A Zoetic Message (private feed for mcas_8@mac.com)

Oh how the mist of fog over the sea waters forge mystifying traits to be deliberated.Rarely does the wave action cease. The water is full of force. Light shimmers through the open air onto the salted sea.A Zoetic Message is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I often wanted to disappear into the Cosmos in the 20s of life. Indeed on at least one occasion of several to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, I gazed up into the clear view of the stars, along the coast high on a hill, with Geoff.I blurted out loudly. ‘Come get me, COME GET ME. Take me home now’.As I walk the edges a half century passing, in the white sand along the Gulf of Mexico, I say, ‘peace, worldly peace be on us.’There are those living spiritualists amongst us, speaking with some authority, “evil” has transcended into darkness of souls on earth, and spirits leading the mass of innocents to disaster is more intensely present now.It is in this nature one communicates best.Consider the ducks. They walk, wade, flap wings in the air. Ducks dive, quack, sleep and nest with decayed wood debris and their own down feathers.Content-ness is living conflict free. Of course in the course of their days they the ducks need to be vigilant in a 24 hour cycle against those that prey upon them.So too with humanly, earthbound activity there are the constant predators of hateful acts. Communication often becomes meaningless and worthless among the species. Listen to America.UnderstandingA half century separates our ages of birth. I did not understand our Grandmother in 1973. She would not speak to the neighbors. I then thought her speechlessness was a grudge being held against others. Today, my age close at hand to the age she was in that summer of ’73, She suffered much mental anguish. It was a time nearing three decades from the loss of our never known grandfather, her husband. His life was squelched as a consequence of a good soul misplaced in the trenches of 1918 France.I understand her silence of yesteryear now.Waves roll along Waves roll along. Waves speak a language we hear, yet may not translate. Rhythmically they talk, sometimes yell, often roar. In certain times I listen and hear the sea scream!The earth’s seas are as old as 4,000 million years.There are messages to retrieve from within their truthful melodies. The timelessness and authentic stories are distributed to the human ears, willing to listen. Stories point to realms dismissive of egos.Many humans believe they, the person/people are the sole purveyors of form and disorder.Organized about false thoughts, hierarchies or universality, it however is the sea that dominates the material narrative from the fake perceptions of men/women.Look upon the distant horizonDoes not the entire horizontal horizon stretched, stretching from left to right and right to left have infinite properties?Does not the same line suggests the planet rest on a flat surface within a blue skied dome?Does not the shoreline, receive the wave, reciprocating with a soft landing zone?Do the ducks and the dunes cohabitate with the shore?Are we inhabitants of sacredness infilled with deep healing and restoration from purifying saltwater? (As I write this sentence I am sprinkled with a blessing of a splashing wave, 20 feet away, affirming my question.)The sea, has, is now, and shall ever more outlast each individual human voice for all time as long as time exist. It is true a re-embodied soul may experience the same from lifetime to lifetime, yet its voice will never match earth’s constant speech.Human speech in our current decade is autocratic, dictatorial, fascistic. The eternal voices of Lucifer & Ahriman work in step with this world in the environs of #FelonFürher and their entourage of demons attached to lost & sad souls.They penetrate & decimate the promised space of peace and harmony .Often accompanying the sounds of the sea is the spirit of the wind. As we breathe in as we breathe out, we reunite with lightness, an unseen entity. We are protected, embraced, included in this notion of love that not only comes from above but beyond. Also it springs from behind, under, over … from this moment to an unrecognized eternity.We the creatures of the Creator, filled with thought from ancient wisdom, offering to our offspring an advance of the knowledge bequest to us. We are in union with one and the same Spirit. The Creator’s intention is unchangeable, which is pure infinite love, which negates all errors, including acts of deceitful, useless hate.Mankind although with the power to be informed by this love, relies on perceptions of learned ignorance thus follows the tried and true playbook of the intimidation & greed & hate, unfortunately.The sea may sing, the wind may sway, the sand may sift and shift, however the trees are being tormented, full of tears. Cut from their roots, unwisely and vindictively, by #FelonFürher.Stating the obvious is redundant. Let’s do it anywayFrom the coastline looking seaside, on a clear day, with the sun in the air, there is a glimmering shimmy as seawater reaches peak height. Occupying a surface layer of sand, shallow water along the shore people express themselves.As the Hollow Cove musicians sing in verse 2 of the song ‘Coastline’:“And there's a place that I've dreamed ofWhere I can free my mindI hear the sounds of the seasonAnd lose all sense of time.”The trouble is the corporations have decided they own the property, the sand, the water, not to mention the skies too. If you do not, own it, you cannot stay within their world.The corporation believe, it, the corporation is ‘a person’.Land ownership property rights is beyond absurd. One need not be a person of a law practice to know common sense dictates corporations are not people. If someone thinks that is fact, One is better off just to ignore the noise.Individual property rights and ownership of land in many places area from & in the US of A. It creates social, cultural and economic inequity for cities & townships alike.To reconstitute laws that will allow shared amenity with communal benefit that will promote well being for inhabitants is the primary motivation a revelatory thought by the collective conscious.This thought anticipates promoting life, liberty and happiness for billions of people, pets and plants, living within dense urban building blocks. The creation of shared access to safe, secure, environmentally sensitive quarters, idealized into the time ahead.Note this as a prototypical model for sensible human scaled edifices and a year round usable manicured courtyards, energy wise amenity is a predicted realization.Thus will accrue to each individual earthling, help, while supporting the needs, wants and necessities of an appropriate lifestyle. As a nation embarks on its next two hundred fifty years of democratic independence for a diverse, equitable, inclusive population, a proposed paradigm emerges.A Zoetic MessageLove will supplant hate, knowledge will replace perception, spirit will inform illusion.Life is meant to occupy common use land, jointly.The infinite contiguous motion of the sea is a heartfelt focus for contemplation.An unceasing flow of existence measured by each breath, moment in-time, energy exerted, captured in a harmonious awareness is an experience for the soul.As with other zoetic messages, sea waters are found rarely motionless, rarely still, moving and full of change in concert with the tides. As with our human experience, stillness is a perceptual illusion.Not only are the oceanic waters rhythmically universal, in fact remain in balance. Without balance, we are uneasy, fearful, depressed, alone, uncreative and searching.One may invoke spirits of eternal flow, an unstopping waltz of unceasing energy while meditating.For you love:‘Bubbles of wavey water camouflage the grey of sand white,Floating in greens, the blue greens, the green blues, and blues in daylight,Under the blood moon skies, waves tumble peacefully, all night.Living life under it’s mysticism is easy with you, without spite,With you I capture surrender, with truest sincerest might,This shining with waves, deep affection is forever bright!’The childrenThe children long gone to beaches of their own, I like sitting next to Stacey and listening to a sound of the surf. The dance of water in my ears confabulates as if with my human partner.It is in contrast to the constant sound of a motorized vehicle on a paid surface, without variety.I shrug from listening to man made industrial road machinery being a total monotony, offensive, environmentally destructive, unlike the sea.The soothing nature of watery nature is natural, healing, zoetic.The words drawn together in this message echo the Taoist notion of Wu Wei, being the effortless, a natural movement of the universe. Similarly, Hindu thoughts of the cosmic seas, relate to all things rising and falling, in a continuous cycle.One can suspect a day when the human species will know, then listen, to the sea and emulate its attributes. Humans will abandon the notion of boundaries, fences, property lines, tall walls, demilitarized zones, nations, and other forms of devices of exclusivity.And in doing so the notions of this domestic dispute, invasion, occupation, war, will be supplanted with unlocked doors, communal continuity with happiness beyond belief. People will arrive at true knowledge, purpose, and eternal bliss.May the sun shine on us all always. May the seas waters reconnect us with the holiness we seek!A Zoetic Message is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.

Lewis Spring House & Villa Savoye, Home X 2How a home reflects your values, politically, morally and aesthetically.Written by and audio voice Michael ScarmackIs your home your favorite house?I think my favorite house is the one we live in, having been there over 3 1/2 decades, working and transforming nearly every boxy room in the house.Is VV (short for Valley View) the Taj Mahal? No!Is VV a Villa Savoye? No, but sort of, in some respects.Is VV a Spring House? No, but it is in other respects, yes!Is it home? Yes indeed, VV is very comfortable, quiet, unassuming, simple, relatively safe in a world conflated with meaningless distractions.This message however, wants to address insights about two houses, in two unique styles, in two different countries, by two respected signature architects. Examining personal observations and literary statements of the Spring House in the US of A and Villa Savoye in France is the focus of our reflection.Resident Byrd Lewis Mashburn & The Wattendorfs & The Scarmacks (author’s photo)Lewis Spring House, January 11, 2024From the book “Frank Lloyd Wright Companion” written by William Allin Storrer, he describes on page 384 about the Clifton and George Lewis residence, known as the Lewis Spring House, designed in 1952, by architect Wright, on a site near Tallahassee Florida. The structure, which is a modified Usonian styled family residence, known as a two-story hemicycle, with the exterior consisting of concrete block, combined with crushed Ocala limestone, and mixed in with concrete, so that the final block was a yellowish sandstone color, accented with deep square mortar rakes. The upper story is wood sheathed, mingled with expansive glass.We visited this house after Suzi, a “Sun Town” resident and her sister, Stacey, (my spouse), arranged a tour with the building owner. Bob, (Suzi’s spouse) drove us to the house located in Northwest Tallahassee. Arriving at the only domestic building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the state, we were met in the driveway by the life long resident Byrd Lewis Mashburn. Byrd is one of four siblings that grew up in the structure and the daughter of Clifton and George Lewis, the original owners of the Spring House.What we thought would be an hour and a half maximum tour of the home and garden, to our surprise turned out to be an all afternoon affair. The afternoon was more than a tour. It seemed as if the original owners were present as relayed through the voice and memories of Byrd. In Mr. Storrer’s book, we learn that Clifton and George were political activists in surrounding conservative environs. The structure itself engages others in the community, then and today, when visiting the house.Quoted from the Pamphlet, ”… find your ground “, written by the Spring House Insistute is the following:“George thought world peace could be promoted through international law and a more powerful more pro-active U.N. He and Clifton were traveling to a World Federalism meeting in Lakeland when they met Frank Lloyd Wright. They'd been excited by his Autobiography: here was someone who, like them, believes in pacifism and globalism and hated both ugliness of spirit and ugliness in the built environment. Clifton says, "Mr. Wright had wonderful ideas about how a house could have a soul, about unity and integrity and simplicity.”Hemicycle pod interiorThe first-floor space is magnificently designed as an open plan. An appendage encloses the circularly formed kitchen. Adjacent to the round kitchen is the entry stair frame the main entrance at the west door, and a fixed dining table and an open circular fireplace. A massive living room bench hugs the southwesterly wall as the occupant gazes upward to an open second story space. The flooring is a red dye added smooth concrete polished surface.The stairway rises upward and the occupant is met with double door accessing an exterior balcony. The second floor is partitioned with two bathrooms, one adjacent to the Master Bedroom, and further along the cantilevered open hall the Girls Bedroom and the Boy’s Bedroom, terminating to an exterior balcony through a double door.The roof is low slope with portions cantilever over the ribboned clear story windows for sun shading and soffit protection. The house was designed as a passive solar structure allowing for cooling through natural convection and heating by the Florida sun. By all accounts from resident Byrd, the house has performed well as low intensity energy ‘consumer’.EditDownloadLastly, the building site that was original selected with ten acres by the Lewis couple, was chosen not only for the flora and fauna on the grounds, yet also, for the spring that cast forth water propelling its flow through the site, over a five foot waterfall, along a creek bed, that was later damned up for a pond. During our visit the Cedar Waxwing birds made an unexpected migratory visit of their own. See short video.As we all know adjacent land owners often refuse to acknowledge what the development of their parcels will do to negatively affecting a neighbors properties. Because of this negligence by adjacent land owners and their lands evolution, the “spring” is now non-functional, thus making a mockery of the original name sake of the home, the “Spring House”.Nature’s Side, The Lewis Sprig HouseDefinitionsUsonian home abbreviated features - not all apply to the Lewis Spring House* Architectural native materials such as brick, wood, and stone, usually without plaster or paint are used.* Built on affordable and atypical sites.* Built-in furnishings added to the efficiency of the space.* Clerestory windows were common and filtered additional light used.* Floor plans where open without-interior partitioning.* Flooring embedded with radiant heat assemblies, FLW “gravity heat”.* Garages usually excluded, carports preferred.* Horizontal lines found throughout the design.* Interiors lacking ornamentation.* Low-sloped roofing assembly with extended cantilevered overhangs.* Modest in square footage size, anti-McMansion attitude.* Modular furniture was typical.* Natural light amply diffused through the interior.* Passive solar heating.* Plan L-shaped and embraces a garden terrace , not at this house.* Private front facing with privacy.* Rear-side oriented to the natural outdoor landscape.* Simple houses had no basements or crawl space, set on concrete slabs.* Three unique areas: a living space, bedrooms and a kitchen / dining area.* Usonia was FLW word used describing the United States.* Well organized spatial order. (This plan resemble the shape of a boat).Research at Villa SavoyeIn other zoetic messages, Architect’s Fav 5 and Lincoln Logs to Unité Blocks, we have written about Monsieur Le Corbusier. He created an entire vocabulary used by modernists in the the designs of all sorts of buildings and occasionally works of Architecture, see A Happy Place .Stacey & Michael on the roof garden at Villa Savoye, May 10, 2023In the summer of 1977, in my early 20’s, was the first time I visited this structure of modernity. We took a day trip out to Poissy, France with a group of Syracuse architectural students studying Parisian urban design for the summer. It was a delightful field trip, having thoroughly been taught some, but not all of its lessons.Villa Savoye is the masterpiece of Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, aka Le Corbusier. Commonly cited as the basis for modern architecture, Villa Savoye, found in Poissy, France, is a classic example of Jeanneret's five points of architecture. The villa, less than an hour's journey from Paris, was built in 1929 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.“A chapter of the exhibition is devoted to the magazine and the first villas that will be erected as manifestos. With the New Spirit Pavilion designed for the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, Le Corbusier concretized the establishment of a cognitive space defining both the pictorial space, the space to "inhabit it", the harmony of architectural compositions and the understanding of the urban domain. Le Corbusier's seminal article "Eyes that do not see" defines the new space of modernity, that of a society carried by the machine, the automobile, the plane, the liner, where movement, mobility impose a new conception of space-time. The villas (Villa Stein, Villa Savoye...) are the manifestos of this architecture organized for a liberated body, thought of as a free plan open to the light.“Rear Elevation Villa Savoye, Poissy , France, May 10, 2023Definitions - Le CorbusierLe Corbusier's described "five points" for proposed building constructions, that when completed, would become works of Architecture were noted early on in the architect’s career. Villa Savoye is representative of the origins of modern architecture and is one of the most easily identifiable and esteemed instance of the International style.The house was originally built as a country retreat for the Savoye family and displays these elements.* Pilotis – a grid of slim reinforced concrete columns, pillars or stilts.* Open design of the ground plan – void of load-bearing partition walls.* Free design of the façade – the façade to be uninhibited, lightweight, open.* Horizontal window – ribboned windows sequenced together at a façade’s length.* Roof garden – flat roofs with garden terraces creating usable space.Note that Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, a French Architect, influenced the first four constructive principles that Corbu adopted, the fifth one about roof garden was Corbu’s initiative.Frontal Approach and Elevation Villa Savoye, Poissy , France, May 10, 2023Villa Savoye became the property of the French state in 1958. Proposals to demolish the structure were entertained, until it was classified as an official French historical monument in 1965. The villa was thoroughly renovated between 1985 and 1997, managed for visitation year round under the auspices of the Centre des monuments nationaux (French, 'National monuments centre’).In July 2

This is a zoetic message from Michael Scarmack on the first day of the year 2024.The message is entitled The Eighth Day of Christmas, subtitled, Ordeals and Distress of the Babies of Stacey and Michael.Outside, now, someone is doing target practice, big C4 type explosions, and interspersed with multiple rapid firing of some kind of automatic weapon sup-positioning they are trying to pretend they're aiming at Bambi, the deer. Well, as we all know, they're probably getting ready for some violent revolution in the coming year.Yes, it is the eighth day of Christmas, but one would really be hard pressed to understand that.The neighbors already have their Christmas tree out on the porch, devoid of the ornaments and the lights that once held them either yesterday, or a few days before, and it now is ready for its own demise with decomposition of its needles, branches and trunk.But the story we'd like to share today has to do with our babies, Stacey and myself.Andria ClaireOur first child was born in the early years of the 1980s, the late spring of that year and unto the first days of summer.She was delayed in exiting the womb. We had gone to the hospital. However, the medical staff said, just go home. And so we did for another 24 hours.Andria Claire came to us that next day with a what one would say, laboring intensely, by her mother, Stacey. She came to us as we were living in a rural part of Athens County, Ohio.I had a white Dodge van trying to be the semblance of a carpenter without many tools, and had built a structure atop a brand new concrete block foundation, symmetrically situated on a hundred-year plus old oak tree about 200 yards to the east, or shall I say 50 yards to the east of the gambrel roof shaped building.One loft for sleeping, a lower open space with an open kitchen and a pot-belly coal stove fireplace that actually burned coal. The house was unfinished and although it was insulated the sheathing to go over the insulation was yet to be installed.We had Andria that year and lived there for some time while gardening in the summer and heating with coal in the winter. Working odd jobs for myself, and Stacey, was working in her social service endeavors at a base minimum wage which was very very little in those early’ 80’s.There came a time where Stacey and I had returned home with the baby in hand and were confronted with the landowner’s daughter carry a big butcher knife and threatening us with it, exclaiming that house I had built on her father's property was her house, and ,we better get the heck out of Dodge. We did that very night. It was an exodus.It was coming at us violently. We had no other option but to leave the premise and so we did with our one year old child. We went and lived for a while with some friends on the other side of the county.Later we moved on to a small shack on a beautiful, beautiful ridge closer to the city of Athens, but out a bit, surrounded by pasture land and the nearest neighbor a quarter of a mile up the road.Cara MarieIt was in this place our second child, Cara Marie, was to be born. I had a job working in a restaurant in the city and Stacey had concluded she could no longer do her social services work. Our second child came upon us early in that year, nearly 41 years ago this month.We returned from the hospital to the wood fired cottage, if you like, that had the composting toilet situated in one small closeted room, which had to be cleaned by hand, periodically, if you've ever gone that route, you know what I mean.I recall cutting a hole into the center of the wall between the living and bedroom to allow the heat to flowWe got to the point where the recession of 1982 was pretty deep in Ohio. I knew there was something I had to do as I was working outside of my profession.So we had an exodus again. This time we moved many states away to the southeast in the subtropics to Boca Raton. There there was plenty of work.I worked in my profession and ended up at a very prominent architect's office on the main strip in Boca. Twice we had made passage from one place to another to escape the distress of the situation. Certainly both were ordeals to confront.Our third child came along towards the end of the third year after Stacey had had two miscarriages in a city that seemed not receptive to attending to patients without maternity medical insurance policies. I recall that I had to work the bingo shift at a local church to help defer some of the costs.And it's not understandable why two miscarriages happened, but for whatever the reason, our life proceeded. So there was a pause for about three and half years before the third child came into being.Emma EliseIt was in today's society, living in a state where they have a six week ban on abortion and also, if they were able to pass that extreme legislation again, my wife, with her two miscarriages, probably, probably would not be able to receive the medical attention given the law, the extremist legislators had passed and continue to try to inflict on women all over the state.The state of Florida has this similar legislation today. It's really a shame to think what a woman has to go through from these arcane laws men seem to like to put into place.Emma Mae (Elise) was born to us in the summer of the mid 80s in Florida. Within eight days we moved to back to Ohio to escape what we thought was a threat, certainly a distress of seeing on the kindergarteners exterior lockers and the elementary school.“We have the right to inspect all lockers for guns and drugs”, posted right on the locker themselves.Back to familiar grounds in Ohio with its cold winters, cloudy, cloudy days with our third child in tow in that old yellow Volvo stopping at my Aunt Mae's in Montgomery, Alabama, where there was no crib. Obviously that was understandable having to return.So Aunt Mae took out her dresser drawer, padded it nicely, and little Emma slept her eighth day in that crib of a dresser drawer.Luca AugustineOur next child was born to us late in the decade of the 80s, and he was born in Lancaster, Ohio. His grandfather was ecstatic for whatever reason. Maybe the patriarchy with the last name was constant on his mind, but it gave him much happiness, as it did us as well.So we had a family of four children. Luca Augustine was somewhat free of the ordeals his sisters had experienced as babies. He was welcomed in the neighborhood with signage of welcoming a brand new baby in a new neighborhood, with blue ribbons and the promise of a good life to come.The neighborhood, however, seemed to become disingenuous, when they learned of our faith and political leanings, which seems to have exploded since into an apparent divisive age today in the U S of A.Zoetic MessageSo this all relates to Christmas in this way. As I understand it, it becomes a zoetic message. And that is this:We have a time where certain elements of people want a nationalist religious state. And it seems, as I listened to the gunfire outside, that this is not the intent nor the understanding we should have of Christmas. It's based on the birth of a baby into a world of domination and religious differences, of authoritarianism and all the kinds of things that are being recycled today.However the purpose of the birth of the Christ-child was to bring hope, loving understanding, peace into a world that needed it, desperately. While we reflect on the 8th day of that birth, we reflect on the ordeals and distresses of the babies of everyone's families.We could try more at obtaining the peace and love of the Christ and reduce our actions of killing multiple people with firearms, or despicable remarks, or extreme legislation.If we just collectively would sit down, think it through, decide to act more responsibly, in responsible, moral, fruitful avenues, we would be able to celebrate all 12 days of Christmas every year with bliss.Thanks for reading and or listening to A Zoetic Message. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.

Yo La Tengo, ”The Asparagus Song”Their legs and knuckles interwovenThey've been together for so longThey've all grown up just like asparagusDon't you let Ma knowShe’ll want to feed youLyrics: Emily Hubley, 1984 You may have come across the about page for “A Zoetic Message”. If so you know the first line states ’Moving in life, listening to movements, moment by moment!’.That phrase encompasses many notions in a very short length. It also has much to do with the recollection of this story. The story begins 60 years ago this week. It is truly a tale of moving in life, in this instance, from one country of the world to another country on the globe. The moving involved listening. The listening had to do with an American culture and a foreign culture and the combination of cultures. I cannot write this piece, unless I recall the moment by moment that transpired.One of those many moments is retrieved from Our Mother’s obituary, (Dorothy Flournoy Scarmack).As a devoted wife, Dorothy was dedicated to the nurturing, education, character development and cultural enrichment of her children, whom she claimed as her most important gifts and “masterpieces.” Dorothy provided her children with multiple opportunities for personal growth by reading to them, encouraging them to do well in school, cultivating their appreciation for history and the arts and tending unceasingly to their emotional health and physical well-being.Have you travelled to Paris?How our mother with her 5 children from age 1 year old to 10 years of age, I nearing 11, made it to the Parkersburg WV airport from Athens, OH, remains unknown to me. Some sort of van like vehicle must have chauffeured us there, with a military personnel escort. We were without our father’s presence. He had two months earlier advanced to France. On this 10th day of December in 1963, these 5 children of Dorothy and Vincent, Sr. were taking their first flights on airplanes to reunite with the ROTC Sargent from Athens.The day described above was fast approaching the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice.  Thus much of the next 24 hours occurred under dark winter skies. Recalling the hours that day, our mother keeping her three sons and two daughters assembled, suggests a mental picture of a mother goose leading her little ducklings all in-line with her steps, she, hoping above hope the little ones followed her.It may be that you find what you read and hear, here, is of a little value to you, perhaps without purpose. I think, however, four of my five siblings upon reading this story might admit to themselves the ten year old ‘Airman Mike’ somehow will find purpose that he, Mike, did just that. Mother, with the youngest one in her arms, and the oldest one strategically sweeping the end of the line, to keep strays from straying, bantered onward.Military dependents, well at least ask Airman Mike, are as if they are also enlisted within the service, full of the ‘Yes Sirs’, and the ‘No Sirs’, the cropped haircuts, the pristine edged lawns, the entire Chain of Command as ordered. Quite patriarchal, as well, in the 60’s. Coincidentally the US of A Commander in Chief was assassinated a mere 18 days before our touchdown on the European continent.Not to digress from the emphasis of the message, 8 years later the same siblings, plus one, revolted against Airman Mike, who, without any conscious awareness had just been following the dictates that encompass a military lifestyle. We shall not digress.The family meandered through the doorsThe family meandered through the doors of the air terminal, darting for a fast few minutes eating of food fuel, before takeoff, a time before fast American cuisine had entered the ethos.Walking to an awaiting plane, Mother managed all 6 individuals to cluster safely on the tarmac to the open door of the military cargo plane. Not a jet, but a modified C-46, two propeller engined Air Force aero plane. The C in C-46 is for ‘Cargo’. The Machine had been fitted with a dozen, or three, seats to carry humans, in this case,  not supplies of war or peace.Being dependents of a soldier in the US Air Force we had the undistinguished seat assignment in the back of the plane. This placement made for sustained and substantial bumpiness.  Little brown bags were placed at the back pocket of the front facing seat. I experienced its usefulness on this first flight, unfortunately. Fortunately, for me, in the next sixty years of air travel, that was the last such required use of a motion sickness bag.This connecting flight led the immigrating clan to MaGuire Air Force, Burlington County, New Jersey. Some fleeting memories suggest another walk on a tarmac, up a single story exterior stair to the body of a 707 dual engine jet, much smaller than the jet I road today landing in Paris France at 2:17 AM eastern daylight time April 30, 2023.What is one landmark you know?Yes, of course the one you certainly know, is the Eiffel Tower, world renown for its place in the 1889 Paris Exhibition, designed by Gustave Eiffel, commemorating the 100th centennial anniversary of the French Revolution. This message centers on the 60th anniversary six American citizens arriving in France for the first time in their lives. Our Dad, met us at the airport, on the tarmac (cannot do that much anymore in Paris) and proceeded to chauffeur us to Laon (pronounced ‘Lon’) France. One notable figure from Laon is Jacques Marquette born there on June 1, 1637. The explorer joined the Society of Jesus at age 17, became a Jesuit missionary. Marquette University, in Milwaukee, WI is named in his remembrance. I always pick Marquette in the NCAA March Madness bracket, which the basketball team often shows.Laon, FranceThe hilly district of Laon (Latin: Laudunum) has always been of some strategic importance as it was fortified by the Romans. At the end of the 5th century, Saint-Rémi, archbishop of Reims, instituted a bishopric in the town, and it remained a religious and intellectual centre until the Renaissance. Laon was the medieval capital of the Carolingian kings. Hugh Capet, however, who became king in 987, seized the town with the connivance of the local bishop and then moved the capital to Paris. In the 12th century Laon revolted against the authority of the bishops, but Louis VI quashed the rebellion.The French in us all as part of the Scaramuzzo-Flournoy family. We lived on the fifth floor walk-up apartment in the City of Laon. I was caught dropping glass jars from that level. I may tried to excuse my ill thought-out actions as a Galilean science experiment gone awry. We played with French children our age, shared conversations of what they took for lunch to school, our mustard on white bread sandwiches versus their French chocolate infused soft dough baguette. Yes really! We tried to be conversant with the French language we learned in our American school studies.As a side note I received my Sacrament of Confirmation in 1964, from the Bishop of Soissons, Alphonse-Gérard Bannwarth †, with a slight tap to the face in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon) built in the twelfth/thirteenth century. It was with great significance, both physically and spiritually, that I took the name of Anthony of Padua within this grand unified style of early Gothic architecture.Laon presided as the capital of France from 936 to 987. It was one of the first towns to obtain a charter, and that was granted in the year 1111.Laon Air Force Base 1963- 1964The air base, about 7 miles from the City of Laon. It must have had as much of a strategic importance for the American Armed Forces as it had for the Roman Empire 2000 years earlier. The air base while our father was stationed there was part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, we all know as NATO. NATO at that time had a group of 15 “free” nations held in alliance to protect the countries against communist aggression. Just as today, the thirty-one sovereign NATO nations (Sweden inclusion is pending) the original 12 country of the Washington Treaty, in Article 5, ‘an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all’.Loan airbase was a tactical field, responsible for enemy reconnaissance and aside housing missiles, incognito, the flight deck was populated with F101 Voodoo Jets. American airmen and Airmen dependents had access to more than one could ever find in the Mall of America. American Family School, I attended, was the most significant facility for me personally. The nuns of the parochial school I had attend the previous four and one-third years had instructed me well. I excelled in the school.The actual facilities on the base conjoined as an Americano Oasis.Let’s start with the rod and gun club, photo shop, hobby shop, woodworking shop, writing school, bowling center, auto hobby shop and social services. There was the Officers club, the Non-commissioned Officers club, and the Airmen’s club. The press was present in American newspapers like, the Stars and Stripes, New York Herald Tribune, and the New York Times & Tribune. Further there was a library, movie, theater, auto parts store, class VI package store well stocked, commissary, (grocery store), and of course the post office. The base exchange held a barber shop, beauty shop and salon, bakery, and just general type merchandise. A Family Service Center, Air Force Aid Society, American Red Cross organizations were present. Further in place was a watch repair, education center, banking, hospital services, family dental, two chapels with Protestant, and Catholic chaplains, and a Jewish synagogue in nearby Reims. In France, it existed for and by the people of the US of A.Why France? Sure wish I knew that answer. I often trace the family tree to residents that immigrated from France to other countries, some landing in the US of A in the years of pre-revolutionary war dates. After nine year tour in Athens, OH, Ohio University ROTC Air Force program, Sargent Scarmack,

Our ResponsibilitiesWill uncle Mackey be visiting Thursday? Nothing you say or do will persuade him to rethink his allegiance to the strongman he adores. Yelling rage, and condemning curses are of no use, are they now, to get along and just enjoy the turkey? Although you may be predisposed to talk about all the rights, all human individuals should possess, daily, about the world, as basic, you would probably start saying words like …As many minds think in the US of A, today, autocratic motivations are upsetting. Millions upon millions reject undemocratic interests and actions in our country, in our state governments, and on our local school boards. Oh yeah, there are without a doubt those trying to lead others, with their sole energy in the manipulation, control, and rule over the sensible majority of citizens. You may say it is our obligation and moral directive to justly align ourselves with the goodness of human aspiration, identifying the mischievous persons that seek domination of all others, isolating their rhetoric, and with legal authority, diminish their advances. These acts can be performed with words, ideas and ideals, free from violence and hatred and domination!The experts suggest about a third of any given population will blindly follow strongmen. Uncle Mackey is by all accounts one in the thirty percent.If so, why?Our duty is formidable, needed now, essential to the extension, in this country, of democracy.You ask yourself, “Have I hidden in shadows of apathetic voicelessness, in the shade of radical capitalism, in the dark confines of the corporate subclasses, thus allowing unfettered oligarchists to flourish at the cost of everyone else, most likely the poor and vulnerable among us? Does a human being have any rights that are associated with their existence on the earthly plain? Do they include fundamental entitlements and protections that are inherent to all individuals, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, gender, or other characteristics? You say you have read and been taught, yes, we do have rights and protections, but how about those who do not share this viewpoint? If so, why? Why is it we seem not to arrive at the plateau of harmonic understanding of diversity?Civil and PoliticalThe bully dictator does not care about one’s civil nor political principles. The autocrat may speak to the individual’s ability to a secure life, to the right to life, to a position in life of allowing individual liberty to be free to express oneself, in one’s own belief, one’s ability to gather together with others; and the right to endeavor in free and fair elections. The truth is however, he/she does not care about any of this, outside his/her circle.Take for instance the 2023 November 7th Vote in Ohio. The republican controlled Ohio general assembly, a day after the citizens of Ohio with a majority amend the constitution of the state, the politicians made movement to overrule and reject the citizenry by proposing to do away with court oversight. “Instead of having judges and justices do their job by evaluating abortion issues, the lawmakers want to strip them of their duties due to perceived “mischief by pro-abortion courts,” they said in a news release published on the website for Ohio House Republicans.”This is not the first time the Ohio GOP rule-makers have broken laws recently.Is uncle Mackey saluting ‘Republican Fascist Party flag now?Social, Economic, and CulturalThe teeny tiny mind of the autocrat makes sure that’s the efforts of people organizing labor will fail, that social media will lead to users to follow his/her radicalizing algorithms, making sure the poor remain poorer. Rather than universal health care for all, lives are diminished by creating rules that relinquish sound, safe and necessary medical environs. Banning books is his/her first step to rewriting history, to keep untruths front and center to the mass of the population. Housing the wealthy takes precedence leaving adequate standards for all others, to decline, to be unregulated and unaffordable.EqualityToday in the US of A there exist autocratic minded individuals that treat all other individuals without equality, disregarding written law, natural law, logic and God. In the same US of A, the 14th Amendment to the country’s Constitution shields us from exposure, injury, damage, or destruction against prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment, no matter our race, our color, our national origin, our sex, our religion, or our age.Freedom from Torture and Inhuman TreatmentAre you listening to uncle Mackey defending the rascals who provide no freedom from torture, nor restrictions of unethical actions toward humans, but instead order heartless, inhuman, often degrading, humiliated actions, by imposing quirky agony on people. Ask the last American Bush administration officials their take on torture, no?Work and Fair LaborThe lackey supports the oxymoronic laws labeled “Right to Work”. These laws are no more than unfair labor rules to ensure wages do not meet livable standards, working at the place of employment are unsafe, and will not allow workers right to unionize.Was King George III a “yob”, that is another word in English for a loutish, uncultured person? I for one I’m not certain on that specific call. It is said George was gentle and decent, although exceedingly strict.The Whigs in Parliament called him an autocrat, and Thomas Jefferson branded him a plundering tyrant. PrivacyHas your individual privacy received unwarranted intrusion into your personal life? The despots often employ broad control to ascertain the extents of communications, and limiting personal civil liberties and constitutional rights in the name of maintaining order or preventing dissent. Just review the measures proposed in Project 2025 On page 682 of the far right autocracy document, the authors advocate the abolishing of the National Advisory Committee, and reevaluation all other committees, stating the “The committee is a hotbed for left-wing activists intent upon injecting racial and social-justice theory into the governing philosophy of the Census Bureau”.Now Now … can you think of anything more intrusive into the personal lives of the citizenry than the manipulation and elimination of the distinguished doctoral advisory members, from around the globe, who’s only mission is discussing how best improve ten year census objectives, to help the best quality of life, for the mass of individuals throughout the US of A?Bosses justify actions by alluding to the need for security or stability, however the stated intention is only a guise to significantly infringe on the right to privacy, surveil society to spy on citizens, suppress opposition, and maintain their warped grip on power.Uncle Mackey just doesn’t care about privacy, or Project 2025, or being warped.AsylumMorally speaking, “The world’s religions all preach the importance of having compassion towards the needs and rights of refugees. Migration and exile are often central themes in narratives explaining the origin of a religion”Bullies in power are displaced refugees, divorcing themselves from the Creator, through their persecution of others not conforming with the world views. And it isn’t just one rogue POTUS being despicable trying to maintain power when the majority reject his vision. Look to Governors today in Florida, Ohio and Texas in the US of A. Cruel, nepotistic, and disreputable rules and strategies to treat displaced persons without dignity, without empathy, without basic necessities of living life, are the priorities the dictatorial actions manifest. Look to the replacement Speaker of the House and his Christofascist statements. Uncle Mackey won’t look.In a state like Ohio extremist dogmatic lawmakers (kleptocrats) create illegal laws. In Ohio, as noted in the ACLU article “The Authoritarian Agenda Behind the Scheme to Attack Democracy and Abortion in Ohio”, subvert even the highest court in the State.The news piece describes, “In 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed two constitutional amendments to reform redistricting efforts and ban partisan gerrymandering in the state. Ohio Republicans blatantly ignored these new amendments, and redrew the state’s congressional and state legislative maps to favor their party and hoard political power by any means necessary. Despite the Ohio Supreme Court ruling seven different district maps unconstitutional, the GOP legislative majority ignored the court and ran elections using unconstitutional maps. This month’s special election is a page from the same authoritarian, make-up-your own-rules playbook.”Human rights are consecrated in international treaties, laws and declarations, i.e. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and are vital for promoting dignity, equality, and justice for all individuals. The Universal Declaration of Human RightsEducationWhat does the Ohio Constitution say about education? In Article VI, Section 4 | State board of education it says, “There shall be a state board of education which shall be selected in such manner and for such terms as shall be provided by law. There shall be a superintendent of public instruction, who shall be appointed by the state board of education. Ensuring access to quality education for all individuals.”In a public Commentary by author Marilou Johanek entitled, “Ohio Republicans work to politicize our schools, destroy power of elected state school board” wrote, “ on November 8, 2022, my state school board district elected a former educator and formidable public school advocate. A week later, Ohio Senate Republicans introduced legislation to strip that school board member (and the whole panel of state educators) of nearly all power. The measure effectively nullified the votes of over 157,000 Ohioans in my district. They elected a school board member to fulfill the constitutionally mandated duties and responsi