About Me

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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

Translator!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Promise and a Song

Some of the responses from the last post surprised and saddened me a little.  So many of you never had the opportunity to learn to swim or seem to enjoy the water as much as I, a confirmed water rat.  If you're ever in the neighborhood, I'll find a pool and we'll swim.  I promise.

Another song has grabbed a hold of me and I cannot get it out of my head.  So I downloaded it onto my IPod, and have been listening and listening...  John Michael Murphy did a version of this as did Cher.  The one I like the best is by Manfred Mann.  The drums, I think, captured me at first, but then I became captivated by the lyrics:  "Oh Boys, take me back, I want to ride in Geronimo's Cadillac..."

After some mini-research, I learned that in 1905, while imprisoned in Oklahoma, Geronimo was dressed in 'white man' clothes and paraded in front of photographers  with a few  'friends' in not a cadillac but a 'locomobile' -- supposedly a big deal as far as cars go in that day.  The song laments the degradation of Geronimo...  The last verse is, 

"They put Geronimo in jail down South
Where he couldn't look a gift horse in a mouth
Sergeant, Sergeant don't you feel
There's something wrong with your automobile
Warden, Warden, listen to me
Be brave and set Geronimo free
Governor, Governor, ain't it strange
You never see a car on the Indian range".

If you ever get the inkling and opportunity,  take a listen to the Manfred Mann version of Geronimo's Cadillac.









5 comments:

Kay said...

Goodness! You mean I'm not the only one who can't swim?

It really is a tragedy what happened to Geronimo and all the native Americans whose lands were stolen from them. This is not a proud time in our history. Hawaii was also taken from the Hawaiians, but that is not exactly advertised either.

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

A very catchy tune!

Mage said...

:)

Sally Wessely said...

I would love to have you teach me to swim. It's deal if I'm in the neighborhood.

I like the song. The history behind it is sad. Thanks for sharing.

Theresa said...

I learned to swim as a young child and went on to become a lifeguard in my teens. I taught many children to swim over the years, I still do when I can.
We met Swami when he came to our hometown to do a meditation program. We see him every time we visit Amma, which we do every year when she is in the US. And a for few years we hosted him in our home. This is one of Amma's sites: http://embracingtheworld.org/