Pray for Surf!

Panacea, Florida

Our first day out we make 300 miles and park on the banks of the Wakulla river where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico just south of Tallahassee.

Forty-nine years ago this month the Air Force gave me a quick promotion to staff sergeant and sent me here to Florida State University to get a degree on their dime.

I learned to SCUBA dive that year (1964) , poking around in the muddy bottom of the Wakulla searching for mastodon teeth and Indian pot shards.

Lots of flowers in Tallahassee in June. The magnolia trees are stinking up the place.

Mrs. Phred in front of her old dormitory.

The Sweet Shop is still there. Mrs. Phred demonstrated to get the place integrated and people threw things at her. However, her first arrest with Henry came later at the Dobbs House lunch counter.

Inside the Sweet Shop.

We find Mrs. Phred's autograph on the walls of the Sweet Shop....

This is the house I was living in in October, 1965 when I met Mrs. Phred at a cast party. The play was "A Man for All Seasons".

Beach feet....the nail polish is called "Blue Moon Lagoon"....In Abnormal Psych here at FSU they talked about shoe and  foot fetishers...

Two of the most outstanding men associated with Florida State University.

Nic's Clothing  is still doing business downtown. My first credit account, first suit and first dress shoes came from here in 1965.

We go to see the house where we were living when Kenny was born. It had been replaced by a 16 unit Apartment building.

In the afternoon we hit the beach at Alligator Point and eat oysters at one of the many little restaurants that fry up the local catch. A septic tank crew came in for lunch and engaged the wait staff inn a lengthy conversation about the intricacies of cleaning out and maintaining septic tanks.

Is it a Small World?

We had lunch with Henry Jones and Minnie yesterday. They drove to Naples from Miami. We drove from Sarasota. I had met Minnie and her deceased husband, Ted, back in 1966 and 1968 in Miami. They knew Carol from her days of trying to integrate restaurants and other institutions.

Henry and Minnie married on December 20, 2003 after Ted passed away.   Henry and Carol were arrested together 50 years ago trying to integrate the Dobb's House lunch counter in Tallahassee. Henry says that they found him innocent, but that Carol was found guilty of violating a restraining order. Apparently back then a mixed race couple having lunch together was verboten in Tallahassee 1963 eating places.

Minnie is as sweet as ever. She went back to school  and got her masters degree and became a social worker in Miami.

This is one of the clippings I have of Mrs. Phred's time of radical civil disobedience. It took 70 Pinkerton agents, 5 paddy wagons and two helicopters to take her away. She got prime time coverage on all three National networks and the major newspapers. How could you not love a 100 pound woman who does night shark dives, chases away Montana bears and back talks bulky Pinkerton agents with black Stetsons?...

So ...do white people hate Obama? The stats below cast doubt on that. Most white people hate Democrats regardless of skin color. In 2012 Obama took 39% of the white vote, tying Bill Clinton in 1992.

In 2008 Obama got 43% of the white vote, a percentage surpassed only by Jimmy Carter in 1974....Makes sense that the DEM percentage should be highest after Nixon and Bush Junior, both unmitigated disasters.

By Jonathan Capehart

Democrats are crowing rather loudly about how Latinos, African Americans, women and young people came out to vote in numbers that helped keep President Obama in the White House. As well they should. The demographics of this nation are changing and Democrats are benefiting from it. But a friend of mine e-mailed this morning with a legitimate worry.

“I really worry about not recognizing the ‘white guys’ who did vote for Obama and made a difference in the election,” the self-described middle-age, upper-income, highly curious and vocal African American woman from Colorado wrote. “I know tons of them of all ages, income levels, political persuasions and sexual orientations. Just think it is short-sighted if we don't acknowledge [them], starting with the campaign team.”

Joshua Keirsey, a member of the United Steelworkers union, canvasses for President Obama's reelection campaign in Steubenville, Ohio, in October. (T.J. Kirkpatrick - BLOOMBERG)

“Overall the messages seem to be Latinos, Blacks and women voted for the President. A great message for the other side, but an inaccurate message for the President,” she continued in a subsequent e-mail. “He pulled from all kinds of Americans, rich, poor, middle class, all Americans. Like the President, who is half white and half Black, which also seems to go unrecognized, his campaign reflected his DNA and his lifetime experience.”

Mitt Romney was the preferred candidate of white men. He won their vote over Obama by a 25-point margin.Still, there were plenty of white men who voted for the president. In fact, plenty of white people in general voted for Obama. According to a nifty chart from The Post’s polling unit, the president’s white support (39 percent) was the same as it was for Bill Clinton when he was elected in 1992.

A Man for All Seasons

 
It was 44 years ago today that I met Mrs. Phred. It was at a Tallahassee cast party for the play, "A Man for All Seasons". I knew by the U.S. Army gas mask bag that she was carrying for a purse that she was special and different from the Southern blonds with the penny loafers. She was between causes. The civil rights thing had petered out although she had many arrests in New York City and Tallahassee to her credit. The Viet Nam thing was just heating up

I asked her home to play Monopoly. She dumped her date and the rest is history. Heloise and Abelard. Anthony and Cleopatra, Napoleon and Josephine, Mr. and Mrs. Phred...

The thing about the play was that it had so many interesting characters that were struggling in the 1600s with the same issues that still face us today. Wolsey. Thomas More, Richie Rich. Oliver Cromwell, The Duke of Norfolk, Henry VIII. Then there was "everyman" who played so many parts.

As a matter of conscience, Sir Thomas More found himself unable to endorse Henry's wish to divorce the barren Catherine of Aragon and marry Ann Boleyn.

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The Duke of Norfolk: Why do you insult me with this lawyer's chatter?
Sir Thomas More: Because I am afraid.
The Duke of Norfolk: Man, you're ill. This isn't Spain, you know. This is England.

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Cromwell: The King wants Sir Thomas to bless his marriage. If Sir Thomas appeared at the wedding, now, it might save us all a lot of trouble.
The Duke of Norfolk: Aaahh, he won't attend the wedding.
Cromwell: If I were you, I'd try and persuade him. I really would try... if I were you.
The Duke of Norfolk: Cromwell, are you threatening me?
Cromwell: My dear Norfolk... this isn't Spain. This is England.

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William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

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That brings us to the impending trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Before this Arab scum was ever waterboarded he bragged to Al Jeezira about personally decapitating Daniel Pearl and planning and coordinating the 9/11 attack that killed 3.000 innocents.

While a bullet in the back of the head might have been my own preference and saved money, even the devil deserves the rule of law for our own safety's sake.

This isn't Russia, you know, this is America.

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Everyman