Early to the university because I could catch a ride with H coming downtown. In the hallway a colleague cried, "I wanted a snow day!" But today it's positively balmy outside, maybe 50, and I'll take it.
All afternoon ahead of me, caught up on prep, so I can read or maybe work on something or maybe goof off. I love my office actually. Like a cocoon against the crazy world.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tom Gerdy: The Death of the Student Athlete
Tom Gerdy: The Death of the Student Athlete:
"The past several years in sports have shown us some horrible examples of the win-at-all-costs mentality run amuck."
Instapaper II
I link to this extraordinary application below -- and now that I've been using it, I can tell you it's something I'll be using daily. So easy and convenient! So free! See an article you like, click Read Later, and read it on your Kindle. Beautiful.
Opinion: Will the Tucson Massacre Change Anything?
Opinion: Will the Tucson Massacre Change Anything?:
"...earlier massacres inspired no substantive rethinking of the country's approach to mental health."
Unfortunately, I agree that nothing will change. As early as next week, if not before, we will see the same divisive rancor in Congress. In fact, it may be uglier because now the lines get more passionately defined. I would be shocked to see something constructive. Sad. But it's my reading of history and how we've responded to past horrors. Surprise me, politicians. Shock me.
Unfortunately, I agree that nothing will change. As early as next week, if not before, we will see the same divisive rancor in Congress. In fact, it may be uglier because now the lines get more passionately defined. I would be shocked to see something constructive. Sad. But it's my reading of history and how we've responded to past horrors. Surprise me, politicians. Shock me.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Instapaper
Instapaper is a useful, powerful tool. It's a button "read later" you add to your tool bar. See something you want to read later, hit "read later", then download it later for Kindle and read the web whatever on your Kindle. Easy, very useful!
Aeschylus & Arizona
Watching the memorial service in Arizona, I am reminded that the classical Greeks knew more about human affairs and the human heart that we do. Because they so valued the need for communal reflection on the nature of human tragedy, on the sharing of pain and sadness, that they did not have to wait for literal tragedy to happen in order to express it. They gathered to watch plays that told tragic stories, and -- so valued was the imagination in that time -- these stories felt real. In our own time and place, the imagination is under-valued, and we experience what the Greeks felt only when literal opportunity occurs, as last weekend and tonight. We have lost much in losing the communal ritual of these distant citizens, the ritual of classical Tragedy. They knew more about the human heart and human needs than we do.
The Incoherence Of Palin - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
The Incoherence Of Palin - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
What a dingbat she is. But this contradiction is amazing even for her.
Remembering civility
It was the late 1940s or early 1950s, I was around ten, and a neighbor in our new home of Pasadena had put up a lawn sign favoring a politician running for something or other. This was a most unusual act, and it amused my dad no end. Who's he trying to convince? my dad laughed. Probably himself.
At another time, same era, I remember my parents wondering if their new friends, whom they liked a lot, were Republicans or Democrats. They were staunch FDR Democrats. But dad thought the new friends might be Republicans. This was wondered in amusement and in no way would threaten the friendship; it was amused curiosity.
Personal politics was nobody's business. It was like religion. There was freedom of religion, and there was freedom of political belief, and neither was available for public discourse unless you had bad form or irrational prejudice. These beliefs about religion and politics were personal, not public. You didn't put up a lawn sign for a politician any more than you put up a sign declaring, I am Catholic! Nobody's business. Life went on fine without anybody caring. Indeed, once when a petitioner came up to my dad about some issue or other, my dad stared at the poor fellow and said, What's wrong with you? Don't you believe in a secret ballot?
I'm glad I grew up in and can remember such civil times. They are so far from where we are today. No, not all change is progress. Indeed, little of it seems to be.
And you don't have to go all the way back to the post WWII era. In the late 1960s, my best friend, recently out of the Army, wanted to get a loan so he could go to college. He applied to his small town bank in Idaho. This was all done on the phone -- his mom had gone to school with the bank president. Everybody knew everybody. I was visiting when he went to pick up the check. As we were about to get into his car in the bank parking lot, the bank secretary came rushing out. "Would you fill this out for our records?" she asked, handing him a form. It was an application for a loan! First he got the money, then he did the paperwork. Deals were done on a handshake. The times were so different. And I don't call where we've come "progress."
At another time, same era, I remember my parents wondering if their new friends, whom they liked a lot, were Republicans or Democrats. They were staunch FDR Democrats. But dad thought the new friends might be Republicans. This was wondered in amusement and in no way would threaten the friendship; it was amused curiosity.
Personal politics was nobody's business. It was like religion. There was freedom of religion, and there was freedom of political belief, and neither was available for public discourse unless you had bad form or irrational prejudice. These beliefs about religion and politics were personal, not public. You didn't put up a lawn sign for a politician any more than you put up a sign declaring, I am Catholic! Nobody's business. Life went on fine without anybody caring. Indeed, once when a petitioner came up to my dad about some issue or other, my dad stared at the poor fellow and said, What's wrong with you? Don't you believe in a secret ballot?
I'm glad I grew up in and can remember such civil times. They are so far from where we are today. No, not all change is progress. Indeed, little of it seems to be.
And you don't have to go all the way back to the post WWII era. In the late 1960s, my best friend, recently out of the Army, wanted to get a loan so he could go to college. He applied to his small town bank in Idaho. This was all done on the phone -- his mom had gone to school with the bank president. Everybody knew everybody. I was visiting when he went to pick up the check. As we were about to get into his car in the bank parking lot, the bank secretary came rushing out. "Would you fill this out for our records?" she asked, handing him a form. It was an application for a loan! First he got the money, then he did the paperwork. Deals were done on a handshake. The times were so different. And I don't call where we've come "progress."
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
After Giffords Shooting, Other Threatened Politicians Decry Arizona's History Of Extremism
After Giffords Shooting, Other Threatened Politicians Decry Arizona's History Of Extremism:
"'At the trial, the man actually said, 'I shot her because the radio said I should take her out.''"
At least somebody admits it.
Connection!
A dear old writer friend, now 88 in a retirement community in Lake Oswego, PK, called me before Christmas asking if Juniper Tavern were being performed anywhere -- but she left no contact info! I couldn't track her down. Today, in the office, I found an old saved message, saved by an office mate I presume, from her
again and this had a return phone number. Just talked to her, got her address, and will visit her soon, meanwhile send her some DVDs of recent things -- she's one of my most loyal fans. Great to reconnect with her! I met her almost 30 yrs ago when she took a workshop of mine at Fishtrap. I got her a production of her one act comedy THE COWBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, if I recall the title right. She says she is blind but still writing. She can't see the computer screen but her fingers "remember" how to do it. Amazing woman.
again and this had a return phone number. Just talked to her, got her address, and will visit her soon, meanwhile send her some DVDs of recent things -- she's one of my most loyal fans. Great to reconnect with her! I met her almost 30 yrs ago when she took a workshop of mine at Fishtrap. I got her a production of her one act comedy THE COWBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, if I recall the title right. She says she is blind but still writing. She can't see the computer screen but her fingers "remember" how to do it. Amazing woman.
Final BCS Rankings 2011: Top 25 Standings Released Following Auburn Win Over Oregon
Final BCS Rankings 2011: Top 25 Standings Released Following Auburn Win Over Oregon:
"1 Auburn (56) 14-0
2 TCU (3) 13-0
3 Oregon 12-1
4 Stanford 12-1
5 Ohio State 12-1
6 Oklahoma 12-2
7 Wisconsin 11-2
8 LSU 11-2
9 Boise State 12-1
10 Alabama 10-3
11 Nevada 13-1
12 Arkansas 10-3
13 Oklahoma State 11-2
14 Michigan State 11-2
15 Mississippi State 9-4"
2 TCU (3) 13-0
3 Oregon 12-1
4 Stanford 12-1
5 Ohio State 12-1
6 Oklahoma 12-2
7 Wisconsin 11-2
8 LSU 11-2
9 Boise State 12-1
10 Alabama 10-3
11 Nevada 13-1
12 Arkansas 10-3
13 Oklahoma State 11-2
14 Michigan State 11-2
15 Mississippi State 9-4"
Three wise souls!
A cold weather wimp I am, I am
Freezing at the park and ride this morning because an icy wind was blowing. I worried about how I was going to make it from the bus stop to the university, my hobbling habit, without turning into an ice man. But the gods had a gift, no wind on the university end! which made the weather not so bad at all. So here I am snug in my office. Showing a film today, Tales from the Script, a fine new docu about the screenwriting life. I overkill this kind of stuff, Reality 101, in the first couple days, just so they'll believe what I tell them. See, writers of FAMOUS movies say the same thing!
Quotation of the day
"They really need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up, and, you know, even things for example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. When people do that, you gotta realize there's consequences to that action."
--Gabrielle Giffords
Stanford and TCU prove that academics and athletics can coexist, so why aren't more schools held to that standard? - ESPN
Stanford and TCU prove that academics and athletics can coexist, so why aren't more schools held to that standard? - ESPN:
"Factor academics into football rankings and immediately academic results will improve, because coaches will emphasize players being in class. Immediately, big-deal college football coaches might tell players their that grades and credits matter. The incentive structure of Division I college football would be revolutionized immediately."
Who's No. 1 after bowls: Auburn or TCU? - Dallas Colleges Blog - ESPN Dallas
Who's No. 1 after bowls: Auburn or TCU? - Dallas Colleges Blog - ESPN Dallas:
"Mark Schlabach walked away from the BCS title game thinking that the system failed college football once again, and TCU had a right to feel robbed."
The BCS sucks, which is why I am enjoying a current read, Kill the BCS, details after I finish it, but it reveals the dark underbelly of the system. It's a clone of corporate greed.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Recently read: Witness to Roswell
A few years back, I made a list of things I hoped to resolve before I pass. In my writing life, I wanted to do justice to my Army experience and my traumatic second marriage: and soon thereafter in my novella Baumholder 1961 and short film Deconstructing Sally, I did just that. I also wanted to resolve two historical moments, both controversial, that I'd lived through: the JFK assassination and Roswell. My reading resolved the former some time ago, and I now belong to the "conspiracy" camp. I don't think there's any other explanation that satisfies what we know. And with Roswell, I began leaning to accepting it as something that actually happened -- and this book makes the case for me. Again, no other explanation satisfies what we know.
There are only a few ways to take this book, which puts in one place a huge amount of eye witness, first hand testimony to what happened in the summer of 1947. All these dozens of witnesses could be lying. I doubt it. They all could be hallucinating. I doubt that, too. So if we take their first hand, direct experience at face value, Roswell in fact was a UFO crash and the government, in fact, knew this, collected the vehicle and debris and also collected bodies from the craft.
Now this is no less mind-boggling than that JFK was murdered in a well-planned conspiracy that included fringe elements of the government. What is astounding to me, having come to believe what I do, is that what I or anybody else believes doesn't seem to matter. So what that a conspiracy killed the president? So what if a craft from beyond our atmosphere crashed in the desert? So what if our government lies to us? So what?
The most impressive document in this book, perhaps, is the one that closes it: a sworn statement by the public information officer who was at the center of everything in 1947 that by plan was not revealed until after his death. Spacecraft, alien bodies, he swears he saw it all in a sworn statement that couldn't be opened until after his death. Now either this guy is telling the truth or he has one hell of a dark sense of humor. Seeing no evidence for the latter in his history, I choose the former and believe him. Roswell happened.
So what?
A few excerpts:
The testimony here is truly mind-boggling. And even moreso, mind-boggling that the national response is ... so what?
There are only a few ways to take this book, which puts in one place a huge amount of eye witness, first hand testimony to what happened in the summer of 1947. All these dozens of witnesses could be lying. I doubt it. They all could be hallucinating. I doubt that, too. So if we take their first hand, direct experience at face value, Roswell in fact was a UFO crash and the government, in fact, knew this, collected the vehicle and debris and also collected bodies from the craft.
Now this is no less mind-boggling than that JFK was murdered in a well-planned conspiracy that included fringe elements of the government. What is astounding to me, having come to believe what I do, is that what I or anybody else believes doesn't seem to matter. So what that a conspiracy killed the president? So what if a craft from beyond our atmosphere crashed in the desert? So what if our government lies to us? So what?
The most impressive document in this book, perhaps, is the one that closes it: a sworn statement by the public information officer who was at the center of everything in 1947 that by plan was not revealed until after his death. Spacecraft, alien bodies, he swears he saw it all in a sworn statement that couldn't be opened until after his death. Now either this guy is telling the truth or he has one hell of a dark sense of humor. Seeing no evidence for the latter in his history, I choose the former and believe him. Roswell happened.
So what?
A few excerpts:
If you've never read a book on Roswell, this is the one to read. A whole lot of people share what they saw. Many have waited over half a century to talk -- because their lives had been threatened if they did talk.To cut to the chase, the Roswell case offers the best chance that we have at making the case for extraterrestrial visitation by recovering an incontrovertible alien artifact.*Her brother George somberly described to us her demeanor that evening, as she said, “I am never to say another word about what I saw. None of you ever heard me say anything about it,” she chided them.*After seeing a program on TV that featured the Roswell Incident, she at last asked him, “Well, Dear, is it true?” He answered, “Well, I suppose its time I should tell you. I've been meaning to for a long time. It's true.”*Are we to conclude that they are all lying—deceiving their loved ones at the end of their lives? To the surviving families, it remains a feeble, futile exercise at best. And for those few whose true love of family would inevitably outweigh love of country—though it may have taken a lifetime of denial—we strongly maintain that their dying words meet all the criteria for reasonable doubt.
The testimony here is truly mind-boggling. And even moreso, mind-boggling that the national response is ... so what?
Putting Arizona in context
We shouldn't be surprised by what happened in Arizona.
- We don't treat mental illness.
- We make guns astoundingly easy to purchase.
- We legitimize hate speech and profound historical ignorance and distortion by reporting it just like any other news content.
- It would be shocking if violence like this didn't happen.
- And it would be shocking if this were the end of it.
- i.e, We went through this many times over in the 1960s -- and learned what? Not a thing. Not a thing.
I again am reminded of my favorite curtain line in my dramatic work: "What the people expect, they deserve. What they deserve, they get. Always."
Until we raise our expectations and demand, DEMAND, change, there will be no lessening of violence in our land.
The Big Game
Well, it's showdown time for Nike University, I mean Oregon, and I have to root for my alma mater (MFA: my soul still belongs to UCLA) despite my disappointment in its corporate marriage. I hope it's a good game. The state is crazy and already some businesses are letting employees leave at 4 to go off and watch the game somewhere. This is a very big deal here.
I think the weather folks are backing down a bit from the snow extravaganza at mid week. I wouldn't be surprised if nothing happens.
I should do music today.
I think the weather folks are backing down a bit from the snow extravaganza at mid week. I wouldn't be surprised if nothing happens.
I should do music today.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Climate of Hate - NYTimes.com
Climate of Hate - NYTimes.com: "When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?
Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again."
Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again."
Nor am I surprised. And now, after a short period of mourning, I think the right-leaning Republicans will deny their rhetoric has anything to do with violence, will blame democrats for politicizing a tragedy, and will continue their usual venom. And the left will be equally intransigent about conservative postering, and the country will become more divided than ever. I think there will be more violence.
More from Krugman:
More from Krugman:
And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.
Whack-A-Mole At Palin's Facebook - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Whack-A-Mole At Palin's Facebook - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan:
"The faster the angry comments appear the faster the Palinites take them down. It's an impressive operation - like watching historical whitewashing in real time."
Quotation of the day II
Martyrdom is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Frank Schaeffer: The Shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords
Frank Schaeffer: The Shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords:
"In the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, make no mistake: we have a mere taste of the deep river of know-nothing sewage that flows just under the American surface that is about to gush into view with the Far Right having having made their takeover of one house of our Congress a reality. This is the 'Second Amendment remedy' they've been rooting for."
Man, I hope he overstates the case. But ...
Another excerpt:
Man, I hope he overstates the case. But ...
Another excerpt:
To change the way things are we need to understand why at any given moment about a third of our population doesn't care about what is true -- or even fact-based -- but instead live life informed by self-reinforcing beliefs which are proudly non-fact-based and rooted in deep-seated resentment that can't be cured because what is resented never actually happened.
No Ordinary Cross Hairs | CommonDreams.org
No Ordinary Cross Hairs | CommonDreams.org:
"These cross hairs appeared on the website of an immensely high-profile political leader, indeed that of a former U.S. Vice-presidential Candidate. Tea Party Spokesperson Sarah Palin. This map targeted, with the cross hairs of a gun barrel, Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). And to reinforce this map of 'targets,' Palin tweeted to conservatives last year 'Don't Retreat...Reload.'
These cross hairs hung in the air when 2010 Congressional-candidate Sharon Angle, another Tea Party favorite, said in an interview that people should exercise their Second Amendment Remedies."
These cross hairs hung in the air when 2010 Congressional-candidate Sharon Angle, another Tea Party favorite, said in an interview that people should exercise their Second Amendment Remedies."
Words like these create environments. Unstable minds respond to environments. Back in the 1960s, a writer friend told me, "the language has the syphilis." How right she was.
Quotation of the day
"Children are never good at listening to their elders but they never fail to imitate them."
- James Baldwin
Weather event
Weathermen are talking about a midweek snow event which, if true, may well cancel classes and screw up the work week. I'll see it if and when it happens. They tend to get over dramatic, no doubt in an effort to lure viewers.
A day of reading and football playoffs and maybe a little creative work. A mellow day, in other words. Scrapple for breakfast. What else is new?
Saturday, January 08, 2011
After Arizona - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
After Arizona - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan:
"And a prayer that, whatever the precise dynamic that brought this evil to the surface, we can get past the violent rhetoric of our time and the poisonous polarization that fuels it. It has been ugly; it has been cruel; it has been reckless.
And it has to end."
And it has to end."
Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics - NYTimes.com
Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics - NYTimes.com:
"WASHINGTON — The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others at a neighborhood meeting in Arizona on Saturday set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics."
Recently viewed: W.
Young Chinese go crazy for shopping discount coupons - Asia, World - The Independent
Young Chinese go crazy for shopping discount coupons - Asia, World - The Independent:
"Chasing bargains has become a way of life for many as western-style consumerism takes hold"
Civilization marches on.
Civilization marches on.
The consequences of hate speech
Daily Kos: Sheriff: Shooter in custody, seeking person of interest: "Sheriff Dupnik also made a passionate plea for cooler heads to prevail in political debate, decrying the vitriolic tone of some talk radio hosts.
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the Capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Dupnik later added that such 'vitriol might be free speech, but it's not without consequences.'"
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the Capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Dupnik later added that such 'vitriol might be free speech, but it's not without consequences.'"
Seattle stuns New Orleans 41-36 in NFC playoffs - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
Seattle stuns New Orleans 41-36 in NFC playoffs - NFL - Yahoo! Sports:
"SEATTLE (AP)—For a team that was the joke of the NFL playoffs, look who’s laughing now."
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
Recently attended: The Girl of the Golden West
This was the 100th anniversary of its opening. A worthy celebration.
Next up, Nixon In China, in early Feb, can't wait. Opera for breakfast!
Friday, January 07, 2011
New ‘Huckleberry Finn’ Edition Does Disservice to a Classic - NYTimes.com
New ‘Huckleberry Finn’ Edition Does Disservice to a Classic - NYTimes.com:
"Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You"
Eastern Washington 20, Delaware 19
NCAA (NCAA) on Twitter: "Eastern Washington beats Delaware 20-19 for FCS title." This was a great comeback by the Eagles after looking hopeless in the first half. Great game.
Belated news
I just learned Peter Jamison died. He's the director I worked with on Library Of Our Lives, the soap opera spoof we did as grad students at the Univ of Oregon in the early 70s. I'd lost track of him long ago but he was one of those eccentric creative talents you never forget. Working with him was quite a trip.
Earlier post about Library of Our Lives. (Ends up info I was told about Peter was all wrong. He ended up in
Venice CA, not Italy, and continued art directing career there. Lots of credits a IMdb.)
Earlier post about Library of Our Lives. (Ends up info I was told about Peter was all wrong. He ended up in
Venice CA, not Italy, and continued art directing career there. Lots of credits a IMdb.)
Shaw documentary
Finally have it approved and a DVD proof is in the mail for my approval. Should be available in a month or less. Not that it IS, commercially, but I can get my copies for my own use.
The Los Angelesation of Raymond Carver
Advertisements for myself: Baumholder 1961
Reading options (free)
Paperback ($6.25)
Some excerpts:
There were 57 bars in downtown Baumholder, a figure made astronomical by the fact that downtown consisted of nine square blocks. Most of the bars had names chosen to appeal to Americans: the California Club, the Florida Club, the Texas Club, Jazz Alley, Blues Alley, Martini’s. Others tried to lure in soldiers with exotic names like The Golden Hirsch, Dancers A’GoGo, The Femme Fatale, Gangster Den. It was rumored – and Bass believed the rumors to be true – that most of the bars in Baumholder were owned by a syndicate of German businessmen, most of whom lived in Berlin and Munich. But others were owned locally, the way Konrad was a partner in The Family Club, which the linguists called their off-base home. Seeing how much money was being made by serving the troops. local farmers joined the frenzy to make a quick mark off the Americans, who after all had more money to spend than the Germans had seen in a very long time.The bars had come to Baumholder during the troop buildup of the Korean War. The Soviet invasion of Germany was a threat real enough to respond to, and the U.S. responded by bringing tens of thousands of soldiers to West Germany. Baumholder, before World War II a small farming community in southwestern Germany’s Rhineland area, with a population never exceeding 3000, was chosen for the major American buildup because the Germans themselves had trained here, taking advantage of the bare, rolling hills for their exercises and war games. The Americans did the same.Almost overnight, new bars opened downtown to entertain and serve the American G.I.s. Bakeries became bars, barns became nightclubs. Because the American army was segregated at the start of the Korean War, the new bars became segregated. The Florida Club, for example, became a bar that only black troops frequented. The tradition of segregation had remained even after the army became integrated, and today if Bass had entered The Florida Club, he would have been one of only a handful of whites there, and the others were likely to be young Germans eager to hear the American jazz on the jukebox. The jukeboxes in the white American bars mostly featured country-western music.*Someone fetched Bass’ guitar and brought it to him. Buddy-pooh suggested the next song, and Bass started it alone, to the tune of an old labor song, strumming along as he sang:“I don’t want your spit shine, mister. I don’t want your shiny brass. As far as I am concerned, mister. You can shove them up your ass.”By the time Bass reached the last verse, dedicated especially to the Russian linguists with their top secret codeword clearances, everyone was singing in a loud chorus, defiant and solemn, as if the song were an anthem:“I don’t want your secret clearance. I don’t want your world-wide badge. All I want is a pair of my civvies. And the freedom I once had.”*His first whore parade. Bass remembered it like it was yesterday. He’d only been in Baumholder for two weeks when the linguists learned from the girls at The Family Club that the Animals would be in town the following weekend, which meant the influx of thousands of prostitutes to serve them would begin in mid-week. Taking a newk to the train station to witness their arrival was a kind of initiation ceremony for a new linguist, and Sullivan, on whose trick Bass had been assigned at Operations, took the newk under his wing and together, with a dozen other linguists along for the fun, they gathered at the bahnhoff to watch the first trains arrive.Bass had no idea what to expect. The train station was a square stone building with a tower, no larger than the several churches in town. Inside were benches for travelers waiting for the train and tables for those who wanted to eat or drink as they waited. The linguists pushed several tables together and took chairs around them.Bass couldn’t stop grinning, partly from anticipation and partly from the feeling that he was somehow being suckered, like the country boy taken on his first snipe hunt. Bass knew from overhearing his colleagues that several trains a day would be pulling into the station, each filled with hundreds of women, but Bass had no way of realizing the enormity of this migration and its impact on him. So he just kept grinning, waiting, and listening for the punch line of whatever joke was being pulled on him.The arrival of the first train changed everything. Bass did not have to watch the parade of girls long to realize this was no snipe hunt, here was an event even more surreal and dreamlike than the descriptions of his colleagues suggested. Several hundred girls spilled off the first train, marching in disorder into the train station, women varying in age from teens to forties, women of all size and description, fat and skinny and in between, pretty and plain, hardened and innocent-looking. What struck Bass first was that so many of them were younger than he was.“They look so young,” he said to Sullivan at the table beside him.“The youngest are escapees from East Germany,” Sullivan explained. “They think they’re taking a job as a server in a gasthaus or a waitress in a restaurant, but it’s the syndicate bringing them into their fold. Once they’re captured, it’s hard to get away. They arrive broke, often without family or friends. They risk everything for freedom and end up here. It’s a tragedy really.”Only Sullivan’s tone didn’t suggest tragedy. His voice had the hardened neutrality of a doctor working the midnight shift in an emergency room, who has seen every bodily disaster many times over. Neutrality, lack of concern, was the best defense mechanism.*Sullivan disliked sentiment and sloppy thinking and sometimes performed a routine that demonstrated as much. With a few drinks in him, he was known to recite a portion of a poem by William Blake to much delight and hoopla from his inebriated colleagues: “Tiger, tiger, burning bright,” Sullivan would begin, his blonde hair short but long enough to comb, which really meant long enough to look uncombed because Sullivan always had the shaggy look of an absent-minded professor, and as he began the poem, his hand would sweep the hair from his forehead in a theatrical gesture, “in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Here Sullivan would look positively baffled by the question, as if it had cosmic significance. “What the hammer?” he asked next. “What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil?” – and at this precise moment Sullivan would scrunch his ruddy face into an expression of speechless horror and bewilderment, as if the questions were too great for the contemplation of mere mortals, hanging in the air like painful reminders of human ignorance and insignificance – and after holding the moment for all it was worth, and perhaps making yet another theatrical sweep of his hand to brush hair from his forehead, Sullivan would shout with an exuberance that never failed to set the first-time listener aback, “What the fuck!? WHAT THE FUCK!?”
Still busy
The busy morning rolls on. Wrote some more script. Did some research. Got a couple of fan strokes regarding Baumholder 1961, which is really cool because that's such a "specialized" environment for a story.
But I still haven't written bills. More importantly, I am about ready to sit down at the piano and start working on the art song.
Now here's a dilemma ... should I watch the Oregon game here Monday night, just the three of us (Sketch likes football), or search out a boisterous alumni party? Probably the former.
But I still haven't written bills. More importantly, I am about ready to sit down at the piano and start working on the art song.
Now here's a dilemma ... should I watch the Oregon game here Monday night, just the three of us (Sketch likes football), or search out a boisterous alumni party? Probably the former.
Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan:
"This is called self-destructive behavior. And it soothes the troubled soul."
What Palin's show says about us - USATODAY.com
What Palin's show says about us - USATODAY.com:
"However, thousands of Alaskans hold a different view. Those of us who've actually lived off the land are less than impressed by Palin's televised exploits and, more important, by what they tell us about her. Tentative, physically inept, and betraying an even more awkward unfamiliarity with the land and lifestyle that's supposedly her birthright, Palin deconstructs her own myth before our eyes."
And this is in, not some leftist rag, but USA Today! May the gods bless good reporters.
Bill Zeller, Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
Bill Zeller, Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
His very long suicide letter is a very sad read. In my view, suicide is contextual -- and this is about as unfortunate as it gets.
An interesting morning!
Amazing how much I've done already. I read and gave feedback to a short script, something overdue. Then I found myself writing on the idea below, 9 quick pages, plus a rough outline, and it's going well enough that I'm not ready to kill it, although I'm not obsessive about it either. Then I made a new batch of scrapple.
Sounds like a day's work to me.
Now to pay some bills and run to the post office and other errands. Friday!
Oh, yes, 5 of my 10 ebooks at Smashwords have been "approved" thus far for their Premium Catalog, which means distribution to the Apple iStore and others. They have very specific format requirements, which I didn't meet the first time around. They are less demanding for inclusion at their own site but to be distributed to all the outlets with which they have a relationship, the rules are specific and clear. I have 5 still pending.
Back to the play. I'm using 5 women, 3 in act one, 2 in act two. Best thus far, and an important best it is, an essential, is the voice of the guy. I really like it. He's a sculptor, which I like too, and he'll be working on a female nude through the piece, in found metal. Maybe this time is the key. And maybe not. Time will tell.
I still call this "retirement", though, because I'm not my hyper obsessive past self about this play. I'm just letting it slowly happen -- or not.
Sounds like a day's work to me.
Now to pay some bills and run to the post office and other errands. Friday!
Oh, yes, 5 of my 10 ebooks at Smashwords have been "approved" thus far for their Premium Catalog, which means distribution to the Apple iStore and others. They have very specific format requirements, which I didn't meet the first time around. They are less demanding for inclusion at their own site but to be distributed to all the outlets with which they have a relationship, the rules are specific and clear. I have 5 still pending.
Back to the play. I'm using 5 women, 3 in act one, 2 in act two. Best thus far, and an important best it is, an essential, is the voice of the guy. I really like it. He's a sculptor, which I like too, and he'll be working on a female nude through the piece, in found metal. Maybe this time is the key. And maybe not. Time will tell.
I still call this "retirement", though, because I'm not my hyper obsessive past self about this play. I'm just letting it slowly happen -- or not.
Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky
Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky:
"In the past week, similar incidents of mass animal deaths have been reported across the world. Thousands of dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and similar incidents were reported on different days in Louisiana, Kentucky and Sweden. Two million fish were discovered dead in Maryland, with other fish kills also reported in Brazil, New Zealand and Arkansas -- approximately 100 miles from the bird incident. 40,000 crabs washed up on England beaches in the past few days, as well.
While the events are likely unrelated, most still remain a mystery."
Is this the canary in the mine raised exponentially?
While the events are likely unrelated, most still remain a mystery."
Is this the canary in the mine raised exponentially?
Women I Have Tried To Know
I woke up this morning thinking about a play I first conceived in the 1980s, at the height of my playwriting career, with the title above. What I liked about the conception is that one actress played all the women, which meant two actors performed the play, which also made it very accessible to theaters. I started maybe half a dozen false starts over the years. Never finished it. I don't know if thinking about it in my waking dreamstate means it's time to revisit this or not. For the moment, I think not, but sometimes material bugs you for release and doesn't let up until you tackle it. I'm supposed to be retired as a playwright. But I still like this concept a lot.
However, I never had an ending. I figured one would occur to me along the way, as happened more than once, but in my falsestarts this never happened. The play was autobiographical at root, but I didn't hold this against it, and the parts for the female would be delicious. The male, at least in all my attempts, told his story to the audience. A very minimalist set. Probably just a small table, chairs and a bed. I think I was working with six women, six characters. Any number from four to seven or eight would work. The role for the woman would be delicious indeed, although I had no particular actress in mind as I wrote but later I hoped several would take interest in it, particularly Katherine King, a first rate actress active here at the time. I don't think I ever told her this.
Well, it was in my head as I woke, for the first time in decades. Awake now, I am not rushing off to write anything, as usually happened when this "meant" something. So maybe it's a moment of nostalgia about one of the many projects that was attractive in concept but which I never figured out enough to finish. And if this same title is bugging me tomorrow as I wake ...
(Also, what a different play it would be now, written by an old man, as then. Maybe this is advantageous to the material.)
Well, it was in my head as I woke, for the first time in decades. Awake now, I am not rushing off to write anything, as usually happened when this "meant" something. So maybe it's a moment of nostalgia about one of the many projects that was attractive in concept but which I never figured out enough to finish. And if this same title is bugging me tomorrow as I wake ...
(Also, what a different play it would be now, written by an old man, as then. Maybe this is advantageous to the material.)
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Daily Kos: Readers & Book Lovers: Should Books Die a Natural Death?
Daily Kos: Readers & Book Lovers: Should Books Die a Natural Death?:
"The question is the title of a famous BBC radio debate between Virginia and Leonard Woolf in 1927, in which Leonard argued that books ought to be handmade. He criticized England’s reading public as having no appetite for good literature, only pop fiction, and said that quality had been abandoned for quantity. Virginia had quite another view, one that could be deemed prophetic from today’s perspective.
She countered with points that could be taken as an argument for e-books."
She countered with points that could be taken as an argument for e-books."
Rights v Abilities
I've witnessed a growing confusion in the land. I think it started in the 60s. A great leveling, this in the name of "equality" and "democracy" but spilling into areas where equality is not the proper measure. All brain surgeons are not created equal -- in fact, half the doctors in the land graduated in the bottom half of their classes. So give me a top half doc, the higher the better, thank you very much.
Opinions are opinions but some are more valuable than others -- some come from folks who actually know what they are talking about. Today, this is called "elitism." As if knowing a subject because you have studied it does not matter. It is harder to get away with leveling in the sciences than in the humanities -- it's hard to pretend you can solve a differential equation! so most of the bad opinions in the land are found in the latter.
There's a great leveling in the land and a confusion of popularity with actual skill and talent. (Sometimes they embrace, sometimes not.)
Never have opinions been so accessible and widespread and never have they actually mattered less because, in fact, never have folks been more powerless. I forget if this is Orwell or Huxley or both, but it is damn scary.
Let's quit giving children medals for trying. Let's give them a pat on the back but not a medal. Let's save the medals for winners. Let's teach kids that losing, too, exists. Let's teach kids that sometimes you meet someone who actually is better at something than you are. And this is okay. But it doesn't get the medal. If you want the medal, you have to win at something.
Opinions are opinions but some are more valuable than others -- some come from folks who actually know what they are talking about. Today, this is called "elitism." As if knowing a subject because you have studied it does not matter. It is harder to get away with leveling in the sciences than in the humanities -- it's hard to pretend you can solve a differential equation! so most of the bad opinions in the land are found in the latter.
There's a great leveling in the land and a confusion of popularity with actual skill and talent. (Sometimes they embrace, sometimes not.)
Never have opinions been so accessible and widespread and never have they actually mattered less because, in fact, never have folks been more powerless. I forget if this is Orwell or Huxley or both, but it is damn scary.
Let's quit giving children medals for trying. Let's give them a pat on the back but not a medal. Let's save the medals for winners. Let's teach kids that losing, too, exists. Let's teach kids that sometimes you meet someone who actually is better at something than you are. And this is okay. But it doesn't get the medal. If you want the medal, you have to win at something.
Longevity
I was in the elevator with a colleague today, and he told me he's been teaching here for 46 years. Amazing. Must have been his first job straight out of grad school because he doesn't look that old.
Addiction
In the Army, I learned how to drink, keeping up with older "big brothers" and this is the obsession that became an addiction and almost killed me. A doctor at the VA Hospital saved my life by being non-judgmental and straight with me; and later, a counselor the same, getting me into a full year in-house treatment program at the VA, which is what it took.
Work has always been an obsession and addiction as well but this defines me for better or for worse. At least it won't kill me, though I hope to be working when I pass. The key, then, is to find addictions that won't kill you. Personally I find a lot of mumbo-jumbo New Age nonsense in the American recovery industry, having reached this conclusion by doing a lot of reading when I was assigned to work in the medical library at the VA during my treatment. I read European journals in the field, which have a very different take on matters and are not beholden to AA as even the VA is here (so that when my counselor slipped me a book even semi-critical of AA he had to tell me he'd deny doing this -- but may the gods bless him for his wisdom in doing so!). AA is fine for those for whom it works but it embraces an anti-intellectual, non-existential posture that I find abhorrent. It's also thoroughly Christian, though it denies this -- but try suggesting a Buddhist prayer in a typical AA meeting! Better yet, today, a Muslim prayer ha ha.
Anyway the gods have guided me through many a storm, so many that it would be bad form to expect more guidance from them, which means I actually do try to live each moment as if it is my last. Sooner or later I'll be right. I guarantee it.
Dennis A. Henigan: Reading the Constitution: Originalism That Defies History
Dennis A. Henigan: Reading the Constitution: Originalism That Defies History:
"In the meantime, when the Second Amendment is read to the House of Representatives, the language about the 'well regulated Militia' will still be there. The originalists of the right are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own text, and not to their own history."
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Robert Reich: The Shameful Attack on Public Employees
Robert Reich: The Shameful Attack on Public Employees:
"Public servants are convenient scapegoats. Republicans would rather deflect attention from corporate executive pay that continues to rise as corporate profits soar, even as corporations refuse to hire more workers. They don't want stories about Wall Street bonuses, now higher than before taxpayers bailed out the Street. And they'd like to avoid a spotlight on the billions raked in by hedge-fund and private-equity managers whose income is treated as capital gains and subject to only a 15 percent tax, due to a loophole in the tax laws designed specifically for them."
Quotation of the day
For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions.
– Albert Einstein, January 3, 1954, in a letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind
Mellow Wednesday
Lowkey day after a good first night of class. Main thing I want to do is evaluate a rewrite of a short script from last term. And a lot of reading and I should put in time on the banjo, which I haven't done recently. And maybe start fiddling with music to the lyrics of the art song. But nothing, absolutely nothing, in a rush. Time to be slow. And slower every year. And enjoy it!
Kent students to end occupation of university building - Education News, Education - The Independent
Kent students to end occupation of university building - Education News, Education - The Independent
What year is this? They have a point, tuition is outrageous.
Advertisements for myself: two mysteries
Doowop was written in 1988 and quickly picked up by an agent. He was selling it as the first in a mystery series and told me to write a second as soon as I could. I drafted another Red Trevorak story called The Sputnik Scam, not as good, notable only because it's the first thing I ever wrote based on my experience at Cal Tech. However, the agent gave up when he couldn't quickly sell Doowop, and I abandoned the rewrite of the second. This was a blessing in disguise, I'm sure. I'm not cut out to write a series, or anything too much like something else I've done. I'd get bored, and when the writer is bored, the reader is bored. I put Doowop away and resurrected it when print on demand technology appeared and published it myself to absolutely no interest anywhere in the western world. I've republished it recently at Smashwords, link below. I also reread it after many years, and I like it. In fact, I like it a lot.
Doowop at Smashwords in a variety of formats, including print.
Room at Smashwords in a variety of formats, including print.
From Doowop:
"Then you think there's a music conspiracy, too?"
"No different from the freeways, man. A black man makes progress, shit, the powers that be got to do something to head him off at the pass. With music, it's the white teenagers making their parents nervous by listening to nigger music. Been happening a couple years now, ofay kids digging rhythm-n-blues, doowop, giving up their parents music, all that mares-eat-oats shit, all that up- a-lazy-river shit. Man, you can't have white kids digging nigger music, don't you see that? They listen to nigger music, next thing you know they'll discover their bodies, man, they'll discover sex. They'll want to get it while the gettin' is good, man. So what's the alternative for white parents? Make a safe white copy of the music, man, dilute it so it's fit for white teenage consumption. And that's exactly what's been happening. If that deejay understands this, man, he's the smartest ofay in L.A."From Room:
There hadn’t been a dead body in the Black Cat Bar & Brothel in almost a decade, not since the Bicentennial when Frank Ford came in to celebrate his 80th birthday with a lady and suffered a stroke in the excitement. This was a story traditionally told to strangers in town, always in a humorous tone that put the old geezer in heroic light, a man riding in the saddle to the very end. Maybe the story was true and maybe it wasn’t. It didn’t really matter.*Then I took a ride to find the ashram and check it out. I was shocked by what I saw. I don’t know how many hundred acres were surrounded by the security fence, but the ashram grounds stretched across the high desert for as far as the eye could see. I drove along the fence for several miles before seeing a sign of life inside, first from the construction equipment, dozens of vehicles scattered hither and yon, suggesting a building project of considerable ambition; and later, as I approached the front security gate, the inhabitable area of the ashram, distinguished mainly by Quonset huts and double-wide trailers, mixed with a few permanent buildings. At the gate I turned and stopped at the guard compound.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Film remakes: Better than the real thing - Features, Films - The Independent
Film remakes: Better than the real thing - Features, Films - The Independent:
"Paul Haggis and the Coens are the latest Hollywood directors to retool existing films in their own image. Kaleem Aftab celebrates the fine art of the remake"
Modern novels: They're big, but they're not always clever - Features, Books - The Independent
Modern novels: They're big, but they're not always clever - Features, Books - The Independent:
"When did the modern novel get so long and unwieldy? Sometimes the best things come in small packages, says Arifa Akbar"
Advertisements for myself: Screenwright
Listen to some happy students. Reviews and testimonials for Screenwright.
More info
Daily Kos: Banned Books: Editing Mark Twain
Daily Kos: Banned Books: Editing Mark Twain:
"Today NPR reports that a 'New Edition Of 'Huckleberry Finn' Will Eliminate Offensive Words':"
Idiots.
In my office
What a nice cocoon, this university office of mine. Here early, reading, and I finished doowop mystery, which I'll write about here later. I really dig it, I'd forgotten how much social commentary/satire is in it, especially regarding race relations. And I love my 300 lbs struggling playwright detective. I wonder who he's based on?
Winter term begins
I'm always ready to get back into the classroom after term break. I'm also excited about spring term when I'll start using the new anthology I'm in. This is the first term I'll be incorporating Kindle into my teaching. So I manage to keep it all fresh.
Made a stupid error in art work for the Shaw docu box, have to fix and resubmit.
Made a stupid error in art work for the Shaw docu box, have to fix and resubmit.
Monday, January 03, 2011
LA freeways
One of my favorite passages in THE DEADLY DOOWOP is when Butch, a black artist, explains to Red Trevorak, our hero, why the LA freeway system is being built the way that it is.
"This is the Freeway Grand Plan, okay? They evenpublished it in the newspaper. Now this here is Watts,man. So more Negroes have been moving into Watts, soit's expanding to the west, right? Oo-ee, we got to headoff them niggers at the pass! And so we start building thishere Harbor Freeway to block them off, and this hereSanta Monica Freeway to catch and trap all the ones thatslip over the boundary before we can finish up theHarbor. But now Watts is expanding east, man, cause it'sgot to go somewhere, and so we got to head off themdamn niggers again, oo-ee, baby, let's build ourselves theSanta Ana Freeway, only this time a whole mess ofniggers got so far east we got to come down with anotherone, too, the Pomona Freeway -- look at it, Red. All thesefreeways ain't nothing but fences to keep the niggers fromgetting too close to good white neighborhoods. Youmentioned South City. Well, what's South City, man? Atown because people want it to be a town? Hell, no. It'snothing but the part of Watts that got over the Santa Anabut got cut off with the Pomona. It ain't a freeway system,Red, it's the walls of a prison!"I stared at the napkin."You're saying," I began slowly, "that the purpose ofthe freeway system is to contain Watts?"Butch laughed. "Shit, man, I think I'd better pay thecheck, you so dumb."
Grunt work
Over at Smashwords, I have to make a minor format change in ALL my books to be published in the premium areas, which includes iTunes. I'm fine at their own site. It's a minor change but time-consuming but I went ahead and did it. Moreover, it's really a change regarding "taste" -- I prefer my way to their way, but they are the boss.
22 years ago...
...I wrote a mystery THE DEADLY DOOWOP, which I'm reading and enjoying the hell out of. More later My "detective" is a 300 lb struggling playwright, the scene is 1954 LA, the birth of rock and roll, and a major issue is race. This book is a real sleeper IMHO. I'll write more after I finish it.
It's great to be delighted by something written so long ago. Some of my 1960s and 1970s short stories do the same thing. Was that me who wrote that?
The Deadly Doowop
It's great to be delighted by something written so long ago. Some of my 1960s and 1970s short stories do the same thing. Was that me who wrote that?
The Deadly Doowop
Quotation of the day
Science never cheered up anyone. The truth about the human situation is just too awful.
-- Kurt Vonnegut
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Unbeaten TCU stops Wisconsin 21-19 in Rose Bowl - Yahoo! News
Unbeaten TCU stops Wisconsin 21-19 in Rose Bowl - Yahoo! News:
"PASADENA, Calif. – When Tank Carder leaped with perfect timing and swatted Wisconsin's final pass to the turf, the TCU linebacker felt as if he got a boost from every player at every school that never even imagined playing in the Rose Bowl.
Sure, these unbeaten Horned Frogs realized they couldn't win the national title. They still celebrated their perfection on the hallowed Pasadena turf in the name of all the little guys outside the monolithic powers of major college football."
Sure, these unbeaten Horned Frogs realized they couldn't win the national title. They still celebrated their perfection on the hallowed Pasadena turf in the name of all the little guys outside the monolithic powers of major college football."
Screenwriting instruction
My history of screenwriting books goes this way:
- In 1997 I introduced my electronic screenwriting tutorial Screenwright, which is still the best product I have in this area.
- In order to use this in class, I adapted a linear book from the material with the same title. This was introduced in 1999.
- In 2003 I expanded Screenwright into a new paperback called What Happens Next?, primarily updating the examples.
- I was contacted by Focus Publishing to do a screenwriting textbook based on my work. This became Practical Screenwriting in 2005.
- Now I am reworking What Happens Next? for Smashwords.. Not sure what I'll call it. Or charge for it. I'll try to get this together sooner rather than later, surely my last contribution to screenwriting literature.
Recently read: Death in the Haymarket
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America.
James Green.
Go to Amazon
A detailed dramatic exposition of one of labor history's more infamous moments. Green tells a gripping story and puts it within full historical context. A fine achievement.
Excerpts:
James Green.
Go to Amazon
Excerpts:
The Haymarket case refuses to die because it involves so many troubling questions about the causes of violent conflict and the limits of free speech, about the justice of conspiracy trials and the fairness of the death penalty and about the treatment of immigrants, particularly foreign-born radicals, by the police, the newspapers and the courts. And perhaps most troubling of all, the Haymarket case challenged, like no other episode in the nineteenth century, the image of the United States as a classless society with liberty and justice for all.*On May 2 the largest Chicago employers refused to obey the new law and ordered their employees back to work for the customary ten or eleven hours. In response, worker protests and strikes closed railroad car shops, shipping depots, lumberyards and wood-planing mills. In the Irish section of Bridgeport, workers shut down all the packinghouses and rolling mills.*While the city enjoyed a lavish centennial celebration on July 4, Medill anguished over the future of the nation, “great in all the powers of a vast empire,” but “weak and poor in social morality as compared with one hundred years ago.”4*The ensuing confrontation on July 22 between the soldiers and huge crowds resulted in a bloodbath when encircled militiamen fired on the protesters. Twenty people died, including a woman and a child. The immigrant neighborhoods erupted in fury. By the time the Battle of Pittsburgh ended, enraged crowds had killed several militiamen, driven the National Guard from the city, destroyed millions of dollars of railroad property, derailed trains, dismantled roundhouses and burned Union Depot to the ground.*IN THE EARLY 1880S, few American social commentators, other than the socialists, believed class consciousness could emerge in the United States, because of its open frontier, its endless opportunities for entrepreneurs and its vaunted democracy. Class hatred existed in Europe, but in America it existed only in the minds of deluded socialists.*Beginning in March of 1886, a strange enthusiasm took hold of wage-earning people in industrial centers across the nation as the dream of an eight-hour day suddenly seemed within their grasp. The agitation for shorter hours appeared to be everywhere by April, drawing thousands of unorganized workers into the swelling ranks of the Knights of Labor. Soon a strike fever gripped the nation’s workforce; it peaked on May 1, when 350,000 laborers from coast to coast joined in a coordinated general strike for the eight-hour day.*THE MANY ACCOUNTS OF what happened that night in Chicago are in rough agreement up until the moment that Captain Ward gave the order to disperse; then the testimonies offered by witnesses diverge wildly.*The night of terror in the Haymarket challenged commentators to find words that could capture the horror of the event and the evil of the men who caused it. The urge to describe, label and signify went far beyond the white-hot editorials in Chicago papers. Every editor in the country had his say. Western newspapermen said frontier justice should be applied to the lawless city*When the jury had rendered its verdict and its death sentences on August 20, few trade unionists commented in the press. Still, the news that came from Judge Gary’s courtroom alarmed many workers, who now feared losing their rights to protest and speak out in anger. A dangerous precedent had been set that day: if some kind of lethal violence occurred after the trade unionists freely assembled and expressed themselves, then their leaders could be indicted and tried as accessories to murder.*“They were called Anarchists,” said Black. “They were painted and presented to the world as men loving violence, riot and bloodshed for their own sake. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were men who loved peace, men of gentle instincts, men of gracious tenderness of heart, loved by those who knew them, trusted by those who came to know the loyalty and purity of their lives.” They had lived for a revolution that would create a new society based on cooperation instead of coercion. Black said he did not know if such a society was possible in America, but he did know that through the ages poets, philosophers and Christian believers had lived for the day when righteousness would reign on the earth,*It is impossible to say exactly what might have been different if the police hadn’t killed those strikers at McCormick’s, if the chief inspector hadn’t decided to break up the Haymarket meeting, if someone hadn’t thrown the bomb, but it is clear that, in some sense, we are today living with the legacy of those long-ago events.
Tradition
Blackeyed peas are on.
Watch a little parades, I guess, We lived 2 blocks from the route, near its end, when I was growing up in Pasadena. I still get homesick seeing the San Gabriel mountains. I loved it there in the 40s and 50s.
No games grab me today but I'll root for TCU in the Rose Bowl, anybody against the Big 10. I'm not even that excited about Oregon in the championship. Nike Inc is not quite OREGON in my estimation. I do like the coach (who said Nike owns the team). Maybe I'll root for the coach.
Watch a little parades, I guess, We lived 2 blocks from the route, near its end, when I was growing up in Pasadena. I still get homesick seeing the San Gabriel mountains. I loved it there in the 40s and 50s.
No games grab me today but I'll root for TCU in the Rose Bowl, anybody against the Big 10. I'm not even that excited about Oregon in the championship. Nike Inc is not quite OREGON in my estimation. I do like the coach (who said Nike owns the team). Maybe I'll root for the coach.
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