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ThomasWolfewrote"You Can't Go Home Again." The title implies that the "good old days" can never be revisited, and the logical extension is that you must live in the present. When do you know where home is? Or maybe the ques- tion is "when do you feel at home?" If you could ask Harry, our cat, he would probably say home is where he is fed. A tod- dler might say it is where mom and dad live. An older person might have a more inclusive answer, like the United States or an even vaster location. I am at a point in my life where age has its advantages. Although I do have to put up with those robot calls which loudly proclaim "attention se- niors" apparently because we se- niors can't hear very well. I will admit to "husband hearing", but not to "hard of hearing." I also get mail proclaim- ing the need for funeral insur- ance, free offers for life saving devices I can use if I pass out (go figure) and I can hardly avoid Fred Thompson touting reverse mortgages for all us seniors who want to pass on debt to our children. I don't have to ask for a se- nior discount at most places anymore, but best of all, as a frequent traveler of a cer- tain age I do not have to grap- ple clumsily with removing my shoes when I go through air- port security anymore. Of course, there are some downsides to aging; I can't re- member them all. If you ask my doctors, they will tell you I am in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in. We recently combined some Bay Area medical appoint- ments with a trip to Wiscon- sin to spoil two of our grand- sons, and catch up on their fam- ily. During our time in the Bay Area we revisited our old neigh- borhoods, some restaurants we used to frequent and schools we attended. We sold our small two bedroom house in 1971 when I returned to Stanford. Our neighborhood looked somewhat different; many people had removed grass in favor of rocks and small plants; houses were painted a with a far wider variety of col- ors than I remembered; the population was dominated by folks of Asian descent; almost no one parked their cars in the garages; some streets had be- come one way streets; two res- taurants we wanted to visit were boarded up; and things just didn't look the same. From the perspective of age these developments were not shocking, but they did cause me to think about what has transpired over the last several years and how the world is dif- ferent and how I am different. Of course, I did some rem- iniscing. Reminiscing comes easier as you mature because you have developed a perspec- tive on life. That perspective cannot be forced upon us be- cause it grows at its own pace. I remembered my freshman year at Stanford. One of the poems freshmen at Stanford were tortured with in 1957 is The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot. I say "tortured" because 19-year- olds do not have the perspec- tive on life to understand the poem. It takes a longer life of experience to understand the angst that Prufrock frets over. It was a dreary poem, but I still remember the first few lines: "Let us go then, you and I, When evening is spread out against the sky, Like a patient etherized upon a table." That is not a very upbeat start, and the poem goes downhill from there. If a teacher wanted to establish an attitude of the defeat that life presents us, he could not have started with a more fitting poem. I have refused to dwell on that angst; even 57 years later I cannot generate the de- feated attitude of Prufrock. While in San Francisco I had a surgical procedure on my scalp to remove a carcinoma. I was not etherized on a table like the evening in the poem, but my scalp was numb enough that I didn't experience more than discomfort until later in the day. I knew what was go- ing on during the surgery, felt each cut, staple, and stitch and could smell the odor pro- duced by cauterization. When I showed him the spot on my head after church on Sunday, retired doctor Jim Schieve re- minded me that the hole in my head has now been verified. I think that in some ways T.S. Eliot was commenting on the potential dreariness of a life with no meaning, life filled with trivialities and routine. These are things most 19-year- olds would not have had to con- sider. While life can be tedious at times, it is always filled with challenges and insights. In contrast to Prufrock is the story of Louis Zamperini recorded in the book "Unbro- ken," soon to be released as a movie — this is not a plug. Zamperini overcame difficult circumstances; many of which took place far from where any of us would call "home." Later in his life Eliot said: "At the end of all our explor- ing will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Life unfolds before us, over time revealing the marvel that is creation, and the miracle that we are. JoeHarropisaretirededuca- tor with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHar- rop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop Knowingwhen you are home Parentconcernedabout student bullying Editor: Los Molinos High School stu- dents are being bused with the elementary students from Los Molinos Elementary and Vina Elementary. On Monday my 8-year-old son got off the bus and told me that he was being bullied by a teenager on the bus. I con- fronted the teen and said I un- derstand you think my son told on you for something but you can't bully a little kid. The teen then started swear- ing at me and asking "what are you going to do about it?" Called me a name and threat- ened me. He balled up his first and stepped at me like he was going to hit me. My son ran and got his mom. My wife came running over to see what was going on. She asked what kid is bullying him and then went to go toward the kid's house when the kid turned around and started punch- ing her repeatedly in the face, causing a gash requiring nine stitches. The high school said they couldn't do anything because there was no evidence of the bullying on the bus and their hands are tied. The buses have cameras but during the time the high schoolers are being picked up the bus and cameras are turned off and that's the time when the teen was doing the bullying. Because the teen claims he was attacked first the police would not do anything about the assault on my wife and said if we pressed charges the teen would only get a misdemeanor charge and that my wife would get a felony assault on a mi- nor even though there was no evidence of him ever being touched. His word against ours. After persistent calls to the schools and the superintendent the high school agreed to re- move the teen from the bus but only for two weeks and only af- ter we said we will call our at- torney. Where is the justice in any of this? The kids are told there's a no tolerance policy for bullying but when it's reported nothing is done and the kids are left to face this torment on their own. It seems ridiculous that the little ones are being bused with older students where they clearly would not be able to de- fend themselves and the system seems to favor these bullies. — Jason Sutto, Los Molinos Needle in a hay stack Editor: While enjoying a good cup of morning coffee at Gary's Auto Body a week or so ago, Gary told of an experience he had while he and four of his crew were en route to retrieve trail- ers used for offices at the com- mand centers by U.S. Forest Service while fighting wildfires. Here it is as he told it to me: "On Friday the eighth of Au- gust Gary's Auto Body left Red Bluff with five trucks on their way to Yosemite to bring back a fire support unit. We stopped in Manteca and stayed the night at Motel 6. "Sometime in the early morn- ing hours of the ninth, four of the five trucks were broken into and hand tools, a small Lincoln welder and a variety of towing recovery equipment that is crit- ical in retrieving wrecked vehi- cles that often end up down the side of a mountain, out in the rocks or stuck in a mud bog. "The Manteca Police were called and said they would be there in about 45 minutes. Offi- cer Espinosa arrived within 30 minutes and took a detailed list of items stolen. Officer Espinosa said they would contact all the recyclers and ask them to be on the lookout for the stolen items and they would check the secu- rity cameras at the motel. "On the morning of Aug. 12, I was contacted by Sergeant Sex- son of the Manteca Police in- forming me they had recovered some of the stolen items. Need- less to say, I wasted no time heading back to Manteca to re- trieve the stolen property that consisted mostly of the spe- cialty equipment for retrieving wrecked vehicles. "Total value of the recov- ered items, about a $1,000 with the assurance there was a good chance of recovering most if not all of the remaining items." A shout out to the Manteca Police Department for their dedication and help to someone who was just passing through. — Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Defending claims made in letter Editor: I expected a rebuttal to my July 18 letter similar to Ms. Bowers' as soon as it came out. And I appreciate Ms. Bow- ers for giving me an oppor- tunity to make a very impor- tant point, and that is not ev- erything I send to this paper is published. You see early in the letter I quoted a passage of scripture as a reference. The newspaper doesn't publish Bible quotes on the opinion page, so the pas- sage was removed. Anyway Joel 3:4 mentions Palestine and that was my reference. Now if you want to settle land disputes by the Old Tes- tament you should realize that the original State of Israel con- sisted of 13 tribes not just the tribe of Judah so any claim that the establishment of Israel in 1948 was the fulfillment of Eze- kiel 37 is ridiculous because that prophesy is about all 13 tribes or the whole house of Is- rael. I wonder if Ms. Bowers knows much or even anything about Semitism. The Jews are not the only Semitic peo- ple on this planet, Palestin- ians are also a Semitic race. So if she is anti-Palestinian that also makes her an anti- Semitic. — Orval Strong, Gerber Your opinions Cartoonist's take Knew he shouldn't. Couldn't help himself. I'm talking about the beaming leer in Rick Perry's mug shot. Or to be more precise, his smug shot. In the photo released by the Austin Police De- partment, the Texas Governor grins like a Cheshire Cat who just cleaned out the canary de- partment of a PetSmart and is presetting his Lexus' GPS for an- other store. Because he vetoed the budget of the Travis County Attorney General, who refused to resign following a drunken driving conviction, Perry is now be- ing indicted on two federal fel- ony counts relating to abuse of power. Which for a politician is real similar to being accused of breathing through their mouths. No big deal. The loyal opposition is programmed to con- sider all power abusive. A fact extensively covered in the freshman orientation pamphlet. The three reasons he's smirking are obvious. One: there's a better chance of be- ing struck by lightning while holding Charlize Theron's purse stuffed with winning Powerball tickets, than being convicted. Two: he can wear these charges as a loud red badge of partisan courage, rekindling presiden- tial aspirations. As for the third thing... well, he'll have to get back to you. Ooops. This is all proof that today any and or all publicity is good publicity. Andy Warhol's future has arrived and taken over the conference room. Famous for 15 minutes. That's the goal. You don't have to be talented or accomplished or good look- ing or an artist or even credible. Just get your name and face out there. Get on television. Even basic cable. By hook or by crook or by booking photo. Arianna Huffington sold her website to AOL for $315 million based on the business model of rounding up scores of scripting serfs who will write for free. With 7 series and a spate of spin-offs, the Bravo Network has practically given up on narrative programming, morphing into the Real Housewives or Women be Fighting and Stuff Network. The Weather Channel has a new reality show called 3 Fat Guys in the Woods, which in- fringes on absolutely no fairness in advertising doctrines. Any- body can be a star. Build your brand. We're all one viral post away from the big time. The NFL has attempted to harness these ambitions by charging musical acts to per- form at their Super Bowl Half- time Show. The three finalists, Katy Perry, Coldplay and Ri- hanna have each been asked to pony up for the privilege of per- forming in front of billions of people and to kick back a slice of their post-show concert tour. Next they'll want an NFL logo carved in the haircut of the bass player. And who's going to ar- gue? It's the bass player. The most humane solution would be for the NFL to pay viewers to watch their over- produced lip-synched parody of an extravaganza. Or maybe just go back to marching bands and Frisbee catching dogs. But where's the money in that? Kim Kardashian's new iPhone app is expected to make more than $100 million this year alone. The goal of the game is to do anything and everything to be- come famous. Just that. Fame. It's all about the exposure. Of course, in the Midwest we were taught you can die from exposure. Then again, couldn't happen to a nicer couple than Rick Perry and Kim Kardashian. And the 3 Fat Guys in the Woods. Will Durst is an award-win- ning, nationally acclaimed po- litical comic. Go to willdurst. com to find out more about the new documentary film "3 Still Standing," and a calendar guide to personal appearances includ- ing his one-man show "BoomeR- aging: From LSD to OMG." Will Durst Three reasons for Rick Perry's beaming leer in his smug shot GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. 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