My sincere apology to Natasha Tretheway

Dear Ms. Tretheway,

I just read an article about you in the AJC and I am so proud of you and all of your success.  Being named the Poet Laureate of the United States is an incredible honor.  I have followed your successful career over the years and I have admired your courage and strength.

I have spent the last 31 years agonizing over a poor decision.  I was 22 years old and serving on my first jury duty at the Decatur Court house.  Your former step father was on trial, ( for the rest of this blog I will refer to him as YMSH- your mother's second husband) for perjury in his first trial.  I had a very bad feeling about this man. He had a very scary stare and seemed to be heavily medicated. The prosecution tried a few times to bring up his original sentencing.  She would speak about a gun and was immediately shut down by the defence team.  The main focus of the trial was that he had lied about ever being in legal trouble and therefore had committed perjury in his original trial.

The defense argued that being charged with a crime while in the Army was not really the same as being charged with a crime in civilian life. ( by the way he was a pimp in Vietnam during the war)  They also said that being charged with neglect for not paying child support was not technically a considered a crime.  We listened to testimony for two and a half days and then went into the jury room.  I was one of two people  in that room that believed that he was guilty of perjury. 

We all realized that a trial for perjury wasn't the real crime.  We were not allowed to know why he was currently in prison.  We were also told that he was medicated because he had PTSD from being involved in the Vietnamese war.

I held our for a few hours and then the other girl changed her mind.  The jury foreman was a professor at Spelman college and he accused me of being prejudice.  "what does a little white girl from the beach in New Jersey know of the plight of a black soldier in Atlanta?"  I cried and I tried for a couple more hours to hold my ground and then I gave in.  I have never forgotten that I gave in.   I cried when the verdict was read.  I knew it was wrong, and that I wasn't strong enough in my convictions.

About a month later I was watching the evening news and the top story was that YMSH had been released from prison and directly gone straight to your mother's house, shot and killed her.  I realized that the point of the trial that I had been assigned to as a juror was to get him a couple of extra years of prison.  He had been writing threatening letters to your mother from prison.  He also had been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon against your mother in the first trial.  We were never allowed to hear about the particulars of why he was in jail.  I think that would have defiantly swayed more of the jurors over to a guilty verdict.

I am so sorry that I didn't hold on in that jury room.  I really wish that I had been stronger then.  I also found out after seeing the TV news coverage that you were a student a year before at the same high school I was working.  You were a cheerleader and I had known of you.  I was a first year teacher and I was teaching the "subbies".  ( the  8th graders that were below the freshmen- subbies). 

I know this is just a blog, basically it is a diary I have created that my daughter may be able to read and get a few laughs from when I go.  I have no interest in Tweeting or Face book.  You will probably never see this.  It does help me to write it all down.  I have keep this in for a long time.

I wish you a long life of success and happiness.  I am so sorry for the tragedy with your mother and I hope that you can forgive me.  I know in my heart that I was young and weak.  I have forgiven myself for my poor decision.  I wish the 54 year old me could have been there in that jury room.  I think that things might have turned out a little differently.  Again I am sincerely sorry Natasha.
                                                                  Momma T

The "New View" is

 

Hurrah for the new and improved version of the View.  From the blessing  from Queen Barbara, to the tributes to Robin Williams and  Joan Rivers, to the eight year old winner of Norway's Got Talent, the new season is definitely an improvement!

First of all, it is so wonderful to see the interaction between Whoopi and the rest of the girls.  I think Whoopi is finally comfortable in her position and free to speak her mind.  Rosie O is lovable and open and I loved her interview with Barbara Streisand.  My daughter and I absolutely love Rosie P.  Her accent is the greatest!  She has no difficulty voicing her opinion and she seems to fit in perfectly.  Nicole is finding her way into the talk show world.  She is the one that has the least experience in TV.  She ia Greek and has a family and although she worked in the Bush white house, she seems authentic.  

I am just so happy that the focus has turned back to politics.  they still talk about all the current topics, but it seemed that politics went out the window after Joy left.  Congrats to the new season.  Keep up the good work girls!

Dude Looks like a Lady!

 

What to say about the early passing of Robin Williams?  Wasn't the Aerosmith song, Dude Looks like a Lady- just perfect for the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire?

I never was a Mork and Mindy fan. I was in college when that show was on and I didn't watch TV during those years.  I loved Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and of course- Aladdin. My daughter was 6 when Aladdin first came out and she cried at the end of the movie because she didn't want to leave the theatre where the genie lived. 

Robin Williams was a genius.  He must have been one of those special homo sapiens that had extra neurons in his brain, ( like Albert Einstein).  

One of my colleagues said that taking your life is selfish. I don't believe that Robin was a selfish person.  He donated his time to so many organizations and did Comic relief with Whoopie and Billy.  He selflessly gave to the public.  We all loved him and he made us smile. Thanks for everything Robin, we will miss you!

A tribute to Joan

 

I just want to take a moment to say goodbye to one of my true heroes.  I have always loved Joan Rivers.  She was crass, edgy and self-deprecating.  She was a woman that found success in a man's world.  She recreated herself after heartache and failure.  She made me laugh every week on the Fashion Police.  I also loved her recent documentary.  She was equally hard on herself and a litany of celebrities.  She was a advocate to the gay rights movement and she brought meals to patients with HIV and AIDS.  She demonstrated the ethic of hard work to many younger people that need a role model like her.  

I can't imagine that the Fashion Police could continue without Joan.  I wish Melissa and her son all the best.   Take care and know that your mother/grandmother was one of kind.  Her humor was ageless. She paved the way for comics like Kathy Griffin.  

Rest in peace Joan Rivers, we all will miss you!

Coal and Oil are the new cigarettes

Remember most electricity is not really clean!



Have you ever driven past the huge electric power plant near Eatonton Georgia?  There are mountains of black coal next to the large smoke stacks.  Some folks don't understand that if you invest in an electric car, you may not have any visible emissions from your vehicle, but somewhere the electricity that you are using is likely to have origins in coal.  Burning coal produces carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide that contribute to climate change just as gasoline powered cars do, but there is solid . waste left and other gases like sulfur dioxide that contribute to acid rain.

When I was a kid, the evil in our society was determined to be cigarettes.  It took over twenty years to convince the general public how dangerous cigarettes were.  The research was clouded by "scientific research" that was later determined to be financed by the cigarette companies.  Over time the government added taxes, regulations and eventually the number of smokers greatly decreased.

Last summer the headlines were that we have surpassed the carbon levels ever scene on the Earth.  We have had scientists trying to warn us about the dangers of greenhouse gases since the 80's.  Finally, President Obama made a speech about reducing emissions last week.  This is not a problem that we can control in the United States.  The emissions we release effect countries like Bangladesh.  The fact that we had the knowledge about the dangers of oil and coal back in the 1970's and we decided not to invest in solar energy technology is simply abhorrent.  Is money is more important than life?  Will that be the legacy of our society?

Knock Knock- Aren't you glad I did Say Orange is the new Black?

I threw my pie for you!

Who is your favorite prisoner?

I have to say that my daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed our Netflicks subscription.  Orange is the New Black has been our favorite show in a while.  It is rare that a show can make you empathetic to prisoners and also give you a deep belly laugh at times.  If you haven't seen this yet- I highly recommend it.  It is definitely worth the subscription cost for Netflicks.

It is difficult to pick a favorite. Piper is not it.  She is changing, adapting and has become less whiny this season, but we love crazy eyes and red the best.  Pennsatucky, Tastee, Lorna and Nicky are strong seconds.  The best part of the show is learning the back stories of the inmates and why they ended up in prison.  The show is well-written.  We loved the band with the prison guards called - Side-Boob!  Ha- larious!  
 

The Years of living Dangerously

This is a picture of Long Beach Island. I grew up here.  Since I live live in Georgia now, I only visit LBI once or twice a year. I used to tell my students that I noticed the sea level was higher every time I visited.    LBI was decimated by Sandy last year. It turns out that the storm was so much worse because the sea level was over a foot higher than it was when I was growing up there.   Many of the houses have not been rebuilt yet. Many of the damaged houses have to be raised over 11 feet before they can be rebuilt. Many of the people can't afford to do this and they won't get any help from FEMA unless they raise the house. 

   Here is a picture of the type of damage the storm caused.






  I have been teaching about climate change since the 80's.  I was blown away by the data presented in the original reports.  Growing up on the beach, I witnessed many changes to the quality of water.  We used to get plastic bottles and  tampon applicators wash up on the beach each day.  Why did this happen?  Because trash and sewage was being dumped into the ocean and the remnants would wash up on our beaches.  Legislation was passed that made dumping sewage into the ocean illegal and now there is very little evidence of trash on the beaches each morning.  Positive things can happen when we make an effort.

  Our air is cleaner now because of the clean air act.  Why can't we wake up and realize that our sea levels are rising because of human greed?   Burning coal, natural gas and gasoline are drastically changing our climate.  We have to cut down on greenhouse gases.  I truly have appreciated the Showtime series- The years of Living Dangerously.  The documentary series explores many different problem areas around the world.  Politicians are interviewed.  Daughters of fundamentalist Christians try to convince their preacher fathers that climate change is real. I have family that live near Apalachicola, Florida.  The oyster population has decreased to 10% of what it used to be.  The Chattahoochee river (Atlanta) drains into the Gulf of Mexico here.  When there is a lack of fresh water form the north,  the salinity of the bay changes and oysters are attacked by more parasites and then less of them make it to adulthood.  We, Homo sapiens are doing this!  In Atlanta, because of urban sprawl, the water is needed more and more for a growing population.  We also suffered from drought for several years in a row and the Apalachicola bay suffered as a consequence of our over population. (400 miles upstream)

We are all connected to each other. Why are we so scared to turn away from oil?  $$$$$$$$$$$$$ What harm will cutting back on emissions hurt us?   If we move forward with legislation that phases out the production of greenhouse gases and it turns out that the scientists were wrong, then our legacy is still a cleaner environment.  Isn't that a win/win for the silly Homo sapiens?