JAYSPEAK

DON’T TAKE YOUR LIBERTIES FOR GRANTED!

This week, I was planning to write a blog about the month of August, but I will save that for when we get to August on the calendar. But, this August will be an important month for me. I will be travelling to Boston, Massachusetts, to take Steve home. Steve had a passion for Boston that was deep and profound. He loved everything about it and talked about it often. I knew little to nothing about Boston, being raised in the South, and often wondered why Steve did not live there because of his passion. I asked him several times, and he did not have what I thought were good reasons. I don’t even remember what they were. His family had brought him in California when he was a young child. He never really liked California. Or, at least, that is what he told me. He loved Boston! We went together once in the dead of winter, and he told me more history during that trip about the founding of America than I ever learned in American History class in school. We were definitely planning to go back at some point for a continuation of the dialogue. I recently edited and will be re-editing his novel “Marathon Murders” that takes place in Boston. He talks a lot about Boston in that novel. You can feel his passion in his words.

So, today, I plan to spend some time, pondering liberties – BUYER BEWARE!! DON’T TAKE YOUR LIBERTIES FOR GRANTED, frequently using cartoons for commentary. When I think of Boston, I think about my liberties. I don’t know if that is an accurate “thinking”, but there is not a lot “accurate” about my thinking. Who cares? That’s what I think! And, in the past few months, as I watch the international news on television, I have thought a lot about how fortunate I was to have been born in the United States of America. A fluke? (See previous post about “Flukes”). I could have been born in Libya, or Mexico, or Thailand. But, I wasn’t. I was born in a small town in Georgia, U.S.A. And I lived a blessed life as a child. Fortunate, in many ways. I experienced the fear of war by a small-town community as America entered World War II, and Mother had to use rations at the grocery store. I experienced the exuberance of a community when the war was over. I can still robustly sing “Over There, Over There”,

“Johnnie, get your gun
Get your gun, get your gun
Take it on the run
On the run, on the run
Hear them calling, you and me
Every son of liberty
Hurry right away
No delay, go today
Make your daddy glad
To have had such a lad
Tell your sweetheart not to pine
To be proud her boy’s in line

Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over
Over there.”

I just received my mail- “Inspiring Quote for July 30, 2018”, from THOUGHTFUL MIND. This is what today’s quote is,

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” ― Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

So, to all of those who are complacent or approve or “buy” many of the things being done and actions taken by the U.S. government at the present time, I can only say BUYER BEWARE!! DON’T TAKE YOUR LIBERTIES FOR GRANTED. Here are several of the cartoons that speak to me. I share them with you because, by this point, you know my position with all of this.

I think I posted this one before, but I like it. If so, I apologize for the repetition.

And, it is my duty to include a brief moment of Trump comments,

AND, last but not least!!

Best, Jay

COMFORT ZONES

Between you and me, I don’t think I have any comfort zones anymore. Steve and I had created a comfort zone together, and were very happy, writing, working, and eating “comfort food” – pasta, Steve’s gravy, and his special homemade meatballs along with olives, baguettes, salami, and fresh ground parmesan cheese or Romano. We did not socialize very much and both of us liked that. We just stayed home except when we ate out an early supper at a favorite place (The Lido, Sol y Luna, Emlio’s, Brent’s Deli) or had somewhere we wanted to go. But, most of the time, we stayed home and loved it. He watched a lot of Sports Center – like ALL the time. I worked on my cases. I loved my law and helping clients. I represented people I liked – whether they had a good case or not. So, working was fun. That is where I socialized. We seldom entertained, if ever. Maybe family every once and a while, but family had their own busy lives, so that was also seldom, if ever. Fine. We were OK with the life we had created together. Moved to Nice, France, on a whim to “do something else” and work on our health. Then POW!! He got sick and died. At the age of 66. Two years ago, August 31, 2016. This August 11, he would have been 68. A young vibrant man.

So, now, I am struggling to find a comfort zone. So far. NOT. I have tried to “fit in” with expats. NOT. I don’t want to socialize. Yet, I don’t think I should stay home so much. I miss pasta and homemade meat balls. But, not enough to order them or learn how to make them. (fattening) I don’t have the money to travel. I miss the law. I miss working and clients and helping people I like. I don’t want to go back to LA or the U.S. AND, Donald Trump DEFINITELY takes me out of my comfort zone. Yet, I am not sure I want to stay here in this apartment. I like Nice, but I NEED to see the Sea. I love nature. Right now, I am surrounded by buildings, and can see the sky only IF I look up…. unless I go for a walk through the Port and along the Sea. Or to the Park by the Monastery de Cimiez. All of which is doable. And, moving is expensive.

Daddy made me read Dale Carnegie’s “HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PROPLE” in order to go to summer camp when I was little. I definitely wanted to go to Camp Dixie with my sisters, so I “tried” to read that dreary book. Ugh. It told me what I had to do to get people to “like” me. Ugh. I didn’t care if they liked me or not. Mother did. And Daddy did. I needed to always have first and foremost in my mind “what would the neighbors think”!! Well, the neighbors were Juanese Martin and the First Baptist Church preacher. So, I knew what they thought about me!! Ugh. I like to go barefooted and climb trees and get dirty. But, noooooo. I had to wear clean clothes, curl my hair, be sure my hem was just right, keep my shoes polished, do well in school. Behave. Ugh.

Well, I read enough of the book to know that I did NOT want to meet Dale Carnegie any time soon. I wondered if he were able to do all of the things he was telling us to do. All of it made me sick to my stomach. So, after that, I went through half of my life, trying to make people like me. But, they didn’t. Not even my kids. Most of the time, I didn’t like me. So, what was I to do.

That is when I decided to “withdraw”. Stop going to things. Stop trying to please. Stop “behaving”. And, when I met Steve, that was his thinking. He was active and involved in producing his ball games, but his thinking was as a “loner”. He liked his own company. So did I. I liked my own company and I like his company. He liked mine, too. We ‘spoke” the same language. Basically, we hated trying to please people. And, we did NOT try to please each other, ….at first. There were many times we told each other OFF. Stopped seeing each other. Until, we both realized we loved each other. I don’t think he could believe he was asking me to marry him. And, I wasn’t sure either one of us would go through the marriage ceremony without backing out. A hasty job in Las Vegas. Well, you know the rest of this story. If you don’t, go back and read more of these posts on this blog.

Now, I have tried, I have really tried to snap out of it, get involved and meet people. I am reaching the end of my third year in Nice. I don’t like going to coffee, talking about who I am and how I got to Nice. My social skills are the pits. Ugh. I KNOW what to do; I just don’t want to do it.

So, once again, I plan to withdraw. Do my own thing. Write more. Maybe look for international law courses to take. I still enjoy my own company. Always busy with a “project” here and there. I still need to get my French Driving License. And, have my knee replacement surgery (September 27). Get better at speaking another language – French. I have “reactivated” my California law license and am currently trying to find somewhere in the South of France to get my “fingerprints” for the new requirement of the California Bar. Most things like that are in Paris. Find a way to stay involved in the law, from here. Maybe join an LA law firm to create an online “presence” from here. Practice law from here. I know how to do all of that. Build a new foundation. Figure it out. A lot of it is already in place.

None of this feels “comfortable”. Maybe “comfort zones” don’t exist. Maybe that is just a useful expression to help me realized I am doing something I don’t want to do. Which is most things right now. More than you ever wanted to know about what is on my mind this morning, as we prepare to enter August 2018.

Best, Jay

FOOD FOR THOUGHT IN “THE INTERESTING TIMES IN WHICH WE LIVE”

As the old Chinese curse has it: “May you live in interesting times,” and the twentieth century is probably the most “interesting” period mankind has ever known. Now and then, I see an article on Facebook that I save because something about it is “interesting’ to me. After I save it, I may or may not go back and re-read it or use it in some way. Phi Beta Kappa often posts articles that I save. The one I am focusing on today was posted on Facebook by Phi Beta Kappa and written for the Washington Post by a man named Vivek Wadhwa. It could just as well be written by me. Because I agree with Mr. Wadhwa. We need both the humanities and engineering, especially today at a time when the heart and creativity seem to have taken a back seat to political ideologies, rantings, and ravings. We must encourage the pursuit of the humanities today. We cannot let them get buried beneath chaos and a heartless pursuit of power fuelled by narcissism.

Who is Vivek Wadhwa? Vivek Wadhwa is Distinguished Fellow and professor at Carnegie Mellon University Engineering at Silicon Valley and a director of research at Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke. His past appointments include Stanford Law School, the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Law School, and Emory University. This article is titled “Why Liberal Arts and the Humanities are as Important as Engineering.” Mr. Wadhwa writes,

“Earlier in my academic career, I used to advise students to focus on science and engineering, believing that they were a prerequisite for success in business. I had largely agreed with Bill Gates’s assertions that America needed to spend its limited education budgets on these disciplines, because they produced the most jobs, rather than the liberal arts and humanities.

This was in a different era of technology and well before I learned what makes the technology industry tick.

In 2008, my research teams at Duke and Harvard surveyed 652 U.S.-born chief executives and heads of product engineering at 502 technology companies. We found that they tended to be highly educated, 92 percent holding bachelor’s degrees and 47 percent holding higher degrees. Hardly 37 percent held degrees in engineering or computer technology, and 2 percent did in mathematics. The rest had degrees in fields as diverse as business, accounting, health care, and arts and the humanities.

We learned that, although a degree made a big difference in the success of an entrepreneur, the field it was in and the school that it was from were not significant factors. YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki, for instance, majored in history and literature; Slack founder Stewart Butterfield in English; Airbnb founder Brian Chesky in the fine arts. And, in China, Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma has a bachelor’s in English.

Steve Jobs touted the importance of liberal arts and humanities at the unveiling of the iPad 2: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing, and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.” With this focus, he built the most valuable company in the world and set new standards for the technology industry.

Logitech chief executive Bracken Darrell, who majored in English, also emphasized this. I recently asked him how he turned his company around and caused its stock price to increase by an astonishing 450 percent over five years. He said that it was through relentlessly focusing on design in every product the company built; that engineering is important but what makes a technology product most successful is its design.

The key to good design is a combination of empathy and knowledge of the arts and humanities. Musicians and artists inherently have the greatest sense of creativity. You can teach artists how to use software and graphics tools; turning engineers into artists is hard.

And now, a technological shift is in progress that will change the rules of innovation. A broad range of technologies, such as computing, artificial intelligence, digital medicine, robotics and synthetic biology, are advancing exponentially and converging, making amazing things possible.

With the convergence of medicine, artificial intelligence and sensors, we can create digital doctors that monitor our health and help us prevent disease; with the advances in genomics and gene editing, we have the ability to create plants that are drought resistant and that feed the planet; with robots powered by artificial intelligence, we can build digital companions for the elderly. Nanomaterial advances are enabling a new generation of solar and storage technologies that will make energy affordable and available to all.

Creating solutions such as these requires a knowledge of fields such as biology, education, health sciences and human behavior. Tackling today’s biggest social and technological challenges requires the ability to think critically about their human context, which is something that humanities graduates happen to be best trained to do.

An engineering degree is very valuable, but the sense of empathy that comes from music, arts, literature and psychology provides a big advantage in design. A history major who has studied the Enlightenment or the rise and fall of the Roman Empire gains an insight into the human elements of technology and the importance of its usability. A psychologist is more likely to know how to motivate people and to understand what users want than is an engineer who has worked only in the technology trenches. A musician or artist is king in a world in which you can 3D-print anything that you can imagine.

When parents ask me now what careers their children should pursue and whether it is best to steer them into science, engineering and technology fields, I tell them that it is best to let them make their own choices. They shouldn’t, I tell them, do what our parents did, telling us what to study and causing us to treat education as a chore; instead, they should encourage their children to pursue their passions and to love learning.

To create the amazing future that technology is enabling, we need our musicians and artists working hand in hand with our engineers. It isn’t either one or the other; we need both the humanities and engineering.”

YES, the twentieth century is definitely “interesting”. I don’t know if it is the most “interesting” period mankind has ever known. I think there were probably other interesting times, but what do I know? Just thinking out loud……

Best, Jay

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S ‘COPYRIGHT DIRECTIVE’ – A COMMENTARY

This past week, on Thursday, July 5, the European Union Parliament (MEP) voted on an incredibly controversial bill, called “Copyright Directive”, and, if it had passed or if it passes in the future, the web as we know it will change considerably. The Directive was put forward for a full vote in June after it was approved by the EU’s legal Affairs Committee (JURI) The legislation seeks to change how copyright works on the Internet. Article 11 and Article 13 are the most contentious parts to it, even though that are a lot of parts to it. The wording to both is vague, but here goes a try by me to explain:

Article 11, as I understand it, requires stricter checks on links within articles so that if a website hyperlinks to another website in an article, it would require websites to pay for a license to do so. So, in this blog, if I hyperlink a restaurant’s website to my article in my blog post on my WordPress.com website, I would have to pay for a license to do so. Or WordPress would be required to pay for a license, if its users use hyperlinks. OUCH!! That might be fine for large media companies, but for smaller ones, such a fee may be beyond their means. They just wouldn’t do it, so that would be the end to their/my ability to hyperlink possibly useful information. For those of you who are not familiar with the word “hyperlink”, that is the word that describes when you can click on a word, and it automatically connects you to another website, like the Negresco Hotel. Click on it to see what I mean. It should take to to the Negresco Hotel’s website. That is called a “hyperlink”. Not the greatest explanation, but hopefully you now know what a hyperlink is.

AND, U.S. sites that operate in the EU would have to adhere to these rules.

Article 13 would make publishers responsible for all content that’s posted on their site, even in comments from users. So, if you were commenting on an article and posted a link to or picture of copyrighted material in your comment, the website would be liable. Thus, this Article would require all sites to monitor copyright on their sites themselves, including anything posted by users. OUCH!

As you can see, this legislation, if passed, would change the future of the free and open INTERNET. It probably will change anyway; it is just a matter of when, especially with the US recently repealing its Net Neutrality laws. Say what??? What were the U.S. Net Neutrality laws? The net neutrality rules were approved by the FCC in 2015 amid an outpouring of online support. The intention was to keep the internet open and fair. Under the rules, internet service providers were required to treat all online content the same. They couldn’t deliberately speed up or slow down traffic from specific websites or apps, nor could they put their own content at an advantage over rivals. The repeal of Obama-era net neutrality protections officially took effect on Monday, June 11, 2018, nearly six months after the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted to roll back the rules. In a press release Monday, the FCC said the repeal does away with “unnecessary, heavy-handed regulations” and replaces them with “common-sense regulations that will promote investment and broadband deployment.”

Problems Regarding the EU Copyright Directive:

1) Both Article 11 and Article 13 make demands on anyone operating a popular website to monitor copyrighted material and to pay fees when linking out to their articles;

2) Both articles are vague. Enforcing them would be difficult, if not impossible, transforming the Internet into a tool for surveillance and control of users (Big Brother!!);

3) The entire Directive covers people who talk to each other online.

The good news is that this Directive was rejected (rejected by a margin of 318-278) on July 5, even though a slew of high-profile music stars had backed it – such as Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Placido Domingo and David Guetta – arguing that users illegally uploaded their music. MEP decided the changes needed more debate; and sent the proposals back to the drawing board, to the Commission. The two sides will undoubtedly step up their campaigns in the meantime. I read somewhere that the next vote will be sometime in September 2018.

Which begs the question: Why it this happening at all? Because the EU Commission wants more modern copyright law that takes account of the features and potential uses of digital technology and widens the degree of European cross-border access to protected works online. It wants a broad reform of EU copyright laws. And, not that I know, but when a legislative drive like this begins to manifest, it is only a matter of time before things change. So, enjoy the last few weeks or months of internet freedom. The Internet, just when I am beginning to know how to use it- like most things, is changing with the times. The rules will stifle internet freedom and creativity. However, copyrighted works online DO need to be protected. SO…….

Those of you who don’t spend a lot of time on the Internet, this won’t matter anyway. To those of us who are interested in International Copyright law and look up caselaw online, and google just about everything from “sore throats”, good cat food, Thai Food Restaurants, to knee replacements, and orthopedic surgeons, etc., brace yourself! It is not “IF”; it is “WHEN” and “HOW MUCH.”

More than you ever wanted to know,

JAY, Esq.

A BASEBALL MEMORY

In the midst of all the chaos going on in the world, especially in my United States, it is good to remember constants that bring us together. Like baseball. Apple pie. Hot dogs. Even though baseball is in “full swing” right now, I need to post this video. It makes me feel good when the news makes me feel bad. Next week is July 4th. Like it or not, it is still a happy holiday. SOOO, I am posting this video, produced by STEVE ORLANDELLA with voiceover by (ME!!!) JAY W. MACINTOSH. It is just a moment of baseball, Fenway Park, and the Red Sox!! Steve loved baseball and his Red Sox! He did this video from his upstairs loft office when we were living in the townhouse on Bentley Avenue in Westwood. When he asked me to do the voiceover, I was honored, pleased that he admired my work. I learned a lot about baseball from Steve. I cherish the Emmys (for producing the Jackie Robinson special and the Dodger baseball games) that sit on my bookshelf.

And, since I now know how to post videos to Jayspeakblog (thanks to my niece, Debby Kroll), I present to you a Steve Orlandella short movie – “BASEBALL IS BACK”. That guy knew and loved his baseball!!

https://www.amazon.com/Game-Baseball-Companion-Steve-Orlandella/dp/1484808924/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1530256060&sr=8-6&keywords=steve+orlandella

Best, Jay

A PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT….

Often, I think of philosophical concepts that interest me, like “the sound of one hand clapping” or “creativity is intelligence having fun” or “obligation can be a prison” or the philosopher Lao Tzu’s question he asked over 2500 years ago that perfectly describes the spirit phase, “Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control?”

Most of the time, it is easier to post pictures of the Mediterranean Sea or of few roses or of an interesting moment about my life in France. I try to avoid writing about politics or religion or my frustrations with the political climate in the U.S. Yes, I know, I know. Some nights, I post commentaries on Facebook and delete them at 3 a.m. after the evening news and dinner wine have worn off. Yes, maybe a comment here and there or a cartoon or two. But, I don’t like the inevitable resulting attacks and insults.

Today is different. These thoughts have filled my mind for a long time – especially during the period during which I practiced law, “fighting for justice” for the worker or employee against bully-supervisors or corporate executives. Now, even more so, with the Trump administration taking drastic actions against policies and procedures I believed were the basic beliefs and founding blocks of the United States of America. It is too long and arduous a task to try to explain to you when and how I arrived at being interested in this subject. Just know that I am and have been for many years.

The question is this: Does the end justify the means? My answer: It is according to which side you are on. Clients would say to me, “I want justice.” Other attorneys would say, “We are fighting for justice!” What is justice? Well, it is according to which side you are on. From where I sit, not all “means” are permissible. But…. according to whom or to what? The Civil Code? The Supreme Court? The Company Policies and Procedures? The Bible? God? Allah? The employee? The Company Executives? If the end justifies the means, it follows the means must be justified. And, the means is justified – according to which side you are on. Ugh.

Most of my life, people have said the end does NOT justify the means. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” Matthew 7:12. What about the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki “to save lives”? What about the Civil War? In the American Civil War of 1861-65, for example, both sides engaged in similar acts of violence. But one side was fighting to defend slavery and the other to end it. It appears that every ruling class in the world operates on the assumption that the end justifies the means – according to which side you are on. And, now, the United States is consumed with immigration arguments, as is Germany, Italy, and Spain. Plus, other countries. People in power risk the lives of millions of ordinary soldiers on both sides in order to control some market, some bit of land, or some slice of power. Is this the chief function of official morality? Is it immoral to kill in peacetime but a sacred duty to kill in war? Is it impermissible for strikers to use force to stop a scab crossing a picket line but obligatory for a police officer to use force to break up that same picket line? And, the list goes on.

Note to Readers: This is NOT a debate. Just a few observations and rhetorical questions. Please DO NOT try to tell me what to think. It is too late for that….

Best, Jay

PAMELA’S BIRTHDAY!

June 19th is my friend Pamela Keilson’s birthday. To celebrate, Pamela, Margaret Keith, and I got luncheon reservations at La Chevre d’Or in Eze. The three of us took the 82 bus from Nice to Eze, excited about spending the day celebrating Pamela life at one of the most gorgeous spots on earth. Needless to say, we had fun, laughing a lot at everything. Things went wrong – my knee hurt; the bus was FULL of people; it was hot as hell; a complaining taxi-driver drove us up the hill; steps were EVERYWHERE; the food was salty; Pamela’s dog kept drinking water and peeing; I talked too loud; Pamela accidentally left her gift at the bus stop back to Nice; the bus was FULL of people; it was hot as hell; I bitched about my knee…. Things went right – I made it there and back; the taxi was free; people loved the dog; waiters brought lots of water; food was good; wine was delicious; people were patient, the view was great; we laughed a lot; people got up and gave us their seats…. A wonderful day!

Best, Jay

A TIME TO REMEMBER

I was born in 1937. This is true. I remember as if it were yesterday.

A Gentle Reminder

“Born in the 1930s and early 40s, we exist as a very special age group.

We are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.

We are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war which rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

We are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

We saved tin foil and poured fat into tin cans.

We saw cars up on blocks because tires weren’t available.

We can remember milk being delivered to our house early in the morning and placed in the “milk box” on the porch.

We are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of our grieving neighbors whose sons died in the War.

We saw the ‘boys’ home from the war, build their little houses.

We are the last generation who spent childhood without
television; instead, we imagined what we heard on the radio.

As we all like to brag, with no TV, we spent our childhood
“playing outside”.

There was no little league.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in our early years meant, for most of us, that we had little real understanding of what the world was like.

On Saturday afternoons, the movies, gave us newsreels sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party Lines) and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators, they were hand cranked; typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

The ‘INTERNET’ and ‘GOOGLE’ were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on our radio in the evening by Gabriel Heatter and later Paul Harvey.

As we grew up, the country was exploding with growth.

The G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the means to get an
education and spurred colleges to grow.

VA loans fanned a housing boom.

Pent up demand coupled with new installment
payment plans opened many factories for work.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Our parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

We weren’t neglected, but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.

They were glad we played by ourselves until the street lights came on.

They were busy discovering the post war world.

We entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed, enjoyed ourselves and felt secure in our future. Although depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.

We came of age in the 50s and 60s.

The Korean War was a dark passage in the early 50s and by mid-decade school children were ducking under desks for Air-Raid training.

Russia built the “Iron Curtain” and China became Red China .

Eisenhower sent the first ‘Army Advisers’ to Vietnam.

Castro took over in Cuba and Khrushchev came to power.

We are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland. The war was over and the cold war, terrorism, “global warming”, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only our generation can remember both a time of great war, and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. lived through both.

We grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better. not worse.

We are “The Last”

More than 99 % of us are either retired or are deceased, and we feel privileged to have ‘lived in the best of times’!”

I don’t recognize the world today. It is not the America I remember and loved.

Best, Jay

A DAY BY THE SEA IN ANTIBES

On Saturday, June 16, 2018, two of my U.S. expat friends, Pamela Keilson (from San Francisco) and Margaret Keith (from Selma, Alabama), drove with me to a fun event by the Sea in Antibes, hosted by The American Club of the Riviera (ACR). Antibes is the home to Port Vauban, the largest yachting harbor in Europe, which can accommodate boats of more than 100 meters.

ACR was holding its June event, starting with a private guided walking tour of the famous Picasso Museum. Antibes was build upon the foundations of the ancient Greek town of Antipolis. In the 12th century, Monaco’s ruling family, the Grimaldi’s, constructed The Chateau Grimaldi, which faces the Mediterranean Sea above the rampart walls that were built to protect the city. In 1946, the Chateau was the home of the artist Pablo Picasso for six months. Today, the Chateau is The Picasso Museum, the first of many museums in the world dedicated to Picasso. Picasso himself donated works to the Museum, and in 1990, his widow Jacqueline Picasso bequeathed works to the Museum. Between you and me, I am not a fan of walking tours, especially with my bad knee. Steps EVERYWHERE. But, I was interested in finding out about the Museum so I did my best. Picasso has always been one of my favorites.

We also toured the Antibes Cathedral – Notre Dame de la Plateas and walked by the Harbor, into the streets of Old Town. The weather was gorgeous!!

We ended up at the Restaurant Le Phenicia for a Lebanese Meze (Lunch) Delicious! This is the Restaurant.

This is the view!! WOW!!

Probably one of the best results of this day for me is that I have now made the decision to have a knee replacement. I was miserable trying to keep up with the requirements of the day – walking. I still had fun, but … you know what I mean.

Best, Jay

A MEMORY IN MARSEILLE – JUNE 9, 2016

On June 8, 2016, Steve and I drove to Marseille to spend the night so that we would be in town early the next morning to meet his Auntie Gloria and cousin, Erica. They were passing through Marseille on a Carnival Cruise, and we all wanted to spend time together for a day. We had rented a Blacklane town-car for the occasion and made luncheon reservations in Aix-en-Provence at a lovely garden restaurant. The entire day was delightful! At the time, we did not write about that day or post a lot of photos. And, neither one of us had started writing our blogs. So, I am posting these memories today – better late that never. Posthumously, for Steve. He loved his “Auntie Gloria” very much and this was a special day for all of us. Along with the photos is a movie I made, just for fun and to post on my channel on YouTube. Let’s say – The pictures speak for them selves. A fun day for all of us.