June 3, 2005
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1: What's the longest road trip you've ever taken or been a part of? Did you enjoy the drive or was it a pain in the you-know-what?
Q2: How old is the oldest person you now know or have ever met? Would you like to be as old as that person?
Q3: Earlier this week, 91-year-old W. Mark Felt revealed to the world that he in fact was 'Deep Throat', the man who frequently met with Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in Washington area parking garages to confirm information or fill in gaps from other sources related to the Watergate affair. Felt, who at the time was the second in command at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is being hailed by some as a hero, while others say he violated the ethics of the law enforcement profession by talking to a newspaper rather than turning his information over to a grand jury. W. Mark Felt... hero or not?
Q4: Do you like your feet? Are you comfortable wearing open toe sandals, or do you prefer to keep your little piggies covered up at all costs?
Posted by Mikal at June 3, 2005 12:02 AM
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1: I like road trips if (and only if) I'm in the mood for them. In 1997 I roadtripped all over TN with my best friend and we had fun, except for her (odd, I thought) desire to drive to the 4 surrounding states and take pics of their "Welcome to [Alabama]" signs. But in '98 I roadtripped from Grahamstown, South Africa to Durban (with a short stop in Port Elizabeth) and thought it dreadful b/c of the driving conditions.
2: I've met some pretty 'old' people at the nursing homes where my grandmother/great grandmother lived out their last days. I would like to grow as old as I can as long as I'm mentally and physically healthy, relatively speaking.
3: Deep Throat: My guess is he didn't have faith in a "grand jury" to handle things appropriately -- and so made the best decision he could for the well-being of his country. I'm good with it.
4: Sure, I like my feet. They do their job, get me where I need to go. I especially like my kids' piggies though! Sandals are good -- if they're comfortable!
1. Not counting family vacations? Either driving to New Orleans, or a 4th of July trip from Indianapolis to des Moines, Iowa to Cleveland and back. The New Orleans trip was fun, but the 4th of july trip was surreal beyond belief.
2. I have an aunt who's in her mid 90's, and only if I was in good physical and mental condition. Unfortunately, she is not.
3. He probably did violate ethical standards, but going to a grand jury would have resulted in nothing, give the stunning levels of corruption in the Nixon administration. I don't know if I'd consider him a hero, but at least he managed to be one of the few people connected to the administration to show even a small amount of morality... not to mention having a woofy-looking grandson.
4. I'm fine with my feet. I do wear flip flops in the summer and if people don't like my hooves, they don't have to look down.
Oops, one day late but here are my answers:
1. Probably the one from Tennessee to Florida. I was a kid then so I thought it was all right. Nowadays, if I did a road trip, I'd be one of the people driving and driving for long stretches of time would probably not be fun.
2. I've met some old people when I once volunteered at a hospital. I suppose being old is okay, as long as I was still coherent and alert and living in a nicer place than a hospital.
3. Well, at least he told somebody what was going on--which is better than nothing.
4. My feet are fine. But I hate sandals because I find them uncomfortable.
1. The long roadtrips came when I was younger traveling with family. Back then I remember them as being painful and long. "he's looking at me again, he's on my side of the car" type stuff, but we traveled over the northwest and Canada and the Northeast and Maine, NY Niagra Falls, the World's Fair. Looking back I recognize what a wonderful experience my parents were giving us. Very few people travel that way now and it's a shame.
2. I have known old people, but I don't know anyone really old right now. I don't want to outlive my mind... there are some who might say I am already overdue... so it's tough how you make that call.
3. Tough call. If he did it for the right reason, maybe.
4.I am past the point of worrying about my "little piggies." They work well for me and take all sorts of abuse. I wear sandles whenever possible because the most comfortable shoes I have are Keen sandles.
When I was pre-teen my father who was a teacher use to take us for a month long vacations and I have been to every state this side of the Mississippi and to all the provinces eastern Canada. We have driven US 1 from the tip of Maine all the way down to Key West. To this day I still donít know how he put up with two fighting kids in the back seat for a month at a time. When I graduated from college some of my friends and I drove out to Bismarck North Dakota non-stop from Connecticut in 36 ? hours and we only drove off the road once. That was in North Dakota at 4am.
A couple of years ago, me, my brother and his family took a drive down Rt. 101 and Rt. 1 along the Pacific coast from Port Townsend, WA to San Francisco. Now I am trying to talk them into a trip from Denver to San Francisco.
I do miss those trips, it is a great way to see the country a lot more up close and personal than at thirty thousand feet.
My father, who was 95 when he passed away. If I can be in good health and have all my faculties, then yes.
I believe that he did the right thing. I was in college at that time and I remember the mode of the country back then. It was split right down the middle over the war. One side believed that they could do no wrong; they felt that they were above the law. Nixon authorized illegal break-ins, not just Watergate, but any group that they thought was against him, including the ACLU, Martin Luther King, Daniel Ellsberg ( read about the ěPentagon Papersî) and many others. The FBI was spreading false rumors about then California Governor Brown and secretly backing Ronald Ragan for governor. A good article to read about period is the San Francisco Gate series of articles called "Regan, Hoover and the UC Red Scare" http://www.sfgate.com/campus/ I think that the only way to uncover what was happening was to go through the press as he did. Look at the Friday Night Massacre http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/102173-2.htm
I like my little piggies painted and out in the air.
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