{"id":7409,"date":"2024-10-07T08:52:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T12:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7409"},"modified":"2024-10-07T09:00:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T13:00:52","slug":"jedi-mind-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/10\/07\/jedi-mind-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Jedi Mind Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Embedded<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I spent much of 1977 \u201cembedded\u201d in American politics.  After working for the Carter\/Mondale campaign in 1976, I went to Washington, DC in January to attend the inauguration, then to study at American University.  As part of my program, I also worked in Congressman Tom Luken\u2019s (D-Cincinnati) office, first as a legislative intern, then later as a staff scheduler.   After a spring semester immersed in Government, I came home to Cincinnati for the summer, now working at Luken\u2019s local office.  My job:  to organize the Congressman\u2019s schedule, by the half-hour, from 7am to 9pm for every moment he was in town, and then, to accompany him to many of those events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned a lot about Government, and about politics in that year.  I also learned a lot about working for a \u201cdifficult\u201d boss.  Luken\u2019s reputation as \u201ctough\u201d was well earned.  I can say this:  over that summer, other than one senior staffer, I was fired \u201cthe least\u201d.  But that first time was a shock.  A United States Congressman was screaming and swearing on the phone, saying I was done.  Then, the next day, that same Congressman screamed and swore at me again, because I wasn\u2019t at work.  The Cincinnati Democratic \u201crite of passage\u201d of working for Luken taught me to have a thicker skin, and a more elaborate vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Star Wars<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Any distraction that summer of \u201877 was welcome.  So one night, I loaded the neighbor kids into my 1967 Volkswagen Squareback, and headed to the movies.   There was a new space saga on that everyone was talking about, called \u201cStar Wars\u201d.   If you now watch what is called \u201cThe New Hope\u201d, it doesn\u2019t have quite the luster it had back in \u201cthe day\u201d.  Special effects have come a long way in forty-seven years, much of the progress made by Star Wars creator George Lucas and his company, Industrial Light and Magic.  But in 1977 it was almost overwhelming on the big screen.  We had no idea that it would become embedded on our culture for a half-century, but we did fall in love with the characters from the very first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we learned the mystic traditions and powers of the Jedi, and the Force.  Our first example was when Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi was able to direct Imperial Stormtroopers away from the hero, Luke Skywalker, and his \u201cdroids\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n