Music from Bear Valley - My Witness on the Today Show

Are we accelerating down that slippery slope to a Godless country? I was reminded of the time I was interviewed by a Today Show employee; here is my witness:

I had a God given chance to testify on national TV in the early 80s. I was living and working in the Bay area of California and camping in Bear Valley weekends. Bear Valley in the Sierras above Angles Camp taking route 49 as I recall. There is something called "Music from Bear Valley" for three weekends during the summer. I raved to the ticket sellers/ takers at the concerts how wonderful to be able to camp and attend concerts at the same time. The next weekend the Today staff was filming a special segment on the concerts in Bear Valley and wanted to interview a camper who came to camp and for the concerts. As I was one of two campers they knew about and the only tent camper (I was younger then), I was chosen. The Today people came to my campsite in the very open free camping area. I was asked if I thought this was a proper place for concerts and I was taken back. I asked "What better place for concerts than God's cathedral". The interesting thing is that Today recorded three hours of film and cut it down to four minutes. My testimony was included but I wonder if it would be today as we, as a country, stray further from God.

Temporarily without a vehicle

 After many years of faithful service My old Van has been in the shop for an extended period of time. Being without a vehicle took me back decades to 1963 and Michigan State University. After my freshman year I divorced the father of my two toddlers. We had been living in married housing and my children and I were allowed to keep our reasonably priced apartment.

So here I was a full-time student with kids to provide for and no vehicle.  As luck would have it and as a polio survivor I was eligible for Vocation Rehabilitation which paid for my tuition, books and fees. Plus I was also eligible for Aid to Dependent Children (ADC).The child support I received just about covered babysitter expensives but no more. Between ADC and student loans I was able to keep our home together and feed my children. It took me years after graduation to pay off my student loans. MSU had great bus service that included city service in addition to campus. The cost was a real bargain at 12 dollars a term in the and my children could ride for free.

So with my van in for extension repairs I thought do we have public transportation available here in little Quartzsite, AZ. Yes we do and at reasonable prices. Now I know myself too well and I'm spoiled after decades of driving, however, good to know there is bus service should l need it.

Still learning

 I'm a fan of The Great Courses and have purchased a number of the various series on eBay, far cheaper buying used that new.

I'm nearly finished with the series of lectures for Algebra 1. Even after all these decades it's coming back to me. Next is Algebra 2 and then Trig and precalculus before attempting Calculus. 

I had nearly 40 term credit hours of math as an undergraduate and what can I say, I enjoy math, yes and Physics.

When traveling cross country I would mentally play with number series. I'm not as sharp as I was in my 20s but the old brain still functions.

I had good roll models as my mom followed the news and even after working all day would read the newspaper pretty much cover to cover. Dad was a forever student and tutored students in computers quite late in life.

Someone asked me why I wanted to study math and I said because I want to, I can't think of a better reason than that.