Today’s 5Star post is when I was just starting out treating photography as a serious hobby in 1970. It was taken with my first 35mm camera that is absolutely primitive by today’s standards. The picture quality is pretty low as it was scanned about 6 years ago from the original 5×7 print, but the composition is pretty good for a beginner. :) Continue reading Starting Out…
All we seem to hear lately is how the bottom rung of the employment ladder is stuck at dreadfully low conditions. Part of that of course is the low minimum wage level. Historically, mainly due to GOP gridlock, it has not been increased nearly enough to keep up with the times. But it is nice to see that significant gains have taken place in recent years. The 2015 Census data on income and poverty is out — and for the first time since the Great Recession, it’s unambiguously great news. Median household income was up 5.2 percent compared to 2014 … Continue reading Why America’s good fortune won’t last
I love going to events that include re-enactors. It brings history alive so to speak. The “Feast of the Hunter’s Moon” was one of this events. For this pictorial post I want to concentrate on those folks. This event which is just north of West Lafayette (Purdue) has been going on for about 30 years now. I’m sure many who are in these pictures have performed in a lot of them. Click on any image to see a larger slide show view Even a number of visitors such as the couple pulling the antique baby carriage and the two young … Continue reading Ode to the Re-enactors…
I loved the quote in the title above when I came across it recently on the CNN Channel’s GPS. Too many people want easy-to-understand answers to all the problems around them. So when someone comes along and tells them that the solution to gross wealth inequity is to build a wall around the country they jump on board. When someone tells them that the answer to terrorism is to ban all Muslims and deport those citizens who don’t take a loyalty test They say “yeah, yeah”. In my mind the people who do that are just too lazy to take the … Continue reading The Appeal of Simplicity In A Complex World..
I know the picture here on this 5Star post is not clear or particularly focused but it gets its rating from my memories. It was taken by a small Kodak camera in 1969 and is of my friend Don V. He was the friend that got me interested in Bob Dylan and things “folk”. I will always thank him for that. Even in my deafness I still love those songs floating around in my head. I occasionally bring out my old 33rpm records to just look at them and remember the times. Don got married soon after he graduated from Purdue. … Continue reading Remembering Don V….
Lord knows I have my problems in life, I have even been blogging about some of them in my Celebrate Diversity posts lately. So I can understand how so many women are addicted to their make-up. I also admit that I am not very well attuned to the social scene so I really didn’t know much about Alicia Keys, but I admired her audacity. By baring her bare face, Keys has revealed how makeup can become a crutch and a mask. The very fact that women are so encouraged to apply makeup communicates that we should be concealing our imperfections and … Continue reading About Make-up…
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending The Feast of the Hunter’s Moon in Tippecanoe County Indiana. It is one of the largest re-enactor events in the Midwest. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what was there. More on this in a later post: As Usual click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view Continue reading Feast Of The Hunter’s Moon…
Being deaf my world is primarily visual. So one of my most endearing hobbies is photography. I got my first 35mm camera right out of college. It, besides my 1970 Mustang, was my first extravagant purchase. I have upgraded cameras many times since then and now have a fully digital GPS enabled one sitting beside me on all of my micro-RV trips and even around the homestead. Most of the posts here at RJsCorner are primarily words but I do intertwine them with occasional pictures such as in my search of America. I think it is about time to put more … Continue reading My Visual World…
Recently I visited the Zoar Village in central Ohio that is one of the few villages where the whole town is on the National Register of Historic Places. As is often the case Zoar was platted by Germans escaping religious prosecution by the Lutheran church in the early 1800s. It was a communal colony but unlike most did not discourage gawkers so it has a rich pictorial history that I hope to bring you more of in future posts. For now just enjoy some of the buildings found there. It shamefully seems that many of these type sites are falling out of … Continue reading Zoar Village – Ohio
The title of this snippet post might be confusing to some of you but bear with me. I am not a gambler in almost any form but I have been playing roulette a lot lately. Mail Roulette.. It seems we have a new mail delivery person on our rural route. I’m pretty sure that all of them for the last half dozen years have been contract employees. That is they are not postal workers with life time employment as seems common to most governmental bureaucracies. Our last couple of carriers were less than amazing but this new one takes the … Continue reading Roulette And The USPS…
When I was hearing I enjoyed the songs of John Denver, especially his 1971 album with “Take Me Home, Country Roads” about West Virginia. I certainly enjoyed my visit to WV in 2011 and yes it did have a lot of beautiful country roads. Click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view An especially delightful time was at the State Museum in the capital city. I think it is the best I have ever visited. Continue reading Take Me Home, Country Roads..
There will be much more later but I wanted to give you a quick pic of my recent three day adventure into central Ohio and particularly the Zoar Village. If you are into history it is an awesome place. Continue reading Zoar Village, Ohio
The last few years the concept of simplicity has been a major theme for me. I have spent much of the last year decluttering my life and all the stuff I have unnecessarily collected. That included a closet of clothes never worn in several years and a 30×60 foot barn with decades worth of accumulated junk. For some reason I now find it much more satisfying to live a cleaner life without so much stuff. I don’t know if this is because I can see the end of the tunnel or if this has been a lifelong endeavor that is … Continue reading Simplify…
When I came across these pictures in my database I began dreaming of Pittsburgh and particularly the Heinz Museum. Don’t miss it if you are in the area. Pittsburgh is different from any other major city I have visited. It has a raw edge to it that is a legacy of it steel industry heritage. Click on any picture to see a larger slideshow. Continue reading I’m Dreaming Of Pittsburgh
This is Part 2 of 10 of My Venture Into Asperger’s. In my previous post I reported how I was a late-bloomer in the relationship field. This time I want to talk about feminine and ‘macho’ things. Even as a young child macho was a very negative trait to me. Simply speaking I hated it. I’m sure the word macho means different things to different people so to the right is the definition that I use. IN my mind macho is almost synonymous with being a bully. There is nothing manly about it. I knew being a boy I was supposed to be macho but the … Continue reading Feminine vs Macho…
The title above may seem strange coming from a deaf man but I really do think we have to stop using sign language interpreters for public announcements. Its time to move on to better ways. Way better ways… The facts show us that the ASL interpreters who are often behind a public official announcing something is understood by less that 20% of the people who are deaf and less than 2% of those who have hearing impairments. But there is a technology that is understood by probably 90%+ of that population. That technology is captioning. It is cheap, it is … Continue reading Stop Using Sign Language Interpreters…
The quotes below come from input from Irish high school students when asked about having religious studies in their school system. The wisdom of these kids’ words are way beyond their years. By giving all children the opportunity to learn about the beliefs and values of diverse groups in society, the government would be providing for their education in some of the liberal democratic values on which the State itself is based. They include openness to a range of views along with inclusive and respectful citizenship. MANUS CHARLETON Perhaps, as religion is one of the greatest causes of conflict in … Continue reading Teach theology, not religion
When George Bush in 2000 said he was a “compassionate conservative”, my first thought was there is no such thing. But then after some thoughtful meditation I had to take back those words. I must admit that compassion, at least beyond a minimum level, seems to be pretty far away from most in the GOP. They seem to be much more concerned about the top 1% than the bottom 20%. Its been a while since I collected the quote below but I’m pretty sure it came from Jim Wallis at Sojourners just before he retired from that organization. When my … Continue reading Why Not A Trampoline??
I know that most people from outside the Midwest probably can’t even put Indiana in the right place on the U.S. map. But I think when asked “How would describe Indiana?” the answer many would give is that it is a cornfield with lights. I admit that for the most part Indiana is kind of boring. It doesn’t have an ocean or mighty mountains. But it does touch (barely) a Great Lake and the part where I reside is pretty hilly. On my recent uRV trip I took the quintessential picture of Indiana and thought it deserves its own … Continue reading When You Think Of Indiana??
When our founders set up our government their intention was that its citizens would come to the nation’s capital for a period of time to contribute to the running of the people’s business and would then return to their normal lives. Of course that is not what is happening today. There are way too many people in our congress who are now collecting very lucrative pensions even after even relatively short terms in congress. There are those like Strom Thurmond, who have been there for decades and seem to want to die in office. John McCain first comes to mind … Continue reading Congressional Pensions??
My latest micro-RV (uRV) trip was to Madison Indiana which is on the Ohio River east of Louisville. As usual I took county and state roads during my 400 mile trek. One of the towns that intrigued me was Flat Rock Indiana. I’m sure it was once a thriving rural town in the area. There is a gravel pit near the town as the only traffic through the town while I was there were loaded dump trucks. (as usual click on any picture to see a larger view slideshow) I think there were still a few houses occupied in the … Continue reading Welcome To Flat Rock…
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 