Author: sjwny

— Keith Olbermann

By SJWNY, a Trail Mix Contributor

This speech was written and delivered by Olbermann for the 1998 Cornell Senior Convocation. I apologize to the gentleman for quoting it without his permission but it is an important work on why we are and what we can become if we apply ourselves to the good:

Come on out of this wonderful haven, this experimental lab of life you’ve been in, and guard your humanity and your Moral Force as if it were your wallet.

…… But I also know that the one thing you have that all of us “out here” do not … is that you are not yet jaded by this process. To some degree you must inevitably become so. But if you keep your Moral Force intact just sufficiently so that you can stand up once or twice in the rest of your life and say, “You know what? This is wrong for me and for people I know and for people I don’t know and I’m not going to do it,” you will have improved the world.

And I do not know what the meaning of life is.

The older I got, the more complicated my philosophical gymnastics got until my one sentence answer turned into a paragraph and then an hour later and then it began to shrink to “beats the hell out of me” and finally to this gesture:

Uh-uh-uh!

But I do know without fear of contradiction what the definition of life is and it is 12 words long: “Life is defined by how much you improve the lives of others.”

Good Luck.

May you do better than all of us have.

You take it from here.

The speech defines who Olbermann is, why he does what he does, why he is needed. Being a lightning rod is not easy nor should it be entered into lightly. The message only works & lasts if it has integrity & solid ground behind & beneath it.

While others in media treasure access and being seen at the right parties & shindigs, Mr. Olbermann treasures being on the Right Side of History. Whether or not he is your cup of tea is understood & respected. I get it. But he does serve an important place as protecting the flicker of hope & light that defines humanity while others in media work to protect their paychecks. He doesn’t need to do this for the fame; he needs to do this as a decent human being & good citizen. His voice is heard; he speaks for those of us whose voice is not. For that, I am forever grateful. Thank You, Sir.

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Olbermann can be seen regularly on his new GQ show:

The Resistance

By SJWNY, a Trail Mix Contributor

Listening to the radio, the report given was sourced from the President-Elect’s tweets. #SweetJesusHelpUsWhatHaveWeBecome

Tweets are the perfect answer to someone who wants to both control the message & the messenger. #MuteIfImPissed #BlockIfImAngry

This  seems petty to some but the media holds uber responsibility to this mentally ill unfit man’s success. #Access #FaceTime

At first this man was treated as a joke, horrible though he may be, a passing fancy, nothing to see here. #Lololol

As crowds grew, the Press got “penned” yet said man got time on this/that show, access open. #ThrowYourColleaguesUnderTheBus

Election night comes, predictions swirl down the commode. Uh-Oh. The worst scenario is reality. #IBetterMakeNicey #Access

Stream of media types beckoned to The Tower. Newsflash: if you were called, if you went, eff your integrity. #Enabler

Twitter was instrumental in the Arab Spring, Occupy, Wiunion. It was the tyrant’s foe, the people’s friend. #KissThatGoodbye

Our Government, Our Democracy reduced to 140 characters or less. The people’s foe, the tyrant’s friend. #Resist

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By sjwny, a Trail Mix Contributor

Recently I received information about my paternal Grandfather’s family. This wasn’t your usual genealogy consisting of born, married, begat, died. This is a history of a family going back to the early 1700’s. My cousin worked years on this, contacting as many descendants of an 18th century Copenhagen Merchant as he could track down. Cousin Leif wanted stories about these people. He refers to it as Family Telling. A majority responded & it is incredible: A living document about long dead people who come alive through letters, writings, remembrances.

I never knew 90% about this branch of my family before I read this remarkable work. Holy cow, 5x Great-Grampa graduated from the University of Copenhagen, became a teacher & with his twin brothers did their best to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment to colleagues in Denmark. Another relative was part of the “Golden Age of Danish Painting” who was also the godson of Constanze Mozart, widow of Wolfgang. I teared up when I read translations of letters my Grampa Hans wrote to his family in Denmark, especially his words about my brother & sister. Also teared up when I read the remembrances of a cousin who was taken by the invading Germans during WWII & made part of a work gang who cut peat into blocks for fuel.

The importance of words, both good & bad, should be honored & recorded. You will never be forgotten if someone remembers.

I would like to propose one day of words – only words – used on this blog to comment. No links, no videos, just you. Any topic. The beauty of the written word to be celebrated, read & remembered.

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By SJWNY, a Trail Mix Contributor

Sometimes we get a Theodore Roosevelt; sometimes we get an Andrew Johnson or a John Tyler. No matter who “His Accidency” may be, the choice of Vice President is really important. The recent health issues of Secretary Clinton brings to the fore the importance of the Veep.

Who would, God forbid, be the better choice to take over: Tim Kaine or Mike Pence?

A number of people voted against John McCain in 2008 because of who he chose as his running mate. The idea of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from assuming the Presidency scared a number of voters. Literally.

We must be mindful that both 2016 Presidential nominees are senior citizens. No disrespect meant; simply a fact. I consider the Vice Presidential pick as important as who is at the top of the ticket, not only this election, but every election.

So in honor of all the heir apparents, miscreants, has beens, winners & losers, a list of our Vice Presidents. Consider it a celebration of democracy or a cautionary tale. The next choice is up to you, dear voter. Make up your mind wisely.

• John Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• Aaron Burr
• George Clinton
• Elbridge Gerry
• Daniel Tompkins
• John C. Calhoun



• Martin Van Buren
• Richard Mentor Johnson
• John Tyler
• George M. Dallas
• Millard Fillmore
• William R. King
• John C. Breckinridge
• Hannibal Hamlin
• Andrew Johnson
• Schuyler Colfax
• Henry Wilson
• William A. Wheeler
• Chester A. Arthur
• Thomas A. Hendricks
• Levi P. Morton
• Adlai Stevenson
• Garret Hobart
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Charles W. Fairbanks
• James S. Sherman
• Thomas R. Marshall



• Calvin Coolidge
• Charles G. Dawes
• Charles Curtis
• John Nance Garner
• Henry A. Wallace
• Harry S. Truman
• Alben W. Barkley
• Richard M. Nixon
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Hubert Humphrey
• Spiro Agnew
• Gerald Ford
• Nelson Rockefeller
• Walter Mondale
• George H. W. Bush
• Daniel Quayle
• Albert Gore
• Richard Cheney
• Joseph Biden

1 : related by blood :  descended from a common ancestor or prototype  2 : essentially similar, related, or compatible – Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

By SJWNY, a Trail Mix Contributor

Recently I have been overtaken by a tsunami of genealogical information. This is a good thing, as I have been in a drought for years concerning certain lines on both sides of my family. Might I add the info is excellent: Census Records, Marriage & Christening Records, Death Certificates. Stuff that holds up in the Genealogical Court of Acceptable Documents.

While researching my Mother’s Welsh ancestors, I came across a story about the ancestry of Hillary Rodham Clinton, specifically her paternal Grandmother, Hannah Jones Rodham. A map showing where Hannah’s parents were from was included. Her Father came from Neath; her Mother from Merthyr Tydfil. I recognized the region: it’s about 20 miles from Cardiff, where my ancestor grew up.

I don’t claim any blood relationship with Secretary Clinton, but our ancestors shared a common kinship in the experiences of growing up in Wales during times of grinding poverty & very few prospects. Leaving home for a new life in America was an opportunity that I am glad they took. This is not unique to my family, to Secretary Clinton’s family, to your family.

This is what made & will always make America great: a constant renewal of good souls looking for a better life & understanding the work & sacrifice involved.

Secretly I am hoping next March the new President will have a vase of daffodils placed on a table in the White House. Not only as a symbol of the renewal & hope of Spring, but as a reminder that we all came from somewhere else & how that unites us. The ties that bind, not divide.

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