"...but I have miles to go before I sleep." (Robert Frost)

Hi...If there is anyone left who is reading this blog, I have just a couple of things to write about.  I just had published what I'm certain will be my last book.  Buy it...it might become a collector's item one day.  OK don't buy it--it's too much to pay for it anyway.  I'm pretty proud of the fact that I wrote my "Memoirs" in 2007 and since then have published 12 more books consisting of all the blog postings since then.  It may not seem so great, but I believe they will be very interesting historical reading, especially with all the comments attached.  Now this may be the last posting owing to the fact that typing has become a major problem because of the tremors in my hands.  I'm constantly pressing the wrong letters on the keyboard and then having to erase them and stick in the correct letters.  It's just too much frustration.

Nevertheless, I just did complete my attempt at writing a musical for presentation in our theatre in late March.  We have had a musical here for the past 30 years, but this year none was approved by the Board of Directors of Huntington Lakes.  I felt that this was not acceptable so I decided to write one myself.  The concept is that what I wrote is a recreation of a USO concert during WWII.  The cast will take the part of the celebrities who sang at these concerts and the audience will be the military at a boot camp.  What I wrote was accepted by the BOD and I think it will be a hit with those who come to see it and be reminded of the music of WWII.  The title is "43!" (Just as you see it with quote marks and exclamation point).  So much for that; I have launched myself on a new career--composer--sort of like Rogers and Hammerstein. I will write and direct all the musicals.  (Just kidding.  I'm finished with my writing careers).

In March, when this musical goes live for 3 nights, I will have turned 90. I do have two broken hips and a pacemaker; I do use a walker--but in spite of all illnesses I still have my driver's license.   So long, cuzzin Ruthie; so long PB--so sorry to have disturbed you; so long kids; so long to all my former students and to all whoever read and commented on Red Baron's Blog.

Memories.

.....This is an email I received this morning.  I thought, perhaps, it might be of interest to you, and since you know me, you might know me a trifle better.  I was attached to VB 110 in the US Navy Air Wing 7.  All 10 of my aircrewmen are gone. But I am prominently mentioned in this Museum.

Dear All
I am sending you all an update on the museum. We are putting forward to see if anyone would like to help with our appeal by buying a square foot of land as a donation. We are asking for people to donate $25.00 (includes the exchange rate to pounds ) or £10.00 with this donation you will get a years membership of the museum (with a newsletter every three months ) and we are also looking into putting all names of people that buys a piece of land on a wall in the rebuild building for all visiters to see in years to come. If you fill you would like to help please use this website http://dmm103105110.btck.co.uk and click on the Campaigne/Donate page then scroll down the page and use the PayPal link.

I started a Museum (Charity No 1052892 ) called Dunkeswell Memorial Museum at the only USAAF and US Navy Anti Submarine airbase in England and Europe in world war two. This base was the home of the 479th Anti Submarine Group with 2nd,4th,19th and the 22nd Squadrons and VB 103,105,107,110,114 and VB 63 Squadrons of the US Navy Fleet Air Wing 7. There are many buildings that still exist today from WW2 left standing around Dunkeswell airfield. One of them is the administation complex. These buildings were the last buildings that all crews went in before flying their missions and sadly some never came back to these building and the base. These buildings are VERY REAR as they were only used by the USAAF 479th and the US Navy Fleet Air Wing 7 Groups doing Anti Submarine Missions to help to defend the supply convoys to England from attacks by U-boats and surface vessels which were out in the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay. The Administation Buildings are the only ones left outside the United States of America left standing from WW11. The Museum is trying to raise £110,000 to buy the administration complex and the land this will be a permanent Memorial building for the Dunkeswell Memorial Museum, for all who served at Dunkeswell during WW2,including the 39 Officers and men of the USAAF who lost there lives in combat and also for the 183 Officers and men of the US Navy who lost there lives in combat and the 49 killed in non combat. One Officer from the US Navy that was based at Dunkeswell was Joseph P Kennedy Jr older brother of John F Kennedy. Joseph was at the base until his death on the 12th August 1944.
The Museum website address is http://dmm103105110.btck.co.uk . If you know how we can get this help or if anyone can find it in there hearts to give a donation to this good cause with a letter of support and send it too the address on the website or by paypal using the Museum email address of dmmsecretary@btinternet.com. All I am asking of you is if you would put the word around about our appeal and I will say that if my email has upset you in anyway then I will say that I am very sorry for asking.Yours David Sharland

......August 28th is fast approaching and that is the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington.  I took a day off from school and went to DC to become a part of it. I will always remember his speech and the electricity of that day.  And to my loyal readers and commenters, I will not be writing many posts to this blot until April.  I am too busy writing the script for a musical.

"It matters not how long we live, but how." (Bailey)

....I'm a child of the "Humanities".  In college I took as many courses in the Humanities as were offered: English literature, Shakespeare, Philosophy, Creative Writing and so on.  But there are those who trash the Humanities as wasted tuition dollars, a one-way ticket to unemployment (I taught for 30 years).  Mark Edmonson who teaches English at the University of Virginia said in the Washington Post that we "humanists" prepare students to succeed in the working world just as well as all those practical majors--maybe better.  He goes on to say that we offer tools of thought.  We teach our students to understand and analyze complex ideas.  We help them to develop powers of expression, written and verbal.  At our best we teach them how to reason--and reasoning undergirds every successful project.

 

.....In a recent article in "Business Insider" Bracken Darrell, the chief executive of Logitech tells about how he loves hiring English majors: "The best CEO's are extremely good writers and have this ability to articulate and verbalize what they are thinking."  It seems that there's no problem then.  Do you want success?  Come on in.  But the Humanities are not about success.  Success is multi-faceted, and making a lot of money is not the only way to success.  The Humanities is about questioning success--and every important value.  Sure we humanities students are different not because of our powers of expression or our capacity to frame an argument or our ability to do independent work, but true humanities students are exceptional because they have been, and are, engaged in the activity that Plato commends--seeking to understand ourselves and how we ought to live our lives.  And that, my friends, has been, and is, the primary goal of my life.