Yeah...and so, anyway...

The title of this blog comes from one of many protest songs that were popular during the Vietnam War. The song is "War", which was sung by Motown artist Edwin Starr. As you can see in the video, there are scenes from the Vietnam War accompanying the song. I remember those scenes. They were broadcast nearly every night on every network channel. Even though my father was a load master in the Air Force on the C-131s and C-141s during the Vietnam War (dropping troops, supplies, guns and ammunition in country, taking the dead and wounded out), I rarely dwelled on the possibility that he might not come home one day. That was simply too much for me to handle at that time. At the height of the Vietnam War, my family, which consisted of my parents, Richard and Mary Shortt, their oldest child (me), my sister Tamara and my little brother Ricky, were transferred to Clark Air Force on Luzon Island, the Philippines. I was eight years old when we arrived, and ten years old when we left....

The picture on the left was taken on July 4, 1967, Angeles City, Luzon, Philippine Islands. The occasion was my parents' tenth wedding anniversary, and my sister and I, with the help of our housekeeper, Audrey (upper right corner of the picture) decided to bake a chocolate cake for my parents. It turned out flat, probably because we didn't know how to adjust the oven temperature. Not to mention that Tam and I couldn't wait for the cake to be done, and we kept opening the oven door. Richard and Mary Shortt married in Mobile, Alabama on July 4, 1957, Independence Day: a celebration of a forthcoming war, with all the fireworks. What a fitting time for my parents to take their vows. You can't see much of her in this picture, but that's my Mom standing on the left with the knife in her hand. I guess my Dad figured it was safer to take the picture. On the opposite side of the table from Mom is my sister Tam, eight years old, and peeking around me is my little brothe...

I wrote this for a creative writing class that I'm taking this semester for fun. The assignment was to write a piece of creative non-fiction, which was called "new journalism" back when I was getting my bachelor's in English. But it's been a great experience to be a class and writing in this genre again. My instructor advised that I do a hybrid graduate degree in journalism and English because that would create more job opportunities for me. Since I was a news reporter before children and I loved that job, I think I'll follow her advice. Summer in the Philippine Islands can be extremely pleasant. I remember the warm and humid days, but often there was a breeze blowing inland from the massive Pacific Ocean that kept the temperatures from rising into the triple digit range. The skies were clear blue and nearly cloudless, a personal requirement for a perfect summer day. From 1966 to 1968, my family lived on Luzon, which is considered to b...