Retirees

[Yolan Mistele]

Anybody recently retired or planning to in the next year or so? What are you up to?

[Dianne Murray]

I have retired twice, but I'm about ready to go back. I retired in Indiana to go to Caracas, Venezuela to work. I retired in Florida this spring to move to Georgia. I had experimental surgeries for sleep apnea this semester and may have enough energy to work again!! Know of any openings north of Atlanta??

[Yolan Mistele]

Dianne,

Would you want to come as far north as Wisconsin? I could forward job postings to you if you're interested.
Yo

[Dianne Murray]

That is so wonderful of you to offer such a great service. However, having lived in Indiana for most of our lives, before we went to Caracas, VE, and then Pensacola, FL and now Georgia---I don't think I can budge my husband from the sunshine.

*virtual hug* for your kindness. Maybe when global warming has Wisconsin in the tropics, we will see you!! *joking--fingers crossed"

[LARRY RETZACK]

Diane, what is your opinion of Hugo Chavez? I know many Americans hate his guts but I saw an author recently on C-SPAN who has written a book titled Hugo that sounded very interesting. Is our govt. trying to do a number on him like Kissinger & the CIA did on Allende?

[soteria pappas]

Larry,
I think Chavez is trying to help the people of Venezuela who have nothing i.e. the poor. And apparently this is abhorrent to our present politicos. They want Chavez to give the oil to the conglomerates so they can exploit it to their advantage. And the people of V. to get very little to nothing for oil which belongs to all of them. I am a high school librarian and yesterday a fellow colleague forwarded us an email which hysterically advised everyone not to buy Citgo oil because Chavez is building armament factories with the money and he has missiles aimed at us! Never mind that we're armed to the teeth. People actually believe this right-wing propaganda. And Larry, I do believe the Bush administration is trying to do to Chavez what was done disgracefully, illegally, to Allende. And all this talk of Democracy and how we love freedom - remember Allende was voted into office - but we had no qualms about attacking him.
The book you heard discussed on C-SPAN was it by Bart Jones?
I would like to read a biography of Chavez. Get a balanced perspective on him, you know? Not all this vilification in the popular press.
Soteria

[LARRY RETZACK]

Soteria,

Of course, you're precisely correct that neo-con ideology is rampant in the U.S. today. I'm ashamed, disgusted by what Cheney/Dubya are doing with my tax funds and in my name. FSTV [Free Speech TV] has aired a disturbing documentary on Kissinger/CIA, et. al.'s action in killing Allende. Isn't it ironic that Chile has recently elected a president who is a female physician? I think she may have been tortured or at least imprisoned by Pinochet.

I'm unaware of the author of the Hugo biography, but it may have been Bart Jones. My take on the interview was that the bk was fairly objective as the author said he'd expected to discover radical leftist kooks in Chavez's inner circle but it was nothing like that. Apparently, during the engineered mini-coup that took him out of the public eye for less than a week, Chavez expected to be executed. Actually, America's popular press anymore is simply not reliable. Broadcast/print journalism has pretty much been co-opted/taken over by corporate suits who are often ultra-conservative fascists. The only guy I trust on the tube now is Keith Olberman (Sp?) on MS-NBC. Amy Goodman on FSTV is a reliable voice, speaking truth to power. And my favorite newsmen are Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert.

[soteria pappas]

Yeah for Keith Olbermann - I agree. As for the newspapers - my God! The New York Times and Judith Miller banged the war drum so loudly before the start of the Iraq War - taking information directly from the Pentagon and suspect Iraqi exiles like Chalabi - you have to ask yourself, this is the free press?
Are we no better than the old Pravda of the USSR? It's a disgrace. Where is this Democracy heading? A population that is fed , if not outright lies, half-truths and propaganda and same population trying to earn a living and working so hard to get the "stuff" they think is so important to own, that they are not able, or have the time to seek out the truth themselves. They've been told to just "shop". The truth should be right there when they turn on their TVs. at night ,you know?
I skim through the Chicago Tribune (fascist publication if ever there was one), Time, Newsweek. Read The Nation and skim New Yorker. And read very, very critically. Read a lot of books, of course - they are - some of them - a little more likely to give you the whole truth. Or to look at an issue in depth.

[LARRY RETZACK]

Yes, Dubya's "just shop" syndrome is the simplistic idiocy of the millenia. Reminds me of the theologian I saw on FSTV whose religion I would enthusiastically join: Brother Billie's Church of STOP Shopping!

I used to read Time until I attended a concert @ the Nat. Music Camp where LBJ's daughter narrated Copland's Lincoln Portrait. Despite U of MI choral instructor Waldie Anderson cuing her from the pit, the woman's performance was a disaster. I knew Time had a reviewer in the audience & could hardly wait to read his reaction. The guy lied through his teeth praising it to the high heavens. I learned later that Time, Inc. was in the process of buying some radio or TV stations & were afraid that a bad review would reflect adversely on getting approval @ the FCC. That reminded me of the time Harry Truman made a public statement that he'd sock some reviewer who'd panned his daughter's vocal concert right in the kisser. I like The Nation a lot & love the New Yorker's cartoons & some articles. Speaking of bks, I recently read a couple by . . . a guy I've seen on FSTV who worked for BBC-TV London. He summed up NCLB perfectly: it's essentially a thinly veiled effort to privatize education.

[Jane]

I "retired" in 2000 to travel, take care of ailing in-laws and to enjoy my brand-new grandchildren. Well, my in-laws have passed away and my grandchildren are starting kindergarten and preschool. In 2002, I began working part-time (one Saturday/month) at a nearby community college, and my hours there have fluctuated from 4 hrs./wk. to 40 hrs./wk. I also have substituted for young librarians on maternity leave. Right now, I am job sharing at my old K-12 school with the librarian who replaced me and wanted more mommy time. Working part-time allows fun time AND intellectual stimulation for an aging brain.

[Jane]

Hello, again,
I remembered an article published in the Nov. 2006 issue of American Librarians entitled "Retired and inspired: after leaving their jobs, these librarians find themselves busier and happier than ever." It is an interesting "sampling" of how "retired" librarians continue to pursue what they are good at and enjoy doing. Check it out.

[LARRY RETZACK]

I lived/worked in Japan 30 years for the U.S. Dept. of Defense Dependents Schools before retiring in Fukuoka Sept. 1, 2001. We returned to California April 12, 2003 and I briefly taught music in 2004 until getting my current job @ Colton High Feb. 24, 2005. But I'm not a Californian; I'm a native Badger and am eager to return to my Midwest roots in America's Dairyland by next July. The road rage in California is horrendous and some drivers are packing heat. I'm tired of living in a desert where lawns consist of commercial sod nurtured by automatic sprinkler systems. I'm hoping to locate somewhere between Eau Claire, Oshkosh, and Milwaukee.

[LARRY RETZACK]

Hi Yolan,

Thanks so much for your networking help in the past. After over a year of "negotiating" with the Wis. Dept. of Public Instruction, I've finally been able to renew my music teaching license and expect my new Librarian-Media Specialist license within a week. I've got a number of applications in process: 2 in Wausau @ UW-Marathon County/Northcentral Technical College & just submitted via WECAN for a middle school library job in Oregon. Of course, I'm delighted to be back in Wis. and eager to get a job. After 5 years in California, returning to my roots here is just great.