Victor Davis Hanson on the Real California Water Problem

I've come to like Victor Davis Hanson. He's from Selma just up Highway 99 a bit. Every time I go to Selma for a baseball game I think of Mr. Hanson. With the column below he hit a sharp liner in the gap regarding the California water issue and the general problem with how the majority of people, especially our "leaders," think in California.

http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=8493#comment-38983

Mc Farland, The Movie

I have been to McFarland the town. It is about 60 miles from my home. Last night we finally watched McFarland, USA the movie. What Coach White and those young men accomplished is the American Dream. Right now in our country many are preaching that the Dream is dead. They proved that wrong.

McFarland the town in like many in California's Central Valley, the poorest region in the country. The area produces much of the food that the country eats and exports more. To make that possible you need people to do the hard labor of farm and field work. Much of that now is done by people from Mexico and Central America. It wasn't always that way as many others from the Midwest and South of the US came to California to provide the labor needed to make farming possible. This creates towns like McFarland.

The movie was partially filmed in McFarland. If you go there you will recognize some of the buildings, certainly the high school. The track that was filmed is still there, though they have a new track, football stadium, softball and baseball fields. You get the feel of a small Central Valley town in the movie, and that is key to the story.

We from the Central Valley know we come from a poor region, yet we can be successful both here and elsewhere. McFarland, USA reminds us of that.

Which Conveys More. . .

Words or Pictures?

War is hell. I have a dream.

Still Mine--Movie Review

Still Mine is a film we stumbled upon through Netflix. Netflix, Spotify and Pandora have been the center of many discussions about their mathematical mumbo jumbo being used to give us the movies and songs they think we want to listen and see. That is a discussion for another day, but they do get it right sometimes. Still Mine is one they got right.

Spoiler Alert! The story, based upon a true tale, is about an older couple having been married 60 years and the struggles when one starts forgetting. The husband, Craig, decides to build a house for Irene to help her and him as they finish their years together. He has been taught how to build a house by his father and precedes to do so, even as the local building inspector red tags him repeatedly for code violations. Even though the house is being built to higher standards than the code, the inspector continues and the fight ends up in court.

While this is happening Craig and Irene re working through the changes they are experiencing with Irene's losss of memory. The sadness and love of this gets played out in different ways and is worth the raw feelings they invoke.

Recently I read that over 50% of Americans look at the country and don't recognize it compared to their youth. Beyond the technological advances, how the country operates makes them feel like they are living in a foreign country. That is what Still Mine reminded me of as I watched Craig. Not only is the woman he married changing, but common sense and the simple act of being reasonable and flexible is lost and not to be found in the building inspector. The beauty is that as unmovable as the inspector is, Craig is so grounded from a deep foundation of truth the inspector's rules and codes look trite.

 If you are frustrated with the direction of our leaders and country, Still Mine will tap into that dissatisfaction, but it will leave you at a better place after the movie than you began.