Saturday, August 12, 2017

Peaches and national identity


I stopped for a chat with my neighbor. She keeps the TV on mute all day, to keep an eye on Trump. If mine is on, I keep the TV on Home and Garden. I can’t control Trump, or run from him. I feel like a personal Guam.

Every day I read all the news I can. Perhaps I’m as much a junkie as my neighbor. Yesterday we had the first news of white supremists in Charlottesville, VA. Why Charlottesville? It’s only a pretty little town in Virginia. Near Montpelier. I intended to drive through the town and show it to my granddaughters, as unimpressed as they probably would be with a little college town. Well, the accident intervened, in any event.

My point is, it’s little, it’s pretty, and its citizens keep it that way. Pride. As the troublemakers began gathering last night, citizens held hand and sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Their defense against bigoted hate mongers who, today, have hurt people. Cars run into people. What is wrong? They cannot change national identity with violence.

I was in the middle of the Cleveland race riots in 1965. Not voluntarily. The Ohio National Guard camped in the vacant lot beside my apartment building, under my bedroom window. Every morning I picked up my baby, walked out the front door, past guardsmen, around the corner to my babysitter and on to my job at Freiberger Library. I took the opposite route at five pm. I was never afraid; it was my job to walk straight through and not be afraid.

My sister brought me Ashtabula peaches yesterday. “I have Ashtabula August peaches. Can I give you some. I’ll be there in five minutes.” And she was. This is my real life. Sun warm peaches from the orchards along Lake Erie, Ashtabula County, Ohio, America, The World.

The National Guard is handling white supremists in Patriot Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. I hope every other one of us remembers our job is this election, in November.






27 comments:

  1. Hari Om
    ..."I feel like a personal Guam..." much of the world is feeling a bit like this, I suspect! We see it and hear it and read it, but somehow it all seems so very 'comic book'; which is a danger in itself. Not enough are taking this joker seriously to the point of booing him properly off the stage... roll on your election and here's to plenty of 'little lights' making a fire.

    ...and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm warm peaches............ YAM xx

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  2. Trump's base of supporters. It is going to get worse I fear. I love peaches and have never heard of those.

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    1. They are just peaches, grown in orchards along the Lake Erie, in Ashtabula County, Ohio. The orchards extend along the lake, into Erie, Pennsylvania. They're not famous. They're ordinary peaches. But when they are just picked, and warm from the sun, on a beautiful summer day, they are heaven.

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  3. I am a great lover of peaches and nectarines both of which are just becoming plentiful here - imported of course.

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  4. Just picked peaches sounds like bliss to me.
    Sigh on the political front. When I saw the nasty little man telling Guam that they would benefit because tourism would increase I shuddered. Again.

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  5. I got pretty peaches like this at Whole Foods yesterday. Today they are baked into a most delicious pie. It's the best I can do under these trying circumstances.

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  6. Every week I think times will get better next week, but for the past eight months, it hasn't.

    I am enjoying peaches and HGTV also.

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  7. Watching the news today has been frightening. November is so imortant!

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  8. This is the best time of year, I think, because the peaches are ripe and relatively local (southern Ontario for us- the Niagara region). They really are heaven! -Jenn

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  9. It's incredible that in 2017 there are so many ignorant bigoted people just itching to make their feelings known. Trump has made it okay for them to do that, and for that alone he should not be running the country. He appeals to the worst in people. Gah.

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  10. I cannot stand to watch that man any more. I read news about what he is doing and saying and tweeting but his voice... I would be insane if I listened to him. I am still paying attention to what is happening though. Sun warmed peaches sound inviting.

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  11. Amen. Let us all remember and let us all vote......
    Those peaches look wonderful!

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  12. There's nothing in the world like sun warmed peaches straight off the tree. I'm avoiding the news again, mostly because I forget to turn off whatever dvd I'm watching.

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  13. Those peaches look so good! Reminds me of the year when I was growing up and one of the families my mom worked for cleaning house had a peach tree in their back yard. We got the overflow of the peaches. Delicious fresh and as jam.

    betty

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    1. I forgot about making peach jam. We certainly canned enough of them.

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  14. peaches are just about my favorite fruit but there are some I won't eat. I won't eat peaches from California, too mealy. as for Trump and his white supremacist base, they will turn on him as soon as they realize he is just as feckless about them as everyone else. but as one commenter said, I fear it will get worse before it gets better. I was proud of the governor of Virginia for standing up to them.

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  15. Cars as weapons, violence in acts - and words. Awful.

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  16. it was a white nationalist march with a permit to protest the taking down of Robert E Lee statue; others who showed up were white supremacists and nazi worshipers I suppose. Then the antifa and blm groups thought to disrupt them, the antifa folks show up everywhere and cause violence at Trump rallies, at Berkeley speakers and other college speakers, at riots, etc. then bad apples on both sides erupted into violence. I happen to think they should not be taking down confederate statues all over our country, they are a reminder of what was and show we as a country can grow into a tolerant people. I think relatives of those who fought in the civil war may object to the removal as well. History should be learned from and folks can't learn from mistakes of the past if folks want to erase all mention of it. I do object to all the violence and hate speech but if Black Lives Matter can march in protests then the same right should be granted to White Nationalists who were protesting taking down of statues, even the ten commandments statue was taken down somewhere. No matter how many statues are taken down the past cannot be erased. In response to previous comments, the protest was not created, nor encouraged, nor the fault of President Trump and Trump's base is not white supremacist.

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  17. You are correct that the elections in 2018 are of the greatest importance. They represent an important step toward defeating white supremacists.

    Love,
    Janie

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  18. You are so right. Voting is our job. Our duty, and our responsibility. 46.9% of the American public did not vote in the last election. This is what happens when we stop taking democracy seriously. By the way, when people say Black Lives Matter, they are saying that black lives matter, TOO. No one is saying other race's lives don't matter.

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  19. My daughter-in-law works for a non-profit government watch dog group. She, my son and grandson went for a little climbing trip near Charlottesville and saw some of the confrontation. Yikes!

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  20. I'm with you. xo
    And those peaches look amazing!

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  21. Peaches and Pretty towns, Peace and quiet.....that sound like somewhere I could live forever.

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  22. God bless your sister. Bringing peaches is a delightful gift.

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  23. I haven't had good peaches yet this year....We love Red Havens and can get them at Chautauqua, but I think it's still a bit early. A good peach is heaven!

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  24. This incident in Charlottesville sickens me.

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