13

OPINIONOPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, November 30, 2024

RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Michele Kidd

Stuart Tolchin 

Harvey Hyde

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Dinah Chong Watkins

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


WHY I WRITE

IMPORTANT STUFF HISTORY BOOKS WON'T 

Why do I write? The answer is simple. For me there has 
always been something inside of me that wants to, needs 
to, come out. Every animal is filled with blood; but that 
blood only pours out in unusual situations that are rare and 
stressful. The other kinds of stuff that emerges such as spit, 
poop and pee are regularly expelled but less painfully or 
urgently.

 My need to write is different, I think it is in my 
blood. When I was about six or seven my father bought a grocery store in 
Southside Chicago and named it Stuart Food Mart. My family, for reasons 
that were never discussed with me, had moved from a safe neighborhood in 
Chicago to Southside Chicago which was anything but safe. Up until that age 
my father, mother, sister, grandmother, and I had lived in another Chicago 
neighborhood where I think the people were pretty similar to us and I think 
I felt safe and comfortable. My only strong memory of those early times goes 
back to when I was 3 and a half. I spoke to my mother who was in the hospital 
and was told that she was bringing home a new playmate for me.

Although it has been talked about for years, I think I actually remember my 
grandmother opening the door and seeing my father standing next to my 
mother who was carrying something. I waited at the door with a small baseball 
bat ready to play with my new friend, but what was that thing my mother was 
carrying? It was definitely not a new friend, it was a baby, my baby sister! 
Some playmate! I think I have retained my disappointment for the next 76 
years and perhaps that is an adequate explanation for the troubled relationship 
I continue to have with my sister who is still not much of a playmate. But we 
do regularly write (text) to one another 

 So, I guess things were not exactly as I wanted them to be even before we 
moved to the Southside. You probably know that the Southside had lots of 
poor people, many Black people, and many gangs. Stuart Food Mart was on 
Blackstone Avenue the eponymous (unlike my father I did go to School and 
gained a few words} locale of the Blackstone Rangers, an infamous well known 
gang of the era.

 My father was an immigrant, born in the Ukraine, who had never gone to 
any School. It is my understanding that Jews in the Ukraine were not allowed 
to attend School, but I recall my father, who died in 1978, telling me that he 
would sneak next to the windows of the school and listen to the teachers 
teaching. Unfortunately, the teaching was in Russian, and his only language 
was Yiddish. After coming to America, he did not attend School but tried one 
business after another. Despite his lack of education, my father in Chicago 
wrote for the Yiddish papers and occasionally ghost-wrote for the Chicago 
Tribune. I have on my bedroom wall a photo of an article he wrote while 
in the Civilian Conservation Corps. The article dated 1933 thanks President 
Roosevelt for finding a place for him away from the broiling streets of Chicago 
where he had stood unemployed and lost. Nevertheless, being a writer was in 
his blood and the article appeared in a rural Wisconsin newspaper where he 
worked clearing trees.

 About twenty years ago I received a phone call from someone who identified 
himself was the delivery boy at Stuart Food Mart. He asked to speak with my 
father. I explained that my father had died years ago. He then asked if I was 
the kid who hung around the store. I said that must have been me and he said 
“Do you remember writing stories when you were about seven or eight which 
you read to me?” 

 Thart kid was and still is 80 year-old me. I am still writing, and I hope to make 
a connection with you and that together we can help to create a better world. 
The world needs us, and I need to keep writing.

If we have connected, please email me at stuarttolchin@gmail.com

“r/HistoryMemes subreddit” is a loose organization of over 3.6 
million history experts who share hilarious takes on our past. 
(You can tell by their name they are not an organization of English 
teachers.) Let’s exploit, err, expose, err, enjoy their wonderful 
comments on world history taking a peek at select contributions.

First, a quick description of literature from different cultural perspectives:

English literature: “I will die for honor.”

French literature: “I will die for love.”

American literature: “I will die for freedom.”

Russian literature: “I will die.”

Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t all that short. At 5’7 he was a typical height for 
the eighteenth century Frenchman. History considered him short because he 
surrounded himself with taller, more menacing guards. C’est la vie! It might have 
been when step ladders were invented…Oh, Emperor pardon me. I meant to say 
“escabeau”.)

Gertrude Ederle wanted to swim across the English Channel. She hired a male 
swimmer to train her. His experience? He had tried and failed to swim the 
Channel 22 times. This “knucklehead of a trainer” told her it was “too much for a 
woman swimmer”. Hah! In 1926, Gertrude swam across the Channel beating the 
record of five men before her by two hours.

From the religion section, during the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory IX 
declared war on cats. His eminence said felines were connected to evil powers, 
witches and demons. I have two, Gizmo and Mabel. Pope Gregory was right. They 
are my masters. 

In the ancient Persian Empire, men were required to debate ideas twice, once 
sober and once drunk. The idea had to sound good in both states of consciousness 
to be considered a good idea. It’s time for Renaissance classes at the ‘Buc’! 

In 1518, a bizarre phenomenon dubbed the “Dancing Plague” gripped the streets 
of Strasbourg, Germany. “Frau Troffea” suddenly took to dancing for no apparent 
reason. Within weeks, dozens more joined her frenzy, unable to stop to the point 
of exhaustion. Eventually the phenomenon faded out. And it didn’t resurface 
until January of 1973 when the song “Love Train” hit the charts by the O’Jays. 
What was called the “Dancing Plague” in the 1500’s was now called “Disco” and 
lasted for 5 or 6 years, starting to die out when a group called “The Bee-Gees” 
invaded the genre.

Speaking of ancient empires, Caligula, the Roman Emperor, waged war against 
the mythical God Poseidon. How did he do it? He led 10,000 soldiers to the sea 
and ordered them to stab it with spears. He then claimed victory. 

• Parts missing from actor Christopher Lee’s resume:
• He witnessed the last public execution in France using a guillotine.
• He almost married Swedish royalty, was even given permission by the 
King of Sweden.
• The inspiration for James Bond, which was written by his stepcousin Ian 
Fleming. 
• The only member of the “Lord of the Rings” cast to meet Tolkien.
• And finally, Sir Christopher became the second oldest living performer to 
make the Billboard Hot 100 with his performance of the song “Jingle Hell”. He 
was 91…and a half.


Speaking of writers, the writer of the classic “Frankenstein” was a teenager…and 
a girl at that. Mary Shelley was 19 years old and wrote it in 1816 while on an estate 
close to Lake Geneva.

So, one day Julius Caesar gets kidnapped by pirates (True story). Pirates, of course, 
demand a ransom. Caesar, in his arrogance, demanded the ransom amount be 
higher because he was insulted by how low it was. In the end, Caesar gets free, 
assembles an army, catches the pirates and has them crucified. End of story. One 
question: How does an army catch pirates? 

I hope you had a splendiferous Thanksgiving. And if you ate yourself into a near 
coma, know that this too will soon pass. 

Mountain Views News 
has been adjudicated as 
a newspaper of General 
Circulation for the County 
of Los Angeles in Court 
Case number GS004724: 
for the City of Sierra 
Madre; in Court Case 
GS005940 and for the 
City of Monrovia in Court 
Case No. GS006989 and 
is published every Saturday 
at 80 W. Sierra Madre 
Blvd., No. 327, Sierra 
Madre, California, 91024. 
All contents are copyrighted 
and may not be 
reproduced without the 
express written consent of 
the publisher. All rights 
reserved. All submissions 
to this newspaper become 
the property of the Mountain 
Views News and may 
be published in part or 
whole. 

Opinions and views expressed 
by the writers 
printed in this paper do 
not necessarily express 
the views and opinions 
of the publisher or staff 
of the Mountain Views 
News. 

Mountain Views News is 
wholly owned by Grace 
Lorraine Publications, 
and reserves the right to 
refuse publication of advertisements 
and other 
materials submitted for 
publication. 

Letters to the editor and 
correspondence should 
be sent to: 

Mountain Views News

80 W. Sierra Madre Bl. 
#327

Sierra Madre, Ca. 
91024

Phone: 626-355-2737

Fax: 626-609-3285

email: 

mtnviewsnews@aol.com

A member of 
the

California Newspaper 
Publishers 
Association

HOWARD Hays As I See It

“The real art of conducting consists in transitions.” – 

Gustav Mahler

 How those transitions turn out depends on who’s 
holding the baton. President Biden and Donald Trump are 
both conducting their own ensembles heading towards transition, 
with approaches that couldn’t be more different.

 For President Biden, it’s making sure accomplishments 
of the Biden-Harris Administration aren’t reversed, 
that funds already appropriated aren’t clawed-back or spent 
on something else (more tax cuts for billionaires?) under 
Trump. There’s a push in whatever time remaining to get 
contracts signed and already-funded projects underway.

 For the CHIPS and Science Act, that’s $39 billion in incentives for 
semiconductor manufacturing, bringing 115,000 jobs as a start. House Speaker 
Mike Johnson (R-LA) made clear his intent to work with a future President 
Trump to repeal it - or whatever’s left to repeal.

 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded, "Some people 
may hear CHIPS Act, or some kind of vague policy, but people in Buffalo, 
people in upstate New York, people in Michigan, they hear about the plant 
they work at". President Biden is working to get whatever’s left of those funds 
out the door while he can.

 Another legacy for which he’s determined not to leave funds unspent 
is the Inflation Reduction Act; $391 billion invested in clean energy (while 
bringing $238 billion net reduction in deficits over a decade). With an incoming 
administration determined to reverse whatever gains in combatting 
climate change, Biden is committed to protecting as many of these gains as he 
can.

 These Acts together with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have already 
led to $1 trillion in private sector investment along with 1.6 million 
new jobs in construction and manufacturing. According to the White House, 
“These investments in industries of the future are ensuring the future is made 
in America, by American workers.” President Biden is working to limit the 
ability of any future administration to change that.

 There’s fast-tracking the remaining unspent $7 billion in military aid 
to Ukraine. President Biden is determined this gets to Kiev before the inauguration 
of Trump, who’d called supporters of Ukraine and our NATO alliance 
“suckers”. He’s also working to get as many judicial nominees confirmed in the 
last weeks of his administration as they did in the last weeks of Trump’s.

 Under the baton of Donald Trump, his increasingly discordant ensemble 
heads towards transition choosing to ignore what was orchestrated under 
the Presidential Transitions Act of 1963, which has been followed by every 
incoming administration – until now.

 This Act sets the process for members of the incoming administration 
meeting with their counterparts in the outgoing one, receiving briefings to 
ensure a smooth transition. The FBI conducts background checks on those 
needing security clearances. It’s a process usually begun weeks before the election. 
Now, just weeks before the inauguration, it’s finally gotten underway – 
though in a very truncated form. The FBI hadn’t even received the names of 
those who’d need access to classified information.

 The reason is that, ignoring requirements under the Transitions Act, 
the incoming team refused to sign the agreement on ethical concerns. Valerie 
Smith Boyd, director of the Center for Presidential Transition, explained to 
Politico: “The main thing that it says is that the members of the transition 
team will be bound by an ethics agreement that ensures that they’re using information 
appropriately, that they limit the use of lobbyists and foreign agents, 
and that individuals who leave the transition and go back to the private sector 
won’t use this information for personal gain.”

 It’s an agreement the Trump team refuses to make. They settled for a 
pared-down version, allowing for some limited exchanges between incoming 
and outgoing personnel. But as for FBI background checks, they’ll wait until 
Trump himself controls the FBI. For security clearances, Trump will simply 
hand them out once he takes office.

 Nor will they sign the agreement allowing access to federal funding for 
the transition in exchange for full disclosures. As to who’ll be paying their bills 
for the transition instead, they figure that Americans won’t care.

 Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, says by not 
signing "They can do anything they want. They can have any conflicts of interest 
they want. They could be taking money from foreign governments for all 
we know". Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warns that because of this refusal to 
participate in a customary transition, Trump is "undermining his own ability 
to effectively manage national security emergencies, urgent public health and 
safety threats, and corruption risks".

 Another part of the Trump team’s approach to transition is telling us 
what to expect immediately afterwards - like imposing tariffs on our two largest 
trading partners, Canada and Mexico. This would be in direct violation of 
accords signed just a few years ago – under former President Donald Trump.

 And then, presumably topping their priorities list, committing whatever 
Justice Department resources necessary to determine once and for all 
whether there really was no election fraud, whether Joe Biden really did win 
that election in 2020.

 Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the greatest tragedy of this period of social 
transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling 
silence of the good people.” According to Mahler, successful transitions in a 
symphony depend on the conductor. According to Dr. King, when those transitions 
involve our country, we’re all holding the baton.


Mountain Views News

Mission Statement

The traditions of 
community news-
papers and the 
concerns of our readers 
are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperous 
community of well-
informed citizens. We 
hold in high regard the 
values of the exceptional 
quality of life in our 
community, including 
the magnificence of 
our natural resources. 
Integrity will be our guide. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com