Hello 'Pussy' it's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking:
Now, as you approache your 100th day in office, we wanted to circle back to some of the voters — most of them your supporters — we had spoken with around the start of his presidency about the issues that had driven their votes.
Should I remain in bed, leave my country or fight against the dragon?
( see also the story by Wolfgang Hampel,
' Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say ' )
Betty and Don MacDonald in Hollywood
Betty MacDonald's mother Sydney with grandchild Alison Beck
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter April is available with many International Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen book covers.
You can read two very interesting letters by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen.
We are looking for signed or dedicated first editions in great condition with dust jackets by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen for our fans.
Betty MacDonald Memorial Award Winner Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography and new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Join one of our Betty MacDonald fan club research teams, please.
Thanks a million in advance for your outstanding support.
Let's talk about Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest.
You can vote for your favourite Betty MacDonald book cover.
Deadline: June 30, 2017
Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest winner will be owner of a signed first edition of one of Betty MacDonald's books.
In which language the book ' försöka duger ' has been published? ( see book cover above )
Send us your mail, please and maybe you'll be the winner of Betty MacDonald fan club surprise.
Good luck!
Our most important research item is an updated Betty MacDonald documentary with lots of new info and interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family and friends.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel told us that Betty MacDonald fan club research team does an excellent job in supporting him with his several Betty MacDonald projects especially an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Reading this updated Betty MacDonald biography you'll learn the true story of many personalities in Betty MacDonald's books for example the mysterious and rather strange Ms. Dorita Hess from 'Anybody can do anything'.
Tell us, please what should a Betty MacDonald biography include?
Don't hesitate to send us your thoughts, please.
I'd say a real Betty MacDonald biography should also include fascinating info on Betty MacDonald's fascinating brother and sisters including adopted sister Madge.
As we can see Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett got so many fans because of her unique interviews with Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
We are going to offer some interviews by Wolfgang Hampel, never published before.
Many fans adore the new outstanding website of beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli.
Don't miss it, please.
Surprise, surprise!
We found new radio manuscripts and shows.
We are working on Betty MacDonald fan club exhibit and an updated Betty MacDonald documentary.
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter April includes a letter by Betty MacDonald, mentioning Dorita Hess and other very important persons in her books.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel told us that Betty MacDonald fan club research team does an excellent job in supporting him with his several Betty MacDonald projects especially an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club event team is very happy to hear from you and they got some really great ideas for the next International event.
Thanks a lot!
You can join Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club on Facebook.
Join us, please. We have lots of fun and joy and had several International ESC meetings in the past.
Vita Magica with Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Letizia Maninco was outstanding.
The audience enjoyed it very much.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica is fascinating because he includes Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for our Betty MacDonald fan club fans.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
Join us in voting for your favourite city, please.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica guest was a very famous TV lady, author and singer and she is our new Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
I guess our Casanova adores our Betty MacDonald fan club honor member very much because author and TV moderator Tatjana Geßler is a very beautiful, charming and intelligent lady.
Tatjana Geßler's books are outstanding. I've read several of them.
Enjoy Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island, please.
Great Betty MacDonald fan club news!
You can join
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald Society
Vita Magica
on Facebook.
Thank you so much in advance for your support and interest.
If you join Betty MacDonald fan club blog as a follower during March you'll receive a very special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift.
Send your email-address to our contact address, please.
Great news!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back and his fans are delighted.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica March, please.
You'll enjoy it very much.
You can see brilliant Brad Craft.
"This is Me," by Bad Kid Billy. [Official Music Video]
Seems I'm in this for a hot second. I remember being asked to participate one day on the street in front of the bookstore where I work. I didn't think to ask what it was for, or even so much as the name of the song or the band. Didn't want to be late coming back from lunch. Silly bugger. The very nice young woman with the green hair also featured herein happens to work at Magus Books. She mentioned she'd seen me. Told me the name of the band, and here we are.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Monica Sone and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's new project 'Vita Magica'.
We got very interesting new info for updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to include all these new details and info in updated Betty MacDonald biography.
If you'd like to join Betty MacDonald fan club you only have to press the join button on Betty MacDonald fan club blog.
New Betty MacDonald fan club fans will receive a special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift during April.
Send us your email address to our contact address, please.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica February was outstanding and so was Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
This very new Betty MacDonald biography includes all the results we got during a very successful Betty MacDonald fan club research which started in 1983.
You'll be able to find unique Betty MacDonald treasures in our Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald biography includes for example interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family and friends.
We got many letters by Betty MacDonald and other family members even very important original ones.
Our goal is to publish a Betty MacDonald biography that shows all the details of Betty MacDonald's life and work but also to present her fascinating siblings.
Dear Betty MacDonald fan club fans let us know please what you are interested most in a future Betty MacDonald biography.
Do you prefer an e-book or a so called real book?
Wolfgang Hampel and Friends of Vita Magica visited Minister of Science of Baden-Württemberg, Theresia Bauer in Stuttgart.
They visited Landtag and had a great time there.
Do you have any books by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen with funny or interesting dedications?
If so would you be so kind to share them?
Our next Betty MacDonald fan club project is a collection of these unique dedications.
If you share your dedication from your Betty MacDonald - and Mary Bard Jensen collection you might be the winner of our new Betty MacDonald fan club items.
Thank you so much in advance for your support.
Thank you so much for sending us your favourite Betty MacDonald quote.
We are so glad that our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many new interviews.
Alison Bard Burnett and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's fascinating project Vita Magica.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's daughter Joan MacDonald Keil and her husband Jerry Keil.
This interview will be published for the first time ever.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many interviews never published before.
We adore Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli
Thank you so much for sharing this witty memories with us.
Wolfgang Hampel's literary event Vita Magica is very fascinating because he is going to include Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
It's simply great to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others.
Linde Lund and many fans from all over the world adore this funny sketch by Wolfgang Hampel very much although our German isn't the best.
I won't ever forget the way Wolfgang Hampel is shouting ' Brexit '.
Don't miss it, please.
It's simply great!
You can hear that Wolfgang Hampel got an outstandig voice.
He presented one of Linde Lund's favourite songs ' Try to remember ' like a professional singer.
Thanks a million!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world.
Don't miss Brad Craft's 'More friends', please.
Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island is one of my favourites.
I agree with Betty in this very witty Betty MacDonald story Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say by Wolfgang Hampel.
I can't imagine to live in a country with him as so-called elected President although there are very good reasons to remain there to fight against these brainless politics.
On
Day 1, they were a mix of Trump faithful, Trump skeptics and Trump
haters. Local party bosses and state senators, teachers and retirees,
unionized and nonunion workers, talking about their hopes and dread as a
brash untested leader strode into the world’s most consequential job.
Now,
as President Trump approaches his 100th day in office, we wanted to
circle back to some of the voters — most of them Trump supporters — we
had spoken with around the start of his presidency about the issues that
had driven their votes. Had Mr. Trump fulfilled his promises? Did his
struggles and slack poll numbers disappoint them? Was he pleasing any of
his detractors, or proving worse than they had feared?
Many
of his biggest backers said they had no regrets. No matter how few
legislative accomplishments Mr. Trump can list, no matter the problems
facing “the Wall,” no matter if his Twitter posts make them wince, they
praised his swagger, his executive orders and his Supreme Court
appointment. “Hitting it out of the ballpark,” said Dianna Ploss, a
former nurse in Massachusetts.
Others
who opposed him then said they oppose him even more now. “When I get up
in the morning, I think, ‘Well, what did Trump do now?’” said Diane
Kirt, 64, of Reedsburg, Wis. But his critics have newfound energy and
inspiration from protests that have propelled millions into the streets
and nudged some to make first-time runs for public office.
Poor World! Poor America!
Don't miss these very interesting articles below, please.
The most difficult case in Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle's career
Hello 'Pussy', this is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
You took calls from foreign leaders on unsecured phone lines, without consultung the State Department. We have to change your silly behaviour with a new Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cure. I know you are the most difficult case in my career - but we have to try everything.......................
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sent his brilliant thoughts. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang!
Hi Libi, nice to meet you. Can you feel it?
I'm the most powerful leader in the world.
Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say
Copyright 2016 by Wolfgang Hampel
All rights reserved
Betty MacDonald was sitting on her egg-shaped cloud and listened to a rather strange guy.
He said to his friends: So sorry to keep you waiting. Very complicated business! Very complicated!
Betty said: Obviously much too complicated for you old toupee!
Besides him ( by the way the First Lady's place ) his 10 year old son was bored to death and listened to this 'exciting' victory speech.
The old man could be his great-grandfather.
The boy was very tired and thought: I don't know what this old guy is talking about. Come on and finish it, please. I'd like to go to bed.
Dear 'great-grandfather' continued and praised the Democratic candidate.
He congratulated her and her family for a very strong campaign although he wanted to put her in jail.
He always called her the most corrupt person ever and repeated it over and over again in the fashion of a Tibetan prayer wheel.
She is so corrupt. She is so corrupt. Do you know how corrupt she is?
Betty MacDonald couldn't believe it when he said: She has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
Afterwards old toupee praised his parents, wife, children, siblings and friends.
He asked the same question like a parrot all the time:
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
I know you are here!
Betty MacDonald answered: No Pussy they are not! They left the country.
They immigrated to Canada because they are very much afraid of the future in the U.S.A. with you as their leader like the majority of all so-called more or less normal citizens.
By the way keep your finger far away from the pussies and the Red Button, please.
I'm going to fly with my egg-shaped cloud to Canada within a minute too.
Away - away - there is nothing more to say!
Daniel Mount wrote a great article about Betty MacDonald and her garden.
We hope you'll enjoy it very much.
I adore Mount Rainier and Betty MacDonald's outstanding descriptions
Can you remember in which book you can find it?
If so let us know, please and you might be the next Betty MacDonald fan club contest winner.
I hope we'll be able to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others - very soon.
It' s such a pleasure to read them.
Let's go to magical Betty MacDonald's Vashon Island.
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund and Betty MacDonald fan club research team share their recent Betty MacDonald fan club research results.
Congratulations! They found the most interesting and important info for Wolfgang Hampel's oustanding Betty MacDonald biography.
I enjoy Bradley Craft's story very much.
Don't miss our Betty MacDonald fan club contests, please.
You can win a never published before Alison Bard Burnett interview by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
Good luck!
This CD is a golden treasure because Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett shares unique stories about Betty MacDonald, Mary Bard Jensen, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Nancy and Plum.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald interviews have fans in 40 countries. I'm one of their many devoted fans.
Many Betty MacDonald - and Wolfgang Hampel fans are very interested in a Wolfgang Hampel CD and DVD with his very funny poems and stories.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is beloved all over the World.
We are so happy that our 'Casanova' is back.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to share very
interesting info on ' Betty MacDonald and the movie The Egg and I '.
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Take care,
Sandra
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Take care,
Sandra
you can join
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on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Vita Magica
Betty MacDonald
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook
Betty MacDonald forum
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German ) Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - cyclopaedia.net ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
Circling Back to Voters, 100 Days Into Trump Era
On
Day 1, they were a mix of Trump faithful, Trump skeptics and Trump
haters. Local party bosses and state senators, teachers and retirees,
unionized and nonunion workers, talking about their hopes and dread as a
brash untested leader strode into the world’s most consequential job.
Now,
as President Trump approaches his 100th day in office, we wanted to
circle back to some of the voters — most of them Trump supporters — we
had spoken with around the start of his presidency about the issues that
had driven their votes. Had Mr. Trump fulfilled his promises? Did his
struggles and slack poll numbers disappoint them? Was he pleasing any of
his detractors, or proving worse than they had feared?
Many
of his biggest backers said they had no regrets. No matter how few
legislative accomplishments Mr. Trump can list, no matter the problems
facing “the Wall,” no matter if his Twitter posts make them wince, they
praised his swagger, his executive orders and his Supreme Court
appointment. “Hitting it out of the ballpark,” said Dianna Ploss, a
former nurse in Massachusetts.
Others
who opposed him then said they oppose him even more now. “When I get up
in the morning, I think, ‘Well, what did Trump do now?’” said Diane
Kirt, 64, of Reedsburg, Wis. But his critics have newfound energy and
inspiration from protests that have propelled millions into the streets
and nudged some to make first-time runs for public office.
And
then there are those somewhere in between. Some who were reluctant in
November say they are happy with a growing economy and his support for
the military. Some who cast a hedged, qualified vote for Mr. Trump say
they are frustrated with his temperament and repeated falsehoods and
would consider supporting a primary challenger.
Others say: Give it more time — 100 more days, or 1,000.
Wisconsin: Satisfaction Amid Division
Al
Exner, Republican Party chairman of Sauk County, Wis., made no secret
of his delight over Mr. Trump’s victory as he chatted in January in a
diner in one of America’s most closely divided places. Mr. Trump’s
victory over Hillary Clinton was a mere 109 votes here, part of a shift
that flipped Wisconsin from blue to red.
Now,
Mr. Exner said he was pleased, reflecting Mr. Trump’s overwhelming and
enduring support among Republicans even as opinion surveys give him historically low marks.
Still, Mr. Exner was hard pressed to name more than a few
accomplishments. He said the airstrike Mr. Trump ordered on Syria
resounded as a declaration of American strength.
“We’ve
been on the back burner, defensively, since Obama took office,” he
said. “The first thing I said to my wife when I heard about Syria was,
‘Syria isn’t really the target. He’s put the world on notice — we’re
back.’” — Julie Bosman
Illinois: Angry and Fired Up
Back
in January, Maureen Sauer had to be coaxed into traveling to the
Women’s March on Washington from her home in O’Fallon, Ill. She has a
bad back and she did not think marching would make any difference. But
her sisters prevailed, and the march proved an inspiration. Now, she is
active in a church group called Dormant No More, trying to bring about
change in her own town. She joined the school board and the local League
of Women Voters, attended her first City Council meeting and worked to
oust the mayor.
The
first 100 days of the Trump presidency have proved worse than Ms.
Sauer, 55, feared, but she said the best part was that it had spurred
activism. “He has brought us off our couches, paying attention,” she
said. She worries the most about how much Russia interfered with the
election, and what the links may be to Mr. Trump or his campaign. —
Susan Chira
Ohio: Fired Up on the Right
At
the dawn of the Trump era, Brandon Moore, 39, sat down inside a Mexican
restaurant in central Ohio and counted himself a hopeful skeptic. As a
Bible-believing Christian and supporter of gun rights, he had voted for
Mr. Trump but was watchful. And today?
“I
do have mixed feelings,” he said. He liked Mr. Trump’s decision to
order a missile attack on a Syrian airfield because it showed that
“America means business again.” He liked how Mr. Trump baited and
sparred with the news media.
But
as the nation searches for its political bearings ahead of the next
election cycle, Mr. Moore said that watching months of anti-Trump
protests and outpourings of left-wing activism these past 100 days had
convinced him of this much: “That’s where I don’t want our country to
go: into their hands.” — Jack Healy
Indiana: The Alt-Right Energized
Matthew
Heimbach, 26, is among the young men who identify with the alt-right,
the amalgam of white supremacist and misogynist internet trolls and
citizens who were energized by Mr. Trump’s campaign.
This
month, Mr. Heimbach said he felt more invigorated than ever. “He did
what we in the alt-right wanted him to do,” he said. Mr. Trump had
brought anti-immigrant sentiment into the mainstream, destabilized
politics and polarized the electorate, Mr. Heimbach said. “Our movement,
it’s gotten more unified,” he added. “It’s gotten more clear on
direction as to what we’re working toward, which is an independent
homeland.”
During the campaign, Mr. Heimbach was captured on video shoving a black woman at a Trump rally. The woman sued, and Mr. Heimbach responded with his own claim, saying that he “acted pursuant to the directives” of the candidate.
At
white nationalist events these days, he said, he is often among the
oldest in the room, a stark difference from pre-Trump years, in which
the people who shared his views were often twice his age. Mr. Heimbach
runs a group called the Traditionalist Worker Party, which advocates
replacing the United States with nation-states based on races,
ethnicities and religions. He said that vision seems closer than ever.
“Getting Trump elected was a great first step,” he said. “Now it’s time to deploy to Stage 2.” — Julie Turkewitz
West Virginia: Support From Appalachia
Mr.
Trump’s blunt talk has always been a selling point for State Senator
Mark R. Maynard, 44, a freshman lawmaker in West Virginia and a
Republican who was a leader of Mr. Trump’s state campaign. So it was
unsurprising that close to 100 days in, Mr. Maynard had nothing bad to
say about Mr. Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip talk and style, which has been
such a departure from previous presidents.
In
fact, Mr. Maynard, who hails from tiny Genoa, W.Va., could not think of
a single criticism of Mr. Trump’s tenure thus far. He liked Mr. Trump’s
attack on President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. And he said his
optimism is widely shared in his district, set in the struggling heart
of Appalachia and coal country.
“You
know, everybody that I talk to has a positive rating, and they like
what he’s doing,” he said. “I’ve not heard any complaints — and that’s
my feelings, too.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. Maynard, a climate change skeptic, praised Mr. Trump for his executive order in March that will undo the Clean Power Plan in an effort to lift the coal industry.
Even
Mr. Trump’s failures — the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
the travel ban blocked by a federal judge — seemed reassuring to Mr.
Maynard because they showed that Mr. Trump was trying to do what he had
promised.
“I think attempting is better than doing nothing, whether you’re successful or not,” he said. — Richard Fausset
Pennsylvania: Hope in Coal Country
At
a rally in Ambridge, Pa., a once-thriving steel and energy town and a
symbol of the losses and grievances that powered Mr. Trump to the White
House, Ron Ritz waited in line for hours to see the candidate. Back
then, in October, Mr. Ritz said of Mr. Trump, “I think he’s going to try
to give the American people back the things they deserve that were
taken from them.”
Mr.
Ritz, a 69-year-old retired corrections officer and military veteran,
believes that Mr. Trump has restored optimism about the American
economy. Near his small hometown, Friedens, Pa., there was a shuttered
coal mine, which he said started up again after Mr. Trump took office.
“Guys that were laid off are going back to work,” he said. For him, the
best moment of the presidency so far was when Mr. Trump visited coal
miners in West Virginia. “I know what those people feel like,” he said.
“There was a time in my life I was almost swept under. To see them get
another glimpse of light, that says there’s some hope here.” — Susan
Chira
Iowa: Ignoring the Critics
In
Iowa, Mary Whisenand compared Mr. Trump in September 2015 to a “summer
fling” that her fellow Republicans would soon get over as they turned to
other candidates. Throughout the primary race and general election, Ms.
Whisenand, a longtime party activist, never worked to elect Mr. Trump.
She said the other day that she did not declare her support for him
until Nov. 8, Election Day, when she cast her ballot. But she ended up
attending his inauguration in Washington, and today she defends many of
his stumbles as the learning curve of a nonpolitician, one who is
keeping his word to shake up government.
Ms.
Whisenand, 52, an insurance executive in Des Moines, cites the
president’s ability to brush off critics in the news media as a sign of
success. “He is not making decisions based on polling or what the media
is saying,” she said. “I like that about him.” But, she added, “I wish
to God he had never tweeted about Obama wiretapping him.” The attempts
by Trump allies in the White House and Congress to try to prove Mr.
Trump right “looked like the Keystone Kops,” she added. — Trip Gabriel
New Hampshire: Praise for Military Shifts
Joe
Vigue, 68, came to Mr. Trump reluctantly. As he watched election-night
returns stream in at a hotel ballroom in Concord, N.H., a retired
construction worker in bluejeans amid a sea of suits, Mr. Vigue ticked
off a list of concerns about the military and Mr. Trump’s disparaging
comments about Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Now,
Mr. Vigue, a Vietnam veteran, is pretty happy with what he sees,
especially on the issue most important to him: beefing up the military.
Mr. Trump has proposed slashing billions from various domestic programs
and shifting $54 billion to the armed forces.
And
he applauded Mr. Trump’s determination to overhaul the Department of
Veterans Affairs, reduce wait times for veterans seeking health care and
protect their benefits. He still winces once in a while when Mr. Trump
“opens his mouth,” but he said the country was much better off than it
had been during the previous eight years.
To
his relief, Mr. Vigue has found Mr. Trump to be “not quite as
conservative as a lot of people thought.” Back in November, he said he
did not want Mr. Trump to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and as it
happens, Mr. Trump failed to do so when he tried.
“So far, I’m glad I voted for him,” Mr. Vigue said. “I wasn’t so sure for a while, but now I am.” — Katharine Q. Seelye
New Hampshire: The Swamp Is Too Big to Drain
Chris
Ager, 57, a program manager for an electronics company who lives in
Amherst, N.H., was so thrilled with Mr. Trump’s election that he set off
fireworks.
Mr. Ager, a long-time Republican, said at the time that he believed Mr. Trump could truly change the country.
“He’s
not controlled by Wall Street, the Republican establishment, the power
brokers — none of that,” Mr. Ager said back then. “He’s free to do
what’s best for the country.”
Today,
Mr. Ager sounds slightly chagrined at his naïveté. While he remains
pleased with Mr. Trump, he has come to understand that the campaign
promise to “drain the swamp” is not easily accomplished.
“The
sobering thought that I have right now,” Mr. Ager said, is that “you
may need to cut deals with the swamp because it’s too big to drain.”
A
case in point, he said, was Mr. Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to
the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump was successful, Mr. Ager said, only because
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader and long-time
denizen of the swamp, exercised the so-called “nuclear option” and changed the Senate rules.
“President
Trump needed him to get the deal done,” Mr. Ager said. The lesson? “You
can’t go to war with the entire swamp, you may need parts of it to get
your things done.” — Katharine Q. Seelye
U.S.
Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Withhold Money From Sanctuary Cities
A
judge in San Francisco on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Trump’s
efforts to starve localities of federal funds when they limit their
cooperation with immigration enforcement, a stinging rejection of his
threats to make so-called sanctuary cities fall in line.
The
judge, William H. Orrick of United States District Court, wrote that
the president had overstepped his powers with his January executive
order on immigration by tying billions of dollars in federal funding to
immigration enforcement. Judge Orrick said only Congress could place
such conditions on spending.
The
ruling, which applies nationwide, was another judicial setback for the
Trump administration, which has now seen three immigration orders
stopped by federal courts in its first 100 days. And as with the rulings halting his two temporary bans on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, the president’s own words were used against him.
Though
Justice Department lawyers argued in the case that the government did
not intend to withhold significant amounts of money, the judge noted
that the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions had suggested the
punishment could be far greater.
“If
there was doubt about the scope of the order, the president and
attorney general have erased it with their public comments,” Judge
Orrick wrote.
While
the order is only a temporary injunction until the judge issues a
broader ruling on the executive order’s constitutionality, he strongly
signaled that San Francisco and Santa Clara County, the plaintiffs in
the case, were likely to win a permanent victory. It was also an early
verdict on the question of whether the White House can coerce cities and
counties into helping federal immigration agents detain and deport
immigrants who are not authorized to be in the country.
Mr.
Trump has criticized judges who have ruled against him, and late
Tuesday night the White House released a statement saying, “Once again, a
single district judge — this time in San Francisco — has ignored
federal immigration law to set a new immigration policy for the entire
country.”
Exactly
what makes a city or county a sanctuary is a matter of interpretation,
but most that present themselves as sanctuaries, including New York, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and Houston, limit how much they cooperate with
federal immigration authorities, often by refusing to turn over
unauthorized immigrants from local jails except under certain conditions
or by preventing local police officers from asking about immigration
status.
In
San Francisco’s case, the city argued that the executive order violated
the Constitution by essentially trying to commandeer state and local
officials to enforce federal immigration law. In practical terms, San
Francisco’s filing said, forcing the city to cooperate with federal
immigration agents would threaten public safety by breaking trust
between local authorities and immigrants, who the city argued would
become less likely to report crimes or serve as witnesses.
The
city estimated that it stood to lose more than $1 billion in federal
funding as a result of the executive order. Santa Clara said about $1.7
billion, or more than a third of its revenue, was at risk.
“This
is why we have courts — to halt the overreach of a president and an
attorney general who either don’t understand the Constitution or chose
to ignore it,” Dennis Herrera, the San Francisco city attorney, said in a
statement. “Because San Francisco took this president to court, we’ve
been able to protect billions of dollars that fund lifesaving programs
across this country.”
While
the judge’s order temporarily stops the White House from placing new
restrictions on federal funding without going through Congress, it does
not keep the administration from enforcing existing rules on federal
grants. In letters to several local governments last week, the Justice Department warned that several current grants could be in jeopardy.
During
his campaign and since taking office, Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked
sanctuary cities as harboring lawbreakers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Sessions
have seemed particularly galled by San Francisco’s policies, pointing
multiple times to the killing of Kathryn Steinle, who was shot in San Francisco in 2015 by an immigrant with a record of multiple deportations.
Sanctuary
cities “breed crime; there’s a lot of problems,” Mr. Trump told Fox
News in February. “If we have to, we’ll defund. We give tremendous
amounts of money to California — California in many ways is out of
control, as you know.”
But
as President Barack Obama was sometimes thwarted by conservative states
and Republican-appointed judges, Mr. Trump has been stopped by liberal
jurisdictions and, in this case, by an Obama appointee who had been a
bundler for his 2008 campaign, according to OpenSecrets, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics.
In
court, lawyers for the government argued that despite Mr. Trump’s vows
to end all aid to uncooperative sanctuary jurisdictions, the order was
intended to do no more than highlight the president’s commitment to
hardening immigration enforcement. No more than a few small grants would
be affected, they said.
Judge Orrick’s response: If that were true, what was the point?
“The
result of this schizophrenic approach to the order is that the
counties’ worst fears are not allayed and the counties reasonably fear
enforcement under the order,” he wrote.
He
also wrote that because the Constitution gives Congress the federal
wallet, the president may not impose new conditions on federal funds to
municipalities. The Supreme Court has held that the federal government
cannot compel states to administer a federal program, the judge wrote,
citing a case with very different partisan battle lines: National
Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the 2012 case in which
the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not withhold Medicaid funding to force states to comply with Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
And,
Judge Orrick added, 10th Amendment restrictions on the power of the
federal government require that the federal funds at stake be related to
the policy in question, so that, for instance, housing funds cannot be
yoked to immigration laws.
San Francisco became the first city to sue
the administration over the executive order in January, arguing that
the order’s provision for cutting off funding to sanctuary jurisdictions
was unconstitutional. Since then, at least five other local governments
have sued, including Seattle; Richmond, Calif.; and two cities in
Massachusetts, and others have vowed to do so if the administration
moves to follow through on the executive order.
But,
facing the prospect of losing millions in crucial funding and of a
showdown with the Oval Office, multiple jurisdictions have already
backed away from sanctuary-style policies since Mr. Trump was elected.
Asia Pacific | News Analysis
As North Korea Speeds Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Fears Time Will Run Out
WASHINGTON
— Behind the Trump administration’s sudden urgency in dealing with the
North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: a growing body of
expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the
country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.
That
acceleration in pace — impossible to verify until experts get beyond
the limited access to North Korean facilities that ended years ago —
explains why President Trump and his aides fear they are running out of
time. For years, American presidents decided that each incremental
improvement in the North’s program — another nuclear test, a new variant
of a missile — was worrisome, but not worth a confrontation that could
spill into open conflict.
Now
those step-by-step advances have resulted in North Korean warheads that
in a few years could reach Seattle. “They’ve learned a lot,” said
Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who directed the Los Alamos
weapons laboratory in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb,
from 1986 to 1997, and whom the North Koreans have let into their
facilities seven times.
North Korea
is now threatening another nuclear test, which would be its sixth in 11
years. The last three tests — the most recent was in September —
generated Hiroshima-size explosions. It is unclear how Mr. Trump would
react to a test, but he told representatives of the United Nations
Security Council at the White House on Monday that they should be
prepared to pass far more restrictive sanctions, which American
officials say should include cutting off energy supplies.
“People have put blindfolds on for decades, and now it’s time to solve the problem,” Mr. Trump said.
He
made his remarks after a Sunday night phone call on North Korea with Xi
Jinping, China’s president, who urged Mr. Trump to show “restraint”
with North Korea, according to a Chinese television report. White House
officials said little about the call, and aides are trying to use Mr.
Trump’s unpredictability to the greatest advantage, hoping it will keep
the Chinese off balance and deter the North Koreans.
A Growing Arsenal
Inside the C.I.A., they call it “the disco ball.”
It
is a round, metallic sphere, covered by small circles, that the North
Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is shown caressing in official photographs
as if it were his crown jewel. And it may be: The sphere is supposedly a
nuclear weapon, shrunken to fit inside the nose cone of one of the
country’s growing arsenal of missiles.
American
intelligence officials still debate whether it is a real bomb or a
mock-up that is part of the country’s vast propaganda effort. But it is
intended to show where the country is headed.
India
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Scud B/C/ER
180–600 miles
Thailand
Italy
KN-11
600
China
Spain
Russia
North
Korea
Britain
Nodong
800
Japan
Greenland
(Denmark)
Guam
Musudan
2,200
Australia
Papua
New Guinea
Canada
North Korea’s Growing Reach
The potential range of North Korea’s current
weapons, particularly the KN-14 and KN-08 missiles, would put most of
the world in reach of its nuclear warheads.
KN-14
6,200
United
States
KN-08
7,200
Estimated
ranges
Unless
something changes, North Korea’s arsenal may well hit 50 weapons by the
end of Mr. Trump’s term, about half the size of Pakistan’s. American
officials say the North already knows how to shrink those weapons so
they can fit atop one of its short- to medium-range missiles — putting
South Korea and Japan, and the thousands of American troops deployed in
those two nations, within range. The best estimates are that North Korea
has roughly 1,000 ballistic missiles in eight or so varieties.
But
fulfilling Mr. Kim’s dream — putting a nuclear weapon atop an
intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach Seattle or Los
Angeles, or one day New York — remains a more complex problem.
As Dr. Hecker, a man who has built his share of nuclear weapons,
noted last week, any weapon that could travel that far would have to be
“smaller, lighter and surmount the additional difficulties of the
stresses and temperatures” of a fiery re-entry into the atmosphere.
By most estimates, that is four or five years away. Then again, many senior officials said the same four or five years ago.
But
the North has come farther than most experts expected since the infancy
of its program in the 1950s, when the Soviet Union began training North
Korean scientists in nuclear basics.
It
took three decades for the North to assemble the technology it needed
to make its own bomb fuel. Finally, from a reactor at Yongbyon, it
succeeded in making plutonium: enough for about one atomic bomb a year.
The
first North Korean nuclear crisis, in 1994, ended in an agreement with
the Clinton administration to freeze the North’s production facilities
in return for oil and peaceful reactors. It fell apart early in the
George W. Bush administration. In 2006, the first test explosion, while
unimpressive, entered North Korea into the club of nuclear powers.
Analysts say the first blast was a plutonium bomb, as was a second
detonation just months into the Obama administration in 2009.
Dr.
Hecker visited Yongbyon in 2010, and the North Koreans showed him a
complete uranium enrichment facility, which American intelligence
agencies had missed. The message was clear: The North now had two
pathways to a bomb, uranium and plutonium. Today, it has an arsenal made
up of both, intelligence officials say.
And
it is aiming for something much bigger: a hydrogen bomb, with a
destructive force up to 1,000 times greater than ordinary nuclear
weapons. That is exactly the path the United States took in the 1950s.
Recently,
United Nations investigators found evidence that the North’s factories
had succeeded in producing lithium 6, a rare ingredient needed to make
thermonuclear fuel. Gregory S. Jones, a scientist at the RAND
Corporation, said the North might have already used bits of
thermonuclear fuel in its 2016 detonations.
A potential clue, analysts say, is that the North’s five blasts over the past decade have grown steadily more destructive.
Shrinking the Bomb
A
bomb is useless to North Korea — as an offensive weapon or as a
deterrent — unless the country can make a convincing case that it has a
reliable delivery system. So when the North flaunts missiles at military
parades, as it did on April 15, the stars of the show tend to be the
big missiles that are designed to reach Washington and New York. While
several intercontinental ballistic missiles rolled down the streets of
Pyongyang, conducting a flight test that proves one could fly that far,
and land with accuracy, is so far only an aspiration.Missing
from the parade were the short- and medium-range missiles that have
been successfully flight tested. American intelligence agencies believe
some of those can carry operational nuclear arms. The critical one is
the Nodong, which has a range of about 800 miles.
But
the North Koreans are discovering — as the United States, the Soviet
Union and China did before them — that it is far more complicated to
design an intercontinental missile. With that weapons system, a warhead
would move at four miles a second and re-enter the atmosphere in fiery
heat — so, if badly engineered, it would burn up long before hitting a
target. To reach their goal, North Korean weapons designers are looking
to miniaturize their warheads, making them far lighter and more
powerful.
The
big effort these days is to merge two technologies: Get a missile that
can cross the Pacific, and marry it to a warhead that can survive the
ride. And this is why the United States is so desperate to stop the
cycle of testing.
The
cyber- and electronic warfare attacks that President Barack Obama
ordered against the country’s missile fleet were intended to slow North
Korea’s learning curve. The Musudan, which can travel 2,200 miles, has
racked up an embarrassing failure rate of 88 percent — although how much
of that is due to incompetence or outside meddling is not known. Until
the North Koreans figure out what is going wrong, and how to fix it,
they appear hesitant to test the KN-14 and the KN-08, both of which are
designed to hit the continental United States.
Examining North Korea’s Missiles
The
diplomatic pressure from China to stop a sixth nuclear test at the
Punggye-ri test site is intended to keep the North Koreans from making
advances in warhead miniaturization and the design of a hydrogen bomb.
As Mr. Obama noted before he left office, even failures are important
learning tools for the North Koreans, aiding the trial-and-error process
of making new warheads.
How
long will it take for the North Koreans to solve those problems? The
best guesswork is around 2020 — while Mr. Trump is still in his first
term.
A Freeze, to What End?
The
strategy emerging from Mr. Trump’s national security team comes down to
this: Apply overwhelming pressure on the North, both military and
economic, to freeze its testing and reduce its stockpile. Then use that
opening to negotiate, with the ultimate goal of getting the North
Koreans to give up all their weapons.
Many
experts, however, believe that is a fantasy, because Mr. Kim regards
even a small arsenal as critical to his survival. The upside of the
strategy, if it works, is that the “nuclear freeze” would delay for
years the day the North can fit a small, reliable, well-tested weapon
atop a large, reliable, well-tested missile. The downside is that it
would leave the North Koreans with a small, potent arsenal — one the
United States would be essentially acknowledging, if not accepting.
That
is why it will be hard for Mr. Trump to fulfill his vow to “solve this
problem.” And every day, there is the chance of miscalculation, or an
accident.
At
any moment, Dr. Hecker said on a call to reporters organized by the
Union of Concerned Scientists, a live weapon could turn into an
accidental nuclear detonation or some other catastrophe.
“I happen to believe,” he said, “the crisis is here now.”
Continue reading the main story
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
we share a very special gift by beloved and very popular Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honor member Letizia Mancino.
We know you'll enjoy it as much as we do.
Thanks a Million, dear Letizia Mancino.
You are an outstanding writer and artist.
We are so proud and happy to have you with us.
Letizia writes: One should not underestimate Wolfgang Hampel’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty MacDonald’s friends.
We agree. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang Hampel for doing this. You founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club with four members.
Now we have members in 40 countries around the world. A dream came true.
Mary Holmes did an excellent job in translating this great story.
Thank you so much dear Mary Holmes.
We are really very grateful.
All the best to Letizia, Wolfgang and Mary and to all Betty MacDonald Fan Club fans from all over the world!
Lenard
Following in Betty’s footsteps in Seattle:
or some small talk with Betty
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino
All rights reserved
translated by Mary Holmes
We were going to Canada in the summer. “When we are in Edmonton”, I said to Christoph Cremer, “let’s make a quick trip to Seattle”. And that’s how it happened. At Edmonton Airport we climbed into a plane and two hours later we landed in the city where Betty had lived. I was so happy to be in Seattle at last and to be able to trace Betty’s tracks!
Wolfgang Hampel had told Betty’s friends about our arrival.
They were happy to plan a small marathon through the town and it’s surroundings with us. We only had a few days free. One should not underestimate Wolfgang’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty’s friends, even though it was holiday time. E-mails flew backwards and forwards between Heidelberg and Seattle, and soon a well prepared itinerary was ready for us. Shortly before my departure Wolfgang handed me several parcels, presents for Betty MacDonald's friends. I rushed to pack the heavy gifts in my luggage but because of the extra weight had to throw out a pair of pajamas!
After we had landed we took a taxi to the Hotel in downtown Seattle. I was so curious to see everything. I turned my head in all directions like one of the hungry hens from Betty’s farm searching for food! Fortunately it was quite a short journey otherwise I would have lost my head like a loose screw!
Our hotel room was on the 22nd floor and looked directly out onto the 16-lane highway. There might have been even more than 16 but it made me too giddy to count! It was like a glimpse of hell! “And is this Seattle?” I asked myself. I was horrified! The cars racing by were enough to drive one mad. The traffic roared by day and night.
We immediately contacted Betty MacDonald's friends and let them know we had arrived and they confirmed the times when we should see them.
On the next morning I planned my first excursion tracing Betty’s tracks. I spread out the map of Seattle. “Oh dear” I realized “the Olympic Peninsula is much too far away for me to get there.”
Betty nodded to me! “Very difficult, Letizia, without a car.”
“But I so much wanted to see your chicken farm”
“My chickens are no longer there and you can admire the mountains from a distance”
But I wanted to go there. I left the hotel and walked to the waterfront where the State Ferry terminal is. Mamma mia, the streets in Seattle are so steep! I couldn’t prevent my feet from running down the hill. Why hadn’t I asked for brakes to be fixed on my shoes? I looked at the drivers. How incredibly good they must be to accelerate away from the red traffic lights. The people were walking uphill towards me as briskly as agile salmon. Good heavens, these Americans! I tried to keep my balance. The force of gravity is relentless. I grasped hold of objects where I could and staggered down.
In Canada a friend had warned me that in Seattle I would see a lot of people with crutches.
Betty laughed. “ It’s not surprising, Letizia, walking salmon don’t fall directly into the soft mouth of a bear!”
“ Betty, stop making these gruesome remarks. We are not in Firlands!”
I went further. Like a small deranged ant at the foot of a palace monster I came to a tunnel. The noise was unbearable. On the motorway, “The Alaskan Way Viaduct”, cars, busses and trucks were driving at the speed of light right over my head. They puffed out their poisonous gas into the open balconies and cultivated terraces of the luxurious sky- scrapers without a thought in the world. America! You are crazy!
“Betty, are all people in Seattle deaf? Or is it perhaps a privilege for wealthy people to be able to enjoy having cars so near to their eyes and noses to save them from boredom?”
“When the fog democratically allows everything to disappear into nothing, it makes a bit of a change, Letizia”
“ Your irony is incorrigible, Betty, but tell me, Seattle is meant to be a beautiful city, But where?”
I had at last reached the State Ferry terminal.
“No Madam, the ferry for Vashon Island doesn’t start from here,” one of the men in the ticket office tells me. ”Take a buss and go to the ferry terminal in West Seattle.”
Betty explained to me “The island lies in Puget Sound and not in Elliott Bay! It is opposite the airport. You must have seen it when you were landing!”
“Betty, when I am landing I shut my eyes and pray!”
It’s time for lunch. The weather is beautiful and warm. Who said to me that it always rains here?
“Sure to be some envious man who wanted to frighten you away from coming to Seattle. The city is really beautiful, you’ll see. Stay by the waterfront, choose the best restaurant with a view of Elliott Bay and enjoy it.”
“Thank you Betty!”
I find a table on the terrace of “Elliott’s Oyster House”. The view of the island is wonderful. It lies quietly in the sun like a green fleecy cushion on the blue water.
Betty plays with my words:
“Vashon Island is a big cushion, even bigger than Bainbridge which you see in front of your eyes, Letizia. The islands look similar. They have well kept houses and beautiful gardens”.
I relax during this introduction, “Bainbridge” you are Vashon Island, and order a mineral water.
“At one time the hotel belonging to the parents of Monica Sone stood on the waterfront.”
“Oh, of your friend Kimi!” Unfortunately I forget to ask Betty exactly where it was.
My mind wanders and I think of my mountain hike back to the hotel! “Why is there no donkey for tourists?” Betty laughs:
“I’m sure you can walk back to the hotel. “Letizia can do everything.””
“Yes, Betty, I am my own donkey!”
But I don’t remember that San Francisco is so steep. It doesn’t matter, I sit and wait. The waiter comes and brings me the menu. I almost fall off my chair!
“ What, you have geoduck on the menu! I have to try it” (I confess I hate the look of geoduck meat. Betty’s recipe with the pieces made me feel quite sick – I must try Betty’s favourite dish!)
“Proof that you love me!” said Betty enthusiastically “ Isn’t the way to the heart through the stomach?”
I order the geoduck. The waiter looks at me. He would have liked to recommend oysters.
“Geoduck no good for you!”
Had he perhaps read my deepest thoughts? Fate! Then no geoduck. “No good for me.”
“Neither geoduck nor tuberculosis in Seattle” whispered Betty in my ear!
“Oh Betty, my best friend, you take such good care of me!”
I order salmon with salad.
“Which salmon? Those that swim in water or those that run through Seattle?”
“Betty, I believe you want me to have a taste of your black humour.”
“Enjoy it then, Letizia.”
During lunch we talked about tuberculosis, and that quite spoilt our appetite.
“Have you read my book “The Plague and I”?”
“Oh Betty, I’ve started to read it twice but both times I felt so sad I had to stop again!”
“But why?” asked Betty “Nearly everybody has tuberculosis! I recovered very quickly and put on 20 pounds! There was no talk of me wasting away! What did you think of my jokes in the book?”
“Those would have been a good reason for choosing another sanitorium. I would have been afraid of becoming a victim of your humour! You would have certainly given me a nickname! You always thought up such amusing names!” Betty laughed.
“You’re right. I would have called you “Roman nose”. I would have said to Urbi and Orbi “ Early this morning “Roman nose” was brought here. She speaks broken English, doesn’t eat geoduck but she does love cats.”
“Oh Betty, I would have felt so ashamed to cough. To cough in your presence, how embarrassing! You would have talked about how I coughed, how many coughs!”
“It depends on that “how”, Letizia!”
“Please, leave Goethe quotations out of it. You have certainly learnt from the Indians how to differentiate between noises. It’s incredible how you can distinguish between so many sorts of cough! At least 10!”
“So few?”
”And also your descriptions of the patients and the nurses were pitiless. An artistic revenge! The smallest pimple on their face didn’t escape your notice! Amazing.”
“ I was also pitiless to myself. Don’t forget my irony against myself!”
Betty was silent. She was thinking about Kimi, the “Princess” from Japan! No, she had only written good things about her best friend, Monica Sone, in her book “The Plague and I”. A deep friendship had started in the hospital. The pearl that developed from the illness.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Betty, that an unknown seed can make its way into a mollusk in the sea and develop into a beautiful jewel?” Betty is paying attention.
“Betty, the friendship between you and Monica reminds me of Goethe’s poem “Gingo-Biloba”. You must know it?” Betty nods and I begin to recite it:
The leaf of this Eastern tree
Which has been entrusted to my garden
Offers a feast of secret significance,
For the edification of the initiate.
Is it one living thing.
That has become divided within itself?
Are these two who have chosen each other,
So that we know them as one?
The friendship with Monica is like the wonderful gingo-biloba leaf, the tree from the east. Betty was touched. There was a deep feeling of trust between us.
“Our friendship never broke up, partly because she was in distress, endangered by the deadly illness. We understood and supplemented each other. We were like one lung with two lobes, one from the east and one from the west!”
“A beautiful picture, Betty. You were like two red gingo-biloba leaves!”
Betty was sad and said ” Monica, although Japanese, before she really knew me felt she was also an American. But she was interned in America, Letizia, during the second world war. Isn’t that terrible?”
“Betty, I never knew her personally. I have only seen her on a video, but what dignity in her face, and she speaks and moves so gracefully!”
“Fate could not change her”
“Yes, Betty, like the gingo-biloba tree in Hiroshima. It was the only tree that blossomed again after the atom bomb!”
The bill came and I paid at once. In America one is urged away from the table when one has finished eating. If one wants to go on chatting one has to order something else.
“That’s why all those people gossiping at the tables are so fat!” Betty remarks. “Haven’t you seen how many massively obese people walk around in the streets of America. Like dustbins that have never been emptied!” With this typically unsentimental remark Betty ended our conversation.
Ciao! I so enjoyed the talk; the humour, the irony and the empathy. I waved to her and now I too felt like moving! I take a lovely walk along the waterfront.
Now I am back in Heidelberg and when I think about how Betty’s “Princessin” left this world on September 5th and that in August I was speaking about her with Betty in Seattle I feel very sad. The readers who knew her well (we feel that every author and hero of a book is nearer to us than our fleeting neighbours next door) yes we, who thought of her as immortal, cannot believe that even she would die after 92 years. How unforeseen and unexpected that her death should come four days after her birthday on September 1th. On September 5th I was on my way to Turkey, once again in seventh heaven, looking back on the unforgettable days in Seattle. I was flying from west to east towards the rising sun.
Is this Mr. Tigerli?
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