Thursday, January 16, 2025

THE SABAN CENTER: Opening June 2007!!!!

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Lucy Wormsley

When asked what excites her about history, Lucy said there are three main reasons for this kind of study: pure enjoyment, analytical skills and an undeniable sense of perspective. Although she says there’s plenty to learn from all kinds of history, her favorite is the “nitty gritty dirty detail of everyday life.” She knows visitors to historical sites often expect to ask questions about topics like the politics of the Reformation, “but what they really want to know about is the toilets!”

Lucy is also known for a love of costuming. “It’s an art form,” she says, “and a fabulous little window into a lost world.” Of course, this is just one of many ways she tells her stories — and this enthusiasm makes her a perfect addition to the PBS family.

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”

– Sterling Hayden

Monday, January 13, 2025

I left my hometown of Dothan in '68 and came here to go to the University.

There aren't many places in Alabama as far away from Tuscaloosa as Dothan so I was 18 years old before I ever had the opportunity to set foot here. I had no familial connections up here but I'd heard about Tuscaloosa all my life. When I was a little boy growing up, folks used to tell me all the time, "Bob, if you keep actin' that way, they gonna send you to Tuscaloosa." so I guess the home folks were right and not only did I fit in with Tuscaloosa but I was the man for the job because I ended up working at both Bryce and Partlow.

This is my kind of place: a drinkin' town with a football problem!"

About 20 years ago, the Tuscaloosa News had a promotion where they asked their readers to write the paper and tell them why you loved T-town. I think there were some "I

💗 T-town" bumper stickers that were part of the promotion. I sent in an entry and it was the last one of all the ones they published and I liked that. It went like this:

Standing on an old street corner laid out in 1821

Shaded by Druid oaks all around.

That's why I love T-town.

Sitting on a sandy bank

With my feet in the river

While the sun goes down.

That's why I love T-town

55 years of calling Tuscaloosa home have shown me that for myself, the path to peace of mind leads outside my front door to the sidewalk in search of the ghosts of old Tuscaloosa I know are waiting to impart their wisdom to me on every corner of this old town and by roaming, sauntering, meandering, patrolling, roving, tramping and just walking along the sidewalks of old Tuscaloosa for me "old Tuscaloosa". in search of the ghosts of old Tuscaloosa who I know are waiting to impart their wisdom to me on every corner of this old town.

Even though the Devil's Dictionary's definition of a pessimist is "a well informed optimist", I do consider myself an optimist and the very first part of the OPTIMIST'S CREED says something like "I promise myself that I will be SO STRONG that NOT A DAMN THANG is gonna disturb my peace of mind TODAY!"

Now, there's nine or ten more parts of the OPTIMIST'S CREED but that first one is enough to challenge me but..

How do I quiet my mind to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind?

That "old street corner laid out in 1821" would be part of Tuscaloosa's original street grid, virtually unchanged for 203 years, which was carved out of a wilderness by the order of President James Monroe five years after the Indians lost their title to the property in 1816. The land had been reserved from public sale because the federal government wanted it subdivided into a town which would stand on the south bank of the Black Warrior River. The one square mile township section on which the streets were platted was located on the spot where navigation on the river ended and a series of rapids prevented further navigation north from the Gulf. The main street in old Tuscaloosa, now called University Boulevard, ran parallel to the river from the southwest to the northeast along the crest of the hill that rose up on its south bank. About midway along the path of this main Street and perpendicular to it was Market Street, now called Greensboro Avenue, which ran south from the river wharf up the river hill to the southern margin of the Old Town. All the other streets in Old Town ran parallel to either Main or Market Streets.

By roaming, sauntering, meandering, patrolling, roving, tramping and just walking along the sidewalks of old Tuscaloosa for me "old Tuscaloosa" is the original fractional section subdivided into city blocks in 1821 with the section's boundaries on the south side of the Warrior River being present-day Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (formerly 32nd Avenue and before that West Margin Street) on the west, 15th Street,

A visitor from Cleveland, Ohio in 1884 accurately described Tuscaloosa's founding:

"The site for this contemplated city was exceedingly well chosen and the fathers are entitled to credit perhaps I should say the father for our Uncle Samuel selected the locality and engineered the city reserving from private entry or public sale upon the usual terms a goodly tract of land which was sold off only in town lots to people who were sagacious and farseeing and desired a pleasant and salubrious locality in which to drink their mint julips and entertain their friends while their faithful retainers toiled in the cotton fields far down the fertile valley below the town. They were good people as the world went then, those planters of the olden time, albeit they differed from us of the North as to some essentials of a Christian life and they are good people today such of them as are left and very creditable representatives of the great American nation and I think they were never so bitter at heart toward their brethren of the North as were some others in less favored localities who had really less to lose by the upsetting of old usages and the liberation of the slaves.

"The town was regularly laid out by competent engineers who had an eye to the picturesque and magnificent and the streets were plotted with reference to the requirements of a to be renowned seat of government. Since land was of no great consequence in those days it was allowed that 132 feet was none too wide for the streets and now that the sidewalks are bordered with rows of mighty water oaks from two to three feet in diameter with a central row down the middle of each principal street it does not appear that the fathers of the city miscalculated matters nor were otherwise than level-headed folks."

New York DAILY GRAPHIC, May 29, 1874

...Tuskaloosa, the ancient capital and present literary centre of the State, and formerly one of the most beautiful cities in tho country. The once princely dwellings enshrined among the magnificent forest trees now show too plainly that the wealth that once made them so attractive does not now exist. The hospitality of the people is nevertheless unbounded, and the entire party unanimously declared that they never had experienced better treatment.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME.

Why am I not surprised? About what? Why am I not surprised that with all the HYSTERICAL COMMISSIONS, museum "curators", "patriotic" organizations, "preservationists", "civic" organizations, "historians" and "social studies teachers" in this PITIFUL world, I AM THE ONLY SOUL WHO RECOGNIZES THAT 200 YEARS AGO TODAY, on Monday, DECEMBER 23, 1816, the first legislation to establish a state government for the people of PRESENT-DAY ALABAMA was read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. (that should give you an idea of just how well your "ALABAMA BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION" is progressing)
A BILL TO ESTABLISH THE TERRITORY OF MOBILE
December 23, 1816
Read twice and committed to the committee of the whole House, on the bill "to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi Territory to form a Constitution and State Government and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States."
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010692468;view=1up;seq=28

The Pleasures of Hope: Part 1

The Pleasures of Hope: Part 1 by Thomas Campbell - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry

At summer eve, when Heaven's ethereal bow
Spans with bright arch the glittering bills below,
Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye,
Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky ?
Why do those clifts of shadowy tint appear
More sweet than all the landscape smiling near ?—
'T is distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.
Thus, with delight, we linger to survey
The promised joys of life's unmeasured way;
Thus, from afar, each dim-discovered scene
More pleasing seems than all the past hath been,
And every form, that Fancy can repair
From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.

Military Officers Association of America Presentation

"Yeah, well, the Dude abides." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsw0KVRjCM&t=3s

abide: to endure without yielding

Ecclesiastes 1:4

"One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever."

Kingdoms rise and fall, the ground they're built upon is the only constant.

Friday, January 10, 2025

BIPEDALISM "PEACE OF MIND"

This relentless human drive to move and walk toward the new vistas promised by wide-ranging mobility has proven a tonic not only to toddlers, but to poets, philosophers and writers through the ages.

Hobbes, Mill, Rousseau, Kant, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Russell, Wittgenstein, Thoreau, Kafka, Sartre, Woolf, and in our own age, the free-range intellectual Solnit: dedicated walkers all, sometimes walking to gather their thoughts for essays and other ruminations on walking itself.

http://andrewhidas.com/walking-and-wandering/

How can you be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind?

GOOGLE AI:

To achieve a level of inner strength where nothing significantly disturbs your peace of mind, focus on developing self-awareness, resilience, positive thinking, healthy coping mechanisms, and a strong sense of personal boundaries, essentially meaning you actively manage your reactions to external events and pri

Key practices to cultivate this inner strength:

Mindfulness and Meditation:
Regularly practice mindfulness techniques to become more present in the moment and observe your thoughts without judgment, allowing you to detach from negative emotions.

Positive Self-Talk:

Consciously challenge negative thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations to maintain a more optimistic perspective.

Emotional Regulation:

Learn to identify and manage your emotions effectively, using techniques like deep breathing or journaling to process difficult feelings.

Set Boundaries:

Clearly define what you are comfortable with and learn to say no to things that drain your energy or disrupt your peace.

Self-Care:

Prioritize activities that nourish your mind and body, including healthy eating, regular exercise, quality sleep, and hobbies you enjoy.

Perspective Taking:

Practice stepping back and looking at situations from a broader perspective to minimize the impact of minor stressors.

Acceptance:

Accept that you cannot control everything in life, and focus on managing your responses to situations rather than trying to change external factors.

Gratitude Practice:

Regularly reflect on the things you are grateful for to cultivate a positive outlook.

Personal Growth:

Continuously work on self-improvement by learning new skills, setting goals, and challenging yourself to step outside your comfort zone.

Important Note:

No one is immune to life's challenges:
While striving for inner peace is valuable, it's important to acknowledge that experiencing a range of emotions is normal.