The American Apple Pie

The taste of the apple pie could not have been more bitter.  The apples were given to us on November 8, 2016, the night Donald Trump was elected president. They had been moldering away in the vegetable drawer of our refrigerator until last week.  They were given new life when my husband's sister discovered them while cleaning.  She was visiting from Wisconsin and could not bare the thought of wasting them.  Her task was complicated by the absence of both sugar and flower in our pantry.  Nevertheless, the pie was baked and we shared it after dinner.  I explained to Molly, John's sister, that the very thought of eating a pie made from those apples was stirring up memories of that impossible night of the election.  She was more bothered, it seemed, by the prospect of wasting the decaying apples: she did have to toss some of them.  The pie is history but the memories of the presidential election still haunt me.

That day, November 8, 2016,  we were with our friend Paulette who lives in Fall River Mills, California.  We don't use satellite or cable so we visited for lunch and an evening of sharing election returns on TV.  We had done the exact same thing four years before when President Obama won his second term.  There was an air of anticipation regarding the sure election of Hillary Clinton along with the pick-up of House and Senate seats.  As early returns started to trickle in, we took time out to watch the Netflix documentary, "Thirteenth." Needless to say it put us in a less than jovial mood as we were given an awesome history of the reenslavement of black Americans.  When we returned to coverage of the election it began to dawn on us.  The impossible was actually happening.

Our drive home to Mt. Shasta at about one in the morning was morose.  There was Donald Trump announcing that he had received a call from Secretary Clinton.  While watching for deer along our path home I remember having the sensation that there had been a mistake.  I kept wishing I were just dreaming and waking up would vanquish the imploding reality.

It's Christmas. 

Bernie Sanders is being Recognized

Stephen R Concklin No. Don't fall for that fear of communism stuff. This elevation of fear just indicates that Bernie, who received just 20 seconds of news coverage as opposed to Trump's 108 minutes on ABC last year, is resonating with the people who lost their jobs and homes to Wall Street and the young people. This is Democratic Socialism. I've been a member for years. Health care is a human right. Yes I am a dreamer. I look ahead for the time when we face squarely the threats that Dr. King enumerated: racism, poverty and militarism. And I would throw in fear. Fear seems to be the tool of the demagogues. It's all they got. "Be afraid, be very afraid." That's the nightmare.

My response to a friend who asked me to post a Straight Pride picture.

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Pride is an inside job. Healthy people, all people need it. Being OK with yourself. Being a human being is amazing. Some of us, because of sexual identity, race, social status ... or whatever, get the message: you are not wanted here. I had to hide my identity as a gay human for years in order keep being employed. That stress took a toll. My church went to my district and outed me. It took years to be OK inside ... to be proud of whom I was. My Mom never accepted me or my partner. Her last words to me as she was passing at age 88: "Dirty, dirty." My brother told me he was ashamed to have a gay brother. And when John and I planned to get married here in CA back in 2008, 70% of the voters here in Siskiyou County helped pass Prop. 8 and took that right to marry away from us. By then we had pride enough, inside OK-ness, to go to Canada, a marriage equality nation, to be married. Pride cannot come from the outside: it is an inside job. Gay Pride ... Straight Pride ... Black Pride ... Human Pride. The ability to look into the mirror and say to yourself, "I am enough. I have something to give."

Move to Amend - It is a Movement Time

Dear Editor:

I am writing about The Move to Amend.  You have heard of it, no doubt.  It is a growing movement comprised of organizations and hundreds and thousands of citizens who are seeking to restore our democracy.   The Move to Amend faces a steep challenge:  To amend the Constitution of the United States.  This is not an easy task.  It is for citizens who are willing to exert effort and to persevere.  But we need to take back our democracy because of a Supreme Court decision back in 2010.  The case the court heard was Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission.  The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United, a coordinated giant comprised of corporations and the very wealthiest individuals in our country.  In finding for Citizens United, the Court ruled that corporations have all the rights of human beings.  They are considered people.  To make matters worse, the court further ruled that money is a form of protected free speech.  We have already witnessed the increasing corporate influence on our elections.  These elections are being swayed by the infusion of money, of “protected free speech.”  

As I write, potential presidential candidates are being vetted by the very wealthiest people in our country.  The plan is to present us with a slate of safe candidates who will represent the interests of corporations and the one percent, not ours.  We can do something to improve our choices.

I’m planning on getting involved in the Move to Amend.  Accordingly, I’ll be attending a Move to Amend Informational Forum on Wednesday, April 29^th at 7:00 pm in the Mt. Shasta City Library, 515 Alma, Mt. Shasta.  I have plenty of questions and I want to know how to be a part of the Move to Amend. 

Stephen R. Concklin

308 NC Street

Mt. Shasta, CA 96067-2412

530 925-0197

sconcklin@sbcglobal.net

Crystal Geyser in Mt. Shasta - What do We Get?

December 16, 2013

Dear Editor:

It may very well be that Crystal Geyser in Mt. Shasta will be the best thing that’s happened since Swiss Cheese.  There are similarities between the two products.  Both are sold to us with holes in them.  We tend to like the holes in Swiss Cheese.  However, the holes in the story that Crystal Geyser is trying to sell us are troubling. 

Look at what we are promised by Crystal Geyser when they join us in our Mt. Shasta home.  We’ve been told by Siskiyou Economic Development Council executive director, Tonya Dowse that the facility will provide 60 to 65 jobs.  However, estimates of wages could not be made.    Will these be living wages?  Or will the top jobs be filled by relocating experienced Crystal Geyser workers from the Calistoga plant?  Think of it. These jobs are the only benefit the people of Mt. Shasta can expect.  

What will we give in exchange?  We will be giving away our water.  How ironic this is considering that many Siskiyou County citizens are pushing to secede from California over the issue of “sending our water south.”  Why then should it not be equally troubling to allow our water to be given over to a corporation based in Japan?  And there is more.   How will Crystal Geyser’s pumping water affect our local wells, our water supply?  Questions need to be answered concerning the 1,000,000 gallons or more of water that will be pumped daily when the plant becomes fully operational.  Will Crystal Geyser reduce or cease pumping in the event that our home wells adjacent to the plant foul or run dry.  What about drought?  Will water shortages affect our property values?  We need to ask these questions and fill in the holes before we give away Mt. Shasta.

Dr. Stephen R. Concklin

Learn More About this Proposed Bottling Plant in a Small Headwaters Community of Northern California

You want to visit the W.A.T.E.R.S. Web: http://groupspaces.com/WATERS/

The web has been put together by citizens of Mt. Shasta, California who are concerned about the establishment of a Crystal Geyser bottling plant in our mountain community.