We Met in Nursery School

In the fall of 1949 fifteen little girls walked cautiously into the large stone house that had been converted into Miss Zara's School.  We were the new nursery class.  We would be the graduates of 1957 as Miss Zara only taught through 6th grade. Our class room was over the garage.  We took our naps there on rugs laid out in a row. In the years to come we learned many wonderful things.  Games that are now banned as too dangerous especially dodge ball and monkey bars.  French.  Not just the language, but how to set a table properly (in French) and how to hem-stitch a table cloth.  We had music and art.  And at the end of our fourth grade year, Miss Zara retired.  We band of dodge-ballers entered Springside School, K - 12 with larger classes, still all girls.  Our nursery school gang integrated and went on to graduate in a class of 37.  Six women from the class of' '63 are headed to Alaska for a celebration of  the 50th anniversary of our graduation.  We will kayak, and talk, and beach comb and talk, and sit by a fire and talk.  We will see glaciers, whales, bears, eagles and glimpses of each other when we were young.  At the end of a week we will go our separate ways again - enriched.

A Good Read

There has been much written about the trial of George Zimmerman.  Perhaps you did not see an essay by the distinguished scholar, Shelby Steele.  Mr. Steele is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute. He has written and spoken widely about race in America.  Among his many associations, he serves on the Board of the American Academy for Liberal Education.  You can go here to read his biography.  His essay, "The Decline of the Civil-Rights Establishment" appeared first in the Wall Street Journal on July 22.  I cannot link from the Journal, so I found it on another site.  Do not be dissuaded by the publication - read the essay.

She Served The Marines With Highest Honor

Today is the 60th anniversary of the end to the Korean War.  33,000 American service men and women lost their lives in this war.  In recognition of one of the decorated war heroes a statue was dedicated yesterday at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.  The memorial is of Reckless, a small Mongolian  mare who was attached to the 75 mm Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines.  Her job was to carry ammunition for the rifles.  She served most heroically during the Battle of Outpost Vegas, one of the bloodiest of the war. In a single day she made 51 trips, alone, under heavy enemy fire, across no-man's-land and up the 45 degree slope of a mountain to the rifle firing posts.  She carried 9000 pounds up the mountain, and wounded soldiers back down to safety.  She was wounded twice, but keep walking, 35 miles before the day was over.  She was promoted to Staff Sergeant and retired to Camp Pendleton where she sired several foals.  Her numerous Military decorations  include two Purple Hearts.  Here is a short video about Reckless.  Think of her today.