(Please consider expressing whatever pleasure and enjoyment you gain from reading "Eureka Memories" by clicking on the "Donate" button above and contributing a dollar, 50 cents, a little more or a little less to my PayPal account. If you find value in the work, I hope you'll consider a financial donation that will help me continue to present my work to you. -- Ted Sillanpaa)
Tree swings.
Homemade bicycle ramps.
Forests where most towns had buildings.
The clerks at the stores who knew shoppers' names.
Those are the things that made growing up in Eureka special.
My youngest children are growing up in the San Francisco Bay area. They can go shopping at their choice of department stores, so I can't make the case that they're missing much not having shopping at Daly's or Bistrin's.
The kids can pick and choose hamburger joints. They've have just exactly the number of intimate conversations with the person who cooked or served their burger as I had conversations with the workers at the Fresh Freeze, Deb's or Arctic Circle. Kids stopped hanging out at burger joints in Eureka before I even hit high school in 1971. My children aren't missing anything.
So, much as I've enjoyed sharing memories of Eureka, it doesn't necessarily seem like the buildings and the businesses separated growing up there in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s from growing up anywhere right now.
My kids, however, will never enjoy a tree swing. They don't live in a house bordered by forest filled with stumps, fallen trees and a little stream.
There's no one like Gary Grannis to drag a long, thick rope down to a tall tree for them. They don't have a friend who will climb that tree and secure the rope. They won't go looking for a piece wood to use as a seat for the swing.
There's not a forest within walking distance of where my kids live. It's a healthy drive to the nearest forest, really.
The swing we so enjoyed right outside our front doors sent us swinging out over a little gulch. We started by swinging off of a steep, little hill and wound up swinging and spinning far out over the top of trees and lush, green ferns. Before we lost momentum, we stop ourselves back safely on the hill.
We all liked the big swings at Sequoia Park, but we loved our tree swing. Whenever I'd see Gary dragging the rope to the forest or, better, when I'd find the swing hanging from the tree with no one around -- I was euphoric. It felt like I'd gained admission to the finest amusement park.
That reminds me, the forest was so filled with things to do that we'd lose ourselves. I once climbed a tree I'd seen bigger kids climbing. I was alone. Getting up was easy. Getting down seemed impossible. I was 7 years old, stuck far up a redwood tree ... and calling to my mom to come and help me down.
The city dismantled the most memorable little rides from my years playing at Sequoia Park. The swings, the big slides and more were judged unsafe. There were no judges of the risk versus reward involved in riding that tree swing for hours. Thank God.
I was in my back yard one afternoon throwing a rubber baseball against the wall. I heard what sounded like a groan, maybe a cry. I walked into the woods and saw Brian King, a neighbor kid from around the corner, laying flat on his back at the bottom of the big hill below the tree swing.
"I slipped off," he said, trying to catch his breath and wiping tears from his eye.
I was old enough to help the younger boy, off the ground and up the hill. He'd never been on the swing because, well, not just anybody could jump on that tree swing. There was a protocol for earning the chance to swing on it just any old time a kid felt like it.
There were obviously no official rules, but the 2, 3 older kids didn't let me just get to swinging over that gully all by myself. They were willing to tolerate my presence, so they told me how to secure the seat between my legs and how to hold on tight. They showed me how to avoid having the swing stop swinging with me hanging out over the gully.
Brian King didn't know what he was doing.
Knucklehead.
I felt, suddenly, like one of the older boys. One thought crossed my mind watching the neighbor kid limp away from the tree swing, "Serves him right."
My older pal Rocci Barsotti was the most creative play pal a kid could have. Yes, we had bicycles. Yup, we bought 'em at Western Auto or Bill Beasley's. Whoopee!
Those bikes weren't so special. Heaven knows those stores weren't.
Rocci's ability to take a couple bricks, maybe a big rock, and some pieces of wood and turn them into ramps for kid bicycle daredevils was special. I'll forget where we bought the bikes well before I'll forget how much fun we had riding them.
The bicycle ramps kids all over town would piece together made Eureka special. There aren't many plots of land where my kids live with wood, bricks, big rocks or anything else they'd need to build a bicycle ramp. Even if there was, there's not a quiet enough street to allow kids to really enjoy wildly, recklessly, mindlessly speeding their bikes off the ramps and into the air. Even if there were, somebody would run them off because it's not safe to jump and fly through the air on bicycles.
I thought I had to be the only kid who had that much fun riding a bike. We'd built a ramp to jump from and a ramp to land on, well before Evil Knievel became an internationally-known daredevil. Lots of kids did that type thing, and more, in Humboldt County then.
Rocci thought of places to race on bikes that required more than just speed. He devised a way to make riding our bicycles as fast as we could around Gary Grannis's square driveway an absolute blast.
The square driveway was only built for two cars, so ... it took ingenuity for Barsotti to turn it into a raceway for a kid like me.
Rocci theorized that there was some peril in riding as fast as we could as closely as we could to the very edge of the slightly raised driveway. I imagine, he realized there was peril when I tried to copy him and zip around the square driveway faster and faster. I remember, still, having my front tire slip off the cement, drop hard onto the grass and send me ass over tea kettles into the big bush by the Grannis mail box.
So, we'd race around that driveway 2 or 3 at a time and stay as close as we could to the edge. It was more fun that I can make it seem, I'm sure.
We all remember every store, clothing and grocery, we ever frequented in Eureka.
So?
Just remembering that Cutten Market or Shears/Kacy's/Murphy's existed isn't a particularly meaningful memory. Children are growing up with easier access to more competitive prices now. They don't, however, know the clerks and baggers at any grocery store. They won't walk in to a department store to buy school clothes and have a clerk say, "Oh, you've grown since last year! Your favorite Hush Puppies are in stock!"
I knew all the clerks at Cutten Market and Shears/Kacy's/Murphy's. My pals and I ran around Cutten for years. The clerks knew us as well as we knew them.
Still, that's not really memoriable either. We couldn't have cared less about the clerks. We wanted to get away from adults. I didn't realize how special the intimate relationships with people who served us in Eureka stores was until I was a parent myself.
My older sons and I lived in Cutten, down the street from Murphy's Market. The younger of the two older boys was in third grade at Cutten School. He walked the mile from there home. Typically, he'd make the walk while I was at work. One afternoon, I'd come home early.
A full hour after school got out, he still wasn't home. I'd lost his mom, but I didn't want to lose him. It was what I perceived as a more dangerous time -- 1989. I hopped in the car and went to look for him.
I drove the route from the little shack duplex to Cutten School and back -- three times. I circled off Walnut Drive to drive down Cypress Street. Then, I drove down by the old slaughterhouse where 2 giant, mean dogs kept me from ever daring to take a shortcut home as a kid at Cutten School. I couldn't find my son.
In desperation, I stopped at Murphy's Market. My kid didn't have any money, so I held out little hope he'd be in the store.
I walked in and saw the tall, big-haired blonde woman who was always so friendly to my kids and I. I was an adult in 1989, so I wasn't the one with the intimate relationship with her. She just knew that I was a single dad with polite sons who helped me shop.
She saw me enter the store and looked up from her customer.
"Hi! He's right over there," she said, pointing at the magazine rack where my son was sitting on the floor cross-legged reading a college football preview magazine. He might as well have been sitting in our living room.
"Hey, Trent! Your dad's here," she shouted down the aisle.
He paid no attention.
"He stops in here almost every day and looks at the sports magazines," the clerk said. "It's so cute. He's not hurting anybody and he always puts the books back exactly like they were."
She assured me he caused no trouble, making sure I wasn't too mad at the boy. Mad? I was happy that my biggest parental problem, thanks to the clerks who knew my boys, was that my seven-year-old son was unusually interested in sports magazines.
My youngest kids wouldn't be allowed to sit on the floor at the nearby Safeway or Raley's. If they did, they'd be kicked out of the store. In Eureka, in Cutten, no sweat ... life was a little slower and folks had time to care a little more time and my older sons were in the best of hands at any business anywhere near our home.
So, the businesses and clubs and TV shows of our youth were important. The memories are important. They aren't what made Eureka, or Humboldt County special, though. Not really. The people, the pace of life, the extra spaces we had before everything was paved over and built up is what some of us remember most.
Showing posts with label Eureka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eureka. Show all posts
Monday, August 08, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Eureka Memories: Media plays along to diminish how Crabs' glory has faded over time
(Please consider expressing whatever pleasure and enjoyment you gain from reading "Eureka Memories" by clicking on the "Donate" button above and contributing a dollar, 50 cents, a little more or a little less to my PayPal account. If you find value in the work, I hope you'll consider a financial donation that will help me continue to present my work to you. -- Ted Sillanpaa)
For a kid who grew up idolizing every member of the Humboldt Crabs summer baseball team from 1964 to 1973, I caught more hell for how the club was covered as a newspaper sports editor than anyone in that job before or after me.
One minute going to Crabs games at old, old, old Albee Stadium in Eureka and then the Arcata Ball Park is the highlight of my life, the next I'm getting telephone calls at the Times-Standard and hearing, "You're killing us! We can't get fans out here if you don't do bigger stories and run more pictures of the Crabs!"
My history with the Crabs, following the truly great teams, paved the way for the trouble I caused myself as a sports editor of the Times-Standard in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the mid-1960s, I saw the Crabs play the Alaska summer college teams that featured Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver and other future big league greats. The Goldpanners and Glacier Pilots would visit Humboldt County. The Crabs would spend time playing up in Alaska. The Crabs were routinely a featured opponent in the famous "Midnight Sun" game that the Goldpanners play to celebrate the Summer Solstice each year.
Grand Junction, Colo. had one of the best summer college teams in America that would come west to play the Crabs. Then, the Crabs would play Grand Junction and the Boulder, Colo. Collegians on their way back to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan. The Crabs were loaded with the best college players on the West Coast and they played those teams that had simply fantastic collegiate talent.
The Crabs would bring starters from UCLA, USC, Fresno State, Stanford, Cal and other baseball powers to play and work (part-time jobs) in Humboldt County from June to late July. It was a glorious time for a North Coast baseball fan.
The Bellingham, Wash. Bells and the old Fontanetti's teams from San Jose weren't even close to the best teams I watched the Crabs play -- but they were better than 95 percent of the teams the Crabs were playing when I worked at the Times-Standard. And, they appear to be better than most of the teams the Crabs play currently.
I couldn't, as the newspaper guy who presented for readers the people and events most important on the area sports landscape, games against the Redding Oaks or the Fairfield Indians as big games. When my co-workers and I did the work to find out who played for the visiting teams, we'd report that a group of junior college players or older guys who play in night-time rec leagues were headed to meet the Crabs. That was a far cry from the days when the best players in the country were playing in old Albee Stadium or at the Arcata Ball Park.
I knew the Crabs weren't playing the really great summer college teams. When the Crabs were no longer willing or able to travel to Alaska, Colorado and the national tournament in Kansas -- teams stopped traveling to play them in Humboldt County, too.
I grew up watching the Crabs with guys from Pac-10 starting rotations -- the ace pitchers from USC, Cal, Stanford, etc. There was a Crabs team that lost three infielders, a catcher and two starting pitchers who were drafted...played one weekend in Arcata...then signed professional contracts. It was 1976, maybe 1977. What great talent they had.
There were local guys who could play with anybody and did -- for many, many years. So, while the college stars came and went, My buddies and I became big fan of Humboldt County guys like Bob Bonomini, John Costa and others who were there for years.
Times changed, obviously. My friends and I couldn't stay home and watch the San Francisco Giants on television every night all summer. We didn't have video games or the ability to rent movies to watch at home. We went to Crabs' games because they provided the best entertainment around. Now, the entertainment value has evaporated and alternatives are available.
The talent the Crabs had by the time I was in charge of providing media coverage simply didn't compare to the talent they had when they deserved to be the lead story, with a big "picture," whenever they played. The Crabs started playing adult rec league teams who clearly couldn't compete with the Crabs younger college players.
The Crabs appear to be playing collections of junior college players from different places now. That's a step up from playing former minor leaguers and teams filled with guys who were high school stars a decade back. Still, if junior college baseball players attracted our attention then College of the Redwoods, Solano Community College and Napa Valley College wouldn't have spent decades playing in private, right?
So, I caught hell for not covering the Crabs I was watching like the great Crabs teams who played great opponents that I saw growing up. The Crabs folks sort of expected the newspaper to help market what had become an inferior product.
Seemed like the right thing to do then, but I'd have made a lot more friends if I'd treated the Crabs of 1999 like the Crabs of 1969. Instead, I did what I thought was my job and wrote about the opposition and that the Crabs were no longer attracting NCAA Division I stars.
The media does market the Crabs now and -- why not? They're not stealing prime newspaper space from other major local sports events. I noticed a Humboldt Steelheads' game covered by a staff writer. I wonder what type of crowd the all-local Steelies draw. The club is operated by the Crabs, so I'm amused by the manufactured rivalry between the two teams.
What I came to learn was that the Crabs fans changed as the team changed. My son and his pal were born and raised in Eureka and were fortunate enough to spend two years pitching in the Crabs bullpen. I only saw my son and his friend pitch a couple times, but I realized that the Crabs fans had no idea that they were Humboldt County guys.
Crabs fans, clearly, didn't know that a guy like lefty Hans Smith was a collegiate long reliever, not Fresno State's ace. They didn't care. They cheered for the Crabs uniforms and they were cheered by the atmosphere at the Arcata Ball Park. My son and his friend wouldn't have earned spots on the Crabs rosters of the 1960s and 1970s. The pitching was far too good to have room for two good local arms.
I finally figured all this out over time. We stuck to covering the old Humboldt Eagles Connie Mack League team and the local American Legion teams on par with the Crabs. I remember one week for catching hell that my son was mentioned in a Crabs game story, then catching hell for only having a 5-inch Crabs story ... when my son had one of his best games in the two years he played for the team. It was clear that I wasn't going to win in regard to the Crabs.
I suppose I was too close to the Crabs as a fan to appreciate and adjust quickly to what the team has become over the last few decades. Seems like folks are pleased with the newspaper coverage of the team now.
Times have changed, that's all.
For a kid who grew up idolizing every member of the Humboldt Crabs summer baseball team from 1964 to 1973, I caught more hell for how the club was covered as a newspaper sports editor than anyone in that job before or after me.
One minute going to Crabs games at old, old, old Albee Stadium in Eureka and then the Arcata Ball Park is the highlight of my life, the next I'm getting telephone calls at the Times-Standard and hearing, "You're killing us! We can't get fans out here if you don't do bigger stories and run more pictures of the Crabs!"
My history with the Crabs, following the truly great teams, paved the way for the trouble I caused myself as a sports editor of the Times-Standard in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the mid-1960s, I saw the Crabs play the Alaska summer college teams that featured Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver and other future big league greats. The Goldpanners and Glacier Pilots would visit Humboldt County. The Crabs would spend time playing up in Alaska. The Crabs were routinely a featured opponent in the famous "Midnight Sun" game that the Goldpanners play to celebrate the Summer Solstice each year.
Grand Junction, Colo. had one of the best summer college teams in America that would come west to play the Crabs. Then, the Crabs would play Grand Junction and the Boulder, Colo. Collegians on their way back to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan. The Crabs were loaded with the best college players on the West Coast and they played those teams that had simply fantastic collegiate talent.
The Crabs would bring starters from UCLA, USC, Fresno State, Stanford, Cal and other baseball powers to play and work (part-time jobs) in Humboldt County from June to late July. It was a glorious time for a North Coast baseball fan.
The Bellingham, Wash. Bells and the old Fontanetti's teams from San Jose weren't even close to the best teams I watched the Crabs play -- but they were better than 95 percent of the teams the Crabs were playing when I worked at the Times-Standard. And, they appear to be better than most of the teams the Crabs play currently.
I couldn't, as the newspaper guy who presented for readers the people and events most important on the area sports landscape, games against the Redding Oaks or the Fairfield Indians as big games. When my co-workers and I did the work to find out who played for the visiting teams, we'd report that a group of junior college players or older guys who play in night-time rec leagues were headed to meet the Crabs. That was a far cry from the days when the best players in the country were playing in old Albee Stadium or at the Arcata Ball Park.
I knew the Crabs weren't playing the really great summer college teams. When the Crabs were no longer willing or able to travel to Alaska, Colorado and the national tournament in Kansas -- teams stopped traveling to play them in Humboldt County, too.
I grew up watching the Crabs with guys from Pac-10 starting rotations -- the ace pitchers from USC, Cal, Stanford, etc. There was a Crabs team that lost three infielders, a catcher and two starting pitchers who were drafted...played one weekend in Arcata...then signed professional contracts. It was 1976, maybe 1977. What great talent they had.
There were local guys who could play with anybody and did -- for many, many years. So, while the college stars came and went, My buddies and I became big fan of Humboldt County guys like Bob Bonomini, John Costa and others who were there for years.
Times changed, obviously. My friends and I couldn't stay home and watch the San Francisco Giants on television every night all summer. We didn't have video games or the ability to rent movies to watch at home. We went to Crabs' games because they provided the best entertainment around. Now, the entertainment value has evaporated and alternatives are available.
The talent the Crabs had by the time I was in charge of providing media coverage simply didn't compare to the talent they had when they deserved to be the lead story, with a big "picture," whenever they played. The Crabs started playing adult rec league teams who clearly couldn't compete with the Crabs younger college players.
The Crabs appear to be playing collections of junior college players from different places now. That's a step up from playing former minor leaguers and teams filled with guys who were high school stars a decade back. Still, if junior college baseball players attracted our attention then College of the Redwoods, Solano Community College and Napa Valley College wouldn't have spent decades playing in private, right?
So, I caught hell for not covering the Crabs I was watching like the great Crabs teams who played great opponents that I saw growing up. The Crabs folks sort of expected the newspaper to help market what had become an inferior product.
Seemed like the right thing to do then, but I'd have made a lot more friends if I'd treated the Crabs of 1999 like the Crabs of 1969. Instead, I did what I thought was my job and wrote about the opposition and that the Crabs were no longer attracting NCAA Division I stars.
The media does market the Crabs now and -- why not? They're not stealing prime newspaper space from other major local sports events. I noticed a Humboldt Steelheads' game covered by a staff writer. I wonder what type of crowd the all-local Steelies draw. The club is operated by the Crabs, so I'm amused by the manufactured rivalry between the two teams.
What I came to learn was that the Crabs fans changed as the team changed. My son and his pal were born and raised in Eureka and were fortunate enough to spend two years pitching in the Crabs bullpen. I only saw my son and his friend pitch a couple times, but I realized that the Crabs fans had no idea that they were Humboldt County guys.
Crabs fans, clearly, didn't know that a guy like lefty Hans Smith was a collegiate long reliever, not Fresno State's ace. They didn't care. They cheered for the Crabs uniforms and they were cheered by the atmosphere at the Arcata Ball Park. My son and his friend wouldn't have earned spots on the Crabs rosters of the 1960s and 1970s. The pitching was far too good to have room for two good local arms.
I finally figured all this out over time. We stuck to covering the old Humboldt Eagles Connie Mack League team and the local American Legion teams on par with the Crabs. I remember one week for catching hell that my son was mentioned in a Crabs game story, then catching hell for only having a 5-inch Crabs story ... when my son had one of his best games in the two years he played for the team. It was clear that I wasn't going to win in regard to the Crabs.
I suppose I was too close to the Crabs as a fan to appreciate and adjust quickly to what the team has become over the last few decades. Seems like folks are pleased with the newspaper coverage of the team now.
Times have changed, that's all.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
TV, movies & music didn't ruin my children
(Please consider expressing whatever enjoyment you gain from reading by clicking on the "Donate" button above and contributing a dollar, 50 cents, a little more or a little less to my PayPal account. If you find value in the work, I hope you'll consider a financial donation that will help me continue to present my work to you. -- Ted Sillanpaa)
There's no such thing as bad TV, just TV that I'm not interested in watching. So, I watch a lot of TV and always let my children watch it, too.
It would impress many if I explained that I watched news networks and PBS. However, I watch "Dancing With the Stars" and "Project Runway." I'm very familiar with MTV's "Road Rules-Real World Challenge" series. If it entertains me, I'll watch it when I have time.
My older kids watched just about anything they wanted on TV. I even took the boys, when they were 6 and 4 years of age respectively, to see "Platoon." It was the violently epic, award-winning Vietnam War movie. I wanted to see it on my day off and guessed they'd be fine seeig it, too.
My oldest sons are grown men now, so the result are in from my allowing them to watch everything on TV while freeing them to sit through R-rated movies, too.
They kids are alright. They aren't violent and they don't curse with any particular frequency. They treat women with a great deal of respect.
What other pitfalls have they avoided that are associated with kids who watch too much TV or watch the wrong movies?
They didn't quit school, in fact they did really well in school. They've never committed a crime. They respect authority. Looking back, I can't really think of a single time either of them caused me or their mom any problem.
My youngest kids are watching just as much TV, eating just as much junk food and playing more video games than their much older brothers did.
They're non-violent and do as they're told. My 13-year-old daughter causes a little more stir than her 15-year-old brother, but I'm told that's a "girl thing." And, for now, I'm still trying to figure out what a "girl thing" is.
My 15-year-old son responds to authority so completely and without question that I remind him that he can think a second before he does exactly what adults he doesn't know tell him to do.
He actually chose to attend a private Catholic high school in Napa because the institution billed itself for having rules and regulations that are administered impartially. He spent a good year there, but decided the rules are no more black and white at the tiny school than anywhere else in the world. The rules are bent, twisted and applied differently to suit situations. He's headed to a public high school this year.
My daughter spends hours watching the Disney and Nickelodeon shows that, theoretically, ruin young girls.
Her personality stems more from her being an outgoing kid with a huge vocabulary and her parents' temperment than it does from her watching "Hannah Montana." When I have tried to insist she's acting out like a character on a TV show, she becomes very upset and insists her raising hell has nothing to do with TV. She can become angry as quickly as her mother and argue endlessly as well as I can.
I imagine that television and movies can have a negative influence on kids. It just hasn't had a negative influence on my kids and they've been drowning in all forms of media through their entire lives.
There's no logical reason they've turned out OK while there are caucasian kids from Eureka to Napa to Vacaville to Roseville walking around dressing and talking like extras from an MTV special about living in Detroit or South Central Los Angeles.
That reminds me, I don't understand why caucasian kids try to mimic the representation of inner-city black America that they see on TV. I never see black kids of color trying to act and sound like they were born and raised in suburban, white America. Odd isn't it?
I've always made sure I watched the TV shows and films my kids watch. That might've helped them understand that the stories and characters they enjoy onscreen have nothing to do with how they live their lives in the real world.
My youngest son started telling "Family Guy" stories, so I started watching "Family Guy." My daughter started watching "Hannah Montana" and so did I. As mentioned, my kids have watched R-rated movies -- but, they've watched them with me and, usually, with me holding the remote control in case I need to stop or fast-forward the movie and say, "This is bad. We don't need to see this."
The result? Well, when I took my younger boy to see the remake of the 1970s violent, crime drama "Walking Tall" some years back, he complained during a fight scene that, "This seems too violent ... I don't like the fighting."
I've never done anything that any parent couldn't do. I just figured a dad should know what his kids are watching and listening to -- although, it's easier to just blame the media outlets for not providing good role models for my children.
I don't think even some very caring and concerned parents know what their kids watch and listen to these days. That, I think, is how I keep stumbling on suburban high school athletes from rural areas who talk with a sort of ghetto drawl. It's why I see girls wearing clothes that would be too much for a stripper, but just right for Rihanna or Beyonce.
Nobody said it didn't take time and committment to be a parent. But, if I can sit through "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and "America's Best Dance Crew" -- or record "Tosh 2.0" to watch with my youngest son -- any parent can do it.
Sure, the media's a problem ... but, my kids are my problem and I guess I just made sure my kids never became somebody else's problem.
(Ted Sillanpaa can be reached at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com)
There's no such thing as bad TV, just TV that I'm not interested in watching. So, I watch a lot of TV and always let my children watch it, too.
It would impress many if I explained that I watched news networks and PBS. However, I watch "Dancing With the Stars" and "Project Runway." I'm very familiar with MTV's "Road Rules-Real World Challenge" series. If it entertains me, I'll watch it when I have time.
My older kids watched just about anything they wanted on TV. I even took the boys, when they were 6 and 4 years of age respectively, to see "Platoon." It was the violently epic, award-winning Vietnam War movie. I wanted to see it on my day off and guessed they'd be fine seeig it, too.
My oldest sons are grown men now, so the result are in from my allowing them to watch everything on TV while freeing them to sit through R-rated movies, too.
They kids are alright. They aren't violent and they don't curse with any particular frequency. They treat women with a great deal of respect.
What other pitfalls have they avoided that are associated with kids who watch too much TV or watch the wrong movies?
They didn't quit school, in fact they did really well in school. They've never committed a crime. They respect authority. Looking back, I can't really think of a single time either of them caused me or their mom any problem.
My youngest kids are watching just as much TV, eating just as much junk food and playing more video games than their much older brothers did.
They're non-violent and do as they're told. My 13-year-old daughter causes a little more stir than her 15-year-old brother, but I'm told that's a "girl thing." And, for now, I'm still trying to figure out what a "girl thing" is.
My 15-year-old son responds to authority so completely and without question that I remind him that he can think a second before he does exactly what adults he doesn't know tell him to do.
He actually chose to attend a private Catholic high school in Napa because the institution billed itself for having rules and regulations that are administered impartially. He spent a good year there, but decided the rules are no more black and white at the tiny school than anywhere else in the world. The rules are bent, twisted and applied differently to suit situations. He's headed to a public high school this year.
My daughter spends hours watching the Disney and Nickelodeon shows that, theoretically, ruin young girls.
Her personality stems more from her being an outgoing kid with a huge vocabulary and her parents' temperment than it does from her watching "Hannah Montana." When I have tried to insist she's acting out like a character on a TV show, she becomes very upset and insists her raising hell has nothing to do with TV. She can become angry as quickly as her mother and argue endlessly as well as I can.
I imagine that television and movies can have a negative influence on kids. It just hasn't had a negative influence on my kids and they've been drowning in all forms of media through their entire lives.
There's no logical reason they've turned out OK while there are caucasian kids from Eureka to Napa to Vacaville to Roseville walking around dressing and talking like extras from an MTV special about living in Detroit or South Central Los Angeles.
That reminds me, I don't understand why caucasian kids try to mimic the representation of inner-city black America that they see on TV. I never see black kids of color trying to act and sound like they were born and raised in suburban, white America. Odd isn't it?
I've always made sure I watched the TV shows and films my kids watch. That might've helped them understand that the stories and characters they enjoy onscreen have nothing to do with how they live their lives in the real world.
My youngest son started telling "Family Guy" stories, so I started watching "Family Guy." My daughter started watching "Hannah Montana" and so did I. As mentioned, my kids have watched R-rated movies -- but, they've watched them with me and, usually, with me holding the remote control in case I need to stop or fast-forward the movie and say, "This is bad. We don't need to see this."
The result? Well, when I took my younger boy to see the remake of the 1970s violent, crime drama "Walking Tall" some years back, he complained during a fight scene that, "This seems too violent ... I don't like the fighting."
I've never done anything that any parent couldn't do. I just figured a dad should know what his kids are watching and listening to -- although, it's easier to just blame the media outlets for not providing good role models for my children.
I don't think even some very caring and concerned parents know what their kids watch and listen to these days. That, I think, is how I keep stumbling on suburban high school athletes from rural areas who talk with a sort of ghetto drawl. It's why I see girls wearing clothes that would be too much for a stripper, but just right for Rihanna or Beyonce.
Nobody said it didn't take time and committment to be a parent. But, if I can sit through "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and "America's Best Dance Crew" -- or record "Tosh 2.0" to watch with my youngest son -- any parent can do it.
Sure, the media's a problem ... but, my kids are my problem and I guess I just made sure my kids never became somebody else's problem.
(Ted Sillanpaa can be reached at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com)
Monday, July 18, 2011
Eureka Memories: Wal-Mart's OK If the Market Demands It
(Please consider expressing whatever pleasure and enjoyment you gain from reading "Eureka Memories" by clicking on the "Donate" button above and contributing a dollar, 50 cents, a little more or a little less to my PayPal account. If you find value in the work, I hope you'll consider a financial donation that will help me continue to present my work to you. -- Ted Sillanpaa)
The Bayshore Mall was built in my hometown of Eureka, Calif. in the 1990s with the promise that it would invigorate the economy decimated by the loss of the timber and fishing industries.
The mall performed as advertised ... for awhile. Folks stopped making the four-hour drive south to Santa Rosa to escape locally-owned chain stores who controlled the market and didn't provide the options available to those who could pick and choose from chain stores like Mervyn's, Sears, etc.
The Bayshore Mall died an inglorious death, as the Humboldt County economy continued to sag. People don't buy at speciality shops or need three or four places to buy athletic shoes when unemployment is through the roof. The movie theaters at the mall lost business when theater complexes were built in neighboring towns, thus removing the need to drive to Eureka to see a film.
Gottschalk's was one of the anchor stores at the mall. It has been empty for awhile because, well, the area really can't support a slightly upscale department store. If Mervyn's and Sears -- other cornerstones of the facility -- had died ... what chance did Gottschalk's have?
The mall is a sad place to be and more sad to see, assuming one remembers when it was bustling and full of promise for a community short on such a thing.
It seemed like exciting news that a "mystery" business was ready to move into Gottschalk's. Well, the Times-Standard newspaper called it a "mystery" business. Most readers seem certain that the old Gottschalk's will become either a Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
Best Buy? OK. If the Humboldt County economy can support a electronics store, great. Based on what I read in the Times-Standard and hear from old friends, a big electronics chain wouldn't seem too anxious to make a home in Eureka.
Wal-Mart, however, suits Humboldt County just fine. It offers low prices and tons of controversy. The same type controversy folks in Fairfield remember when the old, empty shopping center that took up an entire city blocks became home a Wal-Mart superstore.
The folks who don't like the idea of Wal-Mart, and its questionable business practices and low prices, coming to Eureka insist it will kill what's left of locally-owned Humboldt County businesses. Mostly, they focus on the questionable business practices because the majority of locally-owned Eureka business began to disappear years and years ago.
As a Fairfield resident who cares what happens in his hometown of Eureka, I'm confused by the anger expressed by folks who can't stand the idea of a Wal-Mart moving into the Gottschalk's space.
The bulk of locally-owned businesses are speciality-type spots. One Times-Standard reader complained that Wal-Mart will kill such stores. Another reader, rightly, mentioned that local stores don't sell shampoo, vitamins, pet food, toilet paper, etc. So, Wal-Mart would actually pose no threat to local shops.
The anti-Wal-Mart reader eventually said that, indeed, there are businesses that sell essentials like toilet paper and more. He mentioned a speciality shop called Bubbles as a spot that sells shampoo. And, he explained that a local health food story in Arcata (a town across the bay from Eureka) markets vitamins. Finally, he mentioned a locally-owned pet store that does sell pet food.
I was born, raised and spent most of my life in Humboldt County. There are folks who buy shampoo at Bubbles, but the average family that uses the biggest container of the least costly shampoos and soaps shop at CVS, Walgreen's or grocery stores.
Small health food outlets sell vitamins, sure. The monster-sized containers of generic multi-vitamins available at Wal-Mart are affordable and more in line with what people who want a supplement as opposed to a committment to health-conscious lifestyle would buy.
The argument that Wal-Mart's business practices are shady can go on forever. Folks who can't afford to shop at speciality stores in Humboldt County just want to be able to buy the cheapest goods they can, cheap goods that people flock to the Fairfield superstore to purchase at all hours of the day and night.
The area most densely filled with low-income housing is located not far from the Bayshore Mall in Eureka. So, a Wal-Mart store would be as popular and affordable to folks who need alternatives as it is in Fairfield where local businesses have died and the economy is an absolute wreck.
The folks who shop at speciality stores, locally-owned stores, in Fairfield aren't the folks filling the Wal-Mart parking at 10 p.m. most nights. So, I imagine that
small businesses in Eureka would keep their clientele and that folks who can barely afford toilet paper and dog food, let alone a DVD for their kids once in awhile, would consider Wal-Mart, Target and other chain stores that might be alive up there.
Obviously, those people who own or have reason to support small businesses are going to fight Wal-Mart. Heck, they're fighting the idea that Best Buy might move into town. They'll try to sell the idea that Trader Joe's or Cost Plus World Market would somehow help Eureka's struggling economy everybit as much as something like a Wal-Mart.
People who would shop at Wal-Mart, maybe get a job because they'll take what Wal-Mart pays and live with the sketchy benefits, don't really have a voice. For whatever reason, they don't have much time to spend online debating the merits of locally-owned businesses in a town where the mall that was supposed to save the economy is standing nearly vacant.
The Wal-Mart superstore in Fairfield is busy all the time. Regular folks are in their shopping for things they, often, couldn't afford elsewhere. I imagine lots of kids are wearing school shoes purchased at Wal-Mart, for instance. The Fairfield market clearly demands a Wal-Mart.
Up in the Humboldt County, the folks with the most juice seem to like the idea of keeping things as they are. Local business owners and folks who buy their shampoo at a speciality shop can afford to live in what many insist is God's Country -- and look down their noses at people who'd shop or want to work at Wal-Mart.
That's unfortunate because God's Country wasn't intended only for people who want a certain type of business, a limited amount of pricing competition and the ability to pass judgment on chain stores that could help their neighbors get by and live a little bit easier.
The Bayshore Mall was built in my hometown of Eureka, Calif. in the 1990s with the promise that it would invigorate the economy decimated by the loss of the timber and fishing industries.
The mall performed as advertised ... for awhile. Folks stopped making the four-hour drive south to Santa Rosa to escape locally-owned chain stores who controlled the market and didn't provide the options available to those who could pick and choose from chain stores like Mervyn's, Sears, etc.
The Bayshore Mall died an inglorious death, as the Humboldt County economy continued to sag. People don't buy at speciality shops or need three or four places to buy athletic shoes when unemployment is through the roof. The movie theaters at the mall lost business when theater complexes were built in neighboring towns, thus removing the need to drive to Eureka to see a film.
Gottschalk's was one of the anchor stores at the mall. It has been empty for awhile because, well, the area really can't support a slightly upscale department store. If Mervyn's and Sears -- other cornerstones of the facility -- had died ... what chance did Gottschalk's have?
The mall is a sad place to be and more sad to see, assuming one remembers when it was bustling and full of promise for a community short on such a thing.
It seemed like exciting news that a "mystery" business was ready to move into Gottschalk's. Well, the Times-Standard newspaper called it a "mystery" business. Most readers seem certain that the old Gottschalk's will become either a Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
Best Buy? OK. If the Humboldt County economy can support a electronics store, great. Based on what I read in the Times-Standard and hear from old friends, a big electronics chain wouldn't seem too anxious to make a home in Eureka.
Wal-Mart, however, suits Humboldt County just fine. It offers low prices and tons of controversy. The same type controversy folks in Fairfield remember when the old, empty shopping center that took up an entire city blocks became home a Wal-Mart superstore.
The folks who don't like the idea of Wal-Mart, and its questionable business practices and low prices, coming to Eureka insist it will kill what's left of locally-owned Humboldt County businesses. Mostly, they focus on the questionable business practices because the majority of locally-owned Eureka business began to disappear years and years ago.
As a Fairfield resident who cares what happens in his hometown of Eureka, I'm confused by the anger expressed by folks who can't stand the idea of a Wal-Mart moving into the Gottschalk's space.
The bulk of locally-owned businesses are speciality-type spots. One Times-Standard reader complained that Wal-Mart will kill such stores. Another reader, rightly, mentioned that local stores don't sell shampoo, vitamins, pet food, toilet paper, etc. So, Wal-Mart would actually pose no threat to local shops.
The anti-Wal-Mart reader eventually said that, indeed, there are businesses that sell essentials like toilet paper and more. He mentioned a speciality shop called Bubbles as a spot that sells shampoo. And, he explained that a local health food story in Arcata (a town across the bay from Eureka) markets vitamins. Finally, he mentioned a locally-owned pet store that does sell pet food.
I was born, raised and spent most of my life in Humboldt County. There are folks who buy shampoo at Bubbles, but the average family that uses the biggest container of the least costly shampoos and soaps shop at CVS, Walgreen's or grocery stores.
Small health food outlets sell vitamins, sure. The monster-sized containers of generic multi-vitamins available at Wal-Mart are affordable and more in line with what people who want a supplement as opposed to a committment to health-conscious lifestyle would buy.
The argument that Wal-Mart's business practices are shady can go on forever. Folks who can't afford to shop at speciality stores in Humboldt County just want to be able to buy the cheapest goods they can, cheap goods that people flock to the Fairfield superstore to purchase at all hours of the day and night.
The area most densely filled with low-income housing is located not far from the Bayshore Mall in Eureka. So, a Wal-Mart store would be as popular and affordable to folks who need alternatives as it is in Fairfield where local businesses have died and the economy is an absolute wreck.
The folks who shop at speciality stores, locally-owned stores, in Fairfield aren't the folks filling the Wal-Mart parking at 10 p.m. most nights. So, I imagine that
small businesses in Eureka would keep their clientele and that folks who can barely afford toilet paper and dog food, let alone a DVD for their kids once in awhile, would consider Wal-Mart, Target and other chain stores that might be alive up there.
Obviously, those people who own or have reason to support small businesses are going to fight Wal-Mart. Heck, they're fighting the idea that Best Buy might move into town. They'll try to sell the idea that Trader Joe's or Cost Plus World Market would somehow help Eureka's struggling economy everybit as much as something like a Wal-Mart.
People who would shop at Wal-Mart, maybe get a job because they'll take what Wal-Mart pays and live with the sketchy benefits, don't really have a voice. For whatever reason, they don't have much time to spend online debating the merits of locally-owned businesses in a town where the mall that was supposed to save the economy is standing nearly vacant.
The Wal-Mart superstore in Fairfield is busy all the time. Regular folks are in their shopping for things they, often, couldn't afford elsewhere. I imagine lots of kids are wearing school shoes purchased at Wal-Mart, for instance. The Fairfield market clearly demands a Wal-Mart.
Up in the Humboldt County, the folks with the most juice seem to like the idea of keeping things as they are. Local business owners and folks who buy their shampoo at a speciality shop can afford to live in what many insist is God's Country -- and look down their noses at people who'd shop or want to work at Wal-Mart.
That's unfortunate because God's Country wasn't intended only for people who want a certain type of business, a limited amount of pricing competition and the ability to pass judgment on chain stores that could help their neighbors get by and live a little bit easier.
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