Category: Writing

IT’S HOWDY DOODY TIME, by Art Smukler, MD, author & psychiatrist

by artsmuklermd, posted in Writing

I was listening to KNX news radio when the name Bob Smith, a news announcer, was mentioned.

My thoughts drifted back to the fifties when I’d sit in front of our 12-inch black-and-white TV and watch a now deceased Bob Smith, a puppeteer and ventriloquist, also known as Buffalo Bob, perform on THE HOWDY DOODY SHOW. From 1947 to 1960 he’d sit with Howdy Doody, his little wooden puppet, as millions of kids, part of the peanut gallery, hung on his every word. There was no danger in the world except when Clarabel, the unruly clown, squirted Howdy Doo or Buffalo Bob with seltzer water.

It was a time of peace, safety, and tranquility.

WRONG! Very, very wrong!

In 1952 I remember my 5th grade teacher, a pretty, kind, interesting lady, being dragged out of class in handcuffs by men with FBI printed on their jackets. She was called Pinko, Commy, a danger to our society by the adults congregating in the schoolyard. I never saw her again and for years never really understood what that was all about.

Later, I learned that it was at the height of The McCarthy era, the red scare, a time when American leaders preached that we should be afraid of subversive communists undermining our country. That’s when Senator Joe McCarthy, a far right Republican from Wisconsin, launched a series of highly publicized probes into alleged Communist penetration into our society. Even President Eisenhower was fearful of tangling with McCarthy and it’s been hypothesized that his timid approach allowed this power-hungry man to expand his reach.

I remember an episode in grade school when a siren went off and we were urged to quickly get under our wooden desks, just in case the Russians launched a missile at us.

When was the world a safe place?

When did reason prevail over authoritarian thugs like Trump, Putin, Hammas, and the plethora of worldwide, religious, mysogynistic tyrants?

I propose never.

I also propose that if we don’t overcome the Trumps and MAGA supporters, right here in the bastion of freedom, we’re in serious trouble. And this is really important. A lot of what middle-of-the-road Republicans want is reasonable. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having safe boarders and reasonable State’s Rights, after all, different parts of our country have different strong beliefs. But to have a narcissist and an impulse-ridden, vindictive, liar like Donald Trump leading the charge is horrifying.

So all you peanut gallery graduates. It’s Howdy Doody time, Bob Smith and Howdy Doo, say howdy doo to you.

If I peak your interest, make sure to subscribe to my blog.

Oh, one more thing. It just struck me that perhaps all these long-ago feelings of powerlessness is why the heroes in my novels overcome forces that seem insurmountable. Maybe more about that in the weeks to come. Maybe not. At least I’m in charge, so far, with what I will and will not write.

Have a good read!

Art

#McCarthyism, #Redscare, #Psychiatrist, #Trump, #Putin, #thefifties, #Hammas

TYING UP THE ROSES, by Art Smukler, MD, author & psychiatrist

by artsmuklermd, posted in Self Examination, World events, a psychological view, Writing

Over forty years ago, back in Yardley, Pennsylvania, a small town about an hour from Philadelphia, my wife and I bought our first house. We borrowed the $10,000 downpayment from a relative and with great trepidation signed all the necessary documents and prepared to become homeowners.

It was six months after I completed my two-years of service in the Air Force as a psychiatrist and my newly minted private practice was doing well. As an important aside, times were very different back then. A $57,000 house was a lot of money. Now, a starter home can be ten or twenty times that depending on where you live.

Anyway, on moving day, we loaded up our station wagon with our two tiny kids and everything else we could squeeze in the back and drove to the house to wait for the movers. It was a lovely one-story home on a small circle with five other homes.

As we approached the house, the Greenstones, an elderly couple, were parked in the driveway. I parked across the street and watched as they stood side-by-side holding hands and gazing at the home that they had lived in for over forty years. They got in their car, drove about ten feet and then backed up to where they started. Mr. Greenstone got out of the car and walked over to three rosebushes on the side of the driveway that looked like they were falling over. He took some twine and a scissors out of his pocket and spent the next ten minutes making sure that the bushes were straight. He stepped back, admired his work, and then got in the car and drove away.

Why you might ask, would someone care if the rosebushes were falling over in a home that they no longer owned? When you listen to the news, the horrendous lies of our former president, the lies that are supported by millions of Americans and publicly elected officials, the lack of ethics and honor in so many people around the world, why is Smukler obsessing about some silly rosebushes.

I’m obsessing about our loss of ethics, honor, and just doing the kind and right thing. Mr. Greenstone had no idea that we were watching him. He quietly and carefully did what he thought was right. That’s the kind of person I want to be, the kind of people I want to be around, the kind of world I want to leave for my grandkids. There’s nothing wrong in dreaming.

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Check out PATIENT X and LITTLE ITALY.

#MYSTERIES, #SUSPENSE, #ROMANCE, #ETHICS, #HONOR,