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A Paragraph

The New American Digest Posted on by

It is my policy on this site to not publish any of Gerard's work until after AD goes dark - and to not publish anything that's been published in his book.

It's also my policy that if it weren't for rules, I'd have nothing to break.

Before AD goes dark in the next few days or maybe a week or so, I'd like to recommend those that haven't purchased "The Name in the Stone", to go to the archives and read "A Death On The Net" from Aug 30, 2022; titled "Thomas E Mandell" in the book.

It took the third or fourth time reading this post before it sank in.
An excerpt, just this single paragraph - the part that led to this post:

"What Tom Mandel knew, and what many companies and individuals still refuse to learn, is that on-line is not about selling something to someone or bringing information to the starving masses. what it is about is people wanting to connect in a real and genuine way to other people, free of the filters of older media -to establish, no matter how ephemerically, communities of like-minded souls who are not separated by facts of geography, and to create a place where it really is the content of one's character that is the first and foremost thing people see. Through his work on The Well and Time Online, Tom Mandel gave the net an example of how to transmit your soul through the medium of conferencing."

I'd say that Gerard Van der Leun also accomplished that as well as any before and possibly after.

It's not in my nature to be of that nature but perhaps it was some stirring of some inner voice of the same that led me to step up and start this site - this is not the me that I know. Perhaps it is to be my future self to at least find and follow the footsteps of those before me and to show that same path - good or bad - to those of you who desire to follow along.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm full of it once again ... which is my nature.

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The Time Has Come Today

The New American Digest Posted on by

Neo made the announcement today that the last post of American Digest is now up.
Time to go and catch the last of Gerard's works directly from his site for the last few days the site will be active.

Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today

My thanks to Neo for all the work she has done to keep Gerard's site up as long as it was ... seems like not all that long ago Gerard was still writing.

My thanks to her also for her permission and help in getting this site up and running; hopefully "the gang" can stay together and comment on topics far and wide - or even contribute posts for those of you so inclined.

But all good things come to an end ... (bad things seem to last forever).

The Doors - The End

R.I.P., American Digest

Somehow, it's not hard imagining Gerard during the days these tunes were "new".

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Bodie

The New American Digest Posted on by
"I don't need to go to hell, I come from Bodie"

An old gold-mining town in eastern California. Not far from Aurora Nevada where Samuel Clemens - before he became Mark Twain - almost made it rich as a miner, not writer. Prospectors were in the area by the late 1850s; it became a formal town in 1876. The population peaked near 10,000 people during the boom years of late 1870s/early 1880s. The mines were productive up to the beginning of WWII but the population had fallen to below 700 by 1910. Considered a semi-ghost town by 1915, a fire destroyed much of the town in 1932, the last resident left in 1943, and it became a California State Park in 1962.

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Oh My, Denver

The New American Digest Posted on by

"Denver Public Schools argued a drop in school attendance was due to a new Trump administration policy of not shielding schools from ICE raids"

"A federal judge has ruled against the Denver public schools system’s attempts to block immigration officials from carrying out raids on school grounds, marking a win for the Trump administration as it looks to ramp up its deportation efforts."

"The school system also argued that rescinding the policy had caused schools to devote time and resources to teaching students and staff how to remain safe from immigration enforcement."

What the Denver Public Schools didn't bring up is that they receive Federal funding based on the number of students enrolled. Even I remember those two days a year when the schools begged us to "Please, oh please, come to school" on such and such a day.

Yeah, I'll be hard-hearted - I have a wife that went through the legal process of becoming a citizen. It's not a simple or easy process (it's a pain in the butt actually). Those people are here illegally, costing money that could be used for legal residents, and should be deported. As they say: "The family that gets deported together, stays together"

I would suggest to Denver Public Schools to quit teaching staff and students to break certain laws and padding the enrollment numbers - and that if they wish to continue in such manner, that they do so on Denver dollars, not Federal funds.

But that would mean a return to semi-private, locally-funded schools, eh?

And somehow, I doubt Denver residents would go for it once they knew how much would come out of their pockets and not mine and yours.

Schools should be supported by local communities ... preferably by those with school age children - though that could be debated. But not Federal funds.

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