For The 121st Time, With Feeling

This afternoon at 3:00 pm Eastern Time, the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy shall sail up the Hudson River (metaphorically speaking) and engage their brothers from other mothers, the Black Knights of the United States Military Academy in the 121st Annual Army-Navy Football Game.  

For the first time since World War II, one of the two service academies shall host the game.  In 1942, the two squads banged helmets at Annapolis. The following year, hostilities resumed at West Point.  Every year since 1944, the game has been played at a neutral site.  Presuming we the people of these United States re-learn in 2021 how to get out of our own way, a skill in dangerously short supply here in 2020, when the two teams meet again in 2021, they shall do so on the neutral ground that is Philadelphia. 

Michie Stadium shall host the Corps of Cadets and the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is anticipated that the Corps and the Brigade may very well make up the entirety of the crowd in attendance, due to COVID-19 guidance, although earlier this week the Commander-in-Chief declared his intention to travel to West Point for the game. 

This season the Middies have struggled to a 3-6 record and enter this afternoon's game on a four-game losing streak, which streak was interrupted at its midpoint by a loss of a game to COVID-19.  The Black Knights have thus far attained a 7-2 record, enter today's game having won four of their last five game, and find themselves today in a bit of weird situation in that this is not their regular season finale.  Traditionally, Army-Navy is the final regular season game of the college football season.  In case you missed it, 2020 has bitten tradition in the ass for the past ten months or so. So, here in 2020, Army's regular season ends not today against their comrades in arms from Annapolis but one week from today when they host the Falcons of the Air Force Academy. 

Navy holds a 61-52 all-time edge in the series, buoyed by the fact that Army did not win a single matchup from 2002 (Navy 58-12) through 2015 (Navy 21-17). Army has been on a bit of a roll lately, having posted three straight wins from 2016 to 2018. Last year, however, the Middies reclaimed bragging rights. They blew the Cadets out 31-7.  

It is a game that features one of my favorite traditions in all of sports, which is the post-game singing of each academy's alma mater - by both squads. Tradition dictates that the two teams gather first in front of the losing team's student section and sing that Academy's song first. Then, they move to the other side of the field and, standing in front of the victor's students, sing the song of the winning Academy. In 2016, having lost to Army for the first time since 2001, Navy sang its alma mater "Navy Blue and Gold" first (I implore you to watch the entire fifty-five second video):

Navy Midshipmen singing "Navy Blue and Gold" 

2016 Army-Navy Game

As it turned out, in 2016, after waiting fifteen years to "sing second" the Army players found themselves joined on the field by a stunningly large number of their fellow Cadets for the singing of their Alma Mater: 

Army players & Cadet Corps singing "Alma Mater"

2016 Army-Navy Game 

The first shall be last and, today, the first shall Sing Second...

...and shall enjoy every minute of it. 

-AK 

Lighting the Way to a Better World

Hanukkah began last night at sundown.  I had no idea (a) Hanukkah existed; or (b) what Hanukkah was until Kara, Jill, and I moved to Wardlaw-Hartridge, which we did when I entered 5th grade in the fall of 1977.  It likely comes as no surprise that Hanukkah did not appear on the school calendar at either St. Paul's School in Princeton, where I attended Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade, or Immaculate Conception School in Somerville, where I spent two fun-filled years in 3rd and 4th grades. 

One of the things I enjoyed the most out of attending W-H was the number of kids I met, including many with whom I became friends, who were Jewish and through whom I learned the meaning of Hanukkah, including but not limited to its songs.  I still find myself singing The Dreidel Song every now and again.   

If you and yours celebrate the Festival of Lights, then may your celebration last for every minute of all eight days.  2020 has felt at times like a year in which reasons to celebrate have been few and far between. One is here now.  Embrace it. Enjoy it...

...and may this world enjoy the light it - and each of us - needs right now. 

-AK 

No-Bel! No-Bel!

Among the rewards Theodore Roosevelt garnered due to his willingness to be the man in the arena, daring greatly, and being unafraid of failure was the Nobel Peace Prize.  On this date in 1906, he became the first American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

President Roosevelt helped mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War, which the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan waged against one another in 1904 and 1905.  Some historians believe that the conflict, which resulted in 150,000 casualties between the combatants and approximately 20,000 Chinese civilians, was effectively "World War 0", and set the stage for World War I, which began less than ten years later, and World War II.  

During the spring and summer of 1905, President Roosevelt oversaw the peace talks - held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which talks resulted in Russia and Japan signing the Treaty of Portsmouth, which treaty both sides signed on September 5, 1905.  

-AK 

A Friday Morning in December

16th Avenue Boardwalk - Belmar

(approx. 10 minutes after sunrise 12/04/2020)

Good fortune shone upon me last week.  In order to take care of something for Margaret, I spent Thursday night at our little Paradise by the Sea, from which location I then worked all day on Friday.  Ah, the joy of spending an entire work day without (a) wearing a mask; and (b) checking the "Vacant" or "Occupied" sign on the 3rd floor men's room door.  2020 has taught me to dream a different dream. 

But I digress. 

I woke up at 4:00 am Friday morning and worked for about two-and-a-half hours, until there was sufficient usable daylight in which to run.  One of the things I love most about the Jersey Shore is that irrespective of temperature or the weather, there are always people out on and near the boardwalks and the beaches taking in the sunrise.  If you have never experienced sunrise over the ocean, then I hope you have the chance to do so - at least one time.  

It is usually extraordinary. It is never redundant.  Every day's unveiling is different than the one that preceded it.  

 

I no longer run long distances.  I hope to do so again but presently I have no plan to do so. 2021? Perhaps.  Right now, two or three miles in the peace, quiet, and simple beauty of the early morning is enough for me.  

It does my heart good. 

-AK 

For the Nuns Running Bald through Vatican Halls, Franco Harris, and Everyone in Between

The Lord and I have an understanding.  He does not darken my door and I return the favor.  I am neither an Atheist nor a lapsed Catholic.  I am simply a mortal man whose faith is vested absolutely in (a) the face staring back at me in the bathroom mirror every morning; and (b) myself.  I do not begrudge anyone his or her faith, although I would point out that recorded history's annals attribute more deaths to organized religion than to any other source and that it is an uncomfortably short walk (for me anyway) from faith to zealotry.  I have little concern about spending eternity in Hell.  I have driven east to west through Kansas AND Nebraska - on separate cross-country drives.  I can handle it. 

I recall from my parentally-forced attendance at (a) Catholic elementary schools; and (b) Sunday mass that today is a Holy Day of Obligation on the Roman Catholic calendar.  It is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  It is a day that as a Springsteen fan has long made me think of this  and now, courtesy of the stunningly good new record Letter to You now also makes me think of this.  

Meanwhile, from his seat at the bar in the Holy Grail Saloon, Franco Harris smiles...

...as Terry Bradshaw buys another round. 

-AK 

Up From Infamy

Seventy-nine years ago today, the Empire of Japan declared war on the United States. It was, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described it to a joint session of Congress the following day, "a date which will live in infamy." 

It, of course, proved to be much more.  In that instant, borne out of a sun-filled Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, this nation became an active participant in World War II.  We fought against the Germans and the Italians in Europe through the spring of 1945, when Germany's surrender brought an end to the war on the Continent. We fought against the Japanese throughout and all over the Pacific until August 1945 when, following President Truman's orders to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and, thereafter, on Nagasaki, the Japanese finally surrendered. 

Buoyed by a common purpose and imbued by the knowledge that failure was simply not an option, we the people of these United States came together. We did what was necessary because it was necessary. It took courage to do it. It took imagination to do it. It took determination to do it.   

Spoiler alert:  America did it.  

-AK 

Civics and Other Imports

If you are a digital subscriber to The New York Times, then you might have seen this piece on its web site Thursday.  In case you do not subscribe - or if you do and simply missed this piece - I thought it might be a fun way to spend a few minutes on a Sunday morning.  

I subscribe to the theory that an informed electorate is critical to our Republic operating with a modicum of functionality.  In the month-plus since Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump to gain election as our nation's 46th President, I have been mystified and mortified by the apparent ignorance many possess regarding what I had long presumed to be well-known, familiar processes and procedures. Truthfully, the ignorance would itself have been easy to overlook had it not been expressed repeatedly and loudly.  

The present administration has toughened the test for becoming a United States citizen, which is something with which I, for one, take no issue.  If one wants to become a citizen of a particular country, then requiring that person to pass a test that is harder than a pee test but significantly easier than any of the Twelve Labours of Hercules seems to me to be a fair, reasonable requirement. The 2020 version of the Civics Test includes twenty questions drawn from a pool of 128 possible questions, of which a person applying for citizenship must answer twelve correctly.  The testing materials one can review in preparation for the exam include the 128 questions and their answers. 

It is an oral exam.  A lifetime ago, Mrs. K assured me that "60%" was not a passing score in Pre-Calculus.  60% is, however, a passing score on the Civics Test.  Fun fact:  Even if 60% had been a passing score in Mrs. K's Pre-Calculus class, I still failed.    

But I digress.  

How would you do on the oral Civics Test.  Based upon a lot of what I have heard and I have read these past thirty-plus days, to borrow a line from the Poet Laureate of the Jersey Shore, it certainly appears that, "You guys in trouble out here".  Maybe?  Then again, maybe not.  The piece in The Times referenced in the first paragraph of this essay provides its reader the opportunity to answer nine questions, which the paper put in multiple-choice form to make it a bit easier:

1 of 9

James Madison is famous for many things. Name one.

President during the War of 1812

Fifth president of the United States

Writer of the Declaration of Independence

First Secretary of State

2 of 9

The American Revolution had many important events. Name one.

Washington crossing the Delaware

Battle of Tippecanoe

Battle of Fort Niagara

The Treaty of Ghent

3 of 9

What is the purpose of the 10th Amendment?

It guarantees the rights of criminal defendants.

It states that the powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

It abolished slavery.

It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

 4 of 9

Whom does a member of the House of Representatives represent?

People living in their state

People living in their congressional district

Citizens in their congressional district

Their political party

5 of 9

Who appoints federal judges?

The Chief Justice

The Senate

The President

The Attorney General

6 of 9

How many Supreme Court justices are usually needed to decide a case?

Four

Five

Six

Nine

7 of 9

The Civil War had many important events. Name one.

The Missouri Compromise

The Trail of Tears

The Battle of Little Bighorn

Sherman’s March

8 of 9

Name one leader of the women’s rights movement in the 1800s.

Clara Barton

Eleanor Roosevelt

Mary Baker Eddy

Sojourner Truth

9 of 9

The Nation’s first motto was “E Pluribus Unum.” What does that mean?

We the people

Self-government

Out of Many, One

One Nation, Indivisible

Spoiler alert:  I passed!  I presume that you did too.  Even so, keeping the list of 128 questions and answers handy is probably not a bad idea.  Useful tool to have handy to make certain you stay sharp on subject matter that you might not know as well as you once did or, perhaps, have never known as well as you might have believed you did.  

My copy is in the top left drawer of my desk. 

-AK