Musings

The Art of Cruising

The Art of Cruising

Back in the good old days the teens and young people used to cruise in their cars as a way to stay socially connected. Cruising was an art form, not just an activity. The purpose was kind of like fishing and you were either the bait or the fish. You wanted so badly to catch someone to call your own (and at the same time scared you might catch someone) or someone was going to try to hook you. 

To begin with, you had to have a vehicle, or a friend with a vehicle, to participate. That vehicle was usually the junker your folks bought for you because you hadn’t possessed a driver’s license very long. Most vehicles you couldn’t do much about, they were what they were, but some kids had access to tools and knew someone who knew what to do to fix a car up. Those guys were a notch above the rest of us and they usually had a girl riding with them. What was poison was riding around in your mom’s car and trying to be cool. The station wagon or minivan spelled disaster for anyone driving or riding in it – I don’t care who you were. It was better to stay home rather than do that.

Next, how you dressed could make a huge impact on how successful your evening of cruising went. Some of the more risqué participants would sneak out of the house in something not “dad-approved” or would have a friend bring along a change of clothing to enhance their “bait”. My momma warned me about these girls but they both fascinated and scared me at the same time. My teenage years were a confusing time. As for guys, we just tried not to look too dorky or let our voices crack when talking cool in front of a girl.

Finally, the most important part of cruising was the music because music set the tone, gave you the proper cruising attitude and mindset and sent the message to all about just who you were (or were trying to be). Not just any song would do when you were cruising. You must understand that in the late70s and early 80s we only had AM radio to listen to (can you say, ‘mono’?) so to impress everyone you spent your lawn mowing money on a decent 8-track tape player, a power-booster and some nice stereo speakers. But that was half of the battle because you had to have the right music coming out of those speakers or you just wasted your money.

Cruising while blaring Barry Manilow (are you a fan-i-low?) was the equivalent of driving your mom’s Avon-stickered work car. The music made you, it completed you, it spoke of things about you that you couldn’t put into words. Now your mood, present company or selected “bait” could dictate the group or song playing on your 8-track player so you had to go in prepared because things could change over the course of an evening. Of course, everyone had their own favorites and they weren’t always the same genre or style. We each had our own “tackle box” of 8-tracks and I would like to share with you some of my favorites:

Gold – John Stewart

Sultans of Swing – Dire Straights

Driver’s Seat – Sniff ‘n’ the Tears

Take Me to the River – Talking Heads

I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock of Seagulls

You Belong to the City – Glenn Frey

New York Groove – Ace Frehley

In the City – Joe Walsh

Run Like Hell – Pink Floyd

Bad Blood – Neil Sedaka

Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen

Do You Wanna Touch Me – Joan Jett

Drive – The Cars

In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins

Learning to Fly – Pink Floyd

Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran

Legs – ZZ Top

Silent Lucidity – Queensryche

Have a Cigar – Pink Floyd

Gonna Hitch a Ride – Boston

Twilight Zone – Golden Earring

Flesh for Fantasy – Billy Idol

Every 1’s a Winner – Hot Chocolate

Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears

Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult

I’ll Wait – Van Halen

Pour Some Sugar on Me – Def Leppard

Big Log – Robert Plant

Lovin’ Every Minute of It – Loverboy

Runaround Sue – Del Shannon

Down At the Twist and Shout – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Simple Man – Lynard Skynard

Those Shoes – The Eagles

Shakin’ – Eddie Money

Fire on the Mountain – The Marshall Tucker Band

No Smoke Without Fire – Bad Company

Holy Water – Bad Company

The Wanderer – Dion

Copperhead Road – Steve Earle

The Look – Roxette

Take It to the Limit - The Eagles

Free For All – Ted Nugent

Blue On Black – Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Jane – Jefferson Starship

Til It’s Over – Billy Squier

Coming Right Down On Top of Me – April Wine

Broken Hearted Road – Sonny Landreth

Day After Day – Badfinger

Miss You – Rolling Stones

Hot Summer Nights - Night

Superstition - Stevie Wonder

5 Things I Learned In My First 5 Years At Newman

5 Things I Learned in My First 5 Years at NU

If you’re in security and you want to help Newman students “transform society”, then:

1. Don’t hide behind your badge.

The paradigm in place when I came to Newman in January of 2015 was “I have a badge, I have authority and you will do what I say”. This way of thinking did nothing but put walls up between the security officers and the students. I decided early on that I was not going to be an obstacle and that I wanted good, positive interaction with the most important people on this campus – the students. In order to accomplish that the walls had to come down and the security officers had to become approachable.

2. Don’t be ordinary.

Being ordinary is boring. Being ordinary is not fun. Being ordinary is predictable. Being ordinary means giving minimal effort. When I came here to Newman I didn’t want to be any of these things; I wanted to be extraordinary. I wanted to be a positive force here. Part of not being ordinary is being real, not pretending to be something you are not. That can mean sharing some of the pains and lessons from your own life to let others know that even though bad things can happen, we can pull through and be an encouragement to others.

3. Decide each day that you will protect everyone with your life or resign.

Each morning when I wake up I ask myself if something bad were to happen on this campus would I stand between any source of danger and a student or staff member. If I can’t answer “Yes” to that question I will resign immediately. I look students’ parents in the eye and tell them the same thing. If I were leaving my child in the care of someone else I would want to know they would protect my child at all costs. 

4. You need to try to do more listening than talking.

Most of the people I encounter each day here on campus don’t want someone else to tell them what to do, think, feel, etc. What they do want is someone who will take a minute and listen to them. People have questions, fears and anxieties that they want someone to help them with and by practicing the art of listening you can cut through all of the noise and truly hear what is on their heart and that will benefit that person most.

5. Remember who you work for.

When people ask me who I work for I tell them Newman University. But who is Newman University? To me it is every student who comes to this campus, the campus in Dodge City or the one in Colorado Springs. In my opinion, I don’t work for the board of directors, the university president or any of the vice presidents; I work for the students and I try my best to make them my priority each day.

Ten, Five, Faves

Most everyone has their own Top Ten or Top Five lists and their own personal favorites, which is cool. I'd like to share my Top Ten Songs list, my Top Five Movies list and a sampling of some of my favorite things. Here we go:

Ten, Five, Faves

My Top Ten Songs:

1. Let It Be – The Beatles

2. More Than a Feeling – Boston

3. Master Jack – Four Jacks and a Jill

4. Coming Right Down On Top of Me – April Wine

5. Take It to the Limit – The Eagles

6. Mull of Kintyre – Paul McCartney

7. Shenandoah – Sissel Kyrkjebo or any choir

8. Fields of Gold – Eva Cassidy or Sting

9. Driver’s Seat – Sniff ‘n the Tears

10. In the Heart of the Night – Poco

My Top 5 Movies:

1. Braveheart

2. Saving Private Ryan

3. Any Hobbit movie

4. The Haunting (1963 version)

5. Any Abbott & Costello movie

Faves:

Food (overall) – Steak

Cuisine – Tex Mex

Veggie – Homegrown tomato

Fruit – Apricots

Candy Bar – Cherry Mash 

Condiment – Tabasco

Pizza – Pizza Hut Thin Crust Supreme (hold the mushrooms)

Frozen Pizza – Tony’s Pepperoni

Sandwich – BLT (made with homegrown tomatoes)

Soup – Split Pea

Restaurant – La Hacienda (Derby)

Color – Blue

Flower – Morning Glory

Animal – Buffalo (American Bison)

Bird – Cardinal

Book (besides the Bible) – Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book –Circle of Light Series by Niel Hancock

Author – Mark Twain

Football Team – The Chiefs

Baseball Team – AL Royals

  NL Brewers

Basketball Team – Celtics

Car – Ford Mustang

TV Show (current) – Brooklyn 99

TV Show (all-time) – Wild Wild West

Cartoon – Bugs Bunny 

Vacation Spot - Virginia

Old Fashioned Manners

Apparently teaching kids manners is an age old problem. Below is an portion from "The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke" written in Middle English and printed in 1480. Let's see if thing have changed in 500+ years:

Don’t pick your nose. Don’t burp. Wash your hands. Take your elbows off the table. Does this sound familiar? This manuscript is full of rules like these, written more than 500 years ago. The ‘Little Children’s Little Book’ taught children table manners, so that they would know how to behave in noble or royal households. By listing all the many things that medieval children should not do, it also gives us a hint of the mischief they got up to.

• ‘Pyke notte thyne errys nothyr thy nostrellys’: Don’t pick your ears or nose.

• ‘Pyke not thi tothe with thy knyffe’: Don’t pick your teeth with your knife.

• ‘Spette not ovyr thy tabylle’: Don’t spit over your table.

• ‘Bulle not as a bene were in thi throote’: Don’t burp as if you had a bean in your throat.

• ‘Loke thou laughe not, nor grenne / And with moche speche thou mayste do synne’: Don’t laugh, grin or talk too much.

• ‘And yf thy lorde drynke at that tyde, / Dry[n]ke thou not, but hym abyde’: If your lord drinks, don’t drink. Wait until he’s finished.

• ‘And chesse cum by fore the, be not to redy’: Don’t be greedy when they bring out the cheese.