TERRE HAUTE —
It’s roundup time again, that periodic hunting down and herding together of items that have but one thing in common: They grabbed me.
We’ll start with the national political arena, where it is difficult to stay abreast of the meaning of anything in this protracted campaign season (only 383 days remaining; it’s a leap year). But I especially liked a revelation from the camp of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The place was Washington, D.C., the event was the Family Research Council’s annual meeting of social conservatives from across the USA.
Like most of his fellow Republican candidates for president, Perry jumped at the chance to address the assembled throngs. His pal, Dr. Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, gave a rousing introduction of the governor; Perry said Jeffress “knocked the ball out of the park.” Jeffress then made headlines, you may recall, by repeatedly maintaining that a Perry opponent, Mitt Romney, is not really a Christian because he’s a Mormon thus a member of a cult. (No baseball metaphor came from Perry on that one.)
What made me sit up and take notice, however, was a statement in a Jeffress media release that he repeated in that rousing introduction. Of his fellow evangelical voters Jeffress inquired: “Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person, or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?”
There you have it. Being a good, moral person is not enough anymore to deserve a shot at leading the free world. Never mind foreign policy expertise, economic know-how, loyalty to the Constitution or even mental stability. For that fearsome voting bloc, evangelicals, only born-again followers of the Lord Jesus Christ need apply.
To the north of the nation’s capital, as the occupation of Wall Street continues, grows and morphs, it would be wise to keep in mind the words of Susan Olzak, a sociology professor at Stanford University. She told CNN:
“It’s difficult to classify a social protest movement early on in its history. Clearer goals could eventually emerge, but there’s no guarantee … Many movements fizzle out. Others become more organized [but] I think we run a risk taking a snapshot at any one point in time and trying to categorize the movement in any one way based on that snapshot. The only way to study these protest movements is to follow them over time.”
If you don’t believe her, watch Ken Burns’ most-recent PBS series, on Prohibition. Talk about movements that shape-shifted. Talk about clarity in hindsight.
But a clear snapshot is not a bad thing to have while Occupy Wall Street further develops. I nominate the word photo delivered by former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., earlier this month on Real Time with Bill Maher. Grayson, who is controversial and can be a bit of a showboat, nonetheless hit a significant nail on the head when he said the protesters’ cause is no mystery:
“They’re complaining that Wall Street wrecked the economy three years ago and nobody’s held responsible for that. Not a single person’s been indicted or convicted for destroying 20 percent of our national net worth accumulated over two centuries. They’re upset about the fact that Wall Street has iron control over the economic policies of this country, and that one party is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street, and the other party caters to them as well.”
Moving from the political to the personal (sometimes there is a difference), I wonder about a less serious, but annoying movement that’s afoot: the movement to fill our hands — and purses and wallets and grocery bags and vehicle interiors and wastebaskets and recycle bins — with cash register receipts. I’ve become crazed about this trend since comedian Jimmy Fallon started making fun of it in interviews. Fallon to CNN’s Piers Morgan:
“I went into a store, I bought a pack of gum, and the receipts — I’m not kidding, the receipt for the gum was two feet long. I go, you got to be kidding me. I didn’t pay with a credit card … I paid, you know, cash. I go, what is this? I got coupons or something. I go, I’m killing the rainforest to get fresh breath. It was like, this is insane.”
As for another trend that has gotten out of hand — the birthday feature of Facebook. At the beginning of each week, Facebook notifies you of all your “friends” who have birthdays coming up in the next seven days. That could be friends who are immediate relatives and friends you barely know whose friend-me plea slipped through the FB cracks one busy day or late night.
What then ensues is a warm and enthusiastic pile-on by dozens of people posting many happy returns to the birthday girl or boy — as if all of them actually remembered the big day on their own.
Call me old-fashioned, but … for birthdays that really matter, a last-minute voicemail is barely acceptable; a personal email pathetic but better than nothing if the well-wisher apologizes for not getting a card in the mail. (Don’t get me started on most e-cards with their break-dancing flowers, baby-talking teddy bears and skies full of twinkling, tinkling stars.) But a publicly posted e-Happy Birthday? Because your social networking site told you to do it? How cheap and lazy can we get?
My rule: If you don’t know me well enough to send a card or place a phone call, kindly stay away from my birthday. If you do know me well enough to send a card and you think joining an orchestrated Facebook pile-on is worth any points on the Meaningful Effort Meter, you don’t really know me.
Stephanie Salter may be e-mailed at SalterOpinion @gmail.com.
Stephanie Salter
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Tribune-Star columnist Stephanie Salter.
Discussion
STEPHANIE SALTER: Of politics, protests, coupons and e-wishes
- Stephanie Salter
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The more things change, the more they … change
What the late, great Pittsburgh Pirates slugger knew, so knew the ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, the Buddha and Andy Warhol.
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Christmas. Quiet time. Down time. Not exactly the kind of day most folks tend to contemplate their fellow Americans behind bars. And yet, the United States leads the world in percentage of population in jail or prison, far ahead of second-place Russia. About 2.3 million people — nearly one in 100 adults — are incarcerated in this country.
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For those who are agog and aglow with “the season” — you who start bouncing and humming in Toys R Us at the intro guitar notes of “Jingle Bell Rock” — better search elsewhere for a soul mate.
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You may have seen an email going around with “Nine Things That Will Disappear in Our Lifetime.”
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STEPHANIE SALTER: What I learned on election day
When I identified myself as a volunteer for the non-incumbent mayoral candidate, the woman on the other end of the line cut me off. “Save your breath, dear,” she said.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Of politics, protests, coupons and e-wishes
It’s roundup time again, that periodic hunting down and herding together of items that have but one thing in common: They grabbed me.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: ‘Understandable’ not the same as ‘wise’
Because I’m not running for office and don’t plan to, I figure I am free to publicly question the designation of some 30 stretches of city streets as “memorial ways” for police and firefighters killed on the job.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Where have all the protest songs gone?
A telling moment came during the annual Eugene V. Debs award banquet late last month, when the career protest singer and songwriter, Anne Feeney, implored a huge Hulman Center audience to join her for the refrain of “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
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As painful and profoundly sad as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 has been, I found the actual day a balm.
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Ever since word came down that St. Ann Church and Parish have less than a year to live, there’s been much invoking of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief.
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No matter how much time and energy I spend trying to understand the Hydra we blithely call “The Economy,” I often worry that its mystery will forever elude me.
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I am lying, poolside, in a plastic chaise lounge, listening to pop music and watching water droplets dry on my skin.
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For several years, until she received an official information packet in the mail, my mother planned to donate her body to medical research.
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As I watched all the happy people celebrating passage of New York’s same-sex marriage law, I couldn’t help but project to a time when Indiana adopts a similar statute.
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I really didn’t expect to be gone nearly six months, but then, that’s par for the course these days: What I expect to happen and what actually occurs are often about 180 degrees apart.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: On the other hand … we’ll have a lot fewer leaves to rake
Editor’s Note: Former Tribune-Star Assistant Editor Stephanie Salter’s column resumes today in freelance form and will appear on this page every other Sunday.
TERRE HAUTE — My neighbor, Andy, had just lowered the bamboo blinds on his front porch when we heard a mournful sound. -
Memorable victories
This was about as much fun as a doubleheader split could get for Rose-Hulman’s baseball team.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Another batch of my status-quo-defending misinformation on schools
The day after state schools chief Tony Bennett responded to my three-column education series, a longtime friend and veteran teacher called.
“I just read the superintendent’s rebuttal in the Tribune-Star,” my friend said. “All I can conclude from it is that you are a dumbass. Welcome to the club. Anybody who doesn’t buy into his vision of education reform is considered a dumbass.” -
Stephanie Salter: One person’s roundup of significant folks lost in 2010
Every late December, as I comb through lists of notable deaths, I swear I will never repeat the process. It takes days of Internet research, mostly because I get distracted by looking up people about whom I know nothing.
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Stephanie Salter: I've got some really good news for some of you guys
Of all the sentences I’ve imagined writing in my long, moss-covered newspaper career, this is not one of them: I am quitting my job to get married.
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Back in July 1948, when President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, predictions for its effect on the U.S. military were dire. Sen. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. of Georgia echoed the sentiments of millions of Americans in an address from the Senate floor.
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Stephanie Salter: Another wronged woman becomes the nation’s paper doll
A few hours after the death of Elizabeth Edwards last week, the creepy, contemporary American ritual of vicarious grieving began in cyberspace.
“You are with your son now. Rest in peace.” -
Stephanie Salter: You’ve heard from me — now, listen to the teachers
As e-mail from Indiana teachers and principals continues to pour into my box, the portrait of this beleaguered group grows more poignant each day.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Have you heard Indiana’s schools are failing? It’s a lie
In Gov. Mitch Daniels’ recent state budget PowerPoint, he put up a comparison chart: The percentage of Indiana public school students who’ve attained an advanced level of math achievement versus “the world.” Hoosiers lag behind the national average, trailing such states as Massachusetts, Oregon and New York, and such nations as Poland and Latvia.
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Stephanie Salter: Bashing teachers in the name of education reform
As I read the Tribune-Star’s recent Page 1 news packages about the governor’s push for education reform, I kept seeing faces.
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Stephanie Salter: After the turkey and before the pie, a round of giving thanks
As my colleague Alicia Morgan wrote last week, there is no downside to taking time out now and then to list and truly appreciate our blessings.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: A story of just one corporate lobby ‘investing in advocacy’
For those of you who know in your marrow that the president’s attempt to overhaul the U.S. health care system proves his socialist agenda, take the day off. What reporter Drew Armstrong of Bloomberg News shared this past week will be of no interest to you.
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Stephanie Salter: Inside today’s grab bag …: Stamps, bands and GOP $$$
It’s time for another roundup of items, little ideas that can’t grow big enough for a whole column, but just won’t go away from my field of focus.
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Stephanie Salter: Can’t make a decision? Consult strangers on the ’Net
A day after I heard screenwriter and director Nora Ephron talking on NPR about that moment in the aging process when you realize you are no longer cut out to be au courant, that moment arrived for me.
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Stephanie Salter: The years may pass, but a friend will always ride shotgun
I should have known there would be a first-aid kit. Susan provided for every contingency.
How like her to have tucked a 106-piece, American Medical Association-approved kit under the passenger seat of her Honda Accord. How like me not to have discovered it until I was deep cleaning the car to get it ready to sell. - More Stephanie Salter Headlines
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The more things change, the more they … change
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