Election Day

Be sure to VOTE. Too bad that the voting is not like American Idol or Dancing with the Stars where you can vote often if you wish. Hudson county used to be famous for its cemetery voters. Essex has its own history of frequent voters, so it has not been just the Republicans of Bergen County that have had ingenious polling practices. New Jersey as an entity will be overwhelming Obama, but the election popular vote does not elect the President. A small majority in states with enough total electoral college votes can defeat an overwhelming majority in a few even large, states. I don't believe it will happen but I will know more on the 5th.

By the way the New Jersey vote tally will not be counted until Sunday when all the absentee ballots should be in and the provisional votes certified.

Meanwhile, a little picture.


Serendipity is wonderful. On a barge trip on the Canal de Burgundy, about 6 of us took our bikes down a country road while the barge was in one lock and the next one was a bout a mile away. About 10 minutes down the road we noticed a large Chateau down a drive off the road. We decided to take a look and to our amazement found it to be still surrounded by a moat.

Yes the water was dirty, but there were geese swimming init.

A CHANGE OF PACE

Today it is time for a change of pace.It is with a few exceptions in the future time to leave the University of Virginia, but for today I have some anecdotes of a doctor in training.

First year medical school was a great deal more work than college had ever been.The study of the body both didactic from the text and practical on the cadaver was time consuming along with the other courses and laboratories in the first year. It was make or break time.

The anatomy laboratory was on the second floor of the Medical school. We worked as teams of four students. I knew I was a klutz and was goinging to save the world iwth my brain! Not the other three on our team who all thought that they were surgeons and would fight for disecting time. One of these three was George Psimas who lived with his brother Gus, also a medical student, in the Cracker Box. He married a classmate of my wife. He became an Orthopedist and served in the Navy. A correspondence friendship with them lasted until his death in the late 90s.

Among those working in our dissecting room, which was the smaller of the two, were the class’s three women students. They and a male student were dissecting a male cadaver that was heavily endowed. These girls were well accepted as fellow students, thus some of the class jokers decided to insert a thin knitting needle down the penis, tying it down with dark thread. One day when hard at work on their cadaver, the thread was released and much to the girls surprise, right before their eyes, their cadaver suddenly had an erection. As you can imagine there was turmoil in that laboratory for a few minutes.

I had become serious about a young graduate nurse which increased the attraction to spend the second half of my second year vacation time in Charlottesville doing a “clerkship” in the medical clinic. I would exam new patients, order what little labatory tests we had, and make a diagnosis.The Resident in charge would confirm my diagnosis-or correct it- and institute treatment. During that summer, I had to rent a room near the hospital because my “Home on the Range” was occupied by a summer student.

As third-year students, we spent two weeks in Norfolk at the King’s Daughters’ Clinic that provided a home Obstetrical delivery program. The medical student was accompanied by a nurse, often into a home without electricity, and delivered the baby either by candlelight or kerosene lamp.

This was truly natural chidbirth. Because of the lamps or candles ether could not be used. The nurse would administer a small amount of chloroform when and if she felt it was needed.

We knew to depend for advice, and coaching, upon the nurse, whose knowledge and experience base was extensive. If we were getting into trouble she called for an ambulance to take the patient to a hospital.

The near dozen deliveries were a great experience and for the first time we felt like we were “real doctors”.

The surgical rotation was a most difficult one. The student was the third assistant at an operation and if lucky just held a retractor. If it was a pulmonary case, he often was under the drapes holding up a shoulder sometimes for hours.

In Southern hospitals of that era, the patient wards were segregated not only by sex but also by race. The wards were large and open and contained at least 20 beds. The male and female black wards were in the basement. “F Ward” was the male “black” ward. My girlfriend who was still a student often had the 11 to 7 shift for that ward as the only nurse there. There was a rocking chair in the middle of the ward floor which one night began to rock all by itself; nobody was in it! You can imagine the consternation among the patients of F Ward. She too was reluctant to have duty there but had little choice.

Under close supervision of the residents, the Third and Fourth year medical students also staffed the outpatient clinics. Of course I had already done that during the previous summer. It was this hands on training that made us good doctors.

After Pearl Harbor, the medical school program accelerated with the elimination of the summer vacation and we graduated in March of 1943. Next was a shortened 9 months rotating internship in Syracuse, followed by 2 years of Army of which the last 1-1/2 years were spent in Europe.

About Presidents

In my "voting life time" the only US Senator to be elected President was Kennedy. The Governorship route has been the most popular source for new Presidents. Perhaps that is because they have administrative experience.

Two former Senators and one congressman became "accidental Presidents. The two Democrats in their own right became great Presidents.

Truman led the Country and the world to the end of WWII and the recovery of society this side of the Soviet Empire. Johnson made a great mistake by becoming too deeply involved in an other war that we , the people did not understand, and the politicians and military leaders fought the wrong way. However this bigoted Texan was the architect of the greatest advancement in civil and social rights this country has known.

The "accidental former congressman was Gerald Ford who succeeded Nixon who had also been a congressman and that rarity a Vice President. Ford had little opportunity to shine in his own light. His Presidency was tainted by the Nixon scandals.

Nixon positive accomplishments was to end the Vietnam war and to open relationships with communist China. However his autocratic idea of the Presidency was perhaps even more dangerous for this country than the Cheney et al /Bush administration has been.

Eisenhower could have been elected from either party He has been a most under appreciated President and some day his true place in history will evolve. Another former military leader that I would have liked to have seen run for the Presidency is Colin Powell. He would have been the best choice today.

Less the Bush detractors forget, with all his faults the only Secretary of States he ha shad have both been Afro-Americans. It is too bad that the Cheney clique could negate their influence.

Carter for other reasons rivals GWB as the worse post WW II President. Enough said..

We should look forward with anticipation not apprehension about the outcome of tomorrow's election. Sadly and unfortunately, we continue to ignore the impact that Congress has on the Presidency.

RANDOM THOUGHTS NOV 3

The last day before we select our next President.

I still have not made up my mind about two well qualified men. Both have more pluses than minuses. Both have negatives that are not of their own short comings but are due to my concern regarding the influence of prominent party members.

Any how, for better or worse my analysis, not in the order of impact.

McCain: Too old,no he is younger than I am. Adenauer was "West" Germany's Chancellor, retiring at age 87. He is experienced in Washington politics and has proven that he is willing to work with Democrats. He is more of a "Centralist" than a "Rightist", but can he free himself from the reactionary and religious rights's intolerance? I believe he will be able to do so. His approach to the health care problem is as stated not realistic at this point. The biggest problem is that in this economic crisis time he will be saddled with a Democrat controlled Congress which we fight many of his programs. I believed he as an individual is the better qualified of the two.

Obama: Too young,not really. He is a smart politician and has superior people skills. I believe, and sincerely hope, that Race will not be a defining factor in the election. We know that there are extremely biased individuals on both sides but this country has over the past three decades elected state governors and mayors of both sexes and of all ethnicity. Perhaps he is too socialistic for my tastes, but my biggest fear is the influence that Pelosi will have on his administration. Regarding universal health care , after alm ost 50 years of prectice I distrust the impact of government control of the health system. WEe need go no further than Muhlenberg, or the restrictions onmedications under Medicare programs.. His inexperience in foreign affairs can be mitigated by proper selection of advisers. If he chooses wisely the country will have an outstanding Presidency under Obama.

On November 4th I am going to cast my vote for one of the two, which one ? , whether he is the winner (I hope) or the looser is immaterial, I will have done my duty as a citizen in a manner that I hope was for the best interests of our country , not my own agenda.

GET OUT AND VOTE and may your choice be the same as mine.

One final note, once the new President is inaugurated almost all campaign promises will go out the window. That is the lesson of history.

DAY OF REST

It has been all "me" this week, a break is owed to readers. I finally have a new scanner and some 1000++ slides to slowly go through. Just some calm pictures of the Canal de Midi FranceA bridge over the canal

Filling the lock

Just a quiet afternoon

Another lock but with commercial building

THE SCANNER IS WORKING

This is the first sight of the Taj that one sees from inside the entrance gate building.

Three more days to Obama Day , at least in New Jersey. Whom ever your choice is and even if you think your vote doesn't matter DON'T forget your right as a citizen and VOTE.

HOME ON THE RANGE

In my third-year I lived on the East Range in a room that I returned to for the next four following years. “Home on 14 East Range” (1938-1943). Marty was still living in Randall Hall but later on moved to a room in a private house.

Although we were each still dating a specific town girl, we also dated various student nurses. In 1939, Sternkopf had married his Elma and was living in an “apartment”. They introduced me to one of her friends who dated for a long period until a certain earth shaking incident which I will reveal in the very near future.

The East Range rooms along with the Lawn rooms were part of Jefferson's original “University Village”. Each was for one student and opened directly to the outside covered passageway, colonnades on the lawn, but brick arches on the ranges (East and West). Because each room opened directly to the outside, the students living there enjoyed a great deal of privacy.

The East Range, my room was at the far end.

Each room was large enough to contain any single bed with space for an easy chair, usually one recycled from the secondhand furniture store, and a desk in front of the window overlooking the back. Centered on the other wall was a fireplace with two small curtained alcoves on either side one, served as a clothes closet, the other contain a wash basin with hot and cold running water and a small shelf for toilet articles. A steam heat radiator heated the rooms. Except for the wash basin, the bathroom facilities were in a basement room entered from behind the end of alternating units. The resident had to go outside to use the toilets and showers. One bath facility served two groups of rooms. In the wintertime, this could be very cold. It is rumored that there were two types of lawn and range residents; those that admitted they used the washbasin as a urinal and those who denied their actions.

Students usually bought a cord of firewood in the fall, which was stacked outside by the door. The fireplaces were functional and gave heat. We all had radios and a favorite program for students studying at night was Cincinnati’s WLWL’s mood organ music program, “Moon River”, from 11pm to sign off time. This was also the era of the Big Bands, and at night, you could listen for hours to one after another. I remember tuning in on the Orson Well's broadcast of “The War of the Worlds'. Since I had not listen from the beginning I was amazed to learn the next morning about the publics' reaction. Even today, the panic and terror seems unreal.

There was an active trade in “moonshine” from the countryside. Some students were known to keep two kegs of “corn” in their rooms. One to be aged was under the rocking chair, the obligatory seat for a visitor, . A “cured” keg was available for drinking. Except for Sloe Gin Fizzes which were popular in my first year dormitory, the favorite spring time drink was the “Mint Julep” made in a mason jar by crushing mint leaves and pouring in a pint of cheap whiskey, then filling the jar with cracked ice, and after wrapping the jar in a towel shaking it well to make a refreshing beverage good to the last watery diluted drop. One of the students whose mother was president of the Norfolk WCTU chapter could not bring his college year book home since it contained a large picture of him drinking out of a mason jar at Lambeth Field.

A great advantage of my Range room was its location, a “roll down the hill “to the Medical School entrance. I could also go quickly to one of the drug stores on the “corner” that served a light breakfast or have my “Dr. Pepper” and “Nabs” before classes.” The entrance to the Medical School was right across the street from the stores.

Edgar Allen Poe had lived on the West Range. His supposed room has been restored as a museum.