Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Artful Street Lights / The Campaign Speech

This is a fairly cropped-in shot captured with the Bigger Cahoona from the window of a moving car.  Fortunate, because usually in this situation - that of seeing something worthy of a snapshot on the road - the scene has passed me by without getting a chance to even lift the camera into position.

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Yesterday I posted a bit about the political activity that we grew up with in Orange during presidential campaigns.  Something much more recent happened, however, that had us involved a little more than we bargained for.

This was just five or six years ago, when the husband of a friend of ours ran for a judge position on the Democrat ticket here in Harris County.  We were recruited to distribute yard signs, and attended one or two fund-raising functions.  Then, when it came time to campaign to the Asian population, guess who ended up front and center?

They decided to give a speech at the Chinese Community Culture Center, and we showed up at the appointed time to help out.  They were getting their equipment in place as people filtered in, and soon enough the room had several hundred Asian-Americans in their chairs waiting for things to happen.  Well, nothing could happen until the candidate was properly introduced, and they didn't have anyone slated to do that just yet.  Someone saw me there and, having a reputation as an accomplished public speaker in my role as Criminal Justice Planner for the region, decided that I'd be the one for the job.  I had about two minutes to get information and gather my thoughts, then was thrust on the stage behind a microphone with attendees ready to listen, all eyes on me.  I'm like, What am I doing here - I'm a Republican!

But we do things for our friends, and using the information just gleaned plus what we knew already based on our friendship I managed to do the introduction without attracting too much attention to myself.  As an aside to this, the agency I worked for really frowned on public political activity among its employees due to the supposedly apolitical nature of our jobs.  With that in mind, I was very glad that the press didn't show up for this one (that I know of).

Thus it was that my inauguration into the political maelstrom was mercifully short, as the candidate lost the election and chose not to run again.  I sort of felt for him because he was considered a shoe-in for the position and must have been disappointed, but think we both knew that things happen for a reason, and just the way they're supposed to.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Dog Dressed in Yilan / Bedroom Billboard

Another series I'd like to put together is how they do their dogs in Taiwan, this being a prime example depicting the kind of relationship that an owner has with his or her pup.

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Here in America the campaign season is in full swing.  A week or so ago we watched the debate between the vice presidential candidates (Vance and Walz), and were impressed with how they both handled themselves.  I normally stay away from political debates, but we were glad we watched this one.

Whenever these times roll around it brings to memory what a politically active family I grew up with.  Nobody ran for office of any kind or went out knocking on doors, but Dad took the time to teach us what was going on, and we were avid learners.  Some of my earliest memories are of visiting a campaign headquarters there in Orange and bringing home lots of buttons, bumper stickers and other souvenirs.  One time they gave out little megaphones, and I marched up and down our driveway exhorting our neighbors to vote for Barry Goldwater until I grew hoarse.  This was 1964, when I was six years old.

Four years later, when I was ten, somehow my brother Allan obtained a billboard.  Yes, a real billboard of a gubernatorial candidate running for office that year.  It was made of paper, and consisted of folded-up panels that were designed to be put together on-site.  Thing was, the site for this one was our middle bedroom at 1512 Chapman.  And billboards are BIG.  By the time my brother(s) unfolded all the panels and put them together, the picture covered an entire wall and then some, spilling over to cover half of the ceiling.  It remained there for several weeks, and I remember being disappointed in the result because when you look at a billboard from a few feet away it's just a bunch of colored dots.

It was that same year, 1968, that I attended a Democrat rally in Houston for Hubert Humphrey.  One of my friends was going with his family, and I was invited to tag along.  It was held at the Astrodome, and I remember that his father, on the way back to the hotel after the rally, marveled that we were so physically close to a man that might be the president one day!  (didn't happen)

So growing up we were politically aware, and witnessed the value of civic involvement.  Not a bad thing to be around in a country that was, and is, arguably the greatest in the world.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Unique Pickup Truck

One of these days I'm going to assemble into a series all the different kinds of small vehicles used as pickup trucks here in Taiwan.  This one in Yilan is not quite like anything I'd ever seen before...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Lady Washing Dishes

Not sure if this lady would have approved of my taking her picture, or of the world fame that's sure to follow after this is posted in the blog, but I just liked the scene.  Washing dishes in a sink out on the street is fairly typical in the smaller towns and villages, and something I've done many times up on the mountainside where Chenjean grew up.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Library (maybe) in Yilan

Either a library or book store in Yilan, not sure which.  The scenes in the door and window (with the kid) are pictures installed on the inside of the glass...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Bicycle Store Shelves

This plus the next several posts will be of general streets scenes in Yilan.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Brickman Playing Checkers / My Third Experience in New Orleans

It's pretty easy to tell that this cement brickwork was assembled from three pieces.  Still very well done, and one can picture our soon-to-be son-in-law engaging in a real game with the guy.

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Nick moved back to Houston in high school, so how did I end up in New Orleans again?  After moving down to the Houston area, during the first year of our marriage, it entered my head one day that it would be a good idea to get into our new little Toyota Corolla station wagon and just drive over there to have some fun.  So Chenjean and I packed up, hit I-10 and pointed east one morning, making the drive in about seven hours. The plan was to find a hotel in town to stay for a few nights...sounds easy, right?  Well, what didn't end up in my calculations for the trip was that it was February, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MARDI GRAS SEASON!!  Not a hotel anywhere within ten miles of downtown.  Our fun little trip began with great frustration over this, until I had an idea.  Why not go to Gretna, where Nick used to live?  As stated in yesterday's post, Gretna is some distance from downtown, so a room there probably would be easier to find.  We again headed east on I-10.

Then something extraordinary happened.  We'd driven a few miles, going along at 55-60 miles per hour (highway speed limit in those days was 55), when an older black guy pulled up in the lane next to us.  He acted like he wanted to talk, so Chenjean rolled down her passenger window.  He then yelled to us over the wind and traffic that it looked like we were lost, so where did we want to go?  I yelled back that we were going to Gretna.  He yelled back, "OK, follow me!"  So we moved over to his lane to get behind him, and followed for a few miles.  Upon our approach to the exit for Highway 90 he held his left arm high outside his driver's side window, pointing to the right over the top of his car indicating that we needed to exit that way.  I flashed my lights in thanks, and we went our separate ways.  We found a room right away in Gretna.

I shall never forget that stranger and his kindness to someone on the highway he didn't even know, perceiving that we were unfamiliar with the area.  It warms my heart to this day every time I think about it.  It's the little things in life, right?

Chenjean and I did end up going back into town that day.  After checking into the hotel we drove back downtown and watched one of the last parades of the season, returning well after dark.  A little culture lesson for her, being still relatively fresh in this country, and a trip down memory lane for me, as it was in the French Quarter where my friends and I had the run of the place years before.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Fancy Brickwork / My Second Experience in New Orleans

Never saw anything like this, so thought it was very interesting, this "brickwork".  Found out that it's nothing more than molded and painted cement, but a fair piece of artwork nevertheless.

The installation below was a little further down the street.  The building featured as the first pic in this series can be seen to the left at bottom:

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As for my second time in the Big Easy, this happened a little later, when I was barely a teenager.  I had a friend in Orange named Nick Schriber who's father, Charles, worked for Pelto Oil, and he was transferred to New Orleans.  For two summers in a row I spent a week or two at their house in a brand-new neighborhood in Gretna, which at the time was some distance from downtown where his dad worked.  So on some days he would drive the three of us - Nick, his little brother Danny, and me - into town, dropping us off in the French Quarter so we could spend the day there until he headed home after work.  It seems amazing today to think that kids were allowed that kind of freedom, but that's how it was then and no one, parent or child, had any second thoughts.  Thus, we were left to roam and take advantage of any adventures that were to be had.  Nick already knew the area pretty well, so he and his brother would show me around the places they were familiar with, then we created some new adventures and mischief of our own.  I was an avid matchbook collector at the time, so went into as many establishments as possible - even some strip clubs (if we were lucky) - to get new ones for my collection.

Somehow they knew an older teenager named Danny Von Tempo who worked at a print shop there in the Quarter.  We spent some time there just hanging around, and that is where I became interested in the process of typesetting.  As Danny was showing me how things worked it occurred to me that my dad's birthday was coming up, and I asked him, Would be possible to create a lead plate with his name in 36-point type?  So Danny created one for me, and I was able to give it to Dad when I got back home; it said "Robert F. Mahood" and the letters were reversed since it was made for typesetting.  This is an item that I still have, as I took possession of it at Dad's passing in 2007.

One day Nick's dad took us up into the building where he worked downtown.  He was pretty high up in the company, so had this magnificent, spacious penthouse office on about the 25th floor overlooking downtown New Orleans.  I shall never forget his description of a shooting that took place from one of the other buildings, where a Vietnam vet took potshots at passersby below, killing a total of nine and wounding twelve others.  Mr. Schriber was there at the window pointing out for us where this and that happened.  The emotions were still strong in his voice as he described seeing the entire event unfold before his eyes.  The perpetrator was black, and targeted whites, blaming his actions on racism that he'd experienced in the military.  The story of Mark Essex and what he did can be found in a Wikipedia article written about the incident:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Essex

One of those summers I didn't have a ride back to Orange when the visit was over, so Nick's dad drove me over to the Greyhound station so that I could take a bus home by myself.  This is something else that would be unimaginable today, but again, this is another time and no one thought a thing of it.  In fact I had a great time on the ride and made a new friend about my age along the way.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Rustic Signage / My First Experience in New Orleans

This being the old part of the town, and tourist-oriented, a lot of the signs and shops had a rustic look.  The first picture in the second column features the same building that was posted a few days ago in this series.

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As related in a recent post, I've been spending more of my retirement time re-reading some of the books in our library, the latest of which is a biography of Charles Schulz.  I really like anything that details the creative process.  In relating the history of the Peanuts comic strip and the influences that impacted "Sparky" in his formative years, David Michaelis cited George Herriman's Krazy Kat strip.  This sent me down the rabbit hole of exploring Herriman and his history in Wikipedia, where I learned that he was born and spent his early youth in New Orleans.  Upon reading this I found myself awash in nostalgia.

Why am I nostalgic about the city of New Orleans?  As it turns out, I do have a little bit of history there:

My first experience was when my brother Bob was in college.  As an undergraduate he attended Tulane University, ultimately earning a degree in electrical engineering (as did our father, and our grandfather, and our son as well to make the fourth generation EE in the family).  During his freshman year the whole family would pile into our station wagon, driving over from Orange to visit Bob and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Big Easy.  As an 11-year-old I thought it was great fun to be on a big college campus, and sought opportunities to explore the place by myself, which I actually got to do once or twice.  I remember his dorm building and room (he lived on the 2nd or 3rd floor), and the huge stereo system they had that very, very loudly played Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.  Bob grew familiar with the good restaurants along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and I ate turtle soup there for the first time.  It was all such an adventure.

Mom and Dad went there sometimes on their own, and as a family we visited several more times during Bob's time there at Tulane.  Occasionally he would come home to Orange for a visit.  Bob liked fast cars, so showed up once in his orange AMX 390, which was a beaut.  I've always been uncomfortable in fast cars, though, so didn't enjoy riding in it.

One time during a visit with Bob the family stayed in a huge, four-story mansion on St Charles Street, riding the street car to get here and there.  We had to dress up on our last night there, so don't know if it was for graduation or another occasion.

So that sums up the first chapter of my time in New Orleans.  Two more to go...to be posted tomorrow and the next day.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Daisies

Suppose, for the sake of balance, that it's good I'm attracted to these types of scenes as well.  This was a quick one, snapped as the group was on the go...