A few things on our mantelpiece

In the house we're living (I keep referring to it at ''Gran's house,'' even though we live there), there's a fairly wide mantel above the fireplace (which no one uses). Because we're short on space, and long on stuff, we've place a few odds and ends there. To the left is my one and only Speech and Debate trophy from high school. Lincoln-Douglas debate, for those of you who did debate.

Aw, heck: for those of you who didn't do debate, L-D debate is when people debate one-on-one (instead of the more typical two-on-two), and a moral issue, rather than a policy issue, is debated. This was my one and only go of L-D debating -- it was the last meet of the season. The topic of the day was about whether in a hostage situation (in specific, holding an airplane full of hostages), terrorists should be negotiated with. There was only myself and another person, and as I recall she was nice, but not terribly verbally skilled. Not that I was, either -- I'm much smoother now, due to the teaching I've done over the years.

Anyhow, since there was only two of us, we went through it once with myself being the ''pro,'' and another time being the ''con.'' As I recall, both times I did better than her: The first time through, I argued that the individuals on the airplane -- and their families, were valuable human beings, and that human lives were more important than abstract concepts and policies like ''not negotiating with terrorists.'' Then, when we went through again, I pulled a line from the Classic Star Trek movies, and argued that ''The good of the many, outweighs the good of the one," and that unfortunately the handful of people in the plane would have to be sacrificed to prevent additional hijackings, because once baddies discovered that this was a useful bargaining tactic they would escalate its use.

I remember the judge smiling and nodding when I pulled out the ''Good of the many outweights the good of the one'' line -- explicitly referenced to Star Trek -- so I'd occassional repeat it. Dunno -- maybe he was a closet Trekkie. Anyhow, I won 2-0, and got the trophy.

Which I then dressed up in a paper hat and a cape. (He also used to have a little flag on a toothpick, but that's been lost in one of my many moves.) I'd like to claim that he sat in the high school trophy locker for that school year (1996-1997) wearing the hat and cape, but that probably wasn't allowed. But I do know that he graced the shelves of most of my dorm rooms and apartments thereafter.

The little ''lady bowling'' trophy below it belonged to one of my late maternal grandmothers (I have two; I'll explain later). It has her name inscribed on it.

This gavel -- and the stand -- was made by my paternal grandfather. He also gave us another one, without a stand, which The Lady keeps at work (she teaches Criminal Justice type things).


Regarding the multiple maternal grandmothers: My mom's parents divorced when she was in middle school (very unheard of at the time -- back in the late 1950s/early 1960s? can't be bothered to do the math); my grandpa remarried long before I was born. So, as far as I'm concerned, I've always had two grandmothers on that side: a biological one (who remained single, out of choice), and a step-grandmother. And never really thought much about it.


--GG