keep calm and carry on

As the pond freezes over and the frogs are asleep in the mud and the goldfish torpid in the depths and more snow is expected, it is time to send seasonal greetings to you faithful readers. both of you. Happy Holidays!

The Keep Calm poster (here on display at Avalon International Breads in Detroit) is a Detroit adaptation of the original 1939 British poster urging the nation not to panic on the brink of war. The original had the royal crown at the top where the Spirit of Detroit sits today. And so as the iconic Detroit industry crumbles, and time is running out on any kind of government bail-out and the Big Three are moving towards becoming the Big Two, we are keeping as calm as possible. And heading for the holidays to sunny California, a state that is about to go broke. 

"We're not broke," as my Uncle Barlow used to say, "we're just badly bent." All of us.

cost cutting at chrysler

Martha was laid off from Chrysler the day before Thanksgiving and she's happy about it. who would want to stay in a department that suddenly was cut from 20 to 8 employees? She told us of two cost-cutting measures that Chrysler had implemented this fall in their auburn hills headquarters: when batteries in clocks on the walls gave out, they weren't replaced. now of course everyone has a watch, or a cell phone, or a computer, so it wasn't hard to know the time. but it was disheartening to see clocks stopped at random times everywhere. and when light bulbs died in places judged to be inessential, they weren't replaced either, leaving dim corners here and there.

god is in the details. this paradigm suggests that Chrysler is surely doomed.

the problem is not the expense of the batteries or bulbs, though of course there is a savings in that, but the expense lies in the cost of the UAW maintenance employee who must change them, and no one else.

yes we can in eskilstuna

We had a Thanksgiving visit from one of our Swedish friends, Peter Albertsson, who told us of one way that Obama's election was celebrated in Eskilstuna. On the Sunday after the election in the medieval church of Forskyrkan, the youth choir sang several American spirituals. At the end of each one they all shouted out "Yes We Can!" and the congregation chimed in.

I don't know whose idea this was: Tim, the pastor who just happens to be from Michigan, or Mats, the choir director who recently worked with South African singers on "Showboat," or maybe the choir members themselves, but thanks to you all for your support. We were very happy too.

Now that we've heard from Hong Kong (see November post "midnight phone call") and Sweden, we're sure that this celebration is worldwide.