Leave the flag alone

I suppose some would say I've lost any say in this matter since I don't live in South Dakota anymore. But I just moved away in November and only because my job took Barb and I here to Tennessee. I am a native of South Dakota and lived most of my life there. I call South Dakota my home and I always will (no matter where I live). And when my job is done here I plan to return to the Midwest. Heck, we still own our house in Hartford so we may retire there in a few years.

All that being said I have an opinion to share, and here it is.
"Don't mess with South Dakota's flag."
At least 80 South Dakota lawmakers are supporting HB 1235 introduced by Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton to change the state's flag. Artist Dick Termes of Spearfish drew the design, which has a Native American medicine wheel surrounded by yellow rays of sunshine on a sky-blue background.
This is not only a bad idea. It calls into question the need to have a yearly legislative session when lawmakers can find nothing more important to spend their time on than tinkering with a flag. And I'm not alone in sharing this opinion. The Rapid City Journal's online poll showed 86% of respondents preferred the state's old flag. A Sioux Falls Argus Leader online poll showed almost identical results with 87% favoring the state's current flag.
Why don't lawmakers take the hint? But then they've wrestled with such weighty issues in the past as naming the state bird (ring-necked pheasant); state flower (American Pasque); state tree (Black Hills Spruce); state nickname (Mount Rushmore State); state motto: "Under God, the People Rule;" state slogan: "Great Faces. Great Places;" state mineral: rose quartz; state insect: honey bee; state animal: coyote; state fish: walleye; state gemstone: fairburn agate; and state song: "Hail, South Dakota!" Oh, and I seem to remember too that the "state desert" is kuchen. I'm thinking we should lobby the legislature to make the state disease the common cold.
But in all fairness, I do see the value in many of these declarations. There is tourism value and state pride here. But changing the state's flag? If you want to tackle that issue take it to South Dakota's voters. Let them have their say. They're having their say in the online social media and most of them are unhappy with the idea. Many of the comments I've read have been blunt and pointed: don't do it, or if you feel the need to do it, start a dialogue that opens the issue for more designs and for citizens to give their input.
I'm sorry if the legislators don't think the state's seal is worthy of representing us any longer. According to the Rapid City Journal, a 2001 survey of flag experts in the North American Vexillological Association ranked our flag among the worst in North America. It was ranked 5th worst behind Georgia, Nebraska, Montana and Kansas. The best included New Mexico, Texas, Quebec, Maryland and Alaska. Well, I didn't think that state flags were part of any beauty contest. I don't care about their rankings. It has meaning and history to me, and that's what's important.
The Journal gave a brief history (courtesy of the South Dakota State Historical Society) of the state's flag, which began twenty years after our statehood in 1889 when Seth Bullock urged State Historical Society employee Ida Anding to design athe flag, which featured a blazing sun on an azure field. The law enacting the flag, SB 208, sponsored by Sen. Ernest May of Deadwood, said that the reverse of the flag should bear the state seal.
More than half a century later, lawmakers decided to abandon the idea of a two-sided flag for "financial and aesthetic reasons," the Journal says. The compromise is what we have today -- the sun on a field of blue with the state seal inside the sun. And around the seal are the words "South Dakota" and the state's unofficial nickname, the "The Sunshine State." According to the Journal, the flag was revised in 1992 to include the new state nickname, "The Mount Rushmore State."
And it was around the time of the state's centennial -- in 1989 -- that Spearfish artist Dick Termes proposed the new flag design. Now it has reached the floor of the state legislature.
Bottom line, if the legislators' goal was to create a dialogue on this issue, then they've achieved that. But if it was to establish a new flag without public input, I hope they get an earful from its residents.
Lawmakers, at the very least, listen to South Dakota's residents, because if you don't listen now, you'll hear them in November.

Memphis --living in the Mid-South

What's special about Memphis?
Before we moved to Tennessee, I couldn't tell you much of anything about Memphis, other than it's home to Elvis Presley's Graceland, which is visited annually by more than 600,000 people, making it the second most-visited home in the U.S. (behind the White House).
It's home to the NBA's "Memphis Grizzlies," whom Mitchell's Mike Miller played for from 2003 to 2008.
That's not much to go on when we moved just 15 miles north of Memphis. So here's what else I've discovered...
Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, Memphis has a population of 662,897 (2010 census), and is Tennessee's largest city and the 20th largest in the nation. Its metro area has a population of 1.3 million. It is also the nation's 5th most dangerous city.
A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as the "Mid-South."
Memphis is known as the "Home of the Blues" and the "Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll." It has been the subject of or at least mentioned in many songs. Some are among my favorites, including "Maybe it was Memphis" by Pam Tillis, "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn, and "Memphis" by Johnny Rivers, to name a few. Wikipedia states that "Memphis is thought to be one of the most mentioned cities (if not the most) in recorded music. There are over 1,000 commercial recordings of over 800 distinct songs containing "Memphis" in them." In case you were wondering, the Web site "memphisrocknsoul.org" lists 1,074 songs that mention Memphis in their lyrics. In addition, almost 20% of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's earliest inductees hailed from within a 100-mile radius of Memphis.
What else?
* Historic Beale Street was voted the second most popular entertainment district following New Orleans' Bourbon Street.
* Memphis is named for its Egyptian sister city on the Nile.
* Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
* The name Memphis means "established" and "beautiful."
* Memphis is home to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded in 1962, by entertainer Danny Thomas. St. Jude is one of the world's premier centers for research and treatment of catastrophic diseases in children and has treated more than 16,000 children from the U.S. and 60 foreign countries.
* Memphis is the largest spot cotton market in the world, with nearly half of the U.S. cotton crop going through Memphis.
Even the lion that roared at the start of MGM's films lived at the Memphis Zoo until his death in 1944.
There's even more colorful history to be found at memphistravel.com. Now we know a little bit more about this southern belle. The rest we'll explore on our own.

Where are we?

Last week when Barb and I were in Branson, MO to ring in the New Year with our friends Alan and Linda Hall of Sioux Falls, we bought a global positioning system (GPS). This is another one of those devices that makes life so much easier.
My first real experience with a GPS was riding home from El Paso, TX to South Dakota with Paul Patton of Mitchell. We left early one morning before Thanksgiving 2008 on the 20-hour drive, arriving very late that same evening (or very early the next morning). Paul is a commercial trucker, so he had two GPS systems up and running in his minivan. I marveled as much at watching the little arrow lead us down a bird's-eye-view of the road we were on, with a pleasant female voice alerting us when we were due to turn in another direction.
Nowadays, built-in GPS devices are becoming standard equipment on new cars, but they didn't exist back when our 1999 Toyota Camry was built. So when we were in Branson we took advantage of Alan's business savvy and GPS knowledge to buy our own GPS. Upon leaving Branson, we programmed our home address into the system and let it guide us home with no problems. This unit even has a red-light indicator to alert drivers when they're approaching an intersection under red-light camera surveillance.
With this unit you can even "buy" celebrity's voices. James Bond, Mr. T, Bert & Ernie, Homer Simpson,Bugs Bunny.... My GPS web site lists 99 voices (some in foreign languages) you can purchase to guide you to your destination.
But a few weeks earlier, in our travels to Germantown, TN on the outskirts of Memphis, we used the GPS on Barb's smart phone to guide us to the local mall. It's amazing that our location can be mapped and pinpointed from almost anywhere on earth. You wanna hide from someone? Better leave your 'smart phone' behind.
Hmmm... this even seems to put MapQuest -- most recently our trusted traveling companion and map reader -- out of business, although it still comes in handy when you're planning a trip. Who needs AAA?
We still carry an atlas and a few maps in the car. When I was young, mom and dad would check maps and watch signs so we didn't miss our turn. No "fail-safe" method here. Just lots of poring over maps.
What would Dad think of this GPS? I doubt he would put the maps away. There's something almost comforting about unfolding a map and plotting your own way.

Born to run

Remember Forrest Gump? How he ran across the continent -- from one ocean to the other -- and then turned around and ran back?
I don't have many hobbies, but over the years I've developed a love for running, or more accurately as I've gotten older -- jogging. And to look at me you would not believe it because I don't have a runner's physique. Far from it. But I identified with Forrest Gump as he followed his girlfriend's advice to "Run Forrest. Run!"
I competed in running events in high school as a member of our 440- and 880-yard relay teams, and I even held the school's freshman record for the 100-yard dash for a while (11.2 seconds). But long-distance running wasn't my thing. I would never have developed this passion had it not been for the Army ROTC program at SDSU. The two-mile run has been a part of the physical fitness test I've been required to take at least twice a year for my entire Army career. Back at SDSU, our ROTC instructor -- MAJ Henkel -- would lead us hardy cadets down the campus streets, singing "Jodies."
What's a "jody?"
The Web site Army-cadence.com defines a Jody as "cadences sung by marching or running soldiers often dubbed “Jodys” or “Jody calls”. This name “Jody” refers to a recurring civilian character, the soldier’s nemesis, who stays home to a perceived life of luxury. Jody stays home to drive the soldier's car, date the soldier's girl friend, hangs out with the soldier's friends, and eats mom’s great cooking."
Common themes in Jodie calls include: homesickness, gripes about military life, insults of other units, services or the enemy, battles, exploits, or events specific to one’s own unit, or humorous references.
"While obscene, offensive and violent, Jody calls were previously the norm, they are now almost unheard of. Previously “R” rated Jodies have been cleaned up and modified, making them acceptable for a wider audience," the Web site says.
That's how I got started running. During my early Army years we ran in boots. None of this running in Nikes or Adidas that troops these days enjoy. And for years later I would only start running about 3 months before a physical fitness test. In other words, I'd let myself get out of shape twice a year and back into shape twice a year. At some point -- back in the 1980s I believe -- I kept on going with running and began a daily running regimen I still follow today. For many years my routine was 6 miles daily, but early in 2011 I cut back to 4 miles a day -- yielding slightly to my advancing age.
Barb will tell you I'm a creature of habit. My day isn't quite right if I don't get a run in. Since we've come to Tennessee we've used the treadmills in our apartment's fitness room. But my favorite route -- one I ran for 10+ years -- was the bike trail in Sioux Falls, from near Elmwood Park north and west around the airport to Minnesota Avenue. There were other diehards like myself. For several years I met Jason (don't know his last name) on the bike path, and we got to know each other as we passed each other daily or sometimes ran together. I'm sure he's still running there regularly. Wish I was there too.
I estimate I've run approximately 23,000 miles in my lifetime -- give or take 5,000 or so. That number is probably low, but I'll go with it.
The health benefits are many. I can't imagine how much I'd weigh without putting in all of those miles. It has kept me in some decent shape for all of these years. And, best of all, I am addicted to that "runner's high," defined my Merriam-Webster as "a feeling of euphoria that is experienced by some individuals engaged in strenuous running and that is held to be associated with a release of endorphins by the brain." It's that sense of accomplishment too that I love. And running gives you a lot of time to think things through -- chores you must do, problems to solve, etc.
I'm not sure how many years I'll be able to do this yet. My knees (thank God) have never bothered me, and the only time I've taken a break from this routine was when I had a car accident in 1997 and a severe muscle sprain in 2003.
I can't say that I was born to run. But I sure have become devoted to it.

The joy of writing

There's something exhilarating about putting one's thoughts on paper. Expressing oneself clearly is one of life's most important and valuable skills. It can't be overemphasized. I got to thinking more about writing when Barb asked me to look at her most recent blog, which you can find at http://expressions-thebeautyinlife.blogspot.com/2012/01/christmases-past.html. Barb wrote about her sadness on Christmas Day and not being able to spend the holiday with her family now that we're in Tennessee. She wrote about some of her favorite Christmas memories. It was sad and sweet to read because I hadn't realized just how much being away from home bothered Barb. And it was a part of her I hadn't seen before. But part of her childhood opened up to me in her writing. I wrote to her in response, "I hope that writing about it helps you. Writing gives me such a powerful form of expression and catharsis and I guess that's why I like it so much."
Granted, I am not and never will be a public speaker. Everyone who knows me knows I do not like the limelight and I don't like to speak publicly. My teachers' most common remark to my parents over the years was that "David doesn't speak often in class, but when he does, he has something of value to say."
It's safe to say I hate public speaking but I love writing. It is timeless and lasts forever. It's putting one's emotions down on paper. It's expression, prose, opinion, healing and communication all rolled into one. It's a prescription for relief without taking a pill. I've often said that the most valuable course I took in school was typing. Even more so now that my hands hurt from arthritis. But I remember well Mr. Bjerke's sophomore typing class. There were rows and rows of clunky old manual Royal typewriters with sets of green keys. We shuddered when we saw that there were no letters on the keys. We were expected to know them by heart! And as we progressed through the lessons Mr. Bjerke would "time" us, walking down the aisle with a stopwatch in hand as we tried typing as fast as we could with as few errors as possible. "Typos" were subtracted from the total word count and a "typing speed" was determined. But then we graduated to IBM Selectric typewriters, and that was awesome! Then along came the computer and "typing" became "keyboarding." And crumpled-up paper tossed at a garbage can became a thing of the past. And "spell check" and "grammar check" became buzz words.
But in the end it still comes down to putting your thoughts on paper. And that's the process that I love. This is my 26th blog post since I began this process last March. It hasn't been very regular, but when the urge to write hits me I usually give in and let it flow. Noted American author and journalist Ernest Hemingway once said, “In order to write about life first you must live it.” And that's the best part -- writing about life.
Hemingway also said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
And so it is.
We bleed emotions, thoughts, concerns, opinions. We "get it off our chests."
And after you've written all that, don't you feel better?