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To-ma-to or To-mah-to?
By Julie Terry Cartner
Smiling at her 10-year-old daughter, Jean Winfrey asked the usual question. “Hi, Shawn, how was your day?” Expecting the usual, fine, she was unprepared for her daughter to burst into tears.
“Terrible,” Shawn wailed, then ran to her room.
Giving her a few minutes to calm down, Jean then knocked gently on her daughter’s door. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked as she cracked the door open, even knowing the response she’d get.
“No.” Jean waited. “It’s just that…” Jean saw that as the opening it was. She walked over to Shawn’s bed and rubbed her back, waiting.
It didn’t take long. Soon Shawn’s tale of woe came pouring out. “It’s Jackie. I hate her.”
“How can you hate her, Honey, she’s your best friend.”
“Was.” Shawn mumbled.
Jean waited patiently.
Soon the words came pouring out. It was a tale of, well, to Jean’s mind, a tale of ridiculousness, but she was wise enough to keep that thought to herself. It wasn’t ridiculous to Shawn.
It all started when Jackie told Shawn she’d be gone for the weekend as she and her family were going to see Jackie’s Aunt Maggie. Except Maggie didn’t say Aunt, like Shawn said it – like Ant, she said it like Awwnt. Shawn laughed at her and said, Awwwwnt? It’s pronounced Ant.
Jackie then got mad at Shawn making fun of her, and Shawn continued teasing Jackie. The fight continued, quickly bringing up other words like to-ma-to and tom-ah-to and vase and vahze. The arguing escalated, and there might have been a push or two before the teacher separated the two girls.
When Shawn finished telling her mom about the argument, she looked at Jean with tear-drenched eyes and said the expected, “I’m right, aren’t I, Mom?”
As always, the overriding need to be right, Jean thought. Even expecting the question, Jean pondered her response. If ever there were a teachable moment, this was one. Fighting one’s way through the minefield of pre-teen angst was not for the faint of heart. “Do you know your grandmother’s name?” she finally asked her daughter.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Shawn asked.
“Humor me,” Jean responded.
“Sure,” said Shawn, “It’s Catherine.”
“How do you spell it?”
“C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E”
“But did you know it can be spelled with a K? And did you know the nickname can be Kat, or Cat, or Cathy, or Kathy, or Kate, or Katie, or even just C or K?
“I guess,” Shawn replied. And my name can be Shawn or Sean, and yours can be Jean, or Gene, or Jeanne…”
“Exactly,” Jean replied. “Couldn’t have said it any better myself. Jean loved it when Shawn proved her argument for her!
“So, what’s your point, Mom?”
“Is one spelling more right than the other? Is one nickname better than another? Does it matter whether I say Cath-a-rin or Cath-er-in?”
Sensing the trap, but seeing no way to avoid it, Shawn answered honestly. “No, I guess not.”
“We pronounce words differently depending on our upbringing. One is not more correct than another; they’re just different. Just because you say a word one way and Jackie says it another, doesn’t make one of you right and the other wrong. It’s sort of like hair color, or the color of your eyes, or whether you are tall or short. Nobody’s better than another because of those outside appearances. Isn’t that what I’ve taught you?”
Knowing she was going down, all Shawn could do was agree. “The outside is just like the cover on a book; it doesn’t impact the story inside.”
“Exactly,” Mom replied. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
She chose to ignore Shawn’s mumble, “that’s because you’re the one who said it.”
“What makes people so interesting is that we are all different in so many ways. Imagine how boring it would be if we all looked, and spoke, and thought the same way. Instead of insulting and teasing people for our differences, we should learn from them. Learn to see the world through other’s eyes, and the world will be a better place.
Shawn groaned, once again outmaneuvered by the master strategist. “You’re right, Mom. I’ll go apologize now.”
 
Sears Catalogs
By Marie Craig
When I was a little girl, we would come from Black Mountain down to Statesville several times a year to visit my dad’s relatives. When we were at my grandparents’ home, I would attempt to sit still in the big wicker rocker in the living room, but would get bored after a while. I wish now I had a recording of all those conversations when my grandmother would describe her family and her childhood in Alleghany County. It would make my family history research so much easier.
After I had been patient for a while, she would hand me the big Sears catalog, and that would satisfy me for a long time. My favorite pages were, of course, the toy section. I would get lots of ideas for what I’d like to own.
As young parents living near the little town of Walhalla, S.C., we would drive over to the nearby small town in North Georgia, Hiawassee. There was a Sears catalog store there, and we went over often to order. They would phone us when the merchandise came in, and we’d make the trip again to pick it up. This is very different from our shopping today.
But in the meantime, I would study the catalog, and our two sons did also. The catalogs were very entertaining. They were also therapeutic. My former landlady in Franklin NC told me that she enjoyed trying to help people. An older man living near her was so depressed because his wife had died. He couldn’t get interested in anything. My friend took her previous Sears catalog to him, and in looking through it, he decided he would fix up his home with some new furnishings. When he did, some of his grief vanished, and he took an interest in his future.
I read one time that Montgomery Ward made their catalog a little smaller because when someone at home stacked the two catalogs up, they would put the smaller one on top. That meant they might pick up the Montgomery Ward book and look through it first.
My cousins would take an old catalog, cut out the people and the clothes and use them for paper dolls. I heard a story once about a preacher coming to visit unexpectedly at a home. The mama and the little girl welcomed him into their living room. On the table in front of the couch across the room were a Bible and a Sears catalog. After they got settled, the mama asked her daughter to bring them the book that mama spent so much time reading. She complied and came back with the catalog.
I own a replica of a 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue that has 1,184 pages. That has been so much fun to look through for many years. The illustrations are black and white line sketches and drawings. You could order a house on pages 595-597. The plans and materials for a two story, six room house cost $725. The larger of the three homes offered was $1995. There is a section in north Asheville NC of homes that were ordered from Sears.
A beautiful black polished steel range weighing 520 pounds which burned wood cost $29.75. Gorgeous, huge hats for women ranged from 62 cents to four dollars. Mail carriers’ uniforms were $8.90. Hair curling fluid was 14 cents. There were two types of Victrolas which were called Oxford Cylinder Talking Machines and The Type F H Harvard Disc Talking Machine. This second one played records. Page 161 shows an assortment of tombstones ranging from $72 to $110. Books for sale were Bibles and books for teaching career skills. Twenty-one dollars for a treadle sewing machine in a beautiful oak cabinet. A piano-organ combination with a beautiful tall case cost $68.
Actually, I guess this dreaming of things to own is not much different from surfing online for things to order — just a lot different in price.
 
Do the Math
By Gaye Hoots

We are a fortunate generation, and most of us are blessed to own homes, have access to medical care, enjoy three meals a day, and have family and friends we love and who return that love. As I get older, I appreciate this more and cherish each day. I hope my family can enjoy this lifestyle and that yours will. I want this for my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren. I have an adult great-granddaughter and another who is almost a year old who has special needs.
My concerns at this point in my life are more for them than for myself, and I believe this is true for most of us. Family members have fought for our freedom for several generations, beginning with the Revolutionary War in the Hoots family.
The present political climate is disturbing, and even though I am not affiliated with either party, my concern is the national debt we are leaving for our future generations to pay. The main issues seem to be what the government will or will not fund. The programs are not being paid out of current taxpayer funds but are being put on a credit card for our descendants. I and most people my age receive Social Security and have Medicare benefits; some of my family have student loans, and my special needs great-granddaughter is eligible for Medicare. It is a question of time, probably not in my lifetime, but this can’t continue indefinitely.
It presently costs more than 392 BILLION a year in interest to maintain our national debt of roughly 36 TRILLION dollars, and our 157 million taxpayers are contributing close to 2 trillion a year in taxes. Every taxpayer would have to contribute between 200 and 250 thousand dollars to pay off the debt. We are putting this debt on a credit card for future generations.
This is a quote from Wikipedia: “The Forbes 400 Richest Americans ranked by net worth. The COMBINED worth of the 2020 class of the 400 richest Americans was 3.2 trillion.” This is less than ten percent of the national debt, and the amount is increasing daily. The national debt of the US is almost triple that of any other country other than the European Union, which is roughly one-half of the US debt.
When we look at what we fund, the question is not whether this is a justified need but rather whether it is one we can afford and that our descendants will be able to afford and maintain a comfortable lifestyle. If it is not something we would be willing to put on a personal credit cosigned by one of our children, then think about it because that is exactly what we are doing. The last time a president had a balanced budget was under Bill Clinton, and little attention has been paid to that since. We like to ignore it, but it will come back to bite our children.
I don’t have the answer, but Warren Buffett suggested that if Congress could not serve another term if they did not balance the budget, it would be balanced, and I believe him. Congress is paid regardless of the success achieved, so they have little incentive to save the taxpayers’ money. Taxpayers are the goose that lays the golden eggs, and the national debt is borrowed against future golden eggs. This is a sad legacy to leave for our children to have to deal with.