Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, November 25, 2023

13

OPINIONOPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 25, 2023 

RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

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Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

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Patricia Colonello

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John Aveny 

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Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

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

FREE WILL


PECULIAR HABITS

 I am beginning to write this article on 
November 22, 2023. November 22nd is significant to 
me because like almost all people of my generation 
I remember exactly what I was doing on this date 
exactly 60 years ago. My friend Mike and I were about 
to enter the building called Dwinelle Plaza on the 
Berkeley Campus where our political Science class 
was scheduled. As we walked up the steps we met our 
friend Rob who was just leaving the building. Rob breathlessly told us 
that President Kennedy had been shot and that Vice President Johnson 
had also been injured. As we know now Rob was mistaken (not the 
only time). It was not the Vice-President who as injured but rather it 
was Texas Governor John Connally who allegedly was shot by the same 
bullet which killed Kennedy.

 After learning about the shooting I recall going to my Political 
Science class in which the Professor tried to carry on as usual; but 
students prevailed and we were allowed to listen to the radio that 
someone had brought in. The memory of the Poly Sci professor trying 
to conduct the class as if nothing had happened remains with me as an 
affirmation of absolutely how irrelevant College humanity classes are to 
anything but the grueling process whereby one attempts to graduate and 
get a degree which would make it possible to get a job

 Of course, for males of my generation, College was also vital as 
it made one eligible for a Student Deferment which for a time protected 
one from the Draft. At the time that all seemed wonderful to me and 
after College I went to Law School which provided me with a further 
deferment. While in Law School I volunteered to work in the evenings 
with Lawyers Guild Attorneys who were engaged with assisting young 
males to avoid the draft. At the time I praised myself for being “socially 
active” and participating in good works. I somehow failed to notice 
that all the potentially draft-eligible young males we helped were White 
Middle and Upper Class kids whose parents had urged them to go and 
see a lawyer.

 Furthermore, and that is the point of this article, I failed to realize 
that I had no choice but to do what I did and to live my live as I have. I 
recently purchased the book entitled DETERMINED A SCIENCE OF 
LIFE WITHOUT FREE WILL by the author Robert M. Sapolsky. I have 
taken the trouble to buy the book because I knew I wanted to underline 
it and make notes in the margins. It is odd for me to buy a book these 
days because I am rarely able to focus sufficiently to read more than a 
few chapters. I was surprised that I had spent the money to buy the book 
especially after hearing a long interview with the author in which he kept 
repeating the same thing “WE ARE NOTHING MORE OR LESS THAN 
THE CUMULATIVE BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL LUCK 
OVER WHICH WE HAVE NO CONTROL, THAT HAS BROUGHT US 
TO ANY MOMENT”.

 Do you get the point? There are no choices! What happens “next” 
is “determined” by what came before. Included within that what came 
before, meaning everything in your childhood starting with how you 
were mothered and what kind of culture your ancestors invented and 
all the sensory stimuli in your environment, your hormone levels this 
morning, the socioeconomic status of your parents. Sapolsky is saying 
that we can make no conscious choices. It is therefore inappropriate 
for us to be “blamed” for anything bad or “praised” for anything good. 
This has great significance as applied to the criminal justices system and 
the concept of “punishment” or “retribution” or “morality. Are Hamas 
or the Israelis responsible for their actions? Can it be that if you are a 
Bernie Sanders supporter or a Donald Trump supporter or completely 
indifferent you had no choice?

 I wonder if any reader after reading this article will go out and 
check the book out of the library or even go so far as to buy the book. 
If you do demonstrate that behavior (I guess we can’t call it a decision) 
please realize that you had no choice. Please continue to do what you do 
because that’s all you can do. It is my choice to stop now, isn’t it? 

We all have them. And you would be surprised by the peculiarities of people 
of significance over the centuries.

Take Vincent van Gogh for example. The Dutch painter, known for his 
colorful painting, didn’t just like looking at vibrant colors. Vince had the 
strange habit of eating paint. Not just any paint…yellow paint. Something 
about yellow having a positive effect on his mood. I don’t recommend you try it. Yellow or 
any other color paint for that matter. Have a banana instead. Just the banana, not the peel.

People in the know also knew Queen Victoria of England always had at least one slice of 
bread with her wherever she went. She never knew when she would run into hungry birds 
in the park or beggars.

Every time Charles Dickens finished writing a new book, he would rearrange the furniture 
in his house. Let’s see, he wrote 15 novels. But wait a minute. “Chuck” also wrote novellas, 
nonfiction articles, and hundreds of short stories. I wonder if he would just rearrange the 
furniture in one room after a magazine article? (I’ll have my research department look into 
it).

Sigmund Freud would smoke upwards of 20 cigars a day believing smoking helped him to 
think more clearly. Einstein didn’t wear socks, Beethoven would pour cold water over his 
head before he composed, and Napoleon would take an ice cold bath every morning.

Virginia Woolf and Friedrich Nietzsche didn’t have much in common except they used 
standing desks. They wrote standing up.

I wondered whether highly intelligent people had strange habits? Let’s check. Hey! Maybe 
we are highly intelligent and don’t know it. Let’s keep score: Experts tell us:

 1. They daydream! I daydream. You? Are we just spacing out, or participating 
in a complex cognitive process? Let’s think about it. Ouch, thinking hurts!

 2. Constantly curious! The experts say we ask seemingly “stupid” questions. 
That’s me…or is it? Is that a stupid question? Or is it?

 3. They talk to themselves. I’m talking to myself right now. They say Einstein 
talked to himself. I’m feeling smarter already!

 4. They enjoy their own company. I like me. Do you like you? Let’s see a show 
of hands.

 5. They are night owls. Oh-oh! I’m more of an early bird. I may have to drop 
out of the running. 

 6. Reading…a lot! Does coloring count? I may not be one of the highly intelligent. 
I knew it was too good to be true. Dang!

 7. Habitual walking. Now my goose is cooked. Charles Dickens walked miles 
each day (probably moving furniture). And Friedrich (Nietzsche) once said, “All truly great 
thoughts are conceived by walking. Double darn.

I do have a novel idea to pass along. And it’s actually quite important. It has an inversely 
proportional message to it. Are you ready?

The next time a good friend comes along and wants to talk about a problem they are having, 
do this: Listen! Don’t do this: Jump right in with all the answers. Sometimes friends need to 
talk their own way out of a situation. If they can solve their own problem with you standing 
there like a piece of wood, two conclusions will be arrived at.

 1. Solving their own problem may very well make the solution stick.

 2. Without you saying a word, your friend will think you are truly brilliant!

It was Jesus who said, in the Bible, through his half-brother James: “Let every person be 
quick to hear, slow to speak…”

Obviously, if they solicit your input, be there for them. And please, if you see me on the 
street, befuddled and out of sorts, jump right in and ‘ave a go! Straighten me out.

Have a good week! (Not an order but a gentle suggestion)

Bye!

Mountain Views News 
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Letter To the Editor:

Columnist Dinah Chong Watkins gasped when she opened her property tax bill ("Close 
Encounters of the Wrong Kind," November 4, 2023).

"It was fortunate when I opened the letter I was sitting down rather than standing near 
a large body of water or a raging fire," she wrote. "Bloodcurdling? Michael Myers, take a 
number."

Michael Myers, move over for rapacious California lawmakers, including Assemblyman 
Chris Holden and Senator Anthony Portantino, who voted for Assembly Constitutional 
Amendment 1 -- a dagger aimed at the heart of Proposition 13, the 1978 measure that 
capped a lid on property taxes.

Be warned. ACA 1 will be on the March 2024 ballot. If approved by voters, this ill-conceived 
measure would lower the threshold for parcel taxes from a two-thirds majority to a 
simple majority -- an easy mark for any local, county or state agency on the prowl for more 
tax money.

For a real shocker, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association invites you to visit their website 
www.guessinggame.org. Enter the approximate market value of your home to find out 
what your property taxes would be without Proposition 13.

Les Hammer


TOM PURCELL

THE DELICIOUS HISTORY 
OF PUMPKIN PIE


I love pumpkin 
pie.

It reminds me 
of so many 
happy family 
gatherings 
when, after 
clearing the 
Thanksgiving 
table, we’d enjoy 
pumpkin 
pie, coffee and deeply satisfying conversation 
well into the evening.

My mother’s pumpkin pie has a thick, 
fluffy crust. She bakes her pies “well 
done” with a slight char on the top, giving 
them a unique and delicious oaky 
flavor.

Lucky for me, I’ve enjoyed her unique 
pumpkin pie experience for many years 
and will do so again this Thursday.

But after recently learning about the remarkable 
history of pumpkin pie, I love 
it more than ever.

According to History.com, pumpkin is a 
fruit that dates back 10,000 years ago to 
Central America, where indigenous people 
boiled and baked it in many forms.

After the “New World” was discovered, 
European explorers brought pumpkin 
seeds back home and cultivated them.

Pumpkin soon became part of “England’s 
highly developed pie-making culture, 
which had for centuries been producing 
complex stuffed pastries in sweet 
and savory varieties,” says History.com.

When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 
1620, they brought their familiarity with 
pumpkins with them.

In fact, says History.com, “A year later, 
when the 50 surviving colonists were 
joined by a group of 90 Wampanoag for 
a three-day harvest celebration, it’s likely 
that pumpkin was on the table in some 
form.”

Without ovens, though, the Pilgrims initially 
had no way to make pumpkin pie.

As the Pilgrims flourished in New England, 
they preferred “apples, pears, and 
quince tarts instead of their former 
Pumpkin Pies,” wrote Massachusetts 
ship captain Edward Johnson in 1654.

This was probably because the process of 
turning pumpkin into a pie filling was 
time-consuming and laborious. It was 
much easier and faster to make a fruit 
pie.

Perhaps that’s the chief reason pumpkin 
pie didn’t catch on in America until 1796 
with the publication of America’s very 
first cookbook, “American Cookery,” 
written by New England writer Amelia 
Simmons.

Simmons’ pumpkin pie recipe was unlike 
any that came before it. She used 
eggs, sugar and cream to create a filling 
more like custard or pudding — the delicious 
filling we enjoy now.

However, it would be years before Simmons’ 
version of pumpkin pie gained 
popularity beyond the New England 
region.

That changed in the 1800s as the pumpkin 
became a symbol of the anti-slavery 
movement in New England.

“Because pumpkins were a crop that 
grew easily and required very little labor 
for cultivation and harvest, pumpkin 
farming operated as the antithesis of 
the plantation economies of the South 
where cash crops like cotton, sugar, 
and tobacco were being mass-produced 
through exploitative slave labor,” reports 
YahooNews.

After President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed 
Thanksgiving a national holiday 
in 1863, writers, such as Sarah Josepha 
Hale, published numerous recipes for 
turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and 
pumpkin pie, which soon became the 
staples of our iconic Thanksgiving feast.

In 1929 Libby’s introduced canned 
pumpkin-pie filling, which eliminated 
the labor-intensive process of turning 
pumpkin into custard — making it easy 
for everyone to enjoy pumpkin pie every 
Thanksgiving.

It took 10,000 years for the pumpkin 
fruit of Central America to make it to 
England, travel back to America and become 
a Thanksgiving staple, but if you 
ever had a bite of my mother’s incredible 
pumpkin pie, you’d know the wait was 
worth it.


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Views 
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