Monday, March 31, 2025
ARTICLE - PAYING TAXES
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
Rich or poor, we all pay taxes just about every day.
Think income taxes (federal, state, and local) are the only tax you have to worry about? Have you thought about:
Payroll taxes - employees AND EMPLOYERS pay Social Security tax and Medicare tax on employee earnings.
Sales taxes - we pay sales taxes on goods and services for everyday items like groceries, dry cleaning, office supplies, and car maintenance.
Excise taxes - we pay excise taxes if we buy specific goods, like beer and gasoline. Your gasoline, by the way, includes state AND federal tax in its purchase price. A Pennsylvania resident pays over 50 cents per gallon in taxes, while an Oklahome resident pays about 17 cents per gallon.There are even taxes on your CELLPHONE BILL.
Property taxes - we pay taxes on our homes, vehicles, or other real estate.
Estate taxes - Americans (who have paid taxes on what they've earned their entire lives) pay taxes again on what they leave behind to their children.
Gift taxes - we pay taxes when we receive a cash gift from a loved one.
Travel taxes - There isn't really a travel tax, but, hotels and motels have extra taxes that they must add on to your bill. And, we won't repeat the part about taxes on the gasoline, or, the fact that companies who provide boat, train and plane services include some of the taxes that THEY have to pay in the price of your ticket.
BOTTOM LINE: Although it varies by income level and commercial activity, of course, the average American spends ABOUT 28% of what each American earns goes to taxes of one form or another, and, like the travel example above, most businesses, when pricing their goods and services, have to take into consideration the taxes that THEY will have to pay before they will see a profit.
In other words, if I want to make $100 off of some service or good I provide you, I have to charge you $128. Of course, other factors go into pricing of goods and services, but, rest assured that when you pay for goods and services, you are paying for some ot THEIR taxes.
And, it's not just big business. Daniel, who cut my lawn for several years at $35 a pop, had to figure taxes into what he charged me, even if I paid him cash, which I did, and he didn't report it, which I don't know.
He had to pay taxes when he bought his equipment and gasoline to run it and, he had to pay taxes on the gas in his truck that he used to get to his job. If he had not had to pay taxes, I might have got my lawn cut for only $30, and Daniel would have made the same profit.
Think income taxes (federal, state, and local) are the only tax you have to worry about? Have you thought about:
Payroll taxes - employees AND EMPLOYERS pay Social Security tax and Medicare tax on employee earnings.
Sales taxes - we pay sales taxes on goods and services for everyday items like groceries, dry cleaning, office supplies, and car maintenance.
Excise taxes - we pay excise taxes if we buy specific goods, like beer and gasoline. Your gasoline, by the way, includes state AND federal tax in its purchase price. A Pennsylvania resident pays over 50 cents per gallon in taxes, while an Oklahome resident pays about 17 cents per gallon.There are even taxes on your CELLPHONE BILL.
Property taxes - we pay taxes on our homes, vehicles, or other real estate.
Estate taxes - Americans (who have paid taxes on what they've earned their entire lives) pay taxes again on what they leave behind to their children.
Gift taxes - we pay taxes when we receive a cash gift from a loved one.
Travel taxes - There isn't really a travel tax, but, hotels and motels have extra taxes that they must add on to your bill. And, we won't repeat the part about taxes on the gasoline, or, the fact that companies who provide boat, train and plane services include some of the taxes that THEY have to pay in the price of your ticket.
BOTTOM LINE: Although it varies by income level and commercial activity, of course, the average American spends ABOUT 28% of what each American earns goes to taxes of one form or another, and, like the travel example above, most businesses, when pricing their goods and services, have to take into consideration the taxes that THEY will have to pay before they will see a profit.
In other words, if I want to make $100 off of some service or good I provide you, I have to charge you $128. Of course, other factors go into pricing of goods and services, but, rest assured that when you pay for goods and services, you are paying for some ot THEIR taxes.
And, it's not just big business. Daniel, who cut my lawn for several years at $35 a pop, had to figure taxes into what he charged me, even if I paid him cash, which I did, and he didn't report it, which I don't know.
He had to pay taxes when he bought his equipment and gasoline to run it and, he had to pay taxes on the gas in his truck that he used to get to his job. If he had not had to pay taxes, I might have got my lawn cut for only $30, and Daniel would have made the same profit.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, income tax, paying taxes, taxes
Sunday, March 30, 2025
POEM - FREEDOM AT FORTY-EIGHT, THOUGHTS OF A NEWLY DIVORCED MAN
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
I've been reborn, sweet woman.
Returned to a state
I never thought to see again.
I can safely look at you with hope and desire,
Now I've been set free,
But, it's too late for me.
Body and face have aged, though my soul
Has returned to days of wishes and of dreams,
From twenty years ago.
All those I could have, should have, loved,
Are far away and aged now like the man,
I try not to see in the mirror.
Today, the man inside sees lovely women passing,
Who smile and warm his heart, as they think,
"He looks like my dad."
-----
Back story. In 1985, in Copperas Cove, Texas, after several years of trying to hold a broken marriage together (foolish choice), I went to the field at Fort Hood for a military exercise lasting about two weeks. Upon returning "home", I found that my wife had stripped the house, and disappeared, taking our daughter with her, leaving a note that she had begun divorce proceedings. I never felt such a huge sense of relief.
This poem was writer, as I had dinner at the local diner, watching one of the waitresses, Carmen, who had been especially nice to me as I ate dinner alone.
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SPONSORED BY REVITOL SKINCARE PRODUCTS
Labels: divorce poem, donovan baldwin, flirtation, poem, poetry
Saturday, March 29, 2025
ESSAY - AN OPINON ON OPINIONS
But, there are a couple of other reasons.
I have an opinion. It may not be yours. That doesn't mean I don't like, or, even love you. It just means we disagree on something.
Sure, it's bigger stuff than which side of the plate the fork goes on, but, still, our 'opinions' are not necessarily 'facts', and, you generally need facts to form solutions to real problems, and opinions on HOW something can or should be done are not solutions.
You need facts about the problem to come up with a solution. and then you need facts about what can be done, and what the results will be when you create the solution.
People with different opinions, about the problem, about the solution, or both, can be "wrong", or at each others' throats, even if they agree on the facts.
The problem is that the facts, as the Porter Wagoner song says, "The Cold Hard Facts Of Life", are very seldom known to us...the opinionated public.
I have worked for four governmental agencies, often being made aware of real facts that the public did not know...sometimes because they were classified, sometimes because it would have taken some formal training sessions to bring 'the public' up to speed where they actually knew what was going on.
I have worked for and with some businesses, where I heard loud, long, and violent complaints from competitors, customers, and parties who didn't even have skin in the game about these organizations' motives, actions, and goals. Most of these complaints originated out of ignorance of what the organization actually intended to do, and/or actually did.
You and I are free to have and voice our opinions about the problem and the solution. In most cases, these thoughts will NOT be based on facts, at least not the real facts.
I used to do a lot of 'due diligence' tracking down the 'facts' on what people posted about political and economic issues. I gave up. Many times, the 'facts' were completely wrong. Sometimes they were twisted or misunderstood. But, in most instances, liberal or conservative, if you must have labels, there was no way of knowing all the facts.
All one could do was form an opinion...and, perhaps, state it.
It's not worth getting in a fight over opinions.
That's my opinion, and, it's not worth getting in a fight over either.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, essay, opinions
Monday, March 24, 2025
ESSAY - READING INTERESTING BOOKS
Earlier, I was reading one of my favorite books, The Art of Thinking (1928) by Abbé Ernest Dimnet. 
The Art of Thinking (1928)
by Abbé Ernest Dimnet
He told a story to illustrate this:
He met a young girl from a French farm family, who was excited at reading "The History of Rome" for the umpteenth time, comparing it, as a tale of adventure, to other, dry, factual books that were available to her.
I thought of my own bonding to poetry.
We moved to an old house in 1949, and there, on the bookshelves for many years of my youth, was a leather bound book of poetry.
One day, in my teens, the soft leather binding caused me to pick it up, and browse through it, in a typical bored-teenager fashion, rejecting poem after poem.
Suddenly I came upon one which excited my young, adventure-craving mind, molded by the tales of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Having read that poem, and having experienced an epiphany of sorts, I searched the book for others. There, hidden, among love poems (anathema to a teenage boy); and idyllic, again, to a teenage boy, laughable descriptions of nature, I found more high adventure. I read one after another of these stories in rhyme, presented in short form, more powerful for the intensity packed into the few carefully chosen words, and images created in my mind by the poets.
I was hooked. Lost that book for a few years, but recovered it recently, thanks to the efforts and keen eye of my sister.
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Labels: Abbé Ernest Dimnet, donovan baldwin, essay, History of Rome, poetry, the art of thinking
Saturday, March 22, 2025
ESSAY - CAN YOU WALK 10 MILES?
Forget the surrounding verbiage....
"ask yourself -
Am I able to walk ten miles with ease?"
Got that? A physician of the day assumed an ordinary person would be able to walk 10 miles "with ease"!
We forget that, before the automobile, people DID walk everywhere, unless they had a horse or cart, and EVERYTHING, or nearly everything, was done by hand.
I pride myself at age 75 of being able to walk 3 miles. I know that I have, in my younger days, run 6 miles, and have done forced road marches in the army, but, walk 10 miles with ease... simply because that's how you get around?
Nope. Got it pretty easy, overall.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, essay, exercise, health, walking
Thursday, March 20, 2025
STORY AND COMMENT - BEETHOVEN'S KISS
Apparently, a modern piano teacher gave a student a kiss (before we got all weird about such things) explaining that his instructor had given him the kiss, and the custom went back through several instructors to Beethoven giving one of HIS students a kiss.
I like links with the past... touching, keeping people alive, who are no longer with us... reminding us of the human continuum. In museums I brush past the gold and sculptures and spend time looking at chairs and baskets and toys, thinking about the carpenters, cooks, children... not the kings and queens.
I find myself saying things my father, my grandparents, my great aunt Lula, just Aunt Lula to us (sister of my paternal grandmother) said to me. Simple little tidbits drifting up from childhood and now a part of my being and communication.
"I swan...", "I see, said the blind man...", "What's goin' on, buddy boy..." and many other small space filling snippets.
Yet, how many were said to those people (the older ones born in the latter parts of the 19th century)? How often have I heard, do I repeat, the words of people who are only pictures and names.
Photos: My paternal grandmother, Margaret Geneva Waldrip Baldwin, my father and his brother, about 1912; and her sister, Aunt Lula with my dad at Stone Mountain about 1914 ish.
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WHAT MAKES SHAKLEE PRODUCTS DIFFERENT?
Labels: Beethoven, Beethoven's kiss, donovan baldwin, family
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
ESSAY - LESSONS OF A BAGBOY - HIS TRAINING
In the 1960's. one of my early jobs in Pensacola, Florida, was as a bag boy for Delchamps, a regional Gulf Coast grocery chain.Delchamps Store, Downtown Pensacola.
Did my first training there.
I was also going to double as a cashier, not regular, just helping out as needed.
On the payroll, I spent a couple of days BEING SHOWN how to PROPERLY bag groceries... what went where, how to square and load the bag for safe and comfortable carrying. I was even told to make decisions based on customer needs... an older, frail customer should not have bags as heavy as a healthy younger customer.
I was also TAUGHT how to run the register AND recognize produce, partly by ringing up (on an old style "push every button" cash register) over and over again and having my work checked.
I was also taught how to give back correct amounts by a technique... COUNTING BACK CHANGE... which NO ONE today seems to know how to do! Very little math involved, an almost automatic process.
I was then sent to a training store where I, teenage bag boy, remember, just had to put stuff in a bag and carry it to the car... worked side-by-side with experienced bag boys who showed me the training in action.
I was also introduced to TIPS, because bag boys were not paid even minimum wage back then. I learned that the better the service, the better the tips and I, a teenage bag boy, who put things in bags and carried them to cars for people, learned that I could make much more than minimum wage by being friendly and polite and giving good service.
Today, you're lucky if your stuff arrives home in one piece, you have to wait on yourself in stores, customer service seems to be a forgotten art, and people DEMAND to be paid at a certain level whether they give the kind of service they're being paid for or not.
Side note: I also worked for a while on a construction crew AT minimum wage at the time. One day all the guys got excited. We were going to work for a couple of weeks on a government (federal) contract. When I asked what the big deal was, they just said, "Wait until you see your paycheck!"
Well, the paychecks for the period on the government project were about 3 times what I had been paid, and about 3 times what workers of my job skill were paid in the area.
Years later, I, as an accountant and business manager, set up the budget for a government project. I was told to triple my original salary (and related costs) estimates, based on fair wages paid in the area, because this was going to be a government (federal) project and the people had to be paid according to a schedule set out by legislators in Washington.
Times change... bet the costs of government projects don't... except upwards.
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Labels: bagboy, Delchamps, donovan baldwin, essay, Florida, Pensacola, training
Thursday, March 13, 2025
POEM - WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
When I look into your eyes,
I lose myself,
While gaining so much more.
Our eyes meet and I feel,
Our spirits begin to join.
I feel myself joining with you,
In a way that leaves me without
A full separation between
'You' and "Me'.
In my mind your whole being
Becomes a part of me
As I feel whatever is my soul,
Trying to fill you up as well.
What was a small, single person
Becomes so much more...
When I look into your eyes.
When I am looking into your eyes,
A change happens in me.
I become more complete,
Yet, at the same time,
More alone.
Your gaze enters me,
Flows into my being,
Filling me with feelings,
I thought were left,
A great distance behind,
In time and space.
You fill me with a warmth
That is a nectar,
Reviving all that used to be,
Before time, and circumstance,
Took what used to be,
Away.
Even though the body remains,
Outwardly unchanged,
The man within does change,
Into a better man,
Happy to be the subject
Of your gaze.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, love poem, love poetry
Friday, March 07, 2025
POEM - I ACHE TO SPEAK - SOMETIMES I TREMBLE WITH DESIRE
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
Sometimes, I tremble with desire,
Which flames and flares within my heart,
And, forces me to the edge of those...
Places I dare not go...
Things I dare not do...
Words I dare not say...
With relentless power, these desires,
Painfully thrust my timid soul,
Into a world of truth and trust...
Causing me to wish...
Asking me to share...
Daring me to act...
With each new day, stronger comes desire,
Moving me forward towards a brink,
From which I must confess, that...
I waver in weakness...
I crave fulfillment...
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Labels: donovan baldwin, love poem, lover, romantic poetry, shy
Tuesday, March 04, 2025
ESSAY - MY LIFE WITH ADHD
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
My life with adult (and childhood) ADD/ADHD.
I spent the first years of my life being told I was "lazy", or "not working to my potential"... and also my parents were told and they told me too. Most of the time I loved learning but was incredibly bored with how the material was presented... and I have no idea how many times I got in trouble for looking out of the window, especially when I had already grasped the meaning, context, or information.
Life in the U. S. Army (21 years), especially that time spent as a platoon sergeant was miserable, although I loved being in the army, but, if there was ever a person with an ongoing case of "imposter syndrome", it was me.
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 60's, although I had long suspected that was the problem... one of them, at least. I first took medicine for it, Adderall, then, and was blown away. I never knew my mind was that capable.
I reveled in the feelings for a while. It was an unbelievable experience to hang onto a thought for longer than a few seconds (except when writing, as now). I was in awe of my newfound ability to actually look at a row of books and pick out individual titles and authors, and think about them as individual items and ideas, rather than a blur of unconnected inputs.
And, aside, part of being able to hang on to a thought while writing, is being able to go back, read what I have already said, and be able to "pick up" the train of thought. Also, the predictive nature of typing especially... my fingers and brain have already agreed on the next thoughts and words.
Anyway, after a while, I retired. The medicine was not good for my blood pressure, and, I wanted to let my creative brain play anyway... so I quit them.
I miss the meds sometimes.
Last night, for example, I read the same paragraph twice... simply because at the end of it, although I remembered the premise, I had forgotten the words. So, this morning, I went back and read it again... except... halfway through, I decided to write this... starting with some nebulous idea about having read the paragraph 2 1/2 times...
Wonder what it says...
Guess I'll go back and read it again. I really liked it... I think.
Wonder what I intended to say when I started this....
Guess I'll have to go back and read what I wrote to find out... if I said whatever it was I meant to say.
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 60's, although I had long suspected that was the problem... one of them, at least. I first took medicine for it, Adderall, then, and was blown away. I never knew my mind was that capable.
I reveled in the feelings for a while. It was an unbelievable experience to hang onto a thought for longer than a few seconds (except when writing, as now). I was in awe of my newfound ability to actually look at a row of books and pick out individual titles and authors, and think about them as individual items and ideas, rather than a blur of unconnected inputs.
And, aside, part of being able to hang on to a thought while writing, is being able to go back, read what I have already said, and be able to "pick up" the train of thought. Also, the predictive nature of typing especially... my fingers and brain have already agreed on the next thoughts and words.
Anyway, after a while, I retired. The medicine was not good for my blood pressure, and, I wanted to let my creative brain play anyway... so I quit them.
I miss the meds sometimes.
Last night, for example, I read the same paragraph twice... simply because at the end of it, although I remembered the premise, I had forgotten the words. So, this morning, I went back and read it again... except... halfway through, I decided to write this... starting with some nebulous idea about having read the paragraph 2 1/2 times...
Wonder what it says...
Guess I'll go back and read it again. I really liked it... I think.
Wonder what I intended to say when I started this....
Guess I'll have to go back and read what I wrote to find out... if I said whatever it was I meant to say.
Anyway, I've forgotten what the paragraph was about.
Oh well. Welcome to my world.
Oh well. Welcome to my world.
Is this where I'm supposed to say, "Look! A squirrel!!!"
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Labels: Adderall, ADHD, army, donovan baldwin, essay, forgetting, imposter syndrome, platoon sergeant, remembering
Sunday, March 02, 2025
POEM - I WILL NOT WRITE THE WORDS
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
I will not write the words,
My heart says to speak, for,
Those words hold power,
To open secret doors, and
Crumble mountains into dust.
I will not write the words,
I would have you hear, for,
That would cause both pain,
And, doubled would pain be,
When felt by both apart.
I will not write the words,
That touch so deep within, for,
They speak of hopes that,
Are not mine to give, and,
I am not brave enough to say.
I will not speak the words,
I long so much to speak, for,
They promise of tomorrow,
A real tomorrow over which,
You and I have no control.
I will not speak the words,
As I blindly gaze at mountains, for,
So much stands between me and thee,
And I dare not take that step,
Towards the destruction of my dream.
Labels: donovan baldwin, poem, poetry, power, words
Saturday, March 01, 2025
ESSAY: READING AS EXERCISE, HITTING "THE WALL"
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
Thinking Out Loud:
I recently bought a book with an interesting title at a second hand book store. Of course, I read some snippets before deciding I wanted to know more. Also, since it was only $4.99, why not?
As I began reading, I was pleased to find the author's presentation interesting, engaging, logical, and lucid. However, as I progressed, I noticed two "negative" things.
First, his position in many instances was antithetical to mine, and second, he had some very telling arguments for HIS side.
Bummer, dude.
My first instincts were frustration and anger, and I was tempted to put the book aside, sell it back to the bookstore.
However, I thought about it.
In exercise, and running is a good example, and I was once able to run 6 miles/9.65 km, we often hit what some refer to as "the wall". We become stronger by going through that wall.
Our body reaches a new reality for itself, and we discover that we are able to do more than before. We can also become healthier through this process.
If I do not exercise not only my body, but also my mind, my beliefs, and positions, how can I be sure of their validity and strength?
In the army, one lesson was that I can do a lot more than I think I can. In learning and intellectual growth, we become stronger by meeting challenges and working past them. I can do better than quit when things get tough.
So, I guess I'll read my way through "the wall" with that book, rather than throwing it AT the wall.
I recently bought a book with an interesting title at a second hand book store. Of course, I read some snippets before deciding I wanted to know more. Also, since it was only $4.99, why not?
As I began reading, I was pleased to find the author's presentation interesting, engaging, logical, and lucid. However, as I progressed, I noticed two "negative" things.
First, his position in many instances was antithetical to mine, and second, he had some very telling arguments for HIS side.
Bummer, dude.
My first instincts were frustration and anger, and I was tempted to put the book aside, sell it back to the bookstore.
However, I thought about it.
In exercise, and running is a good example, and I was once able to run 6 miles/9.65 km, we often hit what some refer to as "the wall". We become stronger by going through that wall.
Our body reaches a new reality for itself, and we discover that we are able to do more than before. We can also become healthier through this process.
If I do not exercise not only my body, but also my mind, my beliefs, and positions, how can I be sure of their validity and strength?
In the army, one lesson was that I can do a lot more than I think I can. In learning and intellectual growth, we become stronger by meeting challenges and working past them. I can do better than quit when things get tough.
So, I guess I'll read my way through "the wall" with that book, rather than throwing it AT the wall.
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Labels: author, bookstore, donovan baldwin, essay on reading, poet, reading, secondhand bookstore
