From Russian TV (in English)

Six for Six

Congratulations, John.

Rogue Columnist

Jon Talton was until about a year ago a columnist for the Arizona Republic. He lived in Willo and also writes mystery novels, one of which I reviewed here. He has moved to Seattle and writes occasional columns for the Seattle Times. He has a blog called Rogue Columnist which is often worth reading, as he writes about urban issues, Phoenix and Seattle in particular, and also has insights into the national political scene. I have added a link section in the margin to the right.

Seeing a President

Unlike my sons, who saw Bill Clinton in Tempe in 1996, I have never looked at a U.S. President. I have seen a few people who ran (or are currently running) for President but never one who served as president -- yet.

In high school I was a member (one of two in my home town) of the TeenAge Republicans. I helped set up for rally in downtown Imlay City for George Romney, who was running for re-election as Michigan's Governor. This was probably 1964. He stood on a stage -- I think it was actually a haywagon -- at the corner of Third and Almont and addressed the curious crowd that had gathered. Romney was later the frontrunner for the 1968 Republican Presidential nomination until he told a talk show host he had been "brainwashed" by the government on the subject of the Viet Nam war. Apparently folks in those days didn't care that he was a Mormon but weren't too enthusiastic about someone susceptible to brainwashing.

Bruce Babbitt was Arizona Governor in the 80's and ran for President in 1988. I saw him several times in Phoenix, including once at the office of our pediatrician, where he was bringing one of his children. I had a brief volunteer stint working for him in the Iowa Caucuses and on my last full day there drove his van.

On that same trip to Iowa I saw Michael Dukakis, who would ultimately be the Democratic nominee, in the lobby of a Des Moines hotel. Boy is he short.

Somewhere in the early 90's I was in the snack bar of the Petrified Forest National Park with the boys. I think that this was in conjunction with one of our camping trips to Sunset Crater. In walked John McCain with a few other people, no ceremony, just people getting sandwiches and Cokes. I have no idea what he was doing there. When I ran for the legislature in 1986 I had been on the same ballot as McCain, who was running for the Senate for the first time. We were scheduled to both be at a debate at Shadow Mountain H.S. but he didn't show up.

And of course I saw Barack Obama at the rally at the Colisseum a couple of weeks ago.

This means that unless Hillary Clinton manages to come from behind and get the nomination, I have seen the next President.

The Man has a Way with Words

I disagree with him more often than I agree with him -- the man does have interesting things to say about baseball by the way -- but you gotta love George Will's command of the language. In a recent column, Will says:

Last week, in his ten-thumbed attempt to prevent his wife's Louisiana loss, Bill Clinton said that Obama has made "an explicit argument that the '90s weren't much better than this decade." The phrase "explicit argument" was an exquisitely Clintonian touch, signaling to seasoned decoders of Clintonisms that, no matter how diligent the search, no such thought could be found, even implicitly, in anything Obama has ever said. In his preternatural neediness, Clinton, an overflowing caldron of narcissism and solipsism, is still smarting from Obama's banal observation, four weeks ago, that Ronald Reagan was a more transformative president than Clinton.

John McCain is a Dangerous Warmonger

(Keep in mind that I have no use for any of these people...)

So Bob Dole sends a letter to Rush Limbaugh asking him to calm down with his bashing of John McCain. Mitt Romney is asked by Fox News what he thought of that and he responded that Dole is “probably the last person I would have wanted to have write a letter for me.” Nowhere in this discussion was there any mention of Dole having been in the army in WWII and having been wounded.

McCain said this: "He’s a great American, and for Governor Romney, who has never had any military experience, to disparage the service and courage of an American hero, I think is disgraceful.”

So, if you have not been in the military, you have no right to ever criticize someone who has been in the military, even if the subject has nothing to do with the military. What an idiot.

John McCain has never stopped fighting the VietNam War. According to Pat Buchanan:

We are forewarned. John McCain intends to be a war president.

Where Bush has lately cleansed his administration of neocons, McCain offers the last best hope for a neocon return and restoration and more wars in the Middle East. And if, as seems probable, Bibi Netanyahu again becomes prime minister of Israel, he and a President McCain will find a pretext for war on Iran.

Boomers and Kennedys

John told me that he thought Caroline Kennedy was a lousy speaker and that she was costing Obama votes every time she opened her mouth. I told him that her appearance was significant to people my age (although I agree that she appears uncomfortable and doesn't really have much to say -- she spoke for about 2 minutes at the rally on Wednesday).

I got to thinking about that and what has been written about the Kennedys and the baby boomers. It is interesting how history gets skewed. You would think that boomers swept John Kennedy into office, celebrated Camelot, were the first to join the Peace Corps and so on. Wrong. Do the math. Wikipedia tells me that the generally accepted definition of the postwar baby boom is people born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest boomers were 14 years when JFK beat Nixon in November of 1960 and some had not yet been born. It wasn't us that lived Camelot, it was our parents (not mine, they voted for Nixon), or at least our older siblings. My two sisters were born in 1935 and 1937. The Kennedy/Nixon election was their first opportunity to vote for President. I was 9 at the time of the election.

How about Bobby? When he ran in the primaries in 1968, the boomers who had been born in 1946 and part of 1947 could vote for him, the rest of us could not. Some were as young as 3. I was 17 and quite politically aware, but I did not support Bobby Kennedy. Chris Matthews has a "Coke or Pepsi?" "Letterman or Leno" type question for people who were young and liberal in those days: Bobby Kennedy or Gene McCarthy. I thought of RFK as an opportunist. Gene McCarthy was the true antiwar candidate. Bobby came late to the cause and was trading on his name recognition and relationship to a previous popular president, much like Hillary Clinton today, or so I thought at the time. There were a lot of enthusiastic young people supporting both Gene and Bobby. Remember though, that the voting age was 21 in most states in those days, including California. The 26th amendment was ratified in 1971, which changed that. The first election in which a large chunk of the boomers could vote was 1972, which ironically was a landslide for Richard Nixon.

Still, the Kennedys do mean a lot to a lot of people my age. I confess that I was almost as excited to see Caroline as I was to see Obama. I'm not sure why. One odd thing was the realization that she is 50 years old. She is supposed to be young. Older than she was in the 60's but certainly not 50. In some ways I think that I understand what Caroline talked about in her op-ed piece, although she was talking about younger people. I didn't experience Camelot or the excitement around Bobby's campaign. I saw glimpses but I was not really there. Obama maybe gives us the chance to be there.

Rally Videos

Today

I took the first picture, I found this one on the Obama website and had to add it.

Tomorrow

Finally

Last weekend, when I was sure that I was going to get to keep my job, I bought the camera that I had been looking at for a few years, a Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

Never Mind

This is not news to anybody who reads this, probably, but in early November I was informed by my employer that my position was being eliminated and that my last day would be 11/23. Since that day was the day after Thanksgiving the real last day would be 11/21. On 11/20 (!) I was offered an extension for two months, making the new last day 01/25. Today, with 4 days to spare, I got an offer to stay. I had a couple of other offers but this makes the most sense since I can retire from Motorola on 06/01/2010 if I can hang on that long. Three months of hell, but it ended the way I had hoped.

Great Minds Think Alike

Mike's blog has some great links to questionnaires that attempt to tell you what presidential candidate you most agree with. Susan and I both did them (separately) and came up with the following results.

My choices, from top to bottom, were:

Kucinich
Obama
Clinton
Edwards
Paul
Giuliani
McCain
Romney
Huckabee
Thompson

Susan's were:

Kucinich
Obama
Clinton
Edwards
Giuliani
Paul
McCain
Romney
Huckabee
Thompson

Note that while Giuliani and Paul were reversed, the rest were in the same positions. If you follow the link to Mike's blog you will see that his, while a little different, follow a similar theme.

I mailed in our ballots yesterday. Despite the poll, I voted for the guy in the picture above.

Marathon Temperatures

There is a report in the press that it was 20 degrees colder last year than this year. This is somewhat unscientific, but here is what appears to be evidence of a 14 degree difference.

Last year:



This year:



Both pictures were between 8 and 8:10 (marathon starts at 7:40).

More Marathon

Here are the leaders, passing Virginia Avenue. The leader at this point was Dejene Yirdawe from Ethiopia, who finished second. The second guy would appear to be Chokri Dhaouadi of Tunisia, who finished 9th, but I am not sure of that because the bib number is hard to make out. He could just as easily be somebody else... The third fellow is Evegeni Bozhko of Ukraine, who finished 7th.

Rock and Roll Marathon 2008

I took these 3 videos in the first few minutes of runners passing by our neighborhood.

Obama Rally

This is probably longer than you want to deal with, but check out the guy in the forefront on the left.

Downtown Phoenix Videos

Phoenix is planning a new park called Civic Space. It will be between Central Avenue and 1st Avenue, between Central Station and the old Post Office. ASU Downtown is across Central from it. The City Council has tentatively approved a controversial piece of art by Boston artist Janet Echelman. Here is a video on a similar piece in Portugal.



A couple of blocks south, 44 Monroe, a new high rise condo development at First Avenue and Monroe, is about to open. Here is a video promoting 44 Monroe.

Willo article

The following article appeared on a travel website called Great Escapes.








Phoenix's Willo District is a cottage industry

By Eric Noland, Travel Editor Article Launched: 10/13/2007 09:23:48 PM PDT

PHOENIX -- The ceiling beams were hewn by hand in 1922, and Jeff Cirulla points to the chisel marks as he stands in the living room of this Spanish colonial treasure. He appreciates the workmanship all the more, he says, now that the painstaking task of removing layers of purple latex paint has been completed.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, residents proudly show off leaded-glass windows, murals on backyard walls and scored concrete floors. In a cozy California bungalow, Jeremy and Denise Staley indicate the newly installed hexagonal tile in the kitchen; a classic touch.

"We took out the granite countertops," Denise says.

These are the people of Phoenix's Willo Historic District, and this is their annual home tour. Held during the winter (the next one is Feb. 10), about 15 homeowners open up their storybook cottages, most built in the 1920s and '30s in such styles as English Cotswold, Spanish mission and French provincial.

The homes were designed long before the imperative for entertainment centers, walk-in closets and a separate bedroom for each and every child. But, for the sake of abundant charm, the residents make adjustments.

"A substantial majority have a storage facility somewhere, for the winter clothes," Bob Cannon, president of the neighborhood association, said with a chuckle. "The lack of storage and a garage is a challenge for some of the (newly arrived) suburbans to handle."

A historic district in Phoenix? Well, you have to stretch the concept a bit -- and New Englanders would split their sides with laughter -- but it is, after all, a young city. The Willo gained protection as a special conservation district in the 1980s, which spared it the distressing trend of so many of Southern California's quaint postwar neighborhoods; no mansionization is allowed here.

(Willo, by the way, is not a careless misspelling of the tree. It's a merger of two original voting precincts here, Wilshire and Los Olivos.)

The cultural sophistication of the neighborhood's residents has also spawned a number of similarly minded businesses. An embryonic antiques row has formed along the neighborhood's southern edge, on McDowell Road. Nearby, a tiny bakery is turning out marvelous breads and rolls, and is also affiliated with (and is supplying the baked goods for) a respectable adjacent cafe, housed in a former flower shop.

A funky women's-wear shop and a garden store are making a go of it in the northwest corner of the neighborhood. And a playful boutique hotel has opened nearby.

The Phoenix tourist is the beneficiary of all this. The neighborhood, directly west of Central Avenue in the midtown area, is also convenient to both the incomparable Heard Museum, home to an astonishing collection of historic Southwest Indian art and crafts, and the Phoenix Art Museum.

Visitors intrigued by the cottages may simply drive into the neighborhood, park, and stroll along the sidewalks. They'll likely find plenty of company. Unlike most of urban Arizona, where people huddle in walled housing developments and dash to air-conditioned vehicles, the Willo district has more the feel of "Father Knows Best."

The homes have benches, porch swings, Adirondack chairs and fire rings out front. Residents walk their dogs on sidewalks shaded by parkway trees. Kids ride their bikes in the streets. And Phoenix's notoriously manic surface-street traffic is cooled off by traffic circles, speed bumps and artificially created dead-end streets (steel gates installed on east-west streets prevent through traffic to Central).

Antique merchants who appreciate the sensibilities of the neighborhood are beginning to sprout along West McDowell Road at the neighborhood's southern extremity. The rents are cheap, because this business district is still a bit rough around the edges.

"It's not like Melrose Avenue or Santa Monica Boulevard yet," said Cannon, "but it's going to get there. We have a Jack-in-the-Box, which is an eyesore."

Indeed. Also, directly across from a funky little coffee place called Willow House (they didn't get the memo about the spelling), there is a huge pawn shop with a sign that advertises "jewelry, guns, music, tools, coins."

Sage is one of the better antique shops here. It specializes in European salvage -- iron gates that can be mounted on walls as decor, chandeliers and other weathered Old World finds. A clerk noted that owner Kendra Vermeer has a buyer based in Europe, and makes regular treks to the Port of Long Beach to meet the container ships.

Blue Crate Findings has some beautiful glassware, as well as distressed-wood furniture, and, from China, wooden gates, screens and painted boxes.

For furnishings of a much more recent vintage, there is D.A.'s Modern, carrying such midcentury indulgences as pole lamps, spindly dinette chairs and bright-colored dishware.

But it's evident that antique commerce is a chancy proposition along here. In February, Kismet was one of the more intriguing shops on McDowell, but when I swung by on a return visit in September, it was gone, replaced by Willo Antiques. Another big antique store up the street had gone out of business, its windows defenseless against graffiti vandals.

In another corner of the neighborhood, on North 15th Avenue, the Purple Lizard carries funky and flamboyant women's clothing, including what it describes as "wearable tie dye treasures." Also for sale are local art and body products -- perhaps a bottle of lemon thyme oatmeal and rice bath salts?

Sharing the same building is Southwest Gardener, with its metal garden sculptures, inlaid-tile tables and chairs, and large, ceramic-pot fountains that are positively musical when they're all running at once.

When it's time to restore your strength with a bite to eat, head no farther than the Willo Grocery, a neighborhood bakery and deli that is worth a visit if only to savor the rich scents emanating from the ovens. The fresh loaves of bread laid out on a display table might include -- as they did on my visit -- currant walnut, cranberry hazelnut, onion rye, raisin challah and apricot almond.

The grocery is affiliated with a restaurant next door, one that adheres to the neighborhood's spirit of preservation. The building was a flower shop back in the 1940s, and a classic neon sign on the roof reads "My Florist." Rather than tearing that down and making the place over, the owners kept it and simply called the place My Florist Cafe.

Inside, there are exposed steel beams and a concrete floor on which thousands of vases undoubtedly dripped over the years. The decor is otherwise stylish, with bands of purple lighting, green walls and potted palms. The picture windows, which once showcased the flower arrangements, now contribute to the sunny, airy interior.

My Florist Cafe is a very popular lunch spot. So popular that, well, they serve the same menu of salads and sandwiches at dinnertime. Fortunately, it's possible to make a substantial nighttime meal of the big salads and perhaps the daily soup. The effort is earnest, though the service and the kitchen seem to suffer occasional lapses.

On the plus side, all the baked goods are from the bakery next door, and the wine selection is respectable. If the heat of Phoenix provokes a thirst for beer, order up the Four Peaks Kilt Lifter, a Scottish-style ale from a microbrewery in nearby Tempe.

A neighborhood with an emerging sense of style can use a boutique hotel to match, and the Willo has one nearby in the Clarendon, which lies just off its northern edge.

The boxy building has been spiced up with white paint and bold, vertical blue stripes. The pool deck is also a shocking blue color. At night, a courtyard wall becomes an ever-changing light show of pink, blue and green floodlights.

The rooms have high-end beds, linens and toiletries, and also some clever design touches. There is a sun shade over each window, but on the wall next to it is a sheet of plywood painted with a watercolor image and mounted on rails. This can be slid across the window for greater privacy and total darkness -- yet with artsy flair rather than the sterility of a drapery.

The staff is very friendly, and the inclusive perks are free phone calls (local and long distance) and chauffeur service. Providing the latter might be something of a public service, given the Clarendon's popularity with young business travelers fond of the clubs.

Directly west of the Willo neighborhood is a real municipal treasure, 80-acre Encanto Park. Among its offerings are a golf course, a kids' amusement park with a 1948 carousel, and a lagoon where paddleboats can be rented for a gentle float among the ducks and geese. Fishing is even permitted, for trout, channel catfish, sunfish and grass carp.

It's a relaxing retreat in a city that seems to be in a perpetual rush. Don't be surprised if you encounter a few Willo residents here, too. After a few days in a cozy cottage, Encanto Park's wide-open spaces can be therapeutic for them, too.

IF YOU GO

WHERE: The Willo neighborhood is in Phoenix's midtown area, directly west of Central Avenue (which, be warned, has been a nightmare of construction for months). It is bordered on the south by McDowell Road, on the west by 15th Avenue, on the north by Thomas Road.

HOME TOUR: Next year's Historic Willo Home Tour will be held Feb. 10. Tickets cost $12.75 if purchased online in advance, $15 on the day of the event. Generally, about 15 homes are open on the tour. Information: www. willohistoricdistrict.com.

RETAIL: Blue Crate Findings, 137 W. McDowell Road, (602) 548-8280; D.A.'s Modern, 527-B W. McDowell Road, (602) 252-0001; Purple Lizard Boutique, 2827 N. 15th Ave., (602) 728-0980; Sage, 335 W. McDowell Road, (602) 258-3033; Southwest Gardener, 2809 N. 15th Ave., (602) 279-9510, www.swgardener.com; Willo Antiques, 133 W. McDowell Road, (602) 266-0939.

MUSEUMS: Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Ave., www.heard.org, (602) 252-8848; Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave., www.phxart.org, (602) 257-1222.

DINING: My Florist Cafe, 534 W. McDowell Road, (602) 254-0333, www.myfloristcafe.com; Willo Grocery, 530 W. McDowell Road, (602) 441-5450; Willow House, 149 W. McDowell Road, (602) 252-0272.

LODGING: Clarendon Hotel and Suites, 401 W. Clarendon Ave. Room rates from $99. www.theclarendon.net, (602) 252-7363.

INFORMATION: www.willohistoricdistrict.com. Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau: www.phoenixcvb.com, (877) 225-5749.

Patsy's!

I got done with class early today, and after going back to the hotel to do email, etc., headed north up 7th Ave. I went past Penn Station/Madison Square Garden, then headed east on 34th St. (as in Miracle on...) and walked past Macy's, turned north on Broadway at Herald Square, walked through Times Square, up to the Ed Sullivan Theatre. I found Rupert Jee's Hello Deli but it was closed. Letterman is on tape this week so maybe Rupert took the week off... Continued up to 56th Street where Patsy's is halfway between Broadway and 8th Ave. Took the picture but it was only 4:30 and since I wanted to eat there, I headed on to kill some time. I turned north on 8th Ave. and went on to Columbus Circle. I walked around the outside of the circle, saw the entrance to Central Park, and then went to the middle of the circle and sat on a bench for a while and watched some skateboard kids. Finally headed back to Patsy's. I was concerned that they would not be serving dinner that early (a little after 5) but they were and there were several people eating. Patsy's is on two levels, there are about 18 tables on the main floor and another 25 or so upstairs. I got a table downstairs. There are pictures of the wall of famous people who have eaten there and signed their pictures (Danny Thomas, Mickey Mantle, Lyndon Johnson, etc.) I think I saw Larry David's picture. The waiters and maitre'd were mostly older (apparently) Italian men. I had a bottle of San Pelegrino, the spaghetti and meatballs and an espresso afterwards. The sauce was great, as was the bread on the table. The meatballs were large (I think there were 3 or 4). They were tasty and a little more bready than I expected. An elderly couple from Huntington Beach who really wanted to chat were at the table next to me. The man cooked a lot an he had discovered Patsy's in a gourmet magazine and this was there first time there too. After they left, a new couple was seated. It took me a minute to figure it out, but the man was Willard Scott (Today Show guy). It was confirmed when the waiter greeted with "Good to see you again, Mr. Scott." Patsy's was a lot of fun and has great food. I look forward to going back there next year with Susan. After dinner I went back to Broadway and retrace my steps back to the hotel. Times Square was really jumping by then. The city is much more walkable than you would think. One of the weirdest experiences is crossing the street in a crowd. You will be standing with about 100 people waiting to cross. About 50 locals will all start up before the light changes, then the light will change, then 50 tourists will start. If you start to get he hang of it, there is both the danger of getting rear-ended by the locals AND the danger of running into a tourist.