Thursday, November 30, 2017

NOVEMBER - EPISODE XI: FALL 2017

WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE XI: FALL 2017
Hello People of the World;

Once again, the autumn descends upon us as the earth tilts again, away from the warmth and shine of the sun, in its yearly duty of orbiting, year after year for the rest of time, in movements so predictable, we have built calendars from our observations of this. Yet, it still seems to catch people absolutely off-guard as they continue to complain about how “wow, it’s gotten soooo cold now!” Geez!

Here we are at the tail end of November, upon this typing. Typically called “Native American Heritage Month” and the only time of year anyone has interest in Native American culture, so long as we do not go beyond the Thanksgiving Day Story. This is also the only time when school kids will first interact with Native cultural information as well. Again, so long as it does not go beyond the Thanksgiving Day Story. Oh well, whatever, never mind….

All right, let’s get going:


1:[ Opening thoughts: Once again, on my Hearing

Now, having my hearing return to normal in my right ear has been something of an adjustment. I became so worried about losing my hearing in my left ear that I did not know how to protect it without thinking I was worsening the damage in my right ear. So, now, I have become more aware at how everything really damages your hearing, no matter what you try to do.

Of late, thanks to my returned hearing, I have found how much fucking annoying human beings are when all they do is complain about other people or nonsense, or they talk about themselves to no-end. I mean, I shut my mouth and write about myself here. That way, I am not annoying the fuck out of you on the train, or int he coffee shop, or walking down the street or…


2:[ Talks with Bonnie: In our discussion on the nostalgia of Pizza Hut, our talk veered toward the controversial restaurant chain: Sambo’s. Now, the name “Sambo’s” was not a bastion of fevered racism that many believe. It was actually the combination of the two original owners’ names – Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett. However, as they branched out, they did make the mistake of latching on to that problematic children’s book The Story of Little Black Sambo. Which, as you may have guessed, did not work out well for them. It did not help that to stem the controversy, they simply switched the ethnicity of the character. Wow. After branching out across the country, this controversy hit the chain hard and later they sold off to Denny’s, which shuttered all but the original restaurant.

Sambo’s still operates in Santa Clara, California and maintains the décor of the altered story character. But they sell omelets for $13. I assume people who long for a simpler time still go. We used to have one in Riverton, I believe, but it was replaced with something else, as later on the same space eventually became the Golden Corral, (motto: “Don’t You Know Food When You See It?”), but there was definitely one in Casper, I know that…


3:[ Found this great place: Mr. B’s OriginalDonuts. I was on my way to a film festival event near the Ashland green line stop and was early. I like being early to things, it gives me a chance to explore neighborhoods. When I was with AYV, I would purposely be early to be able to walk a few blocks in every direction from the school I was visiting. I find that no matter what “side” of the city you are on, it always feels like the center of the city, with its activity and daily life. I also found that many neighborhoods are not that different from one another.

On this day, I was hoping for a coffee shop or something to sit down in and go online and waste time before the screening. When I walked in, the service was friendly, greeting me as I walked in even though they were all busy with other things. There was a doughnut fryer on site and in public view. It was cool. The fry cook was a friendly coot. Announcing every batch he made. He pointed out the apple fritter samples, which were awesome. The place smelled awesome.

I ended up ordering a hot chocolate, as it was cold out, and a chocolate donut. It was a heavy thing, slathered in chocolate frosting. One bite and I was amazed. It actually tasted like a fried donut! I mean, not this overly sugared, tiny-sized concoctions that you get at the Dunkin Donuts. I mean, it was bready, with enough sweet, and the frosting gave it the right touch of sugar. You know, like a doughnut is supposed to taste.

I had to get three more before I left – one for me later, one for Bonnie later, and one for the road. I told them their place was awesome and they thanked me and I cannot recommend this place enough. I mean, really, only one thing would hold you back from going, and that would really be your own problem.


4:[ The film festival I run did gangbusters this year. We had 11 venues over 10 days and we had a consistent audience number through out with about 18 people average. That is cool. But as per usual, once November ends, how soon we forget….


5:[ Why is it that hearing groups of employees talk on the train, or in clusters on-site, everyone is trying to execute some form of Machiavellian maneuvers to get ahead or to get back at someone; I mean, you cut hair! Why do you feel the need to fuck over you co-worker because – reasons? Come on, grow the f*ck up….


6:[ Why can’t we extend these women making the accusations the Benefit of Trust – why do we immediately jump to the man’s defense? Simple, we have been conditioned to.


7:[ I noticed this thing happening at my jobs – it seems that people think I am angry all the time. It did not hit until recently that this might be the case. You see, some time back, I emailed HR about my schedule. I was being scheduled for jobs that I never applied for at my work site. I was brought on to be one thing. Now, I was told that I would have to cover some shifts in other roles if they were shorthanded. I concur. After I was hired, I was told I was going to be doing one “regular” shift in addition to my work shifts. But it was getting out of hand with over two-thirds of my schedule not being in the role I applied for. So, I wrote HR about it.

One day, while working another “regular” shift, I was pulled into the Managers’ office to discuss it. Which I did; presenting the views I just expressed in writing here. But before the meeting ended, there was an allusion to my emails being angry. One of the managers talked about how they accidentally read anger in another manager’s emails “Why are you shouting at me?” This caught my ear because why would they mention it if they did not read anger in my emails. Which, I took the time, as I do WITH ALL MY EMAILS, to be clear and concise in my replies and messages, and mostly, calm.

A few days, later, a customer comes up to me as I come on shift and begins to complain to me about a new feature at work that might cause them to quit patronizing our business. Now, the Manager I was reporting to steps in and says, “You can talk to me about that” and he goes off with the customer to talk. When he returns he has a good chuckle that the customer came directly to me, I believe because I wear a “uniform”, to complain directly to. Another manager who was next to us, then remarked, “We should have let them complain to Ernest, he always looking angry.”

Then, the exchange at the meeting came back to me and so did some past encounters, mostly via email, also came back to me. Why would anyone who knows me read anything I write to them, as angry? I know I can be stereotypically stoic but “angry”? Now, I cannot help but see that in everyone’s interactions with me. Too bad, I am actually pretty shy and can be quite friendly given a chance. Oh well…


8:[ Funerals and Food: Once again, my talks with Bonnie veered toward that cinematic poop called “Wind River” and she remarked that of course I was right in my review of the film (Click Here) that the family of the murdered girls would not be alone in the immediate aftermath of the death. Family would have flooded the house. At least, that has been my experience on the reservation.

When I was young, I remember going to relatives houses for what seemed to be no reason other than to eat. Then, it clicked when my father passed and every relative, even people from town, showed up and brought food. It was a sort of way of dealing with grief, helping the family, so they did not have to worry about cooking food, and just gathering to be a community.

But as we talked further, we came to realize that this is not even a reservation phenomenon. Bonnie also had memories of her parents going to friends’ and relatives’ homes with a pile of food in the event of a family passing. We agreed that this bringing of food and crowding the home of the family serves the purposes as described above – help the family, to deal with your own grief by contributing food and comfort – but also to ensure that communities stand. That in times of stress, to signal that a community, regardless of belief (As I remember the Jehovah Witnesses whom my dad would actually talk to when they showed up, attended his funeral.), political ideology, state of relationship, strained or pat, would be ready to lend a hand, to help one another.

Births and deaths seem to be the only times we express our humanity. IF only we could get better at the times in between….


That is it for this month. You have my apologies for having such a short edition. Life has been plodding along and I have been hit with some difficulties but I am trying to get through them. It will not stop me from writing my thoughts for you month to month, though you may find that we end up with short writings such as these. My jobs and the film festival are my only excuses and I really should not offer them up as such.

As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.

Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”


2017 Ernest M Whiteman III