OH in 1960: The Circle of Love told in the 3rd person

As usual, except for an occasional minor non-invasive minor edit to preserve anonymity, the content, spelling and grammar are the writer's. All In know is that the parties are probably in their early to mid-20s:

The most recent mess is this (told in the first person for reasons of clarity)

Paul is in love with Judy
Judy is in love with Paul
John is in love with Judy
Judy is not in love with John but feels sorry for him & tries not to hurt him.
Paul likes John and is in love with his books (approximately 75% of which he has not read) & is slightly annoyed at John for involving Judy in the whole mess (even though it was not John's fault)
John likes Paul for the usual reasons that people like other people, likes him even more because Judy loves him & at the same time dislikes Paul because Paul & Judy are in love

Now that we have a lineup on the player the curtain will kindly rise on Act I of our little play. The play takes place over XXX 31st weekend when I came into the city to visit Judy (NOTE: we have dropped the third person because two's company, three's a crowd) When I came into the city over the weekend John let Judy & I use his apartment, because he wants to do all he can for her & knows how much she wants to be with me.

However while he is away from the apartment he starts thinking of what Judy & I were doing while he was gone. So when he get back he is disgusded at the world & mad at himself. This only get Judy upset & that get John madder at himself & he blows his top & goes around yelling & knocking things over until his internal pressure finally drops back to 1 atm & then things are quiet again (for awhile).

Like this is really going to be some summer.

mini-post from Nov. 1959

I acquired a new batch of mail to go through and this doesn't really qualify as a full-blown post. As usual, I have NO idea who these people are, but I was reading along and this little segment made me laugh out loud and wonder about Adam .

Joe and Adam came in Saturday morning (at 3:00 A.M., their plane got delayed four hours at Chicago due to snow) and Adam spent Saturday night here.He is a merry fellow, and quite lively once he got slept out. He had only one diaper with him when he came over here, so we were using dish towels. He sure looked fancy with those striped edges!

Overheard from 1962 : Tired of war and worry

On Nov. 2, 1962, a grandmother worries about her naval grandson and Pres. Kennedy was still alive:

We have not heard from XXXX lately. Oh, I hope we will not have to have another war in the U.S. again. I have already seen two in my life & I feel that is enough. The next one would probably be a world war. I think the president is trying his best to prevent it, don't you?

John Cleese's New Year Letter

I have tweeted Mr. Cleese for permission to reprint his letter, but as I am but 1 out of followers, my voice will likely not be noticed. However, since he sent this to everybody who signed up for his emails, I don't feel he would have any huge problem

=================

Dear Fnerners and Bnerers, Once again, for a reason which dates back to 1582, we celebrate the annual re-boot of the Georgian calendar, with much jollity and good cheer, with singing, carousing, dancing and inebriation, leading to the consequent impact on personal health, as population after population succumbs to the morning after the night before.

Tomorrow (or is it already today?) is equally worthy of celebration, it being a date that even the Americans can get right - 1.1.11. So, perhaps some will turn the hair of the dog into the leg of the dog, perhaps even the dog of the dog. Just try to avoid making it the pack of the dog if you possibly can. Moving along, we won't have long to wait for the next new year. On 3rd February 2011 we move into the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, which is another great excuse to throw a party. Shortly after that, on either 20th or 21st March 2011, we have Nowruz 2570 (1390) the Persian new year, which being the Spring equinox, coincides with several other reasons to go for it (and why not?) : Purim - Jewish Ostara -Wicca/Pagan northern hemisphere Mabon -Wicca/Pagan southern hemisphere Holi - Hindu Hola Mohalla - Sikh

On and on and on it goes, each occasion supposedly unique and special - and so they are, just not for the reasons we give. Any excuse will do, really, religious or secular, national, international, or familial, new year, new baby, bar mitzvah, first communion, graduation, retirement, sporting victory, sporting defeat, you name it. What these occasions all have in common is that they bring us humans together so that we can try, in our sometimes generous, often flawed and occasionally dangerous ways, to break down the inter-personal barriers which exist between us on every other day of the year. It's no wonder we sometimes break things in this great effort to reverse the social norms which constrict most of us most of the time, in pursuit of the much deeper need for renewal.

So, on this New Year 2011, let us all say a very large, long and heartfelt thank you to the Healers of the world - to the doctors, nurses and paramedics, as they cope with the flood of injuries which accompanies this annual mass loss of balance. Thank you, wond'rous children of Hippocrates, for you are indeed special; you frequently stand between us mortals and the worst consequences of our desire to feel more connected with one another and less alone; and without you, life after the party would so often be much, much worse than a simple hangover.

Aside from that - thank you for all your kind messages and support this year. Remember to be extra nice to people who resemble small animals. Until next time, Jack the Cheese

Overheard in 1974 - Scientists are out for the buck

As usual, the typos and grammar are the authors.

The author is in his 70s:

The buck comes between the doctors and the patients. They provide synthetics because they are cheaper and make more money for the docs. The common cold has been a fine source of income for the medicine man for many years and he isn't about to let lose of it. Far too much of this "scientific" materialis subdued or covered by convention or the dollar sign so much of it can be taken with that proverbial grain of salt.

The messing up of our ecology by so called scientific men has also done much to dull the publics faith in scientific endevor. Ponder the friction between the various factions about the danger of weedacides and pestacides and the pollution of our land water and air. Here again the "buck" makes more decisions than good sense. Any poison that will kill insects and other so called pests will also be detrimental to man. How can all of these men who call themselves scientists view all of this pollution and not say it is bad. The more I see of people who have been abused by the bad decisions of the AMA and FDA the less respect I have for them.

Almost overheard in 1954

I was reading through a subset of the current batch of letters and had almost settled on something until I read the following from March 16, 1954:

The radio just announced that the Bevitron has been completed.

My first reaction was "Jeez, that sounds like a bad 50s science fiction device". Then I looked it up and what it actually was was the Bevatron...specifically designed to accelerate protons to sufficient energy to create antiprotons, and verify the particle-antiparticle symmetry of nature, then only strongly suspected. The antiproton was indeed discovered there in 1955, and resulted in the 1959 Nobel Prize in physics for Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain. Basically, it was the ancestor of our very own Large Hadron Collider.

And, what was the reaction of the average person in the street? Apparently, pretty much the same reaction as people had to the LHC: OMG, something awful will happen.

Undoubtedly it can bring much potential knowledge, but all it makes me think of is now they'll build bigger and better bombs.

It's such a cliché, but really it's true. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Overheard from 1954 & beyond: a love story

(Identifying information has been redacted. But, as near as I can figure, the young woman starts out in her VERY early 20s. Spelling & grammar is as is. And, guess what happened between 1955 and 1956.)

1954:

Xxxx Xxxxx came home from Yyyyyy and is living in NY for a few years before he goes back. I saw him a few times but when I realized that he loved me I explained to him gently as I could that I was fond of him but could not be involved with him and was therefore breaking up the relationship so that he would not be hurt any more deeply that necessary. Cause if continued I would just hurt him more later. I did not let him leave till he understood why I did this, and though it was a sad evening I felt better later though.

1954 (3 weeks later):

Friday I will go out with Xxxx Xxxxx. He called Sunday and I am definitely in a mood to be cherished. I don't think I'm yet ready for the relationship I'm looking for and it begins to appear senseless to deny myself pleasant, if incomplete, companionship for now.

1955 (2.5 months later):

I'm slowly disentangling myself from my relationship with Xxxx, for our new relationship seems to be at a standstill, since he doesn't accept my logic for not wanting to continue, I am simply seeing him less and less frequently because I don't want to hurt him, but I do feel that my needs have changed & I am not at all desirous of being dependant on him. I am a person on my own & have finally conquered lonliness & am free to choose my own happiness & to give of myself without fear. I can decide where I want to be & why and not be afraid of other people's reactions. Still, during the time when I wanted to be dominated he fulfilled my needs & as so I feel that I must be fair to him too.

1956 (1.5 years later):

Two weeks from today I'll be married. I'm excited & happy & have no qualms or reservations. I feel that soon I'll be legalizing a relationship, the depth and fulness of which has been actuality for a long time. I'm happy and feel very womanly.

And, finally...1956 (2 weeks later):

Here it is the night before the wedding and I have such mixed feelings. mainly of course I happy, excited, content & impatient but also there is the knowledge that this is the goodby to my childhood, tomorrow I officially become woman & wife and part of a [unreadable word] new focal point of life.