Ingrid and I wen to the Harvard Yale game last weekend. It was the 125th meeting of the these two teams. In honor of this landmark anniversary, the mighty forces at Harvard and Yale were able to order 125 degrees below zero weather. Harvard won, and we’ve finally thawed off. It’s a good thing too, because it’s time to get down to some serious turkey eating business.
Last weekend Ingrid and I stopped by Harvard Stadium in preparation for next week’s Harvard Yale game. Around here, they call it “THE GAME.” Since Ingrid and I will be at THE GAME on Saturday, I thought I’d post this calm-before-the-storm photo. It’s a bit shameful, since I never attended a single game at UT, but this feels more like a novelty, or historical reenactment.
Speaking of history lessons, this marks the 40 year anniversary of the so-called “Greatest GAME of All Time.” There is a Salon.com article, and movie about that game–a tie!–and here is a quote from Andrew O’Hehir:
“I’m sure that football fans in the southern and western seven-eighths of the country would dispute the point vigorously, but for a certain Northeastern upper-crust sector of American society, no single event in college gridiron history comes close to the legendary status of the Harvard-Yale game that occurred almost exactly 40 years ago.” For more, here’s a link to the article.
Needless to say, I can’t imagine a tie should be given such a lofty title. The best game in my football watching lifetime was the 2006 Rose Bowl victory by Texas over USC.
…but it bends toward justice.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, and it is a quote I’ve heard a lot in the context of this month’s election of Barack Obama as president. Ingrid and I saw this mural on Sunday in our neighborhood.
It was good to see this mural, and even better to see the outcome of the election. While there will always be struggles for justice and equity, it’s good to know that change does take place, and that over time, the arc of history does get bent, ever so slowly, in the right direction.
On the Friday before the election, Bill Moyers had this to say, “Democracy, this is still the most radical idea ever let loose in the world -that masses of people, so feared and loathed by monarchs of old, so distrusted by monied and political elites, should be charged with self-government, and get on with it, imperfectly, crudely, but with the idea of creating a prosperous society that leaves no one out. That’s not mystical, either. It’s been at the heart of the American experience, the hope that sustains one generation to the next. Every election is an effort to retrieve that radical idea and breathe new life into it.”
On Tuesday, the most diverse electorate this country has ever seen made their choice and have injected new life into this radical idea of democracy. Regardless of what happens over the next 4 (or even 8!) years, this is a moment that America can be proud of. And, while the media is prone to hyperbolic headlines to generate readers, I can’t help but think they’re right on with their above-the-fold pronouncements of this HISTORIC VICTORY.
Photo by: Matt Rourke
In a grass roots move fitting this post-modern, rainbow coalition, electronic presidential candidate, president elect, these two folks are creating on online and physical collage of all the headlines from today, November 5, 2008. I look forward to seeing their results and will go collect some papers now to contribute to their project. Here is there site: Headlines Eleven/Five
grandpa carlos
uncle bob
grandpa carmen and grandma fina
Since today is Dia De Los Muertos, here is an electronic altar for a few of the beloved muertos in my life.
Grandpa Carlos, my mom’s dad, was always the picture of civility, intelligence, and equity. Always dapper and humane, Grandpa Carlos made all of his grandkids feel loved and unique.
Uncle Bob was the absolute portrait of generosity and goodwill. His sense of giving was only matched by his sense of humor and his zest for living.
Grandpa Carmen, my dad’s dad, was the patriarch of the family whose gruff exterior masked his benevolent and loving inner spirit. And while Grandpa’s work ethic and toughness seemed to be without parallel, his wife, Grandma Fina, was the probably the hardest working and toughest person in the family. But, while she served the role of the lioness in protecting her family to the outside world, Grandma Fina was every bit the delicate and doting Grandmother in her house on Wheeling Street.
The world, and certainly my world, was a better place because of each of these people. I miss them dearly, and remember them fondly.
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