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.