The Jonathan Factor

Last night the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 6 – 1, to win the 2013 World Series. This is their 3^rd World Series Championship in 10 years, a record to be envied, and the first time since 1918, that they won the deciding game in their home ballpark.

Last year, the Red Sox finished in last place in the American league East, with a record of 69 wins and 93 losses. In a complete reversal, they finished this year in 1^st place in the American League East, with a record of 97 wins and 65 losses. There are many theories about how the Red Sox accomplished such a fantastic turnaround.

Many feel it was the General Manager – Ben Cherington – who engineered such good signings during the off season – Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, and Stephen Drew.

Some say it was the “unknown” players they acquired or had in their system  – Daniel Nava, Johnny Gomes, and Koji Uehara.

Still a 3^rd group said it was when they hired John Farrell as their new manager.

All of them are plausible theories, but the truth of the matter is, the Red Sox are World Champs because of “The Jonathan Factor”.

“The Jonathan Factor” refers to my grandson – Jonathan Callahan.

I first learned of “The Jonathan Factor” a few weeks ago, when my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, were locked in a heated battle with the Red Sox for the American League Championship, and the right to play in the World Series.

The Tigers were playing in Detroit and had just won Game 4, to tie the series at two games apiece. My son called me from his home in Iowa, and he found me in a fairly jovial tone because the Tigers only had to win two of the next 3 games to head to the World Series. I was feeling good about my chances because we had three of the top pitchers in the American League, poised and ready to go – Max Scherzer, Anibel Sanchez and Justin Verlander. Surely, two of them would be winners.

I asked my son if his favorite Red Sox were “quaking in their boots”, and he said, “Not as long as we have ‘The Jonathan Factor’ on our side”.

This is how he explained it.

When his son, Jonathan was born in January of 2004, that summer Robert took him to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park and held him in his arms. That year the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918 and broke their infamous “drought” of World Series failures.

In 2007, while living in Ohio, Robert took Jonathan to his second Red Sox game, in Cleveland. That year the Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

This year, I was supposed to visit with my son and his family in Iowa, but couldn’t make the trip. I did, however, send them the tickets I had purchased for the Kansas City Royals – Boston Red Sox game on August 11^th…. Jonathan’s third Red Sox game… and this year the Red Sox won the World Series again.

Now I know why my Detroit Tigers never had a chance. I also know why the Cardinals, despite an interference call, and facing a Red Sox lineup that suddenly had “cold bats”, didn’t stand a chance, either… “The Jonathan Factor”.

My son feels that season tickets from the Red Sox are in order, and he may be right. I figure they should at least let my grandson lead the victory parade through downtown Boston. He and “Big Papi”!

As the late Paul Harvey used to say… “Now you know the rest of the story.”

Rosa's Riding With Us Today

Today is October 24^th, 2013.

On this day in 2005, Rosa Parks died of natural causes at the age of 92 in her Detroit, MI apartment. Eight days later she was buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery, after laying in repose in Montgomery, Alabama; the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC; and in Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the “colored” section of a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger, after the white section had filled up. Rosa’s defiant refusal changed the course of history.

When Rosa passed away I was living in Milwaukee, WI, on the northwest side – a predominantly black neighborhood of the city.  On November,  2^nd, 2005, the day of Rosa’s burial, the Milwaukee Transit System decided to honor her place in history by placing a placard in the window above the front seat of every city bus, commemorating Rosa Parks.

Since I don’t drive a car, I used the Milwaukee bus system extensively, and did so on that day as well. I rode the bus quite a few times that day, and every time I rode the bus I saw something that is indelibly etched into my mind and heart.

First, a logistical note…. The left and right front seats on all Milwaukee busses face the aisle of the bus, rather than facing forward. This allows them to be folded upward, and used to accommodate a rider using a wheelchair.

When I got on the bus for my first ride of the day, I noticed the front seats were down and nobody was sitting in them, and I noticed what a nice placard had been designed and taped to the bus window above the right-side front seat. I took a seat about 2 rows in back of the front seats.

A few stops later, a teenager got onto the bus, and I witnessed something I’ll never forget.

The teen spied the empty seat at the front of the bus, paused a few seconds and sat down. Immediately, an older black gentleman sitting in front of me said in a booming voice, “Don’t you DARE sit there. That’s Rosa’s seat. She’s riding with us today.”

The teen was obviously stunned into silence, and his face told the world that he had no idea what the man was talking about. The black bus patron continued, “Son, do you know who Rosa Parks is? Well, let me tell you.”

He then went on to give a calm, measured account of how Rosa Parks changed history for all people, but for black people in particular. The generations were connecting in a way that no history class, no formal lecture, no star-studded movie, could do. It was one-on-one… heart-to-heart… and as the older man told the story, the young man sat in rapt attention. A torch was being passed. If there is an inscription on that imaginary torch, I think it says, “You didn’t live through this, but I did.. and I want you to know what happened… because it is important… and when you are older, I want you to pass this torch to the generation that comes after you.”

I forget the exact words he used, but I remember the emotion behind them – that Rosa took a stand for human decency… and we all should treat each other with human decency.

I rode the bus quite a few times that day, and EVERY time I rode the bus I saw the same scene repeated… just with different people. It was interesting to me, that when the teen was a female, a woman would do the talking, and men would talk to the boys. I seriously doubt the bus system intended for the “designated seat” to be vacant all day, but to the black citizens of Milwaukee, they felt Rosa was with them all day… sitting right there with them… and they made that happen.

I still remember that day… and now, it seems we need to think about Rosa’s message even more. 

At this time in my personal history, I cannot remember anything like the rancor and spite we see around us each day. I'm not only talking about the deep chasm that divides our political institutions, but the daily interactions among regular people.... road rage....domestic violence.... school shootings, and the like. Rosa, now more than ever before, we need you to ride with us today.

The Lords of the Gourds

This weekend is the annual “Fling Into Fall” celebration in Searsport. It’s held every year on Columbus Day weekend. We have a parade, craft show, antique car show, pumpkin carving contest, pancake breakfast, scarecrow competition… all sorts of fun stuff. It’s really a painless way to squeeze a few last-minute greenbacks out of the few tourists still roaming around… and it really is a lot of fun. We even decorate the town with pumpkins on hale bales, and scarecrows on every utility pole and signpost.

Six years ago, when I had been here only a couple of years, we had a situation just after “Fling Into Fall” that demonstrates one of the "fun" attributes of living in a small town – everyone knows what’s going on, and they NEVER let you forget about it.

That year, Coastal Coffee was closed, so our usual coffee klatch had to move a mile out of town to the new Dunkin Donuts outlet. We were sitting around talking and my good friend, Charliy (yes, I’m spelling his name correctly), asked me what they did with all the pumpkins sitting on the hale bales in the center of town. I asked why he wanted to know, and he said, “Well, they have a beauty of a pumpkin outside Angela’s Hair Salon that I would love to carve into a jack-o-lantern, and put it on my apartment stoop for Halloween.”

I said I didn’t know what they did with them, but ask Ralph – he was the “Fling Into Fall” Chairperson.

Shortly, Ralph came in for coffee and Charliy asked about the orange gourds. Ralph told him they were just thrown away, so if he wanted one, just take it… but he’d better do it before the upcoming weekend when he would be gathering them up for a trip to the compost pile.

Charliy looked at me with that “no time like the present” look, and we hopped into his car and headed toward town. Our good friend, Kevin, followed, to give moral support, and when we got there I could see why Charliy liked it. It was a beauty… and rather heavy. It took two of us to lift it up and drop it into the front seat of Charliy’s car. As soon as we did so, Angela came out of her salon, with a customer trailing behind, inquiring what in blazes we were doing.

Charliy explained Ralph had given him permission to take one of the pumpkins, but Angela was slightly irate. “That isn’t one of those cheap, little things Ralph got. I bought that one myself so I could have a REAL pumpkin outside my shop.”

Well, Charliy started apologizing forty-ways-to-Sunday, and at the end of the conversation, Angela realized she had a problem similar to Ralph’s – how to get rid of the pumpkin. They soon reached an agreement where Charily would keep the pumpkin, provided he give Angela a picture of the “carved” jack-o-lantern so she could post the picture of it on the mirror in her shop. All was ending well.

Charliy kept his part of the bargain, and a week or so later, as we approached Halloween, we were once again enjoying good coffee and conversation at Dunkin Donuts, when the Chief of Police came in… (after all, it IS a donut shop… LOL).  

After a little light conversation about things in general, someone asked the chief if “business” had been OK in town. “Well”, the chief replied, ”we’ve recently had a spate of gang activity and that doesn’t bode well.” Oh my, someone sighed, we don’t need that drug-related stuff coming to Searsport, The chief chimed in, “Oh, it’s not drug gangs we’ve had a problem with… its pumpkin thieves.”

Well, we all laughed out loud as he looked at Charliy and I…  to which Charliy quipped… “Yes, I know that gang well – The Lords of the Gourds”.

Well, the joke didn’t stop there. It advanced in time.

Fast forward 14 months. It’s over a year later… another great “Fling Into Fall” had come and gone, and the Christmas season was approaching. I am now on the Searsport Planning Board. Around the middle of December I got a call from the Town Clerk asking me to come to the Town Office. She had some unfinished business about my appointment to the Planning Board.

When I got to the Town Hall, I was handed a W-2 form, and I was stymied. “What’s this for?”, I asked. “Well”, she replied, “You get a $100 a year stipend for being on the Planning Board, and we need you to sign a W-2 so we can take out the proper taxes.”

“WOW, what a nice pre-Christmas gift”, I exclaimed…. and here is the part about folks in a small town never letting you forget about something.

“Well”, she answered, “Don’t get your hopes up. By the time we take out money for Uncle Sam and the State of Maine coffers, you won’t have much left… but you WILL have enough so you can at least buy your own pumpkin seeds, and you won’t have to steal pumpkins from the local merchants.”

As they say in tennis… Game – Set – Match!