Racial Integration in Little Rock

My dad was from Northeast Arkansas. He grew up on a farm outside of Fisher, about 30 miles east of Jonesboro. Every summer our family would go visit his family. One year when I was a little guy, about 8 or 9 years old, something happened on one of those trips that I will never forget.

My dad worked shift work at plant in Freeport, Texas. On one August afternoon, the whole family was in the car packed and ready to leave for Arkansas as soon as Dad clocked out. Mom had put boxes of clothes and bedding behind the front seats and spread quilts over the top, making a bed for the four of us kids. It was our plan to drive all night to get to Grandma’s house before noon the next day. In those days it was a 16 hour trip.

We had made the trip so many times that we knew where we would be stopping for bathroom breaks and restaurants. One of the places we usually filled up with gasoline was in Little Rock. But on this night, I woke up to find we were stopped at a road block.

My dad was talking to an army man, who was standing at our car window. He had his rifle slung over his shoulder, but I was fascinated. I looked around and saw two troop trucks on the side of the road in front of us, with soldiers sitting on benches in the back.

When the soldier left, I asked my dad what was happening. He told me that the National Guard had been called out to make sure no riots were allowed to start in Little Rock. I asked him why people would want to riot in Little Rock. He told me that it was because some colored children wanted to go to school with white children there. He told me there was nothing wrong with it, but that some people would be very angry because they did not like colored people.

When sufficient cars had been stopped, they were made into a caravan. No one was allowed to stop in Little Rock for food or gas that did not live there. We were escorted through town in the caravan, with one troop truck in front and one in the back.

It is a night I have never forgotten.


Here is a link if you want to read a bit more about the Little Rock Nine!





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A Question from an Old Game Show

On my lunch break I was watching Card Sharks on the Game Show Network. The show was recorded in the 70's. One of the questions, asked of one hundred women, was, Do you have your husband wrapped around your finger? Only 20 of them said that they did. I wonder how many of a hundred today would answer that they have their husband wrapped around their fingers. Have times changed much on that issue?




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$500 Not To Have An Abortion!?

Dan Patrick is in his first term as a Texas legislator. He has introduced a bill that would enable the state to offer $500 to a woman who decides to give a child up for adoption instead of having an abortion.

There is a waiting list for parents who want to adopt, so it makes some sense to me that the option would benefit not only the child but also the prospective parents. I personally am opposed to killing unborn babies as a means of birth control.

And yet for some reason I am not really comfortable with the idea of this inducement. I can't put my finger on why, but it doesn't feel right either.
What do you think?







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Corrupting my Friend!

I just introduced a friend into the world of blogging. He is a nice guy, keeps to himself, minds his own business and hurts no one. He does not deserve to be infected by the blog bug, but I am heartless and I want him to be just as corrupt as me!

You can check them out here:
USS JBird
jbird
Next Door to SLOAN





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Three Favorite Burt Lancaster Movies

I just posted a blog on Ulzana's Raid. It is one of my three favorite Burt Lancaster Movies. Lancaster is in my top 20 all time favorite actors because he could do any type role, tough guy action, dramatic lead, or comedy, and do them well.
And his brilliance lasted over a long career, he made over 80 movies from the 40's thru 1990. He was perfectly cast as the hard-bitten old scout in Ulzana's Raid

Maybe Lancaster's best acting job came in Birdman of Alcatraz. It was a marvelous portrayal of a violent criminal who had a heart. (My dad disagrees, he believes Lancaster's best performance was in Elmer Gantry).


But I think my favorite role for Burt Lancaster was as Doc Graham in Field of Dreams. He absolutely articulated the dream of all of us who fantacized about playing in the big leagues, but never made it. If you are one of those, you will never forget Burt describing the vision of stretching a double into a triple and hugging third base. I dreamed that type of moment so many times.

Can you identify?





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When We Attended a Grandparenting Seminar

My wife and I attended a family seminar at Abilene Christian University the July before our first grandchild was to be born the next January. One of the sessions offered was on being godly grandparents, and was conducted by Dr. Stafford North and his wife. They gave us all sorts of insights and warnings, we took lots of notes.

But the part we liked the most was the assignment we had during the session, to come up with at least one way we would try to influence our grandchildren. We came up with a few things that we have implemented, but one is very dear to me.


I determined that I would send him/her and note from me each month, on the day of the month which my grandchild was born. In the note I would let him know that he is loved and prayed for. I would picture for him some value I wanted him to embrace or some goal for his future. I would also include a dollar each month to be saved toward his first mission trip to the Caribbean with me when he turned 15.


Six months later I implemented the tradition and have carried it on every month for over 13 years. I added each of the other grandkids as they came along, so now I write 4 notes each month, one on the 1st, one on the 5th and two on the 14th. And I raised the amount to $5 each month when I began, so it costs me $20 each month. But it is a small price to pay for the joy I get in the practice and the hope I see for the future of my grandchildren.








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Homeschool or Not

key element in the success of your child's education is parental involvement. Homeschooling is an extra-mile way to do that, but parenting is all about going the second mile for your kids.

The initial issue of THINK magazine has an article called "Helping Your Child Succeed in School". here are the suggestions given by its author Rebecca Rushmore:
1) Offer praise liberally.
2) Break jobs into small manageable tasks
3) Teach good study habits
4) Become familiar with the child's learning style
5) Make use of available resources
6) Whatever you choose to do, be consistent.

I would add that asking questions that require your child to communicate, and setting an atmosphere of openness to his/her ideas is crucial. Whether or not you home school, be involved in their education. They will know how important their education is by the amount of time and effort you give to such ideas as Ms Rushmore's.
Successful kids are the product of their own hard work, but the nurturing of their parents is a important ingredient.







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Leftover Embryos--Frozen Orphanages

A few days ago I received a copy of a new publication called THINK. It is aimed at causing Christians to think seriously about difficult issues facing society, from debt to education to stem cell research.
The article that caused me to think all weekend was about invitrofertilzation. I was aware of the process and the fact that viable embryos that were not implanted were being "stored" in a frozen state. I was not aware that over 400,000 embryonic children are now being housed in frozen orphanages (labratories) in the U.S.
The alternatives available to couples who have completed their families and now do not need the leftover embroyos; and do not want to go on paying for housing them in a frozen state, are three.
They can donate them to science for research, which means they are destroyed--killed in my opinion. Or they can simply be thawed out, letting them die, and discarding them. The third is that they can donate them to be adopted by couples who cannot conceive. They could be implanted and born into a loving family that desparately longs to have children.
Perhaps the best known of such agencies is Snowflake, because President Bush recently had over twenty snowflake children at the White House during a discussion on Stem Cell Research. (for more info go to www.nightlight.org/snowflakes_description.asp).
If those 400,000 children were already born and in orphanages, would we let science experiment on them or just let them die? I think not.
I doubt snowflake type adoptions can eliminate the problem of leftover embryonic children completely, but it could make a lot of difference.







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Island of the Blue Dolphins

I finished a book last week that I had heard about for many years, but never picked up. It is Island of the Blue Dolphins," and it was given to me by my granddaughter as a Christmas present. I enjoyed the book, it is a story about a young girl stranded alone on an island off the California coast. I did not know till the author's note at the end of the book that the story was based on a true story in early days of our country.





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Naming Rights and Sponsorships

I wonder about the benefit to a big corporation to be the Title sponsor of a big event or to have the naming right on stadiums. Minute Maid Park--Does that help sell orange juice? Pac Bell Park--does that influence a consumers selection of phone service? Wirefly National Marathon--does that push me to buy my next cell phone from the Super Store? Aren't my eletric bills high enough without having to name Reliant Stadium?

I am sure that there are studies that have statistics to support the practice, or to refute it, depending on who is doing the study!





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