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OLD WORDS FIND NEW MEANING

March 6, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Old words and images find new meaning in our quick paced modern world, but a naked kid stomping the head of his vanquished foe Goliath always carries the same message: Go, David, Go. He’s the unlikely underdog facing insurmountable odds and coming through. (You can do it.) Did young Dave need to kick the ball […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: concentration camp, Cromwell, cromwellian, cruel, cruelty, death camp, decency, due process, greek myths, historical, history, holocaust, imprison, law and order, mass detention, Meaning, mythology, prison, prisoners

REAL PEOPLE FROM HISTORY

February 1, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Real history gets more realistic when granddaughters tell about their family. I’ve got grandkids. Maybe you’ve got grandkids, too? Imagine them in the future, telling your story. What would it sound like? This comes from a comment on Stumbling Stones Of Harsh History:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blessing, civil service, crime, deported, education, Family history, firing squad, germany, grade school, historian, history, history book, holocaust, illegal arrests, leadership, learning, memories, people, read history, real history, real people, Stolpersteines, stumbling stones, writer, writers, writing, WWII, wwii history

STUMBLING STONES OF HARSH HISTORY

January 30, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Last night I learned about Stumbling Stones, or Stolpersteine. They are memorial bricks laid for Holocaust victims at the last place they voluntarily lived before being deported for execution. Our friends told the story of the journey to their family’s former home in Germany, once known as East Prussia. They found the Stolpersteines outside the […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, education, family, family members, future historians, helper, historians, history, holocaust, holocaust witness, learning, policeman, sentimentals, soldier, story, travel, twitter, wife, witness, writer, writers, writing

ORDINARY MEN: RESERVE POLICE BATTALION 101 REVIEW

January 28, 2026 by David Gillaspie

After watching a portion of a documentary on German Reserve Police Battalion 101 I’m left with concerns. As the story is told on Netflix, ordinary men were recruited into police work. The idea of joining a police staff was better than going to the front. The guys selected got some extra training, then loaded up […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Alex pretti, America, americans, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, Constitution, Death, die, dog song, due process, education, father, fellow citizens, following, following orders, friends, government, history, holocaust, killing, learning, liberty, life, mass killing, mother, murderers, neighbors, orders, ordinary men, police battalion 101, property, sing, singing, true americans, writer, writers, writing, WWII

WINNING STYLE FOR WINNERS

July 30, 2025 by David Gillaspie

This was my first view of winning style. As a very obedient child, (checking references,) I did what I was told. Go to a corner? On my way. Stand over there? Okay. Or bask in the moment like Muhammad Ali? It was an eye opener for little kids learning the sports ropes before rope-a dope.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: BOOMER, Churchill, civilized world., Death, death camps, drama in Bahama, Eisenhower, elder statesmen, family men, free world, gladiators, great evil, growing old, history, holocaust, joined forces, kids, Love, marital advice, mass deportation, mass murder, mass round-ups, muhammad Ali, murder, obedient child, old codgers, peace of mind, rumble in the jungle, The Greatest, thrilla in manila, warriors, winners, winning, winning style, write, wrote

PUBLIC BLOG, PRIVATE READERS

April 19, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Dear Friends, I’ve come to realize that writing a public blog is a time hog. According to an expert (wife), it’s not normal. And I don’t disagree. But I like it. Sound familiar?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, education, happy, history, holocaust, listener, MARRIAGE, married millennials, millennial, millennials, Oregon, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, recorder, reference, wife, witness, world peace, writer, writing, WWII

COST OF VICTORY FROM HISTORY

March 14, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The cost of victory, American victory, is ongoing. And it should be. Here’s why: After finishing the assigned reading list for an American History degree I noticed repeated behavior: The losers get paid. Why, you ask? Here’s why:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: aggressor nation, America, American civil war, American History, cost, cost of victory, Death, Eastern Europe, economy, education, Europe, financial aid, germany, history, history degree, history test, holocaust, ignorant message, iron curtain, japan, manila, nanking, peaceful world, reading, reading history, sweet talk, the south, the standard, U.S., USSR, victory, writer, WWII

EXTRA EFFORT, BUT HOW MUCH?

March 1, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Extra effort is the rule, or so we hear. “If you want to be somebody, it will take more than you’re doing.” “If you want to succeed, work harder.” But some people are born lucky. Clint asks, “Do you feel lucky? Do you, punk?”

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, army recruit, backstory, competition, Drill Sergeant, effort, exhaustion, extra effort, football, germany, history, history degree, holocaust, leadership, motivation, story, strength, training, Violence, winning, wwi, WWII

NO PHOTO ZONE? 3 PLACES YOU DON’T WANT TO FIND YOURSELF

February 24, 2021 by David Gillaspie

The No Photo Zone is bigger than three, but something happened recently to link historical and cultural events. Three days ago an old man paid the piper for: Doing a job in 1940’s Germany. Even now people get arrested for their concentration camp guard pasts.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: covid, covid distance, covid mask, covid pandemic, covid-19, covid19, facebook, history, holocaust, Jan 6, NO PHOTO, twitter

Another Moment Of All American Serendipitous Patriotism

September 8, 2018 by David Gillaspie

“If you’ve ever wondered what you’d have done had you lived during the era of slavery, the Holocaust, or the Civil Rights Movement — whether you’d have stood & spoken up; whether you’d have intervened to help someone or been complicit in harming them through your silence — you have your answer. […]

Filed Under: BOOMER YEARS Tagged With: America, American, american era, american patriotism, american politics, analytics, civil rights movement, complicit, Democratic politics, Ellen urbani, holocaust, landfall, patriotism, republican politics, slave era, speak out, stand up, voting rights, womens rights, writer