Yes. I can't imagine him being a sexual harasser. I can certainly imagine him
being a, as you describe it, a womanizer. I think he's had three wives. He's
been in show business. Show business and sexual behavior are bound together.
When I was growing up and the film industry was so very important in our lives,
I remember all those gossip columns about which movie star was seen wih whom
and who was divorcing whom and marrying someone else. The movies sold romance
and sex. Poor Keillor. His show sold a kinder version of what Trump was
selling, small town America with its churches and fourth of July celebrations,
and old age homes, and patriotism with a bit of black culture and a nod to
Israel or Hanukah sprinkled in. Support for the Democratic Party, but always
just gentle fun poked at the Republicans. He knew how to please everyone. The
only disapproval he voiced was of angry people.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2017 11:23 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a Mayo Clinic
OR
Garrison Keillor, a victim of our latest Witch Hunt. While I have no knowledge
of the private man named Garrison Keillor, I am warmed, and have been warmed
for so many years, by the Garrison Keillor who has presented himself in the
form of a gentle, caring, kind, and not so great of a singer.
On the other hand, NPR has once again shown how quick they can be to distance
themselves from potential negative press, not understanding that shoving
Garrison Keillor to the Wolves will do nothing to protect Public Broadcasting
from the Trumpsters.
And now, my own feeble attempt at a Limerick:
NPR has joined the hunt,
Garrison Keillor, has born the brunt.
A Witch in the Cellar,
and behind closet door.
Away with all Witches,
Keillor, and Roy Moore!
Carl Jarvis
On 12/16/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a Mayo Clinic OR By Garrison
Keillor, Star Tribune
16 December 17
When you come to the hospital, you come back to basics.
Coming to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, I'm surrounded by men and
women in blue who did well in high school math and chemistry, and here
I am, who frittered away those years writing limericks and parodies
and barely made it to graduation, depending on science for survival.
It's an awakening for a gent of 75. I used to look down on science
nerds as dull and unimaginative and now I am grateful for their
competence.
I'm here for the implantation of a pacemaker, my heart having decided
to sometimes hesitate 3.8 seconds between beats. At 5, you faint and
fall down and bang your head on the desk. So I get out of my suit and
tie and into a gown and lie on a gurney and am wheeled into Surgical
Prep. I have brought paper and pen, thinking to take notes, and my
nurse, Kim, who has been fussing with tape and an IV, says, "You're going to
be sedated, you know."
"When?"
"As of five minutes ago."
Well, a man needs a challenge. So I write her a limerick. I've been
doing this all my life. I can do it sedated or excited, in a moving
car or flat on my back.
A cardiac nurse name of Kim
Says, "The chances of failure are slim.
You're not going to die."
And she points to the sky.
"Any questions? Address them to Him."
No patient ever wrote her a limerick before. She is impressed. It
isn't that easy to impress young people these days. Meanwhile, she
wheels me into the O.R.
It's a beautiful sedative. I'm still cognizant of people around,
voices, the clink and beep and hum of hardware, and I appreciate the
coordination of the team, and the anesthetist who keeps me informed of
what she's putting into me, as if I actually understood.
Meredith who did anesthesia
Said, "It won't lead to amnesia
But this sedation
May cause constipation.
We recommend milk of magnesia."
I wrote this as Dr. Bradley was scoping out the incision site. A very
nice man whose parents were doctors, a neurologist and a pathologist.
He grew up in southeast Minneapolis. He was a little kid running
around on the playground when I was a grad student at the U. I asked
what type of pacemaker he'd be installing and he was glad to discuss
the merits of Medtronic vs. Boston Scientific vs. another one, I
forget the name. So I wrote a few lines for him.
The electrophysiologist Bradley
Said, "This pacemaker I install gladly
In your chest today
Is a new Chevrolet
Nova and it works not that badly."
The device is the size of a wristwatch, minus the band, and a wire
extends from it down into the base of your heart where it's anchored
by a screw that your heart creates scar tissue around, and there it
sits, stimulating a steady 60 beats per minute for the next ten years
until the battery needs to be replaced. You carry a plastic ID in your
billfold to show TSA so they won't be alarmed when the scanner beeps.
Several uncles of mine pitched over and died who might've been saved
by this device. One may or may not feel better as a result, though the
device is doing its work. It does not confer immortality.
I feel better. My niece works for Medtronic and a cousin works for
Mayo and to me, St. Marys is Minnesota at its best, high competence
combined with great kindness and good humor. Back when I had heart
surgery here in 2001, Sister Generose Gervais was still patrolling the
halls, the former hotel administrator, retired but not really, a
Franciscan nun of the Our Lady of Lourdes congregation, one of the
last of that line of valiant women who founded the place in 1889 in
collaboration with the clinic of Will and Charles Mayo up the street. She
died last year at 97.
The procedures I've watched people work on me were front-page news
when I was a boy and now they're more or less routine, but that spirit
of kindness and good humor is permanent. Our society today is plagued
with the strain of
You-Can't-Possibly-Understand-Me-Because-You're-Not-Me but when you
come to the hospital, you come back to basics: we're blood and bones
and skin, we depend on the goodness of others, and it is here to be
found, thanks to people trained to be precisely competent.
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