“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right—not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this Hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.”
- President John F. Kennedy
The Cuban Missile Crisis (October, 1962)
Kennedy’s finest hour, but not as clear cut as one would think. The Soviet Union did employ missiles on Cuba, and they were pointed at the United States. Was it a direct threat to the United States? No question.
But…there’s a little bit more to the story…
The Soviet Union also had nuclear tipped torpedoes loaded onto their submarines, something unknown at the time. If one of the submarine commanders got an itchy trigger finger because of the goings on at the surface, we might not be sitting here today. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet General Secretary, gave explicit orders not to fire unless directed to by him alone, or if there was a full-scale invasion of Cuba (which was planned by the Kennedy staff). For his part, Fidel Castro was all for a nuclear strike against the United States if it came to that, urging him should the invasion occur, “however harsh and terrible the solution would be.”*
All these years later we still thirst for war, mankind hurtling toward its own demise, bit by bit, whether it’s through engineered social unrest or outright military confrontation, we are a swirling pool of constant motion, maybe giving truth to Hegel’s dialectic of thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
Humans are fascinating creatures.
*As quoted in the book A War of the World, by Niall Ferguson, p. 603
Caitlin Clark and Women’s Basketball
I’ll admit I am not a fan of women’s basketball. It’s a preference. I don’t watch the NBA either, and by television ratings, seems few are. However, the storyline of Caitlin Clark, who is a magnificent scorer, LSU and their coach, Kim Mulkey and star player, Angel Reese, along with Coach Dawn Staley and an undefeated South Caroline team had me interested and watching. The media did a good job of framing each of the closing games, turning it into a drama as well as a sporting event. Honestly, I’ve not seen a women’s basketball player the likes of Cheryl Miller until Caitlin Clark. Truly a remarkable player by any measure.
Did she, Ms. Clark, give focus and greater visibility to the women’s game? No question, a fact not lost on the head coach of the National Champion South Carolina team, Dawn Staley, herself one of the game’s luminaries as a player. That was a classy move.
It was a fun tournament all the way around and a fun storyline.
Naked and Afraid
I’m sure, at some point, most people read in the “musings” have seen that bizarre show. If you've not seen it, it revolves around people agreeing to travel to an ungodly place (the jungles of Peru or Ecuador, or some deserted island), completely naked, and attempt to survive for 20+ days. No shelters, "no lights, no motorcars…not a single luxury. Like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be."
Not even The Professor would make it there, I'm sure.
At any rate, it's a semi-fascinating show to watch, although, admittedly, I can only take it for so long before I simply can't take it anymore…it's just a bit too much. When my wife and I were watching it the other night, we both agreed we'd never make it on Naked and Afraid, but we'd do just fine on the show Clothed and At The Bar. Hell, we might win that one!
Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth
I can recall quite vividly the day the great Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record. When I went to school the next day, I was 10.5 years old at the time, I can recall the hubbub. Everyone was talking about it as though it was the greatest event in sports history. At the time, it probably was. Babe Ruth was still, and is still, a legend of the game and one of the greatest sports heroes in American history. He will remain so for as long as sports are played in this nation. On that day, April 8, 1974, Henry Aaron joined him as a legend of the game, and certainly an American legend of sport as well. There were the usual debates by kids, things like, "Well, Aaron played more games, played more years," things like that. The usual way things go when a record once seemingly unreachable is reached, especially when it concerns a sports hero. These debates go on all the time, it's part of what makes sports so much fun…speculation, imagination, the "what if's"…but no one questioned his greatness and the fact he was a legend even then.
So, here’s to Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, American baseball player, American legend.
Music Corner
A very good friend of mind, and avid reader of "Musings" as well as my Sunday Article, produced a ranked list of his All-Time rock bands. I thought I'd post his Top Ten of his Definitive Rock List just for fun. If you've not listened to any of it, or maybe not listened in a while, why not check it out? I've included his notations on each selection as well.
The Beatles (The most important band of all time)
The Grateful Dead (The best live band of all time)
The Rolling Stones (Longevity matters if also quality)
Led Zeppelin
Cream (Both Zeppelin and Cream elevated the rhythm section, grounded in Jazz)
Jimi Hendrix Experience (Longevity? No…but impact)
Black Sabbath (Heavy/Dark)
Pink Floyd (Biggest of the "Art Rock" bands - pioneer of progressive rock)
Bob Dylan (Folk-Electric-massive influence-poetry)
The Allman Brothers Band (blues/rock "southern rock")
Do you agree with his top 10? Personally, I'm not and never have been a Dylan fan, nor do I buy into his "poetry" deal but that's my own bias. Let me know your thoughts.
**In case you're wondering, while I'm writing this, I'm listening to Ravi Shankar and Sitar music. Don't ask me why…it's like flavors of ice cream…sometimes I go for the wildest, most out there stuff.
Podcast
This week I produced an experimental podcast, one that won't see the light of day as I was not happy with the product. It's through the Substack medium, and would show up for my subscribers as this does…via email. It's an experiment in progress, so we'll see. It's odd talking to a microphone and an audience at the same time, completely different than addressing a classroom full of people, or as I did a couple weeks ago, speaking to an audience one is invited to speak to. It's just you, a microphone, and your computer…along with Ranger, our dog, sleeping in the study with me as I attempt to make sense of podcasting my ideas. The initial idea is to be something of an extension of Mid-Week Musings…expanding on some of the topics, or maybe do a more in-depth version of my Sunday articles. I'm not sure of the direction yet, but it's a fun experiment. Stay tuned.
Welp, that's it for this week's Mid-Week Musings. I hope you have a great rest of the week, and don't forget, it's all downhill from here.
Michael DiMatteo
Somewhere In Time
Triple Option Publishing
©2024