Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, DAVID AND GOLIATH has an interesting viewpoint regarding one’s choice of instituions for pursuing higher education. He suggests being a
” big fish in a little pond” yields better results than the other way around. Being in the top third of your class breeds esteem, whereas being in the lower third (albeit a third with fine students) often discourages those who are always looking up at those who out-perform them.
I don’t remember a lot said at some 45 commencement speeches I attended.   One statement I do remember was that the best way to become educated America was in good small colleges in America.   Gladwell further acknowledges that even at some of our very best schools, exceptions are made. And often these exceptions are given to athletes. And while many exceptions are given  “…thinking we are doing them a favor”, he suggests maybe the results are not the outcomes we would want.
Having been involved in college athletics for some forty plus years,  Gladwell makes one ask questions, since so many exceptions go to athletes. Are we putting these youngsters into situations they cannot they cannot function or feel positive in?
The real value of athletics lies in the lessons learned therein. Doesn’t the student have to be capable of, and willing to learn the lessons? Choosing the right school seems critical to marginal students and athletes.

Just read and now recommend this remarkable book. David has done his homework and some fascinating data is included for sports professional and fans in general.

UPHEAVAL by Jared Diamond deals with several different nations and crises they confront.  Chapter 9 deals with the USA and asks “What lies ahead for the US?  Strengths, and the biggest problem.”

*Wealth-Geography-Advantages of democracy-Other advantages-Political polarization-Why?  Other polarization.

******************************

Below are notes I took for myself as reminders from the text:

ADVANTAGES OF THE US

1.  Wealth- size and resources.  2.  Military -10 Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.  France has the only other.  3. “Wedge shaped” geography and temperate zones for agriculture.  4.  Waterways —shipping by water 10-30 times cheaper.  Rivers plus great lakes.  Plus  Atlantic on one side, Pacific on other is unique, and with barrier islands also to protect us.  4.  Advantages of democracy (Churchill’s quote–worst form of government except for everything else tried.  Citizens can propose, and debate. (Vietnam, Germany/Hitler), Less civil violence.  5. Compromise.  6.  Federal govt. 50 states differ (turning right on red – Calif, assisted suicide, pot, tax rates, ) 7. Citizens control the military.  8.  Limited overt corruption, but covert is bad i.e. the influence of wall street, lobbyists, illegal contributions. 8. Public investment in education, technology, research (half of major top 10 scientific univ in U.S.), Infrastructure. inventions. 11. Immigration.  surprise!  1 of 3 nobel prize winners from U.S. are foreign  born.

2.  AMERICAN DISADVANTAGES:

“The first, and I feel the most ominous, of fundamental problems now threatening American democracy is our accelerating deteriorating of political COMPROMISE.”

2.  ELECTIONS:  Diamond quote:  “If a country has a constitution or laws specifying democratic government but the country’s citizens don’t or can’t vote, such a country doesn’t deserve to be called a democracy.”

3.  INEQUALITY:  Again, a quote from the book: “Sadly the problem is making itself worse; economic inequality has been increasing, and socio-economic mobility has been decreasing, in the U.S. over the course of recent decades.”

4.  INVESTMENT:  Education/more on prisons.  Declining performance of students.   Working two jobs.

“The result  is that the U.S. is losing its former competitive advantage that rested on an educated workforce, and on science and technology.”

Page 379

QUESTION:  When will the U.S. take its problems seriously?

ANSWER:  When powerful rich Americans begin to feel physically unsafe.

 

 

 

Jared Diamond’s new book (May 2019) deals with crisis.  His chapter on his fears about the United States includes this sentence:

“The first, and I feel the most ominous, of fundamental problems now threatening American democracy is our accelerating deteriorating of political compromise.”

UPHEAVAL

TURNING POINTS FOR NATIONS IN CRISIS

Burt Lancaster as Bob Starbuck in THE RAINMAKER (1956): “…BUT DON’T ASK FOR DELUGE!”

Hurricane Florence got us (Emerald Isle and lots of North Carolina). Luckily we could bolt for Son Dan’s home in Raleigh. Thanks for that.
We went one day to the North Carolina Museum of History. I was unaware of the artist/football star, Ernie Barnes, or his dual status as both. The museum’s exhibit of his artwork stunned me. Native to nearby Durham and a graduate of North Carolina Central University, his work portrayed the time I grew up in small town NC, but of a different culture. As I viewed his large showing of work, it looked vaguely familiar and yet different. It was.
Ernie died at 70, April 1990.
I went to Atlantic Christian College, now Barton College, from 1959-1963. And returned there as a teacher/coach/administrator until 1985. And served in similar roles at Elon College/ now University until 2004. Lots of changes. None more than in the sports world. Integration the most volatile. No football at ACC during my stays. And the only black guys I played against was when we played college basketball against military teams. As an assistant basketball coach, I was proud to help recruit ACC’S first black players–Clifton Earl Black, and Jimmy Jones of nearby Conetoe (pronounced kah nee tah) NC. Great young men. Black broke almost every record we had. Many followed and while I stopped coaching basketball I taught almost all of them. Being a small school you got to know the kids well. Speedy Gainor, Stan Lewter, Lorenzo Jones, George Bell, Richard Battle, Damien Carter, a few of these new friends. As Athletics Director, I knew the girls too–Cindy Wall, Sheila Keel, Annie May Wooten. Good people and players. A kid from Murfreesboro, William Bogues was 5’11” and led the Carolinas Conference in rebounding! Say what? Saw it!
The small town where I went to high school played 6-man football,and, while I loved playing, it didn’t resemble what awaited 25 later at Elon. Almost immediately I supervised the team’s trip to Orlando to play a tough Central Florida team. Many had never flown. The team operated in “herd mentality”. My small tennis teams sort of wandered around wherever.
As I saw these guys and their coaches work, I really appreciated them. Kyle Wills ramrodded the work-study players, a majority of whom were black kids. I watched them in their blue work suits clean the post-game gym with precision.
And as much as I loved those ACC kids, football guys are just different. I never missed a game at home. And they made it a great learning experience. Somebody said John Bradsher became a General in the US Army. I don’t doubt it. Everybody loved Dwayne Clark. I did too and wept at his funeral. Stanly Hairston, Russell Evans, Al Hendricks, Ronnie Purcell, Jeff Slade, Gino McLamb,
Willie Williams, Grady Williamson. Our defensive backs and receivers were often just a little smaller than those at big schools. I marveled at Arketa Banks, and Steve Ferguson. Leo Barker was a super coach and others too many to name.
Over those twenty years we played North Carolina Central University, Barnes alma mata. DR. Leroy Walker always spoke. BIG HOUSE GAINES and I sat together all day at the NAIA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS in Kansas City in 1976 . The first of 8 games that day began at 11am, the last at 11pm. Coach Gaines and I watched all eight. We ate 3 meals plus at the concession stand. Popcorn, ice cream, pretzels, cokes, hot dogs, candy bars. Coppin State (with Joe Pace) won the NAIA. Big House won the concession contest.
Arthur Ashe was the Jackie Robinson of tennis. He spoke to Elon on PROPOSITION 48 in 1988. For years I have bought every copy of his DAYS OF GRACE I have found. I gave many of these, his most personal perspective of race in America, to those great kids I coached and taught. My thanks to Arthur.
I don’t know how long the Barnes exhibit will remain in Raleigh. I encourage its viewing and study. Mr. Barnes is well known in the art and football world. One book of his history and work is FROM PADS TO PALETTE (By Ernie Barnes). All football. When I finish I am sending my copy to Elon University Football. What a story.

P.S. for fun google 6-man football in Texas. going strong with scores in the 70 point range. I believe Crowell High School has had the best program.
P.S.S. Just purchased the new biography, ASHE, on Arthur Ashe. Into first 200 pages, and so far, so good. tp

Google Duke University library. Search “H. Lee Waters Film Collection”. Here you will find a directory of a very large number of towns. A few are nation-wide. Several are from Virginia and South Carolina, but most are of small North Carolina towns. These are truly interesting and of very good quality. No sound,being done in the late 30’s and early 40’s.
Remembering this period is post “Great Depression” and pre-World War 11 and before integration, one can see a world that was quite different. There are all kinds of settings and a lot of them, yet it seems the photographer emphasized schools and the youngsters (then), downtowns and their stores and owners and customers, and factory workers as they exited the day’s work.
It is difficult to look at the pre-teen and teenaged faces knowing that very shortly many of these will be in a war that affected so many of them. And us.

A movie, “Bernie”, and a book “My Ideal Bookshelf” by my son Dan’s friend, Jane Mount have prompted me into a couple of comments, etc. The sound track of “Bernie”brought back memories of a childhood’s moments in music in a southern baptist church. Thus, the “HYMNS TEST” post. Next, having admired “My Ideal Bookshelf”, I have listed some of the books I have enjoyed and benefitted from.

(1) Lyrics (1962-2001), by Bob Dylan
(2) A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson
(3) Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
(4) Sports in America, by James Michener
(5) Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
(6) Chesapeake, Michener
(7) The Drifters, by Michener
(8) The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
(9) My Losing Season, Pat Conroy
(10) The Little Red Book of Golf, by Harvey Penick
(11) The Short Game Bible, by Dave Pelz
(12) Centennial, by Michener
(13) Inside Tennis, by Jim Leighton
(14) The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
(15) The Synonym Finder, by T.J. Rodale
(16) The Legend of Bagger Vance, by Steven Pressfield
(17) Cyclone Country, by Russell Rawlings
(18) Stikky Night Skies, Lawrence Holt Books
(19) Shit My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern
(20) Chronicles, by Bob Dylan
(21) The Covenant, Michener
(22) Mexico, by Michener
(23) Fire in the Hole, by Elmore Leonard
(24) The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
(25) A Season on the Brink, by John Feinstein
(26) On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
(27) The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis
(28) Texas, by Michener
(29) The Fifties, by David Halberstam
(30) The Awakening, by Karl Fleming
(31) Blood Done Signed My Name, by Timothy Tyson
(32) Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
And finally and for fun,
(33) The Final Four of Everything (Bracketology), by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir…

My first job paid $4600 a year in 1964. The only affordable housing I could find was a back room at Mae Hollowell’s Beauty Shop. A plumber named Luther Goff occupied the other rented room. Luther liked philosophy aided by Ancient Age and whiskey, “Sex won’t kill you, but running after it will wear you down.”

Joe Robinson, Carolina tight-end on the 1963 Gator Bowl, was rooming with a Tar Heel family. They charged him $5 a week. Joe and I decided to look for an affordable bachelor’s pad.

I found one. In a new concept for Wilson, North Carolina, Briarcliff Apartments were new and quite nice. My good friend, Jean Peake, suggested I move in with a guy named Phil Nordan. Phil was a liquor salesman.

We were having a great time, car, Briarcliff, twenty-six years old and coaching. I was paid little. Sometimes that bothered me, but mostly I was doing okay.

Then a bump. Joe got drafted. Phil got married. I was back on the street.

I moved into all I could afford. Varita Court, downtown Wilson. I slept on a chaise lounge until Jean heard about me. She sold me two single beds for $12.50 each from hospital storage. The beds and the jukebox were my only furniture.

The juke box featured a green light bulb. I located it so I could sit on the fire escape and throw beer cans at the Shell Station chimney located below me. “Like a Rolling Stone” was #1, “ A Whiter Shade of Pale”, “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Mr. Tambourine Man” and other great 60’s music were my roomies. I was very lonely. The total utility bill was $3.48 one month.

I was the only male in the three story building, in apartment “R”. There was an elevator with a stroke-ridden black man named Jesse sitting in it all day. Most of the tenants were widows. They peered out their doors as I put the jukebox on Jesse’s elevator. Jesse giggled.

Everyone ought to live alone for some period in their lives. It’s not all bad, but I didn’t like it in Varita Court.

–excerpt from “Play is Where Life Is”

The jukebox mentioned in this passage was a “god-send” of sorts.

One of our basketball stars was a young man named Larry Jones. Jones was called “Chief” because he was a handsome, “Indian-looking,” 6 foot 5 inch, 210 pound stud from Mt. Olive. I casually mentioned that I would like to find a jukebox. Maybe that would help with my loneliness in Varita Court. Jones said, “I’ll find you a jukebox.”

A week later he said he’d found one.
“How much do they want for it?” I asked.
Surprised he asked, “You want to pay for it?!”

We did find one, to buy, for $100 from a black guy named Kay Wooten in Fremont, North Carolina. It was a 1945 AMI Woolden. Not the Wurlitzer Double Bubble Circler but it would play. Loud. It was too big to mount in a Corvette, but I do believe that I could have competed with the Wilson “Boom Boxes of 1968”.

I painted it red and kept it throughout my kids’ stay with us. When they left, I sold it to my good friend Bill Morningstar, the golf coach at Elon. “Star” is a pinhook, he’ll buy anything. Mostly old cars. He painted it black. Macho. And he still has it.

You could rotate 40 records. The list below are some of the AMI Selections of 1968-1988.

1. Like a Rolling Stone-Bob Dylan
2. Cleo’s Mood-Jr. Walker and the All-Stars
3. Whiter Shade of Pale-Procol Harem
4. Since I Lost My Baby-The Temptations
5. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down-Joan Baez
6. Yesterday-Ray Charles
7. The Weight-Jackie DeShannon
8. Light My Fire-Jose Feliciano
9. Any Day Now-Chuck Jackson
10. Ain’t That Loving You Baby-Jimmy Reed
11. Silver Threads and Golden Needles
12. Walk On By-Dionne Warwick
13. I’ll Be Doggone-Marvin Gaye
14. Hey Joe-Jimi Hendrix
15. Sweet Baby James-James Taylor
16. Rescue Me-Fontella Bass
17. Baby Love-The Supremes
18. Good Golly Miss Molly-Little Richard
19. Don’t Be Cruel-Elvis Presley
20. Fire Lake-Bob Seger
21. What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am-The Tams
22. Born to Run-Emmylou Harris
23. Get Rhythm-Johnny Cash
24. Get Back-The Beatles
25. Honky Tonk Women-The Rolling Stones
26. I Still Miss Someone-Emmylou Harris
27. He Stopped Loving Her Today-George Jones
28. Knock On Wood-Eddie Floyd
29. Take Out Some Insurance-Jimmy Reed
30. Little Help From My Friends-Joe Cocker
31. Lay, Lady, Lay-Bob Dylan
32. Roll Me Away-Bob Seger
33. Still the Same-Bob Seger
34. Stand By Me-Ben King
35. America-Ray Charles
36. Georgia-Ray Charles
37. Busted-Ray Charles
38. Maybeline-Chuck Berry
39. Somewhere Over the Rainbow-Jerry Lee Lewis
40. I’m Walking-Fats Domino
41. Jim Dandy-Lavern Baker
42. Rave On-Buddy Holly

“Music can save your very soul.”
-Don McLean, “American Pie”

North Carolina is divided into 3 distinct parts. The eastern part features our real characters. They get out of bed thinking of something funny to say. Being a child of the 60’s (Brando, James Dean, Dylan) cool things to say catch me ear.
Jules from “restaurant scene in PULP FICTION: “I been saying that %^*& for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold blooded thing to say to ^%*%$#@% ‘fore you popped a cap in his ass.” Jules was as cool as Miles Davis.
How bout JUSTIFIED’S Raylan: “It is hard to imagine the wonderful things that might happen if you can plant the seeds of distrust among a garden of assholes.”
Winston Churchill: “When you are going through hell, keep going.”
“He could fight as good from the bottom as from the top”. (Did Country say that?)
Jim Drummond: The boss said his worker had ADD (…all day to do it).
Regarding current politics, one easterner says he is suffering from E.D. or “Electile Dysfunction.”
“How do I sound more Southern and blend in better?” asked the newcomer. Southern friend: Next trip to the store tell the clerk you want some nanners, maters, and taters.
Upon trying this technique the clerk replied, “…you’re not from around here are you?” Northern newcomer, puzzled, “…how did you know?” Clerk: You are in HOME DEPOT.
“The secret to management is to keep the guys who hate you from the undecided.” Casey Stengel.
Jake LaMotta claimed they we were so poor that one Christmas eve his Dad took his twelve gauge out into the back yard and fired off a round. Came in and declared,”…Santa committed suicide!”
One golfer said another was even tempered on the golf course: “He was an asshole the whole round.”

•Tom Brokaw concluded: “For parents, bribery is a white collar crime. For grandparents, it’s a business plan.” Loved Brokaw.
•This from DRIVING WITH THE DEVIL, a great book on the real beginnings of NASCAR (know
who Roy Page was?) has this comment: “Money won’t buy everything, but it’ll keep your family closer.”
•And children getting named down here? One kid in the local paper had a first name of “Wedjunald”. “Mam, what do you want his first name to be? (Wedjunald? Reginald?). Some classic names out there.
• At a recent post-golfing social event, I overheard one wife chastise another. “Alice, you’ve got the wrong name tag on.” Alice: “… I’m much too drunk to wear my own name tag.”
And then, there are always the Duke Cameron crazies. In unison this bunch pleaded with Miami’s super large Reggie Johnson, “PLEASE DON’T EAT US, PLEASE DON’T EAT US.” He IS a big tater.
• Tough choice coming up! A local fisherman from Stella, North Carolina has concluded that the White Oak River is being contaminated by run off from the many hog farms in eastern N.C. HMMM. Seafood or barbecue?
•Remember the “HOI TIDERS” (HIGH TIDERS) from way
DOWN EAST? My friend, Randy Campbell, told me this one.
A hoi toiler from “…down to Atlantic” was asked by another local if the guy would mind him leaving his boat in his yard for a week. ‘My Lord, no. A week will be okay.” After the original guy burned this boat down, the issue went to court. Whereupon the judge asked why did you burn the man’s boat? “Well, your Honor, he didn’t show up after a week so I called him. He said he’d be by soon, but he didn’t show the second week. I thought about calling him a second “toime” (time), but then I thought what the hell. “I LIT HER UP”
• I have included a couple of pictures of the pier. I continue to be a PIER GROUPIE (blog article #75 with the pictures). The operative question on the pier is “anything biting?” A hoi toiler responded recently, “Not on this pier, mate, but “oi” (I) heard the red drum was eating the sand off the end of the oiland (island).”
57
JAMES ALLEN ROSE
•A local high school running back was extremely quick and agile. A zig-zagging touchdown kickoff return brought this comment from an admiring hoi toiler coach: “My lord Son, you run ‘er like a hard crab”.