Memoirs of a Tracy Kid
Before I started this monthly column 5 years ago, I wasn’t sure that I could come up with enough interesting ideas to last even a year.
However, before I agreed to do it for Per, I sat down and started jotting down possible ideas for articles and came up with at least 25 ideas, so I somewhat reluctantly said yes to Per’s invitation.
Over the years, I added new ideas until the list reached over 50. Now many might quibble over really how interesting some of the articles were, but I figured that if a reader didn’t like an article, they would just skip over it and if enough people complained, Per would tactfully let me know that he didn’t have room for the column.
Well, that never happened and after five years and 60 columns, I’ve run out of ideas for columns – at least those pertaining to my years when I grew up in Tracy. While some people might be interested in my recollections after leaving Tracy to attend Iowa State University, this would be a much smaller audience than those who might enjoy hearing what life was like in Tracy “back in the day” in the middle of the last century. So, for now, this will be my last column.
I do hope someone might be interested enough to carry on with a column about life’s experiences in Tracy during a different era. While the pay isn’t great (think gratis), the fame and recognition have been priceless. Think of it as a way to record the history of everyday life in the small town of Tracy that would otherwise be lost in the sands of time. The Headlight Herald is the best archive of Tracy history available. It is a treasure that should be supported through subscriptions by current and former residents of the wonderful city that I called home during my childhood and teenage years.
Tracy is a far different world from where my wife and I have lived the past 40 years in the heart of Silicon Valley, CA where kids go to “coding camps” instead of the scouting and church camps of my youth. I am happy to see efforts in Tracy through the relatively recent ROYO (Return Our Youth Outdoors) organization that is attempting to counter a “Tech Centered Lifestyle” that has come to define so many of us, including children. It would do us all good to spend more time disconnected from our many electronic devices and instead, spend it outdoors with our families and friends. I definitely support the goals of this new group of volunteers in the Tracy area and hope their ideas grow and make a difference.
I also have been following with interest the recent TAPS discussions regarding cell phone use during the school day. As you can tell by reading any of my columns, I grew up in an era where the closest thing to a cell phone was the communicator on a Star Trek episode which looked like an old flip phone, first introduced in the 1990s. We somehow managed to get through our school years without cell phones – can’t Tracy area students today manage to get through a seven-hour school day without their phones at their sides?
I’m going to end this series of columns with some random musings I’ve collected over the years. Some are mine and others are what I call “truisms” from other important public figures, often uttered during important speeches throughout their lives. A few are humorous expressions from comedians and social commentators. While you might not agree with all the following “sound bites”, most people will see a grain or two of truth in each thought – especially as you gain wisdom over the years from various life experiences. I think they are all good thoughts to keep in the back of our minds as we go about our daily lives.
Well, here goes:
• I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers
• Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions. Winston Churchill
• What exactly is your ‘Fair Share’ of what ‘someone else’ has worked for? Thomas Sowell
• Contrary to what esteemed math teacher Ethel Saupee taught me in math class at THS, the odds outnumber the evens, at least when it comes to people. Alan Hubbard
• The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain
• The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing for you if you don’t let it get the best of you. Will Rogers
• However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Winston Churchill
• It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain
• Why do eggs come in flimsy Styrofoam cartons and batteries come in a package that only a chainsaw can open? Unknown
• It is incumbent on every generation to pay its’ own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson
• A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people. Will Rogers
• Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision. Winston Churchill
• Much of the social history of the western world, over the past three decades, has been replacing what worked with what sounded good. Thomas Sowell
• Marriage is a relationship where one person is always right and the other person is the husband. Unknown
• The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not. Mark Twain
• My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson
• Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. Will Rogers
• A nation that forgets its past has no future. Winston Churchill
• We seem to be getting closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. Thomas Sowell
• America lost its true identity when more value was placed on suits and a signature than overalls and a handshake. Unknown
• I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill
• I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
• I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. Will Rogers
• The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. Margaret Thatcher
• Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
• If you’re not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain. Winston Churchill
• Too much of what is called “education” is little more than an expensive isolation from reality. Thomas Sowell
• Women have only two problems: 1. Nothing to wear, and 2. No room for all their clothes. Unknown
• When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. Thomas Jefferson
• There is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress. Mark Twain
• Make crime pay. Become a lawyer. Will Rogers
• Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill
• It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Thomas Sowell
• We have the best government that money can buy. Mark Twain
• A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees an opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill
• John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House, with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
• The best time to buy farm land has always been 20 years ago. Alan Hubbard
• One man with conviction will overwhelm a hundred who only have opinions. Winston Churchill And lastly:
• Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement. Will Rogers — Farewell to all, it has been fun, Alan Hubbard call the island home.
While many of those workers are college students from around the USA, the island also attracts a lot of international students, here in the USA on working visas. My roommate was one of those students, from Croatia, and this was her fourth season on the island. These students register with an agency in their home country, which connects them with an employer in the States, and then they work for three months.
At the end of their working contract, they are allowed to stay in the country and travel for up to a month. My roommate has been to Las Vegas, New York City, even Hawaii (twice!). So, not only did I meet people from across the country, but from across the world. My roommate is even coming to visit me in Prague in December!
Halfway through the summer, about mid-July, family and friends started to ask me if I’d come back. I said no; I was having fun, but this was a one year thing for me. Flash forward to September, and I’m leaving the barn for the last time with tears in my eyes.
I managed to make such good friends during the second half of the summer, and as I became more familiar with the job, the work became more and more enjoyable.
Regardless of if I make my way back to the island or not, I will forever remember the summer I averaged five-anda- half hours of sleep per night.
