Contemplating a crossword puzzle clue “What rhymes with clueless?” a thought passed through my mind (waved “Hi!” and then walked right by without speaking). This happened only once before. I had a thought. It then perished of loneliness.

One can imagine the shock of suddenly having another thought so long after the first.  Decades, even.  Another of these accursed things!  Because thoughts become things.  We are, in fact, surrounded by them. Things.  And thoughts.  Or in my case, just a thought.

And so it was time to see how this thoughtless new arrival of a thought might play out. Thus, the thing itself: how many words could one make using the letters “t-a-l-b-o-t-b-o-y-s.” Think Scrabble. Or an anagram, ala “Rosemary’s Baby.”

Remember, there were two anagram puzzles —  “All of Them Witches,” a book Rosemary receives — and “Roman Castevet,” an anagram for another name.

So I sat down with a dessert (“Try the mousse”) wearing my favorite amulet (to ward off latent lunacy on the lawn of a certain public place) and this is what bubbled up while feverishly scribbling, scared that one would wake from thought-land — and, like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, never finish whatever it was Kubla Khan was decreeing in his pleasure dome near “Xanadu.”

I only got so far. Turns out the most letters you can use are seven (like dwarves) or six (like, well, two times a stubborn three).  Here are the six:  abbots; babool; baboos; batboy; blasty; bloats; blotto; blotty; boylas; lottos; lyttas; oblast; slabby; slobby; stably; taboos; talbot; toasty; tootsy; totals; yobbos.

The seven: babools; batboys; bobstay. Hmm.

Sadness. One was hoping to make words like “caring;” “compassion;” “humility;” “courtesy;” “dignity;” “respect.”  “Leadership” was probably a non-starter, but one won’t know until trying different combinations, different solutions, thinking outside the box, right?  Evidently, you can’t make those either.

But — add “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” into the mix, and the possibilities multiply exponentially.

Well, now Ive run out of letters (although at one point there seemed so many).  Strangely, nearly all out of patience, too.

Puzzles. This  “t-a-l-b-o-t-b-o-y-s” puzzle should be a “no-brainer.”  Wonder how much longer it will take to solve?  Nevermind.  On to the next puzzle, “b-a-l-l-o-t-b-o-x.”

Keith Watts is a speaker, lawyer, author, poet, photographer & mediator.  He lives on a small island off the coast of The Chesapeake. 

After much discussion and debate –and too much national attention — the Board of Trustees of Washington & Lee University voted not to change the name of this small, private, liberal arts institution of higher education. An important qualifier, explained in a letter quickly released by W&L President Will Dudley, is that the University is redoubling its efforts in and attention to inclusion, equity, diversity, quality and ethics, while also maintaining its focus on excellence in higher education.  

Over the last several weeks, I have had the opportunity to read, hear, and discuss a variety of responses to the Board’s decision. These exchanges have been largely civil, if not always in agreement. What has impressed me most, however, is the deep and lasting impact the W&L experience has had on those sharing their experiences or association with the University, whether as a student, a faculty member, a parent, an alumnus/ae, or a visitor. As a proud graduate of W&L and also as the proud parent of a graduate, I have followed the University’s continued evolution for more than four decades, and like many others, I followed the debate about the possible renaming closely. President Dudley summed up the basis for the ultimate decision as follows: “The name ‘Washington & Lee’ does not define us. We define it.” 

Spot-on or cop-out? To my way of thinking, President Dudley is right to argue that in the case of the name, Washington & Lee University, we need to look forward, not back. 

Of course, the legacy of Robert E. Lee — his leadership of the Confederate Army against the United States and his advocacy for the perpetuation of slavery — cannot be excused. What Lee did at W&L, however, was to establish a tradition of honor and ethical honesty, not to mention a strong liberal arts education, that has far outlived him. I tend to be an optimist and a firm believer that change is beneficial. In my lifetime, I’ve seen W&L steadily and progressively transformed by dramatic changes for the better in its admissions policies, its campus culture and its continued commitment to academic innovation. Now, President Dudley and the Board of Trustees have the opportunity to continue the University’s progress by reaffirming, in deeds as well as in words, the values of civility, integrity, diversity and equity to a community, a country and a world sorely in need of them all.

Matthew LaMotte recently retired after a long career in private secondary education, including Saints Peter and Paul School in Easton. 

I write to clarify issues related to changes in the heat content of the Earth’s atmosphere and its relationship to climate change. It has recently been claimed by some that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) during the last 70 years has had no measurable impact on the temperature of the Earth.

Climate change deniers argue that there has been a “pause” in the rate of global warming during the last decade. In fact, some claim that the Earth has actually cooled by a mean of 0.7 degrees Celsius (°C) in recent years. However, numerous studies (e.g., Risbey et al. 2018. A fluctuation in surface temperature in historical context: reassessment and retrospective on the evidence. Environ. Res. Lett., 13: 123008) have disproved this claim. The evidence of a warming trend over the past century is unequivocal. Here are the realities:

Between 1880 (the year that accurate record keeping began) and 1980, the Earth’s atmosphere warmed by an average of 0.07°C every 10 years. However, since 1981, annual mean global temperature has increased by 0.18 °C per decade – more than double that of the previous 100 years in just 40 years! In this context, it is important to note that these decadal trends are occurring against a backdrop of natural temperature variability due to seasonal changes in solar radiation and changes in ocean circulation (e.g., fluctuations between La Niña and El Niño events). Thus, for example, global temperatures in 2021 are running cooler when compared to recent years due to a moderate La Niña event in the tropical Pacific Ocean,

Although the mean annual temperature of the atmospheric has varied from year to year, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased steadily over the last 60 years with little seasonal or inter-annual variability. There is more CO2 in the atmosphere now than at any time in the last 3 million years. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the amount of atmospheric CO2 in May 2020 hit an average of about 417 parts per million (ppm). This is the highest monthly average value ever recorded, and is up from 415 ppm in May of 2019. The last time global CO2 levels in the atmosphere exceeded 400 ppm was around four million years ago! The result? Nine of the 10 warmest years since 1880 have occurred since 2005, and the 5 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015.

Finally, one must distinguish between global warming and climate change. Global warming and climate change are not synonyms. “Climate change” includes global warming, but also refers to a broader range of changes that are occurring globally, e.g. increases in the strength of extreme weather events (tropical storms, droughts, floods); changes in global patterns of precipitation, winds and ocean currents; and melting ice caps and sea level rise. These are all consequences of global warming that will profoundly impact our health and wellbeing in the long term.

Tom Malone, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

The neo-Confederate “Talbot Boys” statue in front of the Talbot County courthouse in Easton, Md., was dedicated in 1916, a half-century after Lee’s surrender to Grant and in the middle of the virulent Jim Crow era.

Atop its granite pedestal, the statue depicts a young Caucasian soldier with “C.S.A.” on his belt buckle. With truculence, he grips a battle flag that’s clearly the secessionist Stars-and-Bars. The pedestal proclaims, “To the Talbot Boys / 1861-1865 / C.S.A.,” and memorializes local men who enlisted in the Confederate army to defend slavery.

It’s just one of many such statues erected in the early 1900s to glorify the Confederacy 50 years after Appomattox. Manufactured by the W.H. Mullins Co. of Salem, Ohio. Easton’s statue had an identical, Mullins-made twin in Lake Charles, La., until that one toppled during a hurricane. That twin of Talbot’s was entitled “The South’s Defenders,” leaving no doubt as to the fervent intent of the Louisianans who put it up.

As the banner at the Juneteenth demonstration at the Easton courthouse succinctly stated, the Talbot Boys were “TRAITORS TO OUR NATION.” American citizens all, they volunteered to fight for the Confederate States of America against the United States of America. They betrayed our nation, pure and simple.

Local apologists for their county’s testimonial to white supremacy and chattel slavery are quick to fire up the gas lamps. You just don’t understand, they say. You just haven’t been taught the true history of this statue. You need an explanation.

They claim that in 1913, a second monument was also planned to honor the Talbot citizens who were loyal to their nation and who fought for the Union. But, they say, funds for this were never raised. They also claim they want to now build a pro-Union monument and erect it on the courthouse grounds, as if so doing would somehow achieve moral equivalency between the CSA and the USA, between slavery and freedom.

Local apologists also propose that a county-wide referendum should be conducted, as if a majority vote to preserve the monument would magically render the South’s slavery and the Confederacy’s treason somehow moral and righteous.

Citing the ACLU’s current lawsuit to have the statue removed, apologists even raise this phantasmic boogeyman, that a “national pressure group will come in to take over local government.” What nonsense!

Our nation is 21 years into the 21st Century. We are past 200 years of slavery and past 100 years of racial segregation. Many Americans are taking steps to ensure our nation doesn’t return to those eras, but instead moves forward to forge a new one. No longer a Black versus White argument, the new civil rights movement has clearly become Blacks-and-Whites-together against those Whites who just don’t want to listen.

Millions of Americans have family going back to the Civil War era. Many have forebears who fought in the war. I am one; two great-great uncles of mine served in the Union Army.

A traitor from Talbot County could have taken aim many times at Capt. May Stacey, at Gaines Mills, or Antietam, or Spotsylvania Courthouse, or Five Forks. My Uncle May’s war diary and letters have been passed down; he fought as a U.S. regular in those battles and others, and by luck and pluck survived the war.

And Lt. Col. Joseph Curtis’ voluminous letters to his mother, Julia Bowen Curtis, my great-great grandmother, have also been preserved. Uncle Joe led his Rhode Island troops in battle at Roanoke Island and at Antietam. It could have been a traitor from Talbot County who shot him off his horse, dead as he rallied his troops through Fredericksburg.

Talbot County’s controversy over its rebel statue is part of the national debate over Confederate relics, a war which the “Lost Cause” is clearly losing again. Monuments such as the Talbot Boys are being removed, one by one, state after state, including Maryland.

State flags have been altered to excise the “Stars and Bars” motif, and schools, streets, and military bases are being renamed. This past winter, Maryland’s General Assembly voted to deep-six “Maryland, My Maryland” as the state song (it attacked Abe Lincoln). Governor Hogan has signed it.

In support of removing the Talbot Boys statue, Maryland’s Sen. Chris J. Van Hollen said, “We have an obligation to build a more perfect union, not honor those who fought to dissolve it.”

Easton’s courthouse lawn — which once served as an auction pen for enslaved people — may soon witness the decamping of the Talbot Boys.

Gren Whitman has been a leader in neighborhood, umbrella, public interest, and political groups and committees, and worked for civil rights and anti-war organizations. He is now retired and lives in Rock Hall, MD. 

 

Is it because I’m and old guy—89 pushing 90 —or have the Lords of Language sneaked some things past me, filling daily speech with so many phrases I don’t recall hearing, even a few years ago. 

I am fascinated by new, popular words and phrases that appear with great frequency on the tube, in print media and on digital platforms.  

A recent headline in a financial journal hit me right between the eyes. In big, black, bold type the headline proclaimed “Meme Stock Rally Resumes.” What!?

I know what a stock is but a meme stock?  Mr. Webster says a meme is “an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.”  Today that spreading is enhanced by social media. So it follows that stocks that are highly touted on social media are Meme Stocks. Voila!

And then there is a meme called “ghosting.”  Really? You bet. The Urban Dictionary, a cool version of Mr. Webster’s book, says ghosting, among other things, is “The act of suddenly ceasing all forms of communication with someone the subject is dating but no longer wishes to date.”  Back in the day a young lady wishing to break up with her boyfriend had the courtesy to ghost him by writing a “Dear John” letter. More recently she may have consulted Paul Simon’s great tune, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”

Have you researched a topic lately, examined a subject carefully?  Then you must have taken a “deep dive” into a particular subject.  Folks seem to be deep diving all over the place these days.  Used to be a term for a daring plunge into the Bay. 

On the other hand, if one does not wish to dive deeply there is always the possibility of “unpacking” something, or getting “into the weeds” to discover more about a subject.  

Now if you still have not been able to gain all the information you want you can probe even more deeply by “drilling down.”   But the phrase conjures up the none too pleasant sound of a jackhammer at work or perhaps a visit to the dentist.  Not good. 

Some other things we are doing these days:

We all seem to be “on a journey.”  Not sure where we are going or when we will return, but there we are.

We no longer write, call or contact someone. We “reach out.” Or, if we are anxious to receive a prompt reply, we can up the volume and give a “shout out.”

Have you noticed how many times the phrases “lean in” or “leaning in” come up these days?  Seems to have several definitions: “To make an effort, or work hard, show determination or embrace or experience something fully.”   

And how about “pivot” or “pivoting?”  How often have we heard pubic officials or tv commentators use these words during the pandemic?   We never changed course; we always “pivoted.”  

Then there are tropes.  I don’t recall hearing about tropes when I was a kid  It’s a figure of speech that moves the meaning of a phrase from literal to figurative. One trope we all know is “Take time to smell the roses.”

When a person is hired for a new job these days they are not introduced to the company. Nor do they go through an orientation as they once did. Today they are “onboarded.”  As in Welcome Aboard, I guess.

Let’s wind up this venture into some current phrases with a homework assignment. 

“23 Skidoo” was a popular saying in the 1920s. There is a good story associated with it.  Just pivot, do a deep dive, or maybe reach out to a friend or Mr. Google to learn more about it. 

Ross Jones is a former vice president and secretary emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University. He joined the University in 1961 as assistant to President Milton S. Eisenhower. A 1953 Johns Hopkins graduate, he later earned a Master’s Degree at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Many Spy readers probably have no clue about Heaven’s Gate, and that’s OK. It happened in March 1997, so 24 years ago. A quick precis: Heaven’s Gate was a California cult, led by Marshall Applegate. He convinced 47 followers they should wear the same black uniforms, the same brand of new black/white Nike basketball shoes (“Decades”), climb into bunk beds, cover themselves with a purple sheet and commit suicide. 

If they did so, and 39 did, their souls would be transported to a spaceship trailing a nearby comet called Hale-Bopp, and be immediately beamed to heaven. Applegate had selected 8 to remain on Earth to serve as a communication center and to recount their story.   

Fast forward to March 2021, when a poll sponsored by the Public Religion Research Institute, was undertaken. The 5625 American respondents were queried about the degree of their belief in or support for, the QAnon conspiracy theory. It was launched anonymously on social media in 2016-2017 and continues to evolve.  

Just a reminder, QAnon’s storyline is much more complex and considerably more effective than Heaven’s Gate. It asserts that power in the United States is in the hands of a cabal of satan worshiping pedophiles who traffic in children. Moreover, it is the duty of real American patriots, to depose the pedophiles, with violence if necessary, and restore the country’s rightful order. 

One of the more recent extrapolations accepted by a QA scism, holds that a biblical-scale storm will sweep away these evil elites and restore the rightful leaders.

It has generated a large cult following, which the poll measured. Given the small number of respondents, the results only indicate the scale and nothing more. The poll’s political party percentages below are too precise, but believable as one is more a Qanon acolyte than another.

2021 Poll Results: 

15% of Americans believe the basic fact of powerful devil-worshipping pediphiles controlling the US.

14% of Americans fall into the category “QAnon Believers” who accept all the above.

Party Affiliation:
Republican – 25%
Democrats –  7%
Independents – 12%

55% of Republicans fell into a poll category “QAnon Doubters”, i.e. disagreed with most, but didn’t reject..
58% of Democrats were “ QAnon Rejectors”.

The fundamental question is why Heaven’s Gate was dismissed by media and polled America as simply crazy, while  QAnon was not? One believer, armed with a gun invaded a Washington, D.C. Pizza restaurant, to rescue children confined in its basement.  It had no basement and the police removed the believer.

Is the latter accepted by millions and the former by 45 because it’s related to political beliefs, i.e. QAnon arose as something of a supplement to the currently labeled “Big Lie”, that former president Trump actually won reelection, but Democratic fraud stole it? 

Or has QAnon become something of a game with secret codes and special vocabulary and the mystery of Q’s identity and fun to follow

Or is America in the 21st Century considerably more gullible than it was in the 20th. 

Who knows?

Tom Timberman is an Army vet, lawyer, former senior Foreign Service officer, adjunct professor at GWU, and economic development team leader or foreign government advisor in war zones. He is the author of four books, lectures locally, and at US and European universities. He and his wife are 24 year residents of Kent County.