Prof. Boerner's Explorations

Edited by Gerald Boerner

Commentary:

As World War II was getting underway, there were women who wanted to serve their country as part of the military instead as civilian workers. The Army had already started a women’s auxiliary, the WAAC; the Navy formed the WAVES, "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service". But this was an all white group until Mary McLeod Bethune, a leading Black educator, pushed for the integration of this group. In 1944, the first Black women were admitted and went on to serve with distinction.

It is interesting that the military was not integrated for male service men until 1947. Prior to that, Black units served in all branches of the service, but generally in separate units. Several came to national prominence, such as the Tuskegee Airmen. But for the most part, Blacks were relegated to service groups (kitchen cleanup, cleaning latrines, etc.) So the military women led to the move to integration because of the outstanding efforts of a few Black educators along with the efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt.

So, let’s get started examining the formation of this pioneering military organization and it is my hope that you will gain a greater appreciation of the efforts and risks faced by these brave, pioneering women, white or black… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2198 Words ]

Quotations Related to Mary McLeod Bethune:

“Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.”
— Mary McLeod Bethune

“Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”
— Mary McLeod Bethune

“I never stop to plan. I take things step by step.”
— Mary McLeod Bethune

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Edited by Gerald Boerner

Commentary:

I remember watching the 1977 World Series on television. The Yankees and Reggie Jackson were playing my beloved Los Angeles Dodgers. I remember the glory days of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Maurie Wills. But this was not a series that has fond memories since my Dodgers lost to those “Damned” Yankees again. What was memorable was the hitting of Reggie Jackson, especially in game 6. During that game, he matched the great feat of the “Babe (Ruth)” by hitting three home runs in one World Series game; what differentiated Jackson’s feat was that he did it against three different Dodger pitchers!

Reggie had a long, outstanding baseball career with four American League teams: the Oakland As, the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees and the California Angels. He put up numbers in the record book that showed what an accomplished hitter he was. It is ironic that when Reggie was being scouted in college, his hometown Philadelphia Phillies declined to offer him a contract because of his “poor hitting”! His induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, in 1993 records his statistics, including a lifetime batting average of .262 and 563 home runs during his career in baseball. That, to say the least, is quite an accomplishment.

Well, enough of the preliminaries. Let’s proceed on the the examination of this amazing athlete that motivated a whole generation of minority young men to pursue their goals. We now have a more equal playing field in professional sports, but there are still breakthroughs to be made. Bring on the next Reggie Jackson to break down those barriers so well breached by the likes of Reggie, Jackie (Robinson), Willie (Mays) and other players of color. There is room for men of skill who work hard at their chosen professions… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2670 Words ]

Quotations Related to Reggie Jackson:

“A baseball swing is a very finely tuned instrument. It is repetition, and more repetition, then a little more after that.”
— Reggie Jackson

“After Jackie Robinson the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson, I really mean that.”
— Reggie Jackson

“Babe Ruth was great. I’m just lucky.”
— Reggie Jackson

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Edited by Gerald Boerner

    
Commentary:

Albert Einstein, the Swiss patent clerk, rose to fame to become the “Father of Modern Physics” through many tough years. Even after he earned his University degree, he had difficulty obtaining a teaching position. But as a researcher, he discovered the piezoelectric effect in 1905, which was the nominal basis for his 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. However, during the World War I years, he developed both his Specific Theory of Relativity and then his General Theory of Relativity. These theories were verified by measurements taken during a full eclipse of the moon by Sir Arthur Eddington in 1919.

He continued his work in Berlin through the 1920s and early 1930s, but correctly saw the coming persecution of the Jews by the new German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, when he came to power in 1933. He and his second wife, Elsa, escaped first to England and then to the United States. Upon arriving in the U.S., Einstein taught at CalTech before assuming a position with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. He remained in this position until his death.

Einstein was a true genius. He sets a standard that has been met by few thinkers, both past and present. Let’s proceed with our examination of his early life and emigration to the United States. Previous posts have presented his work on the Theories of Relativity and related to the Manhattan Project. So let’s GO…  GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2402 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to Albert Einstein:

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”
— Albert Einstein

“One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”
— Albert Einstein

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
— Albert Einstein

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Edited by Gerald Boerner

     
Commentary:

The idea of a volunteer cadre of American young adults banding together as “Missionaries of Democracy” has been around from the early 1950s. It was supported by John F. Kennedy when he was still a member of the House and was also supported by Herbert H. Humphrey. Kennedy advocated the “Peace Corps” in a speech to the students at the University of Michigan during his campaign for president; his opponent, Richard M. Nixon, opposed the proposal as a means of legalizing “draft dodgers” who sought to avoid military service. But the concept was based upon the model successfully employed by “Operation Crossroads Africa”.

When Kennedy was sworn in as President, he signed Executive Order 10924 to create the “Peace Corps”. Kennedy’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, was made the first director of the group and responsible for designing the rules and procedures for the new group. It was seen as a way of creating a “Missionaries of Democracy” to counter the perception, especially in third-world countries, of the “Ugly American” and “American Imperialism”. It trained and placed numerous volunteers around the world to help in educational, health and environmental projects in developing countries. It has continued its mission, with some adjustments, in the years since the early 1960s.

We will examine this program briefly and point you to further reading that will help you gain a better perspective of its mission. So let’s get started on this quest straight-away… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2158 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to Sargent Schriver (1st Director):

“Any idealist who tries to join the Peace Corps must realize he is not going to change the world overnight.”
— Sargent Shriver

“Do we talk about the dignity of work? Do we give our students any reason for believing it is worthwhile to sacrifice for their work because such sacrifices improve the psychological and mental health of the person who makes them?”
— Sargent Shriver

“I do not think that the educational program of our schools should be determined by what the community thinks it needs.”
— Sargent Shriver

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Edited by Gerald Boerner

     
Commentary:

During the early history of photography, American photographers lagged only slightly behind their counterparts on the continent, especially France. Louis Daguerre developed his polished plate process, the Daguerreotype, in 1839. Félix Nadar took the first aerial photo from a balloon in1858, but James Wallace Black of Boston took his first U.S. aerial photograph from a balloon in the early 1860s. Photography studios popped upon across the east coast of this country while many itinerant photographers roamed the rural west.

The American Civil War provided one of the first real opportunities for field, documentary photography. Names like Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardener, and Timothy O’Sullivan are closely associated with this documentation of the carnage of major Civil War battles. Balloons were used to survey the battlefields to monitor troop movements, and James Wallace Black boarded a balloon over the city of Boston to photograph several of the neighborhoods. The world has not been the same since.

We need to credit these early practitioners of photography for their pioneering work with the primitive cameras, slow recording media, and development with dangerous chemicals. But now it’s time to examine the work of James Wallace Black, one of the pioneers in this exciting field… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 1495 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to Photography:

“A lot of people think that when you have grand scenery, such as you have in Yosemite, that photography must be easy.”
— Galen Rowell

“A new era in the physiological investigation of linguistic sounds was opened up by X-ray photography.”
— Roman Jakobson

“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.”
— Henri Cartier-Bresson continue reading…

Edited by Gerald Boerner

     
Commentary:

In 1998, a young man, Matthew Shepard, was harassed by some of his classmates because he was gay. This sexual preference in rural Wyoming was not accepted by a portion of the University community. Two of these classmates, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, beat terrorized him, raped him, and beat him in the head, causing brain-stem damage. He was taken to a hospital where he died. In neither Wyoming or in the United States were there statutes in law that defined discrimination on the basis of sexual preference as a hate crime.

In October, 2009, the Matthew Shepard (Hate Crime Protection) Act was passed by the United States Congress. This act added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of current statutes permit federal prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person’s protected characteristics of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and disability. This would have permitted Matthew Shepard’s assailants to have received more severe terms.

But now is the time for us to jump into the meat of this sad event and learn more about the discrimination that is still prevalent in our society. Hate crimes have no place in a civil society… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 1722 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to Discrimination:

“All provisions of federal, state or local law requiring or permitting discrimination in public education must yield.”
— Earl Warren

“Any discrimination, like sharp turns in a road, becomes critical because of the tremendous speed at which we are traveling into the high-tech world of a service economy.”
— Clarence Thomas

“Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me.”
— Ryan White

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