I am usually spending Friday night with Gretchen or Tom, but tonight I spent it with Grandpa Jem watching old movies (well we made it through one-and-a-half). We watched a movie called "Jim Thorpe, All-American" and started to watch a movie that Grandpa had a small part in called "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". Both movies starred one of Grandpas favorite actors, Burt Lancaster. I stopped the movie because Grandpa fell asleep and I decided to do some writing. Grandpa doesn't fall asleep nearly as fast as Dad when watching movies and actually Grandpa is really happy when an old movie is on and usually stays awake all the way through, like with "Jim Thorpe". "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" is about the legendary western marshal Wyatt Earp and is played by Burt Lancaster also.

Burt Lancaster was an actor who was in over 80 films, including famous ones like "From Here to Eternity" and "Field of Dreams". Grandpa said that he was also in one of Grandmas favorite movies "The Rose Tattoo". Lancaster started out as a circus performer before becoming an actor after World War 2 and always was known for being in great physical shape. He participated in Dr. Martin Luther King's March on Washington in August 1963 and was a "financial supporter" of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. One of his five children, Bill Lancaster, wrote the screenplay for "The Bad News Bears" and it was based on Bill's experience as a baseball player on a team coached by his father, Burt. His first TV role was as a guest on "Sesame Street" in 1969, where he recited the alphabet.
Jim Thorpe was also an amazing and interesting person, but he was an athlete and not an actor. Jim Thorpe played many different sports such as baseball, football and he ran track and field in the 1912 olympics in Belgium. Unfortunately, they took away his medals because he played professional baseball for two years before the Olympics and I didn't understand why, but Grandpa said that to be in the Olympics you have to be an "amateur" athlete. I said "What about Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, were they amateurs?" and Grandpa said no, that like everything else "the Olympics has become about money and television ratings". Jim Thorpe's mother was a Potawatomi Indian and was a descendent of Chief Black Hawk He also played for and coached a football team in the 1920s that was made of all Native American players called the Oorang Indians. He even led an all-Native American song and dance "troupe" entitled “The Jim Thorpe Show.”
A "troupe" is a "a group of dancers, actors, or other entertainers who tour to different venues". An example of its use is "our theater troupe is on tour" and I suppose "a troupe of amateurs" could also make sense here, but only if they were not getting paid.
When I looked up Jim Thorpe on the internet and saw a picture of him, I realized that he looks nothing like Burt Lancaster even though they both were athletic. Actually, I should probably say that Burt Lancaster looks nothing like Jim Thorpe since he was supposed to be him in the movie. I would guess that Burt Lancaster looks more like Wyatt Earp than Jim Thorpe, but I suppose people watching movies have to use their imaginations just like people reading books have to.

Cousin Mat was on ESPN over the weekend in a bodybuilding competition in Los Angeles. Cousin Bruce said that he did pretty well, but he wasn't sure if he won first place. I am not exactly sure how you win first place; maybe if he looks more curvy than everyone else and if you lift the most weight. Of course, I am just guessing and maybe someday I'll get to ask Cousin Mat all about it. Although, I am not as interested in that than I am with my Mayan history project, which has been my favorite project besides my own family history project for this tri-mester.

I learned recently that the Mayans had developed a few different calenders or ways to measure time and cycles of nature. They were a highly accurate 365-day solar year, a 260-day ritual year, and a world-time calendar of 5,128 years. The world-time calendar provides a point in time when the world began (3,114 B.C.) as well as an ending date of Dec. 21, 2012. Some people think that the 2012 date is when the world will actually end, but some historians think that it is just when a new cycle will begin. My history teacher thinks that the world probably won't end anytime soon. Whew!
The Mayans (or Maya in some books) also developed a number system based on dots and bars with the earliest known number representing zero - it looks like a shell. With this system any number could be written, even really big ones. The priests, who were important in mayan society, relied on their knowledge of "astronomy, mathematics and numerology" to plan and make big decisions regarding when and where to grow food or where to build new structures. Unlike the later Aztecs, the Mayans had no central king or president which controlled a big empire. Instead, there were as many as "20 politically sovereign polities", similar to ancient Greece city-states. "Polities" or a "polity" is "a form or process of civil government or constitution; an organized society; a state as a political entity". Ok, thats now three semicolons that I have used in this entry in case you are keeping track at home.
So, that is some of what I have learned lately about Mayan culture, but I don't want to tell everything because this blog is supposed to be about the Bigsky family and its history. I do think that it is interesting when I read about how the Mayans mysteriously declined hundreds of years ago and how scientists believe that it had something to do with over-population and the "resulting exhaustion of land resources". It also said that the rain forest doesn't have the best soil because it gets "exhausted" or tired quickly. I mentioned this to Dad and he said that to his knowledge, many civilizations have declined because they abused the land and it stopped producing enough "for ever-growing populations". "Is that why many people are starving in Africa?" I said and Dad said that "not just in Africa but all over".
So, I looked on the internet and found that actually there are almost 5 billion people living in places that are considered "developing" and that 17% of those people are "undernourished" or over 800 million people!! That includes places like Africa, China, Korea, Mexico, and Haiti (which has 47% of their people that are undernourished). This information is from the "Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". "Undernourishment" means "the condition of people whose dietary energy consumption is continuously below a minimum dietary energy requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out a light physical activity".
I wonder how much energy Cousin Mat needs to "carry out" his daily physical activity.

Gretchen and I spent part of the day together on Sunday and it seems like it had been awhile since we were together because I was really sick and last week Gretchen got sick. It was the first time in a few weeks that we both felt well. It was a nice day and we walked all the way to the end of our road and down to Hutchinson farm near the railroad tracks. We came home and Mom had dinner ready and we ate goulash which is Gretchens favorite meal when she comes over to the ranch. Most importantly we finally got to kiss again and I really enjoy kissing her so much that I didn't want to stop, but Dad came to my room and said that Gretchens Mom was outside. Gretchen says that she tells her Mom almost everyday that she doesn't want to leave California and her Mom says that she misses her friends in New Mexico and she wants to go back before summer. I told her that maybe she could live with us and she just gave me a look that made it seem like what I said was nice but kind of silly. I said that it may be silly but "it never hurts to try", as Grandpa says. I feel like that I think about Gretchen way too often and I miss her a lot when I don't see her for a couple days and her Mom goes out a lot so Gretchen has to babysit all the time.
I asked my Mom what to do about my feelings for Gretchen and how I never want her to leave even though she may have to. Mom said that the hard part of life is losing people that you care about whether they die or just move away and that it is something that "never gets easier no matter how old you get". I said "that isn't really helping me Mom" and she said that sometimes what people need is just to feel loved and as long as you feel that way no matter how much it hurts if she leaves that "love conquers all and no matter how far away someone is, they are always with you". That kind of made me feel a little better, but not enough to make me feel like I did at the movie theater on Valentines day. "Being enamored with someone is the best feeling in the world", Mom said. Is that mean "in love" I said and she said "something like that". She said that it is best to "keep focused on the things you love in life", but that you have to be careful not to "put all your eggs in one basket". Mom then said that she has noticed that I don't talk about writing as much anymore and she hasn't seen me write at the kitchen table as often lately. "I know" I said, "but I have been reading more..." "and talking on the phone with Gretchen" Mom interrupted. She then suggested that I write letters to Gretchen so that I combine two things that I love. I said that I would but that I like the sound of her voice too much. "Its ok" Mom said "but don't forget about how much you like to write. That's all I am saying". "I love you Jem", she said "and anytime you feel bad, I will always be here." I told her "Thank you and I love you too".

"Enamored", means "in love with, infatuated with, besotted with, smitten with, captivated by, enchanted by, fascinated by, bewitched by, beguiled by; keen on, taken with; informal mad about, crazy about, wild about, bowled over by, stuck on, hot for, sweet on, carrying a torch for, moonstruck by; literary ensorcelled by" and an example of its use is "she was secretly enamored of the prince".

The painting is by Kate McCullough

Flu season has started in California and I woke up today feeling good for the first time in awhile. It seems like I have been sick for a long time and the doctor says that I had a "serious flu". I missed school last week and I missed the printing of our second edition of the "Red Hill Reporter" for the semester. Gretchen brought me a copy on Friday and it had been over a week since I had seen her because we didn't want to get her sick. It was good to see her and to read the article that Tom wrote about the woman who was saved by her neighbor in last weeks flood. It has rained a lot the past 2 weeks and it seemed like I was really "under the weather" last week because of all the rain. Dad said that the rain is good because we are in a "drought", but that unfortunately it has caused some damage to the area.

Dad and cousin Bruce went to Los Angeles over the weekend to attend meetings and "rally" against the selling of our underground spring to "Water Barons". "Why is that bad?" I asked and Dad said that our town will loose the "exclusive usage of the small spring" to a big company that will sell it to people all over the state in plastic bottles. He also said that the company (which also makes chocolate) has said that because of the Colorado river that we don't need all the water in our spring and that our town will make money from the company buying the water from the county. Cousin Bruce said that because of the sale of our spring that our town and others in the county will eventually have to pay more to use water. I guess some people at the meeting got angry about the plan to take water away by using big plastic bags, which seems strange, and that the process pollutes and disrupts the environment. I asked "like what?" and Dad said that some ponds will eventually dry up and we won't be able to go fishing anymore in some of them. This made me mad! Now, I really know why Dad and Cousin Bruce are fighting the plan and I told them that I would tell people at school and write an article for this months "Reporter". They said that everyone should know about this problem and that then maybe more people would come out to fight against loosing our spring water. Even Grandpa Jem wrote a letter to our congressman asking for his support in the fight, which is great because usually Grandpa tells Dad that he is wasting his time and it was good to see Grandpa care about something which has helped him to feel better lately. For a while, Grandpa seemed depressed because he couldn't do very much and is in pain a lot, but now he talks with Dad more and even put on his boots yesterday afternoon and walked all the way to the end of the property and sat by the old pond with our youngest dog Max. Afterwards, Mom painted a color picture of Grandpa and Max by the barn and I later scanned it into the computer. Mom has gotten really good at painting and does it more than pottery now. While Dad and cousin Bruce were off fighting for the right to use our own water and keep our pond, Mom, Grandpa and a sick-but-getting-better "Boy" had a really nice saturday at the Lazy Eye Ranch.

"Drought" means "a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall; a shortage of water resulting from this" and an example of its use is "this year's drought was devastating to cotton growers".