Back-tracking on the "wrong" track for 45 years

Neruda: "Is there anything sadder than a train in the rain?"

Americans apparently like being in the dumps, or blue, as my small watercolor from Pablo Neruda's poem suggests.
We think the country has been "on the wrong track" for almost a half century, apparently, including now.
Let's "backtrack" some.
That dissatisfaction fueled the Democrat's mid-term election "whuppings" of George Bush and the Republicans' of Obama.
Warning...I spent almost as much time searching my photos for appropriate train photos as I did writing. Hey, I like trains.

This "old one" is rusting  and abandoned on an old track at Skagway, Alaska, but perhaps that is the right track for old ones like me.

So what is the history of the country being on the "wrong track"?
Since 1972, polls have found most Americans have thought the country is on the "wrong track." Some pollster reported asked in 1971: " “Do you feel that things in this country are generally going in the right direction today, or do you feel that things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?”
Keep in mind that was in the middle of the Vietnam War, inflation was climbing, unemployment was up. Source, the Daily Beast: Wrong track. 

In fact, polls show that Americans have rarely thought we're on the right track. When did we derail and hit the ditch?--Eight years ago, in the fall of 2008, when the economy imploded. Per Gallup, between September through about November 2008, only 7 to 9 percent of the country thought the country was in the right direction. 

What were the highest points in the past 45 years? Three times--(Gallup polls)
In Reagan's second term it bounded to  60 percent on the right track. It soon dropped  to under 50 percent; during Clinton's impeachment, the economy was great and 71 percent thought the country was on the right track; and after 9/11, it soared, but seven  months later it dropped to 60 percent thinking we were on the "wrong track."
My conclusion, (opinion), Americans are fickle, short-sighted, spoiled, and whiners.
 

Canada in the background as the locomotives switch ends on the right track.

Getting on the right track politically is a matter of many opinions. But not in railroads. At the White Pass and Yukon railroad between Alaska and Canada, they take you up to the pass made famous in the Gold Rush, and the locomotives park you just inside Yukon Territory, Canada on a siding. They then move around and attach to the other end of the train for the trip back to Skagway. There's always a "right" track. So simple, in railroad operation if not democracy. 

Next--more tracks.

 

"The country's on the 'wrong' track"?

This blog is rarely political, but sometimes delves into education, media and social issues that can't help but overlap with government and politics. That's because most people are tired of all the political claptrap, don't read it, and none of it seems to change anyone's minds.

Forest Park Railroad, Fort Worth

I prefer to write about traveling, photography, watercolor, books, education and more, as the past seven and a half years illustrate.
But the phrase about the country being on the "wrong track" has caught my attention more and more recently, especially in election year with such a polarized country fed by hatred, fear, and politics and media gone wild. 
Polls show a majority of Americans think the country is on the "wrong" track. What does that mean? 
Plus, given my love for anything to do with trains, and words, it just seems natural to write about it. 
Besides, I too think the country is sometimes on the wrong tracks, but you'll have to wait till the concluding article in these postings to guess why, though I won't tell you.
So I thought I'd do a little research into the phrase, using basic journalism questions.

• First question--Where did the phrase come from?
• Second question--Why? or (What is the "right" track?) or (Who gets to determine what is "right" or "wrong"?)
• Third question--What are the facts?
• Fourth question--unanswerable except by opinion perhaps--Is there only one "right" or "wrong" track?

"All a'boaaard!" (Next--first question, background)

 (Forest Park Railroad--Make sure your sound is on)

The 27th year begins

Students crowded  the halls again at the University of Central Oklahoma as I put the finishing touches on the two classes I begin teaching tomorrow.

27 years ago...Only Mark Hanebutt and I are still in the department. Decesased, Charles Simmons at right, and Woody Gaddis at left. Former secretaries Nancy Brown and Virginia Dodson, Susan Gonders and retired Dennie Hall.

It's a long way and a long time from that first semester in August of 1990...back when email was in its infancy, cell phones rare, and computers scarce. Outside our building were gravel parking lots. The journalism department was small--with only five full-time professors. I moved here after four years at OSU where I was earning my doctorate, and received about a 30 percent raise.
Since then there have been thousands of students, a digital revolution, personal and professional defeats and successes. At our departmental retreat last week there were 35 people present. We have about 700 majors in several fields, ranging from what used to be called "Journalism" to general communication fields.
Tomorrow I teach  "Blogging for Journalists," and a new class for me, "History of Journalism." In May I taught "Twitter for media," unheard of ten years ago. The history class will spend almost half the semester on events since  Watergate. The attacks of 9/11 are history for today's students.

The years go by

Now I'm the old man of the department, trying to stay somewhat current with all these changes and young students.  
They don't learn the way students did in 1990, much less than when I was in college. So I have to teach differently. I still teach writing and thinking and observing, but most of all I have to inspire and lead my students so they will be able to adapt. 
Our world is changing so fast with technology affecting everything around the world that except for the basics, just knowing stuff won't be a key to a successful career or life. If you don't believe it, watch this clip on the world they will face--the first two years of their education may be obsolete by the time they graduate: Did You Know?

The Department now, Mark Hanebut at left, white shirt. Me, second from top, right

Warning--this video will disturb you, and it does my students. The question I have for them after they view it is, "How and what am I supposed to teach you?"
If you want to follow my courses, I've set up two blogs--sort of digital textbooks-- that carrying the assignments and other material. Click here for a look at the first day's materials: BlogblogUCO and I Am Journalism.
So tomorrow, this old prof will arrive about 7:30, open the door to my office, get some coffee, and once more, before the crowd arrives, mull in silence for a few moments to get mentally ready, once again, going on 27 years.

Pianos and Paintings, a unique occurrence

"Mountain Cabin" and "Mountain Church"

"Prairie Throne"

Something unique has occurred in my creative life with watercolor painting this week, and it may be unique in Oklahoma City in music too.
Thanks to friends, contacts, new acquaintances and unusual circumstances, paintings and pianos are "paired" here in Edmond.
Sixteen of my watercolors are on display at Bruce Piano Gallery at 3722 N. Lincoln Blvd., just north of Memorial Road, and the store is open from 10 to 6 M-F, and 1-5 on Saturdays. 
Yes, they're all for sale as are all the beautiful pianos. And you could buy them together, of course.
The idea is the brainchild of Jordan Bruce, the store owner, who told a customer, my friend Ted Streuli, he would like art on the walls of his gallery. Ted mentioned it to me, and it has happened.
I'm  really stunned for a couple of reasons. First, that my art is good enough to be liked and shown in this setting of beautiful musical instruments, works of art themselves. And even more humbling is my obvious inferiority and ignorance about music, one of my life-long regrets. At least I've atoned for that somewhat because all my children have had musical training and ability.
So I know it's ironic that my art is on display here. 
I hope you'll drop in and see them. The pianos make it look better, classier, than it ever has. And Jordan is kind enough to say the paintings help the pianos. And just entering that gallery and walking among the beautiful pianos  makes me want to take piano lessons and buy a piano.

"Oklahoma Barn" and "Oklahoma November"

"Thirsty Country," "Taos Pueblo" and "Oklahoma Skyscrapers"

"Oklahoma Skies" and "Rainy Day"

"Mountain Home" and "Homestead Morning"

"Winter Solstice" and "Waiting for Rain"

"Gate to High Lonesome"

"Santa Fe Window"

Painting narratives

Prairie Throne, 12 by 22, plus frame

I'm working on titles and narratives to go with 16 of my watercolors that will soon be exhibited for sale in an Edmond business.  
More details and photos when everything is in place. But for now, one painting, and the tentative narratives and titles.

Oklahoma Barn

If you drive the back roads
in eastern Oklahoma County,
you'll find this decaying
 monument to yesterday.

Thirsty Country

This forlorn skeleton
of a pioneer windmill
stood in the western
Oklahoma Panhandle

Prairie Throne

Oklahoma's thunderheads
change every second.
Seen east of OKC,
dwarfing the landscape.

Oklahoma Skies

Unsettled in storm season,
clouds churn through the skies
over the flat prairies.

Winter Solstice

The shortest day of the year
brings a cold beauty
to the sunset shadows.


Santa Fe Corner Window

Old windows hint at mystery
inside old adobe walls,
blending earth and sky.

Waiting for Rain

In the heat of summer
in western Oklahoma,
people watch the skies
hoping for relief.

Oklahoma Homestead

Morning on the Great Plains
brings a still beauty
to the frame houses.

Oklahoma November

There's nothing like a walk
through the falling leaves
of another autumn, the
most beautiful time of year.

Gate to High Lonesome

Western gates beckon
of mystery and journeys
not yet taken in
wide open spaces.

Great Plains Skyscraper

If the land is almost flat,
the skies are not, as spring
and summer humidity
build gigantic skyscrapers.

Rainy Day Cabin

The sound of rain on a roof
in Eastern Oklahoma,
as the storm turns
the hills and forests gray


Taos Pueblo

The oldest continuously
inhabited buildings in
what is now the U.S.,
an icon of New Mexico

Mountain Church

The whitewashed adobe church
in Tecolote, New Mexico ,
stands out against the
brown and green landscape

Mountain Cabin

Build of rough logs
at the foot of the mountains,
a pioneer's cabin weathers
another approaching winter.

Mountain Home

What dreams are made of,
at the end of the road
a home at the edge of the forest.