43','<em>Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.</em>\n\nThere have been numerous versions of this Yiddish proverb, but this one is my favorite.\n\n\"Man plans, God laughs.\"\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/heart-breaking.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-930\" title=\"heart-breaking\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/heart-breaking.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"176\" /></a>Any time you work and work to get your life in order, so that there won\'t be any nasty surprises, you can figure something will happen to throw off your well-laid plans.','','','inherit','open','open','','929-revision','','','2011-03-13 10:37:43','2011-03-13 17:37:43','',929,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=931',0,'revision','',0),(932,1,'2011-03-13 19:43:45','2011-03-14 02:43:45','<em>\"But if I really say it, the radio won\'t play it unless I lay it between the lines.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat was 1967, with iconic folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary signing their ironic pop hit \"I Dig Rock and Roll Music.\"\r\n\r\nOf course, it\'s a lot more than just popular music in which you have to lay the message between the lines and it has gotten a lot worse now than it was in 1967. My friend Mick, who knows as much about film as anyone I know, tells me that even in films like<a title=\"Jaws\" href=\"http://www.horrorphile.net/jaws/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Jaws,\"</a> the filmmakers are trying to get a message across along with the suspense and entertainment.\r\n\r\n<em>What message? Stay away from big sharks?</em>\r\n\r\nI\'m not saying I didn\'t like movies like this. \"Jaws\" was released when I was 25, and I went to it prepared to enjoy it. I found myself hating the fact that they changed the book and let a character who should have died survive, but let\'s face it. That was only the beginning of the Hollywoodization of practically everything.\r\n\r\n\"Jaws\" -- and \"Star Wars\" two years later -- actually signaled the end of a wonderful era in American film history, a period in which dozens of amazing films that hold up very well were made, from Coppola and the first two \"Godfather\" films to Altman\'s \"Nashville, Polanski\'s \"Chinatown\" and too many others to mention. Films that required moviegoers to bring their brains with them as well as just their eyes and ears.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_934\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Robert Shaw eaten by rubber shark.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jaws-robert-shaw22.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-934\" title=\"jaws-robert-shaw22\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jaws-robert-shaw22-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut once \"Jaws\" and \"Star Wars\" both reached nine-figure grosses as summer movies, everything changed.\r\n\r\nStudios stopped making movies for adults and started aiming everything at teenage boys, who would come to see movies they liked again and again.\r\n\r\nI have nine movie posters on my wall of films I love, and I don\'t think any of them even came close to grossing $100 million.\r\n\r\nMy guess is that \"Bull Durham,\" which grossed nearly $51 million domestically, was probably the biggest hit of the nine. The 1988 Ron Shelton film is also the most recent of all the ones honored on my wall.\r\n\r\nI have always loved movies. They probably rank right behind family, friends, baseball and books on my list of the things that matter most to me in life. I have about 600 on DVD, and I\'m as much a sucker for popcorn entertainment as anyone. One of my guiltiest pleasures is \"The Last Boy Scout,\" which has absolutely no redeeming message other than \"Head or gut?\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_935\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Seven of nine on the Wall of Honor\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110201_16.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-935\" title=\"20110201_16\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110201_16-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn fact, I don\'t even claim that most of my favorite films were even good movies.\r\n\r\nSome of them just struck me the right way at the right time, and some have not stood the test of time. When I saw \"Camelot\" in 1968, I loved it and for about six years, I rated it as one of my three favorite films.\r\n\r\nWhen I saw it again in 1974, I thought it was boring. Go figure.\r\n\r\nMovies that resonate most with me are ones about friendship, and I also find myself looking for films trying to tell the story of what happened in this country in the \'60s. That\'s why films like \"Four Friends,\" \"A Small Circle of Friends\" and \"The Strawberry Statement\" are on my wall.\r\n\r\nNone of them are great movies, although Arthur Penn\'s \"Four Friends\" is probably the best of the three.\r\n\r\nAll of them try to say something, though, and they don\'t always lay it between the lines.\r\n\r\n<em>Stay away from big sharks.</em>','PP&M had it right when it comes to messages','','publish','open','open','','ppm-had-it-right-when-it-comes-to-messages','','','2011-03-13 19:43:45','2011-03-14 02:43:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=932',0,'post','',0),(933,1,'2011-03-13 18:52:55','2011-03-14 01:52:55','<em>\"But if I really say it, the radio won\'t play it unless I lay it between the lines.\"</em>\n\nThat was 1967, with iconic folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary signing their ironic pop hit \"I Dig Rock and Roll Music.\"\n\nOf course, it\'s a lot more than just popular music in which you have to lay the message between the lines and it has gotten a lot worse now than it was in 1967.','','','inherit','open','open','','932-revision','','','2011-03-13 18:52:55','2011-03-14 01:52:55','',932,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=933',0,'revision','',0),(934,1,'2011-03-13 19:09:36','2011-03-14 02:09:36','','jaws-robert-shaw22','Robert Shaw eaten by rubber shark.','inherit','open','open','','jaws-robert-shaw22','','','2011-03-13 19:09:36','2011-03-14 02:09:36','',932,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jaws-robert-shaw22.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(935,1,'2011-03-13 19:25:36','2011-03-14 02:25:36','','20110201_16','Seven of nine on the Wall of Honor','inherit','open','open','','20110201_16','','','2011-03-13 19:25:36','2011-03-14 02:25:36','',932,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110201_16.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(936,1,'2011-03-13 19:43:18','2011-03-14 02:43:18','<em>\"But if I really say it, the radio won\'t play it unless I lay it between the lines.\"</em>\n\nThat was 1967, with iconic folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary signing their ironic pop hit \"I Dig Rock and Roll Music.\"\n\nOf course, it\'s a lot more than just popular music in which you have to lay the message between the lines and it has gotten a lot worse now than it was in 1967. My friend Mick, who knows as much about film as anyone I know, tells me that even in films like<a title=\"Jaws\" href=\"http://www.horrorphile.net/jaws/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Jaws,\"</a> the filmmakers are trying to get a message across along with the suspense and entertainment.\n\n<em>What message? Stay away from big sharks?</em>\n\nI\'m not saying I didn\'t like movies like this. \"Jaws\" was released when I was 25, and I went to it prepared to enjoy it. I found myself hating the fact that they changed the book and let a character who should have died survive, but let\'s face it. That was only the beginning of the Hollywoodization of practically everything.\n\n\"Jaws\" -- and \"Star Wars\" two years later -- actually signaled the end of a wonderful era in American film history, a period in which dozens of amazing films that hold up very well were made, from Coppola and the first two \"Godfather\" films to Altman\'s \"Nashville, Polanski\'s \"Chinatown\" and too many others to mention. Films that required moviegoers to bring their brains with them as well as just their eyes and ears.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_934\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Robert Shaw eaten by rubber shark.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jaws-robert-shaw22.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-934\" title=\"jaws-robert-shaw22\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jaws-robert-shaw22-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut once \"Jaws\" and \"Star Wars\" both reached nine-figure grosses as summer movies, everything changed.\n\nStudios stopped making movies for adults and started aiming everything at teenage boys, who would come to see movies they liked again and again.\n\nI have nine movie posters on my wall of films I love, and I don\'t think any of them even came close to grossing $100 million.\n\nMy guess is that \"Bull Durham,\" which grossed nearly $51 million domestically, was probably the biggest hit of the nine. The 1988 Ron Shelton film is also the most recent of all the ones honored on my wall.\n\nI have always loved movies. They probably rank right behind family, friends, baseball and books on my list of the things that matter most to me in life. I have about 600 on DVD, and I\'m as much a sucker for popcorn entertainment as anyone. One of my guiltiest pleasures is \"The Last Boy Scout,\" which has absolutely no redeeming message other than \"Head or gut?\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_935\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Seven of nine on the Wall of Honor\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110201_16.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-935\" title=\"20110201_16\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110201_16-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn fact, I don\'t even claim that most of my favorite films were even good movies.\n\nSome of them just struck me the right way at the right time, and some have not stood the test of time. When I saw \"Camelot\" in 1968, I loved it and for about six years, I rated it as one of my three favorite films.\n\nWhen I saw it again in 1974, I thought it was boring. Go figure.\n\nMovies that resonate most with me are ones about friendship, and I also find myself looking for films trying to tell the story of what happened in this country in the \'60s. That\'s why films like \"Four Friends,\" \"A Small Circle of Friends\" and \"The Strawberry Statement\" are on my wall.\n\nNone of them are great movies, although Arthur Penn\'s \"Four Friends\" is probably the best of the three.\n\nAll of them try to say something, though, and they don\'t always lay it between the lines.\n\n<em>Stay away from big sharks.</em>','','','inherit','open','open','','932-revision-2','','','2011-03-13 19:43:18','2011-03-14 02:43:18','',932,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=936',0,'revision','',0),(937,1,'2011-03-14 21:06:41','2011-03-15 04:06:41','I\'m starting to get back into my routine.\r\n\r\nYesterday I walked for the third straight day, and I covered nine miles. Today I didn\'t feel as much like just walking, so I went out on the golf course -- without a cart. I decided I would try to play 18 holes walking, which I haven\'t done in at least 15 years.\r\n\r\nAs it turned out, I didn\'t do it, but it wasn\'t for lack of effort. It just took too much time to play nine holes. I usually get through 18 holes here in less than three hours, but walking the course -- which is fairly stretched out -- it took me about two hours and 40 minutes just to cover the front nine.\r\n\r\nSo I stopped after nine holes, since it was about 6:15 p.m. and I had told Nicole I would be back by about 6:30 or 7.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_938\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Out for the afternoon.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-938\" title=\"20110314_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe strange thing was, after a weak start, I played pretty well. I double-bogeyed two of the first three holes. The long par four that starts the course and the first of the par fives are two of the tougher holes, but after that I did really well. I had parred the second hole, and I then parred four of the last six and bogeyed the other two.\r\n\r\nFive pars on a side is pretty special for me, and even with the two double bogeys, I was pleased to be just six over par for the round -- shooting a 42.\r\n\r\nWhat was really fun about it was that I was putting great. I made four or five putts of six feet or longer, including a 15-footer and a 20-footer to save two pars. Maybe I\'m getting past the difficulty I\'ve had with short putts the last few years. That would certainly be nice.\r\n\r\nBest, though, was the exercise. I don\'t carry my clubs. I\'ve got one of those wheel things so I can pull them around, with with all the hills on the course, that still makes for a pretty good workout.\r\n\r\nAnother couple of days and I should be back under 200.\r\n\r\nThen I can start feeling better again.','A different sort of day on the golf course','','publish','open','open','','a-different-sort-of-day-on-the-golf-course','','','2011-03-14 21:06:41','2011-03-15 04:06:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=937',0,'post','',0),(938,1,'2011-03-14 21:00:44','2011-03-15 04:00:44','','20110314_2','Out for the afternoon.','inherit','open','open','','20110314_2','','','2011-03-14 21:00:44','2011-03-15 04:00:44','',937,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(939,1,'2011-03-14 21:05:49','2011-03-15 04:05:49','I\'m starting to get back into my routine.\n\nYesterday I walked for the third straight day, and I covered nine miles. Today I didn\'t feel as much like just walking, so I went out on the golf course -- without a cart. I decided I would try to play 18 holes walking, which I haven\'t done in at least 15 years.\n\nAs it turned out, I didn\'t do it, but it wasn\'t for lack of effort. It just took too much time to play nine holes. I usually get through 18 holes here in less than three hours, but walking the course -- which is fairly stretched out -- it took me about two hours and 40 minutes just to cover the front nine.\n\nSo I stopped after nine holes, since it was about 6:15 p.m. and I had told Nicole I would be back by about 6:30 or 7.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_938\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Out for the afternoon.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-938\" title=\"20110314_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe strange thing was, after a weak start, I played pretty well. I double-bogeyed two of the first three holes. The long par four that starts the course and the first of the par fives are two of the tougher holes, but after that I did really well. I had parred the second hole, and I then parred four of the last six and bogeyed the other two.\n\nFive pars on a side is pretty special for me, and even with the two double bogeys, I was pleased to be just six over par for the round -- shooting a 42.\n\nWhat was really fun about it was that I was putting great. I made four or five putts of six feet or longer, including a 15-footer and a 20-footer to save two pars. Maybe I\'m getting past the difficulty I\'ve had with short putts the last few years. That would certainly be nice.\n\nBest, though, was the exercise. I don\'t carry my clubs. I\'ve got one of those wheel things so I can pull them around, with with all the hills on the course, that still makes for a pretty good workout.\n\nAnother coup','','','inherit','open','open','','937-revision','','','2011-03-14 21:05:49','2011-03-15 04:05:49','',937,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=939',0,'revision','',0),(940,1,'2011-03-15 17:04:45','2011-03-16 00:04:45','[caption id=\"attachment_941\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The perfect cheeseburger?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-941\" title=\"20110314_5\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_5-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember exactly who I knew who said it, but one of the cliched quests when I was younger was guys who said their life\'s dream was finding the perfect cheeseburger.\r\n\r\nSince we couldn\'t find the perfect cheerleader, food was the next best thing.\r\n\r\nSo the search.\r\n\r\nThe first thing to remember is that not everyone has good taste, or even any taste at all. When I was working in Southern California, our newspaper used to run a yearly survey honoring the best things in the area. Even though we lived in an area with great authentic Mexican food, our readers decided that the second-best tacos in the area could be found at Taco Bell.\r\n\r\nSo if somebody tells you the best cheeseburger comes from a fast-food chain, you can generally figure they haven\'t gotten around much.\r\n\r\nFolks who grew up in the Southland swear by <a title=\"In-N-Out Burgers\" href=\"http://www.in-n-out.com/default.asp\" target=\"_self\">In-N-Out Burgers</a>, and when it comes to fast food, they\'re definitely top quality. A relatively new chain in the Washington, D.C., area, <a title=\"Five Guys\" href=\"http://www.fiveguys.com/home.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Five Guys</a>, is pretty good too. But they\'re still just fast food.\r\n\r\nThe two best cheeseburgers I ever had, I had to go all the way to Hawaii to get them.\r\n\r\nSecond best was Jimmy Buffett\'s Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant in Lahaina, on the island of Maui. That shouldn\'t come as any surprise. Buffett and his song practically created the mystique around cheeseburgers, so you would expect that ones sold in his name would probably have to be pretty special.\r\n\r\nAnd so they were, but they weren\'t quite the best.\r\n\r\nThe best were a couple of islands over, on the garden island of Kauai. When we went to Hawaii in 1998, we stayed just north of Kapaa. We went to Bubba\'s one night, fascinated by the name and the chance for some great burgers. You\'ve got to love a joint whose motto is \"We cheat tourists, drunks and attorneys.\"\r\n\r\nThey had great cheeseburgers, too, and if I ever make it back to Kauai, I\'ll be sure and stop in for another one.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a long way to go for a cheeseburger, but hey, we are talking about the best cheeseburger in the world.','The long search for the best in the world','','publish','open','open','','the-long-search-for-the-best-in-the-world','','','2011-03-15 17:04:45','2011-03-16 00:04:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=940',0,'post','',1),(941,1,'2011-03-15 16:00:50','2011-03-15 23:00:50','','20110314_5','The perfect cheeseburger?','inherit','open','open','','20110314_5','','','2011-03-15 16:00:50','2011-03-15 23:00:50','',940,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_5.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(942,1,'2011-03-15 17:04:32','2011-03-16 00:04:32','[caption id=\"attachment_941\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The perfect cheeseburger?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_5.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-941\" title=\"20110314_5\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110314_5-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t remember exactly who I knew who said it, but one of the cliched quests when I was younger was guys who said their life\'s dream was finding the perfect cheeseburger.\n\nSince we couldn\'t find the perfect cheerleader, food was the next best thing.\n\nSo the search.\n\nThe first thing to remember is that not everyone has good taste, or even any taste at all. When I was working in Southern California, our newspaper used to run a yearly survey honoring the best things in the area. Even though we lived in an area with great authentic Mexican food, our readers decided that the second-best tacos in the area could be found at Taco Bell.\n\nSo if somebody tells you the best cheeseburger comes from a fast-food chain, you can generally figure they haven\'t gotten around much.\n\nFolks who grew up in the Southland swear by <a title=\"In-N-Out Burgers\" href=\"http://www.in-n-out.com/default.asp\" target=\"_self\">In-N-Out Burgers</a>, and when it comes to fast food, they\'re definitely top quality. A relatively new chain in the Washington, D.C., area, <a title=\"Five Guys\" href=\"http://www.fiveguys.com/home.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Five Guys</a>, is pretty good too. But they\'re still just fast food.\n\nThe two best cheeseburgers I ever had, I had to go all the way to Hawaii to get them.\n\nSecond best was Jimmy Buffett\'s Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant in Lahaina, on the island of Maui. That shouldn\'t come as any surprise. Buffett and his song practically created the mystique around cheeseburgers, so you would expect that ones sold in his name would probably have to be pretty special.\n\nAnd so they were, but they weren\'t quite the best.\n\nThe best were a couple of islands over, on the garden island of Kauai. When we went to Hawaii in 1998, we stayed just north of Kapaa. We went to Bubba\'s one night, fascinated by the name and the chance for some great burgers. You\'ve got to love a joint whose motto is \"We cheat tourists, drunks and attorneys.\"\n\nThey had great cheeseburgers, too, and if I ever make it back to Kauai, I\'ll be sure and stop in for another one.\n\nIt\'s a long way to go for a cheeseburger, but hey, we are talking about the best cheeseburger in the world.','The long search for the best in the world','','inherit','open','open','','940-revision','','','2011-03-15 17:04:32','2011-03-16 00:04:32','',940,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=942',0,'revision','',0),(944,1,'2011-03-16 18:18:49','2011-03-17 01:18:49','','love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03','','inherit','open','open','','love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03','','','2011-03-16 18:18:49','2011-03-17 01:18:49','',943,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(945,1,'2011-03-16 18:26:28','2011-03-17 01:26:28','Some movies surprise you.\n\nI\'m not really sure why I decided to pick up the DVD of \"Love and Other Drugs,\" but it was far from being the romantic comedy I had expected. Jake Gyllenhaal is only my second-favorite Gyllenhaal, but I do like Anne Hathaway and feel like she has shown some decent comedy chops at times.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-944\" title=\"love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" /></a>The movie started out funny, as Gyllenhaal\'s character tries to make a success of himself as a rep for a pharmaceutical company.\n\nIt\'s a fairly sexy movie too, but it takes a serious turn when we realize Hathaway\'s character is suffering from Stage One Parkinson\'s Disease. She pushes potential boyfriends away when there\'s a chance of emotional involvement, possibly because she\'s afraid she will','','','inherit','open','open','','943-revision','','','2011-03-16 18:26:28','2011-03-17 01:26:28','',943,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=945',0,'revision','',0),(964,1,'2011-03-24 18:14:43','2011-03-25 01:14:43','[caption id=\"attachment_965\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The grass is getting green.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110324_14.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-965\" title=\"20110324_14\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110324_14-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt was an interesting day on the golf course.\r\n\r\nNow that spring is here, the Bermuda grass on our lawns and the golf course has started its annual turn toward the deep green it will be all summer.\r\n\r\nThe last three times out, I have walked instead of riding, but I\'ve only played nine holes. Today I went out early enough to try and walk 18 holes, pulling my clubs behind me in a pull cart.\r\n\r\nAs I have become more and more familiar with the course, and playing more regularly -- 1-2 times a week -- I have been getting fairly good scores. In two of my last three outings, I\'ve shot 42 and 43 on the front nine. Monday was odd. I had three double bogeys, but parred five of the other six holes and shot 43.\r\n\r\nThe weather was great today, although it was a little windy. I parred two of the first three holes, which was a good start for me, but then I bogeyed four holes in a row. Not bad, but not great.\r\n\r\nThen things got really interesting. I parred the last two holes on the front nine for a 41, and then did something I\'ve never done before. I parred the first three holes on the back nine and was only five over par after 12 holes. I had a bad tee shot on the 13th hole and bogeyed it to end the string of pars, but then I came back and parred the next two to leave me only six over par after 15 holes.\r\n\r\nI have never broken 80.\r\n\r\nI have never come close to breaking 80. My best round ever in California was an 83, but I shot 45 on the front nine in that round, so there was never any chance that I would break 80.\r\n\r\nBut today, with three holes remaining in my round and nine pars already in the book, I needed only to par two of the last three holes to shoot a 79. One problem: I have never parred any of those three holes. They\'re a quirky par three and two longish par fours.\r\n\r\nWell, I still haven\'t. I gave myself a chance on two of them, with putts in the 11-12 foot range for par that I didn\'t make. I finished bogey-bogey-bogey for a 40 on the back nine and an overall score of 81.\r\n\r\nAfter walking -- and pulling my cart -- for 18 holes and 4 1/2 hours, I was pleasantly exhausted and extremely happy with the way I had played. But I didn\'t get to go home with a good feeling. Apparently, one of the club pros had noticed for the first time that I was pulling my clubs.\r\n\r\nI found out -- God knows why -- that my golf course does not allow pull carts. You either have to ride in a golf cart or carry your clubs on your back.\r\n\r\nOh, well.\r\n\r\nIt was still a pretty good day.','A pretty fine spring day on the golf course','','publish','open','open','','a-pretty-fine-spring-day-on-the-golf-course','','','2011-03-24 18:14:43','2011-03-25 01:14:43','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=964',0,'post','',0),(947,1,'2011-03-16 19:21:29','2011-03-17 02:21:29','Some movies surprise you.\n\nI\'m not really sure why I decided to pick up the DVD of \"Love and Other Drugs,\" but it was far from being the romantic comedy I had expected. Jake Gyllenhaal is only my second-favorite Gyllenhaal, but I do like Anne Hathaway and feel like she has shown some decent comedy chops at times.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-944\" title=\"love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" /></a>The movie started out funny, as Gyllenhaal\'s character tries to make a success of himself as a rep for a pharmaceutical company.\n\nIt\'s a fairly sexy movie too, but it takes a serious turn when we realize Hathaway\'s character is suffering from Stage One Parkinson\'s Disease. She pushes potential boyfriends away when there\'s a chance of emotional involvement, possibly because she\'s afraid she will eventually lose them.\n\nThe story of course becomes much more serious, as what was supposed to be jus','','','inherit','open','open','','943-revision-2','','','2011-03-16 19:21:29','2011-03-17 02:21:29','',943,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=947',0,'revision','',0),(948,1,'2011-03-16 19:47:51','2011-03-17 02:47:51','When<a title=\"Broadcast News\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Broadcast News\"</a> came out in 1988, those of us who worked in the newspaper business were able to look at it and laugh at the shallowness of TV news.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/000hwe5c.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-949\" title=\"000hwe5c\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/000hwe5c-299x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"300\" /></a>The James Brooks film was an indictment of how television news was sliding into infotainment, with knowledgeable reporters being pushed aside in favor of photogenic anchors and hard news stories losing airtime to so-called \"happy news.\"\r\n\r\nI had been a sports reporter for eight years at that time, and I was still eight years away from becoming first a columnist and then a business editor. It was a pretty good time for newspapers, although the trend toward shorter stories, glitzy graphics and big photos that had started in 1982 with USA Today was reaching flood tide.\r\n\r\nStill, I don\'t think I could ever have imagined that a generation later, newspapers would have become every bit as bad or worse than broadcast news was then.\r\n\r\nWho would ever have imagined that real newspapers -- good newspapers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer -- would have all but disappeared except for a website. When the P-I ceased print publication, it cut its editorial staff from 166 to 20 and decided that some of its coverage would have come from the folks being covered.\r\n\r\nInstead of an actual reporter covering City Hall, the website would use a blogger from the mayor\'s office.\r\n\r\nGood luck getting any unfavorable news out of City Hall.\r\n\r\nI don\'t mean to pick on the P-I. It\'s just an example of what\'s happening at papers all around the country. Investigative journalism is disappearing, and so is foreign coverage from all but a very few papers.\r\n\r\nI never wanted to do TV news, and I\'m proud that I got to be a print journalist for nearly 30 years.\r\n\r\nBut when I look at what\'s happening to newspapers now, and when I consider the incompetent management I saw first hand during my last six or eight years in the business, I don\'t have quite so superior a feeling toward television as I used to.','A look back at the beginning of the end for news','','publish','open','open','','a-look-back-at-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-news','','','2011-03-16 19:47:51','2011-03-17 02:47:51','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=948',0,'post','',0),(949,1,'2011-03-16 19:24:53','2011-03-17 02:24:53','','000hwe5c','','inherit','open','open','','000hwe5c','','','2011-03-16 19:24:53','2011-03-17 02:24:53','',948,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/000hwe5c.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(950,1,'2011-03-16 19:46:55','2011-03-17 02:46:55','When<a title=\"Broadcast News\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Broadcast News\"</a> came out in 1988, those of us who worked in the newspaper business were able to look at it and laugh at the shallowness of TV news.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/000hwe5c.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-949\" title=\"000hwe5c\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/000hwe5c-299x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"300\" /></a>The James Brooks film was an indictment of how television news was sliding into infotainment, with knowledgeable reporters being pushed aside in favor of photogenic anchors and hard news stories losing airtime to so-called \"happy news.\"\n\nI had been a sports reporter for eight years at that time, and I was still eight years away from becoming first a columnist and then a business editor. It was a pretty good time for newspapers, although the trend toward shorter stories, glitzy graphics and big photos that had started in 1982 with USA Today was reaching flood tide.\n\nStill, I don\'t think I could ever have imagined that a generation later, newspapers would have become every bit as bad or worse than broadcast news was then.\n\nWho would ever have imagined that real newspapers -- good newspapers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer -- would have all but disappeared except for a website. When the P-I ceased print publication, it cut its editorial staff from 166 to 20 and decided that some of its coverage would have come from the folks being covered.\n\nInstead of an actual reporter covering City Hall, the website would use a blogger from the mayor\'s office.\n\nGood luck getting any unfavorable news out of City Hall.\n\nI don\'t mean to pick on the P-I. It\'s just an example of what\'s happening at papers all around the country. Investigative journalism is disappearing, and so is foreign coverage from all but a very few papers.\n\nI never wanted to do TV news, and I\'m proud that I got to be a print journalist for nearly 30 years.\n\nBut when I look at what\'s happening to newspapers now, and when I consider the incompetent management I saw first hand during my last six or eight years in the business, I don\'t have quite so superior a feeling toward television as I used to.','','','inherit','open','open','','948-revision','','','2011-03-16 19:46:55','2011-03-17 02:46:55','',948,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=950',0,'revision','',0),(951,1,'2011-03-18 20:51:40','2011-03-19 03:51:40','I really don\'t watch sports on television anymore.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t for a long time; there are just so few teams I care about. But if I\'m going to have my television on at all for sports, it\'s going to be in the middle of March for the NCAA men\'s basketball tournament.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/March-Madness-basketball.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-952\" title=\"March-Madness-basketball\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/March-Madness-basketball-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>There\'s really nothing at all that compares with what they call March Madness.\r\n\r\nDuring much of my career, I worked for small to medium-sized local newspapers that focused on local news. When we did cover college or pro sports, it was usually only home games.\r\n\r\nBut twice -- when I worked in St. Louis from 1984-86 and in Reno from 1988-90 -- I had traveling beats where I followed college basketball all around the country. My two years in St. Louis covering the Missouri Tigers took me all over the Midwest in seasons that Mizzou reached the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA. Then in Reno, I covered the Nevada Wolfpack and went from coast to coast, from San Diego to the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, N.C.\r\n\r\nI covered two Final Fours, which made for quite an experience, but the truth that almost any college basketball writer will tell you is that the first weekend of the tournament is the most fun. On the first two days, eight different sites around the country have four games, generally at 12, 2, 7 and 9. Then you come back two days later for two more games involving the four teams that won the first day.\r\n\r\nThe first one of those of which I have a good memory was 1986, when I found myself at Weber State in Ogden, Utah. I don\'t remember who it was that knocked out the Tigers, but I do remember that both North Carolina and eventual national champion Louisville played their first two games in that regional.\r\n\r\nOne great memory came two years before that, at third-round games in Atlanta. Indiana upset undefeated No. 1 North Carolina and Virginia upset Syracuse. The Cavaliers then stunned Indiana and qualified for their second Final Four in four years.\r\n\r\nMy greatest memory as a fan has to be 2006, when my school -- George Mason -- shocked the world and went all the way to the Final Four before losing to eventual champ Florida.\r\n\r\nIt\'s just so much fun, so much more fun than the NBA or the NFL.\r\n\r\nDid I watch today? I watched about 2 minutes of GMU\'s win over Villanova. I couldn\'t watch any more because I cared too much.\r\n\r\nSound weird?\r\n\r\nIt does to me. I never thought I\'d be a fan again.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a nice feeling.','Still something to enjoy about sports','','publish','open','open','','still-something-to-enjoy-about-sports','','','2011-03-18 20:51:40','2011-03-19 03:51:40','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=951',0,'post','',0),(952,1,'2011-03-18 20:39:19','2011-03-19 03:39:19','','March-Madness-basketball','','inherit','open','open','','march-madness-basketball','','','2011-03-18 20:39:19','2011-03-19 03:39:19','',951,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/March-Madness-basketball.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(953,1,'2011-03-18 20:51:01','2011-03-19 03:51:01','I really don\'t watch sports on television anymore.\n\nI haven\'t for a long time; there are just so few teams I care about. But if I\'m going to have my television on at all for sports, it\'s going to be in the middle of March for the NCAA men\'s basketball tournament.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/March-Madness-basketball.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-952\" title=\"March-Madness-basketball\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/March-Madness-basketball-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>There\'s really nothing at all that compares with what they call March Madness.\n\nDuring much of my career, I worked for small to medium-sized local newspapers that focused on local news. When we did cover college or pro sports, it was usually only home games.\n\nBut twice -- when I worked in St. Louis from 1984-86 and in Reno from 1988-90 -- I had traveling beats where I followed college basketball all around the country. My two years in St. Louis covering the Missouri Tigers took me all over the Midwest in seasons that Mizzou reached the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA. Then in Reno, I covered the Nevada Wolfpack and went from coast to coast, from San Diego to the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, N.C.\n\nI covered two Final Fours, which made for quite an experience, but the truth that almost any college basketball writer will tell you is that the first weekend of the tournament is the most fun. On the first two days, eight different sites around the country have four games, generally at 12, 2, 7 and 9. Then you come back two days later for two more games involving the four teams that won the first day.\n\nThe first one of those of which I have a good memory was 1986, when I found myself at Weber State in Ogden, Utah. I don\'t remember who it was that knocked out the Tigers, but I do remember that both North Carolina and eventual national champion Louisville played their first two games in that regional.\n\nOne great memory came two years before that, at third-round games in Atlanta. Indiana upset undefeated No. 1 North Carolina and Virginia upset Syracuse. The Cavaliers then stunned Indiana and qualified for their second Final Four in four years.\n\nMy greatest memory as a fan has to be 2006, when my school -- George Mason -- shocked the world and went all the way to the Final Four before losing to eventual champ Florida.\n\nIt\'s just so much fun, so much more fun than the NBA or the NFL.\n\nDid I watch today? I watched about 2 minutes of GMU\'s win over Villanova. I couldn\'t watch any more because I cared too much.\n\nSound weird?\n\nIt does to me. I never thought I\'d be a fan again.\n\nIt\'s a nice feeling.','','','inherit','open','open','','951-revision','','','2011-03-18 20:51:01','2011-03-19 03:51:01','',951,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=953',0,'revision','',0),(954,1,'2011-03-19 10:24:35','2011-03-19 17:24:35','I don\'t know if I ever had more pure fun as a writer than I did the two years I worked in Greeley, Colorado.\r\n\r\nI had come to a small local daily from a major metropolitan paper that had folded, and I was given a great deal of freedom to run the sports section by the best boss I ever had. It worked out well; we were a national best-section finalist in our circulation category, and reaction from local readers to what we were doing was wonderful. I wrote four or five columns a week, and I had complete flexibility to go whatever direction I wanted.\r\n\r\nI created a rich fantasy life that my readers seemed to enjoy. At that time, Greeley\'s claim to sports fame was that it served as the Denver Broncos\' summer training camp headquarters, and just before camp opened in 1987, I had fun with this column:\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\r\n<em>The switchboard operator told me there was a Ms. Arquette on the phone.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Rosanna Arquette.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I could hardly believe it.</em>\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-955\" title=\"epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762-253x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"253\" height=\"300\" /></a>It was certainly a dream come true, although the fantasy about the nurse\'s uniform and the butterscotch sundaes would probably have to wait.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>She came right to the point of the call. I\'ve always admired women who do that.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"When do the Broncos come to Greeley?\" she asked me.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Hey, c\'mon Miss \'Desperately Seeking Susan,\' everybody who\'s anybody knows that,\" I responded. Unrequited love can be cruel.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"I know it\'s silly, but I\'ve been out of touch,\" she said. \"I was in South America making a movie and I\'ve been out of the country since May.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, all right. I\'ll forgive you this time. The rookies -- the few who are signed -- will be here Monday ...\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"That\'s the day after tomorrow!\" she shrieked as I yanked the phone away from my ear in an effort to save my hearing. \"How can I get to Greeley by then?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I shrugged. \"Hey, no problem. Catch a flight out of LAX Sunday afternoon and rent a car in Denver. You can be here by midnight.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"You don\'t understand,\" she said. \"It\'s not that easy. There\'s about eight of us who want to be here for the first week of practice. Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Elisabeth Shue, Madonna ...\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"I see what you mean,\" I said. \"They\'re all over the country. It\'ll be tough to get everybody together that fast.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"It\'ll be impossible,\" she moaned.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Why is it so important for everyone to be here the first day?\" I asked. \"The Broncos won\'t be getting anything much done with their rookies until the top draft choices sign.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Have you ever heard of Simon St. Jacques?\" she asked.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"No, but have you ever heard of Mike Fisher?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Be serious,\" she said. \"Simon is the one who decides every year where the really important people will be spending their summers. Last year we all went to the Costa del Sol. And this year he announced just last month that the international jet set will be summering at the Broncos\' training camp.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"In Greeley?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Now it was her turn to be cruel. \"You know of any other Broncos who went to the Super Bowl last year?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"No,\" I said in a small voice.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"And you call yourself a sports columnist,\" she said. \"The reason we\'ve got to get there first is so that we can get the best hotel rooms. Is there a Hyatt Regency in Greeley?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Not the last time I looked.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"How about a Hilton or a Radisson?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"No, I don\'t think so. There are a lot of nice smaller hotels and motels, though. And Taco Bell just started selling steak fajitas.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"This is more serious than I thought. I\'ll probably end up sharing a room at some Holiday Inn with Fergie and Di.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I offered to put her up at my place, but she declined.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"We don\'t know each other that well,\" she said.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Yet,\" I said.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Ever,\" she said.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I played my ace. \"Did you know how far away from the practice field they keep the spectators?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>She was immediately wary. \"No, how far?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, it isn\'t quite Fort Collins, but I hope you\'ve got a good set of binoculars. A real good set. A telescope.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Damn,\" she said. \"I was really hoping to be able to see John Elway from up close.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>It was time to make my move. \"Uh, sweetheart. I could probably get you a sideline pass.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"How big did you say your apartment was?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I blessed the Broncos, from Pat Bowlen to Dan Reeves to Jim Saccomano. I promised I would never send a Christmas card to Al Davis again.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"There\'s enough room for you and two of your friends,\" I said. \"Fergie and Di will have to stay at the Greeley Inn, though. I can\'t take care of the whole world.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>She had one more question. \"Will I have to go incognito while I\'m there? It\'s such a drag to always get mobbed on the street. When I\'m in New York, I can\'t go out unless I wear a scarf around my hair and a big pair of sunglasses.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I couldn\'t believe she was so naive.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Hey, Rose, babe. We\'re not talking City of the Angels or the Apple here. This is Greeley. You know, the City on the Move, the Summer Home of the Denver Broncos. If you\'re not six feet tall and wearing an orange uniform, nobody\'s going to pay any attention to you. Now who\'s being silly?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"You\'re right,\" she admitted. \"How could a movie actress possibly compete with Rulon Jones or Orson Mobley?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Hey, as long as we\'ve got that straight.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"God, you\'re so lucky.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Why is that?\" I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear her say it.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Her voice was breathy. \"The rest of us are just visitors, but you get to live there.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n</em>','Back when writing was really a lot of fun','','publish','open','open','','back-when-writing-was-really-a-lot-of-fun','','','2011-03-19 10:24:35','2011-03-19 17:24:35','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=954',0,'post','',0),(955,1,'2011-03-19 09:42:04','2011-03-19 16:42:04','','epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762','','inherit','open','open','','epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762','','','2011-03-19 09:42:04','2011-03-19 16:42:04','',954,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(956,1,'2011-03-19 10:23:39','2011-03-19 17:23:39','I don\'t know if I ever had more pure fun as a writer than I did the two years I worked in Greeley, Colorado.\n\nI had come to a small local daily from a major metropolitan paper that had folded, and I was given a great deal of freedom to run the sports section by the best boss I ever had. It worked out well; we were a national best-section finalist in our circulation category, and reaction from local readers to what we were doing was wonderful. I wrote four or five columns a week, and I had complete flexibility to go whatever direction I wanted.\n\nI created a rich fantasy life that my readers seemed to enjoy. At that time, Greeley\'s claim to sports fame was that it served as the Denver Broncos\' summer training camp headquarters, and just before camp opened in 1987, I had fun with this column:\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\n<em>The switchboard operator told me there was a Ms. Arquette on the phone.</em>\n\n<em>Rosanna Arquette.</em>\n\n<em>I could hardly believe it.</em>\n\n<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-955\" title=\"epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/epic-songs-toto-rosanna-arquette-rnr-epic-song-demotivational-poster-1221935762-253x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"253\" height=\"300\" /></a>It was certainly a dream come true, although the fantasy about the nurse\'s uniform and the butterscotch sundaes would probably have to wait.</em>\n\n<em>She came right to the point of the call. I\'ve always admired women who do that.</em>\n\n<em>\"When do the Broncos come to Greeley?\" she asked me.</em>\n\n<em>\"Hey, c\'mon Miss \'Desperately Seeking Susan,\' everybody who\'s anybody knows that,\" I responded. Unrequited love can be cruel.</em>\n\n<em>\"I know it\'s silly, but I\'ve been out of touch,\" she said. \"I was in South America making a movie and I\'ve been out of the country since May.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Well, all right. I\'ll forgive you this time. The rookies -- the few who are signed -- will be here Monday ...\"</em>\n\n<em>\"That\'s the day after tomorrow!\" she shrieked as I yanked the phone away from my ear in an effort to save my hearing. \"How can I get to Greeley by then?\"</em>\n\n<em>I shrugged. \"Hey, no problem. Catch a flight out of LAX Sunday afternoon and rent a car in Denver. You can be here by midnight.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"You don\'t understand,\" she said. \"It\'s not that easy. There\'s about eight of us who want to be here for the first week of practice. Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Elisabeth Shue, Madonna ...\"</em>\n\n<em>\"I see what you mean,\" I said. \"They\'re all over the country. It\'ll be tough to get everybody together that fast.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"It\'ll be impossible,\" she moaned.</em>\n\n<em>\"Why is it so important for everyone to be here the first day?\" I asked. \"The Broncos won\'t be getting anything much done with their rookies until the top draft choices sign.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Have you ever heard of Simon St. Jacques?\" she asked.</em>\n\n<em>\"No, but have you ever heard of Mike Fisher?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Be serious,\" she said. \"Simon is the one who decides every year where the really important people will be spending their summers. Last year we all went to the Costa del Sol. And this year he announced just last month that the international jet set will be summering at the Broncos\' training camp.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"In Greeley?\"</em>\n\n<em>Now it was her turn to be cruel. \"You know of any other Broncos who went to the Super Bowl last year?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"No,\" I said in a small voice.</em>\n\n<em>\"And you call yourself a sports columnist,\" she said. \"The reason we\'ve got to get there first is so that we can get the best hotel rooms. Is there a Hyatt Regency in Greeley?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Not the last time I looked.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"How about a Hilton or a Radisson?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"No, I don\'t think so. There are a lot of nice smaller hotels and motels, though. And Taco Bell just started selling steak fajitas.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"This is more serious than I thought. I\'ll probably end up sharing a room at some Holiday Inn with Fergie and Di.\"</em>\n\n<em>I offered to put her up at my place, but she declined.</em>\n\n<em>\"We don\'t know each other that well,\" she said.</em>\n\n<em>\"Yet,\" I said.</em>\n\n<em>\"Ever,\" she said.</em>\n\n<em>I played my ace. \"Did you know how far away from the practice field they keep the spectators?\"</em>\n\n<em>She was immediately wary. \"No, how far?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Well, it isn\'t quite Fort Collins, but I hope you\'ve got a good set of binoculars. A real good set. A telescope.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Damn,\" she said. \"I was really hoping to be able to see John Elway from up close.\"</em>\n\n<em>It was time to make my move. \"Uh, sweetheart. I could probably get you a sideline pass.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"How big did you say your apartment was?\"</em>\n\n<em>I blessed the Broncos, from Pat Bowlen to Dan Reeves to Jim Saccomano. I promised I would never send a Christmas card to Al Davis again.</em>\n\n<em>\"There\'s enough room for you and two of your friends,\" I said. \"Fergie and Di will have to stay at the Greeley Inn, though. I can\'t take care of the whole world.\"</em>\n\n<em>She had one more question. \"Will I have to go incognito while I\'m there? It\'s such a drag to always get mobbed on the street. When I\'m in New York, I can\'t go out unless I wear a scarf around my hair and a big pair of sunglasses.\"</em>\n\n<em>I couldn\'t believe she was so naive.</em>\n\n<em>\"Hey, Rose, babe. We\'re not talking City of the Angels or the Apple here. This is Greeley. You know, the City on the Move, the Summer Home of the Denver Broncos. If you\'re not six feet tall and wearing an orange uniform, nobody\'s going to pay any attention to you. Now who\'s being silly?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"You\'re right,\" she admitted. \"How could a movie actress possibly compete with Rulon Jones or Orson Mobley?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Hey, as long as we\'ve got that straight.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"God, you\'re so lucky.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Why is that?\" I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear her say it.</em>\n\n<em>Her voice was breathy. \"The rest of us are just visitors\n</em>','','','inherit','open','open','','954-revision','','','2011-03-19 10:23:39','2011-03-19 17:23:39','',954,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=956',0,'revision','',0),(957,1,'2011-03-20 19:05:58','2011-03-21 02:05:58','It\'s fun when your college, which certainly didn\'t have much of a name before, captures the imagination of the country in March Madness.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_958\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"GMU beats Villanova.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-958\" title=\"NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Cleveland\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEver since George Mason University\'s basketball team made its amazing run to the Final Four in 2006, the school\'s name has become almost a synonym for Cinderella teams.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Who is this year\'s George Mason?\"</em>\r\n\r\nWe\'ve heard that every March since 2006, and when Butler made its run all the way to the championship game last year, it was just another example of \"George Mason\" basketball.\r\n\r\nWell, the Patriots had another wonderful team this year, and they went into the tournament with a record of 26-6. The problem was, they were almost too good for their own good. They were seeded in the top half of the 64-team field, which gave them an eighth seed in the East Regional.\r\n\r\nThey struggled in their first game against Villanova, but came back from a 10-point deficit for a 61-57 victory that had the basketball world talking about George Mason again.\r\n\r\nThe problem, though, was that when you win your first game as a No. 8 seed, your second game is against the No. 1 seed, which in this case was Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the entire nation.\r\n\r\nThey could play their best game against Ohio State and still have only a slim chance of winning. And while they certainly gave their fans a thrill by jumping out to an 11-2 lead, the Patriots never really had a chance. The Buckeyes were up 52-26 at the half and went on to win, 98-66.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a shame to lose like that, but in the end, it was still George Mason playing on national television in late March and finishing with a 27-7 record.\r\n\r\nNot everyone can be the best.\r\n\r\nSometimes it\'s enough just to make a splash.','You don\'t always win, but it can still be fun','','publish','open','open','','you-dont-always-win-but-it-can-still-be-fun','','','2011-03-20 19:05:58','2011-03-21 02:05:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=957',0,'post','',0),(958,1,'2011-03-20 14:37:08','2011-03-20 21:37:08','during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men\'s basketball tournament at Quicken Loans Arena on March 18, 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio.','NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Cleveland','GMU beats Villanova.','inherit','open','open','','ncaa-basketball-tournament-second-round-cleveland','','','2011-03-20 14:37:08','2011-03-20 21:37:08','',957,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(959,1,'2011-03-20 14:43:45','2011-03-20 21:43:45','It\'s fun when your college, which certainly didn\'t have much of a name before, captures the imagination of the country in March Madness.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_958\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"GMU beats Villanova.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-958\" title=\"NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Cleveland\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEver since George Mason University\'s basketball team made its amazing run to the Final Four in 2006, the school\'s name has become almost a synonym for Cinderella teams.\n\n<em>\"Who is this year\'s George Mason?\"</em>\n\nWe\'ve heard that every March since 2006, and when Butler made its run all the way to the championship game last year, it was just another example of \"George Mason\" basketball.\n\nWell, the Patriots had another wonderful team this year, and they went into the tournament with a record of 26-6. The problem was, they were almost too good for their own good. They were seeded in the top half of the 64-team field, which gave th','','','inherit','open','open','','957-revision','','','2011-03-20 14:43:45','2011-03-20 21:43:45','',957,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=959',0,'revision','',0),(960,1,'2011-03-20 19:05:05','2011-03-21 02:05:05','It\'s fun when your college, which certainly didn\'t have much of a name before, captures the imagination of the country in March Madness.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_958\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"GMU beats Villanova.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-958\" title=\"NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Cleveland\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/4cd55c155d0ae8c7aea0252965bdbccc-getty-108227577ml056_villanova_v_-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEver since George Mason University\'s basketball team made its amazing run to the Final Four in 2006, the school\'s name has become almost a synonym for Cinderella teams.\n\n<em>\"Who is this year\'s George Mason?\"</em>\n\nWe\'ve heard that every March since 2006, and when Butler made its run all the way to the championship game last year, it was just another example of \"George Mason\" basketball.\n\nWell, the Patriots had another wonderful team this year, and they went into the tournament with a record of 26-6. The problem was, they were almost too good for their own good. They were seeded in the top half of the 64-team field, which gave them an eighth seed in the East Regional.\n\nThey struggled in their first game against Villanova, but came back from a 10-point deficit for a 61-57 victory that had the basketball world talking about George Mason again.\n\nThe problem, though, was that when you win your first game as a No. 8 seed, your second game is against the No. 1 seed, which in this case was Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the entire nation.\n\nThey could play their best game against Ohio State and still have only a slim chance of winning. And while they certainly gave their fans a thrill by jumping out to an 11-2 lead, the Patriots never really had a chance. The Buckeyes were up 52-26 at the half and went on to win, 98-66.\n\nIt\'s a shame to lose like that, but in the end, it was still George Mason playing on national television in late March and finishing with a 27-7 record.\n\nNot everyone can be the best.\n\nSometimes','','','inherit','open','open','','957-revision-2','','','2011-03-20 19:05:05','2011-03-21 02:05:05','',957,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=960',0,'revision','',0),(972,1,'2011-03-29 15:09:01','2011-03-29 22:09:01','I lost a friend today, even though he was a friend I had never met.\r\n\r\nIt was 2007 when I bought Joe Bageant\'s book \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" which he subtitled \"Dispatches from America\'s Class War\" and which explained quite well why it is liberals have lost all touch with working-class Americans.\r\n\r\nIt was a wonderful book, and from that day forward I found myself visiting Bageant\'s <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/\" target=\"_self\">Website</a> to read everything else he wrote about what is happening to our country. He came out with a second book in 2010 -- \"Rainbow Pie\" -- that until just recently wasn\'t even for sale in this country. I had to order it through Amazon\'s UK store to be able to read it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_973\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Joe Bageant, 1946-2011\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-973\" title=\"bageant2_4.8.09\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI found myself listening to interviews he did -- mostly in other countries -- on the Internet and watching videos on YouTube. Bageant was saying things that either weren\'t being said by other writers or at least weren\'t being said anywhere near as well as he was saying them.\r\n\r\nBut late in 2010, he wasn\'t posting as often on his site, and on January 4th of this year, he put a short note on the site that said he was undergoing chemotherapy for an extremely serious form of cancer.\r\n\r\nAt one point, he said he was feeling better, but today I saw the news that he had actually died on Saturday.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a damn shame. He had worked as a journalist for most of his life, but it was really only the last few years that he became a major voice for working people in the United States.\r\n\r\nRead his stuff.\r\n\r\nIt\'s well-written, impressive in its focus and extremely strong.\r\n\r\nI was most impressed by one of the later chapters in his first book, in which he discusses the appallingly low level of literacy in the U.S. and explains how, because of that, folks get fooled by what he calls the \"American hologram.\" It\'s the difference between the perception of what we\'re told our country is and what it actually is.\r\n\r\nFor instance, we\'re raised to believe in the Horatio Alger story, the idea that anyone -- if he works hard enough and is lucky enough -- can become rich. The reality, however, is that there is more upward mobility between classes in Western Europe\'s social democracies than there is in the U.S.\r\n\r\nI would have loved it if Bageant had lived long enough to comment on a statistic that came out the other day, that from 2000-2007, fully 100 percent of income gains in the U.S. went to the top 10 percent of earners. I doubt it would have surprised him. He seemed to know better than anyone just how the game is rigged these days.\r\n\r\nFunny thing I remember reading in his obit. He made a lot of money off his first book, and he seemed almost embarrassed. I heard he gave most of it away.\r\n\r\nA helluva guy.','Farewell, Joe, we\'re going to miss you a lot','','publish','open','open','','farewell-joe-were-going-to-miss-you-a-lot','','','2011-03-29 15:09:01','2011-03-29 22:09:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=972',0,'post','',0),(962,1,'2011-03-21 19:15:19','2011-03-22 02:15:19','','illust09001','His blood cries out.','inherit','open','open','','illust09001','','','2011-03-21 19:15:19','2011-03-22 02:15:19','',924,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/illust09001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(963,1,'2011-03-21 19:31:24','2011-03-22 02:31:24','Am I my brother\'s keeper?\n\nIt\'s an age-old question, quite possibly the first one in recorded history, that Cain asked God when asked what had happened to Abel. And it\'s a question we ought to be asking ourselves in the wake of what has been happening recently in the world, from Wisconsin to Japan and at numerous points in between.\n\nAre we responsible for those worse off than we are, or should every man (and woman) simply be responsible for taking care of himself (or herself) and the immediate family?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_962\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"His blood cries out.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/illust09001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-962\" title=\"illust09001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/illust09001-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt the very least, we need to be better than Cain, who murdered his brother.\n\nAccording to the Bible, God\'s response to Cain\'s question was that Abel\'s blood was crying out to him from the ground.\n\nOf course, that isn\'t enough. Move on to the New Testament and Christ tells us that of course we are our brothers\' keepers, that whatever we do to the least among us we are doing to him.\n\nIt amazes me how cruel and cold our society has become in less than 40 years. As recently as the 1970s, we had a strongly progressive tax system, where those who enjoyed the fruits of our society the most paid additional taxes. It worked out pretty well. In the \'50s, for example, we had a top tax rate of 93 percent. Yet we had the longest sustained period of economic growth we have ever enjoyed.\n\nWe had programs to help the poor, programs that flourished under both Democrat and Republican presidents, and most of the time, we came pretty close to balancing our national budget and keeping the public debt under control.\n\nBut starting in the \'80s, with Ronald Reagan\'s massive tax cuts for the rich and his massive defense buildup, the deficit -- and the debt -- got out of control. Ever since then, it has been a fight to the death just to get Republicans to pay taxes.\n\nThey have been doing everything they can to eliminate social programs, particularly the ones that help the poor. I never understood that. Even if I weren\'t Roman Catholic and didn\'t believe in social justice, I wouldn\'t think it would be a good idea to make things worse for the poor.\n\nYou see, there are a lot more poor people than there are rich people.\n\nAnd if they ever find out just how badly rich Republicans have been screwing them over, if they ever come to realize the truth of the situation, Republicans will need to worry about a lot more than just getting voted out of office.\n\nI\'ve always said that on the most basic level, government\'s job is to prevent the rich from eating the poor -- and vice versa.\n\nIf that\'s the goal, those rich Republicans are either going to have to loosen up a little ... or build some very high walls around their homes.','Yes, we rea','','inherit','open','open','','924-revision-2','','','2011-03-21 19:31:24','2011-03-22 02:31:24','',924,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=963',0,'revision','',0),(965,1,'2011-03-24 17:07:04','2011-03-25 00:07:04','','20110324_14','The grass is getting green.','inherit','open','open','','20110324_14','','','2011-03-24 17:07:04','2011-03-25 00:07:04','',964,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110324_14.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(966,1,'2011-03-24 18:13:54','2011-03-25 01:13:54','[caption id=\"attachment_965\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The grass is getting green.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110324_14.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-965\" title=\"20110324_14\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110324_14-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt was an interesting day on the golf course.\n\nNow that spring is here, the Bermuda grass on our lawns and the golf course has started its annual turn toward the deep green it will be all summer.\n\nThe last three times out, I have walked instead of riding, but I\'ve only played nine holes. Today I went out early enough to try and walk 18 holes, pulling my clubs behind me in a pull cart.\n\nAs I have become more and more familiar with the course, and playing more regularly -- 1-2 times a week -- I have been getting fairly good scores. In two of my last three outings, I\'ve shot 42 and 43 on the front nine. Monday was odd. I had three double bogeys, but parred five of the other six holes and shot 43.\n\nThe weather was great today, although it was a little windy. I parred two of the first three holes, which was a good start for me, but then I bogeyed four holes in a row. Not bad, but not great.\n\nThen things got really interesting. I parred the last two holes on the front nine for a 41, and then did something I\'ve never done before. I parred the first three holes on the back nine and was only five over par after 12 holes. I had a bad tee shot on the 13th hole and bogeyed it to end the string of pars, but then I came back and parred the next two to leave me only six over par after 15 holes.\n\nI have never broken 80.\n\nI have never come close to breaking 80. My best round ever in California was an 83, but I shot 45 on the front nine in that round, so there was never any chance that I would break 80.\n\nBut today, with three holes remaining in my round and nine pars already in the book, I needed only to par two of the last three holes to shoot a 79. One problem: I have never parred any of those three holes. They\'re a quirky par three and two longish par fours.\n\nWell, I still haven\'t. I gave myself a chance on two of them, with putts in the 11-12 foot range for par that I didn\'t make. I finished bogey-bogey-bogey for a 40 on the back nine and an overall score of 81.\n\nAfter walking -- and pulling my cart -- for 18 holes and 4 1/2 hours, I was pleasantly exhausted and extremely happy with the way I had played. But I didn\'t get to go home with a good feeling. Apparently, one of the club pros had noticed for the first time that I was pulling my clubs.\n\nI found out -- God knows why -- that my golf course does not allow pull carts. You either have to ride in a golf cart or carry your clubs on your back.\n\nOh, well.\n\nIt was','','','inherit','open','open','','964-revision','','','2011-03-24 18:13:54','2011-03-25 01:13:54','',964,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=966',0,'revision','',0),(991,1,'2011-04-03 18:12:42','2011-04-04 01:12:42','For most of the last 20 years, I have spent my summers participating in Rotisserie Baseball leagues.\r\n\r\nYep, I\'m a fantasy baseball geek.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_992\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Baseball in Houston\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Texas-stuff-074.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-992\" title=\"Texas stuff 074\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Texas-stuff-074-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt certainly isn\'t that I don\'t love baseball itself. I played in leagues with guys who didn\'t really like baseball much at all. For them, playing fantasy baseball was all about numbers -- statistics and dollars.\r\n\r\nFor 16 years, I was part of a league that had been around since the early \'80s. That league lasted 25 years, and it was one of the saddest occurrences of my life when it ended in quite a bit of acrimony. I tried to start another league with the remnants of the other one, but it lasted only two seasons.\r\n\r\nAlong with my move to Georgia, that left me without a keeper league -- some leagues draft from scratch every year, others allow you to build teams from season to season -- for the first time since 1992.\r\n\r\nInstead, I\'m playing in more non-keeper leagues this season than all the leagues I\'ve been in before put end to end.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/362826463v3_225x225_Front.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-993\" title=\"362826463v3_225x225_Front\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/362826463v3_225x225_Front.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" /></a>In addition to one league I\'ve been playing in for four years now, I signed up for a number of leagues on a Website called <a title=\"Real Time Fantasy Sports\" href=\"http://www.rtsports.com/grand-slam-fantasy-baseball\" target=\"_self\">Real Time Fantasy Sports</a>.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s the number?\r\n\r\nTwenty.\r\n\r\nI did 20 different drafts online, and went to New York for the other one.\r\n\r\nI\'m concerned that it will be difficult to keep up with this many different leagues, but I have an even bigger concern. When you draft 21 different teams from the same overall player pool, you don\'t end up with the same players on each team. So even my favorite players are only on about a third of my teams, which means that anything they do well will hurt two-thirds of my teams.\r\n\r\nI\'ll keep you posted on what happens.','How do you keep 21 different teams straight?','','publish','open','open','','how-do-you-keep-21-different-teams-straight','','','2011-04-03 18:12:42','2011-04-04 01:12:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=991',0,'post','',0),(968,1,'2011-03-25 22:54:54','2011-03-26 05:54:54','Some movies surprise you.\n\nI\'m not really sure why I decided to pick up the DVD of \"Love and Other Drugs,\" but it was far from being the romantic comedy I had expected. Jake Gyllenhaal is only my second-favorite Gyllenhaal, but I do like Anne Hathaway and feel like she has shown some decent comedy chops at times.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-944\" title=\"love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/love_and_other_drugs_wallpaper_03-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" /></a>The movie started out funny, as Gyllenhaal\'s character tries to make a success of himself as a rep for a pharmaceutical company.\n\nIt\'s a fairly sexy movie too, but it takes a serious turn when we realize Hathaway\'s character is suffering from Stage One Parkinson\'s Disease. She pushes potential boyfriends away when there\'s a chance of emotional involvement, possibly because she\'s afraid she will eventually lose them.\n\nThe story of course becomes much more serious, as what was supposed to be just a casual relationship deepens.\n\nIt\'s difficult to think of spending your life caring for someone with a chronic, degeneration condition. It is, however, an important part of love. Because real love -- true love, so to speak -- has only a little to do with lust and a lot to do with caring. My mother was my father\'s primary caregiver throughout the last five years or so of his life, and as difficult as it must have been, I have no doubt she would have gladly continued it, or possibly have done even more, if it had meant keeping him alive longer.\n\nThat\'s because love is about <em>always</em> being there, consistently putting the other person\'s needs ahead of your own. Staying on your feet when your legs are so tired they feel like blocks of wood. Talking with them even though you\'re exhausted and want nothing more than just to sleep,\n\nAlways.\n\nIn the present and in the future.\n\nLove can be a lot of work, but there\'s no work that is more fulfilling.\n\nLove ennobles us.','','','inherit','open','open','','943-revision-3','','','2011-03-25 22:54:54','2011-03-26 05:54:54','',943,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=968',0,'revision','',0),(969,1,'2011-03-27 10:31:09','2011-03-27 17:31:09','When I was younger, I used to go to New York quite often.\r\n\r\nMy father\'s side of the family lived in Brooklyn, and would usually visit them every summer. My grandfather owned a small neighborhood grocery store and my father had grown up a few blocks from there.\r\n\r\nI saw some of my first baseball games at Yankee Stadium, and later saw Tom Seaver pitch at Shea Stadium. I spent a week there in 1979 -- the last year of my first marriage -- with my wife attending three or four Broadway shows, back when they were still affordable.\r\n\r\nBut once my newspaper career started and I began moving west, New York wasn\'t on my radar. Other than a trip to Manhattan in the mid \'90s for my sister\'s wedding, I never made it back until yesterday.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_970\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Unisphere\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-970\" title=\"windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'m still not sure I was actually there. It all happened so fast there was sort of a dreamlike quality to it. I got out of bed at 5 a.m. to make it to Atlanta for a 7:40 flight to LaGuardia. I got into New York at about 9:30 and was picked up and driven to an undisclosed (not really) location for a fantasy baseball draft.\r\n\r\nWe were finished by about 3 p.m. and I got a ride back to the airport for a 5 p.m. flight home. Despite a couple of delays for thunderstorms in Atlanta, I was back home shortly after 9 p.m.\r\n\r\nThe time I spent on the ground didn\'t look much like NYC, but the sights I saw flying into LaGuardia definitely did. When we were circling for our turn into our landing pattern, I saw the Unisphere from the 1964-65 World\'s Fair and the new Mets ballpark, Citi Field.\r\n\r\nNew York truly is unique.\r\n\r\nI\'m gonna have to go back someday.','A really quick trip back to old New York','','publish','open','open','','a-really-quick-trip-back-to-old-new-york','','','2011-03-27 10:31:09','2011-03-27 17:31:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=969',0,'post','',0),(970,1,'2011-03-27 09:59:52','2011-03-27 16:59:52','','windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f','The Unisphere','inherit','open','open','','windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f','','','2011-03-27 09:59:52','2011-03-27 16:59:52','',969,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(971,1,'2011-03-27 10:30:54','2011-03-27 17:30:54','When I was younger, I used to go to New York quite often.\n\nMy father\'s side of the family lived in Brooklyn, and would usually visit them every summer. My grandfather owned a small neighborhood grocery store and my father had grown up a few blocks from there.\n\nI saw some of my first baseball games at Yankee Stadium, and later saw Tom Seaver pitch at Shea Stadium. I spent a week there in 1979 -- the last year of my first marriage -- with my wife attending three or four Broadway shows, back when they were still affordable.\n\nBut once my newspaper career started and I began moving west, New York wasn\'t on my radar. Other than a trip to Manhattan in the mid \'90s for my sister\'s wedding, I never made it back until yesterday.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_970\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Unisphere\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-970\" title=\"windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/windowslivewriterunisphere-14d08map54f4bc82944f-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m still not sure I was actually there. It all happened so fast there was sort of a dreamlike quality to it. I got out of bed at 5 a.m. to make it to Atlanta for a 7:40 flight to LaGuardia. I got into New York at about 9:30 and was picked up and driven to an undisclosed (not really) location for a fantasy baseball draft.\n\nWe were finished by about 3 p.m. and I got a ride back to the airport for a 5 p.m. flight home. Despite a couple of delays for thunderstorms in Atlanta, I was back home shortly after 9 p.m.\n\nThe time I spent on the ground didn\'t look much like NYC, but the sights I saw flying into LaGuardia definitely did. When we were circling for our turn into our landing pattern, I saw the Unisphere from the 1964-65 World\'s Fair and the new Mets ballpark, Citi Field.\n\nNew York truly is unique.\n\nI\'m gonna have to go back someday.','','','inherit','open','open','','969-revision','','','2011-03-27 10:30:54','2011-03-27 17:30:54','',969,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=971',0,'revision','',0),(973,1,'2011-03-28 21:17:50','2011-03-29 04:17:50','','bageant2_4.8.09','Joe Bageant, 1946-2011','inherit','open','open','','bageant2_4-8-09','','','2011-03-28 21:17:50','2011-03-29 04:17:50','',972,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(974,1,'2011-03-28 21:21:40','2011-03-29 04:21:40','I lost a friend today, even though he was a friend I had never met.\n\nIt was 2007 when I bought Joe Bageant\'s book \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" which he subtitled \"Dispatches from America\'s Class War\" and which explained quite well why it is liberals have lost all touch with working-class Americans.\n\nIt was a wonderful book, and from that day forward I found myself visiting Bageant\'s <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/\" target=\"_self\">Website</a> to read everything else he wrote about what is happening to our country. He came out with a second book in 2010 -- \"Rainbow Pie\" -- that until just recently wasn\'t even for sale in this country. I had to order it through Amazon\'s UK store to be able to read it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_973\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Joe Bageant, 1946-2011\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-973\" title=\"bageant2_4.8.09\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI found myself listening to interviews he did -- mostly in other countries -- on the Internet and watching videos on YouTube. Bageant was saying things that either weren\'t being said by other writers or at least weren\'t being said anywhere near as well as he was saying them.\n\nBut late in 2010, he wasn\'t posting as often on his site, and on January 4th of this year, he put a short note on the site that said he was undergoing chemotherapy for an extremely serious form of cancer.','','','inherit','open','open','','972-revision','','','2011-03-28 21:21:40','2011-03-29 04:21:40','',972,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=974',0,'revision','',0),(975,1,'2011-03-29 15:08:52','2011-03-29 22:08:52','I lost a friend today, even though he was a friend I had never met.\n\nIt was 2007 when I bought Joe Bageant\'s book \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" which he subtitled \"Dispatches from America\'s Class War\" and which explained quite well why it is liberals have lost all touch with working-class Americans.\n\nIt was a wonderful book, and from that day forward I found myself visiting Bageant\'s <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/\" target=\"_self\">Website</a> to read everything else he wrote about what is happening to our country. He came out with a second book in 2010 -- \"Rainbow Pie\" -- that until just recently wasn\'t even for sale in this country. I had to order it through Amazon\'s UK store to be able to read it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_973\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Joe Bageant, 1946-2011\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-973\" title=\"bageant2_4.8.09\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bageant2_4.8.09-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI found myself listening to interviews he did -- mostly in other countries -- on the Internet and watching videos on YouTube. Bageant was saying things that either weren\'t being said by other writers or at least weren\'t being said anywhere near as well as he was saying them.\n\nBut late in 2010, he wasn\'t posting as often on his site, and on January 4th of this year, he put a short note on the site that said he was undergoing chemotherapy for an extremely serious form of cancer.\n\nAt one point, he said he was feeling better, but today I saw the news that he had actually died on Saturday.\n\nIt\'s a damn shame. He had worked as a journalist for most of his life, but it was really only the last few years that he became a major voice for working people in the United States.\n\nRead his stuff.\n\nIt\'s well-written, impressive in its focus and extremely strong.\n\nI was most impressed by one of the later chapters in his first book, in which he discusses the appallingly low level of literacy in the U.S. and explains how, because of that, folks get fooled by what he calls the \"American hologram.\" It\'s the difference between the perception of what we\'re told our country is and what it actually is.\n\nFor instance, we\'re raised to believe in the Horatio Alger story, the idea that anyone -- if he works hard enough and is lucky enough -- can become rich. The reality, however, is that there is more upward mobility between classes in Western Europe\'s social democracies than there is in the U.S.\n\nI would have loved it if Bageant had lived long enough to comment on a statistic that came out the other day, that from 2000-2007, fully 100 percent of income gains in the U.S. went to the top 10 percent of earners. I doubt it would have surprised him. He seemed to know better than anyone just how the game is rigged these days.\n\nFunny thing I remember reading in his obit. He made a lot of money off his first book, and he seemed almost embarrassed. I heard he gave most of it away.\n\nA helluva guy.','Farewell, Jowe','','inherit','open','open','','972-revision-2','','','2011-03-29 15:08:52','2011-03-29 22:08:52','',972,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=975',0,'revision','',0),(976,1,'2011-03-30 13:47:20','2011-03-30 20:47:20','Our lives are so short when measured against the sweep of human history, and when we come into contact with that history, it can be awe-inspiring.\r\n\r\nOne day in July 1977, I walked around a corner of a block in Rome and saw, right in front of me, the Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum. The <a title=\"Colosseum\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum\" target=\"_self\">Flavian Amphitheatre</a>, built in the first century A.D. and completed around the year 80.\r\n\r\nIt literally gave me chills.\r\n\r\nOn a lesser scale, I had a similar reaction once while watching a movie, Kevin Costner\'s \"Dances With Wolves.\" In the latter part of the movie, Costner\'s character is sitting inside a lodge with a Native American chief who takes out a relic the tribe has been carrying with it for the past several centuries. It was a Spanish conquistador\'s helmet.\r\n\r\nAgain, chills.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_977\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lascaux\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/france-lascaux.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-977\" title=\"france lascaux\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/france-lascaux.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe scope of human history doesn\'t go back all that far -- maybe 2-3 million years -- when compared to how long the Earth has been around, but some people have trouble even coping with that number. So-called <a title=\"Young Earth Creationism\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism\" target=\"_self\">\"Young Earth Creationists\"</a> suggest that God created the universe within the last 10,000 years, completely disregarding things like carbon dating and the fossil record.\r\n\r\nAccording to a 2008 Gallup Poll, nearly half of all American adults (44 percent) hold that belief, which essentially means they don\'t believe in science. When they\'re asked how to explain the records showing dinosaurs existed more than 65 million years ago, they either deny the accuracy of the record or say God could make the record look like anything he wanted.\r\n\r\nThe late comedian Bill Hicks explained dinosaurs from a young earth perspective by saying, \"God put them there to test our faith.\"\r\n\r\nOf course that begs the question of <em>why</em> God would have his little joke.\r\n\r\nSince I <em>do</em> believe in science and in things like carbon dating, I tend to laugh at people who believe the universe is only 10,000 years old. In fact, according to carbon dating, I have stood somewhere and seen works of man that are older than that.\r\n\r\nIn the summer of 2001, when my wife and I visited Europe, we spent an afternoon at the caves in <a title=\"Lascaux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux\" target=\"_self\">Lascaux</a>, France.\r\n\r\nTalk about chills.\r\n\r\nThe cave paintings there date back 17,300 years and are perhaps the oldest surviving artworks in the world. Most are paintings of prehistoric animals, although there has been some speculation that there might be prehistoric star charts as well.\r\n\r\nIf there\'s one thing annoying about a lot of people who dismiss science, it\'s that many of them are highly limited in their own personal experiences. Only a small percentage of Americans even bother to get passports, so it\'s a safe assumption that few of the young earthers have ever been to places like Lascaux.\r\n\r\nTravel really does broaden you.','Caves at Lascaux give the lie to \'young Earth\' theory','','publish','open','open','','caves-at-lascaux-give-the-lie-to-young-earth-theory','','','2011-03-30 13:47:20','2011-03-30 20:47:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=976',0,'post','',1),(977,1,'2011-03-30 12:56:56','2011-03-30 19:56:56','','france lascaux','Lascaux','inherit','open','open','','france-lascaux','','','2011-03-30 12:56:56','2011-03-30 19:56:56','',976,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/france-lascaux.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(978,1,'2011-03-30 13:46:27','2011-03-30 20:46:27','Our lives are so short when measured against the sweep of human history, and when we come into contact with that history, it can be awe-inspiring.\n\nOne day in July 1977, I walked around a corner of a block in Rome and saw, right in front of me, the Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum. The <a title=\"Colosseum\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum\" target=\"_self\">Flavian Amphitheatre</a>, built in the first century A.D. and completed around the year 80.\n\nIt literally gave me chills.\n\nOn a lesser scale, I had a similar reaction once while watching a movie, Kevin Costner\'s \"Dances With Wolves.\" In the latter part of the movie, Costner\'s character is sitting inside a lodge with a Native American chief who takes out a relic the tribe has been carrying with it for the past several centuries. It was a Spanish conquistador\'s helmet.\n\nAgain, chills.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_977\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lascaux\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/france-lascaux.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-977\" title=\"france lascaux\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/france-lascaux.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe scope of human history doesn\'t go back all that far -- maybe 2-3 million years -- when compared to how long the Earth has been around, but some people have trouble even coping with that number. So-called <a title=\"Young Earth Creationism\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism\" target=\"_self\">\"Young Earth Creationists\"</a> suggest that God created the universe within the last 10,000 years, completely disregarding things like carbon dating and the fossil record.\n\nAccording to a 2008 Gallup Poll, nearly half of all American adults (44 percent) hold that belief, which essentially means they don\'t believe in science. When they\'re asked how to explain the records showing dinosaurs existed more than 65 million years ago, they either deny the accuracy of the record or say God could make the record look like anything he wanted.\n\nThe late comedian Bill Hicks explained dinosaurs from a young earth perspective by saying, \"God put them there to test our faith.\"\n\nOf course that begs the question of <em>why</em> God would have his little joke.\n\nSince I <em>do</em> believe in science and in things like carbon dating, I tend to laugh at people who believe the universe is only 10,000 years old. In fact, according to carbon dating, I have stood somewhere and seen works of man that are older than that.\n\nIn the summer of 2001, when my wife and I visited Europe, we spent an afternoon at the caves in <a title=\"Lascaux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux\" target=\"_self\">Lascaux</a>, France.\n\nTalk about chills.\n\nThe cave paintings there date back 17,300 years and are perhaps the oldest surviving artworks in the world. Most are paintings of prehistoric animals, although there has been some speculation that there might be prehistoric star charts as well.\n\nIf there\'s one thing annoying about a lot of people who dismiss science, it\'s that many of them are highly limited in their own personal experiences. Only a small percentage of Americans even bother to get passports, so it\'s a safe assumption that few of the young earthers have ever been to places like Lascaux.\n\nTravel really does broaden you.','','','inherit','open','open','','976-revision','','','2011-03-30 13:46:27','2011-03-30 20:46:27','',976,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=978',0,'revision','',0),(979,1,'2011-03-31 10:44:05','2011-03-31 17:44:05','It\'s the most wonderful day of the year.\r\n\r\nNo, it isn\'t Christmas. Today is the first day of the baseball season, the unofficial beginning of spring.\r\n\r\nThe late Bart Giamatti, former Yale professor and commissioner of baseball, explained it from the other end.\r\n\r\n<em>\"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_980\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"June 2010 in Houston\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Texas-stuff-070.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-980\" title=\"Texas stuff 070\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Texas-stuff-070-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a></em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n</em>I was 7 years old the first time I saw a major league baseball game -- at Cincinnati\'s old Crosley Field -- and 60 the last time I saw one -- at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. For more than half a century, baseball has been a big part of my life.\r\n\r\nI have attended hundreds of games and listened to hundreds -- if not thousands -- more on the radio. I spent entire summers in my teens playing ball with my friends, and in the last 20 years or so, playing fantasy baseball with different friends.\r\n\r\nMany of my favorite movies are about baseball, and my bookcases are full of both fiction and non-fiction about the game.\r\n\r\nSome of the happiest years of my career involved covering baseball as a reporter, from the hapless Gastonia Cardinals in 1982 to the Dodgers in 1990 and 1991.\r\n\r\nIn my Facebook profile, I describe myself by saying I love my wife, my children, my granddaughter, my family and friends -- and I love baseball.\r\n\r\nI have two signed uniform jerseys on the walls of my office. One is football player John Elway, the best athlete I ever covered as a reporter, and the other is Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves, my favorite athlete for the last 15 years or so. I\'ve written before about my autographed baseballs, and I have also written about my friendship with former pitcher Walter Masterson.\r\n\r\nOne of the books I have is called \"Baseball, I Gave You All the Best Years of my Life,\" and that\'s something that has definitely been true for me.\r\n\r\nFor nearly 20 years now, I have enjoyed playing fantasy baseball, and I have made some wonderful friendships through the game. This is the first year I haven\'t really played in a keeper league, the more complex version of the game, but amazingly, I\'m actually involved in 22 different leagues this spring.\r\n\r\nTwenty of them are with an Internet company, Real Time Fantasy Sports. These are in one respect the simplest kind of leagues -- 10 teams, mixed (both American and National Leagues) and non-keeper. I don\'t know how well it will work out. my my forecasting software tells me I came out of the drafts with the best team in eight of the leagues and second-best in six of the others.\r\n\r\nThe toughest thing about being in so many leagues is that you can\'t root too much for individual players. Someone whose home run or shutout helps you in one league might hurt you in another. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll enjoy it.\r\n\r\nRight now, though, I\'m listening to a game being played about 700 miles away. The Braves are leading Washington, 2-0, in the second inning. I figure with my XM Radio, I can listen to two or three games every day if I want.\r\n\r\nAnd of course I\'ll make it up to Turner Field in Atlanta to see at least a couple of games.\r\n\r\nHey, it\'s baseball.','Opening Day means baseball has returned again','','publish','open','open','','opening-day-means-baseball-has-returned-again','','','2011-03-31 10:44:05','2011-03-31 17:44:05','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=979',0,'post','',0),(980,1,'2011-03-31 09:22:38','2011-03-31 16:22:38','','Texas stuff 070','June 2010 in Houston','inherit','open','open','','texas-stuff-070','','','2011-03-31 09:22:38','2011-03-31 16:22:38','',979,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Texas-stuff-070.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(981,1,'2011-03-31 10:43:18','2011-03-31 17:43:18','It\'s the most wonderful day of the year.\n\nNo, it isn\'t Christmas. Today is the first day of the baseball season, the unofficial beginning of spring.\n\nThe late Bart Giamatti, former Yale professor and commissioner of baseball, explained it from the other end.\n\n<em>\"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.\"</em>\n\n<em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_980\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"June 2010 in Houston\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Texas-stuff-070.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-980\" title=\"Texas stuff 070\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Texas-stuff-070-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a></em>[/caption]\n\n</em>I was 7 years old the first time I saw a major league baseball game -- at Cincinnati\'s old Crosley Field -- and 60 the last time I saw one -- at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. For more than half a century, baseball has been a big part of my life.\n\nI have attended hundreds of games and listened to hundreds -- if not thousands -- more on the radio. I spent entire summers in my teens playing ball with my friends, and in the last 20 years or so, playing fantasy baseball with different friends.\n\nMany of my favorite movies are about baseball, and my bookcases are full of both fiction and non-fiction about the game.\n\nSome of the happiest years of my career involved covering baseball as a reporter, from the hapless Gastonia Cardinals in 1982 to the Dodgers in 1990 and 1991.\n\nIn my Facebook profile, I describe myself by saying I love my wife, my children, my granddaughter, my family and friends -- and I love baseball.\n\nI have two signed uniform jerseys on the walls of my office. One is football player John Elway, the best athlete I ever covered as a reporter, and the other is Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves, my favorite athlete for the last 15 years or so. I\'ve written before about my autographed baseballs, and I have also written about my friendship with former pitcher Walter Masterson.\n\nOne of the books I have is called \"Baseball, I Gave You All the Best Years of my Life,\" and that\'s something that has definitely been true for me.\n\nFor nearly 20 years now, I have enjoyed playing fantasy baseball, and I have made some wonderful friendships through the game. This is the first year I haven\'t really played in a keeper league, the more complex version of the game, but amazingly, I\'m actually involved in 22 different leagues this spring.\n\nTwenty of them are with an Internet company, Real Time Fantasy Sports. These are in one respect the simplest kind of leagues -- 10 teams, mixed (both American and National Leagues) and non-keeper. I don\'t know how well it will work out. my my forecasting software tells me I came out of the drafts with the best team in eight of the leagues and second-best in six of the others.\n\nThe toughest thing about being in so many leagues is that you can\'t root too much for individual players. Someone whose home run or shutout helps you in one league might hurt you in another. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll enjoy it.\n\nRight now, though, I\'m listening to a game being played about 700 miles away. The Braves are leading Washington, 2-0, in the second inning. I figure with my XM Radio, I can listen to two or three games every day if I want.\n\nAnd of course I\'ll make it up to Turner Field in Atlanta to see at least a couple of games.\n\nHey, it\'s baseball.','','','inherit','open','open','','979-revision','','','2011-03-31 10:43:18','2011-03-31 17:43:18','',979,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=981',0,'revision','',0),(982,1,'2011-03-31 20:18:56','2011-04-01 03:18:56','Well, folks, we\'re podcasting again.\n\nI got into this pretty regularly last summer, and then fell out of the habit when I returned from Texas, first to California and then to Georgia.\n\nWell, as of today, March 31, 2011,<a title=\"A Minute With Mike\" href=\"http://aminutewithmike.podhoster.com/\" target=\"_self\"> \"A Minute With Mike\"</a> is back in business with a new host.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_561\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A single step\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-561\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 007\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCheck us out with our new','Back in the pod again','','inherit','open','open','','444-autosave','','','2011-03-31 20:18:56','2011-04-01 03:18:56','',444,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=982',0,'revision','',0),(983,1,'2010-06-04 18:59:25','2010-06-05 01:59:25','[caption id=\"attachment_445\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Yippie ki yay\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-445\" title=\"cowboy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWell, it had to happen. I just wish I hadn\'t taken so long to get started.\r\n\r\nOne Voice has gone multimedia as of June 4, 2010, with the publication of my very first podcast. I\'m hoping to podcast most days, with some of the material being spoken voice expansions of what you have already read here and the rest of it different and original material.\r\n\r\nClick on the <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">link</a> here and check it out. The podcasts are free, and may ultimately be available through iTunes as well.\r\n\r\nFeedback is welcomed.','Pod people','','inherit','open','open','','444-revision-3','','','2010-06-04 18:59:25','2010-06-05 01:59:25','',444,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=983',0,'revision','',0),(984,1,'2011-04-01 13:35:00','2011-04-01 20:35:00','[caption id=\"attachment_985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Whose God?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110401_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-985\" title=\"20110401_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110401_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt has always been fascinating to me the way different people view God.\r\n\r\nThere is the punitive God of the Old Testament and the jealous God some followers of specific religions seem to see.\r\n\r\nI have never understood why certain people in certain churches seem to think that making people afraid of God is the best way -- or even a particularly effective way -- to gain their loyalty.\r\n\r\nI\'m certainly no theologian, but it seems to me that any loyalty won through fear is loyalty that only lasts as long as the fear does.\r\n\r\nI much prefer the New Testament God, the one who loved the world so much that he sent his only son down to redeem man with his sacrifice, to the people who run around saying God hates liberals, homosexuals and anyone who doesn\'t go to the right church.\r\n\r\nIt really comes down to one thing for me, one thing that transcends any and all religions.\r\n\r\nWe love God, because God is love.','Loving God shouldn\'t be a frightening thing','','publish','open','open','','loving-god-shouldnt-be-a-frightening-thing','','','2011-04-01 13:35:00','2011-04-01 20:35:00','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=984',0,'post','',0),(985,1,'2011-04-01 12:11:19','2011-04-01 19:11:19','','20110401_1','Whose God?','inherit','open','open','','20110401_1','','','2011-04-01 12:11:19','2011-04-01 19:11:19','',984,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110401_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(986,1,'2011-04-01 13:34:38','2011-04-01 20:34:38','[caption id=\"attachment_985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Whose God?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110401_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-985\" title=\"20110401_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110401_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt has always been fascinating to me the way different people view God.\n\nThere is the punitive God of the Old Testament and the jealous God some followers of specific religions seem to see.\n\nI have never understood why certain people in certain churches seem to think that making people afraid of God is the best way -- or even a particularly effective way -- to gain their loyalty.\n\nI\'m certainly no theologian, but it seems to me that any loyalty won through fear is loyalty that only lasts as long as the fear does.\n\nI much prefer the New Testament God, the one who loved the world so much that he sent his only son down to redeem man with his sacrifice, to the people who run around saying God hates liberals, homosexuals and anyone who doesn\'t go to the right church.\n\nIt really comes down to one thing for me, one thing that transcends any\n\nWe love God, because God is love.','','','inherit','open','open','','984-revision','','','2011-04-01 13:34:38','2011-04-01 20:34:38','',984,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=986',0,'revision','',0),(992,1,'2011-04-03 17:48:26','2011-04-04 00:48:26','','Texas stuff 074','Baseball in Houston','inherit','open','open','','texas-stuff-074','','','2011-04-03 17:48:26','2011-04-04 00:48:26','',991,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Texas-stuff-074.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(993,1,'2011-04-03 18:02:57','2011-04-04 01:02:57','','362826463v3_225x225_Front','','inherit','open','open','','362826463v3_225x225_front','','','2011-04-03 18:02:57','2011-04-04 01:02:57','',991,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/362826463v3_225x225_Front.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(994,1,'2011-04-03 18:12:40','2011-04-04 01:12:40','For most of the last 20 years, I have spent my summers participating in Rotisserie Baseball leagues.\n\nYep, I\'m a fantasy baseball geek.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_992\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Baseball in Houston\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Texas-stuff-074.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-992\" title=\"Texas stuff 074\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Texas-stuff-074-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt certainly isn\'t that I don\'t love baseball itself. I played in leagues with guys who didn\'t really like baseball much at all. For them, playing fantasy baseball was all about numbers -- statistics and dollars.\n\nFor 16 years, I was part of a league that had been around since the early \'80s. That league lasted 25 years, and it was one of the saddest occurrences of my life when it ended in quite a bit of acrimony. I tried to start another league with the remnants of the other one, but it lasted only two seasons.\n\nAlong with my move to Georgia, that left me without a keeper league -- some leagues draft from scratch every year, others allow you to build teams from season to season -- for the first time since 1992.\n\nInstead, I\'m playing in more non-keeper leagues this season than all the leagues I\'ve been in before put end to end.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/362826463v3_225x225_Front.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-993\" title=\"362826463v3_225x225_Front\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/362826463v3_225x225_Front.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" /></a>In addition to one league I\'ve been playing in for four years now, I signed up for a number of leagues on a Website called <a title=\"Real Time Fantasy Sports\" href=\"http://www.rtsports.com/grand-slam-fantasy-baseball\" target=\"_self\">Real Time Fantasy Sports</a>.\n\nWhat\'s the number?\n\nTwenty.\n\nI did 20 different drafts online, and went to New York for the other one.\n\nI\'m concerned that it will be difficult to keep up with this many different leagues, but I have an even bigger concern. When you draft 21 different teams from the same overall player pool, you don\'t end up with the same players on each team. So even my favorite players are only on about a third of my teams, which means that anything they do well will hurt two-thirds of my teams.\n\nI\'ll keep you posted on what happens.','How do you keep 21 different teams straight','','inherit','open','open','','991-revision','','','2011-04-03 18:12:40','2011-04-04 01:12:40','',991,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=994',0,'revision','',0),(1015,1,'2011-04-11 21:00:21','2011-04-12 04:00:21','It\'s getting hotter here, and more humid along with it.\r\n\r\nBut I am making the effort to get out and walk, and today I did it on the golf course. I spent about two hours lugging a bag on my back as I played nine holes. Of course that makes it tougher for me to concentrate on the golf, but it\'s good exercise.\r\n\r\nIf I hit a shot 200 yards off the tee, that means I carry a bag of golf clubs on my back for the equivalent of two football fields. On a hot day, that\'s actually pretty good exercise.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1016\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A long walk.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20101210_28.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1016\" title=\"20101210_28\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20101210_28-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that has been a pleasant surprise to me lately is that for whatever reason -- partly the fact that there are a number of downhill holes and partly just a better swing -- I have been hitting my tee shots farther and farther.\r\n\r\nToday on the fifth hole, which about 180 yards out slopes downhill, I actually found my shot in the middle of the fairway, 270 yards from the tee. I think that might be the longest tee shot I\'ve ever hit.\r\n\r\nI\'ve had a couple of others, particularly on 15, that have gone 250-260 yards.\r\n\r\nBut what\'s nicest for me anyway, is that where a good shot for me used to be 200 yards, now I\'m hitting at least half of my good tee shots nearly 225 yards.\r\n\r\nI\'m learning something I figured for a long time.\r\n\r\nThe more frequently I play, the better I get. I\'d say at least 75 percent of the time now, I\'m pretty happy with the shots I hit.\r\n\r\nBut what really makes me happy is that I\'m actually playing pretty well when I walk and carry my bag. Yesterday I shot 38 on the front nine en route to a 79, and today after eight holes I was in exactly the same place as yesterday -- three over par.\r\n\r\nToday at least, the ninth hole didn\'t go as well. Yesterday I rolled in an 11-footer for birdie and a 38. Today I didn\'t put my tee shot on the green, and it took me a chip and two putts for a bogey 4 and a nine-hole score of 40.\r\n\r\nIt actually says something that for the second best score I ever had, I was disappointed.','Walking on the golf course is terrific exercise','','publish','open','open','','walking-on-the-golf-course-is-terrific-exercise','','','2011-04-11 21:00:21','2011-04-12 04:00:21','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1015',0,'post','',0),(997,1,'2011-04-04 12:55:14','2011-04-04 19:55:14','','20110324_14','The greening of Georgia.','inherit','open','open','','20110324_14-2','','','2011-04-04 12:55:14','2011-04-04 19:55:14','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110324_14.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(998,1,'2011-04-04 12:58:25','2011-04-04 19:58:25','','20110324_19','The greening of Georgia.','inherit','open','open','','20110324_19','','','2011-04-04 12:58:25','2011-04-04 19:58:25','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110324_19.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1000,1,'2011-04-05 19:13:59','2011-04-06 02:13:59','I wonder why it is I seem to have become so emotional in my old age.\r\n\r\nI have always been a bit of a sentimental idiot, the kind who tears up when the moving denouement takes place in the movie or when the sad song touches something deep inside me.\r\n\r\nLately, though, it seems as if almost everything seems to strike a chord with me. The other night I was plowing through Season Three of <a title=\"Boston Legal\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402711/\" target=\"_self\">\"Boston Legal\"</a> when I reached an episode called <a title=\"Son of the Defender\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977321/\" target=\"_self\">\"Son Of the Defender.\"</a> Throughout several flashbacks, there were several haunting excerpts of music, and at the end, I heard some of the lyrics to the song.\r\n\r\n<em>\"And so it goes, and so it goes, and you\'re the only one who knows ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHO6a2H-pqY\r\n\r\nI didn\'t recognize the singer, but I Googled the lyrics and found that they were from a song called \"And So it Goes,\" by Billy Joel, from 1989.\r\n\r\nWhen I found the song on YouTube, I saw that there were numerous versions of it performed a capella by various groups.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGS1lo_aWww\r\n\r\nI bought the Billy Joel version on iTunes and loaded it onto my iPod. I have found myself listening to it a number of times since then, and it truly moves me.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a song about the hurt that we feel after failed relationships, and the courage that it takes to open up and give love another chance after being badly hurt. And it made me think about the various times my own heart has been hurt, and the time it took me to recover from those hurts.\r\n\r\nYes, there have been times in my life that I was in serious pain. But there have been other times at which taking a chance gave me the opportunity to feel wonderful. Maybe I am too emotional, but I can\'t imagine ever shutting myself off.\r\n\r\n<em>\"So I would choose to be with you, that\'s if the choice were mine to make. But you can make decisions too, and you can have this heart to break.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI certainly hope I never find myself looking for love again. I have had love for nearly 19 years now with the woman I consider the love of my life, and I would be devastated if anything happened to take that love from me.\r\n\r\nBut I would never want to be a person who didn\'t need love, who closed himself off.\r\n\r\n<em>\"And so it goes ...\"</em>','People need love, which means being open to it','','publish','open','open','','people-need-love-which-means-being-open-to-it','','','2011-04-05 19:13:59','2011-04-06 02:13:59','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1000',0,'post','',0),