Augusta National Meets “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”

You might have heard that a bastion of male only membership has decided to let two women join.  Augusta National Golf Club recently asked Condoleezza Rice and business woman Darla Moore to join.  There’s been a lot of comment on whether they were pressured to do so. 

Back in 1990, Shoal Creek Country Club in Alabama, and in fact all clubs, were told if they did not allow blacks or women to become members, they would not be hosting a PGA tournament.  Some said they would rather discriminate, thank you.  Augusta National must have had a hot meeting back then, because they decided to open their doors to blacks.  Forget women though, that was simply too much.  Former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm said, “Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.”

Many say that August National is a private club and ought to be allowed to openly and smugly discriminate where it pleases.  That they should not be forced to accept anyone.  In 2002, Martha Burk challenged then Chairman Hootie Johnson to admit women.  Hootie was faced with losing television sponsors for two years, but he would not take women even with though it was financially in his best interest to do so.  Never mind that it was the right thing to do.  He famously said, “"that timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet."  Wow.  Your ego astounds.

So it wasn’t a financial decision to admit women.  One can only wonder why they bowed to pressure now.  What was it that changed their minds, and how do we go about using those reasons to further supporting girls in the future, or any disenfranchised populations?

Why, in 1842, when the borders of Maine and New Brunswick were disputed, did the US and Britain choose not to go to war once more?  Why did American Daniel Webster and Englishman Alexander Baring, the Baron of Ashburton, decide to sit down in some room together and cohesively draw borders, thus avoiding war and countless lives?  Imagine what horrors and grief they saved.  It was the first time diplomacy had been used to settle disputes among the two countries.  What precipitated it? 

In 1844, candidate for the Presidency James Polk, known for his expansionist views, ran on the platform of fighting with Britain for control of Oregon Territory.  His slogan “Fifty Four Forty or Fight” is well known.  Well, he won the presidency.  But he didn’t fight for the fifty-fourth line of latitude.  How come?  He obviously had the support of America.  He could have had a meaty chunk of present day British Columbia.  Vancouver, BC would have been American.  No, instead a committee decided that the 49^th line of parallel would be the border and thus it stands to this day, the longest international border shared by two countries.  Why didn’t they fight?  How can we use those reasons to settle disputes today between fractions?  Was it economic?  As we can see from the Augusta National, economic reasons can be trumped by ego.  Few like being forced into compliance. 

So what finally happened behind those closed doors at Augusta National that made them open up and let down their barriers?  What do you think?  Can we use it to solve the great divide currently at play between Republicans and Democrats?  Can we use it to settle disputes in the Middle East too? 

Ghost Story from Sea Scout Ship Odyssey: The Lavender Ghost

The Sea Scout Ship Odyssey is a 90 foot sailing ship originally owned by the Henry family.  Mrs. Henry was a Vanderbilt granddaughter and word was that she loved lavender, but that is not who the story is about.

It is hard to believe that a beautiful wooden sailboat like the Odyssey could be commandeered by the US Navy, but that’s what happened.  Never mind that she was a sleek racing vessel that won all kinds of trophies racing in Long Island Sound, or that she had sailed down to Cuba while the family visited with Ernest Hemingway, nor that she went clear out to the Galapagos so the family could see tortoises.  No, the US Navy had to have her and that was that.  It was World War II after all, and people did their bit, even if it meant giving over such a fine boat.

The Henry family was able to keep the hand carved panels that depicted the Iliad and Odyssey adventures.  The Navy took out the little coal fireplace, the charming little piano, and the lush upholstery. They drilled holes in the woodwork, set up their instruments, and rechristened her the Saluda.  There was a job to do, and she stepped up to it.

After the war, the Saluda spent some time in San Diego.  Among those who served was a young sailor named Tom Wilkinson.  Tom was engaged to the lovely Donna Marie Clark from back home in Iowa, and Miss Clark wrote Tom creatively tantalizing letters full of all sorts of youthful l’amour.  She drew lips on the envelope.  She loved lavender too, and when it was blooming, put sprigs in the letters.  The other sailor urged him to read them aloud, and he did sometimes, at least the parts he wouldn’t get teased about.

One night they had a fierce wind.  The sailboat would tip pretty far over.  Winds would come up from hurricanes off the coast of Baja and pack a punch.  They called these the “Pineapple Express” because of their tropical origin, which makes them sound more benign than they really are.  But the sailors finished their duties at the end of the night, tied up the boat and walked home to the barracks.

The next night, they were ready to get underway, and Tom did not show up.  They sent someone back to the barracks to check on him, but it turns out Tom’s bed hadn’t been slept in.

There was never any proof that he went AWOL, or that he ran off to Iowa to be with Donna Marie Clark.  He never contacted her, and it was felt that he would have.  He never contacted his parents or his brother.

The nearest they can figure was that he slipped overboard, and they didn’t hear him cry out in the wind.  The last person to see him alive said he was below and wasn’t wearing a lifejacket when they saw him, although they were supposed to when they went on deck.  The Coast Guard went out to look for a body but never found one.

It wasn’t long after that when the lavender started appearing.  Sailors would open a hatch and there would be lavender strewn around in it.  They would open a cupboard in the galley and there would be a sprig of lavender on every can.  Someone would open a drawer and it would be filled with lavender.

Eventually the US Navy sold the boat to the Sea Scouts, and it was rechristened the Odyssey again.  The Henry family reinstalled the hand carved panels of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

But even today, we open hatches and find a sprig of lavender on every can.  A sprig will appear on the chart table, or a drawer will be filled with lavender.  If you are working alone on the boat, you might hear footsteps on deck and there is no one there, or you might hear someone reading aloud in the foc’sle and find no one.

We all wear lifejackets on deck, especially after dusk.  

We don’t mind The Lavender Ghost, though.  Like a lot of sailors that love of the sea, he’s a romantic.  Rather like Odysseus.  

How Old Should Your Child Be When You Let Him or Her Travel Alone?

Some airlines let children travel as unaccompanied minors as young as five years old.  Would you let your child travel alone at that age?  Supposedly it is safe, as the parents can walk them out to the gate.  But there are pitfalls.  Do all parents wait until the plane actually takes off?  Or do they head for their car when the plane pushes back from the gate?  I dropped my elderly mom off once and left when the plane pushed back, and the plane developed a mechanical problem on while taxiing to the runway and returned to the gate for 3 hours.  Poor Mom, who did not have a cellphone, nor could she hear on one if she did, had no way to contact us.  My poor brother called me frantically when her plane failed to land, and we had quite a time trying to find her.  Imagine how you would feel if this was your 5 year old.  Mom said she happily read magazines on the flight for the 3 hours it took to get the plane fixed, and of course we eventually found her, but a 5 year old might be frightened.

Often children travelling alone do so at Christmas.  Fog, snow, and ice can delay if not outright cancel flights.  Havoc!  My husband, an airline pilot, has stories of unaccompanied minors stuck in strange cities when their connecting flight failed to appear, delayed or cancelled in some other city.  In this case, what happens to the child?  Does he or she simply camp in the airport?  My husband said that in the old days, kindly flight attendants took the kids home, but I’m not sure that such a thing happens anymore.

Every time we took our children to the airport, we talked them through the whole procedure. “What do we do with our bags?”  The older one could read and spot the Check Bags sign.  We looked at the boarding pass together and learned what they said, especially where the gate was listed and what seat we had.  The younger one was told she had to find the gate (with us trailing close behind), for she knew her ABC’s and could find gate D-9.  “Look up, read the signs,” was our mantra.  On board, they had to find and remember their seat number.  We frequently had to sit in separate rows, so the kids had plenty of books and games.

One time our youngest had to sit by herself and she was not at all cowed by this, even though she was only 5 or 6 years old.  She asked the young man sitting next to her if he wanted to play Go Fish.  He told her no.  Undeterred, she pulled out a bag of caramels and said, “I’ve got caramels.  We could bet!”  I don’t know where she learned that!  The young man was swayed, and they played for nearly the whole two hour flight.  I asked her upon landing if he took any of the caramels and she said “Of course, Mom, that’s how you do it.”  Years later, leaving from a southern California airport, a young man hopped up and down and said to his girlfriend, “I KNOW THAT GIRL! She and I played Go Fish for caramels.” Sure enough, same young man and he recognized my daughter even though she was much older.

What are your traveling tales?  How old should children be when travelling alone?

Top 10 Roads

Just like great music, beautiful scenery that soars above, or stretches out before can move us. Waterfalls, wildflowers and being able to spot a wilderness animal delights the soul.  I love hiking too, but for this question, I’d like to focus on roads, whether by car, motorcycle or bicycle.

What are your favorite drives? Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park?  Route 66 across America?  Hwy 1 in California?  Briançon to Gap, France?  Sea To Sky Highway on the way to Whistler, BC?  What are some of your favorite roads?