Radio English.

On the two PBS stations available locally I now regularly hear "large" pronounced the same as "larch" and "news" pronounced the same as "noose."

I hope I don't get a large noose when I'm expecting news about the larch.

I:

Expect to spend a few days in the New Orleans area.
Hope to visit a friend and to take a look at the River.
Might bring back a small change in perspective.
Am pleased at the prospect.
Am thankful for the opportunity.

Majority-Minority

The magnitude of California immigration since 1980 has radically changed the state.
I won't speak of the new dangers and new opportunities that are being created. Here I just want to continue to raise your consciousness of some of the changes that are taking place. Changes are so rapid that traditional ways of describing race don't fit and we haven't even developed language for talking about those changes.

With the 2000 census at close to 34 million inhabitants, California became a 'majority-minority' state. That is, it has no recognized majority group. Using the racial grouping we have become accustomed to we can only rank minorities.

As late as 1960, California was so 'Anglo' that the primary language of foreign born Californians was English! In those days Los Angeles was the most WASP city in the nation.

In 2004 'Anglos' were still the largest minority and constituted over 45% of the population. Latinos were 2nd with 35%, up from 11% in 1970. Asians were 3rd with well over 10% African Americans were just over 5% of the population.

Projecting from now, by 2040, Latinos may be expected to make up nearly 60% of California's population.

The racial and cultural structure of the stated and our way of thinking and talking about it have been undermined.

It might be a good idea to look were we are going and talk it over a bit.

Philosophical Relatives

Well bro, you don't have to be my age to understand this, but it might help.

When I was quite young I was pretty sure that I understood "I love you." better than I understood "A bushel and a peck." Then, for a time, I was sure that I understood "A bushel and a peck." better than I understood "I love you." Now, I think that I would benefit from knowing a whole lot more about both.

I may come to consider that "nothing matters very much and most things don't matter at all.

You think about things. You think about change. If everything is changing, what is a thing?
Everything is changing.
Thing is change.
Thing equals change.
Change is thing.
How are things, anyway?
Nice to have a little change.
What is the nature of change? Of thing?
Do questions like this keep you awake? Do the put you to sleep? They may be good for that.

Magic Table

Imagine a beautiful table.
Large and low
Easily bearing gifts

Pedigree, My Foot!

Cranes Foot is more like it. Some centuries ago someone looked at the lines of a genealogical chart and thought it looked like the mark left by a cranes foot.

Genealogy and pedigree are not exactly the same. Going back to its Greek roots genealogy would seem to mean family studies. Like a pedigree a genealogy is a record of familial decent, but it may also refer to race study.

Looking at the genealogy of 'genealogy I find it belongs to one of the biggest most important word families. It goes back to pre-historic Indo-European bases like gen-, gon-, gn-, all denoting 'produce.' German offshoots include kin, kind, and king. Its Latin descendants seem to go on forever. I won't quote the Latin words here. I will mention a few of the related phrases and words in English: race, people, beget, be born, nature, nurture, gender, general, generate, generic, gentile, indigenous, genesis, genetic, gene, and a lot more!